Nettles and Old Wives' Tales

I've recently come back from this year's Institutional Web Management Workshop held at University of York.

As from previous years, the event was excellent. There were old and new faces, good topics for discussion and it was a great event all around.

But if there's something I took away with me, it's that the best way to avoid getting stung by nettles is to grab them with full force and gusto. WHAT?!? I said the same myself in between fits of giggles. I almost gagged on my pizza!

Sitting in La Vecchia Scuola, a lovely Italian restaurant near the York Minster with the Manchester contingent, Keith from Salford regaled us with a tale of a time when his brother told him that the best way not to get stung by nettles is to grab a great bunch of them at the same time. According to Keith's brother, it works. Ouch! Either that or he was seriously winding Keith up. And no, I won't be trying grabbing onto nettles anytime soon.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. What old wives' tales have your dearly beloved tried to convince you was real, or something you practice today? Things like 'not eating bread crusts will give you curly hair' or 'If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you'. Duh! Do people still believe in these things? If so, why on earth?

Answers on a postcard, please.

Facebook Mania

It's amazing what a few years can achieve. I still vividly remember the summer of 1995. That was the first time I had internet access at home. And since then, the internet has featured significantly in my life. It has made me new friends, communicate quickly across continents, it's given me a career, but most importantly, the internet was instrumental in meeting my husband.

For those who are being born in the noughties, the internet has always existed. They don't know of a time when people relied on fax machines to communicate with people overseas, or to wholly rely on the travel agents at the high street to book holidays. Nowadays, it's incomprehensible not to be on the World Wide Web in one shape or form.

In recent years, we've seen the rise of Web 2.0 applications. Social networking sites, mash-ups and of course, blogging sites are rife in today's web experience. It took me a while to get blogging (partly because my life isn't all that exciting so I struggle to find something to blog about regularly!), but I have since discovered Facebook, and like hundreds of thousands of people, I am hooked.

I don't know what the big thing about Facebook is, really. Much like other social networking sites like My Space and Friendster, Facebook lets you add and search for friends, send messages, join groups and just mess about, really. If you look at it objectively, there's nothing special about Facebook, and yet it is the fastest growing social networking site in the UK.

Why is this? Maybe it's a combination of all the things you can do whilst on it. I love it when my 'Friends' list grows, when people write on my 'wall', and when someone sends me a random 'gift'. It's the feeling of community, of belonging somewhere, of knowing that someone out there considers you a friend, and realising that you can re-kindle long lost friendships.

In today's 'instant' culture and impersonal encounters, websites like Facebook allow its subscribers to simulate what we used to do before the internet - interact with each other face to face. And for someone like me who has lost touch with friends because I emigrated to the UK, Facebook is very welcome indeed.