My Column

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04300640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Elephant" ><B>Welcome To My Den</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |  </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome To My Den"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Me"><U><B>About Me</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id183.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Search Site"><U><B>Search Site</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Interests"><U><B>My Interests</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Software"><U><B>My Software</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jokes"><U><B>Jokes</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id347.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Guest Book"><U><B> Guest Book</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>My Column</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Diary"><U><B>Diary</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U><B>Contact Me</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Quotes I Like:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG, Aphorisms</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="1c654483.gif"> <div> <I>My Column</I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>This is where I get to shoot my mouth off  on any subject I choose with no one to tell me yea or nay.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I was thinking the other day just how much pleasure I get out of the internet and the folk I 'meet'. How many thousands of seniors out there, just like me, sit at their machines and travel the world. So many more thousands have their own web pages, again, just like me. How fortunate we are and how simple it all is. I say simple because in this day and age the software really does do most of the work.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Bearing that in mind then leads me to ask. Why are there so many more thousands of seniors and other unfortunate people who are cut off from the normal day to day existence that we enjoy, being denied this access?</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Specifically, I am thinking of people confined to their homes or in accommodation for the elderly or the infirm, their care and perhaps accommodation, being paid for by the State or some insurance company. It would be so cheap to provide a stripped down machine, no CD drives, no sound cards, no printers, no DVD's. Just a basic machine, the sole purpose of which was to access  the web.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I know that initially, in a lot of cases it would be difficult, especially with the elderly, to convince them how easy it was going to be. How there was no need to be frightened of the machine, it wasn't going to make them look stupid or anything, they weren't going to break it. There would be no shortage of  volunteers from among the youth of the country to assist in helping these new users to become acclimatized to this life line and I don't think that 'life line' is too strong a term to use either.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Think of the dramatic difference such a scheme would make to these people. People whose long, endless days we can only imagine. The elderly and infirm are so many, while the carers and helpers are so few. Suddenly the days would take on a new meaning, whole new horizons would be opened up. New friends to e-mail, experiences to exchange, news of friends or families that may be spread around the world, swap stories, recipes, all the things that we, as a group, take for granted.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I do realise that with the best will in the world there would be many who are beyond this kind of help but just think of the thousands who would benefit. You and I know that, brushing aside all the jargon, you don't have to be a genius to tap out a message to the screen and then press a button to send your e-mail flying off to one's family and friends. There must also be commercial aspects to such a scheme as well. Thousands more internet surfers with their own special needs. Get in there Bill Gates.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I feel sure that, given this new impetus, general health would improve as interest took hold. That suddenly there would be much more point to staying alive and relatively well. I think it would be a good bet too that the capitol cost would be repaid a thousand times over in saved health care, especially in drugs like tranquilizers and anti depressants which seem to be issued by the ton to try and make life bearable for so many.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>If, at the end of the day, the number of people helped wasn't thousands at all but only hundreds then still I say, what a fantastic achievement that would be. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Try and put yourself in one of these peoples position for a moment and, knowing what you do about the web, try to visualize what it would mean to suddenly have this new window on life. A window that looked out on a sunshine that needn't fade away at the end of the day. A doorway to other peoples and customs, someone to chat to in those terrible dark hours of the night when release from your daily round may seem like not such a bad idea.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Hope, laughter, interest, all for a few pieces of silver. Was there ever such a bargain?</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Good idea, stupid idea, impractical? Let me know what you think in my Forum or if you don't fancy that </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="mailto:bobheath@teleline.es" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:bobheath@teleline.es"><U><I><B>then e-mail me.</B></I></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I> </I></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=25 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id149_m.htm" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="My Column"><U><B>Back to Top</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>