audio — The Very Thing That Makes You Rich … Makes Me Poor

Posted in audio versions ---- the talkies on June 7th, 2018 by skeeter

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The Very Thing That … Makes You Rich … Makes Me Poor

Posted in rantings and ravings on June 6th, 2018 by skeeter

Tim Cook, the poor schmuck running the trillion dollar company called Apple, sat down for an interview yesterday after introducing an app that would let Apple users monitor their addictions. In a speech earlier he had told appsters how Apple was a company dedicated to making humanity better. Google states it somewhat differently, Do No Evil, but in the end all these techno-innovators are convinced they are the salvation of the world. Asked if he thought his company had addicted millions to his device, Tim took umbrage. No, not at all. His device gave them freedom.

Earth to Tim, then why do they need an Apple app that tells them how much they use it? Just another product, he said, that gives its customers more flexibility. And as far as addiction was concerned, well, he told his interviewer, he was not a clinician. He also mentioned how surprised he was at his own time spent on his marvelous device, something he really hadn’t noticed previously. Why he needs the app, I guess.

I’m not a clinician either, but I doubt if I need a degree in psychopathology to diagnose the folks sitting at a dinner table who manage to operate their thumbs incessantly and only occasionally, if at all, join in a conversation. Or the people in a checkout line who work the phone while their groceries are bagged. Or the ones in aisle 8 calling a spouse to see if the mayo is the correct brand. Watch how many people jump in their car and immediately pick up the phone. When’s the last time you actually had a conversation with a kid who didn’t have earpods jammed in or who wasn’t checking text messages? I haven’t had one since about 2006.

Addiction? Oh baby, we’re addicted. We’re addicted to our devices. We’re addicted to TV. We’re addicted to video games and email and text messaging and Facebook. We walk around all day with the syringe plunged deep into our brain and the guyz who brought us this smack say they’re not clinicians. Neither is the heroin dealer in my neighborhood.

They’ve rewired our brains. They’ve transformed our society. They’ve altered our politics and they’ve pulled the rug on democracy. Let’s imagine, like Tim, that this is for our own good. That this will be a brave new world. That with his device we’re so much more free. But I’m not buying it, literally or figuratively, and yeah, I know, I’m going to be left in the exhaust. There’s an old Ry Cooder song that comes to mind that probably applies to me, my very own app: The Very Thing That … Makes You Rich … Makes Me Poor. I know, Tim, you’re not an economist either.

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audio — an apple a day

Posted in audio versions ---- the talkies on September 20th, 2017 by skeeter

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An Apple A Day

Posted in rantings and ravings on September 19th, 2017 by skeeter

I don’t know about you, but I was sure glad that new Apple Phone finally hit the market and the hype can settle back down to normal settings. The CEO, Tim Cook, flattered himself that this was the Biggest Thing Since the Last Biggest Thing, a world changer, a revolutionary leap for mankind, a huge step toward personal insolvency for man. $1000 starting price. Well, actually, $999.99, keep a penny for a rainy day.

Tim sez the screen is border to border. Big! A game-changer. You plan to watch Gone with the Wind on it, Clark Gable will be about one inch tall. The Civil War will shrink to something slightly this side of monumental. Atlanta burning will look like a marshmallow roast for a couple of Girl Scouts. Tim mentioned how it will have facial recognition. Sweet! That’s gotta be worth a few hundred to feel like an actor in Star Trek. And apps, hoo-boy, it’s got room for some apps and plenty to spare.

I get that we’re a mobile society now. I watch folks in the grocery store checking their phone. I see people standing at the bus stop scrolling their e-mail. I hear guys in the stall next to me talking to clients who never imagine their caller is sitting pants down doing you know what. I know the kids would rather go naked into school than go without their smarty-phones. And I know I’m the last Luddite hold-out for not carrying a cellphone with me everywhere I go.

I gotta admit, when I buried my truck in the sand two days ago launching my rowboat down at the beach and began the long trek home, it would’ve been nice to just call up a neighbor to come and pick me up. But the walk did me good and believe me, the next day when I launched my boat I was a wee more cautious about driving onto the beach, learning — as usual — from the School of Hard Knocks. And yeah, I understand totally that the world wants to be hardwired together now , social media rules, privacy is dead, the virtual world is dominant and nobody gives a damn about some curmudgeon who walks the beach with his trousers rolled up and doesn’t carry a phone.

But Tim, ask yourself if this brave new phone, the revolutionary thousand buck computer-on-a-string, is going to make life better for us mere mortals. Or is it just another bump on your stock market valuation? And yeah, Tim, I know, you can’t call me to tell me which it is. My bad….

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