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March 19, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: The Divine is in the details
JWisdom.com Stewards of sacrifice with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama is waging war on Israel
March 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Israel's New Enemy: America?
JWisdom.com Love me not? with Rabbi David Aaron (5 minutes)
Jonathan Rosenblum: Washington Throws a Tantrum
March 17, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Orwell, Santayana, and Me
Jonathan Tobin: How Many Lives Is Biden's Pride Worth?
March 16, 2010
Steven Emerson: Combating Lawfare
JWisdom.com How to perform a miracle with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair (4 minutes)
Anne Bayefsky: Behind Obama's Dangerous Overreaction on Israel
March 15, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Father's obligations toward minor children
JWisdom.com Moody, Grumpy, Irritable Children with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Judith Graham: Get the whole picture before a CT
March 12, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: You CAN have Heaven on Earth
JWisdom.com Manufacturing mediums with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The march of the Red-Green brigades
March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
Kelly Brewington: Going smoke-free may raise diabetes risk
Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
Greg Logan: 'Greatest Jewish sporting event of all time since David versus Goliath' may be postponed because of bar mitzvah
Feb. 16, 2010
Anya Martin : Boy's 'cerebral palsy' fixed with diet
JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review Oct. 30, 2008 / 1 Mar-Cheshvan 5769

Early adopters tech their chances

By Malcolm Fleschner


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I remember growing up learning that one of the defining characteristics of this great nation, along with "Wessonality," was our uniquely American inventive streak. So many of history's most important inventions originated here - the steam engine, the light bulb, the telephone, the "Rooty Tooty Fresh -N- Fruity" breakfast at IHOP - that it's safe to say we are unquestionably a "nation of inventors." Which is why as children we memorized the names of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and James Watt - not just because these men were geniuses, but because we believed, in our hearts as Americans, that they were also going to be on the test.


And while I admire my fellow Americans' ingenuity, I can't help but wonder whether it was really all that difficult for our inventor forebears. I mean, just look at all the stuff we didn't have but clearly needed. Plus without distractions like television, the Internet and cell phones, what else was there to do besides try to invent them? Sit down alone at a drafting table for long enough and, after you grew bored of making hand outline turkeys, you'd be bound to eventually say to yourself, "Hey, you know what would be great to have? A radio."


That's why to me, more impressive than the original inventors, are the so-called "early adopters" - those individuals who will eagerly try out whatever latest absurd-looking high-tech gizmo is touted in the pages of Wired Magazine, bravely risking the ridicule that inevitably follows from friends, family members, coworkers and, frequently, even passing strangers in the street.


Recent examples might include:


  • Personal data assistants (PDAs). The rest of us have grown accustomed to users of these hand-held devices interrupting conversations every few minutes to dig out their personal pocket "tech-retary." Using the gadget's accompanying pen-like stylus, they then peck in a just-acquired piece of critical information such as a mutual acquaintance's phone number, the neighbor's cat's astrological sign or the time and date of an upcoming Comic Book convention.

  • Cell phones. Sure, nowadays practically all of us, including senior citizens, pre-teens and even many of our pets, have cell phones, but that wasn't always the case. Not that long ago talking in public on a cell phone was widely considered the kind of thing that only egotistical, self-important snobs would do. Since cell phone use has become nearly universal, however, what's become apparent is that even regular people can become egotistical and self-important.

  • Segway scooters. Segways were supposed to be the Next Big Thing, the greatest revolution in personal transportation since monkeys climbed down from the trees and started riding around on roller skates. The only problem is that there remains no plausible way of riding around on a Segway without looking: a) silly and b) like someone who is just too damned lazy to walk like everybody else.


But the most compelling example has to be the Bluetooth earpieces for cell phones that make users look like they've contracted a rare ear affliction caused by intimate contact with a dustbuster. Either that or they've been tagged by alien beings eager to study the movements of 21st century yuppies. Honestly, the first time you saw someone on the street wearing one, didn't you react by thinking, "What the heck is that doofus wearing in his ear?" Whereas now, because of the popularity of this particular cell phone accessory, upon seeing the same person, you would most likely think, "That doofus is wearing a Bluetooth wireless device in his ear."


Part of why early adopters don't get enough credit is because once new technologies become ubiquitous, it's easy to forget just how bold those pioneering first users were. After all, for every person with the foresight and judgment to start wearing, say, Gore-tex gloves or fleece-lined jackets to protect against the elements, there are plenty of others who thought they were way ahead of the curve with their windshield wiper glasses and umbrella hats.


This phenomenon of ridiculing early adopters is probably not a creation of the information age either. No doubt the first person who went out wearing a pair of spectacles led very soon thereafter to the first recorded instance of someone being called "four-eyes." And you just know that the earliest bicycle riders had to deal with frequent jeers of, "Hey, what happened to your horse?" Not to mention, of course, the inevitable accusations of doping.


So while we rightly remember and applaud the legacy of all the great and industrious American inventors through the ages, shouldn't all the many brave individuals who helped forge the path ahead by willingly acting as guinea pigs for whatever cockamamie new doohickey rolled out of some inventor's workshop also get a statue commemorating their sacrifices? We could all throw rotten fruit at it.

JWR contributor Malcolm Fleschner is a humor columnist for The DC Examiner. Let him know what you think by clicking here.


Previously:

10/21/08:Cyberspace invaders
10/21/08: Keeping up disappearances
09/17/08: Victims of math hysteria
08/07/08: My newfound sense of self (promotion)
06/24/08: Getting the brand back together
05/29/08: Phrased and confused
05/13/08: Take this job and love it
04/17/08: News you can (re)use
04/02/08: Commercial (over)load
02/20/08: An overdose of reality
02/14/08: A developing situation
01/30/08: I can tech it or leave it
01/02/08: Confessions of a coke addict
01/02/08: Our bills are due
12/13/07: Going (to lunch) once, going twice…
11/28/07: Out with the old
11/06/07: My latest pet project
11/06/07: Can't tune it out
10/23/07: Something special in the hair
09/12/07: Can I have your attention, please?
09/12/07: Houston, we have an image problem
08/21/07: In the heat of fashion
08/09/07: Let's get in the game
06/13/07: You gonna eat that?
05/08/07: That's disinter-tainment
05/02/07:You Are (not) Getting Sleepy...
04/18/07: No time like Father Time
03/15/07: Deface the Nation
03/08/07: More gifts? You shouldn't have
02/22/07: Relationships can be such a chore
12/05/06: Who's calling the shots?
11/09/06: I'm taking selling to a whole new level
10/27/06: Some skills are beyond repair
10/18/06: You can't tech it with you
10/04/06: Award to the wise
08/24/06: Phrased and Confused
08/09/06: We're Gonna Party Like it's $19.99
07/19/06: Just Singing in the Brain
05/24/06: Who says you can't go home again?
05/11/06: When nightly news stories go off script
04/26/06: Cents and sensibility: A thought for your pennies
03/16/06: The day the Muzak died
02/23/06: Checkbook diplomacy begins at home
02/15/06: Today's toys: Where learning means earning



© 2006, Malcolm Fleschner

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