Kazara From Coast to Coast!

ATTENTION HUMANS:

Today I looked at my Google Analytics results, and to my delight, I found that several international viewers have strolled by my blog! I am currently residing in the United States (don't tell scammers!!), and thus am afraid that my observations about the cultural impact of the Internet are mainly limited to American society.

This ends TODAY!

To increase my international audience, I will attempt to be provide more coverage on issues affecting readers from differing cultural viewpoints.

For example, for my Russian readers (which I HAVE), I hear a court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur has demanded the local Internet provider block Internet website Youtube for having videos promoting ethnic hatred. As humans and as Russians, how does this make you feel? Happy? Sad? Hungry? For me, it's mostly hungry. My apartment is out of groceries. But also perplexed. On the one hand, I really like Youtube. There's videos of baby animals, people's home movies that are a little too personal to be posted, and tutorials that can teach my pretty much anything. Last week I learned how to field strip a riffle!

On the other hand, I like Youtube a little too much. I spend way too much time on it. I've been intending to go grocery shopping for days, but every time I try to walk out the door I suddenly find myself wondering how to identify an Asian Long-horned Beetle, or what a baby Emu looks like. I could starve if this keeps up! Perhaps Komsomolsk-on-Amur will become a new center of innovation and technology, its residents no longer distracted by constant access to funny and/or disturbing videos.

I also see I have some visits from the Netherlands. Hello, Dutch readers! If you have not already heard, it may interest you to know that Dutch firm Elephant Talk Communications just announced that it is going to launch a new text dependent AND text independent biometric voice verification technology, called VALid-SVP. How exciting! I hope to see these in my local electronics store soon, as I suspect one of my neighbors has been stealing my mail. This is twice now that I haven't received my issue of The Economist. I don't read it, mind you, but it has a very soothing typeface. VALid-SVP could be the perfect solution to my problem!

I have to ask though, how can it be text dependent and text independent at the same time? Not that I know what either one means, but it stands to reason that you cannot be dependent AND independent of something. No offense, Netherlands, your technology sounds amazing, but you need to make up your mind about this text dependency issue!

American readers, do not despair! I will continue to provide Internet advice for you as well. There is plenty of Kazara to go round!