The internet is an amazing resource for learning just about anything. It never ceases to amaze me how much information, on just about any topic imaginable, is available on the internet for free. There are plenty of courses and books you can buy in order to get really in-depth information, but if you search long enough you’ll find most of it is available for free.

For example, if you want to learn a new web programming language the best place to start is here. If you want to learn something else the best place to start is probably here. If you still can’t find the information you’re looking for then you should probably google it.

Learning how to find information on the internet, and how to separate the BS from the real deal should be on every student’s curriculum. If you master the art of searching you can quickly find a good tutorial or article about whatever it is you want to learn.

Fortunately, searching is relatively easy. If you’re looking for a tutorial on something, it’s usually as easy as typing in [topic of interest here] tutorial. It’s a good idea to start with a search term that’s as specific as possible. For example, if your faucet is leaking and you want to find out how to fix it, you could search for home plumbing tutorial or DIY plumbing. You’d probably find the information you’re looking for sooner or later, but it would be better to search for how to fix a leaking faucet. In Google, the very first result is this page. While that might not be thorough enough for your needs, there are a few more results on the search results page which are likely to contain everything you need to know in order to fix your leaking faucet.

If you don’t find anything you should broaden your search term a little. If you got only a few results but they weren’t what you were looking for you should probably try a slightly different, but equally specific search term.

Want to know who played Michael Vaughn in the TV-series Alias? Simply search for who played michael vaughn in alias and there it is, right at the top of the results page. You didn’t even have to click on anything! Amazing, isn’t it?

Want to find the correct spelling of a particular word? Or a bunch of synonyms or antonyms for a word? Or some definitions? Then this is the place to go.

Highly classified intelligence probably (hopefully) isn’t available on the internet. If you search for how many secret agents does the CIA have in Norway you won’t find what you’re looking for – however, you will find lots of interesting stuff about the CIA.

WARNING: Trying to find something on the internet can lead to hours and hours, and even more hours, spent reading tons of really interesting stuff which has nothing to do with what you were looking for in the first place. If you’re short on time, focus on staying focused!

Popularity: 99% [?]

You know how you sometimes lose a few coins when you sit down somewhere, because the coins silently slip out of your pocket and hide themselves between the chair and the cushion? Not a big deal. You know how you sometimes see a transaction on your credit card statement, and you can’t remember what the money was spent on but that you did in fact spend the money yourself? Not a big deal. You know how you sometimes lose a receipt from the grocery store so you can’t remember exactly what you bought? Not a big deal.

A few years ago, Donald Rumsfeld admitted that the Pentagon had lost track of an estimated $2.3 trillion. That’s trillion with a “T”. That’s a big deal, wouldn’t you agree?

That much money is probably enough to wipe out a few known infectious diseases as well as rid the world of hunger. And they just “lost” it. More than a few people should go through their pockets, there’s bound to be at least a few billion in there somewhere. Have they checked under the cushions in all the chairs (which have cushions)? I’ll bet they’d find another billion or so…

Read more about it here.

Popularity: 98% [?]

The English and the Americans have a weird expression for “sorry for the foul language”, which is: “pardon my french”. Don’t knock the French language! It’s a beautiful language. More so than English, at least in my book.

Americans impose some weird conditions for collecting prize money from sweepstakes on Canadian citizens. I’ve seen this in the “Sweepstakes Rules” on several American web sites. Canadians must either pass a math-skills test or a full-fledged IQ-test in order to claim the prize. In my opinion that’s really rude.

Still, the English and Americans are, as a people, generally extremely polite and friendly. That’s why these observations are so confusing.

Anyone care to share similar observations?

Popularity: 98% [?]

There’s simply too much wrong with the world. Too much to say.

So in brief:

• War is childish and uncivilized - let’s grow up, OK?
• “An Inconvenient Truth” needs to be on the curriculum of every school in the world.
• More stuff in the public domain please…
• More people need to learn not to take themselves so seriously.
• Let’s all keep in mind that there’s nothing in this world more valuable than a person’s life.
• The death penalty? Seriously?
• People should be more open-minded
• Some people need to be less open-minded
• Some people need to start using their minds in the first place
• People need to learn the difference between insignificant and minute details and focus on the things that really matter
• More companies need to understand that renewable energy and environmentally friendly products and production processes can be Big Business.
• More companies need to take better care of their most valuable assets - their employees.
• It should be illegal for a company to sponsor any sort of political campaign aimed at getting somebody elected for something. It corrupts politics, and politics is bad enough without corruption.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and… However, I’m afraid the list would (much too quickly) degrade into a list of minute and insignificant details.

Popularity: 98% [?]

Child prodigies never cease to amaze me. In all probability there’ve always been prodigies in various fields. However, today they easily get much more exposure and quickly become world famous because of the internet. I love seeing and hearing young people with a great musical genius. It’s inspiring! It gives us a glimpse into the vastness of human potential.

I just wanted to share a few video clips with you, showing three very young people who are so good at what they do it completely blows my mind. Most musicians could work hard for 40 years to improve their skills and still not become as good as these kids – who aren’t even teenagers yet!

Watch. Listen. Be inspired!

Popularity: 100% [?]