The decline of western civilisation, part 34
Never mind that we are entering a global food crisis because we are feeding the machines before we feed other people. Nor that the price of farm land is increasing because it’s being bought by metropolitan weekenders rather than, er, farmers who might use it for farming.
Nor (bringing it right back home) that Anna and I would gasp and scoff[*] at three-person households with five cars. Because our two-person household now has four PCs. Last night Dell delivered Anna’s very own laptop. Since she needs a machine which is beefy enough to run Dragon Naturally Speaking we chose a Latitude D630 which is arguably more powerful than all our other PCs put together and causes a slight dimming of the lights across North London when you switch it on.
So far all we’ve done is to get network connectivity and download Firefox and Thunderbird. Oh, and uninstall Google Desktop, although otherwise it’s come with a notable lack of crapware. The next step is sort out all the little usability issues: trackpad sensitivity, font sizes, icon layouts. I’m not jealous. At least not until we change the desktop wallpaper, at which point I’ll suddenly look at it and say, “Oh, that’s a lovely computer…”
[*] Requires expert control of one’s air passage. Do not attempt without training, preferably with a qualified medic in attendance.
