No answer, to your questions, but this prompted me to think of this oldie but goodie:
What if Microsoft made cars? If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: 1. For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would have to reinstall the engine. 4. When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on. 5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought 'Car95' or 'CarNT', and then added more seats. 6. Apple would make a car powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five per cent of the roads. 7. Oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single 'general car default' warning light. 8. New seats would force every-one to have the same size butt. 9. The airbag would say 'Are you sure?' before going off. 10. Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna. 11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of road maps from Rand-McNally (a subsidiary of GM), even though they neither need them nor want them. Trying to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department. 12. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 13. You would press the 'start' button to shut off the engine. -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Louis Schmier [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 6:25 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] Random Thought: Shelf Life > > I've been toying with the idea of replacing my > computer. But, it's proving to be formidable and unnerving. > Everywhere I go and everything I read and everyone to whom I > talk indicate that all the files I've got backed up using > Windows XP will be read on Windows 7 or Mac, and all the > programs I'm running on XP will run on 7 or Mac even with > some convoluted tweaking, that the new won't speak or easily > speak to the old. They just aren't all that compatible. It > almost sounds like I'd be trying to listen to my old LPs on a > DVD player. Whether my fears are well founded or not, on > this soggy morning that, some stuff that happened--or did not > happen--in class yesterday, and some journals entries I've > read this past week all have gotten me to thinking and wondering. > > What's the shelf life of all this information we > transmit, verse in, train for, > test, and grade? What's the shelf life of such attitudes > and habits and values as > trustworthiness, curiosity, commitment, perseverance, > endurance, imagination, compassion, service, self-discipline, > creativity, dedication, humility, respect, empathy, kindness, > courage, authenticity, honesty, responsibility, fairness, and > caring that we should be advocating, promoting, instilling, > and modeling? > > Which will prove to be timely and which timeless in the > shaping of lives: > information or character? > > Make it a good day. > > --Louis-- > > > Louis Schmier > http://www.therandomthoughts.com Department of History > http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org > Valdosta State University > Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ > (229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ > /\/\__/\ \/\ > / > \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ \ /\ > //\/\/ > /\ \_ /__/_/\_\ \_/__\ > /\"If you > want to climb mountains,\ /\ > _ / \ don't > practice on mole hills" - > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
