Re: let's argue about religion

[Donal Philby <donalphilby@earthlink.net>]

Jack,

Wonderful.  My side still hurts from laughing.  To expand your metaphor:

DOS is for the Calvinists and the Penitentes (excellent for self
flagilation).  Windows 3.1 is for the Protestants most comfortable
surrounded by like minded people.  Win95 is for Millenium Convergence
Aquarians who really think things are going to get better.  Mac is for
the Taoists who flow with the stream (while often bumping along the
rocks on the bottom).  The Catholics are still using a mainframe with
dumb terminals, except for the Jesuits, who all have Sun and Unix and
Web sites.  The Hindus worship so many systems they spend their days
using conversion programs and reading manuals knowing that seeming
compatibility problems are simply Maya, except the yogis, who spend
their days testing the flexibility of the wiring.  The Budhists, of
course, sit under a directory tree waiting for enlightenment.

And yes, I use a Mac and study Chinese martial arts (Hsing-I, Bagua, and
Tai-chi) and Celtic mysticism while using an M2 and N90s and searching
(I live in California after all) for the right therapist to make
everything better.

Donal Philby
San Diego
 
> Isn't the automation vs. manual control argument that runs as a subtext of
> much discussion here just a rerun of the Protestant Reformation?  Manual
> operation is Protestant; nothing comes between the photographer and his God/
> subject.  Automation is Catholic, with those microprocessors and servo
> motors performing the same sort of role in image capture that priests and
> acolytes do in worship.  The Leica rangefinder is the ultimate Calvinist
> camera; the M5 and M6 are creeping Papist laxity, sorta like the Church of
> England.  Manual reflexes like the R6 are basically for the Jesuits.
> 
> (Umberto Eco says something similar about the Mac versus Windows, I think).