Change is good. Is change good?
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said many things, but the most quoted is translated as “Change is the only constant.” Political opposition to change, Conservatism, is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and opposes rapid change in society. But change seems to be accelerating as the decades roll by, and particularly in the realm of technology and computers.
I was perfectly happy with the operating system for my MacBook Air, but since a techie was coming over to work on some glitches in Mrs. side pocket’s computer I decided to have him update my computer to the latest operating system, called “El Capitan”. This took a while, and I have such a mixed opinion of the results. I can now print in another room via wi-fi (very cool). Some videos which used to be just a black screen now display. But my wi-fi connection itself seems worse, and the google search has gone from simple to fancy and complicated. So many changes in displays that will have to be learned. Humans are flexible, that’s very clear, but already I had a learning curve to simply manipulate the photos that will hopefully follow this quasi-rant.
Change for the sake of change is rampant. An example: our new checks (yes I use checks) used to arrive in a box. Simple. So the bank changed to a fancy portfolio which opens like a book, and the checkbooks are glued in. So you pry one off and there on the back are two globs of glue which, to borrow Dave Barry’s favorite word, look and feel like boogers. This is progress?
I‘ve seen many angry screeds here with regard to computer upgrades, especially referring to Windows, so feel free to mention your most horrible experiences here. Any other observations on changes of regression rather than progression would be interesting. For example, is autocorrect a virtue or a crutch?
Now to attempt a few photos, to lighten the mood.
The holes I dig are filled with my homemade compost, and the tomatoes are planted very deep, with all the lower leaves removed. Every year I plant them further apart but by the end of the year they are a jungle.
I put the plants outside during the middle of the day to “harden” them off. They are moved inside during the night.
I have 40 garlics, called German Porcelain, which is now all I grow. They each have only four to five immense cloves and wonderful flavor. Last year’s crop was more or less a failure, with small plants. I ordered these from Indiana and at this point they look fantastic.
I took this from the top of the water tank, to prove that I sometimes take time off from Daily Kos. This represents about five hours of mowing yesterday and I’m seriously proud to say I didn’t find even one thistle. That’s indicative of 35 years of thistle eradication. That process never ends.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
Please support these Sunday-posting Kitchen Table Kibitzing friends with your recs and social media support!