Have a safe trip!

Today I am in the mood to start my comment with this unusual photo. What are the reasons for this pelican to sit on the one of the most dangerous reptiles on the planet?  Is the birdie tired from everyday routine and just wants to stop and have a break? Oh, how about the idea, that the pelican just wants to experience something new and to get fresh emotions? Hmmm...Maybe the pelican doesn’t even have any sneaky suspicions of how dangerous this “quiet, peaceful and fun place” is.  To be honest, this picture wasn't an accidental choice to start with. I promise, I will back to this photo a bit later.

The global information network covers almost the entire planet. There are so many advantages of this magic “application of our modern life”! We can connect to the Internet even in the distant snowy Antarctica or from space. Not that we are all often there, however this fact absolutely makes life of working people there easier and the life of the rest of us more interesting.  Not long ago, for example, due to the Internet, millions of people watched the fascinating expedition to Mars in real time.

Nobody owns the Internet. Meanwhile the global network brings unbelievable profits. Scientists from the University of Texas have estimated that the total revenue from online business last year in the U.S. alone was about 301 billion dollars. Besides, one of the world's largest Internet service providers over the LAST THREE MONTHS has earned $ 156 million!! Internet indeed  helps to develop some businesses, including hacker's, lol. This is the fact.

 The Internet was conceived as a tool for people to interact and work together according to the model “many-to-many”. Hopefully, today (not sure about the future)the  Internet is a decentralized structure without hierarchy. Because all servers in the network are more-or-less equal, it gives more-or-less a free market of information. Everyone has the opportunity to choose the source of information that meets their current needs the best. Besides, it is an unlimited number of potential consumers that can use information at the same time. This is an incredible advantage for a lot of things, isn’t it?

Internet is a non-material phenomena, so it does not need to be distributed as, for example, newspapers.  Any Internet site is available wherever people have access to the Internet, that is, almost everywhere. It brings to my mind the metaphor of 'the global village' by Marshall McLuhan. There is no clear policy or sequence.  Information travels at the speed of electricity, "all-here-and-now".  Now I cannot imagine my life without Skype as a cheap and comfy way to connect with my parents and couple good friends...

HOWEVER...

I still think that the best present I got from My Life is my childhood without the Internet. I remember my coloring books, embroidery lessons, play dough and games with running around the play ground with my “brand new friends”.

Let’s go back to the pelican on the crocodile, as I promised above. One wrong movement of the bird, one second of its inattentive attitude and ... GAME OVER.   Now try to think instead of crocodile and pelican... Internet and Internet user. One wrong click and your attention is lost, your brain is bombarded with useless information, sometimes even in a very inappropriate way. One wrong meeting with a cruel stranger, who was “so cool on the profile’s photo” and...Yes, GAME OVER. So once you decided to ride your crocodile [read: to use Internet] for whatever reason, it is always better to be very attentive with HOW, HOW LONG, WHEN and WHERE to do it. Have a safe trip!