There is a great deal on the internet that is "free". That means that IF you have a computer and IF you have it connected to the internet, then you can read the news from multiple sources, you can download software that will enable you to read Kindle books from Amazon, you can use any or all of several email services, you can create documents, spreadsheets and drawings and email them or store them in various places, get and use maps and do many other things without further outlay of money beyond the computer and the internet connection.
I have been using computers since 1965 so that gives me more than 50 years of experience. In all that time, I have done very little computer programming and nearly always used the code, the directions that make the machine work, that was written by somebody else. From the bits of work I have done, I know that writing explicit and error-free code can be a tedious, difficult, exacting job. So, I took a moment to express quiet thanks for the people who made all the programs that allow me to do all the things I wrote about above, plus a great many additional activities. For instance, on the iPad, I can take a picture (or a video with sound track) and edit the picture immediately. I have learned from my wife one of the most important editing moves for a photograph is "cropping", slicing off the parts of the picture that distract from the desired focus of attention. I doubt whether either one of us really grasps the work, the hours, the experimentation, the trials and tribulations that make the cropping and the pasting and the posting possible.
I didn't pay for the ability but it wasn't free of costs and effort. We just had Memorial Day, which we use to pause and honor our military forces. When Labor Day comes, don't forget the programmers that make all these modern miracles possible.
