Posts Tagged ‘technology’

How connected are you? If you are reading this you probably either have e-mail or can go online. Do you remember the days before the Internet, e-mail, and cell phones? Do you feel closer to people now, or do you long for the closeness you enjoyed back then? For millennia people sat around and talked to each other. Now kids sitting in the same room text each other. Or they're all on laptops, doing their own thing, telling the others about something cool they've found, but not being heard because everyone else is so engrossed with being "connected."

As much as people talk about being connected, it often seems as if they actually seek ways to evade each other in public. The avoidance might be unintentional, but the phenomenon is worldwide. The Japanese actually have a term for teenagers who withdraw completely from social contact with others — hikikomori. I routinely see pairs of students walking along or sitting beside each other, both of them texting someone else instead of enjoying being with the one nearby.

Though I can't recommend the source of the following as a regular diet, the cartoon does show clearly the unintentional aspect I just mentioned.

In his quest to be "connected," the poor guy in that cartoon wasn't connecting with the one near him, and probably as a result, she totally disconnected from him.
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Do you remember all the hype about the y2k bug in the late 1990's? For those who only vaguely remember that situation, here's the problem in a nutshell. Computer programmers had the practice of abbreviating the year to only the last two digits. As the year 2000 approached it was feared that everything would stop working at the time of the rollover from 99 to 00. The predictions were that long-working computer systems would break down when the ascending numbering of years "...97, 98, 99..." suddenly became invalid when we hit the year "00."

Ten years ago this week people all over the globe were anticipating worldwide calamity. Some people were extremely concerned about y2k, but many others were totally nonchalant. My own take on it was "y2k? — y not 2k?!" But actually it's more than a little ironic that they called the problem "y2k" when it's abbreviations that got us in the problem in the first place!

Here's a cartoon that shows what many thought would happen:

People were seriously stocking up on provisions — bottled water, canned meat, vegetables and fruit, TP, etc., in case stores could not open for months. There were all sorts of items available like the Survival Kit below:

If you want to read more about the "y2k problem," there's a good article on Wikipedia.

Crisis mentality and hype are nothing new. But the y2k problem apparently wasn't either — those living in 999 A.D. and the year 1 B.C. faced similar situations. I have unearthed several documents that describe those situations, and I share them below. Also in 1999 there were some, in spite of all the reporting about it, who still did not understand the concept of y2k. I'll end the post with one blonde's (mis)understanding of the problem.
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Do you ever find yourself amazed at some new invention you read about or see? Do you ever comment, "I think I could have come up with that one myself!"? Creative ideas turn into gadgets we feel as if we just have to have to make our lives easier or more enjoyable. Nearly everyone with e-mail has probably seen pictures of some zany, yet at least semi-practical inventions that come out of Japan, like the handy roll of facial tissue in the picture on the right. As zany as it looks, though, there have often been times when I would have loved to have something like that to help manage a bad cold or allergies!

Today's i.v. is some cool inventions I've run across as I surf the web. At a time that the economy is so tight, it seems to me as if some of these items would be luxuries that many people would have a hard time justifying. I'm not supplying links, but you could Google any of these inventions that grab you.

Here are several food items that are interesting.

How about bacon dipped in melted chocolate?

Some like dark toast ... how about a little Darth toast, from a Star Wars toaster?

If you're a fan of Swiss Army knives, you might go for Swiss Army chocolate.

If you like Nutella, you might want to try finger cookies.

If you have trouble with people stealing things from your lunch, anti-theft lunch bags might be the solution for you.

Disturbing, isn't it?! Now several inventions for the feet.

People who like bumper stickers might go for these shoes bumper stickers.

Here's a close-up.

Here are some shoes that allow you to make your mark on the world, as you walk — shoes made with colored pencils.

Now for some general inventions.

For those who don't have Internet access, someone has published a book that was outdated before it was printed — Offline Wikipedia.

A keyring key?

Do you hate leaving your pet fish at home? Take it along!

Do you have trouble keeping track of your flash drive? Try this USB clothespin.

Do you get tired of extension cords or a lack of outlets? How about a wall like this?

Here's a close-up shot of the outlet wall.

Tired of buying expensive greeting cards that people look at, and eventually toss? Try this all-in-one stamp.

Those who collect salt and pepper shakers might not have this set yet. Salt and battery anyone?

Wish you had room for a ping pong table? Well, now you do with this ping pong door.

Now you can listen to your iPod almost anywhere!

Have you seen any neat inventions lately? Is there anything in this post that you now feel you just have to have?

quotation...

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

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Rob

Atomic Bomb — an invention to end all inventions

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It's undeniable that technology brings with it many wonderful conveniences and opportunities. But has technology really improved our lives? This is a question we discuss in some of my French classes when we read francophone literature that bemoans the changes to traditionally simple lifestyles where Western civilization enters and becomes dominant.

When I think about how different my life is now from when I was a child and recognize how dependent I've become on technology, it's almost startling. And if you had ever told me that I would one day work summers as a PC tech, I would have thought they were crazy!

Below are some cartoons in my files about the impact of technology on us.

Is your life better because of technology? How has technology improved or diminished your quality of life? Do you have more stress or less stress because of all the gadgets and appliances in your life?

quotation...

"Scripture leaves no room for spiritual neutrality." - Jeremy McMorris

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Rob

A computer's attention span is as long as its power cord or its battery life.

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How do you know whether to believe what you see? With today's technology it's possible to alter images so that the changes are almost imperceptible. In addition to that, some people have great fun posing to create certain illusions. And sometimes people and objects are aligned quite accidentally to produce amusing effects. I wish I could find and scan in a hilarious picture taken in our living room where one the people standing in front of our fireplace ended up with what looked like antlers when the pictures were developed.

Here are some pictures that have been accumulating in my files. Some are undoubtedly contrived, but I think that some are purely serendipitous.

In this final week before the elections, be careful. Reality is often distorted, and not everything may be as it appears. It's truly hard to know what and whom to believe. I'm glad to know One who is always to be trusted and believed!

If you have a funny picture similar to those above, please send it my way. I'll do another post in the future with the best ones I receive.

quotation...

"Many brave men have died for countries that don't exist any more." - Dr. Drew Conley

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Rob

"I believe in my cosmetics line. There are plenty of charities for the homeless. Isn't it time somebody helped the homely?" - singer Dolly Parton

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