Nick GreenFarming

Internet stats for 2020

WITHa world population of 7,800,000,000 people, there are 4,783,503,852 internet users, compared to the 3.42 billion users recorded at the end of 2016. Worldwide there are 2.77 billion social media users. Facebook currently has 2.27 billion users, and Instagram has one billion users.

More than 5,760,000 blog (weblog –online diary), posts are published on the internet every single day.

In 2020, the UK’s top trending queries were: Coronavirus, followed by US election, Caroline Flack, Coronavirus symptoms, Coronavirus update, Premier League, Boris Johnson, Eat Out to Help Out, Kobe Bryant, and Kim Jong Un.

“How to make a face mask?” was the top how-to question asked throughout the year, closely followed by “How to make bread” and “How to cut your own hair”.

Most searched celebrities: Phillip Schofield, Carole Baskin, Joe Exotic, Jordan North, Elon Musk, Prince Harry, Kanye West, Ruthie Henshall, Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks.

In March last year, 8,100 searched for “how to make a loo roll fort”! Slightly worryingly, some searches include: how to make milk, how to make toast, how to make flour, how to get pregnant, how to use Google, what is the length of spaghetti (my answer would be the same as a piece of string!!) How do I get my husband a brain transplant, where are my keys?

Google will autocomplete search questions, so “can a human” was completed with “fly” and “run on water”. “Dinosaurs were” was completed with “made up by the CIA to discourage time travel”. “Who would win a fight between” was completed with “a taco and a grilled cheese”! Don’t know what the answer is to that one though!

Submitted by IT for the Terrified: not training at the moment, but contact us for a word of advice on your computer use. Cheddar Village Hall, Church St, Cheddar BS27 3RF www.itfortheterrified.co.uk itfortheterrified@btconnect.com • 01934 741751 I.T. for the Terrified – for all your computer training needs. A skill-sharing, community project. Run by a Committee – Staffed by Volunteers Registered Charity No. 1130308 : Company No. 06779600 This article is for guidance only, and the opinion of the writer. For more in depth information, please contact us.

The Mendip Mindbender

ACROSS

1 Cheekily or rudely (10) 6 Get rid of the outhouse (4) 9 Ballet: stretched out or held tautly (5) 10 In 1897 this village planted a wellingtonia tree to mark

Queen Victoria’s Diamond

Jubilee. It became infected, was felled and duly sculpted into “Hands of Friendship”. (9) 12 You may find June a good example as part of a dozen (8,5) 14 Chewy thick biscuit made of oats and butter, to an

American it would be a pancake (8) 15 This village in North

Somerset has the hamlets

Lower and Upper Canada within its parish (6) 17 Scottish term for a boy or a young man (6) 19 A desk for prayer (4-4) 21 In 2010 Kylie Minogue sang at ‘The Ring O’ Bells’ pub of this village (7,6) 24 Has sudden dramatic deterioration, or plunges (9) 25 Smelling bitter or pungent (5) 26 Beer maker loses brother yet finishes with a jug (4) 27 Christmas now (7-3)

DOWN

1 Very little, a jot (4) 2 Cure-all, a magic bullet (7) 3 Quality often attributed to acrobats (6-7) 4 Worthless ornament (alternative spelling) (4-4) 5 Christian name of Ms.

Kuenssberg currently political editor for BBC

News (5) 7 Ena Marples headgear (7) 8 Herbaceous plant of the buttercup or larkspur family (10) 11 Regular transport for getting passengers to work (8,5) 13 A retail outlet selling alcoholic drink for consumption elsewhere (3-7) 16 South central State in USA.

Capital Little Rock (8) 18 Land attached to a manor and retained by the owner for their own use (7) 20 In redoing this you might end up in Coventry (7) 22 Not at any time (5) 23 A small whirlpool

Clues in italics are cryptic