SO Newcastle what's trending, baby?
Just last week search engine colossus Google released its lists for what people around the globe are searching for.
And just what are we searching for when we sit down and open the Google machine? Do we look for answers to the big questions that perplex us? What is the meaning of life? Is there a God? What is reality? What happens when we die? Do we have free will? Are shopping trolleys chariots of the gods? Is Joel Fitzgibbon the albatross around the Labor's neck or is his loud-and -proud approach the ticket back to government?
Just on the federal MP for the Hunter for a bit, he copped a right proper pile-on via the Twitters last week for having a dig at former colleague and legendary Australian Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett following Garrett taking aim with both barrels at a meeting of Labor's Environmental Action Network. He accused Fitzgibbon of self-interest and deliberately undermining (in an open-cut way?) the party. He also said the Labor frontbencher was "not committed to the challenge" of reducing emissions.
The Joel for Coal campaign returned fire on Garrett and Fitzgibbon tweeted "I don't know where Peter lives these days but I suspect it's not Central Qld, the Hunter or the Illawarra. I'm sure he's not worried about where his next mortgage payment will come from. I support 'True Believers' who want well paid blue-collar jobs for aspirational Australians."
Top recipe search was "Saveloy beer batter recipe".
In 2014, Fitzgibbon said that "coal miners in my electorate earning $120,000, $130,000, $140,000 a year are not wealthy. That is the sort of money you need these days for property prices etcetera. In Sydney's west you can be on a quarter of a million dollars family income a year and you're still struggling."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, wages in the mining sector are the highest of any industry in Australia. Given the average wage on ordinary time earnings have risen by 13.9 per cent since 2014, I wonder what you'd need in 2019 for Fitzgibbon to regard you as wealthy?
I'm not sure anyone knows who the 'True Believers' are in 2019, what they stand for and what role they might play in getting the ALP to both coherently address climate change and not lose - let alone regain - seats in areas where the economy and coal production remain deeply entwined. Yes, yes, transition we must, but we ain't doing nothing to send the regions bust.
But anyhoos, what did Novocastrians search for in 2019? The top search term for Australia on Google was "Fires near me". In Newcastle it was "Andrew Johns statues near me" and "Breakfast happy hours near me".
But it was perhaps the "How to...?" category that puts a finger on the pulse of the Novocastrian mindset as the curtains are drawing on the twenty-tens.
Google showed the most popular search term in this category by Australians was "How to vote?" The results of state and federal elections demonstrate there were some pretty dodgy web pages or social media sites set up to provide bad advice on that specific inquiry. Probably run by Russians.
Australia's most "How to...?" question is "How to vote?" Are Aussies looking for an answer that tells them whether they must bring their own pen or if using the small pencil provided is compulsory? Is there a dress code demanding men wear big boy pants and is it enforced by police?" How many full-strength beers can you take into the voting booth if you intend numbering every box on the Senate paper? Spare me. How to vote? What's wrong with the edumacation system?
In Newcastle, the second top search term in the "How to ...?" category was "How to get orange traffic cone on top of stop sign in Cooks Hill?" But the winner in this category was "Getting money back for KISS ticket as well as Supercars ticket necessary to buy KISS ticket".
And in news that will redden the faces of old white blokes quicker than a picture of Greta Thunberg, the top search term for recipes by Australians was "Plant based recipe". But in Newcastle, the locals weren't smashing the Google with that line of questioning. Their top recipe search term was "Saveloy beer batter recipe".
But the winner of the most popular question entered into Google by Novocastrians was "How do you know when you have been revitalised and does it feel good or does it hurt a bit for awhile?"
Ouch.
Merry Christmas and happy new year to all Herald readers.
