Too Much Information

It's an old saw of course, but you should never believe what you read in newspapers. As a maxim, it's rubbish, but you do wonder sometimes. There are a couple of stories doing the rounds at present, both with differing information. Take the Puerto Pollensa swimming-pool. One source has the cost at 600,000 euros, another says 1.4 million. Then there is the story about Muro's mayor and the train. From one paper we learnt, as I said yesterday, that most of the rest of the council did not support his wish to terminate the train by Es Foguero, and then another says that the "government team" (most of the council therefore) is against the decision to not consider this as a location, thus contradicting the story from yesterday.

We live, I'm afraid, in misinformational times, and I'm not sure if I have not misinformed you by using "misinformational" as I'm not sure if this really is a word or has been conjured up by one of the prime sources of misinformation - the internet - as an adjectival development from the established noun of misinformation. But the word, the adjective, makes perfect sense and seems to be perfectly used, at least I think so. The irony of the information age and the ease of information is that there is an awful lot of it that is complete and utter garbage. The additional irony is that with the increase in the availability of informational sources we still end up with misinformation, as we always did. At least in the old days there were really only the newspapers you couldn't trust; now you can't trust any media. Do you trust what I write? Well of course you should, but it's not beyond possibility that what I write is actually total bollocks. And then, like with newspapers and other sources, I will get quoted somewhere and so the whole thing goes on, for ever, ad infinitum; an endless chain of pass-the-informational/misinformational parcel in the cyberspace party where the music never stops. Where will this entry end up, do you wonder? Years from now. Somewhere in whatever post-internet misinformational society we live in.

Actually, I do try to get or at least hope that I get things right. If I were paid for this, I would do thorough research, like a journalist is meant to. But I'm not paid, and so I do only so much research, if any. Even if I were paid and were I to attempt to be assiduous with my research, where would I go to find my information? Often it would be the internet, the never-ending chain or indeed roundabout of information and misinformation.

Anyway, this is by way of introduction to a conversation I had with Ben and Sara yesterday afternoon. We got to talking about history; history of Alcúdia. There were a whole bunch of old photos to look at, and the discussion led to the idea of doing, writing a history, not perhaps a whole history but a history of tourism - in Alcúdia. And as we spoke, the different strands cropped up. What was all this about the Swedes and the Belgians being the first to colonise Alcúdia? Which were the first hotels? When did it really all start? When ... when ... what ... what ... . If places can be said to have amounts of history, then Puerto Pollensa may have more than Puerto Alcúdia, though even then one asks how accurate it is, or if it's this damn misinformation. The internet says the Miramar hotel dates to 1912. Maybe it does; or maybe it doesn't. What's the oldest hotel in Puerto Alcúdia? How many would say a building that is no longer a hotel but in fact private apartments? Yep, the Primavera Garden. Or perhaps it's not yep.

The problem is that there are many anecdotes and half or partially remembered facts, but information, accurate information relies on accurate sources. The memory plays tricks. Ask someone about his or her experiences some twenty, thirty years ago, and how sure can you be that they are accurate? It's hard, but in fact it is not always misinformation. Anecdote is an accepted part of historical or indeed journalistic research, but there is still a need for verification. Primary sources. Do you know what those are? Often they are very, very dull, written in strange tongues and found lurking between thick, dusty covers. It's a long process to check them. Trust me. I've done it. Or they can also of course be newspapers - one with 600,000, the other with 1.4 million. The easy thing is to take the anecdote and leave it at that. But that's when you can just end up with misinformation, or is it? For now though the anecdote, the story will have to do, and it will do. The history starts here ... . Anyone want to join in?


Another FUSOSA moment. If you don't know, FUSOSA is the water company that supplies (sic) Playa de Muro and part of Puerto Alcúdia. Unreliable might be its promotional message. "We won't get you washed." Like this morning. A dry shower. A phone call. Something's broken. Yea, reckon we knew that. It'll be back on quickly. Maybe it will.

There is a problem with the supply probably once a month. Do you know by the way how much it costs to get connected? 630 euros. 630 in order that you can't get a shower in the morning. Please don't tell me that "this is Spain", as also with the electricity company GESA and its bizarre billing procedures. This is crap, and I'm sick of it.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Paul McCartney (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVK_mJrLbmY). Today's title - one of their less well-known; from the same album came something "ordinary".

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