Don’t let the cold and snow dissuade you from believing that spring is around the corner. Pitchers and catchers have reported; gardeners are perusing their seed catalogs; backpackers are prepping their gear for the next adventure; and the cyclists of the Palouse are replacing tires, inspecting chains, and keeping an eye out for clear days- and roads- for an early-season ride.

Institutions are making plans, too. Washington State University has hired ALTA Transportation, a professional consulting firm, to work with them on an updated bicycle route network. An enterprising Civil Engineering student named Andrew Stephenson has come up with a plan to adapt campus bike routes to the contours of the landscape. He envisions lifts or elevators at critical junctions to help mitigate the difficulty of the hills. The city of Moscow is  looking ahead as well, its “Moscow on the Move” program dedicated to implementing the vision of the city’s Comprehensive Plan of 2009.

The city of Pullman has a plan, too. It was just updated…in 1996. I think it’s fair to say that the city has changed somewhat since then, considering that the population has risen by some 5,000 people. Still, the plan is both an interesting glimpse into the recent past and a potential blueprint for the future. It’s worth dusting off, updating, and using as a springboard to launch Pullman into a new era of bicycle accessibility that could put the city on the map as an example of how to enhance alternative transportation. As WSU moves forward, the city of Pullman needs to pick up and move along with it. The campus cannot be left to become an island, cut off from its surroundings, for city and school grow best when they grow together. The border between city and campus is so permeable as to be nonexistent in some areas, and I think that’s a wonderful thing.

As I discussed in my previous essay, open borders make for easy migration and dispersal, while barriers don’t have to be large to be effective. Something as mundane as a gravel-covered street or a bumper curb in the wrong place can ruin an otherwise good bicycle route, to say nothing of streets without bike lanes or multi-use paths that ultimately lead nowhere.

The 1996 pedestrian/bicycle plan does a good job of identifying the high-traffic areas where conflicts are likely to occur, and while there has been notable improvement (the Grand Avenue Greenway, for instance), some notorious tangles remain (like crossing Stadium Way on said path). Comparing the ideas in the plan to the reality on the ground, it is easy to see that the plan has been followed only partially and sporadically. It seems reasonable to expect more progress after sixteen years, especially considering how many other ways the community has grown. We have to ask ourselves, and our representatives in city government, why. Perhaps the answer lies in the truism that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and other wheels have squeaked more loudly. Is it because cycling is still seen more as recreation than transportation? Has it to do with revenue? I noticed a fee-based registration proposal in the plan, yet I have never heard of it elsewhere.

Maybe it is best, then, that WSU is leading the way on this issue. We need to make sure that the city follows closely. To that end, there is an open house this Thursday, March 7, in the WSU CUB Junior Ballroom (210 East) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring the transportation consultants the university has hired for its  Bike and Ped plan. Considering that the world is run by those who show up, I intend to be there. But first, I have to fix my bike chain.

As the daylight fades, the winds pick up, and we prepare to settle in for another long Northwest winter, readers may find it an odd time to think about bicycling. I will reluctantly admit that the riding season may be winding down, and snow-covered streets may soon end it altogether. But, as gardeners and baseball fans can attest, winter is the time to argue, plan, and dream about next year. So, let’s start the conversation about what we want our community to look like and how we can get there. The “hot stove league” is just warming up.

Well, “hate” may be a bit strong. I’ve got to say, though, that my relationship with the Chromebook has so far been a tumultuous and angst-ridden affair, one I’m having second thoughts about and that, even as I write this, is giving me fits.

The machine itself as a piece of hardware is fine.  It’s lightweight, sturdy, boots up in seconds, and runs all day on a battery charge. The problems all lie on the other side of the curtain, so to speak, with the limitations of its web-based operating system and the vagarities of wireless internet (sorry, I’ve got to go refresh my music player, it timed out while I had another tab open) connectivity.

First of all, for a machine- indeed, for a workflow paradigm- that revolves around multitasking and having several tabs open and multiple applications running, it sure hiccups a lot. Pages freeze, processes stall, the cursor locks up, and the user wants to commit acts of violence out of sheer frustration. This is not conducive to productivity. I almost lost an early draft of this post. Clearing the browser cache helps…for a few minutes. Nothing has been effective over the long term yet.

Secondly, the internet connection itself is a bit wonky. Now, this may be a by-product of our home wifi setup, as we have 3 other computers working the wireless and one plugged in via ethernet. Yet I’ve had it happen when I’m home alone and the little Chromebook is the only machine going. The connection will drop, stall, or slow to a crawl. Again, for a web-centric device without an ethernet jack, this is far from an ideal scenario.

The third, but by no means least significant, issue lies with the cloud-based concept behind the Chromebook. For someone whose dominant computer tasks are writing words and listening to music, things are surprisingly difficult. Uploading music from my iTunes library, for instance, hasn’t happened yet. I would have to reset the machine to factory basic settings, boot into developer mode, and install a version of the Linux operating system on the computer in order to install and run a program that would let the Chromebook talk to my iPod. That’s not likely to happen, is it? (Answer: no.)

Uploading music from other media (USB drive, CD, etc.) requires I log into another Windows or Mac computer; install the Chrome browser, if it’s not already there; log in to my Chrome account, often with either an application-specific password (don’t even ask) or a two-step verification process ( an access code texted to my phone) or both! ; download, install, and open the Google Music Manager; then search for the music I want and upload it. Figure half an hour or so for those steps, then x-amount of time for the music itself to upload.

Fortunately, the Google Play app for playing the music stored in “my personal cloud” never has the skipping, hanging, freezing problems that streaming apps like Jango or Pandora do…unless I was lying just there. Okay, I was lying. The bigger problem with Google Play is, when it does finally recover from those glitches, it doesn’t go back to the song it was playing when the glitch occurred. That would be far too dull and linear behavior.

Now, as to documents…this should be the easy part. Google Docs is fairly easy to work with; there are just a couple of minor glitches. One is a strange coding or formatting issue that eliminates all spaces between words when  a Google doc is synced to a more useful organizing platform such as Evernote. Another is a rather unimaginative set of page-formatting options, which (sorry- have to reset Pandora again! There it goes.) don’t seem to include multiple-column text. Oh, and when a Google doc is downloaded and opened in Word, the title is reformatted as a table. A big one. Good times.

The real trouble is that I don’t have the money to go out and get something better. I’d be looking at the neighborhood of $500 to $1000, and that’s not an option right now, even if I could get a couple hundred for the Chromebook. At least I have access to the other Windows machines in the house, but I sure can’t tote any of them to the coffee shop.

I’m just glad I don’t have to print this, because I can’t do that from the Chromebook now either. Now please excuse me while I go back and re-insert all the paragraph breaks that disappeared while I was out looking for that video link.

This is a delightful device to look at, hold, and use. The size, shape, and weight are ideal for a small personal computer. The keyboard is attractive and well-laid out, though I am having some trouble finding my way around. Let’s blame operator error for that. It feels sturdy, looks clean, and even sounds decent, for an ultralight laptop.

Getting underway with the Chrome environment took some doing, though. Since my main objectives with the computer are writing, social contact, and listening to music, that has been the focus of my setup activity over the past few days, and it’s been a hit-and-miss affair. I’ve been a Gmail user for years; no worries there. Facebook-or any standard webpage, for that matter- is the same as it ever was, just a little smaller. In that sense, it’s a huge gain over the tablet I was using, which could never seem to decide whether it was a mobile device or a proper computer. Websites could never tell either, which led to some truly aggravating browsing time.

Document and music access turned out to be a different story. While Dropbox is a great document repository for most users, it doesn’t want to play nice with Chrome or Google Drive. First of all, I couldn’t open any document files in Google Drive, nor in Dropbox. A  few hours’ searching showed me what little check-box in which obscure setting panel I had to check to solve that. Then, I had to do a two-step maneuver: download the file to my minimalist “desktop,” then drag from the “Downloads” folder to the “Google Drive” folder, then right-click for options on how to open the file. Oy. There turns out to be a better alternative for crossover file storage and sharing, though: Box. Box has a larger baseline for free storage (5 GB vs. 2 for Dropbox) and is totally compatible both ways: I can open or save a file as either a Google or Windows document, so I can save either in Google Drive or the Box. Pretty sweet, yes? Yes.

So much for Day 1.

Day 2 was Moving the Music, and it proved as fraught with peril, if not more so, than that which had preceded it. Google stores tunes, along with everything else, “in the cloud,” which is the cool way of saying “somewhere on a server in a giant warehouse.” So, one has to move the music files to said “cloud” before being able to play them through Google Play. I have my music stored on a flash drive, on my iPod, and on the hard drive of my MacBook (the broken one). The Mac hard drive being obviously not an option, I plugged my iPod into the USB port of the Chromebook, and…and…

“Device not recognized. Format not supported.” Grrrr. Try the flash drive. Yes! There are the files! There is the music! Now to move them…but first, I need to download and install the “Google Music Manager.”

“This file type is not supported.”

Eh? What’s that now? There’s no version of the Google Music Manager for the Google Chrome OS? 

Oops. Major ball-dropping there, folks. I did find one program in the Chrome App Store, MusicAlpha, which was touted as a solution. I installed it, tried it, and it promptly froze on me. I hate to think of what an unsuspecting new user without access to a second computer would be faced with at this point. Fortunately, I have access to both Windows and Linux machines, a nice fringe benefit of living in a tech-nerdy house. I logged in to my son’s computer, signed in as myself on Chrome, downloaded and installed the music manager, and proceeded to upload my thousand-plus song inventory. Granted, it took a few hours, but my son was able to use his computer in the meantime. Soon, I could see songs popping up in my music account; song title, artist, album, and all.

“And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

After that initial grind, things have gone quite smoothly. I do wish I had realized what sort of compatibility issues I would run into, but none of the many reviews I read online made much mention of them, and of course Google bills the whole experience as a joyous transference. then again, what else would they say? I suppose in a way it’s a microcosm of the transition that digital society is undergoing, moving from desktop-based programs to a more mobile, fluid, internet-based model. This Chromebook is, after all, very like a tablet with a keyboard and hinge instead of a touchscreen. For someone who produces more than they consume, and can operate within its parameters and limitations, it’s a superb lightweight solution.

As to that “desktop,” this is more of a spot of counter space. I have offline access to all the documents in Drive, as well as my Google calendar and Gmail, with a couple of setting tweaks. I should probably download some music to the machine, too, as one can’t always connect to wifi. Shocking, I know, but true. Of I could keep that flash drive (and/or my iPod) in my bag for when I need some tunes but can’t get online.

The thing is, though, that limits can be very useful things. Is there anything inherently wrong with not being on the internet all the time? Is there a problem with not having total access to everything? Is there not a trace of virtue in boredom, a touch of joy in loneliness, a spark of bliss in isolation? I think there is. We need to be conscious, mindful users of our time as much as of any resource. Anything to keep us thinking.

I’m having a bit of a philosophical and ethical dilemma regarding my stance on gun ownership, and I need some space in which to hash it out. First of all, I am not opposed to guns per se. I grew up in rural New England with a father who hunted, though he got more deer with his car than he ever did with his shotgun. I learned firearms safety and respect at an early age. I knew where the ammo was, how to load the rifle and shotgun, and not to even think about them when Pop wasn’t around. Guns are tools, yes; but potentially dangerous ones. Guns are cleverly designed and can possess the beauty of fine craftsmanship, as well as provide the benefits of recreation, food, and personal defense. Yet in the three decades since my idyllic youth, when I happily riddled tin cans with my .22 rifle, something ugly has emerged from deep within the American psyche. Maybe it was there all along, but the pace of technology and modern life have thrown it into relief. When a hammer is the tool of choice, more and more problems look like nails.

For many people, guns have come to represent war, crime, and the death of innocents, often overshadowing their more legitimate sporting and defense roles. Part of this is, I think, technological. As warfare became more mechanized in the 20th century, some of that advanced technology found its way to the consumer market. Returning GIs brought semi-automatic .45 pistols and  M-1 Garand rifles back from World War II and Korea; the AR-15 and AK-47 emerged as favorites after the Vietnam War; and mankind’s relentless quest for efficiency has put the equivalent of five old-style six-shooters in virtually anyone’s pocket.

Meanwhile, our ethical development has, as usual, lagged far behind our technical achievement. As a culture, we glorify physical prowess and the capacity for violence over compassion, intellect, and reason. There is ever a new threat around the corner, a new enemy at the door, a new reason to respond with violence, out of fear-whether it be criminals, terrorists, our own government, or some more nebulous “other.” We increasingly use violence, whether of images, rhetoric, or weapons, as a means to solve our problems, while our tools become more compact, powerful, efficient, and available. Unmanned robot aircraft now patrol the skies over several nations, removing the burden of guilt for the deaths they cause from soldiers to technicians in faraway bunkers to bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., poring over a list of names of those deemed worthy of termination. “Due process” has become yet another meaningless euphemism.

We also have come to the point as a nation where the pro-gun advocates seem to have won the debate. In the wake of all the recent massacres by gunfire in this country prior to Newtown, I heard no voices-certainly no politicians’ voices- calling for any sort of limits or restrictions on ammunition purchases, magazine capacity, or any other aspect of gun ownership. The guns were here, and not going away, so we all just had to deal with that fact. Instead, a point of view had emerged which states that more people need to own and carry guns in order to prevent more mass shootings. At first, that idea strikes me as being as sensible as putting out a campfire with more wood. Yet there is a vein of logic, however twisted, in that argument. Here’s how I see it: if we the people, acting through the agency of our own government, fail to control the personal arms race now underway in this country, then we as individuals have a moral obligation to provide for our own self-defense by joining it. We concede, in other words, to the pro-gun zealots. We relinquish our right to not own firearms if we so choose, abandon our Constitutional mandate to “provide for the common defense,” and retreat to our basements and bunkers to await the apocalypse, if only in a metaphorical sense. Thus the privatization of yet another aspect of our society: safety.

Maybe Newtown has changed that tune. Maybe we are wise enough  now to understand that an elementary school should have no reasonable fear of being invaded; that children and firearms do not mix. Maybe we can appreciate the value of public space, public safety, and public servants. Maybe we can begin to understand the need for some restraint in certain areas, that just because we can do something- like owning a semi-automatic assault rifle with a drum magazine, or stockpiling thousands of rounds of armor-piercing ammunition- doesn’t mean we should.  Maybe we need to recognize that mental health is every bit as important as physical health, and we can stop stigmatizing the people who need help and see that they get what they need to heal. And maybe, just maybe, we can begin to see the terrible harvest of our culture of violence, now that it has sprouted again in our backyard.

I was perfectly happy with my second-hand, six-year-old MacBook, until its logic board bit the dust. Before that, I had been quite content with my two-year-old, factory-refurbished Thinkpad; that is, until my often-reinstalled copy of Windows XP started making vague threats and angry gestures and oh, whoops! I lost a second hard drive out of that machine. (Coincidence? I wonder. I thought at the time I heard something about leaving the gun and taking the cannoli…)

I tried The Linux Experience, but wound up spending more time trying to make it work than I ever did using it to get work done. Now I tap this out on the virtual keyboard of an orphaned tablet running a hacked version of an outdated operating system, and who knows how many hoops I’ll have to toss it through before it winds up on the blog?* I feel like a character in a dystopian science-fiction comedy (nothing new there, really), and as I write this it’s not even Thursday. This feels more Douglas Coupland than Douglas Adams. 

I must admit to feeling a certain sense of defeat with regard to my impending purchase of a brand-new computer, even one as modest in scope and scale as the $249 Samsung Chromebook. But, having reached the limits of both my time and talent in trying to find a viable alternative, I must now reluctantly part with some of my treasure. 

I take some solace, though, in having found a truly inexpensive and lightweight solution. At $249, the Chromebook is in the ballpark of the second-hand machines that have vexed me so over the years, and as far as I can determine there will be no additional costs down the road. No need to purchase expensive proprietary software, no disc or hard drives to replace, hardly any moving parts to replace at all. Is it eco-friendly and sustainable? Probably not in absolute terms, but for a personal computer, likely more so than most.   

Will it last? Who knows? Probably not more than a couple of years, as that seems to be the typical life span of these products- in my use, anyway. This device presents two advantages in that respect, though. First of all, it has a shockingly low replacement price for a brand-new computer. Second, it stores everything in the cloud! That’s right, except for a nominal amount of on-board drive space- currently 16 GB, same as most tablets in its price range- all music, document, and photo storage is done on-line. The operating system is derived from the Google Chrome web browser and it runs web-based programs, with desktop-style extensions. I’ll know more in a few days. There is some trading-off, as in every transaction. But from all the reviews I’ve read, the machine does what it does very well. The question lies with the user: will this system work for a particular person? Does it do what User X needs it to do? 

I will know the answer to that for sure in a few more days, once I get it home and get to working with it. But obviously I strongly suspect that it will handle what I need it to do- writing, mail, web-surfing, and social media-with a minimum of fuss and a minimal footprint. And, with two tower PCs, two Windows notebooks, and two tablets already in the house, that should be plenty.

*The correct answer is four: tablet word processor to local storage (sd card); sd card to Dropbox; Dropbox to desktop; desktop to web. Quite a workout. Thanks to all of you keeping score at home.

ANYWAY …on to the questions and their answers:

1. Does it do what I need? Mostly. As traveling companions go, it’s hard to beat, and I can see now how people get so accustomed to them. After having a six-pound, seventeen-inch MacBook as my “portable” computer, it’s a refreshing change of pace. Saving documents from the tablet to the Dropbox is a two-step shuffle, but the Kingsoft (free!) office suite is a little dream to work with. Internet access is quick, but a little dodgy at times. Some pages look odd unless I load a desktop version, and navigation is tricky. I’m used to seeing the browser tabs and toolbar ready at the top of the screen, and the tablet hides them behind some other buttons. The on-screen keyboard is usable, but nowhere near as comfy as a proper stand-alone. Still, I can bust out 500 or so words at a time without much trouble. Worse was not having the CTRL, ALT, and arrow keys, especially with writing longer text pieces. The biggest hangups here are that I can’t seem to get a Bluetooth keyboard to function with the tablet and the WordPress app won’t install. The Amazon app representative thought it might be that I need to upgrade the operating system again to Android 4.1. I would if I could, but so far I can’t, so I opted to splurge and drop all of $3 on an upgraded keyboard app. It’s a definite upgrade, but still no CTRL key!!!

2.Does it beat the alternative? Well, that all depends on what the alternative is. Compared to the Ancient Dell, it’s light-years ahead for a portable device. I am actually writing this part of the post on the tablet, and you probably can’t tell where I left off with the other computer, can you? It’s just that good. On the other hand…(said Tevye)…a proper notebook computer, ideally a small one like a netbook/Chromebook/Macbook Air, would probably be better at on-the-go word processing, multi-task situations, and the like. So, in between what I do have and what I could have, it’s a decent compromise.

3. Does the good outweigh the bad? Not entirely. For one thing, I’m going to have to save this post as a draft, log back in from a computer with a proper keyboard and mouse or touchpad, and tidy up the grammar and formatting. Nor was I able to paste into this template from the Kingsoft doc where I had begun this post until I had opened it on my other computer through my Dropbox account. There always seems to be an extra step or two with this arrangement. Then again, I would have a hard time playing pool or curling (really!) without a touchscreen, so there are certain compensations. Overall, though, it’s not as good at what I need as I need it to be. Neither is the old Dell, for that matter, and the time I’ve spent wrestling with the two of them…not sure how I’m getting that back, if ever I am.

So there you have it; sometime next week My Dear Wife and I will take a road trip, 75 miles north, to the nearest Big Box Bargain Store that stocks the Samsung Chromebook, which at $249 is nearly as much as I can drop on a gadget right now. Until then I’ll just muddle through with what I have.

Although…there is one more thing I can try with the tablet…just kidding…maybe…

–
-Peter

The first step we took was to “root” the device; that is, unlocking the root command structure. (When I say “we,” I mean myself and/or my tech-savvy teenage son. Everybody should have one.) Next, we installed a newer version of the Android operating system (from 3.2 to 4.0, for those keeping score at home). Unfortunately, these steps also involved wiping the system clean of all its settings and installed applications, and thus cost a few hours’ time in restoring them. The difference in performance was extraordinary, sufficient to allow the project to continue. I was able to find a suitable assortment of free apps to do what I wanted with the tablet, and it seemed I was on my way.

So far, so good, right? Boot time is brief; e-mail is easy to check; I can generate documents and save them to my on-line Dropbox storage; and I can carry a slew of books, music, and games for when I need a break. On the other hand, as Tevye would say, there are a few shortcomings. Being undocked from “Mom,” aka the OEM system, means a certain lack of aftermarket support. For instance, the Google Play store doesn’t recognize the device, so I can’t download any apps from there. Nor do some apps that I can install actually operate. Some websites look and act downright strange, and I can’t get a Bluetooth keyboard to work with the thing.

Well, no system is perfect, is it? The questions then are whether the system does what the user needs it to; does it better than an alternative; and whether the good outweighs the bad. In this case, I need to be able to do word processing and some basic spreadsheet work, browse the internet and handle my e-mail, and keep posting to my blogs. Games and videos are fun, but not what I’d call essential. The verdict so far is, as previously stated, mixed at best. Let’s take the questions one at a time…

NEXT!!!

]]> http://poorlocavore.com/2012/12/08/test-case-part-2/feed/ 0 poorlocavore http://poorlocavore.com/2012/12/07/test-case-part-1/ http://poorlocavore.com/2012/12/07/test-case-part-1/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:53:14 +0000 poorlocavore http://poorlocavore.com/?p=1376 Continue reading →]]>  After -what has it been now, two weeks? Close to three?- of trying to use a Lenovo K1 tablet like a laptop computer and a ten-year-old Dell Latitude laptop as a “desk” or home machine, I am both encouraged and frustrated by the results so far. I think I could pull it off with a few more tweaks to the tablet and a more stable environment on the desktop, but my success so far has come at a high cost of time, effort, and lost productivity.

I intend to keep going with it for the time being, but I reserve the right to change direction if needed. It will be great if I can make it work, and my ability to carry out an alternative plan is, shall we say, constrained. Meaning, I can’t go out and drop several hundred dollars on a new computer. Third, I’m a bit stubborn about letting go of ideas unless they are clearly unworkable. But what brought me to this state of affairs in the first place, where I’m trying to cobble together a functional system from such rags and scraps? It’s something of a long story, but I will try to summarize.

I’ve never owned a brand-new computer. The closest I’ve come was a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad, which lasted me all of two years. Frankly, I haven’t owned a brand-new anything, save for a pair of work shoes or a wristwatch, for quite some time. Thus, I’ve learned to be somewhat resourceful with regard to the service and repair of expensive things. I’ve overhauled a washing machine in an apartment hallway; replaced the head gasket and timing belt of an old Volvo in an unheated garage; and repaired an overheating Dodge van with a flashlight. All in all, I’ve got a pretty good track record.

These computers, though; they have proven vexatious. Between incompatible hardware and obsolete software, with my stubborn yet impatient nature in the middle, I’ve had a devil of a time keeping the second-hand machines that I inevitably acquire in operable condition. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that the computer manufacturers and software producers were deliberately trying to render their own products obsolete. But that’s just silly, right? I mean, why would they do that?

At any rate, I’ve owned a laundry list of old machines and built up a fair working knowledge of both hardware and software, especially Windows. Then I got to thinking that perhaps an operating system that required me to keep a three-ring binder of troubleshooting articles handy might not be an ideal solution. At college, I was exposed -albeit not indecently- to the Linux and Mac environments, but resisted switching due to concerns I had about the learning curve of a new operating system and the cost of a Mac machine.

Last winter, when my Thinkpad ate its first hard drive, I thought long and hard about crossing over to one of the alternatives. I even went as far as installing a version of Linux on the replacement hard drive I got for that machine, but it never quite took. When finally that computer would not boot at all, I deduced that something had gone very wrong indeed. A good friend happened to have a used MacBook Pro and graciously gifted it to me, and I gradually adapted to the new environment.

All was well and good until the only thing that goes wrong with the older MacBooks went wrong with mine. The graphics card overheated, taking the main logic board with it. Apparently, this is a well-known issue both to the manufacturer and the user community, with a number of variations on the method of repair. The idea is to re-heat the board and re-flow the solder, thereby repairing the connections. My attempt at this repair proved unsuccessful, unless you count white-hot sparks and acrid smoke a success.

So there I was, up the proverbial creek, but not entirely without a backup plan. I had just replaced our oldest son’s creaky desktop computer with one from the university surplus store, so I went back and nabbed a Dell laptop for $50. The school sells these machines, as-is, but with a current version of Linux installed, so they are ready-to-run. I figured it would tide me over until I got the Mac fixed properly.

Then I got an estimate for a replacement logic board- nearly $600, plus labor! Suddenly, that $50 computer was looking better and better. The trouble was, with its bricklike nature, short battery life, and overall modest performance, I didn’t think I’d be prone to getting out and about with it. Nor was I convinced that a computer of that vintage would last me a long time. Naturally, I needed a backup to my backup plan, and my shiny-thing-loving self had been eying the cool new tablets, so…

To…Be…Continued…

What is the problem, then? Why are we, as a society, mired in this dysfunctional relationship with things? From what deep neurosis do we suffer that has conspicuous, compulsive consumption as one of its predominant symptoms? And when did the big-screen TV take over? How did they become the litmus test of American status? And why do so many people have to buy new ones every year when the Christmas shopping season begins? It all seems entwined somehow, the big-screens and Black Friday and CyberWeek, this orgy of retail abandon, which itself is starting to take on religious and cultural overtones.

Here is a nation with what in a person would be diagnosed as a deep and serious neurosis, compulsively trying to spend its way to even greater prosperity and happiness, while at the same time prattling on about “family values” and “tradition” and “our Judeo-Christian heritage.” There is either a serious disconnect here or I am missing something terribly obvious. I daresay this country’s philosophy owes at least as much to Adam Smith and Max Weber as it does to Moses or Jesus. Perhaps this is nothing more than a modern display of Calvin’s idea of prosperity as a sign of God’s favor. Perhaps this society is self-medicating, trying to ignore problems that seem to be intractable. Ironically, though, these actions only serve to make the problem worse. Energy consumption, resource depletion and conflict, economic and trade issues, national and regional security concerns, and oh-that-pesky-climate change are all exacerbated by buying and using shiny new electronic gizmos.

What, then? Is there another way, another moral compass to follow besides competition and capitalism? We know there is; whether we choose to follow it is another question. I could post a litany of quotes from Lao-Tzu to Lucretius to Leopold, all with the same basic message:

“Take a little, leave a little.”

Who wants to go first? That’s the real question.