Sunday, April 26, 2015

Thursday--

Cold still--only in the mid 30s.  We got some dry granular snow yesterday that didn't stick around.

Friday--

Another cold day.  We are back in winter mode for our meals--turkey casserole yesterday and chili today.  A week ago we were looking forward to salads and other summer fare.  I got re-potted the mustard seedlings and plan to do the same for the mizuno today.  I need to start new pots of orach because the ones I started earlier haven't done well.

I wonder how widespread this is going to become.  I have heard, frequently over the last three decades, about the plight of small colleges.  LSU is not a small college.  It is (or was) Louisiana's "flagship" university.  While I have, often, questioned the emphasis our political leaders have placed on higher education (seemingly for all, regardless of qualifications, talent, or inclination) I have never question that public colleges and universities are a public good and service and should be publicly supported.  Evidently a certain faction of our Repthuglican party thinks otherwise.

Saturday--

Chilly but a bit warmer to start--mid 40s rather than the high 20s to low 30s.  We had rain last night.  Don't have much planned for today.  May be content with being lazy.

Sunday--

It wasn't quite a lazy day yesterday.  It was miserable, rainy and cold so we decided to do some shopping.  Mom wanted some blue jeans--has for some time.  So we looked at clothes.  Unfortunately, we didn't find any that fit her.  The inseams were far too long.  I didn't find any in my size.  We have been talking about computer problems for about a year now and finally decided to  check out what was available at our Simply Mac store and Best Buy.  We didn't get to Best Buy because Simply Mac had good deals on MacBooks so we both now have new computers.  Now we have to get used to them and get what we need back on them.

An interesting take on our modern economy which doesn't make things any more but seems well geared to creating assholes.

I have seen a few articles on this issue.  File it under "Downside of Computer Technology."  The problem is one I have contemplated often--the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of nearly everything we own.  Ford (I think) is pitching their cars wi-fi capabilities.  On-Star has been touted as a reason to buy this, that, or the other car.  I forget which car maker it is that talks up its internet connections in its commercials.  The cutest one shows an awed Granny gushing that she can update her blog from her grandson's car and Grandson says in astonished tones "You have a blog???"  We here at Chez Contrary have recognized that the days are long gone when a bobby pin (anybody out there remember those?) was all you might need to get your ancient Volkswagen beetle running again.  Our new-to-us car is On-Star capable but we choose not to spend our money on that.  Our most frequent discussion here on technology is whether we want to spend money on whatever and whether whatever will actually do something valuable for us.  I took us over a year of increasing frustration with our old computers to decide whether and when to replace them.  I just bought some earbuds for my new computer and couldn't find any without a microphone.  My only choice was to get the combined unit and not use the microphone.  That seems to be our only choice now--to get (and pay for) capabilities we don't want and won't use.


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