Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

Every year I stock up with loads of links which seem to be interesting at the time but I never use because they are irrelevant to any particular post. I'm giving away these worthy words as my Christmas Gift to you.

1. 50 Ways That The Internet Has Changed Our Lives
For the better? For example: Is the art of correspondence lost? Maybe for some, but I correspond much more, with many more people, in more languages, and in many more countries than what I could ever have done with paper. And it is real writing, not SMS-lingo. Read the comments and decide. And do you really want battery operated books?

2. Guardian Archives Twittererised
1927 OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day otherwise *sigh*
1940 W Churchill giving speech NOW – "we shall fight on the beaches … we shall never surrender" check YouTube later for the rest
1961 Listening 2 new band "The Beatles"
1989 Berlin Wall falls! Majority view of Twitterers = it's a historic moment! What do you think??? Have your say
1998 Wow. Habibie is Prez. Pretty cool eh??

3. Weird and Wonderful Words
Test your knowledge of the extraordinariness of English with this quiz, drawn from The Wonder of Whiffling by Adam Jacot de Boinod (pub.Particular Books 2009) I scored 5 out of a possible 10. This means that I'm not quite so much of a goostrumnoodle [fool] as I might be, but I'm still two ants short of a picnic. As the Aussies would say, the wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.

4. Wise Words
I may have linked to a similar list before but I can't remember. Maybe I should have thought of this one: A closed mouth gathers no foot. Or this one. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes.

5. Our Kid is really pococurante because, as a teenager, he is indifferent, nonchalant and has an apathetic attitude towards the upkeep of his habitat. I know that because the word is one of 20 Wonderful Words Which Shouldn't be Allowed to Wither.

6. Loo Paper The Jakartass Towers little room, karzie, bathroom, WC or whatever you call it, has loads of reading material, mainly music magazines, which is most suitable for time spent in the privacy of a privy. I know of no public toilets which have similar facilities. Come to think of it, I can't think of any public toilets in Jakarta! Whatever, in the westernised world, the walls of private stalls in public and corporate toilets are often used for writing graffiti, some of which can be quite amusing rather than scatological.

This page from the BBC is a fascinating read, so take your laptop with you next time you go.

Pens and markers are optional.

Finally, if you're not already over-lexified (a word I've just invented), do check out Michael Quinion's wonderful World Wide Words. A recent edition of his e-magazine has a selection of this year's 'words of the year' complied by various dictionaries. I trust you will continue to read my little ramblings and rants and don't unfriend me.