Necessity is the mother of invention. Or is it the other way around? Doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it happen that a new gadget we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never dreamed of suddenly becomes a necessity we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be without?<\/p>\n
Let me explain:<\/p>\n
Not a tekkie by any means, I nevertheless felt stranded, branded, abandoned and empty-handed by the cell phone I forgot to take to my meeting Monday morning. And as evidence of my non-tekkieness, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t join the gadget generation until later in the game. We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get our cell phone until eight years ago.<\/p>\n
What was life like without it? I recall driving to the International Sunport to pick up my sister, Dolores. A friend told us we ought not dare leave town without a phone. She loaned us hers, a rather large contraption that fit in a packing crate that could still accommodate a pony.<\/p>\n
Bonnie thought it was silly, two grownups taking a jaunt to Albuquerque and needing a phone. Unheard of! But yet, guess who managed to place a half dozen calls, making sure contact knew, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling from a cell phone. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neat!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
We have it, so let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use it.<\/p>\n
Then came Facebook and a host of social media innovations, which we also can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do without. Can we spell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a-d-d-i-c-t-i-v-e\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? I have been on Facebook for a few years; two sons and three daughters-in-law correspond with me regularly.<\/p>\n
One son won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t touch Facebook nor will Bonnie. But first, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explain a few terms: Facebook is a means of communicating with masses of people (called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153friends\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) whenever they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing and available. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an easy means of exchanging notes, photos and ideas.<\/p>\n
I regret, however, that too much social media interchange consists of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dittoing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideas, or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153liking\u00e2\u20ac\u009d their submissions when there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no need to. Most of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153likes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on Facebook are phatic, merely a means of saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I read you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I agree.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a lot of wit or wisdom on the pages, unless it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153canned,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d provided by someone else.<\/p>\n
My take is that most of the Facebook jottings are innocuous. A friend and neighbor recently said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would never get on Facebook. (Except that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153never\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in her utterance lasted about five seconds: neeeeeeever.<\/p>\n
Here I must defend this ever-present party line. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the people, not the medium. Mean-spirited people now have ways to disseminate hateful stuff, and sure, people have suffered through cyberspace bullying; people can say nasty things about others and mar their reputations.<\/p>\n
But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Facebook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault. It merely gives people a chance to make quick \u00e2\u20ac\u201d often banal \u00e2\u20ac\u201d contact. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great for exchanging hints and tips, but I believe some people go too far.<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
Some use Facebook to tout their wares; they have a service or product to sell, and we friends need to sift through their pitches \u00e2\u20ac\u201d or discard them.<\/p>\n
Too many friends attempt to turn Facebook into a cathedral, preaching the way, the truth and the light. Virtually guaranteeing us higher places in Heaven if we forward certain messages to all in Christendom. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost as if we will become heathens if we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t react.<\/p>\n
Some attempt subtle blackmail: If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t denounce or support (fill in the blank) you are a coward! And they often write something anecdotal about the man who missed the 15-minute forwarding deadline and then dropped dead, whereas someone who met the deadline now is rich.<\/p>\n
Some friends try to persuade others to forward messages to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all of your friends.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now that can involve a lot of people.<\/p>\n
Some people on Facebook have perhaps a thousand friends. Although today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technology makes it simple to send the same message to all these people, do we really want to?<\/p>\n
People who should know better often get the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what if?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d post that promises we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all be as rich as Bill Gates if we merely forward a particular message. I received such a message last week, a note filled with promises that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d make Donald Trump seem pauperish. Rather than complying and waiting anxiously by my in-box, I announced that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d already received my fortune, and because I clicked the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153send\u00e2\u20ac\u009d button twice, the original $20 million had doubled. Not bad for a man who lives modestly and retired 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
Well, the sender of the everlasting-riches message was not amused. Sorry, Friend, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m too busy building schools, museums, libraries and hospitals to worry about such minutiae.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
We took our weekly trip to the Farmers Market, located Saturday at the Plaza. A woman sold us some peas, but not the kind you spoon or fork out of a bowl. These, the area farmer told us, were peas, but not the roundish things; instead, they were the vines to the peas.<\/p>\n
And what do they taste like? Well, like peas, except for a different texture. You see, the vines are gnarled, complex and stringy. As the seller lifted out the half pound we ordered, we noticed she did it in one fell swoop, all of the vines sticking together, like lifting cotton or cotton candy.<\/p>\n
On the plate, the peas were a different matter. After mixing in sunflower seeds, chopped carrots and cucumbers, we found it difficult to negotiate a forkful of the stuff. It all hung together, giving us the feeling we were swallowing spaghetti in one continuous string, which \u00e2\u20ac\u0153experts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d say you must never cut with your fork, nor bite off when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s halfway into your mouth.<\/p>\n
You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to continue swallowing it until that particular portion is done. Then repeat.
\nPeople could make a fortune by coming up with a mini-weed whacker that shreds the vines of the peas as they prepare the salad. Otherwise, consumers of the stuff might need to devote 10 minutes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 chewing time per bite.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, how satisfying was our Farmers Market purchase? Very tasty, exactly like peas, but a bit more work to get down.<\/p>\n
Peas be with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Necessity is the mother of invention. Or is it the other way around? Doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it happen that a new gadget we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never dreamed of suddenly becomes a necessity we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be without? Let me explain: Not a tekkie by any means, I nevertheless felt stranded, branded, abandoned and empty-handed by the cell phone I forgot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1282,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions\/1282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}