Lacrosse Sticks - I am still pissed they got rid of the all wooden lacrosse stick. The transition happened back when I was playing the sport in college. All of a sudden the pain I was inflicting on opposing players was cut in half when they forced us to use the wimpy flexible plastic cradle. My favorite check was immediately rendered null and void.
Bicycle Technology - There are entirely too many "innovations" for me to rant about. Suffice it to say I still contend many were useless lily gilders while a very few truly enhanced the cycling experience.
The DH in Baseball - I don't care if it has made baseball more exciting for some, it rubs me the wrong way. I have no respect for players whose only claim to fame is being a DH.
GPS devices in cars - If you are going on a trip, know in advance the route to take. And yeah, sometimes getting lost can be fun too. A friend loaned me his TomTom once for a trip south. I punched in my destination. The gizmo did what it did and planned my route. I then proceeded to go the way I had been for years anyway. I loved hearing it complain followed by, "Recalculating, recalculating" until it had figured out a new alternative route based on the turn I just missed or made that was not part of the original or new program. I even took one detour out of my way just to really piss it off.
Electronic locking doors and windows - I know at some point I will have to own a vehicle with these devilish devices, but so far I have never owned a vehicle with them. There's a satisfaction I cannot describe when I manually lower or raise my own window, or use a real key to unlock the door to my pick up.
Which brings me to this Blog, computers in general, and the speed at which our culture is forced to embrace change before we got used to the last change.
Blogger has been in my face about trying out it's "new format". Blogger is never really in your face, but they are quietly insistent. So rather than grouse about it before the fact like I always do when being force fed change, I switched yesterday. Besides the whole look changing, toolbars gone missing or moved, and way more choices than I will ever use, it is basically the same I guess. Bottom line is I figured it out and will hopefully see this post successfully posted. But I don't have to like it to use it. So I won't..........like it that is. I hereby invoke the General Principles rule from my retro-grouch bag of rules.
Why the Hell is our world in such a damn hurry? We ain't going anywhere.
13 comments:
I like the DH.
It's not a GPS thing, but given how half the bus drivers won't go until the fare has been paid, I really wish people would have their change ready and not begin sifting through pockets and bags and socks once they've got on the bus. I've got valuable slacking to do, dammit.
Blogger has a new format?
Randal - DH's are just washed up fat guys who can still hit the ball. But don't ask them to run faster than I can walk. But then I find defense as interesting as offense.
The format is in the dashboard side of the blog. Little banner at the top caught my attention finally.
Never seen the point of GPS for the average person. Is it really that difficult to read a map?
I recently reread Future Shock by Alvin Toffler - It is worth a reread just to see how far he missed with his predictions: humans can't deal with rapid change.
I don't like the speed of change, but what the hell can you do?
the Ol'Buzzard
I don't mind change if I think it is for the better, but I think a lot of it isn't for the better.
I consider my GPS units interesting toys but do find them useful for boating, especially in the fog.
With luck my truck will last the rest of my driving days and I won't have to get something with a bunch of shit on it. I do love my cruise control though.
The DH thing is a whimpy copout for pitchers. You know when they are going to pull him when the DH steps in.
Got no comment on the new look. Looks the same to me.
Oh, BTW, GPS units are invaluable for folks who run routes or must visit people's homes for appointments. At least in large urban areas. Keeps my wife from getting lost several times a day and using three times more gas than necessary.
Nan - Actually some people do have issues with maps. I have a friend who cannot make heads or tails out of a map. Yet he has a very technical job and does it well. I have always loved maps, so I get along with them fine.
Ol'Buzzard - All we can do is to decide to hang on or let go.
BBC - I would be the first one to say GPS has it's place. Certainly on the water where the terrain is the same everywhere. But the reliance on electronic gadgets Americans have established for almost everything is setting them up for serious attitude adjustment when those gadgets fail.
Mr. Charleston - Yeah, the [pitcher should have to stand up to the opposing pitcher and take some of what he dishes out.
What changed in my blog was not the public part, but the dashboard behind it. Just a different layout with more bells and whistles than I used to have.
As I said to BBC - GPS has it's place, but to totally rely on it is asking for trouble.
We rented a car once that had automatic door locks. I got out to take a picture and left the car running. After a few minutes the doors locked. It's a good thing The Old Lady got cold and got back in the car before the doors locked or it would have run out of gas before we could have gotten someone there to unlock it.
Those damn electronic windows are about the stupidest things I ever saw, of course there are exceptions but generally speaking if you cannot roll down your windows on your own you do not need to be driving.
Maps: greatest thing ever. Not kidding, I mean ever.
GPS: Don't have one and probably never will. My wife won't buy me one, because she and my kids think I can just access the supercomputer inside my head to figure out the route from US 1 in Rahway, New Jersey to the Brooklyn Bridge via the Holland Tunnel. I'm just supposed to know stuff like that.
Of course, that could be an excuse to buy more maps.... Glass half full, right?
Never played lacrosse, so I can't add to that one. My two bikes are fairly simple, and I'm happy with them, although an innovation in bike seat technology to make the dang things more comfortable would be a perfectly acceptable change. The DH rule is silly - I only like it when a manager does something unusual in the middle of a game, like sending his DH out to replace the left fielder, who has just turned an ankle, effectively causing the pitcher to have to come to bat for the rest of the day.
But electronic door locks and windows? I agree that change almost always sucks, but this is one I'm enjoying. Remote locks are excellent in winter, when you have your hands full of grocery bags, and when exiting your vehicle (you don't lock your keys inside... managed to do that three times in one calendar year alone, I think it was 1989...). And windows that crank manually are usually so difficult to lower and raise that you throw your damn shoulder out.
I will not go NEAR that Blogger update thingee.... I started blogging before I had a computer (libraries are nice) and it took me long enough to fix up the basics.
I would like to add, though, that I would really be pissed if they tried to upgrade Red Wing boots. Some things need to be the same.
Kulkiri - It's the first salvo from the machines that should warn us our days are numbered.
Beach - With all the gadgets and safety systems stacking up, pretty soon we won't have to even steer the damn things.
El Cerdo Ignatius - When the shit hits the fan, th epeople with maps, gatorade and a strong supply of Slim Jims will be the new ruling class.
okjimm - They tried to upgrade Red Wing's? Say it ain't so. I will have to check them out.
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