Where do ideas come from?

The internet is basically an ad machine. Like any machine, you need to learn how to use it well. It is becoming increasingly difficult to conceal the source of your inspiration. Once upon a time, you hoped that nobody had been to 'that' bookshop. Now everyone has access to everything so it's a lot harder to appear really fresh. Maybe it's just a peer to peer problem? It does take the shine off things a bit when you see stuff and think, 'oh yeah, that was on that design blog last week' et voila' the next day it's on a poster site with a few minor alterations, headline and packshot basically. We're all guilty of it to one degree or another. The better way round seems to be leaving your desk, finding something in the real world, then looking it up on the internet afterwards. Boy do we spend a lot of time sat at our desks. It shouldn't be a desk job! One thing's for sure, regular people looking at the ads definitely won't be bothered.