Tablet PC's

Last summer, WCU was trying to strike a deal with Gateway. Essentially, Gateway was wanting to give WCU a great deal on Tablet PC's if WCU would require students to purchase Gateway Tablet PC's as part of a student requirement to attend WCU. The cost would be tossed into the tuition.

Some faculty were in firm support of this initiative because they claimed that if every student had a Tablet, then some amazing things could be done in the classroom, such as projecting whatever was on the students screen to the big screen in the front of the classroom. However, the faculty were fooling themselves into thinking this would be a good idea.

First, not all departments would benefit from this technology. There is absolutely not need for Tablets in the English department. A few of my classes met in the computer classroom. This room had 24 computers for students and a master computer for the teacher. It also was equipped with a projector. The professor was able to show any students desktop on the projector. This classroom was used by desktop publishing classes and very few writing classes. It was a very useful classroom, and there was never a need to require all English students to have Tablets while outside this computer classroom. English and History are two prime examples of majors that are mainly lecture based.

Second, there are plenty of classrooms that have one computer and projector, which would allow students to bring their reports, presentations, etc. to the class and show to the class.

Third, and most importantly, Tablet PC's are worthless technology. They do absolutely nothing that a laptop cannot do. Sure, they have the cute ability to write on them with a stylus, but everyone knows that you type way faster than you can write. Imagine for a moment that you are writing on a Tablet. First, you write slower than you type. Second, if your handwriting isn't perfect, the Tablet will misread your writing, which would cause you to waste time by going back and correcting what you wrote.

Another argument for being able to use the stylus was that you could draw on them. Woopty-do.

Fourth, the Tablet PC is built around a hinge. How absurd is this? Laptops have hinges that allow them to go up and down. The Tablet PC has a complicated hinge that allows it to move up and down, and then twist. I don't trust such a hinge because the hinges on laptops eventually wear out. How much sooner will a Tablet's hinge die! I also reject my former supervisor's argument that the hinges won't wear out very fast because computers are much better built these days. Bull! That's what everyone ALWAYS says about technology and computers, and yet, we are constantly led to believe otherwise through experience. I have known at least three Dell laptop users (myself, Ben, and Ruff). One of those is dead, mine is in need of repair to be usable, and the other isn't in perfect condition despite the delicate care of its owner. So why would I believe hype instead of experience?

Tablet PC's do nothing a laptop cannot, they are built around a dangerously fragile swivel, and give no new experiences other than five minutes of doodling, and they really grind my gears.

The Lottery

You know what grinds my gears? The lottery.

I live in North Carolina. The lottery is relatively new here because conservative Christians successfully kept it out of the state in previous attempts to bring it in. However, we slacked off during the last attempt so now it has been successfully placed down the street from every free-loader in the state. Why does it grind my gears? A number of reasons.

First and most obvious, it is a most dishonorable trait to be too lazy to work for one's money. The lottery caters to those who want free money and do not want to work to get it. The reversal of fortunes comes from hard work and determination, not from the states tax on people who are bad at math.

Second, it amplifies the notoriety of unfavorable persons. An example: I was speaking with my friend's dad the other week. He has observed that within the 4 years of his living in his community, the two convenience stores near his house had only been robbed 3 times. Each of these three times were within the past year...the year that NC got its lottery. Coincidence? Perhaps. However, it is plausible that the lottery increases the free-loader's lust for money beyond the point of spending their last dime on tickets, to the point where they want to get that last dime back - as well as other free-loaders' last dimes - via robbery.

Third, many who want a free handout neglect the needs of their family in order to get it. This of course is not true for all people who play the lotto, but now the lottery gives Mr. X an opportunity to not only neglect his family's needs in order to have booze money, but also so that he can have lotto money. All along Mr. X's kids are putting their hope in a handout that will never come instead of trusting that daddy will work hard to bring home the bacon.

And last but not least, because of this lottery, I have to wait 10 additional minutes each time I go to a convenience store because there never fails to be several indecisive lotto buyers in front of me in line. "I want number 9, no wait, number 8."

"That will be 6 dollars."

"6 dollars?! Put number 8 back and give me number 7."

Here daddy can't decide on which lottery ticket to buy and all along the kids are at home, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

The lottery grinds my gears.

"Reality" Shows

Reality shows really grind my gears. Unlike the name suggests, there's nothing real about these shows. They're just crappy storylines with interviews of the actors, who ham it up for television for ratings.

My own life itself is full of drama and conflict. Why would I ever feel the need to put more drama into it? I have never thought, "I've had such a rotten day. I think I'll go watch some little spoiled snot-nosed brats have their expensive 16th birthday party while yelling at everyone since they're so stuck up, because that's entertainment." Who comes up with this stuff?

Honestly, all reality shows should be segregated onto a single television station (preferably MTV) so that the world has to option to block a single channel to rid the world of "reality" television.

Absurdly Long Anime

You know what grinds my gears? Anime series that are absurdly long.

Some anime series are short and sweet with 26 episodes, such as Samurai Champloo, Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop. These are all wonderful shows. There are long anime shows that are good as well, such as Naruto, Bleach, and to some extent, Dragonball Z. It's understandable that some shows have a large cast and a long storyline to develop. Bleach and Naruto are prime examples of this. They both have large story lines that probably wouldn't fit well in only 2 seasons.

However, the problem arises when a long anime becomes too long by adding in obvious filler episodes and pointless content. Naruto and Bleach are guilty of having close to 50 episodes of filler each! These episodes are noted as filler because these episodes to not develop the main plot and they deviate from the source of the story: their respective manga comic. This deviation might be bearable under a few conditions.

First, if greedy companies didn't try to force me to pay $20 plus tax per DVD which contains only 3 or 4 episodes. Using Bleach and Naruto as an example, if I were to pay $20 per DVD for those 50 episodes of bunk, I would be paying between $250 (assuming 4 episodes per DVD) and $333 (assuming 3 episodes per disk), excluding taxes. I cannot consciously purchase DVD's when I feel that these filler episodes are a cheap way for someone to take my money. It's as if they assume that I will think, "Oh, this is Naruto. I love Naruto. I don't care if these episodes are pointless and not entertaining. I'll buy them anyway because they're Naruto." This arrogance makes me think that these sellers' egos are out of control, and it irks me to no end!

Second, filler episodes might be more bearable if there weren't huge amounts of them at once. Fifty episodes of filler at 22 minutes per episode is 1,100 minutes (18.33 hours) of do-nothing. You could almost watch two full length series of anime that are short and sweet, such as Trigun or Samurai Champloo, in the time it would take to watch pointless filler.

Third, these long anime series grind my gears not only because of the filler episodes, but because of the pointless content that seems like a blatant attempt to milk out more minutes of animation without continuing the story. Dragonball Z is a prime example. If the animators of DBZ would have cut out all the footage of landscape panning and people explaining the obvious, DBZ would probably have been 100 less episodes. Have you seen all of DBZ? It's an absurd 270+ episodes!

Let's look at a good anime for comparative purposes. Samurai Champloo had two filler episodes out of the 26 episode series. One filler episode was essentially a recap of everything that had happened thus far in the story. The other was a hilarious episode where our Japanese friends faced mean Americans in a game of baseball. These two episodes were very bearable because there were only two of them, and they weren't worthless. Also, the episodes moved very fast. There wasn't someone who explained everything that was happening. If a long anime series would able to mimic Samurai Champloo or Trigun or Cowboy Bebop by keeping the episodes to no fat and all meat, it would be a rock solid legend among anime.