The other weekend the man who begat mom who begat Tosh stopped by for a visit. Yes, Grandpa might be considered the 78 year old clone of myself in some ways, but when it comes to computer technology he was never current. I was trying to explain the TextAmerica site to him only to realize for myself the layers on layers of the stuff of which he is completely unaware. Starting with the term "moblog", which necessitate me explaining camera phones and “blogs“, then of course web sites and browsers and then e-mail (for getting the images on to the site in the first place). It made me feel like the well-payed work that went into a moblog site like that was really sort of trivial in the grand scheme of professions. If you consider policemen and firemen, the purpose of those roles is clear. Lawyers, doctors, tree trimmers all serve a purpose, but moblog web site developers? As web developers we spend all this time getting the code right, the look right, receiving a nice paycheck all the while (which we blow down at Starbucks) just so that a bored teenager can take pictures of himself with a phone and post them to the web? What an incredibly bizarre way to make a living.
Later that afternoon we passed a massive home-brew antenna on some car, which I surmised must have been a serious war-driver. Reflecting on this term and the levels of technology I'd have to explain (wifi, home networks, internet), I gave up and just sipped the iced chai.