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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 14 of 14. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on January 19, 2008, at 13:11:32
I always was really. I could never be set down in a cooking store or office supply or sewing supply store. The ingenious one purpose gadgets always fascinated me.
So many storage boxes, each perfect for one problem or another. So many way to make paper clips available on your desk. So many paper clips! Butterfly clips fascinate me. Then whisks. I like the flat whisks best, not because they work better but because they fit so much better in the drawer. Apple corers. Cherry pitters. Whipped cream whippers. It's paradise.
And now the electronic gadgets. My iPod means that I can store or get rid of most of my old albums and CD's. My entire library in the palm of my hand.
And the Kindle. I'm really trying to fight the Kindle. I don't have much time to read. And I love books. Most of my books are not just books, they're collections. Even if I could fit my entire library in the palm of my hand, I don't think I want to. But the Kindle is drawing me... drawing me to spend money I don't have... Pulling me towards it because really it's such a cool gadget. And surely I'd use it more than my cherry pitter.
I'm really hoping the future is in electronic readers. I can imagine a day when you didn't have to lug around fifty pounds of textbooks. Or when I could stop stuffing a backpack full of books each vacation. But I really don't need this now. I really don't. Yet I keep finding myself at the kindle page, drooling.
Posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2008, at 15:22:27
In reply to I'm a sucker for gadgets., posted by Dinah on January 19, 2008, at 13:11:32
Dinah what's a kindle not up on my gadgets and don't even have an ipod. Phillipa
Posted by Dinah on January 19, 2008, at 16:03:22
In reply to Re: I'm a sucker for gadgets. » Dinah, posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2008, at 15:22:27
It's about the size of a paperback, but you can download a whole lot of books to it. And best of all for these tired old eyes, you can set the print size to large. Apparently the screen is easier to read than computer screens or pda's.
It's hard to tell how useful it would be. I remember when Tivo sounded ridiculous, but now I would hate to watch tv without it.
Posted by Sigismund on January 19, 2008, at 16:27:26
In reply to I'm a sucker for gadgets., posted by Dinah on January 19, 2008, at 13:11:32
Oh dear. Gadgets fill me with dismay. I won't understand them, will never work out how to use them, will despair and never get over it.
(That's positive thinking.)
I finally ditched mobile phones. The most fun I've had with one of those is to tell people that I am too cognitively impaired to use one.
I must have bought 4 of the wretched things.
In Japan people are too polite to use mobile phones in public. There should be a special place for the use of these devices, out of sight of the public.
They say the USSR was brought down by the photocopier, so they shouldn't have allowed those.Learning how to use (in how ever elementary a way) a computer to post on has been a big deal for me.
Posted by Sigismund on January 19, 2008, at 16:44:53
In reply to Luddite » Dinah, posted by Sigismund on January 19, 2008, at 16:27:26
One gadget I liked was in our town as I was growing up. This was before there were cash registers for the shop assistants to use. The shop assistant, a tall lean grave man, would find some shoes to fit you or fold some clothes, so very slowly in the dim light, and then he would take your money and fill out a receipt, and put both in a little capsule suspended on a wire. Having screwed it on he would pull a cord and the whole thing would shoot across the ceiling of the shop to a person sitting in a cage like structure in the corner of the shop. That person would do the cash register thing, and send the receipt and change back on the same wire with a lovely noise. The wonderful thing about this was that you could see it happening, see how it worked, and all the people and functions were joined together with wires.
Posted by Dinah on January 19, 2008, at 17:44:49
In reply to Re: Luddite, posted by Sigismund on January 19, 2008, at 16:44:53
That does sound like a neat gadget. :)
I'm old enough to remember the early fax machines. Back when they were expensive luxuries and we were very reluctant to invest in such a thing for the office. I remember thinking it was like magic. I don't understand the gadgets, and never will. But I rather like magic.
I think it's the single use aspect of them that fascinate me. Someone saw a problem, identified a need, got frustrated at a common task, and set out to solve it. I know the modern gadgets certainly aren't entrepreneurial endeavors, but I still get that same feeling of fascination.
FWIW, I don't particularly care for cell phones. I like the idea that if I get a flat tire, I don't need to hike miles to the nearest exit. But I hate the idea that wherever I go, people can reach me. I don't want to be reached when I'm at the store or driving. What can I do? I can't concentrate, I can't answer questions. I have no access to my calendar. If I'm away from my desk, or my home, I want to be away. If the world were perfect, only my son and husband would have my cell phone number. Maybe my vet and my therapist. Everyone else can just wait. I don't think it's any coincidence that while I always remember to turn my cell phone off when it's appropriate, I rarely remember to turn it back on. :)
Rant over.
Posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2008, at 20:14:58
In reply to Luddite » Dinah, posted by Sigismund on January 19, 2008, at 16:27:26
My exact sentiments. You aren't in Japan are you? Chris needs us. Love Phillipa
Posted by Sigismund on January 20, 2008, at 1:29:18
In reply to Re: Luddite » Sigismund, posted by Phillipa on January 19, 2008, at 20:14:58
You know Dinah, you walk down the aisle of the supermarket, and there is someone saying, 'I'm just in Woolworths and I'm wondering whether to get beans or peas'.
One time I climbed this mountain, and there was some joker at the top saying to someone on his mobile, 'I'm just on the top of Mt Warning'.Yep, PJ, I'm in central Honshou.
Posted by 10derHeart on January 20, 2008, at 18:39:13
In reply to Re: Luddite, posted by Sigismund on January 20, 2008, at 1:29:18
Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000FI73MA/105-0398815-4209208?SubscriptionId=1TXG27NYV494KWCZ0E82
I want it, too, Dinah. Oh, how I would use it. And then I'd just get fatter and lazier - splitting all free time between Babble, TV and reading. Being totally anti-social everywhere I went 'cause I'd always have numerous books at my fingertips. Not sure if that's what my life is supposed to only consist of.... But, at least the price is out of the question right now.
What might help - they are sold out, I mean to the point they have to email folks *after* they manufacture more!! Guess there were tons of droolers who couldn't/didn't resist :-) 'course you can go on the waiting list.....which sounds awfully long.....which would frustrate me to no
end.I'm so fickle and silly. I keep telling people I'm about to minimize my life - material things and so forth, yet I'm still puuuuullllled toward something like Kindle. We are alike in that, I'm afraid. Perhaps a support group, but who has time, what with all the Babbling and 'normal' reading of books? ;-)
I see also they aren't allowed to ship Kindle out of the States. Wonder why?
Posted by MidnightBlue on January 21, 2008, at 14:52:35
In reply to Kindle link - I'm drooling, too, posted by 10derHeart on January 20, 2008, at 18:39:13
If it makes you feel any better a review I read said they weren't all that geat....
MB
Posted by Dinah on January 21, 2008, at 18:17:50
In reply to Kindle link - I'm drooling, too, posted by 10derHeart on January 20, 2008, at 18:39:13
Isn't it a great idea? I actually rarely read anymore. Between having too many calls on my free time and my aging eyes and books on tape, I rarely actually sit down and read.
But it's entrancing me. I'm remembering the backpack full of books, mainly novels and light reading, that I bring with me on trips, and think how much lighter a gizmo would be.
I'm still paying off my last gadget though. And I'm nowhere near loading my music or digitizing my photos. I guess by the time I can justify getting it, it will be old technology. :)
Posted by Dinah on January 21, 2008, at 18:19:18
In reply to Re: Kindle link - I'm drooling, too » 10derHeart, posted by MidnightBlue on January 21, 2008, at 14:52:35
I think part of the problem is that I'm upset about work. And part of what I do when I'm upset is to obsess about something that can be purchased to make me happy.
Unfortunately, knowing what I'm doing doesn't seem to ease the obsessions.
Darn enthusiasms.
Posted by MidnightBlue on January 22, 2008, at 0:14:09
In reply to Re: Kindle link - I'm drooling, too » MidnightBlue, posted by Dinah on January 21, 2008, at 18:19:18
I understand Dinah. I've been doing a tad too much retail therapy myself lately. None for myself!
Thinking of you--my hand is a tad better but still "locked" in an odd position.
MB
Posted by Dinah on January 22, 2008, at 16:36:44
In reply to Re: Kindle link - I'm drooling, too » Dinah, posted by MidnightBlue on January 22, 2008, at 0:14:09
I'm sorry about your hand! Did you get any information on what might be causing it? Could you be having muscle spasms? My jaw used to get locked from muscle spasms.
This is the end of the thread.
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