Areas of Unrest

28 November 1999 - Technological Prognostication

QOTD: "If you were an idiot on Dec. 31, 1999, you'll be an idiot on Jan. 1, 2000." - Julianne Malveaux on the Y2K problem

Reading: Patricia Wallace, The Psychology of the Internet

Listening to: a tribute to Stan Rogers on KPFK

Among the things I got done over the past few days was a bit more clearing out of old magazines. It's interesting to look at issues of Technology Review from a decade ago. There's very little discussion of computer networking at all, for example. And there are a lot of articles about the future of nuclear power and about Star Wars and, oddly, about High Definition TV. An article about why technological prognostications are so rarely correct was particularly ironic in this context.

Another piece which struck me was an essay about how overwhelming the choices we face in day to day life can be. The author pointed out that supermarkets of the 1950's carried around 2000 items, while supermarkets of the late 1980's carried around 17,000 items. My first thought was "so why can't they carry Schweppes Bitter Lemon"?

Not to dwell on the whole soft drink thing more than I already have, but I did a few ginger ale experiments recently. Vernor's was recommended to me, but I found it completely dreadful. It has a strong apple-like taste, is too sweet and has very little of the ginger bite that I want. Reed's Extra Ginger Brew was promising, but is sweetened with honey and that flavor dominates. The best I found was an obscure brand called Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer. It was quite drinkable, but it sells for over a dollar per 12 ounce bottle, which is ridiculous. No, I will have to hold out for Stoney.

By the way, when I was ranting about soft drinks the last time, I made a reference to the Massachusetts State Home for the Bewildered. Apparently, nobody recognized the reference, which was to a bit of Tom Lehrer's banter on one of his albums. But a musical mystery was cleared up for me when I received a tape in the mail from Heather. Some weeks ago, I'd heard a song on KPCC (Pasadena public radio station) that started out "You will go to the moon" and I missed hearing who sang it. The tape was a sampler of songs by a Canadian group called Moxy Fruvous and "You Will Go to the Moon" was the last song on the tape! It was pretty cool stuff overall, sort of filkish in style. I'll definitely watch out for them in the future.

Other things I did over the past few days were not much more exciting. I had planned to go up to Ojai on Saturday morning for a Volksmarch walk, but I injured a toe in a collision with a stereo speaker instead. So I balanced my checkbook, paid bills and did laundry, instead. I also rented two movies - Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me and The Castle. The latter was a disappointment, largely because I had expected it to be much funnier. The former was quite entertaining though, particularly because I think Seth Greene is just delightful. And, of course, Mike Meyers will do anything for a laugh, no matter how tacky and overdone it may be. I also noticed that Free Enterprise is out on video. If you have any fondness at all for classic science fiction, that one is a must-see. I'm still amazed that they got William Shatner to play himself in it.