I came across an article while surfing MSN or Yahoo or some similar all-purpose site that was about giving up the things you use or are dependent on the most. This is nothing new, there are lots of communities out there that encourage people to do with what they have, avoid consumerism and so forth, but this book, article and project gained the most attention recently because the participants were white middle class females.
They said that after giving up buying things for one year (not counting food and underwear) made them appreciate the things they have even more. I feel the same way about computers and new technology.
It turns out there’s a lot you can do with an older computer, and a lot more you can do with it after optimizing its performance (speed being the biggest drawback in older machines). I like to exercise that potential as a hobby and as a principle.
That’s my random two cents for today. 
