| p>He was afraid. | | | | environmental creativity goes, mankind is a retard. |
| He was alone. | | | | Perhaps it has something to do with all the |
| He was 3 million light years from home. | | | | perpetual ads telling us to buy another PC, but |
| ....but when it came to the crunch, our favourite | | | | that's no excuse. Disposing of a functioning |
| alien from the 80's, E.T., knuckled down and | | | | computer after such a short time has to be |
| phoned home using an old coat hanger, a Speak | | | | madness. |
| & Spell, and a record player. That's what I | | | | John Delaney is one man clued up to this lunacy - |
| call ingenuity. | | | | in August 2007 PCmag published a great article, |
| Time and time again it has proven to be | | | | "15 Ways to Reinvent Your PC". However, this |
| awesome formula for a story - as the A-Team | | | | might be too little, too late. The mass |
| demonstrated. Trapped in a cow shed by a small | | | | consumption frenzy of western societies has |
| army equipped with machine guns and hand | | | | already started to take its toll. About 460,000 |
| grenades, they would fight back with their secret | | | | Chinese die prematurely each year from breathing |
| weapon - inventiveness. After five minutes of | | | | polluted air and drinking dirty water, according to a |
| welding together some odds and ends, they | | | | World Bank study. Then there is the long-term |
| would smash out in a blaze of glory.... firing | | | | impact on global warming. The future is seems |
| cabbages or whatever. | | | | grim, especially when you consider that in fact |
| The irony is that this type of resourcefulness | | | | consumerism in the west that is driving the |
| could be the solution to a true life tight spot that | | | | industrialisation in China. That's the last thing going |
| mankind has gotten himself into. Global warming is | | | | through the heads of shoppers in John Lewis or |
| the ultimate predicament. It's a pickle to end all | | | | JC Penney. |
| pickles. If all those hours in front of the T.V. have | | | | And that appears to be the nub of the problem. |
| taught us anything, we should know that the | | | | It's everybody's problem and thus it is construed |
| answer is of course to get creative. | | | | as nobody's problem. Global warming issues are |
| Did you know that the average lifespan of a | | | | very much held at arms length by most, and the |
| computer is just two years; after that it's | | | | efforts of those who take it seriously are in no |
| normally deemed useless before being buried or | | | | way in proportion to the problem. |
| burnt. I'm sorry to say it, but as far as | | | | |