Monday, April 13, 2009

Not Much

It has been a long time since I have posted here. There's probably nobody reading this blog anyway.

This entry will be true to the name of this blog - a haphazard musing...or two.

I am working on a Web-based social networking module that is to become part of the enterprise software product that the company I work for developed, so I have recently joined Facebook to see what the craze is all about. I'm not sure I get it, though I think I went through that phase (in a different way) back in the '80s when bulletin board systems were popular (otherwise known as a BBS). It reminds me of adolescence. Fun, but not very productive.

I can remember when "picture phones" were practically a science fiction concept, and I can remember when an elite few began carrying bulky mobile phones in their cars, yet it seemed there were very few people even interested in the concept. I can also remember being approached by a stranger while I was getting money out of an "All-Time Teller Machine" that my bank had just installed, and he asked me what the machine was for. I remember being one of the few who actually used it at the time, wondering why all those people inside the bank preferred to stand in line.

Perhaps people just didn't trust machines.

Now it seems that if you don't have a cell phone with a camera in it (and perhaps if you also can't get online with it, play your favorite MP3 tunes, or send text messages), you're just not cool - an old fart, perhaps. If you don't have a cell phone, an ATM card, and an account on MySpace, Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube, you simply do not belong in the 21st century. In fact, how many times have you heard the phrase already, "that's so 20th century!"

I see updates in people's Twitter and Facebook accounts so frequently that I sometimes wonder if they actually live inside their computer - in a virtual world somewhere. About the only entry I seem to have time to write is one that says, "I'm writing another entry here." I mean, would anybody really care what I was actually doing in between making posts online? Who has time to read it all? What good does it do? And who cares?

Are we creating a culture of virtual voyeurs? Or a culture of self-centered exhibitionists? Or is it really providing an avenue for social interaction to bring people together? Just where is this all leading to?

So many questions. Not the least of which, however, is why are cell phones so f-ing small? The one I have now is so sleek, that they forgot to add a feature to make it possible to open the damn thing. I actually missed a call once or twice because I could not get the lid to flip open. And I have dropped the phone a couple of times in the process. I have since figured out a way to hold it so that I can open it, though it takes both hands, and if I can avoid hitting the buttons on the side of the phone, I'm doing well.

What's the point of the freakin' lid, anyway, if they have active buttons on the side of the phone?! I can't put the phone in my pocket without it either taking a (black) picture, or dialing someone (my birth mother was happy that I called her the other day, even though it was entirely by accident).

I hate cell phones. I hate everything about them, except for one thing: it's nice to know that if my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere (which is basically where I live), I can call AAA. Assuming they can understand a word I say.

I always thought the future of computing was to become mobile - get off the desktop! But I'm not sure that combining it with vocal communication is the way to go (though I see that as but one feature of a mobile device). Perhaps one day someone will come up with a way to fix all the issues with voice (lag time, cut-outs, dropped calls, etc.), then maybe that won't be so annoying. I'd be happy with simplex. "Hi, this is Bill, over." "Hey, Bill, how's it going? Over." Then you don't get mixed signals from non-verbal communication - you know, the long pauses between responses that makes people start thinking negatively. I think they're called "Cingular moments" now?

Anyway, I am just astonished that Microsoft continues to try to improve their desktop operating system experience. It seems, though, about all they can do is create flashy graphics and impose annoying features that take up 16GB of disk space and 1GB of RAM just to give you access to your files without offering any real tools to help you live your life. You know, DO stuff.

When is all this technology actually going to start ENHANCING my life experience? To help me think better, remember things, perform tasks, do my chores, save money and time, etc. I guess once they become self-aware. But then if that happens, perhaps they'll want nothing to do with us.

I just wish I could find a way to make them earn money for me. Maybe I can tap into this social networking market somehow. I'm sure I can come up with a totally frivolous idea that wastes time and serves no purpose that people would happily pay $5 to play with.

Well, enough about that. How about I move on to musing #2?

I was on YouTube yesterday and came across a video of some guy vehemently spewing about the stupidity of some bumper stickers and the people that put them on their cars. And this guy was SERIOUS. Almost angry. I think his underlying message was, "how can these people be SO STUPID?!" But then, there's a lot of that kind of crap on YouTube.

But it made me think about some of the stupid bumper stickers that I have seen and the sort of judgmental thoughts it stirred up in my mind about how they must reflect on the driver. And there are two that really stuck out in my mind.

The first one was, "I hate stupid people!" My first reaction to reading that was, "how stupid!" And I laughed, because I thought this person must not know how much he hates himself. I mean, what kind of a statement is that? NOBODY is perfect, and EVERYBODY does something that at least can be perceived as stupid from time to time. And there are, truly, some truly stupid people in the world, but the bumper sticker made a statement that this person had absolutely no compassion for them.

Now, if the bumper sticker read, "I hate stupid drivers," then I may have been able to relate to it. But even I know that I cannot judge a person based on a single mistake. Not all stupid driving maneuvers are made by stupid people. It's just that there are thousands of people on the road (and some of them truly do not belong there), so you're bound to see people make mistakes. And it is the truly stupid drivers that stand out, that make us associate ALL bad moves to the driver being stupid. But now I'm on a tangent.

"I hate stupid people!" So what does that say about YOU?

The second bumper sticker that stands out in my mind was...and I quote:

"If animals weren't meant to be eaten, then why are they made of meat?"

I'm not even sure I know how to respond to that one. It's an argument that is trying to use the premise as its conclusion. Kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Turn it around and it says the same thing: "If meat wasn't meant to be eaten, then why is it made of animals?" It says nothing about whether either meat or animals are MEANT to be eaten. We CAN eat meat - after all, our digestive systems "know" how to break down meat. But that doesn't mean we're MEANT to eat meat. That implies intent from somewhere, which could only lead to a debate of a religious nature.

Perhaps I will have a bumper sticker made that reads, "if onions were meant to be eaten, then why are they made of onions?" I can't eat onions. I won't eat onions. In my opinion, onions should not exist, much less be eaten. I simply cannot hold anything down if I get onion in my mouth. Yet, I know people who actually enjoy eating onions in their food. People who think they actually taste good. People who don't go into dry heaves long after they've expelled the contents of their stomachs after biting into an onion - who, in fact, don't even gag!

It is truly a mystery to me, but I hardly think anything is MEANT to be anything, one way or the other. Everything simply is what it is, it serves whatever purpose others who interact with it decree that it serves, and some people can deal with it, and others can't. I think it is called "life." And life has whatever meaning you give to it.

With that, I have to say goodnight, for I must rejuvenate my body through sleep so that I may continue this cycle another day.

Enjoy whatever comes your way!