Thread: Silly Americans

The sheeple are easily manipulated

Originally Posted by JLStorm

The sheeple are easily manipulated

I have a shirt that pictures a crowd of sheep going in one direction, and in the middle of this crowd is one lone sheep going the other direction saying,"Excuse me...Pardon me."
I tend to live my life in this way.

Proving again that there is nothing new under the sun.

here is Senaca:
"It has now come to this--that to want only what is enough is a
sign both of boorishness and of utter destitution."

how true of any developed nation today and the developing nations want to get there as well.

Originally Posted by JMS

I have a shirt that pictures a crowd of sheep going in one direction, and in the middle of this crowd is one lone sheep going the other direction saying,"Excuse me...Pardon me."
I tend to live my life in this way.

I'm sort of like that.. I hold a programer's paradigm that one method/function to handle one process, and it should handle that process very well. On top of that I like quality instead of getting something just because the other guy has it. So my mp3 player - iRiver H120. Since it's H series release of the iRiver in 2002 (?) it's been top dog of sound quality. Which I think is the most important function in an mp3 player (UI comes next). I think getting an mp3 player because of space is a bad choice because you can easily upgrade that on your own in the case of hard drive mp3 players. Flash-based mp3 players are a little harder, but I think I could handle that. Just buy more NAND type flash IC's, solder it onto the circuit board, put in some circuits (might need more USB controller IC's).

My choice of OS is also Linux. As of version 2.6.18, Linux became the most efficient kernel for PC's. Again in Linux, I still hold the paradigm of one program to handle one thing, and it handles that thing very well (due to Windows paradigm, users don't have this choice).

For a future upgrade on my computer, I'm gonna ditch a sound card altogether. Instead I'll put in a DAC and hook it up to an Amp and then to a speaker system. Similarly my stereo system isn't gonna be just some stereo from Sony. It's most likely gonna be a modular NAD system with parts specific for each job.

Now when I saw the iPhone, I didn't like it. Sure there's lots of "cool" features, but I would never use any of it. I have a phone for one reason: making calls, some texting, and sometimes a camera that is needed on hand (not to replace an actual camera though). All the other features I have on my own monster of a rig.

Plus, the hardware of the iPhone is ancient. Old stuff in there, and Apple said they weren't going to upgrade some of the things that shouldn't even be in there.

So in a way, I'm not exactly a sheep because I don't get something because someone else has it. I purchase an item because it has features that I want/need. I'm a sheep in a way because I think I need it. Do I really need an mp3 player? It's good for those long trips. I actually rarely use my mp3 player. Do I really need the 1.2 TB of space in my computer? Did I even need to make the computer I did that is really all this powerful? Definitely not for all those questions.

A good book goes a long way for entertainment. I don't need 1.2 TB of space (and I'm even gonna up it to 8 TB of space eventually), even though it's almost all gone and I do go through all that data... I don't need a very powerful computer. In fact most people these days only need a computer from the 1980s (a study was done). It's very safe to say that most users use the Windows OS. It's so bloated with everything that even a computer running a Mac OS back in the 1980s beats it hands down for functions that most users use. The only reason I have a powerful computer is for compiling programs, which I could most likely live without; and playing games, which again I could most likely live without.

It has been a while since I posted on anything, but I got to get in on this.

I have an iPhone, and I did not pay for it.

I didn't steal it either.

I got my iPhone as a bonus from one of my clients for excellent service and support. It was quite the gesture, to be sure.

That being said, had I only been able to test drive the thing, I would have ended up buying it. It is a great phone, plus does a ton of other great things that I find very useful. The integrated Google maps feature is amazing, and I mean AMAZING. Having YouTube on board is fun if you need to kill time. Having the iPod integrated means less devices for me to carry around. I hooked it up to my car stereo, so I now have hands free calling. The list goes on and on. I love the little thing, and everybody that I have let play with it for any amount agrees. Like all Apple products, it is a well designed and easy to use piece of equipment.

Is it expensive? For damn sure.

Is it a luxury? Hell yes.

Is it worth it? To me, it is.