Oh dear! Our politicians live in a pure.safe.empire. What’s your 3-word address?
The information superhighway has an amazing ability to take you anywhere you want to go. But even if you don’t know your destination, click on a few tweets, follow some links, and you’re immersed in a totally new discovery.
This is precisely what happened to me this week. Some fleeting moments of boredom led me to a few clicks of interest, and before I knew it, I was reading about “what 3 words.”(w3w, http://www.what3words.com) What is this I hear you ask? Well, it’s a worldwide address system, where the planet has been divided into 3m X 3m squares, and each square has its own 3 word combination. All you have to do to know an address is to remember its three words, and two dots in between. For example, if you want to “explore.indulgence.unregulated” (as I did by spending a couple of hours on the site) you’ll find yourself somewhere in Russia.
When I first saw the site, I didn't think much of it, but within minutes I was jumping around, looking at the weird and wonderful combination of words that make up squares. I started to recognise its creativity, originality, and most of all, potential. With just 3 words, you can remember any address. What’s more, you can purchase a “tag” to a particular square, making it even easier to tell someone where to find you.
My couple of hours browsing and my interest in politics led to some interesting discoveries. Did you know, for example, that the home of the British Government is a “pure.safe.empire?” — perhaps this is just a coincidence, or a joke on the part of the w3w founders. I discovered too that a man that many would like to see out of Government lives at “slurs.this.shark” and we have a few important people relaxing over at “pipes.ritual.drinks.”
The supra-national government of many millions of people can be found at “modern.package.activity,” and this definitely chimed with my feeling that politics nowadays feels like the same old elements packaged together, rather like a piece of IKEA furniture. Be aware though that whilst enjoying your package activity you are likely to come across a vast quantity of bums on sofas earning lots of money (sofa.buns.multiply) pursuing animated conversations about how to trick electorates (applied.trick.blur) Certainly this week, the European Union demand of £1.7 billion from the British has not enamoured the public there, who feel like they are being robbed, and talk of a British exit from the EU(splits.moved.near) is now closer. Besides, it’s nothing new to equate theft with politicians. (accusing.quantity.magpie)
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures I thought. Perhaps sending “soldiers.(to)terrify.(a)bunch” of people could work, but I guess with the way European economies are looking, the dinosaurs in politics are struggling to hold on.(erase.legend.dinosaur) In conclusion, I felt that the w3w address system was quite accurate! If the 57-trillion combinations are supposed to be random, they are certainly reflecting the nature of politics.
Take a look for yourself. Which 3 words denote where you live/work? What other interesting combinations might you find? As for me, I can be found at the centrally-important address of “enlarges.hurling.hires.” Have fun!
