Starlink

Lately Starlink, Elon Musk’s low-orbit satellite internet service has been advertising on my blog. Thank you, I like the revenue. The service has a lot to offer people who live in remote areas and need high-speed internet access for work and other communication purposes, though I wonder if I would want such a thing when I build or buy my off-grid cabin in retirement. At one level it would be nice to have a job and do business over the internet, on the other hand I just want to be away from all this technological and media crap.

It just seems like a of stinky toxic plastic to toss in the burn barrel every few years.

That’s really how I feel about so much of this technology. I am not a complete luddite, but I don’t buy into this whole connected home thing with all it’s mix of disposable electronic crap that quickly wears out. The thing is these days you can do so much with a smartphone, the need for a computer is less and less, as is the need for high-speed internet. There was a time I brought my laptop home all of the time and went down to the library for Wi-Fi but basically I do all that from my phone now. I don’t know if I even will need a computer when I retire, though I guess I still like making maps and will want to blog or write some code from time to time. But I doubt I’ll ever have anything but a simple Linux laptop, never a television or streaming device. And the laptop will be for those occasional rare times I can’t do something with my phone.