sometimes, I hate Apple

Putting aside the question of Apple's corporate wokeness and its use of Chinese slave labor to make its products (a fact roundly roasted by Ricky Gervais a couple years back), I've been, in my home life, an Apple loyalist since high school (Apple IIc) if not before. These days, my desktop computer is a large, 2019 iMac with a 27-inch screen—as large as some of the smaller home TVs of yore. Generally speaking, I enjoy using this computer, built atop the bones of suicidal Chinese laborers, but every once in a while, Apple does things that annoy me. This thought was triggered by something that happened only a few minutes ago: another software update. Barely two weeks ago, Apple flagged me with a software update for my then-current operating system, Ventura 13.5. The update was for 13.6, which I numbly and obediently installed (OS installation means you can't use the computer for the better part of an hour, so you're probably better off performing the installation right before you go to sleep). Today, though—just a few minutes ago, in fact—I was flagged again with another OS update, this time for a completely new OS called Sonoma (14.0—yay?), filled with all sorts of newfangled features I will probably never use. 

These days, I suspect that the lifespan of a computer is determined more by its hardware than by its software. The software continues to advance and accelerate, and the hardware is "pre-built" to have a bit of flexibility in that regard: you can indeed upgrade your OS multiple times. But only up to a point: somewhere in the future waits the OS that will be so advanced and so memory-intensive that your computer's hardware simply won't be able to handle it. It's a bit like how one's aging brain becomes increasingly unable to handle the rapid acceleration of modern global culture—a problem that didn't afflict people centuries ago, at least not as badly as it does now. Sure, you might be able to upgrade your hardware—adding memory, maybe even switching out your processor—but even those upgrades have limits, just like starting to exercise late in life has only limited benefits compared to exercising from one's youth. Eventually, though, even those physical upgrades reach their limits, and you have to get a new computer. Because of the software. Software drives everything. No "drive" pun intended.

Since I'm leaving for Incheon later today, I suppose I might as well set my computer to updating. It's a helpless feeling to be so at the mercy of one's surrounding culture. I pretty much have to update if I don't want to fall behind. Things wear out fast these days, especially tech-y things. It's enough to make me yearn for items of comparative durability: knives that last for years and only need sharpening, etc.

I've got an apple pie baking right now. Started before 10 a.m. to give the pie time to cool down before I go to work. Luncheon today: hot dogs and toppings, apple pie, and—if it's any good—a chocolate "pie" that I also whipped up last night. I added too much butter to the Oreo crust, so when I baked the "pie," the crust shrank into itself and turned from a pie-plate-shaped circle to a flat, pizza-crust-like disk. I shrugged and transferred the crust to a cake pan with straight, vertical sides, then poured the pie filling atop it, letting it set in the fridge like a side-crustless cheesecake. There may be luncheon photos later. We'll see. I'm proud of my hot-dog chili.