So, here we go again with my “Champ and Chump of the Week”.  What newsmakers this week, from various world events, would we generally like to see put into a Hall of Fame, or on a Wall of Shame?  I’m continuing making this a regular Monday thing here – my “Champ and Chump of the Week” when it comes to various world news stories that have impressed or depressed me over the course of the week previous.

A side note as well here…

I’m not sure if I really want to keep this section.  After I posted last week’s, I thought it over – about whether it really fit in with my personal nature, and the personna that I wanted to represent me here on my blog.  I mean, who the hell am I to say who should be a Champ or Chump?  Who am I to call out other people like this?  But, it’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing that I thought might suit this space on here.  Let me know your thoughts.  I know I only just started up my blog, but let me know how it sits with you all over the next few weeks.  If people get a kick out of it and enjoy it, I’ll continue; if not, I’ll axe it by November or sooner.

Enjoy.

CHAMP:  Scotland

Damn.  What a vote.

With this referendum on separating from the United Kingdom, Scotland has really put on a first class show.  To have as high of a voter turnout as they did is amazing – the highest in the developed world since universal suffrage in the 1920’s or so, with the next highest vote only being in Britain itself in 1950 after WWII.

Sure, this vote in Scotland had lots of divisions locally, yes, as any passionate vote can do that.  But no mass riots, no stupid anger killings, no widespread claims of vote rigging, etc.

Scotland really put on its game face for the rest of the world about how a vote of such importance can take place without the partisan hatred and voter apathy that many other countries suffer from.

Anyways, Scotland – you’re my Champ of the Week.

CHUMP:  the new Apple iPhone 6, iPhone 6+, and that dude who dropped it

Seriously – these i-Idiots stand in line for a week prior to the product release (apparently ordering something online is too outta vogue for them, and they gotta “hipster” their way to a new phone by camping out and surviving on Starbucks and Clif  Bars for 6 days while they wait for “the next big thing” to arrive on store shelves).

In the lead up to this variant’s release, some of these phones are going for over $3000 USD online through grey-/black-market vendors.  And…there’s i-Idiots who will pay for that.

To couple that off, some schmuck did a wanna-be box reveal live on Australian TV, at the front of the lines to get one of these new iPhone 6’s at the store, and then – he let the phone do a stage dive…

iPhone 6 drop…

So, instead of spending all that hard earned money on a downpayment for a car, or their higher education, or some home renovations maybe, these people (and I’ll generalize that its mostly college-aged kids, mind you, so it’s likely student-loans money, or Mom’s-and-Dad’s money), these people spend all this coin on something that could easily turn into a big shiny paperweight.

Hell, why don’t we spend that money and fly around the world just to be first in line, and then promptly drop the phone on purpose in a “drop-test review” video!!!!!!!

Hey, I’m an Apple fan as much as most care to be.  While I run a Windows desktop computer at home and then a laptop for on the go, my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed the intuititve nature of our iPhones.  We both have an iPhone 4, that we both got back in – gasp – October 2011.  And yes, amazingly to some of these i-Idiots, they still work nearly perfectly (the vibrate function is toast on mine) and they DON’T NEED to be updated.  We both love how well they mesh with our styles, and everything else we do on our Windows computers (love how easy the syncing is).  My wife also bought an iPad Air back in March for school, and I’m looking at buying one also for the end of this month (or I may wait until the end of October to get the expected-to-be-released iPad Air 2) – it would make things a lot easier for when I’m travelling for work.  Hell, we’ve even been discussing for the last few weeks about going in and taking a free-upgrade offer from our mobile provider, and getting new iPhone 5S’.

But, here’s the thing:  while Apple makes some great electronics, and if you have a need for them, sure, get new ones.  Granted, some need to update regularly due to work reasons – those that have legitimate business needs and burn through cell phones due to excess charging cycles, software changes, etc.  But it’s the people that only use these things for Skyping and web browsing and Candy Crush that I’m talking about here.  Do you REALLY need to update these things like fanatics every year???  These types of people just seem to thrive on spending a week of their life lining-up for the new-product-release, just so they can have the newest-most-bestest-and-next-great-thing in their hands to show off to people, and then be satisfied…but only for 51 weeks until the next one comes out.

And these new 6’s just are batty to me.  Huge!  The 6+ could barely fit in my cargo pockets on my shorts, and that’s without a case.  LOL.  Dude, I remember when cell phones weren’t cell phones.  They were “car phones”, ’cause they had a giant base-unit-in-a-bag connected to them, and a cord that you plugged into the cigarette-lighter in a car, and a giant honking handset with a cord!  Then…phones got smaller – everyone remember the Motorola StarTac?  Little fold up cell phones.  Then, the smart rage kicked in, and we were good for a while, until this “phat-tablet” thing started.  It seems like all cell phone makers are in a race to create bigger and more feature-packed phones now.  Pretty soon, my iPhone 17 is gonna be cutting the damn lawn, a la iRobot- / Roomba-style!

The concept of upgrading every year with something like this just turns me for a loop.  Especially when you consider that alot of these passionate / fanatical Apple customers are the same types who rant on other people’s spending and polluting habits.  Couldn’t you just see these types freaking out at other people if they were to trade-in and upgrade their cars every goddamn year??  Or buy a whole wardrobe’s worth of all-new, non-natural, synthetic-fibre clothes at the end of every season??  To me, not much of a difference here.

Use something until it’s broken and unfixable / irreplacable, obselete, or otherwise in need for an upgrade – sure, completely understood.  But to “have to” upgrade every 12 months for the same damn thing with only an extra bell or whistle, and I gotta say, what’s the point????  Chumps of the Week, in my opinion.

Cheers all.