When do you abandon the past? Seriously.
Advances in technology are making so many skills obsolete, when do we embrace the new and cast out the old?
Take photography, for instance. Digital camera technology is advancing at a most rapid rate. Digital image processing, even faster. So, what of film processing skills? I know for a fact that as beautiful as my digital pictures are, they pale in comparison to a well crafted film based image. And yet, the market will dictate that film photography will cease to exist for most of us entirely, or at least become so prohibitively expensive that few will maintain the necessary skills.
This is the way of things, though.
As an example, how many people know how to create a daguerreotype (or even know what the hell it is!)? Ansel Adams, one of the best film guys ever, acknowledged that digital photography was the 'wave of the future' years before his death in 1984. Still, as I look at the funny flat black areas on my digital prints or the solid whites of the clouds, I recall that yes, there was detail I could see in real life that exists not in the digital world.
Digital music has replaced analog recording pretty much completely. I was in a recording studio a couple of years ago. In the technicians' booth there was a huge mixing board, easily six feet wide and three feet deep, covered with switches, dials and sliders. Sitting on top of the mixing board, right in the middle, was a laptop. The laptop made everything else in the room obsolete. No audio tape on slow turning reels. The mixing board would have been gone, as well, but it cost too much to remove it. And yet some folks claim they can tell the difference between digital and analog sound. No, not by the lack of hiss, clicks and pops, but in sound quality; a richness born of overtones and harmonics and the sympathetic responses of our surroundings to frequencies that we cannot hear directly, but which are captured in analog recordings and rejected as noise in the digital world. And what about the guy I saw on the tube who could identify music by looking at the light reflecting from the grooves of a vinyl record? (For those of you under 25, a vinyl record is like a big, very flat, black pancake, which when played on a 'record player' would yield a sort of 'music') How is that guy gonna earn a living now?
Of course, complete digital files are better than the MP3 files of which we are so fond.
Still, I am willing to endure the clipping inherent in these to have thousands of my own tunes available and oh so convenient on that long airline flight, or to cover the yapping of my neighbors wiener dogs while I work in the yard.
How many kids will never pick up a real guitar because they can play Guitar Hero right now?
If you were born within the last twenty years, you may never know what you missed, and you just might not care.
I saw a movie, THX 1138, released in 1971. It depicted a future in which people lived in relative isolation, communicated (and 'hooked up') via video screens while eating prepackaged meals. They were monitored 24/7, and reality was tailored for them to suit the purposes of the controlling 'powers that were'. I remember thinking 'Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen'
Hang on!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Here's Your New Car
The Academy Awards were presented last night. I didn't watch....again. I feel that actors are incredibly overpaid, and I have no desire to watch yet another episode of these people patting themselves on the back. I think the fact of the matter is that they do not often have the opportunity to go home after an honest days' work and take pride in a job well done. Therefore they have to constantly seek the approval of their peers.
Aannndddd, while we are on the subject, what on Earth qualifies any of these folk to attempt to impose their opinions on me? I certainly understand that they make so much money and work so little that they are bored out of their gourds, and I do believe that some of them want to make a difference in the world, but most of them absolutely go about it the wrong way.
Take Oprah, please! (To paraphrase Henny Youngman) Giving away all those cars?!? I will only believe that act truly benefited anybody except Oprah herself when she visits the people she 'helped' and learns first hand how much her generosity really changed their lives in a positive, lasting and meaningful way.
I do not believe you can improve any ones' life by giving them money (or a house, for that matter). Call me old fashioned, but people don't appreciate things they haven't worked for. The recipients only end up resenting the gift and the giver.
The type of help I respect is performance based. George Weiss began a program in 1991 which offered college tuition to high risk students who were willing to do the work necessary to graduate high school and gain entrance to college, with excellent results. Although not all the kids ultimately went to college, a much larger percentage graduated high school than would have been expected. The message was clearly " I'll believe in you if you will believe in yourself."
Tell me that is not a bazillion times more empowering than saying "Here's a car...good luck!"
Aannndddd, while we are on the subject, what on Earth qualifies any of these folk to attempt to impose their opinions on me? I certainly understand that they make so much money and work so little that they are bored out of their gourds, and I do believe that some of them want to make a difference in the world, but most of them absolutely go about it the wrong way.
Take Oprah, please! (To paraphrase Henny Youngman) Giving away all those cars?!? I will only believe that act truly benefited anybody except Oprah herself when she visits the people she 'helped' and learns first hand how much her generosity really changed their lives in a positive, lasting and meaningful way.
I do not believe you can improve any ones' life by giving them money (or a house, for that matter). Call me old fashioned, but people don't appreciate things they haven't worked for. The recipients only end up resenting the gift and the giver.
The type of help I respect is performance based. George Weiss began a program in 1991 which offered college tuition to high risk students who were willing to do the work necessary to graduate high school and gain entrance to college, with excellent results. Although not all the kids ultimately went to college, a much larger percentage graduated high school than would have been expected. The message was clearly " I'll believe in you if you will believe in yourself."
Tell me that is not a bazillion times more empowering than saying "Here's a car...good luck!"
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Not a 'Rant'......Honest
No one ever accused me of linear thinking. That isn't either good or bad, it just is. Non-linear thinking does take one on some interesting mind trips: the question is, where is the line between cutting edge and over the edge?
Anyway, I was thinking about people whose life paths are highly non-traditional. By that I guess I mean that they are more decorative than useful.
That led me to thoughts of how our communities are organized today versus how they might have been organized 10,000 (arbitrary, to be sure) years ago. Back when we were hunter-gatherers, we lived in much smaller groups. Everyone had a function and contributed to the survival and well-being of the band.
If you were a member of such, you might have been a hunter, or someone who prepared the catch, either for immediate consumption or for storage and use later, perhaps in winter. Maybe you were a toolmaker, a farmer, a medicine person or a historian. There weren't books then; all records and collected knowledge of the band were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth from story tellers who were repositories of fact and legend. People would sit around the fire and learn by listening to his story.
Bottom line, though, is that contributions were required from every member of the tribe. There simply were not the resources to support a large number of 'decorative' individuals.
If the tribe needed to move frequently to follow the game or harvest the grain, a smaller community unit could handle this easier than a larger one. The smaller unit was also simpler in terms of organisation and control. The span of command was doable.
If a group wanted to live permanently in a single location, the questions of food supply, water availability and sanitation had to be addressed. Conservation of resources was a necessity even then. If the local area was 'hunted out' the group could starve; mismanage sanitation and disease could easily decimate the village.
Still, solve these and other issues, and you could establish your town, and economies of scale might allow some more esoteric occupations to flourish. Perhaps your community could support a budding scientist who might make discoveries which could improve the common good or a group of full time entertainers. These entertainers may have previously travelled about, visiting tribe after tribe, providing much needed R and R without being a burden to any one group for long.
Anyway, you get the picture.
Today we have the option of choosing our occupations and our lifestyles with an unheard of degree of freedom. Some of the lifestyle choices we make close the door, either temporarily or permanently on occupations available to us. Our high degree of specialization and integration are important factors which allow this. This all works pretty good in a system that is functioning in good order, much as ours has for the last hundred years or so, but we are coming up on more difficult times. Can you afford to be 'decorative' today?
Anyway, I was thinking about people whose life paths are highly non-traditional. By that I guess I mean that they are more decorative than useful.
That led me to thoughts of how our communities are organized today versus how they might have been organized 10,000 (arbitrary, to be sure) years ago. Back when we were hunter-gatherers, we lived in much smaller groups. Everyone had a function and contributed to the survival and well-being of the band.
If you were a member of such, you might have been a hunter, or someone who prepared the catch, either for immediate consumption or for storage and use later, perhaps in winter. Maybe you were a toolmaker, a farmer, a medicine person or a historian. There weren't books then; all records and collected knowledge of the band were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth from story tellers who were repositories of fact and legend. People would sit around the fire and learn by listening to his story.
Bottom line, though, is that contributions were required from every member of the tribe. There simply were not the resources to support a large number of 'decorative' individuals.
If the tribe needed to move frequently to follow the game or harvest the grain, a smaller community unit could handle this easier than a larger one. The smaller unit was also simpler in terms of organisation and control. The span of command was doable.
If a group wanted to live permanently in a single location, the questions of food supply, water availability and sanitation had to be addressed. Conservation of resources was a necessity even then. If the local area was 'hunted out' the group could starve; mismanage sanitation and disease could easily decimate the village.
Still, solve these and other issues, and you could establish your town, and economies of scale might allow some more esoteric occupations to flourish. Perhaps your community could support a budding scientist who might make discoveries which could improve the common good or a group of full time entertainers. These entertainers may have previously travelled about, visiting tribe after tribe, providing much needed R and R without being a burden to any one group for long.
Anyway, you get the picture.
Today we have the option of choosing our occupations and our lifestyles with an unheard of degree of freedom. Some of the lifestyle choices we make close the door, either temporarily or permanently on occupations available to us. Our high degree of specialization and integration are important factors which allow this. This all works pretty good in a system that is functioning in good order, much as ours has for the last hundred years or so, but we are coming up on more difficult times. Can you afford to be 'decorative' today?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
To Be or Not To Be.......Me
Yesterday I was skipping/skimming through YouTube. It's funny, but it really doesn't matter where you start, it doesn't take long before you stumble into some pretty bizarre content. I am constantly amazed by the breadth and depth (or lack of same) to be discovered here. Is the content truly endless? (I know some is truly mindless!) How much server space is used by all this? But I digress.....
I ran across a bunch of Vlogs posted by a T-girl, handle of karmatic1110. After ponging through several of the posts, I came to several conclusions. The main one being that I am so glad that I am not conflicted about my gender. Another is that it is incredible to contemplate the lengths to which some people will go for happiness peace of mind. Seems like all we really want is to be happy, but the harder we chase it, the more difficult holding on to it becomes. Kinda like holding butter in your hand....if you try to squeeze it, it goes away. What begs the question is this: seems like there are a lot more guys who wish they were girls than vice-versa. Is being a girl more rewarding? Or is the surgery just a lot easier? Perhaps men are more subject to the gender blender than women? I know there have been many women who lived life as men in the past, but I am not really sure if that is related more to sexual preference or economic consideration. The pirate Mary(Mark) Read comes to mind. Thank you, karmatic1110, for the insight into your world. I do wish you all the best.
Women really have a raw deal today. Everywhere you turn the message is the same. Stay young. Be a hottie. Like there is much of a choice. Men get distinguished, women get old. How many dollars are spent every day by women trying to slow or turn back the clock? Is this propagated by men or women? Everyone has heard of the 'trophy wife', but seldom is there talk of 'trophy husbands'. The women-folk have the good sense to rent rather than buy. Keep the man who is already 'broken to the bit' and won't be any trouble, and invest in a good massage once in a while. The guys, of course, have this need to show off, a universal pissing contest with no winners. Someone once said "Youth....... is wasted on the young."
Another thing....ever notice that the human animal is the only one that does not follow Mother Nature's path. Think about it. In every species except us, the male is the colorful one, the one with the magnificent mane or the glorious feathers, the huge horns or colorful markings. We are the only species where the female is the sparkly one. Twisted and un-natural if you ask me.
I ran across a bunch of Vlogs posted by a T-girl, handle of karmatic1110. After ponging through several of the posts, I came to several conclusions. The main one being that I am so glad that I am not conflicted about my gender. Another is that it is incredible to contemplate the lengths to which some people will go for happiness peace of mind. Seems like all we really want is to be happy, but the harder we chase it, the more difficult holding on to it becomes. Kinda like holding butter in your hand....if you try to squeeze it, it goes away. What begs the question is this: seems like there are a lot more guys who wish they were girls than vice-versa. Is being a girl more rewarding? Or is the surgery just a lot easier? Perhaps men are more subject to the gender blender than women? I know there have been many women who lived life as men in the past, but I am not really sure if that is related more to sexual preference or economic consideration. The pirate Mary(Mark) Read comes to mind. Thank you, karmatic1110, for the insight into your world. I do wish you all the best.
Women really have a raw deal today. Everywhere you turn the message is the same. Stay young. Be a hottie. Like there is much of a choice. Men get distinguished, women get old. How many dollars are spent every day by women trying to slow or turn back the clock? Is this propagated by men or women? Everyone has heard of the 'trophy wife', but seldom is there talk of 'trophy husbands'. The women-folk have the good sense to rent rather than buy. Keep the man who is already 'broken to the bit' and won't be any trouble, and invest in a good massage once in a while. The guys, of course, have this need to show off, a universal pissing contest with no winners. Someone once said "Youth....... is wasted on the young."
Another thing....ever notice that the human animal is the only one that does not follow Mother Nature's path. Think about it. In every species except us, the male is the colorful one, the one with the magnificent mane or the glorious feathers, the huge horns or colorful markings. We are the only species where the female is the sparkly one. Twisted and un-natural if you ask me.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
I Wish I May, I Wish I Might
Didja ever want someone else's Gift? (Yeah, Gift with a capitol 'G'. It's kinda like God and totally appropriate) I don't think I mean coveting your brother's bicycle at Christmas or even you neighbor's wife, but instead, wishing you could do something really well that you know you can't.
Here are examples:
I wish I could write a book, but I don't believe I can. There are so many great authors is the world; some are alive right now. Men and women whose imaginations bend to complete tales; who can envision dialogue and witty repartee, write it all down and entertain the heck out of me. It is a Gift. I get started with what I think is a great idea, and within 500 words or so, I have run out of ideas, motivation and patience pretty much simultaneously.
I would love to be able to draw or paint. I know there are those who can see images in their mind's eye, and faithfully re-create those images on paper or film or electronically and capture the in-head image for me to enjoy. A Gift. I am lucky to pick a trim color that goes with the wall.
Or the person who can hear the music between their ears, write out the notes, and then have someone else play the song for the first time, and it comes out just as they 'heard' it. Gift. Just think.....Handel wrote the Messiah in it's entirety in just 24 days. According to legend this occurred after accepted Christianity as his faith. Gift or Inspiration?
What about the individual who can see a printed note on a page and then sing that exact pitch? I have heard that the human ear can distinguish frequency differences as small as 1 cycle per second. Sing an A#. It's a Gift.
The engineer who can design a bridge or a dam. Gift.
The singer who can make me shiver, the driver who can pilot a race car at 200 mph inches away from the track wall and never flinch, the teacher who can explain so that even I can understand. All Gifts.
I believe we are all Gifted, and I believe some of us make much better use of our Gifts than others. What I am unsure of is the nature of our Gifts. Perhaps we are born with many opportunities, but only the ones that are nurtured really grow. Some of us are blessed with multiple Gifts, some with only one, and I suppose there a few unfortunates with none, though I find this difficult to believe.
So, yeah. I wish I could write like Clancy, paint like Bosch, compose like McCartney, fly like Scholl, make money like Turner, dance like Baryshnikov, sing like Sinatra. golf like Jack, play like Les, think like Einstein.....well, I think you get the picture. Which one do I want? All of them, please!
Hey, you! Yeah, you! What is your Gift? Use it or lose it.
Here are examples:
I wish I could write a book, but I don't believe I can. There are so many great authors is the world; some are alive right now. Men and women whose imaginations bend to complete tales; who can envision dialogue and witty repartee, write it all down and entertain the heck out of me. It is a Gift. I get started with what I think is a great idea, and within 500 words or so, I have run out of ideas, motivation and patience pretty much simultaneously.
I would love to be able to draw or paint. I know there are those who can see images in their mind's eye, and faithfully re-create those images on paper or film or electronically and capture the in-head image for me to enjoy. A Gift. I am lucky to pick a trim color that goes with the wall.
Or the person who can hear the music between their ears, write out the notes, and then have someone else play the song for the first time, and it comes out just as they 'heard' it. Gift. Just think.....Handel wrote the Messiah in it's entirety in just 24 days. According to legend this occurred after accepted Christianity as his faith. Gift or Inspiration?
What about the individual who can see a printed note on a page and then sing that exact pitch? I have heard that the human ear can distinguish frequency differences as small as 1 cycle per second. Sing an A#. It's a Gift.
The engineer who can design a bridge or a dam. Gift.
The singer who can make me shiver, the driver who can pilot a race car at 200 mph inches away from the track wall and never flinch, the teacher who can explain so that even I can understand. All Gifts.
I believe we are all Gifted, and I believe some of us make much better use of our Gifts than others. What I am unsure of is the nature of our Gifts. Perhaps we are born with many opportunities, but only the ones that are nurtured really grow. Some of us are blessed with multiple Gifts, some with only one, and I suppose there a few unfortunates with none, though I find this difficult to believe.
So, yeah. I wish I could write like Clancy, paint like Bosch, compose like McCartney, fly like Scholl, make money like Turner, dance like Baryshnikov, sing like Sinatra. golf like Jack, play like Les, think like Einstein.....well, I think you get the picture. Which one do I want? All of them, please!
Hey, you! Yeah, you! What is your Gift? Use it or lose it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I Don't Want A Harem
Had to visit a family member who was placed in a Convalescent Home to recover from an accident. Now there's a depressing place! As I was leaving, I walked down a long hall. Randomly scattered along the hall were wheelchairs, each occupied by a tiny white-haired woman.
It seems our Convalescent homes are, of course, filled with mostly old women. Our menfolk generally die off long before they reach the wheelchair stage. Except for one guy. Most of the 'homes' I have visited have one guy....one old fart who wasn't smart enough to die at the right time, or so pissed off God that She is making him pay by granting him the boon of extended life in the company of a virtual harem all to himself. Be careful what you wish for, right?
Anyway, these 'ladies of the hall' have a couple of things in common: the aforementioned white hair. and the fact that they were all fast asleep. I guess they are belted in to the wheelchairs so they don't tumble out. Very quiet bunch, they were. They mostly resembled a wide-spread flock of sheep gently grazing a peaceful meadow.
I am sure heart attacks are somewhat painful, and probably difficult to forecast, but at least the 'linger' factor is pretty low.
It seems our Convalescent homes are, of course, filled with mostly old women. Our menfolk generally die off long before they reach the wheelchair stage. Except for one guy. Most of the 'homes' I have visited have one guy....one old fart who wasn't smart enough to die at the right time, or so pissed off God that She is making him pay by granting him the boon of extended life in the company of a virtual harem all to himself. Be careful what you wish for, right?
Anyway, these 'ladies of the hall' have a couple of things in common: the aforementioned white hair. and the fact that they were all fast asleep. I guess they are belted in to the wheelchairs so they don't tumble out. Very quiet bunch, they were. They mostly resembled a wide-spread flock of sheep gently grazing a peaceful meadow.
I am sure heart attacks are somewhat painful, and probably difficult to forecast, but at least the 'linger' factor is pretty low.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I Have To Do What?
I'll spoil the surprise up front.
I have to learn.
I can't help it. It is something genetic, I guess, because I have no choice in the matter.
Place, skill, person, art, language, culture, my curiosity is overwhelming.
I am really not sure if it is a Gift or a Curse, but if there is something going on around me, I cannot rest until I have absorbed all I can about it. It does not make any difference if it is knitting or hand grenades, inquiring minds want to know, ya know.
The Gift part is easy...when something is broken, I have probably already seen how to fix it or something very much like it before, ergo, no mystery there. The toaster is on the fritz? Not for long if I'm around.
The Curse part comes from having a bunch of relatively useless information rattling around inside my head.(Wanna know how a slide rule works? I gotcha covered. Now that is gonna come in handy some day!) Not to mention my total inability to enjoy watching someone create a masterpiece without trying to figure out how it is done.
On the plus side, I have learned some pretty cool stuff. I can pop an Abalone off a rock at low tide and serve it for lunch 10 minutes later. If the pilot of our jumbo jet is incapacitated, there is a reasonable chance I can land the damn thing. I know the difference between a Diffenbachia and a Bromeliad. I know when to hit and when to stand, most of the time. I know where the little man in the boat lives, and what makes him happy. I can tell you the difference between Pahoehoe and A'a. I can tell you the 4 types of booze needed to make a Screaming Orgasm. Wanna go for a sail? I'm a fair to middlin' skipper, although what that has to do with cotton, I'm not sure. Most of this is useful, to one degree or another.
The sad part is that my idea of a good time usually involves something like a little visited corner of a Calculus Text, a crackling fireplace, and a cup of java. Sweet! Or maybe substitute a foreign language text(is it true that if you can invite someone to sleep with you in another language, that qualifies as being fluent in said language?). Speaking of Calculus, our old friend Newton developed the beast at about the same rate that students learn it from books today. Amazing!
I have to admit that I am quite jealous of the scientists of yesterday. The men and women who discovered the simple stuff. We stand on their shoulders today. And while it might seem easy to have deduced that the Earth revolved around the Sun, today we don't have to worry about being tortured for teaching such blasphemy. I think it would have been fun to carry a barometer up a mountain and figure out that air gets thinner the higher you go. It seems one needs a gene sequencer or a superconducting supercollider to do any meaningful research these days.
Don't let me convince you that I consider my learning disability to be a handicap. The only problem is one of focus. I majored in twelve different subjects, but have degrees in none. On the other hand, I am sure that had I settled down and chosen just one, I'd have been a miserable failure. Let me sing you a song while I paint you a picture while I cook you a meal while I deliver your child while I mend your clothes while I build you a fire while I write you a book while I build you a house while I open your eyes while I take you to bed while I show you the visions that dance in my head. Wait...where did I put that book?
I have to learn.
I can't help it. It is something genetic, I guess, because I have no choice in the matter.
Place, skill, person, art, language, culture, my curiosity is overwhelming.
I am really not sure if it is a Gift or a Curse, but if there is something going on around me, I cannot rest until I have absorbed all I can about it. It does not make any difference if it is knitting or hand grenades, inquiring minds want to know, ya know.
The Gift part is easy...when something is broken, I have probably already seen how to fix it or something very much like it before, ergo, no mystery there. The toaster is on the fritz? Not for long if I'm around.
The Curse part comes from having a bunch of relatively useless information rattling around inside my head.(Wanna know how a slide rule works? I gotcha covered. Now that is gonna come in handy some day!) Not to mention my total inability to enjoy watching someone create a masterpiece without trying to figure out how it is done.
On the plus side, I have learned some pretty cool stuff. I can pop an Abalone off a rock at low tide and serve it for lunch 10 minutes later. If the pilot of our jumbo jet is incapacitated, there is a reasonable chance I can land the damn thing. I know the difference between a Diffenbachia and a Bromeliad. I know when to hit and when to stand, most of the time. I know where the little man in the boat lives, and what makes him happy. I can tell you the difference between Pahoehoe and A'a. I can tell you the 4 types of booze needed to make a Screaming Orgasm. Wanna go for a sail? I'm a fair to middlin' skipper, although what that has to do with cotton, I'm not sure. Most of this is useful, to one degree or another.
The sad part is that my idea of a good time usually involves something like a little visited corner of a Calculus Text, a crackling fireplace, and a cup of java. Sweet! Or maybe substitute a foreign language text(is it true that if you can invite someone to sleep with you in another language, that qualifies as being fluent in said language?). Speaking of Calculus, our old friend Newton developed the beast at about the same rate that students learn it from books today. Amazing!
I have to admit that I am quite jealous of the scientists of yesterday. The men and women who discovered the simple stuff. We stand on their shoulders today. And while it might seem easy to have deduced that the Earth revolved around the Sun, today we don't have to worry about being tortured for teaching such blasphemy. I think it would have been fun to carry a barometer up a mountain and figure out that air gets thinner the higher you go. It seems one needs a gene sequencer or a superconducting supercollider to do any meaningful research these days.
Don't let me convince you that I consider my learning disability to be a handicap. The only problem is one of focus. I majored in twelve different subjects, but have degrees in none. On the other hand, I am sure that had I settled down and chosen just one, I'd have been a miserable failure. Let me sing you a song while I paint you a picture while I cook you a meal while I deliver your child while I mend your clothes while I build you a fire while I write you a book while I build you a house while I open your eyes while I take you to bed while I show you the visions that dance in my head. Wait...where did I put that book?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)