Exercising my freedom of expression is what I've been doing on the web log for the last five years. My opinions must be perfectly correct and persuasive enough to not compell any commentary - either that, or I'm just not as controversial as I like to think I am? Hey, I know I'm terrible for dangling-out non-sequitors and sometimes inaccurate, utter nonsense. Surprisingly, my Google stats indicate a small readership in India, China, and Western Europe. Consider this a big warm shout-out to my overseas subscribers!
Something about Facebook has changed. I subscribe to several news network's Facebook pages: Drudge Report, FOX, The Blaze, Sun News, The Guardian, Collective Evolution... apart from the latter two, decidedly right leaning outfits. I enjoy trolling through the commentary, and spending a bit of time pointing-out stupidity or whackiness when I encounter it. Maybe those with which the perceived stupidity originates are adhering to the wimp's axiom of "not feeding the trolls" or something, but I'm getting the distinct impression that my comments aren't always getting through to their intended targets.
No big deal. You might notice I've added a link to my Facebook page on the right-hand column of this web log. I've been neglecting my nine hundred or so twitter followship in favour of doing the Facebook thing lately, and I tend to scrutinize prospective Facebook friends somewhat more carefully than I do Twitter followers, but drop me a line if you're sincere and you don't mind being subjected to my periodic abrasiveness and infrequent vulgar outbursts. As I've written at some length about on this site, I have a tendency to drink and surf, so be forewarned!
I wrote a piece called "Nothing Is Obsolete" a while back. Defending my tendency to 'hoard' things has been a recurrent theme on this web log over the years. Looking around my bedroom / den right now, I can admit it's a bit cluttered - I'm evidently a slob - but it's a far cry from the likes of the case studies I've seen on that "Hoarders" show or anything. I see a 1960's Olympia typewriter I bought for under a buck in the late nineties that now sells for as much as $600 on eBay. I've taken good care of it, and its many mechanical features still work perfectly. I don't intend to sell it. I plan to use it hammer-out a manuscript before finding a cozy spot for it in the attic of the posh town house I know that I'm going to buy some day if the world doesn't end first!
Pretty sure my Mom would've seen it chucked in the trash had I not repeatedly advised her against doing so. Some people seem incapable of estimating inherent or potential values of things. You wouldn't send a 1964 Corvette Stingray in good condition to the scrapyard because someone tells you, "Hey man, that car is so last year!"
Just like you wouldn't trade a Stingray straight across for a 2000 Oldsmobile because "Hey buddy, this here luxury sedan is 26 years newer!"
Unless you're soft in the head or don't care about money, I suppose.
Electronics and computers are mostly nothing like automobiles in terms of appraisal and inherent worth, but I was rather dismayed to learn of my old Amiga 500 going to the "computer recyclers" in town. Not only did it function perfectly well, it was a device that probably had a good quarter of an ounce worth of gold in plating across its circuitry! Hardly worth getting out the torch and messing around for an hour just to salvage all that pesky gold... who would want to spend a whole hour of their day just to make $250?
Beside the point. It was becoming somewhat of a rarity in the used market and could fetch around $1088 from the right interested collector today. That's about $666 more than what was initially paid for it! Hardly a devil's purse of an investment gain once you factor for inflation, but I wouldn't have sold the relic anyway. I wanted it for a conversation piece... another curious addition to my expanding computer hobby network. A compatibility challenge. A hexadecimal cruncher. A geeky toy to mess around with.
It's good to keep in mind that all these material things are after all just things. Hardly worth getting bent out of shape about unless the "things" in question hold some sentimental value or happen to be the hinge pin of your livelihood, I suppose. Like those "Pawn Stars" guys. Musical instruments are uniquely special things in the way that they resonate delightful sound shapes. In the hands of a capable musician they are a thing of beauty to the ear, and often pleasing to the eye... even when they are silent and at rest.
I'm very excited about a new addition to my nerd-works music "studio". The Arturia "Minilab" MIDI keyboard.
Leonard Cohen has aptly demonstrated that you can make a superbly cool, relevant, and sophisticated album using little more than what sounds like a basic rhythm generating keyboard, some female backing vocals, and a deep, gravelly voice. I must have listened to "I'm Your Man" a thousand times over in 1999.
I'm looking forward to fleshing-out some new tracks, and maybe spicing-up some old ones. I hope the world remains stable enough to accommodate my desire to craft a hit tune at some point in the not-too-distant future!
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