It was Tim Berners-Lee who first coined the term "world wide web" back in 1989. Soon afterwards, users of the internet commonly shortened his self-explanatory term to "The Web". And this in turn led to the word "website" - "a set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization." In fact, when you think of it, each blog is a website. The term "blog" evolved from the earlier name - "web log" - meaning a kind of diary or evolving record located within "The Web".
Being so connected to the internet, very often we might even forget that the word "web" also describes an intricate trap made by a spider using only thin gossamer filament. Now I would like to attempt to connect the two meanings by reflecting on how I have spent the past two mornings after getting up...
...Sitting in my dressing gown and slippers, I have been like a spider's victim trapped in the constantly alluring world wide web - moving from one website to another and unable to detach myself from the invisible thread.
I have gone around in circles from Hotmail to BBC News to the Geograph photo mapping site to various blogs to Wikipedia pages to Hull City to YouTube to Hotmail and round again, sometimes veering off on sidetracks but always returning to the circle. Yes, it's as if I have been caught like a bluebottle or moth - unable to pull myself away from the web.
Time passes and I keep urging myself to get away from this keyboard and this mouse only to confirm that I am helplessly trapped, possibly waiting for the responsible spider to do its deadly rounds. I need to shower, get dressed, simply do something else but the web holds me back and before you know it two or three hours have passed by.
Finally, like a racing driver who has lapped the course over and over again, I drive into the pits. The session is over and, returning to my main metaphor, I can at last escape from the web and begin the day properly.
Even after a quarter of a century of visiting the web, it remains as addictive as ever. What on earth was life like before? I can barely remember.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/7XxUZyG