Superstitious Much?

A few days ago, as I walked along avoiding cracks in the sidewalk and tossing my lucky rabbit’s foot, I began to think about superstitions. From horseshoes to 4 leaf clovers, everyone has heard of, if not participated in, totally illogical activities, the belief in which couldn’t possibly effect the results that the participant desires. For example, when I play basketball, I tie a double knot in my left shoe and a triple knot in my right. Why? Because at some point in High School after our team won a particular hard-fought game, I noticed that I had accidentally tied my shoes this way. I’ve done it ever since.
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The dictionary defines the word “superstition” as:

“A belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.”

So a superstition is any activity that a person illogically believes will guarantee that something desirable will happen, or more commonly, that something unpleasant will be avoided.

Common superstitions usually have no basis in truth and are largely geographically centered. In other words, we Americans (or our English ancestors) might believe that it is necessary to throw salt over your left shoulder in order to hit evil spirits in the eye, but other cultures would see us do it and laugh themselves into a coma.

Interestingly, some superstitions are nearly universal. The best one I can think of is “knocking on wood” after saying that something hasn’t or won’t happen. (I do this, but I’m not sure where I picked it up.) This practice can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt and earlier, and occurs in some form in almost all major cultures on the planet. The explanation that most people prefer is that the ancient belief that spirits either dwelled in or guarded trees and the evidence of tree worship date back thousands of years.

Greeks worshipped the oak as it was sacred to Zeus, Celts believed in tree spirits, and both believed that touching sacred trees would bring good fortune. Irish lore holds that “touching wood” is a way to thank the leprechauns for good luck. Pagan religions believed (and still do) in the existence of protective tree spirits. Chinese and Koreans thought the spirits of mothers who died in childbirth remained in nearby trees.

A Jewish version traces the origin to the Spanish Inquisition of the 15th century. At the time, persecuted Jews fled to synagogues built of wood, and they devised a coded knock to gain admission. Since this practice spared countless lives, it became common to “knock on wood” for good luck.

Regardless of whether you have a lucky tie, or lucky shoes, or a “mantra” to recite before a big day, you have a superstition.
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What does this have to do with computers? Well, technology is supposed to have elevated our race onto a cultural and spiritual plain that leaves no room for extra-empirical influences. To put it another way, there is no more mystery. Everything’s been figured out, there is nothing new under the sun. But being amazingly evolved, complex, intellectual beings, we spend half of our precious time avoiding black cats, walking under ladders, opening umbrellas indoors or breaking mirrors. Because MAYBE . . . just maybe . . . there really IS something out there that we don’t understand.
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Computer users are some of the most superstitious people on the planet. Every day they work with things that they can’t see and don’t understand.Working with all kinds of computer users, we have seen just how many kinds of superstitions we all cling to.

· I will never upgrade. Something will stop working if I do. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. And it’s not that bad.

Of course, these folks have a point. We are all resistant to change, but in technology, the change is almost always good. Have a plan and embrace change. You’ll be glad you did.

· If the computer doesn’t obey, tell it again . . . and again. It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results. My document didn’t print the first 5 times, so let’s try again. If only telling it louder could make a difference so it really knows you mean business.

Find and fix the problem before the problem fixes you.

· Never reboot! These people think that the computer is like a tightrope act. Or a house of cards. It’s working now, so hold your breath and . . . don’t . . .move. This is actually the opposite of what we recommend. Rebooting fixes about 25% of all computer problems. There’s nothing that can be messed up that we can’t fix so don’t be scared. Reboot it!

· I’m happy with my mouse from 1994, thank you. It was good enough for my Dad, so it’s good enough for me. Can you find an adapter to adapt my old technology to a slightly less-old technology? This scanner is fine. The new ones do 25 pages a minute and this one does 2, but I can wait.

Favorites are good. Comfort is good. But don’t miss out on all the advantages that progress can afford.

· I’m computer illiterate! If a problem occurs, these folks are ready to take the blame. I have actually had people tell me. “The email won’t work. I must have pressed the ‘check mail’ button wrong!”

I love telling our customers that it really isn’t their fault. Believe me, of all the computer problems that we deal with, very few are actually “user error.” Be confident and do as much as you need to on the computer, learn it well, and don’t be afraid to realize that these are very complex machines. Sometimes things just go wrong.

Ancient Computer Rituals. A conversation with this kind of user starts like this: “I turn it on, then go get a cup of coffee. If it isn’t up by the time I get back, I turn the monitor on and off. The sometimes I have to unplug the printer and plug it back in to get the computer to come up. If it makes a clicking noise I have to shut down and start over again.” These people refuse to believe that the computer is basically like a toaster: You push the bread down and the toaster pops toast back up. It isn’t magical. It isn’t alive. It’s a tool – that you can use to advance your career, grow your business, play games, whatever. But the computer does what you make it do, not the other way around. Take the time to understand what happens when you press the power button or how the peripherals like mouse and keyboard relate to the inner workings of the computer. Here’s a great simple tutorial to help you learn hardware basics.

· It has a mind of its own! Users who normally have a good handle on technology can fall into this one. This happens when the computer does something totally unexpected or just plain crazy, like spitting out 100 pages of gibberish or the cursor jumps around the screen erratically. Many times this turns out to be virus related, or dust in the mouse, or a failed print job that won’t go away.

Patience is the key here. Take your time, reboot and see if the problem goes away. If not, call us! We’re not “Ghostbusters”, but I’ve never seen a possessed computer yet that we couldn’t exorcise.
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It’s fun to laugh at, but truthfully, superstitions are a part of what makes us wonderful as a people. Even with all the change that has been seen for the last 5000 years, we are basically the same. 3D tv and iPhones and instant access to information hasn’t made us any less scared of the unknown than our ancestors who have been fossils for the last millennium. I’m sure that the first humans on Earth felt that they could make it rain by doing something like pouring water over a sacred stone. And thousands of years later, I’m also sure that that’s one of the things that makes us so unique in God’s creation.

Call us at https://www.available-tech.net/ for more information!