This is not good

BlackBerry has launched their App Store. That's bad, bad news for people who are easily distracted by shiny things, and I'm positively feline when it comes to things like that. I bat them with my paws, bite them then turn them aloose quickly, and stare at them, unblinking, for hours. I fear for my productivity, and my wallet.

I know that all the cool kids have iPhones, but I like the feel of those little Chiclet keys when I'm typing out--well, thumbing out, actually--an email or some such. Plus, whipping out a BlackBerry instantly gives you much more business cred than an iPhone. It might be false cred, since you can waste just as much time on a BlackBerry as you can on an iPhone, but it's still cred, and I'll take all I can get.

I'm just not an Apple fan. It's blasphemy, I know, to suggest that Apple has ever made a mistake, or produced anything but the Best. Products. EVER! But I wonder how much bigger a market share Apple would have if its adherents weren't so...how can I put this...zealous? I'd sooner walk into a mosque and start handing out bacon yarmulkes than I would suggest to an Appleonian that Steve Jobs is anything less than deity incarnate. Lighten up a little on the Apple worship, and you might win over even more people to your side.

And, lest ye think I'm a Bill Gates apologist, rest assured that no one has raged against Windows' numerous shortcomings more than I. I calls 'em like I sees 'em, is all I'm saying.

Now, on to other issues. There will be no April Fool's jokery here, or in the Dunn household, because I'm not much of a practical joker. I can enjoy stupid humor with the best of them, and I'm not saying that my inner idiot doesn't surface every now and then and force me to pull a practical joke, but for the most part, I lost interest in them a long time ago. I don't find them funny for the same reason I don't find prank phone calls funny. The whole premise is based on making people uncomfortable, and there's no real humor in that. (To me. Your mileage may vary, as they say.)

To me, real humor consists of pointing out the absurdity of a situation, and making that absurdity accessible to everyone, so that everyone can benefit from its lampooning. Real humor hits a common nerve of recognition in everyone. It gives voice to something that everyone has felt, even if they haven't voiced that feeling, or even known that they were feeling it. Practical joke humor, on the other hand, just hits the common nerve of "I'm glad that's not me."

Yeah, that's a little more pedantic than my usual stuff, but sometimes, I've just got to throw in a changeup. Don't want y'all figuring out my pitches and smacking one of them downtown. I'll be back to the usual pointless drivel tomorrow. Please check out my other blog, follow my Tweets if you'd like, and, if the mood strikes you, drop a penny or two in the tip jar on the other blog. I'd appreciate all three.