Tuesday, August 28, 2007
(12:00 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Tuesday Hatred: Information Wants to Be Free
I hate copying a "link location" from a list of Google search results, then getting a 20 mile long redirect URL when I paste said "location." When I haven't had my coffee, I hate it even more. I continue to hate the "feature" on NYTimes.com that brings up a dictionary or encyclopedia entry for words I double-click. Since I am, after all, using the internet while reading the site, I can easily look up any baffling words for myself; those who lack the wherewithal to do so are likely going to be confused and even distraught by the "helpful" information NYTimes.com so intrusively provides them ("Oh God, what did I do? Computers are so confusing! As a middle-aged technophobe, I am so thrown off that I am unable even to laugh self-deprecatingly at my own lack of technical savvy!").I hate being unable to get started in the morning. I am coming to learn that morning procrastination only occurs when I have no set plans in the evening. Being intimidated by the wide-open expanse of the post-dinner period, I unconsciously "shift" tasks to fill that block of time. Thankfully, self-knowledge is power, so I will no longer have this problem now that I am conscious of it.
I hate that self-knowledge isn't actually power.
I hate that none of the parks in my neighborhood appear to have any picnic tables. Sunday afternoon, in light of the near-perfect weather, I went on a mission to find an outdoor (and free) location to read, and my search came up empty. I hate that my roommate's explanation of the phenomenon is almost surely correct: namely, that picnic tables would attract the homeless. A vibrant neighborhood full of ugly generic condo complexes cannot countenance vagrancy.
