Confessions of a Quasi-Technophobe...
Before I get started, I have to give a REAL shout-out to Cindy Joyner , head of our city's Neighborhood Code Enforcement.
As a postscript to yesterday's post about that house across the street that 2 guys TRIED to get into...well, she dispatched an officer to the address and within an hour or so, the NCE officer was on scene and the window was boarded up (professionally, I might add) and the rest of the accesses were secured.









Nice job, people...wish the city LEADERS were as adept and efficient as YOU folks are.
And now (as Paul Harvey would say)...the REST...of the story...
Anyone who really knows me (or has been following this blog over the last 3 years) has come to know that I have a "love-hate" relationship whenever it comes down to TECHNOLOGY.
I love what it can DO (when it operates correctly in the right hands) and yet detest what people wind up doing WITH it (when they do NOT know how to properly utilize it, or exploit it to some perverse degree).
Now, much of what we have at our disposal is driven not such much by making our lives BETTER...or EASIER, but by a simple thing called MARKETING. And from a capitalist standpoint, it works damn well.
The trouble comes when SO MUCH of this tech is thrust at us SO fast, we barely get used to the "old" new tech before the "new" new tech is in our stores.
Many of us wind up in some techno-limbo suffering from sensory overload.
I STILL have a (well-working) BETA VCR, as well as TWO VHS models (one has a DVD player), and I can RECORD something on tape ANY damn time I want to. Then there is all the AUDIO media I still have (except 8-tracks)...loads of VINYL and cassettes with fully-functioning players for both.
Our TV sets are STILL both CRT driven...none of the plasma, LCD, LED ones (yet), and I will strive to keep these old beasts operating as long as I can.
We ALL know the potential problems when computers run our automobiles for us, don't we...I mean even GM has joined the fray when it comes to recent recalls, so we won't even get into that right now.
Personally, I'm really holding out for those personal JET PACKS like the one in THE ROCKETEER or COMMANDO CODY!!!
When it comes to our (ahem) computers...we're unfortunately held hostage by whatever is coming down the pike, because the SUPPORT technology keeps being evolved damn near every other week. (I swear they're watching me...LOL)
More clock speed, more memory, more peripherals...AND more money (many of us could better spend elsewhere) being shelled out.
Makes 'ya wonder WHERE it will all end, doesn't it?
(personal implants...linked to the web - all data, all the time. Now THAT 'S scary sh*t)
Considering all we can DO with computers, we're pretty much shanghaied into "needing" one (or in our case...neeeding about THREE...just in case something takes a dirt nap...lol).
Hell, I even still have a PLAYSTATION...that's right, the ORIGINAL model.
And I have some games I haven't reached the end of yet...no biggie. Gives me reason to live another 30 years...!
There are a few games I have "mastered" to some degree, and I still get a kick out of revisiting them from time to time.
But I do not, nor will not spend every waking hour stupefied in front of the television, playing hour after hour like some automaton (as many of our kids wind up doing).
It's a game...and ONLY a game.
Sure, we have DOOM II (always good for a laugh when you have INVINCIBILITY turned on), as well as QUAKE II (got stuck on one level and decided to use the disc and case as a coaster, for which it serves admirably).
But aside from that, we're not "needing" to get anything more up-to-date...not just yet, anyway.
We have other things like house maintenance, car maintenance...you know, "dumb" stuff like that, along with paying utility bills and feeling the want to feed ourselves from time to time that tends to pull us away from doing nothing but sitting in front of the TV playing a video game.
In many ways, I view much of my neighborhood as life's "video game"...and we have all the "bad guys" to prove it.
My only complaint is that there is no BFG to look for...!
(BFG means Big F$cking Gun in case you were wondering)
Plus, I don't get ANY "points" for offing these hoards of creatures...(damn shame...would go a LONG way towards "urban renewal").
And the worst part of all...NO CHEAT CODES...LOL!
The missus and I have been contemplating the "need" for a LAND LINE PHONE...do we REALLY need one?
To date, I still don't even have a cell phone for myself.
I suppose it would be an OK "Plan B"...just in case.
Well, all things considered, it IS nice to have something that doesn't rely on some invisible technology (like the nearest cellphone tower) to operate. It's great to be able to communicate with "the outside world" in this manner. You can't say that with cells when they go bad.
Then, there's the BATTERY issue.
Can't recharge a cell phone all that well when the POWER craps out...can you?
BUT, I can still use a land line phone if we lose power...separate circuits, you see. Remarkable, yes?
Sometimes, that "low-tech" stuff comes in pretty damn handy, don'cha think?
Yeah, all this technocrap is a mixed bag for me...
I mean, I'm certainly not doing what that Fort Wayne man did in Indy when he rigged himself with a "boot camera" to take UPSKIRT PICS of women in a mall...
And the current "law" states that this is OK...that will quickly change with a nicely written AMENDMENT to that law.
This is a perfect example of technology being exploited for personal self-indulgence, not to mention infringing on other peoples' right to PRIVACY.
If there is a new technology out there, there will ALWAYS be some fringe element that will find SOME way to bastardize it into something hedonistic and totally off pace with what the original intent of that tech was designed for.
And therein lies a problem...finding people who are capable of thinking LIKE these people who will pervert a technological item in order to prevent such things from happening in the first place.
We always believed that in order to CATCH a criminal, one must begin to THINK like a criminal.
You want to dump some new tech on people...you best first figure out HOW it will be perverted BEFORE you release it to the unwashed masses. Look for flaws in the usage of it...then figure how you can defeat it, then think even beyond that, in order to have everyone know ahead of time that using such devices will be a lot more beneficial to them, and a lot less angst-ridden.
Come to think of it, that's kind how AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE got started...all it took was one idiot not paying attention and crashing his car way back when...and PRESTO, the car insurance industry was created.
Someone had the foresight to see into our future, as ti were...to see beyond the here and now.
Perhaps, with whatever technology looms on our horizon, someone will be paying attention.
And hopefully, we can educate ourselves along the way.
Because we all know that the best person capable of looking out for ourselves is NOT the government, nor a marketing or sale guru.
The best person is OURSELVES.
Knowledge is power, and every one of us has the same opportunity to avail ourselves OF that knowledge.
Or...we could just hit the "RESET" button and start the whole game over.
It's still OUR choice...always has been...always will be.
Make a difference somewhere today, and...
Stay safe out there, America.