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Technology is getting beyond this old dude
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Posted by editor Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:53:14 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” a character named Blanche says something to the effect that she has always depended on the kindness of strangers.

I think I know what she means. For most of my life I have depended on the wisdom of family and friends to get me out of one tight spot after another, especially when it comes to making gadgets work. If they had a contest to pick America's Mr. Fixit I would surely come in last. I can spell pretty good and I can savvy a financial statement about as well as any amateur but when it comes to anything mechanical or electronic, forget me.

The most recent proof came just last month when my expensive new camera quit working. Our tribe had made a day trip to explore the old Ridge Route, the original highway that went directly from Los Angeles to Bakersfield. It was built in 1915 and went along the crests of the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains. It was mostly abandoned when the Ridge Route Alternative, Highway 99, opened in 1933. But the old road has cast a spell on thousands of history-minded Californians like me who occasionally pick our way through rocks and broken concrete to pay homage to what one author refers to as the road that united California.

I had taken several shots along the seven miles of the Old Ridge Route that were open to nitwits like us when the camera shutter simply locked up. I tried everything I could think of to jar it loose, even violating one of my holy principles by reading the owners manual. But it was no use. I put the camera away until I could get home and dump the problem on my neighbor Paul who had made the camera work at the start, right after I had taken it out of the shipping box.

In almost no time, Paul was at my door clicking the shutter like crazy. He said the camera was fine but it wouldn't take pictures on a filled-up memory card. They had told the fancy camera not to do that when it left Tokyo.  When Paul explained this I realized anew that he is exactly the kind of guy Blanche was talking about.

The camera debacle was nothing compared to the aggravations I have been suffering from my computer, more specifically the Internet. Years ago, when I was browbeaten into the computer age, I got along fine with e-mail and all that stuff. Then every smartass in creation began trying to disable everybody else's computers via the Internet. For awhile, the Norton anti-virus program kept these pests at bay but during the past year I have been plagued by a multitude of hacker attacks. I have added two more anti-virus programs, which I think are referred to as firewalls, and I have had my machine cleansed by professionals twice in the last six months. But the onslaught continues. Part of the problem, perhaps the biggest part, is that klutzes like me have no idea how to maintain these virus protections. The instructions on the screen may be clear to Bill Gates but they only confuse me.
I was heartened the other day when I read of proposals to junk the Internet as it is and replace it with something less prone to disruptions but it will take years to accomplish. Meanwhile I am greatly impressed by an existing piece of equipment that gets around the worst failings of the Internet. It's small and inexpensive as well. It's called a telephone.

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