Saturday, January 23, 2010

Extinction of Technology.

It isn't every single day that you get reminded about how old you are and when you were born. I'm only 18 years of age, right out of high school and I have already been reminded about how old fashioned I am.

So we had some relatives over and their child was about 9 years old. He was upset that he is missed one of his favourite shows by coming over. I told him that he could have video taped it in the VCR before he left. His response was "What's a VCR?"

You know, I'm not easily surprised, but this time I was in shock. Once again, technology is advancing so fast that the child of 9 did not know what a VCR is, let alone video taping. I guess today, you record everything on your Foxtel IQ or DVD recorder or something similar. I was flabbergasted. I didn't really know how to respond to that question.

I proceeded to talk the kid into a game of Scrabble. Looks like board games don't appeal to the younger audience anymore. Too bad I don't have X-Box or PS3s. I don't even have those GameBoys anymore. I failed into teaching him how to play. His vocab is obviously not as extensive as mine and let us just say that, well, he preferred something else. At this point I let him watch television while I proceeded to play a few games of online chess.

I don't know if I'm allowed to feel old. I feel that old technology becomes extinct once new ones are brought in and not really appreciate modern technology's ancestors, metaphorically speaking. Maybe one day, we see the death of tape recorders being replaced with ipods and iphones, radios replaced by mobiles, newspapers replaced by internet and mobile phones providing live feeds or even perhaps the death of using paper. No more paper, no more pens, no ink. A tablet with metallic and magnetic signals which can be detected and be applied to a transparent screen. It actually scares me, the idea.

I'm glad I have experienced part of history, part of the very essence in the birth of technology. A memory will be treasured.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Cold War - Episode II

After going back and watching a "Rush Hour" marathon, I decided to ponder about a song in the first movie. The lyrics go thus: "War. What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing."

Well, I guess that's semi true. It helped abolish slavery and stopped Nazi Germany along with Fascism. Apart from that, it's just outright debunking money and wasting resources. The United States going into Iraq and Afghanistan, saying they are attempting to promote democracy is laughable. It is a paradox and irony in itself. The money spent on war is greater than the great $700 billion dollar bailout. I wonder what would have happened if that money on war was put to better use?

Blame President Bush. I nominate him for the Darwin Awards. One of the most illogically sensed human beings on the planet if not the most illogically sensed. He justifies his actions of war with "God told me to." Being an atheist and extreme skeptic, that sounds to me like either one flawed God (thou shalt not kill), or one very mentally retarded president. I would take either option.

I think our world today is attempting to resolve issues with war. Not just the United States but with every other war in history. It has resolved NOTHING. You gained more territory, more resources so what do you do with them? Spend them on upgrades to gain more territory and resources by attacking other lands. It has not resolved any conflict dispute. Every brutal, bloody war has resolved pretty much nothing. Some of the most brutal and bloodiest wars are all fought over religion because their Gods dispute with each other as to who owns what piece of land. Sounds like a great idea to me.

War needs to end. It is not a conflict dispute medium. War has no reasonable justification at all. There is no need to attack anyone. We talk about a greater future and I only see the future collapsing with war. If there were no wars, we wouldn't need defenses. We are only paranoid about other people attacking us. I guess that's why our world is doomed?

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Heroine in pixel form.

Being able to watch one of your heroines and idols live on the internet is beyond mind blowing. Being able to send them questions and messages at the same time is out of the world. Living in the same city as them...well. Let's not go there.

Natalie Tran appeared on Hot30 on TodayFM 104.1. She was being awesome as usual and boy, was I glad to see her after several days of no Youtube video. I miss the "Hey!" and "Porno Music/Comment Time".

Well, the fun was great while it lasted. Hopefully I'll become one of those people that she "bumps" into in the city sometime.