The wonders of modern technology

As a kid, I dreamed of sorts of techno-toys that I'd be playing with.....mostly revolving around music and recording. I figured I'd never be able to afford anything, or ever get into a studio because of the expense. Well, as I sit here in the "outhouse" - my name for the little building out back that has my workshop and studio - I have 3 computers in the room, an 88-key synth, aKorg DW8000 that I use for analog sounds,plus some outboard gear hodge-podged together. I'm typing this on an old windows 98 laptop a friend gave me, which is hooked up tot he internet through a Mac mini,connected to the 'net via dialup. The mini is mp3-encoding a 30 minute audio file, downloading a systemupdate, sharing it's internet connection with this windows laptop, AND I'm using it to edit some audio. What have all these toys given me?No, not satisfaction, or happiness. Capabilities. They give the possibility of doing pro-level work in the outhouse. ........that is, IF I know what I'm doing, and how they should work.

People aren't as tech-savvy as the press makes them out to be

Perhaps a better title would be "The press is more gaga over new technologies than regular people are". Hmm, that would qualify as an obvious statement. My Mercer classes started today. Becuase of the research I do, and the things I read, I am very aware of many of the technology trends happening. I've read all the hype about RSS and blogs and how they are going to change the world yada yada yada yada. In my first class this morning, not a single student of the 12 present had even heard of blogging or podcasting. Interesting! So much for that urban myth that all students (i.e. teenagers) are very tech-savvy.

What a difference 1 character can make

One of the fundamental problems with computing is that it requires us humans to be less than human. 'Course, that true in life as well, oftentimes.

Maybe I should rephrase that - the problem is that too often to go through a day PROBLEM-FREE requires us to be less than human.

Two examples:

I've heard a story about NASA losing a Mars Lander because of a misplaced comma. Now, you would think that something that simple would either have beebn caught before the satellite was a tad out of reach, but it wasn't. (Granted, the story could be apocryphal, but let's assume it's relatively true for the purpose of illustrating my point.)

For the machine to work properly, it required the programmers to work like a machine - something that is impossible for humans to do on an extended period of time. (Humanity has some significant advantages, don't get me wrong!). This causes problems for both the machine and for the humans trying to get work done. Work gets lost, machines lock up because of human error, etc. etc.

Second example:

I sold the 8500 on ebay. The website - the machines - everything required me to work like a machine and not make a mistake for the transaction to go smoothly. Unfortunately, the 8500 was advertised as a PowerMac 8600 - related to the 8500, but different!

....and in all my proofreading I never caught the error.

Unfortunately I shipped the thing off. Fortunately, the recipient let me know about it, and has given me a chance to fix the error.

**sigh** There are days I ***WISH*** I could be a machine!