Tech illiteracy

March 6, 2014 at 1:04 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A study has found that one in five think that a Blu-ray is a sea animal and one in 10 think the coding language to build websites, HTML, is a type of sexually transmitted infection.

The study was conducted by Vouchercloud.net, an American coupons website looking to see how well its users know their tech jargon.

A spokeswoman for the company told the LA Times: “It seems that quite a few of us need to brush up on our tech definitions.”

On top of the hilarity of the HTML and Blu-ray confusions, there were a few more humorous findings.

— Nearly half thought that a “motherboard” was “the deck of a cruise ship”, not the main circuit board of a computer.

— A quarter thought that the measurement unit “gigabyte” was an insect commonly found in South America.

— Nearly a quarter believed that the audio format “MP3” was a Star Wars robot.

— 15 per cent thought that a computer program, or “software” was what you call comfortable clothing.

— 12 per cent answered that “USB” is an acronym for a European country — not a connection port on your computer.

Ironically, 61 per cent of those surveyed believed that having a good tech knowledge was extremely important.

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Baptists lure unchurched by giving away guns: “In an effort its spokesman has described as ‘outreach to rednecks,’ the Kentucky Baptist Convention is leading ‘Second Amendment Celebrations,’ where churches around the state give away guns as door prizes to lure in the unchurched in hopes of converting them to Christ. As many as 1,000 people are expected at the next one, on Thursday at Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah, where they will be given a free steak dinner and the chance to win one of 25 handguns, long guns and shotguns. The goal is to ‘point people to Christ,’ the church says in a flier.”

British army commander bans sandwiches: “Sandwiches have been banned from an officers’ mess after a commander noticed many soldiers were eating them with their hands as he insisted “a gentleman or a lady uses a knife and fork.” Major General James Cowan issued the note after he noticed officers were eating sandwiches with their hands and failing to stand when commanders entered the room. His three-page letter criticised standards at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire where he said he had seen many “frankly barbaric” techniques and habits displayed by soldiers and officers. The note, addressed to ‘Chaps’, said: “Quite a few officers in the divisional mess seem to be under the impression that they can eat their food with their hands. The practice of serving rolls and sandwiches must stop,”” [But funny hats are OK?]

Amateur treasure hunter turns Canadian history on its head after finding a 435-year-old British shilling buried in clay on Vancouver Island: “An amateur treasure hunter with a hand-held metal detector has turned Canadian history on its head after finding a 16th century shilling buried in clay on the shores of Vancouver Island. The 435-year-old coin discovered in western-most Canada has rekindled a theory that a British explorer made a secret voyage here two centuries before it was discovered by Spanish sailors. According to conspiracy theorists and some historians, the silver coin (produced between 1551 and 1553) is evidence that English explorer Sir Francis Drake traveled as far north as Canada’s Pacific Coast during an expedition to California in 1579, in search of the famed Northwest Passage.”

Man in Australia’s wild North gets lost in his own backyard: “The 30-something tradie, who moved from Sydney in September, was drinking a few beers and watching UFC at his parents’ 8ha Noonamah property on Monday night when — about four or five beers down — family dog Mumbles began making a fuss. He went to the window and saw what he believed was a dingo. In hindsight, he says, he really had no idea. Not wanting Mumbles to be in any danger, Jason — who assures us he wasn’t drunk — walked in the direction of the unknown beast wearing nothing but shorts and carrying only his dying phone. He had been at the property for only two weeks and soon lost his bearings in the thick scrub. “I was talking to my missus on Facebook while I was out there … in the end I said to her ‘It’s time to call for help’,” he said.

What a good woman! “For these young orphaned elephants, this devoted young British woman is their surrogate mum, and each wants to be first for a cuddle. Tenderly, these colossal beasts — years from being fully grown — raise their trunks to 33-year-old Rachael’s face, seeming to wrap her in an embrace. A biology graduate who left the UK after university, Rachael has dedicated her life to saving baby elephants left without their real mums by poachers killing indiscriminately for ivory and bush-meat in Zambia. Not only does she nurse the severely traumatised animals back to health, she is also on 24-hour call to mount dangerous rescue operations to bring abandoned elephants to safety. She manages the Lilayi Elephant Nursery, the only orphanage of its kind in southern Africa, for anti-poaching organisation Game Rangers International, which has links to the International Fund For Animal Welfare. When adult females are killed for their tusks, their babies quickly become emaciated because they need maternal milk to grow until the age of two or three.”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.