For those of you who have no idea what Minecraft is here is a description: "Minecraft is a sandbox video game created by Swedish game developer Markus Persson and released by Mojang in 2011. The game allows players to build with a variety of different blocks in a 3D procedurally generated world, requiring creativity from players."
But it also seems to involve a lot of running from enemies and much more that anyone over the age of about 30 would have no comprehension of. In other words it's a highly involved and complex game that only young people can understand.
And Mindcrafters seem to be insistent on capturing their play on video so that others can watch their every move. Now this isn't a stupid idea as many of them make huge amounts of money from advertising and selling merchandise. One of the biggest of these is an American guy by the name of Preston. He flogs baseball hats, T-Shirts and much more and has made himself a millionaire by selling these and advertising space on a channel watched by literally millions.
I can't help but think of a line from "Pinball Wizard" by The Who
Even on my favourite table
He can beat my best
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest
Not so long ago our grandson tuned into an American channel and now it's one from the UK. It seems to consist of young people shouting and screaming in delight and with mega amounts of enthusiasm whilst playing Minecraft which to me is an unfathomable computer game which seems to have totally random rules. Grandson is eight but he understands everything that is going on.
I'm such an inquisitive person that I always want to look at what is behind these things. Apparently this You Tuber has the name of Kit but the screen name of Wisp. He is 20 years of age and has over 700,000 followers. Here's what I garnered from the internet (and if you can understand this you are a better person than me Gunga Din).
Kit, better known online as Wisp (also known as Wispexe), is an English MinecraftYouTuber. Kit is a competitive Ultra Hardcore player that plays on Minecraft servers like Hypixel, FluxPvP, Glade, and his own server, UHCarcade. Even though he played on Hypixel, due to the hackers, he no longer regularly plays on Hypixel. He mostly plays twisted Minecraft UHC scenarios, like Randomizer, or "All stone is ___".
That lot might have been written in hieroglyphics for all the sense it makes. I am glad though that he is no longer on Hypixel (it would have given me sleepless nights had he stayed).
Speaking as an old person who still believes that they have a youthful outlook on life, I find these channels sad and obsessive. I am concerned that too many young people are existing in a fantasy world divorced from reality. But then that's probably exactly what has happened with our lockdown. We all feel that we are living in a fantasy world, divorced from reality.
Last word on this subject from grandson following one completely unintelligible movement in the video.
"That's so funny. Do you know what just happened. He trapped him in lava."
Watching these channels, I certainly feel as though I'm trapped in something or other - not sure that it's lava though.
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Have to say I was impressed by the service at McDonalds even if the food leaves me cold. We queued up and then relayed our order and then moved forward to a window where it was waiting for us. At this window we paid by contactless and then it was away with the only decision to be made whether we ate it in the car park or brought it home - we chose the former although I really would have liked to have got home as soon as possible to watch more Minecraft videos (that's irony by the way).
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Is it possible to suffer Zoom burnout? I know people who have had so many Zoom (or similar company) meetings during lockdown that they are feeling tired, worn out and jaded.
There is something very tiring about interacting with a computer screen. I remember many many years ago thinking that one day you would be able to see the people you were telephoning on some kind of screen. At the time it wasn't thought possible but now it's the norm.
Things like Zoom do have huge advantages. In a couple of weeks the Norfolk Family History Society will be holding its annual general meeting (AGM). Normally this would be held at our headquarters in Norwich and would be attended by about 30 people - most of whom live in or around Norwich. This year we will be holding the AGM via Zoom and it can be attended by people throughout the UK and indeed the World.
We are also looking at utilising social media for talks and presentations etc. This is definitely the way forward to make our members fell more of a part of the society.
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I don't usually make politically motivated comments in this blog. I support no specific political party but occasionally something makes me so angry that I feel I need to comment.
I abhor injustice. Over the past few days I have been informed that my gas and electricity charges are going up, my mobile phone charges and my Sky TV is increasing, my council tax is rising and there will probably be other things going up as well.
Then I read that NHS workers are getting a paltry 1% pay rise. This is absolutely disgusting. Other frontline workers are likely to have their wages frozen. This is beyond contempt.
The next time Boris Johnson and his merry men spend their time thanking NHS staff for their outstanding work during the pandemic I will be screaming at the television. A 1% increase is insulting. Empty words of thanks from politicians don't pay the bills. What was needed was some tangible mark of thanks from the Government, what the frontliners got was a kick in the guts. Mind you are we surprised that they have been sold down the river? I for one expected it. Actually I'm surprised that they weren't asked to take a pay cut to help pay for lockdown.
I leave you today with the following lyrics from Words by the Bee Gees. A simple sentence that seems to be pertinent at the moment.
You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say