The Things We Take For Granted
 

every now in then i'm amazed by cars... everyone has one - its either just transportation, a practical tool and a means to carry stuff, or a nascar lovin rednecks favorite toy - pride and joy ..


but once in a while i marvel at the thought that i'm basically sitting in a comfy chair, tearing down a highway at 100 miles an hour ... my feet less then a foot away from the pavement.

how bizarre and cool would that look if we could do that in regular chairs..

is it just me or isnt it weird when you actually think about it - sitting on your ass - mere inches above pavement thats tearing along at an incredible and dangerous speed. just a chair, a platform and some wheels keeping you alive.

compute harddrives is another thing that i'm fascinated with ... i know how they work - i just cant believe it's possible.


same with records and recordplayers for that matter - how that weird little groove can repeat high fidelity music so perfectly.

i guess i'm digging the technology today.
I know it's the root of all evil some would say .. but i'm loving it..

I think a lot of people would have no idea how to cope without todays "modern" technology...
I mean, think back even further to like, when you were say 20 urg :D , the introduction of plumbing, running water...etc...irrigation, farming, hell - everything is done for us these days - and those that do it for us are assisted by machines...

I'm really glad I'm not the only one here who acts like urge is old enough to remember Babylon and the rise of Mesepotamia :D

I try not to take any modern conveniences for granted. I like have instant access to information: Take away my internet and its like my brain has been removed.

oh dear god, it gets worse ??!!!


:D

Yep. You should see me on 3 hours of sleep and no coffee. I am basically a mentally disabled person with a stutter.


Its not that I am not caapable of "Roughing it", I just dont want to. I worked a crappy, REally crappy job on a farm when I was 21, and then spent 4 years in a woodshop; mind you I am extremely accident prone so that was pretty stressful; so that I could move into a job that paid me very well to sit in front of a computer.

I directed my life from no technology to surrounded by it on purpose. i know what its like not to have it, I never forget it, and it keeps me grounded realizing it could all go away.


That being said, I have always marvelled at file compression. Someone was smart enough to figure out how to make computers hide or remove "extra" bytes to make files smaller. What really gets me is zipping files; trhey are shrunk, but whatever makes them their "normal" size is still there. Just goes to show you that the rules of the digital world have nothign to do with rules of the physical world.

the law of conservation goes right out the window. That would be cool though, could you imagine being able to "Zip" matter? You could pack a 20 bags for vacation, compress them, then stick them in a backpack as a carry-on

Televisions. We're seeing moving pictures on a piece of glass, being sent to us from far away!

The Sofa Car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGu7Jaktz6M
:D

But yeah, techonology is pretty amazing and part of me loves it, but honestly sometimes I wish things were still more simple and less stressful. It seems a lot of technology has come with a price for other things. I can't imagine living at any other time though.

Technology gets better and more complex every single day. When I was a kid we didn't have things like the Internet , DVD, or tiny cell phones and I'm only 33.
Computers control everything!!!! Water plants, Electricity, Sewage, car engines, etc. If "they" suddenly banned computers from society.. most people in the world wouldn't know what the fuck to do.

Great thread, Urge.

oh....another technology thread.....I thought this might be about...

puppy dogs
beer
children's laughter
a baby's smile
naked women
beer
internet porn
frozen pizza

i still remember the 1st time i ever saw a sony walkman .. remember the 1st ones - how big they were.

a friend of mine had the 1st one - didnt know what to make of it - all we had then for portability were tinny sounding transister radios ..

i put the earphones on - and heard his walkman - and it blew my mind. i'd never believed there could be that quality of sound coming from that thing if i hadn't heard it myself.

i became obsessed with them - probably still have 10 - 12 of them around the house - all makes and models.

funny thing is i cant remember the last time i used earphones - my lifestyle doesnt allow for it now ... but i still remember that experience ...