The real effect of the Internet on Catholicism (or any other religion)
The Online Loser Guide that I just wrote was born also as a reaction to a vision of the Internet (haven for perverted and terrorists, huge time-wasting toy or mere work tool) very limited and narrow-minded. A proof that the effects of digital technologies are much deeper is in how they are influencing the religious sphere, in ways still largely ignored by traditional, mainstream media and by many blogs. The following paragraphs contain some evidence of this trend in Catholicism, but I’d guess that the same general concept is valid for any other religion (more on this at the end).
This is a long-range thinking, highly creative website: what about yours?
Here’s a post a bit more frivolous than what you’d normally find here. I’ve just discovered a funny but useful online service: Typealizer analyzes a blog and classifies it according to its content. Here is what it said when I entered the Stop! internet address on that page: *The analysis indicates that the author of [http:*stop.zona-m.net](http://stop.zona-m.net) is of the type: INTJ - The Scientists* which means, according to Typealizer, that the part of me that writes these pages is:
A little known but very powerful tool for homeschooling: Free Software
Free Software is widely used in education due to its lower cost and huge flexibility. Homeschooling is relatively popular in the USA and other countries. One would expect Free Software to be very popular among homeschoolers, due to their own philosophy: how could an homeschooling advocate not love software that is all about being “free as in freedom” and doing things by yourself? Reality, however is quite different: compared to Windows and Mac, Free Software is still almost unknown in the homeschooling community.
The Online Loser Guide, 2010 edition
Introduction: awareness of the immense power of the Internet is so widespread these days that it is almost impossible to look a fool by using it in the wrong way. Should that be your goal, however, follow the advice below!
[...], help me have a sane, slow Christmas
The short prayer which follows was inspired by participation to family discussions about next Christmas and from the discovery of the article and website mentioned below. It is a prayer which is perfect for everybody, regardless of religion. You can fill the empty square brackets with whatever you want, from the name of any God to… your own, and it will still make sense. And it’s good even if you don’t celebrate Christmas yourself and nobody celebrates it around you. All in all, it’s probably good (modern life being what it is) even at other times of the year.
If we all used computers to watch TV...
Italy started the transition from analog to digital TV in mid 2009. Six months later, the transition is still ongoing and causing a lot of hassles, unplanned expenses and, above all, confusion. In a few months Italians found themselves in a situation where, to receive all the channels available through satellites and terrestrial digital TV providers, every TV should be equipped with nine (9!) extra digital decoders!.