Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Rants and Stuff => Topic started by: fuzzyoctopus on November 10, 2004, 02:25:13 PM
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So what technology puts you in awe?
So I consider myself to be fairly comfortable with technology in general. I ooo and ahh over the newest gadget inventions with the rest of the world, but consider this.
In our house, we have two desktop computers, two laptop computers. We have a DSL internet connection and at work I have a T3 connection. We own a digital camera, a cell phone, a digital drawing tablet, a CD burner, almost every gaming console ever created, two televisions and two VCRs (which let's face it, rarely get used), a digital voice recorder, .... you get the idea.
And yet every time I turn on the automatic ice maker in my freezer, I just stare in awe.
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Here at work we have a coffee machine which makes individual cups of coffee, and then, when it's done brewing, launches the little cup of used grounds into the garbage. I don't even drink coffee, but I love watching the thing.
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The little beeping sound my car makes when I leave the keys in the ignition or leave the lights on. I'm grateful every time.
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Non-stick pans...so cool!!
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calculators, not exactly a supercomputer, but I always think that someone had to have programmed all of the solutions in, and that they spent their life doing it. Makes me laugh.
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Copy machines... paper goes in, copy comes out..
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I'd have to agree on the copy machine thing. They fascinate me. Kind of like photography, but nothing like it at all.
Also, photography. The old style, light through the lens exposing light-sensitive film, film projected to light-sensitive paper, etc.
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I agree with the non-stick pans, they're fascinating.
Also, dimmer bulbs.
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Speakers... the thought that someone sat and worked out the mathematical code to make something vibrate in the proper manner and sequence to generate the sound waves.
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It's odd. Most technology doesn't really awe me. Even HDTV doesn't awe me. I don't see this "higher quality" screen resolution that everyone talks about. The biggest awe to me are books. The thought that someone sat down and wrote all this for someone else to read and cherish, or hate, really draws me in.
Cellphones don't amaze because they're just extensions of cordless phones. Newspapers however do. The whole process of printing is really rather fascinating.
The only thing technology wise that will astound and astonish me is a cordless (wireless) monitor. Until I see one of those, I will not, no matter how much one tries, be impressed by technology.
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zippers, velcro, and teflon are my friends. They are some of my very favorite inventions ever.
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what gets me about copy machines is that people totally take them for granted,... even though they are probably one of the more complex things in an office. They've been around so long and are so standard that most people couldnt get along in an office without them. Sure printers can send multiple jobs to multiple sources but its not the same as feeding a document in the top and having it come out sorted, coalated and stapled 70 times in a row..
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So J.T. bought a laserdisc player at DI for $10. Then he got a copy of the Toy Story box set. So now we know it works. I can't believe how large those things are. Or how many movies are available on laserdisc.
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I'm not exactly 'awed' by it, but programming programs. I mean, somebody sat down an programmed a program so that they could program a program. Mwhahaha, entertainment.
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Fuzzy, my aunt and uncle have a laserdisc player. I loved that thing. It was so much nicer than video. I actually don't know if they still have it, but the discs themselves are quite expensive, I thought--which is what prompted DVD?--and they don't hold much. We often had to flip the disc over in the middle of a movie.
How does it compare to DVD? I'm curious.
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Laserdiscs were also easy to copy.
y'know, cuz VHS wasn't.
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It compares pretty well to DVD, I think. And the discs WERE horrifically expensive, but now that laserdisc is a dead format you can buy them for ridiculously cheap prices used.
For example, the Toy Story set supposedly retailed for $150 when it was new. We bought it on half.com for just under $15.
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DVD's are better then laserdisks just because they can hold more so you see better digitial copys of the movies. Though LD were nice, and better then VHS, even if most TV's weren't digital back in the LD day. But I have to say it was realy annoying to have to flip the disk halfway through a movie.
They were huge in Japan when I was there, DVD's realy didn't take off in Japan until the PS2 came out.
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oh, our LD player flips itself. But it's annoying to have to put a new disc in.
Come on though people, I married the guy who has 21 video game systems - we had to have it if only to flesh out our collection of electronics.
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Fuzzy,
If you ever want to borrow a LD, let me know. My husband has quite a collection: everything from the original Star Wars to Sense and Sensibility.
I'm just jealous that your player flips itself. Ours is over 20 flipping years old. But then again, those flipping breaks are good for something: getting snacks.
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Oooooooh, I may have to take you up on that. What other discs do you have?
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Consider this an abridged list:
Ladyhawke
Little Man Tate
Apollo 13
The Prisoner: The Arrival and Chimes of Big Ben
Twister
My Fair Lady
Groundhog Day
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
I.Q.
The Hudsucker Proxy
Father of the Bride
Quiz Show
To Live (Zhang Yimou)
North by Northwest (Mmm. Cary Grant and Hitchcock)
Ben Hur
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Mmm. Alan Rickman)
The Crucible
It's a Wonderful Life
The Rocketeer
Memphis Belle
Sneakers
Enchanted April
Ren and Stimpy
Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein
Star Trek IV and VI
Babe
Golden Age of Looney Toons (kind of an anthology)
I've got more if you're interested.
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hey, that's a pretty good list. I'd enjoy almost everything on it. You must have good taste.
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I blame the taste on my husband. He was the collector, and most of these I inherited by marrying him.
I just wish we had a better place to keep them than on the top shelf of the wall-mounted book shelves. They aren't as pretty as books--the spines are too small.