November 19, 2008

Spinning my wheels

I really hate people like me. I really do.
Now, I almost never use the word hate. It's nasty and leaves a stagnant flavor in my mouth that reminds me of sucking on pennies covered in verdigris.
Neither do I look for pity. That is a pathetic sign of weakness and those who want it confuse it with an authentic call for intelligent advice and correspondence to resolve a problem.
I live a most amazing life. I am not bragging nor am I trying to out do you in the fucked up friendly neighbor competition. I am just wondering if you can imagine someone who seemingly has just about everything going his way, having to adjust his surroundings and or property just to suit the whims of those he has never met nor cared about.

This place, this blog, is the only outlet I have to the English speaking world. This dim electric screen connected to the world by my keyboard and a wire not even as thick as a No. 2 pencil, is controlled (or so I thought) by my perfectly working piece of shit computer.
I need to know something. I need to understand why a slew of services, particularly YouTube, are no longer available to those whose computers do not have the newest flash extension. I tried to get it but it seems that this perfectly fine piece of shit machine runs on a platform which not only doesn't support the newest Java, Adobe and Macromedia extensions, Microsoft doesn't recognize me anymore and they sold me the software in the first place.
My Car was made in 1995 and Toyota will happily maintain it for me or at the very least supply me parts. Yamaha will do the same for my motorcycle, Viagra will do the same for my sex life, when and if the need arises. So tell me, why do I have to purchase a new computer just to be able to use the same services that I have used without any problem for more than five years?

Actually all I have to do is upgrade my OS, but to tell the truth for a few bucks more I can get a whole new set up.

I just don't want to.

This piece of crap Toshiba might be a slow on the take, but it can still get it up and do everything I ask of it except view the newest webpages or any blog post with a video clip.
I think it's fucking outrageous that I am being coerced into conforming. I never thought of these machines as disposable, especially with every damned major corporation espousing their support of a clean ecology. I reckon that the ecology and most things 'green' are going to be taking a back seat to anything that boosts the economy. Being green costs manufacturers money and although it might save the average shmoe a couple of ducats, it doesn't quite fit in with conspicuous consumption.

I'm not really rambling here。It's just that there are way to many individual threads to contemplate to actually get a clear view of the entire tapestry of deception and bullshit we are all being subject to. I wish I were smart enough and knowledgeble enough to make sense of it all and furthermore, to make what I am thinking about understandandable to you as well.

See what mean? This darned thing still works well enough.

More to come...


24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going to just nod comfortingly because I have this rant in my own head every few weeks as it is. I don't have any answers but I'm already saving for a new machine. Its damn sad that I have to though...

**sending warm hugs from cold east coast Canada**

lime said...

this is one of the things that really grinds my gears about technology too. once upon a time things were built to last as long as possible. that was a basic principle of engineering. and you could maintain them if they broke. computers, not so. the whole notion of planned obsolescence and the idea that you are more or less forced to keep buying upgrades in software or hardware just so you can keep doing tomorrow what you did with ease yesterday is infuriating and wrong at a basic level. but they know they have us....grrr....

Megan said...

I like you.

Grant said...

Ordinarily I love any excuse to upgrade, but since the medical community owns me for the next two years I'll just have to hope my piece o' shit Gateway can hang in there. At least it still lets me post pictures of hot Asian women. If it fails in that, I'm trading in my car if necessary.

Mona said...

Misplaced? You don't like your mirror image?

So Sad!

I feel that the actualities that you mention ( Toyota Yamaha Kawasaki etc,) are actually potentialities in terms of their lasting functions; where as the computer that is illusory potential in scope is actually an actuality and thereby dysfunctional after a certain level.

Whatever...

But it IS frustrating I agree...

NYD said...

JGrrl~ I think that it's possible that these thoughts are derived from reading and commenting on other peoples blogs. I think I will chech that out.

Lime= We were brought up in a world where engineering and advancements in technology were supposed to make life better. I wonder if they truly have us. I see a revolution on the horizon.

Megan~ That makes one of us ;p

Grant~ Do the docs start taking body parts back if you can't make your payments? If so maybe you ought to split before they get something important.

Mona~ So your saying that my problem is not with my potentialities but with my actualities. And actually the actualities are inevitably dysfunctional (like my family)thereby making it apparent that I have a problem with my actualities as well?

Wow! You make all so clear.
Do You know Dr. Lucy Van Pelt?

Mona said...

Don't be (pea)nuts. why wouldn't I know her?

But contrary to her belief, I do think that you need a security blanket.So I may actually be her Antithesis.

Mona said...

Happy Thanksgiving to NYD & Crispy & Cat!

NYD said...

Thanks Mona. Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

Do you celebrate thanksgiving or anything similar to it in India?

Mona said...

O Dear, I miscalculated ( I thought it fell on the 3rd Thursday of November) But Now I realize it is on the 27th!

Yes we have our own kind of tens of Thanksgivings days. Each sect, caste , religion etc. have them on different dates of the Solar calender . We also pray & feast on such a day.

Carla said...

Grrr....yep, these sorts of things drive me crazy. It's like an addiction. They get us hooked and then change everything.

puerileuwaite said...

Maybe that's part of the secret plot to turn all of us into old men in wife-beater t-shirts yelling at people from our porches to stay off of our lawns.

NYD said...

Mona~ No problems. It's always the right time to wish someone cheer.

Carla~ Ya mean that Bill Gates is the worlds most sucessful dealer???

Pug= Noooooo! I don't want to turn into my dad.

Allan said...

I just spent three days re-formatting 'incompatible' spreadsheets. A pointed stick and some sand sounds pretty good to me right now...but the intertube wires let me read about Lilliput and other exotic locales, so I guess it ain't all bad.

I wish Volvo made PCs.

Ed & Jeanne said...

Argue anything you like...everything ultimately comes down to overpopulation and consumption...

The Grunt said...

Built in obsolescence is a fact of modern life. But with computers it gets a bit ridiculous. One thing I know for sure, a Stradivarius will never need an update, nor become obsolete.

High Power Rocketry said...

: )

moi said...

I have just three words for you: Bite the Apple.

ThursdayNext said...

Love Allan's comment about volvo's making PC's. I wish all computers were built like a German car.

Anonymous said...

"that reminds me of sucking on pennies covered in verdigris."
Is this something you do frequently?

I can't get videos to play when I'm using Firefox but I can when I'm in internet explorer. Go figure.

The Java Junkie said...

MUST...NOT...CONFORM!!!!!

X. Dell said...

Hey, I'm on a Pentium III machine myself. I know what it's like.

It frustrates me that computer companies (actually their boards of directors) want to change the whole process twice a year, usually for the sake of change. I can't tell you how many times I opted to downgrade this or that simply because it worked better.Then too, I can't put a lot of stuff on my machine.

The general consensus is taht I should buy another machine--which is a shame since this one works really well. But I, like you, hate being coerced to upgrade. I hate being forced into a planned obsolence scenario.

NYD said...

Allan~ The luddite in me occasionally gets out of control from time to time.

VE~ What? You aren't joking???

Grunt~ Everything around us has become far too disposable.

R2K~ ;p

Moi~ Is that an invitation or a challenge?

ThursNext~ The computer works fine. It's the software that's been abandoned.

Citizen~ Only the once, yet I still remember the taste.

I can run things in Explorer, but I like the smoothness and versitility of the Fox.

JJ~ Being non-conformist in Japan is something I never really worry about. I never fit in to peoples preconceptions of me.

X Dell~ Preachin to the choir, my friend. Hallelujah!

czar said...

As the local absent-of-personality technogeek explained it to me, these damn things became disposable when the price of hard drives went down to somewhere in the range of the price of a decent lunch.