Biggus Dickus

[degringolade]

 

One of the residuals from my exit from the land of “geek” is my almost indecent obsession about the specifications of electronics.

It started back in the seventies, with an unseemly obsession about the advertised “total harmonic distortion” and “power wattage” of stereo equipment.  It also led to the desire for greater displacement in the realm of internal combustion engines.  It was an enjoyable, albeit expensive, obsession that ended up nowhere and probably saved me from any number of social diseases due to my lack of funds to be earmarked for chasing women with  proven promiscuity.

The age of the computer and my education led me down another path, one leading from from 8086 through 80486 and then to the AMD 64 fueled weirdness that defines my electronic life today.

But truthfully, now that I am old and I find this sort of dick-matching tiresome, I have come to the conclusion that the computers that fill all my needs are of a I-5 vintage with around 8 gb (could probably do with an I-3).  All of the advancement since then isn’t about what I want to do with a computer, but what the computer wants to do with me.

I don’t think that I am alone in this.  Most of the power of modern chips is wasted.  The need for the greater power in chips has been built around the idea of giving the corporations at the top of this odd food chain a continuing revenue stream (which is why they also stop supporting chips).

The “revolution” in the internet and my use of it is going the way of stereos and cars.  

By the way, this is always a great read 

https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs81n/command.txt