Bij Sharky Extreme is een humoristische column te vinden over het koop gedrag van de zogenoemde computer geeks, in Nederland ook wel bekend onder de naam tweakers 
. Er wordt iets gezegt over het feit dat sommige mensen een dure auto kopen en andere mensen liever een muis met een rood lampje of een 72x CD-ROM drive met 2MB aan cache... :
My forties are a time when I thank the stars I am a computer geek. Cars and tummy tucks have no appeal. All I need is a vehicle that makes it to CompUSA or Electronics Boutique - and protects me when Hillary and her SUV four-wheel their way up my tailpipe. Plastic surgeons would just laugh or run away at the sight of me in their waiting room, anyway. And who needs fancy clothes, when I've got a full wardrobe of gaming t-shirts dating back to 1996.
Instead, I find solace in "treating myself" to peripherals I really don't need. None of these add-ons is ephemeral, mind you. Each is an honest upgrade of a critical component. It's just that glowing optical mice, internet keyboards and hyper-speed CD-Rom drive are to geekdom what orange hair and Jags are to normals - expensive and unnecessary hedges against boredom.[break]Na het culturele verhaaldje van Firefox over de nieuwe webservers heeft Sharky Extreme ook nog een wijsheid: "I shop, therefore I am":[/break]Always be extravagant, flashy and non-utilitarian. Don't be taken in by frumpy Puritans who believe form should follow function or practicality should be your guide. These are wet blankets who somehow miss the whole point of consumer culture let alone even understand the "I shop, therefore I am" zeitgeist. As any upscale sports car owner will tell you, lights and buttons really matter - even if they don't do anything. That vast array of extra gray keys, or that light coming out the optical mouse's butt, will make any geek feel she is in control of something awesome, even if she does need to work on some of those basic social and motor skills. This is the mantra of our age, my friends. To feel self-empowered is to be self-empowered.
:[/break]Always be extravagant, flashy and non-utilitarian. Don't be taken in by frumpy Puritans who believe form should follow function or practicality should be your guide. These are wet blankets who somehow miss the whole point of consumer culture let alone even understand the "I shop, therefore I am" zeitgeist. As any upscale sports car owner will tell you, lights and buttons really matter - even if they don't do anything. That vast array of extra gray keys, or that light coming out the optical mouse's butt, will make any geek feel she is in control of something awesome, even if she does need to work on some of those basic social and motor skills. This is the mantra of our age, my friends. To feel self-empowered is to be self-empowered.
