It Knows What You Want

It is May 25th today. For Douglas Adam Fans it's Towel Day. http://towelday.org/ Celebrated since 2001 in honor of the Author who had all the real answer (which is 42 as we all Know.)
I spent the last half of my shift at Big 'Ole Box of Books, reminding everyone to have their towel ready for Tues. Zac the 20 yr. old guy in Movies said I have an IPAD therefore I am all set. he than referred me to the following article.  (these Young'uns I tell ya)  http://matthewbenson.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/is-the-ipad-douglas-adams-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/
 
I told him that he wins.  What I never expected was the fact the PE topic I would see when I arrived home would be a continuation of the conversation we were having just a bit early in the evening. 
 
Remember your towels everyone & don't forget to answer 42 to every ? asked.. And oh yeah So Long & thanks for the fish...
 
 
 

Stoney: You are a genius, You can write an iPad app for contruction and use of this well-thought-out, non-lethal, effective and humane bug and squirrel dispersing ammo. Perhaps with tips for different techniques and tasking, in different parts of the country (those palmetto bugs might need a separate program with perhaps a heftier ammo like grape nuts), even visualizing usage is extremely enjoyable. How nice to have a plausible and appealing alternative to video games and DVD's for parent child bonding, (or even spousal bonding, why should the kids have all the fun? I'm not spitballing here when I say I'd sign up for your email list to procure the first of these new apps as soon as they became available....

Stoney,   I  love  your  idea.   Luckily  you  have  not  been  discovered  by  one  of   those  evil  James  Bond   villians,   they  surely  would  torture  or  drug  you,    and  apply  dangerous  adaptations  of  your  creative  mind  to  seek  world  domination.....
 
Rings  90:   The  answer  is  42.
 
JaxZ:   Insomniac  theatre  night?    My  guess  is   that  you  are  still  in  recovery  mode  after  you  fell  asleep  in  that  hammock  &  overslept,   messing  up  your  body's  natural  sleep  cycle.   Hate  it  when  that  happens!

This is the most confusing topic I have encountered here yet..... I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole.
 
STONEY...... very confused. you seem not to be.
 
RINGS....... 42!
 
JAX..... what is an app?
 
BERT..... your post is not confusing.

Stoney -- image overload there :) 
 
If a Blackberry is considered a gadget, then yes, I stand before the group confessing to all that I am a gadgetholic.  I love my Blackberry.  Now before we start casting stones, shouting "get help", remember that I'm hearing impaired so my beloved Blackberry keeps me in touch with all those (and they number in the 'a lot' category) who simply do not want to be bothered using Relay when they call......so bring those gadgets on.  Sometimes, every now and then, one just striked a chord.  But mostly, I'm just confused by all that they do.......but, I have been looking at that little iTouch --- that's neat.

ANDY... So glad that you have something that keeps you in touch w/ others, that's wonderful!
 
What is relay?

iPad musing. iThink it's never about the gadget as all devices (matter) are morally neutral; it's about the person using it or abusing it. We either own things or they own us. And even that ownership in historical terms is more like a short term lease. I buy and use things to the extent that they assist me in being a player while I am still in this crazy game I invented for myself. Playing is fun when the gadgets are viewed as toys, useful but limited. One day, I may opt out pick up my pieces and then I may choose another game, something simpler but until then. I am either in or out or somewhere in between trapped in a time warp of the 60's, 70's, 80's...

Bebe -- relay is for the deaf and hard of hearing -- you dial a number first, giving you an operator who will then "relay" the conversation between the person to whom you wish to speak and yourself.  Since I'm still speaking, people who use it to to call me, dial into "voice carry-over" -- the operator types their conversation to me and I reply using speech.  My phone looks like a regular phone, it has a small window at the top, much like yours probably does, only instead of displaying, for instance, a telephone number, it displays two lines of text at a time.  It's wonderful for me.  Difficult since it lacks a certain spontaneity and many people don't like to use it, as well, there is an operator between you so it's just a little inhibiting.....though in this case at least you know someone is listening in as opposed to ... well, not.  :)
 
Hope that wasn't too long an answer for a short question.
 
With the technology available these days, there are many things determined "gadgets" that end up be life-saving for some of us. 

For those of us used to useing a pen and paper to complete simple tasks, the iPad just seems like a good writing surface and not much more.  I am afraid that a day will come when reading a map will be a lost skill because we can talk to our GPS and have it carry us blindly into oblivion.  Cars that parallel park themselves?  Invent something actually useful... like a self applicating condom!  My opinion- get back to the basics.  I never experienced a yellow book, or a map, or a backyard game of bocci with the family running out of power. 
 
I am not going to say that technology hasnt improved all of our lives, but at the same time technology is appearing to run our lives.
 
 

Chris, in some ways, I agree -- just ask a kid to add something up without a calculator.  As well, it's taken the place of what I think are simple courtesies as the handwriten "thank you" note instead of a "hey, thanks for the gift" on Facebook :)

Questions, questions.

Aren't we just monkeys with fancy sticks?

What determines "toy or tool"?

How can "it" know what it want when I don't?

Does anyone here ,besides me , remember how to use a sliderule?

Who let on I was wearing nothing but my hat?

I really want an iPad. I don't think I would buy/ use many, if any ,of the apps.

The convenience of a lightweight "reader" with the email/web availability sounds good.

I have a couple of friends with iPads, so I have had a chance to check one out first hand.

A little parental supervision and discipline goes a long way in prevention of psychological overload due to video games/ DVD watching.

"Gadget" has come a long way...

Every Christmas, while my brothers and I were emptying small toys, nuts and the traditional tangerine out of our stockings, my mom was ooo-ing and ahh-ing, and sometime puzzling over the new raft of kitchen gadgets tucked into her stocking by a very thoughtful Santa. Some of those gadgets (usually the simplest) came in really handy; others made good garden diggers for the kids. Strange thing was, we really didn't know which was which until we'd tried them.

Orange peeler thingy? Keeper! Great for when you don't have sufficient fingernails or conversely, you DO have a fresh manicure.

Melon baller? Well... it works, but it's better for meatballs.

Mango slicer? Toss it. It's not even a good gardening implement.

I can't remember the uses for most of the rejects.

The point is, somebody thought every one of them would be a great time/work saver. And it probably was in their household. But for the general populace they were pretty useless.

When it comes to today's electronic gadgets, an awful lot of research is put into making sure they will be useful. But for some of us... not so much. I succumbed to the iPhone, and I love it. I don't see the need for the iPad. Not for now anyway.

Best modern kitchen gadget, in my estimation: the Dough Hook!

Rings90 -- thanks for the heads up about Towel Day. I'll pass it on to the mice. Although they probably already know...

 
 
 
RoadYacht and karmaswimswami , must be out using their " Ronco" Popeil Pocket Fishermen.

Miss  Blue:   I  remember  how  to  use  a  slide  rule.    Then  again,  as  a  smarty-pants  neophyte  lawyer  at  a  continuing  legal  education  seminar  once  muttered,   "HE  probably  remembers  how  to  work  an  ABACUS....."    lol

Rings: 42

Andy: I agree with TT that the gadget is morally neutral: one drink (or a daily one) certainly does not an alcoholic make. The fact that your gadget is used by you and improves quality of life, and not the opposite means (to me) that you are wise, not dependant. It was TDD's when my husband'saunt was alive, which was difficult to accept at first, but miraculous to her (and us) to use. We all must have arguments for either camp, only I (or those closest to me) can know if my gadgets are interfering or helping my quality of life.

Bebe~ An "app" is an application, a program written for a computer that performs a specific funtion. Some are very specific, (my dictionary, local weather, and alarm clock apps I use everyday on my phone). For me it means theres a little "button" with a simple picture of what the thingie does. I touch the button and it tells me what I want to know. No computer language, nothing difficult to remember. Good when I'm traveling and don't have Webster's in my pocket, a radio for weather, or an alarm clock that works in my hotel. But there are hundreds of thousands to chose from. Mine are pretty basic.

Bert: Bad dream. Checked in on the Eye to scare it away. :) Stoney's Squirrel & Bug startler (used my Dictionary app - startler is an actual word) did the trick. :)

 
 
 Bert,
 
Sexagesimal or decimal Abacus ? LOL

 
I should start going to bed earlier.

MISS BLUE...... A few years ago The New Yorker did a profile piece on Ron Popeil & it was fascinating. I always found him interesting from his infomercials & thought, "There's more to this guy than meets the eye..." I was correct. He seems to be a genius & it said when he was younger and living in NYC the secretaries in his building would try & schedule their lunches to coincide w/ his because he was so stunningly handsome.
 
Why I got off on that track I have no idea. you are probably like, "Thanks for the ramble."
 
ANDY... I think that's fantastic & a great explanation.... I understand it completely. Thanks!
 
JAX... also, ditto, great explanation. I always hear that term & wonder what it is & now I know. many thanks!

Krstina~ Tsk! tsk! Dough hook? The best part of bread-making is kneading the dough by hand & getting like a free shoulder massage at the same time. My favourite kitchen gizzmo is an ancient Mouli grinder.
 
God be with the days when a Swiss Army Knife had all the apps you needed.

Bebe~ Thanks! That may be the first time I've ever explained something computerish (beside Photo Shop) correctly! My computer literate husband would be shocked. ;)

Andy~ Writing a proper thank you note on stationary was mandatory with my kids, as well a writing letters to family members. Emails were more of "written phone calls"you could make at times you knew the recipient would be unavailable but it would be waiting for them when they were. Plus you could reread them at your leisure both before sending them on one end, and after recieving on the other. Now I'm incredibly happy when one of my friends (especially the older ones) tells me they got the most wonderful note from one of my kids. I doubt/hope they will let their own children FB a thank you either. Certainly not to me!

  
Something there is that sounds condescending about a word often preceded by little.

"Oh, you know your dad. He's down in his shop working on one of his little gadgets. I think he calls it 'the pay smaker' or something."

Does anyone else think it amusing that we're having this conversation (or ALL of our PE discussions), on our computers?

Whoops, doubt, hope NOT. Either way poorly constructed sentence!

Stoney: {{laughing}} Florence! Stop putting bandages on that doll! No, you don't NEED to wash your hands with hot water, cold works just fine!

Louis P! What are you doing with all that bizarre lab equipment?! Find a nice girl and settle dowm!

Well off to PT where my tiny iPod shuffle will get me through painful 130 lb leg-presses and other dreaded excercise with some nice, driving beat music only I can hear...
Ta y'all. :)

Since I have no gadgets more interesting than a calculator, a Swiss Army knife, a Chinese rain stick, a kaleidoscope, a corkscrew and paper clips... I went webbing to see what else might qualify. I went straight to the font of all knowledge, Wikapedia, and learned that the first atomic bomb was nicknamed the gadget.  Some of you may have already known this. Makes all others seem, well...minuscule.   Of all the gadgets mentioned here, real or imagined, the one that has me stumped is yours Chris...what exactly would a self applicating condom do?  Now a self-aggrandizing condom might make all others seem, well...minuscule.  

I see the Ipad and I can't help but think . . . how do I type on it? I know, it has a touch-screen keyboard, but I think my fingers would completely go through the screen after a few months of typing on a story.

But it also makes me think that we are moving closer and closer to Star Trek. From the original series, we got the basic design for a flip-phone. From the Next Generation, that flip-phone was hooked up to a hands-free device, sort of a combo of bluetooth and jewelry. But, and I only noticed due to some end-of-semester insomnia, they also had many small tablet-computers, sort of a cross between an Ipad (function) and a Kindle (size). And if you watch, they use those for pretty much everything (except reading books. All of their books look to be copies from pre-1950.).

So, I just have to ask . . . .

Where the hell is my hovercraft?

 
Speaking of useful gadgetry, our auto GPS went peculiar often breaking, at the most inopportune moments, into what seems like a demo commercial for persons who do not already own one.

It was never what it ought to have been in adapting to a course change and re-calibrating: "Turn back, turn back now. Take the next left and then, take the next left," but it was helpful until it wasn't except in Door County, Wisconsin where evidently the cherry trees sent it reeling.

The software update that is "offered" on the company's web site does not exist and yet they still sell that exact model for almost $400.00.

I wouldn't call the chap (Rick from Lahore?) who gave out a lot of information that proved not to be true a liar. He had never seen one and was saying what he had been taught to say.

 

Miss  Blue:    I  mean  this  with  all  due  respect,   but  could  it  be  that  you  also  suffer  from  TOO MUCH  FORMAL  EDUCATON  SYNDROME???   LOL
 
JaxZ:    Would  you  be  willing  to  give  a  short  presentation  to  our  neophyte  lawyers?   Your  topic  would  be  "Do  you  think  we  bought  you  guys  dictionaries  as  desk  ornaments?"  .....
lol   I'll  throw  in  a  lunch  someplace  nice.   Tonight  I'm  taking  one  of  them  and  our  new  paralegal  to  a  quiet  little  Italian  place,   I  highly  recommend  the  eggplant  parmisan,  perhaps with  a  few medallions  of  veal  thrown  in.....    You  aren't  afraid  to let  us know  when  you  don't  know,   a  delightful  tactic  that  makes  everybody  at  The  Eye  smarter.    The  new  lawyer,  and  perhaps  the  new  paralegal?   Still  afraid  I'll  think less  of  them, meaning  I  gotta  convince  them  that  when  they  return  from  their  first  solo  mission  I'm  getting  really  really  concerned  that  {metaphorically speaking}  we  may  have  to  put  foam  on  the  runway.....

p-a-r-m-e-s-a-n,    sorry.....need  spellcheck,  or  someody  return my  dictionary

MISS BLUE:  I still use a Slide Rule, at least once a month, and I have two well used and still very serviceable Pocker Fishermen in the Trunk of one of my Cars ... They go with me wherever I go ... My Dad bought them in 1955, and when he and I travelled by Car together, we would often stop in some likely place and wet a line, for a little relaxation and a Coldbeer ... Sometimes, even an RC anna Moon Pie ....... You'd be surprised what will strike on a chunk of Moon Pie ... or a Cheetoh ....... thats why Guidunks like that are called, "Poagie Bait"  in the South ... I have maintained the same Ritual with all my kids ... When those two Pocket Fishermen were new, they cost only, $4.99 ....... Because of Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton wannabe's, the shortage of Plastic has driven the Price upo to around $20.00 ....... You know, it was those two who put Tupperware out of business ...

  
Jalopkin,

It drove a pal crazy that I carried a 4 1/2 foot ultralight, little containers of bait and an ice chest stopping at every easily accessible stream crossing.

The appealingly tarty and slightly tipsy daughter of one of our bosses eavesdropping  on an unrelated conversation at the bar after a meeting, said to me: "That was a funny story... What's your sign?"

"That's easy," answered my friend sighing deeply, "Narrow Bridge."

Jalopkin:  I've had  a  Popeil  Pocket  Fisherman  in  the  trunk  for  years.    Even  with  a  lake  behind  my house,  you  never  know  where  you'll  wind  up.   Fishing  is  a  great  icebreaker,  for  initiating  trust  with  another  man.   The  CEO  will  give  up the formula  for  Coca  Cola,  if  you  get  him  is  a  bass  boat,  and  the  lunkers  are  waiting  for  his  casts  from  their  home  in  the  tall  weeds.....
 
Peterman's  new  catalog  has featured  a  book  about  Pablo  Picasso.    Don't  especially  care  for  his  more  abstract  pieces,   but  dang  any  man  who  cranked  out  children  while  in  his  80's  deserves  respect,  AND  it  happened  before  Viagra  &  Cialus.....lol 

Stoney -- I love my GPS -- I get lost in the living room ... so it's invaluable to me.  However, I do keep the sound off --- my husband would probably throw it out the window otherwise.  I do agree though, that pesky update thingie -- haven't done it yet, I just put in addresses or if I must use a name of a business, I use a previous one.
 
Bert - ah Picasso -- I agre that some of the more abstract pieces are just "eh" -- but there are some of his works that I just love.  And yes, you do have to respect that 80-year old libido.

 
Bert & Andy,

Wow, including PP, that makes three of you who believe those were his kids.

I am looking to get another GPS and as part of the process sent a crabby e-mail to the corporate offices of one of the big box electronics stores complaining that it takes five minutes or longer for someone on the floor to pick up a call and the music that blasts while you wait is unbearably loud.

The e-mail I got in response is a hoot but it would be rude to post it.

What if:  some evil force takes over your GPS when you're driving somewhere, and because you're accustomed nowadays not to pay attention to where you're going, to just listen to your GPS, you wind up some place you really didn't want to go to, and when you try to get out of the bad place, all you hear from your GPS thingy is the sound of evil laughter.
 
 
It could happen.
 
I mean, you don't really know how that thing works, you think you do, but you really don't, because it was the evil forces that wrote the explanation you read.
 
 
I am not paranoid, I just know all about evil forces and I trust no one. 

iPad, here's what I want: I want to be able to write on you like a pad of paper, have you decipher it, type it out for me,  spell check and proof  it for me...but you already knew that.

Right, damselfly.  I agree.  
 
Kind of like an etch-a-sketch, but better.
 
 

Stoney:   We  now  have  DNA  technology  that  can  conclusively  eliminate  Picasso  as  the  father  of  those  kids,   just  test  Mom  &  the  kids,  and  known  Picasso  adult  siblings  from  other  relationships.....
 
Andy:  Call  me  crazy,  but  I  like  that  sculpture  in front  of  the   Dirksen  Federal  Building  in  Chicago.....

I love the image accompanying today's topic. I've printed out on my colour prrinter and attached it to the top of my monitor in the hopes that it will be a conversation starter.
 
I had thought about getting an iPad when my 12-year old HP laptop finally goes to the big computer graveyard in the sky since it looks cool and in some ways it seems like a bigger version of my iPhone (which I really like now that I have it). But...
 
I have never been completely comfortable with the (supposedly) intuitive interface of Mac computers. HAlf the time I can't find what I'm looking ofr or the file isn't saved to where I thought it was and I spend more time being frustrated than getting work done. I understand that other people don't have this problem and the more power to them. I know that there are people who tear their hair out when using a PC while I have no troubles with it. Different people's brains process information differently.
 
But the main reason I think I'm going to stick with a PC laptop/notebook is that I can't type without the physical feedback of "clicky" spring-response keys. Typing on my iPhone is annoying not just because of the tiny size of hte "keys" but because I don't get the feedback I'm used to. It must have something with learning to type on a manual Smith Corona typewriter all those years ago.
 
As far as other gadgets go, I'm sort of interested in getting a GPS, but mostly for being able to relocate "secret" dive sites the next time I go to the Florida Keys. I like finding my own way when I drive and my trusty glovebox full of maps and the pad of sticky notes with any unfamiliar destination addresses work fine for me.
 
Oh, Kristina, I completely agree with you about the dough hook on the days when my fibromyalgia is acting up.
 
Michael, I've been asking "where is my flying car?" since I was twelve. I mean we had men walking on the moon when I was 6 years old! And yes, isn' it interesting to see how many "utterly necessary" gadgets we use today look a lot like the stuff they pretended to use in science fiction TV shows?
 
Well, time to get back to proofreading the lab report that's due this afternoon in biology class. One week until that final exam and the Greek Archeology and Art final exam is a week later. And I still have to type up my paper on classical and archaic Greek art. At least its all "written out" in my head. Now I just have to type it up in the correct format.
 
Take care everyone! Oh, yes, the oil and tar balls that had washed up on Key West weren't from the Deepwater Horizon spill and so far everthing looks good for my trip to the Keys in 19 days.
 
Hugs to all!

Bert and Stoney Do we really need to know if it's a true Picasso?  Didn't DaVinci and Michelangelo use studio artists to create their work once it was conceptualized (I almost said conceived)?  DK I have a friend vacationing this week in Gulf Shores.  I will give you a full report when he returns. Miss Blue, as Randy Newman says you can leave your hat on...you give me reason to live.

Park4:  We  live  in  a  country  where  cheeseburgers  usually  contain  no  real  cheese.   "Natural"  has  no  legal  or  dietary  meaning  whatsoever.   Elections  ultimately  come  down  to  picking  between  the  candidates  with  the  highest  threshold  for  shoveling  metaphorical  excrement,  "ideal" candidates  don't  want  to  nor  could  their  ever  get  elected.   So  maybe GPS  might  include  a  secret  device,  sending  our  thought  waves  in  the  opposite  direction......   Frankly most  people's  thoughts  likely  aren't  worth  categorizing,  collating,  censoring.... Hypnotists say  nobody  can  do anything  under  hypnosis  they  really  are  opposed  to doing.   But  why  should  you  trust  that  opinion? 

Park IF that evil force took over, and I'm convinced that it sometimes does, I would have to find a family to adopt me :)

Bert: I'll take you up on the lunch/dinner offer, but I still trip over the paradox of looking up a word I don't know how to spell (although the app tries to help me with that, whereas Websters just sits there judgementally), and the bane is the words that slip by because I didn't realize I mispelled them (which many of us experience here right after we hit SEND). The foam on the runway was funny.... And you need a Lab or Golden Retriever puppy with big brown eyes to give you warm fuzzies over the general state of things. You have waaaaaay to much reality in your life (battle fatigue) and need some antidote. ;)

Damselfly~ There's a tablet with "pen" tool for professional photo editing that actually does what you're asking for so it can't be too terribly long before they have the app for iPads or some other equivalent you desire... It also can be hooked to a program you dictate to verbally, but it requires rigorous spell-check for sound-a-like words.

I'm easy, I just want "Jarvis" The Computer (Jude Law's voice *sigh*) from Iron Man I & II, and the cute little robot with the fire-extinguisher..... (sorry those of you who don't go to the movies, I do see some "popcorn" movies with my oldest grandson).

DK~ I'm so glad your trip went well. And I've wanted my flying car since Johnny Quest and The Jetsons. :)

Gadgets!!! There are some useful ones, I admit. But there are two in particular on my mind right now...those that don't work, and those that don't exist...
 
To wit:
 
I just tried to send an email to the Peterman shopping site, and it won't accept 6 or six as the anti-spam answer to "what is 2 plus 4?" Broken gadget. 
 
I'm now twice as frustrated as I was a few minutes ago. Which isn't all that frustrated, really...on a scale of 1 - 10, I'm at about 3. But then, I deal with computers for a living, when I'm not teaching English kids who know they know it all, so my frustration quotient, that is, FQ (it's phonetic, doncha know!) has a fairly high threshold.
 
Anyway, it all started because I'm wholly desirous of some trousers in OM#78, and find that, once again, Mr. J. Peterman has not listed the inseams of the women's trousers. Mens' trousers can be hemmed to 37" or cuffed at 34", the OM informs us. Women, however, have to call Customer Service in order to find out that, in Mr. J. Peterman's EYE, they evidently all have legs that are no longer than 31". Or maybe there are women with legs longer than that (like myself, perhaps?) but evidently Mr. J Peterman doesn't want to see them in his womens' trousers.
 
Who knows?
 
What I want is a gadget that will take the lovely WOMEN's clothes in Mr. J Peterman's OMs and make them fit me--all that need happen is that the sleeves and inseams get longer, and the shoulders just a wee bit broader....and I'm no Amazon--5'10" and 138#. I'm sure there are women my size and shape whose money is just as green as any man's and who would be happy to give it to Mr. J Peterman in exchange for trousers that FIT them!
 
Gadgets, eh? One broken, and one improbable. Rant over.
 
 

that is, English TO kids who know they know it all...

They really need to make that "You Missed Your Turn" part of the GPS system a little more . . . realistic.

"You idiot, you were supposed to turn back there. Do you have any idea how long it is going to take you to get back on track? First I have to FIND the new path, then work around all this construction that you just got us stuck in. Then . . . " and just have it dissolve into mumbling.

Michael, then the wife would have nothing to do.

Further Thinking . . .

Welcome to the future, where everything is built to be replaced. That $800 you just spent on an Ipad insures you no more than 2 years usage, and that is pushing it. At that point, the tech will be obsolete and the machine itself will have developed indigestion. You will then need to fork over another $800 (or more) to replace it with the NEXT big new thing, which is currently in development.

Where is the computer that is built to last 5 years? Or 10? Where are the cars being built that will be passed down to your grandchildren? Where is the cell phone that will have the staying power of an old rotary phone (my grandfather had one that lasted about 20 years)?

We complain about trash, but fill our lives with temporary possessions. Jalopkin mentioned his pocket fishermen. Do the new ones by the same company have the staying power of the oldies?

Michael: They actually DO have stuff like that! They have celebrity voices doing the directions. I watched a British late night talk show clip on it, it was very funny. They played two or three responses and each actor used bits of their more famous charachter dialogs.

Hey, what do you get if you cross a mouse, the e-coli bacteria and a pig?
 
The Enviropig.
 
Really.

Michael:  you have my vote for Bling for the Day (3:20 PM).  It's all true what you wrote, we gripe about the junk we pour into land set aside to receive garbage fills, but we make more of it, and demand the newest of it, and then we're back to the junk we pour into landfills.
 
By Christmas, count on it, there will be a new version of everything.  By January there will be articles on de-cluttering and simplifying our lives.  By February the AmEx bill will arrive with thousands of dollars worth of gadgets that we bought the gadget lovers for Christmas ... and so it goes.
 
I think it's all nuts, I like pens that are called writing instruments, I like black Moleskine notebooks from Barnes and Noble, and I do like one gadget, my IPod, but if you know me well, you'll know that's the one and only IPod I'll ever own, no matter how old it gets.  And you'll know it was a gift, because I'd never have bought one, myself.
 
That said, I think I'll go download some music from Itunes.  It's time for some "Summertime Blues."

Jaxz:    Thanks  so  much,  your  even  and  steadying  hand  helps me get  left  of  the  boom....
 
Miss  Blue:  I'm  certain  that  you  know  this,  but  paolos  just  gave  you  an  extreme  compliment.....

Yesterday was snail day.
Who had escargot?
I'll be serving that delicacy on the sepia train tonight with vodka martinis a day late but good any night.

VBaker220:    Feel  good  about  yourself,   my  16  year  old  has  your  exact  dimensions,  and she's  "no  Amazon"  either.....lol     You're  right,  Peterman  does  NOT  give  out  the  same  catalog  size  information  for  women's  stuff,  I  must  assume  like  you  that  they  think  all  women  are  5'7"  or  under.   Found  that  out  trying  to  see  if  I  could  get  her  classier  stuff  to  wear  at  an  affordable  price,  Peterman's  ok  that  way.   She,  however,  insists  on  jeans,  including  "new"  ones  that  look  like  they are  20  years  old  and  taken  from  someone  from  the  homeless  &  addicted  shelter....mercifully  she  accepts  mall  stores,   please  never  ever  tell  her  that  Dolce  Gabbana  sells  the  same  thing,  at  $700.    To  afford  them  for  my  kid,   I'd  have  to  buy  from  their  semi-secret  "worn  only  once,  by  a  runway model"  outlet,  IF  the  have  her  size,  and  THEN  even  with  $75%  off  the  jeans  cost  $175.....and  look  as  previously  described.   This  parenting  thing  is  complicated.....

Park4: I was in Barnes&Nobel a couple weeks ago. They had a whole Moleskine display set up. I stood there for about 10 minutes, trying to decide. It was a very pleasant torture.

And, since I'm such a nice guy, here's something just for you . . .

http://www.moleskine.com/

DancingKatz: It is hard to live in the future without flying cars.

"Then the names of all the other things on board a ship! I don't know half of them yet; even the sailors forget at times, and if the exact name of anything they want happens to slip from their memory, they call it a chicken-fixing, or a gadjet, or a gill-guy, or a timmey-noggy, or a wim-wom - just pro tem., you know".   

...Or device, doodad, doohickey, gizmo, widget, whatsis, gimcrack, dojigger, whatyamacallit,  thingamajig, thingamabob, jigger, doodah or whatever.

I'm not much of a gadget or techno aficionado or collector. I do, however, like to keep up with at least basic technology. It keeps the cerebral gears from rusting and therefore has an anti-aging effect on one's brain.(Now imagine a cross section of brain with a Rube Goldberg assortment of spinning gears, flipping levers, rolling balls, winding tubes, falling dominoes; well you get the idea)

My dear Ivan, I must tell you the story, one day, of the "deli fisherman".

I'll have a Moon pie and an Ara-cee in your honor.

Time to "sail away".

Thanks paolos( and Bert)....I think.

I still want to know, who let on I was wearing nothing but my hat?

Gadget day? My personal favorite is my Leatherman. Not as informative as my MacBook but definitely as useful.

Spell check is magic- my last job, I had to write up reports on home visits to clients the length & breadth of Wales, which included the home address of the client. I wish I'd kept a notebook of the alternative spelling suggestions my trusty old PC came up with for Welsh place names. It had the makings of one of those silly coffee-table books.
In a similar vein, the book of instructions that come with some gadgets, arduously translated into English from Japanese or whatever by some well-meaning but incompetent linguist make entertaining, but unenlightening reading.
 
Buying clothes.... OMG, I'm tiny & I have awful trouble finding things that FIT.
 
I remember as a child being told off for reading at the dinner table, or in the company of guests. These days, dinner guests think nothing of attending to the bleepings of their gadgets, children do not bother to say "hello" when you call by to see their Mom, 'cos they're riveted to their gadgets, pedestrians collide with you 'cos they're messing with their iPad or cell phone, my son, when he visits will spend ages checking his E-mail, Facebook- one time, he was checking the local weather forecast  at the same time it was up on the TV screen, for heaven's sake! My ex-husband would text my cell phone from the bottom of the garden to request liquid refreshment as he was toiling with the mowing. Whatever happened to face-to-face communication? And paying courtesy & attention to real people around you?
 

Michael: I could hear serious echos of my grandfather saying the exact same things with different words. He wore the same trousers from his WWI army uniform his entire life and they never wore out. Everything was made better, lasted longer. It's true. They would not part with a single hard-earned cent unless they knew it was utterly worth it and neccessary.

Life moves forward. Does willpower? Companies give us what we demand. If the demand is for the instant gratification of large quatities of cheap, inferior goods because I can't wait to save up for a well-made, more expensive model, then it's my fault as the consumer for feeding and upholding the system (which then hurts my neighbors and family because their jobs get shipped overseas to meet that demand). No one forces me to buy the disposable things that fill our dumps. My computer is 4 years old and running perfectly. My prior one I had for 7 years before giving it to my kids who've been using it for another 4 years and it's still running great.

No one will make me buy anything. I choose. I vote with my wallet for the quantity and the quality level of the things in my life. Across the board angst or anger doesn't really solve the problem does it? And who decides about the propriety of how someone else spends their income? Whether the money they toiled to earn should be spent on an iPad from Taiwan or a pad of paper with a cover that came from England, a pen with a certain name or a particular type of car, home, clothing, jewelry? It's personal. I take responsibilitiy for my choices. I hope I raised my children to. I've got my sneaky Grandmother time to work on that with the next group. We all work to help clean up after those who don't take responsibilty, like any family. But the power for the answer I believe starts with me the individual.

Excuse me for wandering in without reading everything above, but has anyone else noticed how many gadgets and labor saving devices allow us to do for ourselves what we formerly had others do for us?  Cynthia- I would suggest that your leatherman is a lot more useful than your MacBook if you are looking to drive nails or even screws- a Mac will eventually break long before the nail goes in.

WT - you are so right!

Ohhhhh, Leatherman's are never obsolete. And I've never broken one either. Had them stolen, yes, but never broken.

Thank you Michael!  They are perfect notebooks, I think.  I only have one, it's small so I can take it with me, and I wanted to decide if I liked them, and I like them, alright.  I never met a notebook I liked so much.  Do you have one or two or ...  I'm thinking about buying #2, but I also need a "writing instrument" and oh, you're right, sweet torture.
 
again, thanks for the website...sigh....you have wonderful taste, did I ever tell you that?

Park4: I worked in a bookstore for several years, and used my discount several times to get moleskines. I have several small ones, just waiting for me to need them. I have a few larger ones that I use for storys. I have some 1/3 sized, soft-backed pocket ones that I stick in my pocket at the same time I put in my wallet.

For the larger ones, I use a fountain pen. For the pocket ones, I have a half-sized pen that is perfect for sticking in my jeans pocket for emergency inspiration.

In so many ways I was born into the wrong century.....I'm so gadget-challenged that it goes beyond the humorous "smirk, smirk....look at that...."  to the absolute "what?!!!  Just.....oh! never mind, let me before you screw the whole thing up....!"  Mercifully, my husband has finally to grips with my complete and utter mechanical/gadget/electrical imbecility, but others are still shocked and horrified that someone like me exists!   Andy--after having "read" 3 students through graduate school (2 of them in law school) who were blind (seriously vision impaired!)  I have a great deal of respect and awe for any device that enable everyone to participate more fully in all that life has to offer and eliminates some of the challenges that they face.      Miss Blue--languidly paging through Peterman's OM 78 I saw your moniker and recalled having you come up before.....is there something you're not telling us?  (viz.pg 38 OM 78)    Michael, thanks for the molesking link.  Was pondering moleskin while perusing Levenger......having finally cleaned up a couple fountain pens and returned them to working order now may be the time to moleskin!

JaxZ~ I'm intrigued by the notion of your Grandfather wearing the same trousers since WW1- they must have got a bit smelly! Or maybe he just stayed home in his underpants when the trousers were at the cleaners?
I don't agree that companies give us what we demand, they come up with a product & do their damndest to convince us that we need it. Once we get it, more often than not, we find we don't need it, so it ends up in a garage sale or landfill site.
I have gadgets stashed, wasting space in my kitchen that it would take more time & trouble to find than to do the job by hand.
My dear old PC was so ancient it had a compartment in one side where you shovelled coal in- it still works & has loads of memory, so I use its skyscraper tower as a back-up & kids use it to play games that you can't buy anymore & won't download onto their gadgets. Ha!
 
What are Leatherman's????

Hazel~ Yes, he never took them off. Not once. {{laughing}} Actually he worked in them (He was a farmer). And since they were wool, they were washed the old fashioned way in a boiling pot (everything was preshrunk in those days).

Well that's the trick isn't it? Not letting them bamboozle us? :D

Leatherman's are a wonderful tool thats sort of like a Swiss Army knife made up of pliers, wirecutters, knives, screwdrivers, etc. Basically a high quality toolbox in one tool.

How's Tom Brown??

hazel leese - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXZIpkdcpM

Okay, maybe not the best video choice... I do apologize

Cynthia~ Thanks for that one. I'm old enough to have heard men talking up the virtues of their tools, but it did make me laugh.
 
JaxZ~ Tom Brown is much better, seems like 6 days of antibiotics hit the spot. How is your exotic beast with toothache? - & before onlookers assume anything else, we are talking cats here. (Sorry)
 
 
 
 

Now that it is quiet and everyone has turned in I have something to tell Michael and DK, please don't let this go beyond this website.  I have it on good authority that a flying car will be in commercial production by the end of the year.  If anyone asks, you did not hear it from me.  I understand it is based on technology that has been dormant somewhere on an airforce base near Fairborn OH.            A good use for the moleskine, although any journal works almost as well, take a page a day and write a letter, poem, random thought or two to the one that you love.  Fill up a page even if it is nonsense and drop an I love you somewhere in the midst of each page.It will be well received, sought out and cherished, I promise.  If it is from the heart, it is not a gadget.
  

Hazel: you just described (I think) supply side economics. It is the basis for all advertising and celebrity endorsement. We are told what the next big thing is, are told that we want it, and if we don't buy it, the next Big New Thing will only work WITH the old Big New Thing. Think of all the Windows updates. As the new ones come out, the old ones become obsolete, and new programs are designed to ONLY work with the latest one or maybe two versions.

Or stereos. I keep looking for a nice, simple stereo. Something that plays CDs and maybe tapes. But I go through Target, and about 95% of the available stereo systems require an Ipod to work correctly, or at least to their most efficient. Now, I have an Ipod shuffle (the itty bitty one). It will not work with the docking stations that have taken the place of the good, cheap, stereo.

And if you want something that only plays AM/FM stations? Be prepared to be taken to the cleaners for that old tech.

Cynthia~  Don't be daft, no apology needed. Anything that makes me laugh is good news. Take another look at that video, it does go on a bit, but men do - but it's funny. It's amazing how a totally inarticulate man can wax lyrical when justifying the purchase of a new toy.
Has a Leatherman's ever been used as a murder weapon?

Hazel~ I'm so relieved about T. My exotic beast is holding her own & still devouring 1/4 fowl a day so I think she'll be ok. Got my fingers crossed. She was purring like a freight train in my ear last night.

It's interesting, I just trawled back through the list and I'm surprised at how few "gadgets" we've actually come up with. I was thinking this morning that there'd be quite a list. But there WAS Stoney's amazing pest ammo, a Blackberry, a dough hook, several pocket fishermans, a few apps, GPS, quality pens and notebooks, and Leatherman's. Oh and several wishes for flying cars. And Michael's very astute observation that Star Trek seems to have spawned a lot of our current stuff. :)

Paolos: Always the heart. :) We write memories as they occur about a parent or spouse, etc in each one's "journal" as it come to memory. Then once the book is almost full, we write a note at the end and send it along to the intended. Sometimes they're years in the making. They are, as you said, always treasured.

hazel leese - I just had to check: that video has 10,875 views and four pages of "thumbs up" reviews. I would say 'boys and their toys' but I do love my Leatherman. Very few days go by that I don't use the thing, farm life makes it a necessity.

Vbaker220, a 31" inseam is too short for me too...capris?
 
Michael, I have a black rotary phone sitting here next to my computer. Dialing doesn't work for some calls though... if you have to press 1 for help, press 2 for help or press 3 to speak to a live person.
 
Park4 and Micha..... conspicuous consumption...we're all very good at it, some better than others, but that's why our dumps and landfills are so full and why there's an island of trash floating in the Pacific.

Cynthia~ I'm sure you are a very Nice Lady & use your Leatherman for legitimate farming purposes.
 
janej78~ I have an old telephone, (salvaged from a dumpster) next to my computer. It is a model of a duck & quacks instead of ringing. When I tell people they are holding a conversation with me through a duck's arse, their attitude changes. Is a "rotary phone" one of those that has a dial instead of press digits?
 
Where are the usual suspects tonight? Has the train been de-railed? Or are they sooooo Not Interested in today's topic?

 
Willie has a good point: just ask somebody who got de-fibbed back from nowhere, or someone who relied on a "I've fallen and I can't get up" Life Alert to keep them from being found cold and stiff next Thursday.

Cell phones are how we stay connected to the emergency call list for my wife's mom. It works.

I like being able to find restrooms or restaurants from the GPS but it doesn't tell you if they are clean or good.

yes Hazel, a rotary phone has a dial and this particular phone has a very soft ring. I like the way it feels to dial the number and hear the dial return.
 
Stoney, two years ago I got my first cell phone and hardly used it the first year. Now you can't pry it away from me. I keep it on vibrate so I don't have to hear it ring and I wear my blue tooth so much I forget it's there. It's like my ear has grown an appendage. I wonder how any of us managed before mobile phones. I see people talking on their phones everywhere I look.... walking, running, biking, driving, standing still, shopping..it doesn't matter...they're everywhere and I remember how we used to wait until we got home to make that call..or find a phone booth ..... but they are good for an emergency... 
 
I apologize to you Michael. I don't know how your name got shortened to Micha in my previous post....not paying attention I guess.

MISS BLUE:  If we throw in some Curry Powder, will it then be a NEW Deli Fisherman ???
 
Either way, I look forward to hearing the Story .......

I prefer to resist every new piece of electronic gadgetry for as long as possible. Then when I get it, if I get it, I like to use it as little and as discreetly as possible. If only everyone could be unobtrusive in their utilization of technology, then I wouldn't have to be so negative about it!