Recovery

First off, I really wish Blogger would stop begging me to sign up to their new system. I did some undercover work checking it out and it's just more AJAXy.

I don't know what to make of AJAX. It's a pain in the butt most of the time. I switched my Yahoo mail to use the new snazzy AJAX mode and I hated it. It was slow, cumbersome, and, you know what, there's nothing really wrong about the old interface. There's this whole push lately for replicating the desktop look and feel on the web and I think it's not appropriate. I mean, cars could be built fly-by-wire, right? I mean, we've got the technology. Well, I for one don't want a car that I can't feel. If you've ever skidded in the rain you know how to pulse on the pedal and what to do with your hands and you feel the wheel resist and bend and resist. With racing lessons from long ago I forgot most of the explanations and scientific reasonings behind it all: I could probably derive it again but my physics section of my brain has been stunted for a few years. Anyway, it's become ingrained in my muscle memory. If I was just playing with a racing wheel and going through the motions I'd never get it done. (Safely.)

Besides, there's ALREADY the problem of malicious web sites impersonating genuine Windows dialog boxes to coax you into installing malware. Do we really need to make a habit of making the web look like your desktop? I say, no. People talk about how efficient AJAX is, since you only load what you need.

Think back to 10 years ago. They were talking that shit about Frames, too. Does anyone use Frames anymore? I thought so. We'll see how far AJAX stuff goes before people snap out of it and go, "whoa, I must have been SOOOOO wasted."


In other news, I finally got my Game Boy Advance stuff out of storage. Right now I've got 8 Game Boy Advance compatible game "systems" within arms reach. 2 of them are SPs still in box for future scalping, one is the Game Boy Player, one is the DS, and one is the Micro. How does it feel? Ahhh... sexy?

My first GBASP, the US Cobalt Blue, did get some damage, though. It acted wonky starting up... considering it's the first time in a YEAR it's been powered up I'll give it a pass. More interesting is that it wasn't even charging when I plugged it in. It's possible that the battery was almost completely empty. You can't let Li-Ion batteries drain completely: they need some residual charge to "jump-start" the recharging process. It's also possible that the socket has been abused. I used to charge my SPs using a 3rd-party docking cradle. The Japanese Light Blue one worked nicely. I'm still miffed that the light blue color was eventually released in the US with the newer screens. It's too bad. Although it does mean that it was exceptionally stylish, and by association I am, therefore, exceptionally stylish.

One sad part about the dark blue one is that it developed a dust dot on the screen. Maybe half an inch down right smack down in the middle. Oh the humanity. I had heard of an electrostatically charged comb can "pull" it to a side where it'll be behind the dark frame. But I don't own a comb. We'll see. I am most certainly NOT going to open it up. I don't think I have a room clean enough to do anything in. What really bugs me is, how did that dust dot get there if it wasn't there before? I had a TI-82 nerd calculator. And the LCD screen got really dirty on the inside... like the screen doesn't have any kind of fittings to keep out dirt. I imagine the GBASP has something like that on the inside since it's Nintendo. (even the GBA Micro has a rudimentary foam seal.)

Oh well. Whatever. I've wasted enough time. I was off Monday but I buried myself in storage digging those things out. Damn, I got games I totally forgot about. Too bad I don't have the time to play them.