Passing clouds of inconsequential observations
Who does not love random strangers reading their random posts? I know I do and would like to thank those that have taken the time to visit here – probably hoping to find something interesting but usually finding not very much at all (that was one of the most popular posts!).
Who does not love a good computer operating system? I know I do – every day.
As the classic Mac OS grew in to an ever growing tangle of code it was decided to find a replacement and start again. Several options were available and a likely contender was the Be system but ultimately Apple decided to buy NeXTSTEP which had been created by NeXT the company that Steve Jobs had started after leaving Apple – effectively bring Jobs back to Apple. NeXTSTEP was reworked in to a new version of Mac OS. As it would be the tenth version, was based on a UNIX system and was a departure from the last version Mac OS 9 it was called Mac OS X rather but still pronounced 10. The name was later shortened to just OS X. It is now expected to revert back to Mac OS so as to fit in with iOS, tvOS and watchOS.
Who does not love browsing the web? I know I do and frequently do so. In a little over twenty years the world wide web has grown to become as integral a part of our lives as the water and electricity supplies. In that time it has also lost its clunky name and is often now referred to as the web or the Internet as it is the most familiar face of the Internet.
This week we have checked bank accounts, done shopping (groceries, fabrics and yarns, baking equipment, books), checked when the courier will be delivering goods, applied for jobs, watched TV, listened to radio programming, played games, applied to audition to appear on TV, listened to music, watched film trailers, checked news, weather and travel details, written and read blogs, video chatted with friends and answered questions from strangers, checked library book status, and all the incidental daily diversions one may encounter. All thanks to the ubiquitous web. How did we ever manage before?
The future is not what it used to be….
Who does not love reminiscing about old gramophone records? I know I do and having once owned several thousand records I can understand the appeal of vinyl. But there is some weird stuff going on with the current so called vinyl revival. Firstly it hardly registers as a revival – more a slight blip…
And then there is the strange case of people buying vinyl records although they do not own any means to actually play them. Conversely many years ago (early to mid 1970’s) I purchased a secondhand Garrard 301 from someone locally and he had an impressively large and expensive HiFi system but only owned three records.
Where as once one could spend a lot of time and money finding the obscure records of choice today we can access most music for very little money and hardly any effort. As wonderful as such streaming services are it can be a little disconcerting to have Apple Music stream a pristine digital version of an old record when you are anticipating the old snap crackle and pop dubbed from vinyl one in your library.
Who does not love a self referencing post? I know I do.