Tuesday, August 31, 2004
What's it all about, Cybercurmudgeon?
{The more things change, the more they stay the same (note the title of this post and the upcoming remake of "What's It All About, Alfie?"). An oft repeated phrase which holds true even in our age, which I like to think of as the beginning (yes, still the beginning) of the "Technology Age". The diatribe which follows is, with only the most minor of changes (e.g. "home page" = "blog", CDA = DMRA), was the introduction to "The Cybercurmudgeon Obligatory Web Page", a self explanatory former web site which premiered in 1996. Read on McDuff, and see just how little things have changed. (Well, to be fair, one thing has changed. My old page had "hot" features like frames, user selectable placement for the menu bar, and JavaScript, all created the old fashioned way - by hand with a vanilla text editor! Ah, the good old days :-).}
Some of you (the ones of you with too much time on your hands) may wonder who the @%#* is Cybercurmudgeon, and why does he have a Blog, much less an Obligatory Blog? In the way of an answer, allow me to present a few relevant ravings from the old boy himself.
OK, I'm not that old, but I've been involved with hardware and software for a long time. How long you ask? Let me put it this way. I remember when "warez" was spelled with an "s" and calling someone a "Nerd" was an insult. In other words, long enough for the shine of technology's promise to lose some of its luster in the implementation.
"What's your Blog?" has become the "What's your sign?" of the two thousands. Many netizens act as though the DMRA obligates you to publish a Blog and copyright it, or at the very least they can shame you into publishing one. It's now politically correct to publish a Blog, and a grievous insult not to have one. "Please forgive this most unworthy one's inexcusable lack of a Blog. I'll have mine up 'real soon now', I promise". Even if you publish you can't win. "Isn't your page Firefox enhanced yet"? Deal with it! I think the Blog is the single most efficient way to waste time via a computer yet devised. Granted there are other excellent methods vying for the title, but they all fall short of the mark. One of my favorites is fax software. If I see one more lost soul struggle for hours to cajole his fax software to send a single page, when in five minutes he could print the damn thing and send it on the fax machine not ten feet away, I may have to get medieval on his buttocks! {Ok, I must interrupt in the present tense here. I admit fax software and services have improved in the intervening years, but notice almost every office, home or not, still has and uses a fax machine. What does this tell you :-)?} Let's not forget e-mail (BTW, I was "Born To Ignore E-Mail"). Why is it when someone receives analog junk mail via U.S. Snail they identify and round file it in five seconds flat, but if the same crap is digitally encoded they not only treat it as relevant, but insist on sending a reply?. {The present rears its ugly head again. While commercial spam in now generally recognized as the major pain in the "455" it is, phishing screws thousands of people a day. And thanks to Blog's "Email This Post" we have a whole new source of mindless drivel to clog our mailboxes.}
The Blog is just the latest replacement for the refrigerator door, sans magnets. Now you can post little Johnny's kindergarten antics for the whole world to see. Big deal. I think (read hope) the web's promise will eventually be implemented as something more relevant to the man on the street, but for now its {still} mostly a corporate ad tool and cybertoy for a relatively small number of technocrats (or insert your favorite related term here). If you don't believe me just ask my Dad, he really hates computers (8=>. {My dad shuffled off this mortal coil many years ago never having used, much less owned a computer. He did have a huge honking analog satellite dish though :P}
So why do I bother to publish a Blog? Simple. It keeps me off the streets! For better or worse, I feel the same way about science and technology, especially when its "computer" related, that George S. Patton felt about war. I know better, but God (who I swear I don't believe in) help me, I do love it so.
Much like the internet (and Windows I'll wager), this Blog will always be under construction. Expect an occasionally bumpy, but hopefully enjoyable ride. For your safety, please fasten your seat belts and keep your hands in the vehicle at all times.
{What will I do with this Blog - how the h311 should I know :-). Stay tuned}
Read more!
Some of you (the ones of you with too much time on your hands) may wonder who the @%#* is Cybercurmudgeon, and why does he have a Blog, much less an Obligatory Blog? In the way of an answer, allow me to present a few relevant ravings from the old boy himself.
OK, I'm not that old, but I've been involved with hardware and software for a long time. How long you ask? Let me put it this way. I remember when "warez" was spelled with an "s" and calling someone a "Nerd" was an insult. In other words, long enough for the shine of technology's promise to lose some of its luster in the implementation.
"What's your Blog?" has become the "What's your sign?" of the two thousands. Many netizens act as though the DMRA obligates you to publish a Blog and copyright it, or at the very least they can shame you into publishing one. It's now politically correct to publish a Blog, and a grievous insult not to have one. "Please forgive this most unworthy one's inexcusable lack of a Blog. I'll have mine up 'real soon now', I promise". Even if you publish you can't win. "Isn't your page Firefox enhanced yet"? Deal with it! I think the Blog is the single most efficient way to waste time via a computer yet devised. Granted there are other excellent methods vying for the title, but they all fall short of the mark. One of my favorites is fax software. If I see one more lost soul struggle for hours to cajole his fax software to send a single page, when in five minutes he could print the damn thing and send it on the fax machine not ten feet away, I may have to get medieval on his buttocks! {Ok, I must interrupt in the present tense here. I admit fax software and services have improved in the intervening years, but notice almost every office, home or not, still has and uses a fax machine. What does this tell you :-)?} Let's not forget e-mail (BTW, I was "Born To Ignore E-Mail"). Why is it when someone receives analog junk mail via U.S. Snail they identify and round file it in five seconds flat, but if the same crap is digitally encoded they not only treat it as relevant, but insist on sending a reply?. {The present rears its ugly head again. While commercial spam in now generally recognized as the major pain in the "455" it is, phishing screws thousands of people a day. And thanks to Blog's "Email This Post" we have a whole new source of mindless drivel to clog our mailboxes.}
The Blog is just the latest replacement for the refrigerator door, sans magnets. Now you can post little Johnny's kindergarten antics for the whole world to see. Big deal. I think (read hope) the web's promise will eventually be implemented as something more relevant to the man on the street, but for now its {still} mostly a corporate ad tool and cybertoy for a relatively small number of technocrats (or insert your favorite related term here). If you don't believe me just ask my Dad, he really hates computers (8=>. {My dad shuffled off this mortal coil many years ago never having used, much less owned a computer. He did have a huge honking analog satellite dish though :P}
So why do I bother to publish a Blog? Simple. It keeps me off the streets! For better or worse, I feel the same way about science and technology, especially when its "computer" related, that George S. Patton felt about war. I know better, but God (who I swear I don't believe in) help me, I do love it so.
Much like the internet (and Windows I'll wager), this Blog will always be under construction. Expect an occasionally bumpy, but hopefully enjoyable ride. For your safety, please fasten your seat belts and keep your hands in the vehicle at all times.
{What will I do with this Blog - how the h311 should I know :-). Stay tuned}
Read more!
