Friday, June 29, 2018

SAY "HI" TO YOUR NOT-SMART OLD PHONE


I am anti-cellphones. I've written about them yearly since 2010 when Media said they had the same level of frequency radiation of cellphones that killed lab rats.
     2011, I wondered if phones caused  brain cancer.
     2012, I wrote "Dear Darling Phones" because everyone I knew had a phone.
     2013, I quoted Carrie Underwood -- "My phone is my best friend, my life line to the world."
     2014 and thereafter, in various blogs  I've attacked various new phone apps that promise to run our lives better, more easily,  more safely.

Today, constantly, I'm seeing hunched-over people who seem to be talking out loud to themselves.

I doodled this:  
Why? Because hunched over people look scary, weird. Their intense focus is scary weird. But maybe-perhaps-possibly there's a TREND that could change things.
       NY TIMES article: "Are you tried of touch screens, app updates, and incessant push notifications? You’re in luck: The budget phone is making a comeback... consumers are going retro, finding that cheaper phones have never been better.”
      SEATTLE TIMES: "In an age when everyone seems glued to a screen, the humble flip-phone is turning into a statement of protest and individuality. Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and billionaire investor Warren Buffett have all been spotted recently with low-tech devices."
       WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Its time to take feature phones seriously again. It's the Less is More theory. You stay connected, but get something less intense, than the sensory overload of an attention-sucking smartphone."
       USA TODAY: "If you want a phone for under $100, you are no longer doomed to limping along with leftover software. Google has rebuilt its Android software -- you can get the latest apps with less storage and less memory."
       WIRED. COM : "Nokia's reissued its UltraCheap 3310 and 8110, a/k/a candy bar & banana- shaped phones. The 3310 ($60), has a camera and a web browser. The 8110 tiny 24-inch screen travels easily from open to shut. The best thing is the battery life is almost a full month.

This picture in "THE WEEK Magazine" of nice looking devices cheered me. 
Gee, it would be wonderful to walk down and street and see this !!!!

Golly, I'm hoping -- wouldn't it be great if everyone would 
re-learn to connect and relate to others with words you pronounce out loud into the air and actually just plain 
S P E A K.


Monday, June 25, 2018

(VIDEO) MADCAP ADVENTURES


Spur of the moment, capricious, reckless doings by John Cullum and Emily Frankel -- that's what the Cullums do when the weather is lovely.

Even when disaster looms and Em is scared, she KNOWS John will handle it,  and get them safely back home.