YouTube has a purpose

YouTube: Social Conscience

YouTube has been around for almost ten years now.  (Which means it'll be heading up to big school soon...)

When it first started I don't think the creators Hurley, Chen and Karim had any idea that it would eventually earn them almost $400million each, change the face of file sharing and be responsible for the pressure sores on several million teenagers' backsides, caused by an overdose of PewDiePie or Smosh.

(Actually, the story goes that YouTube started because these three PayPal employees were having difficulty getting the video of Janet Jackson's boob falling out at the 2004 Superbowl, for anyone who hasn't seen the image, check here).

But the impact of YouTube is even greater than that.  It is being used regularly to combat crime, to raise awareness and to bring people together.

Remember Brian Bates, video vigilante.  I mentioned him back in May, as the guy who's made it his mission to catch people having sex with prostitutes in public places. Then there's the guy who caught a toilet paper litterer: it's not a major crime, but still it's toilet paper...

What YouTube does is let people share their experiences, and name and shame any offenders.  You can argue among yourselves about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.  But it is what it is.

YouTube can be a force for good, or a force for bad, depending on how you use it.  If you use it to make the world a better place, then everybody wins.

Local News
West Cumbria might be a long way from the big cities, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have value. Romar Innovate Ltd (up at Hensingham), is helping the fight against Ebola by making protective suits for the doctors and nurses who are treating the sick and the dying.  Without those suits (which are disposable, and staff can go through four or five a day), there is a much greater risk of the doctors and nurses becoming infected themselves.

The lesson is that you don't have to live in Manchester or London to make a difference, people right here in Copeland are saving lives.

The full story is here


And Finally...

Seeing as how it's Halloween today, here's a video of a prank going wrong. Awesome.

Politics isn't dull...

There was a time when I found politics boring. It was until I turned 18 at the earliest (which is a bit of a problem when you realise that I studied Government and Politics at A-level — I got grade E).

It wasn’t until I was able to vote that I became even slightly interested.

But even as a child there was one thing about politics that I loved: a TV programme called On the Record. Well, not the programme, just theopening credits.

Now, you have to remember I’m talking about a pre-satellite TV world, when we had 4 channels to choose from, and on Sunday’s you could watch gardening programmes, religious programmes or news programmes; so a giant crocodile rampaging across the UK was one of the highlights of the day.

I’ll be honest though: when the credits were over I turned it off. The crocodile was the only thing I found interesting.

My question is: why is politics boring?  The word just means ‘of the people’. So anything to do with people is really politics. Not just on a world level, but in every house. 

Adults at home get annoyed because you haven’t done your jobs? That’s politics.

You complain that you get too much homework from school? That’s politics.

You get your brother or sister in a headlock because they’re a butthead. Even that’s politics.

It’s not boring, it’s life.  Sometimes what makes it boring is the people representing your views.  Like Rep. Lloyd “Ted” Poe, who is so boring he sends his own grandson to sleep during discussions of domestic violence.

Domestic violence isn’t boring, it’s a horrible situation where people live in fear, where rage and anxiety make a massively unhappy home.  But Ted Poe manages to make it sound irrelevant.  (I encourage you to stop watching the kid flopping about in the background and listen to what Ted actually says, because it’s pretty horrible).  

Then there’s the guy with a voice like a dalek, who’s doing his party no favours by speaking publicly (and the interviewer isn’t much better). What they’re actually talking about is important, because it’s referring to the Irish Prime Minister having no authority — basically because he’s in the seat but isn’t representing the people, and that’s his job!

And people not doing their jobs isn't funny, well, not often.

One final thing to remember -- you can stay out of politicians' lives forever if you're careful, but politicians won't stay out of yours...

Beach cleaning fail

I think it’s fair to say that the beach clean last week was a bit of a bust.  Many thanks to Jacq and Mandy at Shackles Off who gave up part of their Saturday to pitch in on Seascale Beach.  Unfortunately, there were a couple of better things on that day: Egremont Crab Fair

and teenage apathy

I know it’s hard to motivate yourself.  I get that:  I was a teenager too.  

Eighteen years ago.

    (Wow, that’s a depressing thought).

But an even more depressing thought is what’s going to happen to the world if we keep turning our backs on the problems.

    And I’m not just talking beach cleaning here…

The Time for Change group successfully campaigned for a referendum on how our borough should be run, at the referendum the public chose to elect (i.e. vote for) the next mayor, but so far no-one seems to want the job.

    No-one wants to try and fix the problems in Copeland.

I want you to check out this song by Turin Brakes, it’s The Sea Change (beaches again…) but it’s about more than that, it’s about the fact that we can only expect someone else to fix the broken things for so long, before eventually we have to be that someone else, we have to fix whatever’s broken.

Why not today?

Holidays and hoaxes

Well, I’ve had a delightful week off. 

In Holland. 

In the rain.

[Here's a picture for all Minecrafters out there who've forgotten what the real world looks like after 5 weeks in their bedrooms]

But despite the rain, it was nice to get away, and travelling by ferry from Hull we were able to get to Amsterdam, the Dutch capital city, driving fewer miles (255 miles) than if we’d gone to London (340 miles).

And if you go via Newcastle, it’s a shorter car journey (130 miles) than to Glasgow (133), Edinburgh (135), Manchester (145), Liverpool (148) or Leeds (148).

The capital city of Belgium, City of Brussels, is only 175 miles away if you travel by ferry from Newcastle to Zeebrugge.

Not only is it a short trip (discounting the overnight stay on the ferry), but it’s hassle free, unlike air travel – we didn’t need to go through the customs’ lane, no-one searched our bags, or made me take my shoes and belt off.

Sure it starts innocently enough

but if you accidently mention drugs or terrorism things get nasty real fast

It really is easy to travel to foreign countries. But that could all change if we left the European Union.

That’s something that we aren’t particularly told in all the debates that go on. The pro- and anti-Europe camps will tell you all about trade agreements, sanctions and embargoes, because that stuff is really important. They’ll tell you about the impact on migration and employment, on services and taxation, and that’s important too.

But they don’t seem very good at talking about how anyone’s next holiday to France or Spain may be affected. Will we get frisked at the airport? Will duty-free still be duty-free?

It’s worth asking those kind of questions, because these are the things that will affect us directly before anything else.

According to social media, Wednesday night was the first time in living memory that Mars appeared as large as the moon. Did anyone stay up late to see it?

The lesson here is: don’t believe everything you see on the internet.

Marine Litter interpretation

Some of you are already aware that CBC are putting new interpretation boards at various points up and down the coast, from Parton all the way down to Haverigg.  If you're a bit confused about what an interpretation board is, here's an example.

They are the kind of things that people on walks like to look at, and they give some information about the area people are visiting.


So, included with those boards will be a marine litter board, explaining how long it takes for rubbish to break down in the oceans. Hopefully getting people to be a bit more responsible with their litter, and put it in the bin instead of dumping it on the beaches.

We'd like your opinions on possible designs for the boards, and here are some examples to get you thinking.

  Anyone who has a flair for design might want to sketch something out. The final design will be included with every interpretation board.