I'm curious Nanderson - what topics are you light-hearted about? Are you a participant in other forums about other topics where you're the one enjoying the hobby, or are you this serious about everything? I find it a bit odd how consistently you're accessing your modern-day computer, routing messages over Cisco routers and Sprint phone lines to deliver your message of the evil of planned obsolescence, etc. Personally, in the past year I've had my best friend of 32 years decide to take his own life, I had 80 employees on the 58th floor of Tower 2, and I led a staff of 300 people through a bankruptcy to successful recovery for them and their families. While this might be a bit extreme, it unfortunately wasn't out of the ordinary for 2001 - I'm sure many people had more intensity and worse outcomes. I personally think we should applaud those who can live through times like these and find something to smile about. It doesn't imply obliviousness or naivety on their part, it implies a strong will. -Kirk |
I think the apparent planned destruction of my loved hobbies and options in general is something to think about. Why does engaged and vital necessarily mean serious? Or put another way, are you joking around when you ask questions in forums? Maybe you should use the word thinking. I'll try to take in a couple of cases of Ice Beer before discussing anything next time, so I will not, hopefully, come across as so serious - ah er- I mean - able to thinkI don't like being a stool pigeon for marketers. I am just questioning the whole premise of an industry that makes products that everyone seems to consider worthless a few years after they produced and at the same time accelerates our use of energy and considerable outlay of natural resources. Your comments seem like the ol' tetter-totter argument again. Apparent translation of your argument: If you use any technology you can not have negative thoughts about any technology and the marketing premise of it. Maybe you are taking George's witty argument too seriously (opps, that darn serious term again, rats). In the words of Junior: Either you are with us or against us. Using that pearl of compromise and wisdom, maybe since I hate some foods I should stop eating even if I like other foods. Great logic, I'll start fasting today. On some of your other points. We all have very bad things happen in our lives. SO? (by the way, sincerely sorry to hear about any tradegy in life, there seems to more than enough to go around world-wide). What is important is understanding what we could or could not have done to prevent them individually or as a society, what we can learn from them putting all things in perspective, and how lessons learned from them can help us live in a world community not in a "make believe" vacuum. Or like my ma always use to say "don't crap in the living room when you should take it to the compost pile". But what my ma did not realise is that Marketers never heard of the concept of a compost pile they only were told there are landfills and once they are full we all jump on the space shuttle to the nearest planet the government or some big corporation (opps again, guess they are not different) has planned for us. Since it has become customary in this thread to disarm all arguments with "Ann of Green Gables" sayings, let me end with another light-hearted good will saying: May the merry princess of love and dream cones bless us all the days of our lives. :) gosh, how can I get any more light hearted than that? For some really light-hearted fun stuff from your pals at FAIR see this link. Peace Brother:) |
Fair enough - asking questions should not necessarily imply that one is being too serious, just asking a serious question. I think it's a stretch to give yourself extra credit for being able to think over the other participants in this forum and thread. Maybe you just mean that you're thinking more deeply on this particular topic. I'll grant you that. What are you suggesting we all do in response to the marketing agents of HT conniving to get us to all upgrade at great expense every couple of years? Your early points seemed to be that most movies are stupid, which is fine, but is just an opinion. What would you like to see happen in the HT world, and how can the readers of this forum participate? My point with the use of technology wasn't "love it or leave it" - it was that your main objection with HT is the marketing angle (planned obsolescence, etc), but I would suggest that this is the same as every modern technology going. I'd love to hear about one that doesn't have this at it's fundamental core. Certainly computers are worthless every 2-3 years. Cisco routers are too - the fact that you're supposed to depreciate them over several years is a joke - things just move too fast. Again, my point isn't "love it or leave it", it's why does HT stand out in your mind? I don't come to this forum to argue, so you'll have to understand if I end by saying Have a Nice Weekend. Peace, Kirk |
I think that people should evaluate if they are actually getting something that makes their life better relative to other choices and if in making those choices does it wipe out others. Of those wiped out choices are they not important to loose? I think American's are incredibly susceptible to marketing and not understanding when they are sucked in by "concept" of expanding their individualism versus substance. Even worse, they often buy in to some of the most destructive patterns without even considering the consequences that are very hard, if not impossible, to reverse. A really great example: Urban sprawl (that is a major one, with your grocery store in one part of town, your clothing stores scattered all over outlying malls, your hardware store in another, your job in another area, etc) forcing everyone to travel great distances just to get anything done. Community is destroyed, inner city becomes blight riden while suburbs become almost surreal, elite hide-aways of a primarily white public interested to get away from "other" people. The suburbanites interests become increasingly not those of people of the inner city. Couple that with the fact suburbanites have the booty to better fund elections they set policy that maximizes the differences between people's opportunities for quality of life in a wide array of ways. The increased disconnection and opportunities for inner city youth has been directly related to increases in crime and insane increase in prison building (in Wisconsin, prison budget is bigger than the entire University of Wisconsin Education System: which includes UW-Madison and many satellite universities scattered throughout the state), outrageous amounts of time is lost forever, perceptions of the lost community and time wasted are not even evaluated by those born into this non-sense (they have no point of reference, like some distant society in some futuristic sci-fi movies you might see on your Home Theatre), pollution goes up dramatically with all the driving around (e.g., Atlanta is so incredibly polluted that heat built up caused by the pollution is readily and dramatically seen from heat detecting, satellite landstat photography: Atlantan's are not just crapping in their Living Room, it is worse, its like crapping on their own dinner plates (check out the links on this page at underlines)).Home Theatre is different than Cisco routers in important ways in terms of planned obsolescence but also similar. The differences include: Routers REALLY become overloaded and need to be replaced or supplemented to keep up with the worldwide increase in traffic (vitual traffic, reducing need to conduct literal travel (I, for example, rarely ever need to use my car) and bringing issues to a world-wide audience even that elite public in the suburbs hidden away in their cookie cutter houses and that magnum of isolation: Home Theatre). Whereas, movies are playable without chasing an incredibly wasteful array of constant upgrades (remember LP's were suppose to be completely replaced by CD's and cassettes where doomed about 12 years ago, both are still around and delivering satisfying sound). Home Theatre (HT) also creates a lifestyle, when taken to an extreme that by its very nature, is incredibly isolating (think of it, would you spend tens and tens and tens of thousand dollars on Home Theatre and its associated new floor space (many people actually build small houses around their HT further increasing the expense and magnifying the isolation: an extension of an extension of a suburb escape??) and not burn up hours and hours of your time. Cisco does not need marketers to tell your technology is out of date and you need to upgrade: Reality does. HT does not need to be upgraded in the same way, it is Marketer feed perceptions of a need to upgrade. Computers are not worthless after 2-3 years for most home users unless they buy into the endless cycle of Computer Game (another example of Isolation from the REAL world) Driven mentallity (trying to make games, ironically, more REAL). My work uses Landstat Imagery among other sources of data that really does require 1GB or more of RAM etc but always find uses for my 6 year old 166 and 266 Pentium on a network (does Word Processing just fine and is an excellent backup device and eventually goes to charity for use by a church etc ). I argue that Marketers plan to release additional channels every couple of years, not because they have yet to develop the technology. But that they have too soften up the, primarily, American consumer to the nutty idea of robbing even more living space with an increasing number of speakers, wires, and trashing yet another processor, increasing energy usage, and increasing the American's time (Time, you know, that thing :( dead people :) do not have)"consumed" watching movies. There is much more I could get into here but that will have to do for now.Oh.....sorry......almost forgot. May love and harmony bless your family of friends and neighbors (just in case your neighbors are not friends. maybe you do not know them. maybe invite them over to watch a movie. don't worry you wouldn't have to talk to them. Remember open discussion is a cardinal sin of watching movies. Movies demand and get Total Control of Your Time something music listening does not necessarily and most often does not do. I read, have open engaging discussions with my family and friends, think on a wide range of things (actually think better with it in the background), play with the dogs, work, relax, watch sailboats and birds, etc all while listening to music. Music is a partner in lifes activities. It is not a time and diversity prison.) forever and ever.:) |
