My co-worker and I were at lunch the other day and he commented on how both his mother and his mother-in-law were bombarding he and his wife with “helpful” advice on their impending new baby. The baby isn’t due until September and the advice is already coming on heavy.
I thought about this for a moment and said, “This is actually like the two main delivery methods for internet content – Push and Pull.
(Push refers to directly targeted communication to people on topics that may or may not interest them. Pull refers to being able to request content on demand).
I went on to conclude, “They are spamming you and what you really need is an RSS feed!’
We both laughed and I realized I had taken a simple problem and turned it into a model for complicated information processing in the age of the internet.
I was… the Nerd Whisperer.
