!Four questions: tech
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agk's diary
16 April 2025 @ 05:04 UTC
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written on GPD MicroPC
between a work shift that ended at midnight
and one that starts at 0600
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Ben Collver invited me to answer these questions.
Every month I miss the five questions Christina
used to ask us gopher scribblers. It's nice to have
a shared prompt!
1. When did you first get interested in technology?
I learned to type, made zines on copy machines
and an offset press, wrote a website for my
zine in the '90s on my dad's desktop, but I
wasn't interested in the tech, just using it.
2011-ish my win xp netbook broke. The new one
came with win 7 starter edition, which was just
an ad for an os. I wiped it, installed my first
linux (crunchbang, openbox on debian), and
learned how to use it.
I had fun with basic phreaking learned from
text files when I was a girl. Stole long
distance with a homemade lineman's handset to
chatter with my penpal and map what houses
wires served, called ranges of 800 numbers to
explore. Penpal and I sent mail art that tested
the postal service's limits.
2. What's your favorite technology?
Hard to say. Sundial? Offset press? Dip pen
with steno nib? Wristwatch? Boots? Playing
cards? Bicycle? Train? Sewing needle? Photo-
copier? Slide rule? Books? Inter-library loan?
The postal service?
3. What's your current favorite?
Colored rods (Cuisenaire rods), tangrams, and a
writing slate.
4. Name cool tech we'll have in 25 years!
A renaissance of repair shops for typewriters,
watches, shoes, bicycles, record players, cook-
pots, radios, handtools, and books? One can
only hope.
