(This is an old post from 2015; the point is valid, but the changes are far more than “the small details,” as stated below. That was true at the time this post originally appeared, I’m sure. I think my point was, life on the surface has changed so much. There really wasn’t that much difference between people living in the 1980s and people living in the 1940s, except the former traveled in jet planes and the latter dressed a lot better. Now, not only is it a different world, it looks different, too.)
When my grandmother was born, airplanes were more than a decade in the future. In my lifetime, space exploration and exploitation became a reality. In the 20th century, automobiles took over. Electricity and telephones became ubiquitous, and television was invented. It would be impossible to name a century of greater change. Yet, I think more apparent change has occurred in the past two decades. By apparent change, I mean changes in daily life and routine. Think how dated movies made only a few years ago can seem. You’ll see people running around frantically searching for pay phones. You’ll see black computer screens with green type. You’ll hear people asking, “Where are we?!” The fabric of daily life now has an entirely different feel. Take, for example, the above cartoon from 20 years ago. Of course, many people—if they still have land lines—still have answering machines, but they’re not the icon of connectivity they once were. And kids in the household certainly do not consider them a lifeline! Technological change has been a juggernaut for the past 200 years, but the small details have never been more apparent than in the current century.
74 responses to “The Medium Is the Message”
This is a neat bit of trivia:
Two of President Tyler’s grandchildren are still alive.
“It would be impossible to name a century of greater change.”
Challenge accepted.
The century where the Big Bang happened.
I’ll just let myself out…
Mark in TTown:
I fully agree that wild turkeys can fly.
After all, old magazine ads for Wild Turkey Kentucky bourbon used to show a wild turkey in flight.
If you can’t trust a Kentucky bourbon ad, you just can’t trust anything.
Dad was born in 1878, d. 1958. Peace,
Kenya: Blacksmith plovers.
https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/african-animal-lookout-camera
Lotsa eagles, adult and subadult.
https://explore.org/livecams/birds/mississippi-river-flyway-cam
Ghost is sleeping hopefully and I am being quiet. We are thankful for a few days off from trips to Tulsa. We are going all of two blocks away to eat a Thanksgiving buffet at one of our customer’s restaurant.
Happy Thanksgiving to the Village in whatever way you celebrate and give thanks.
Thank you Jimmy for making us smile and laugh 365 days a year.
Also Berkeley Breathed, but he needs rein, not reign. This, BTW, is a common booboo, especially in petitions, in letters to & from legislators, & ltrs to editors.
https://www.gocomics.com/bloom-county/2018/11/22
NB: I’m not criticizing any Villager, though it’s something to watch out for. I’ve even done two-to-too goofs.
Peace,
emb, perhaps he really does mean reigns. As in the reigning over a country, a people, or perhaps even the world? But yours probably still is the most likely explanation. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Here’s another common error I found in an article about the United States Postal Inspection Service:
In all, there are about 200 criminal and civil statues that the agency enforces, according to Bingham.
Santa has been watching you. He has his sled filled with dictionaries and Bibles.
Thank God none of you do Facebook. You would be dead of apoplectic seizure.
Jackie, I do Facebook since most of my generation in this community have settled on it for communicating within our groups (church, orchestra, A&J fans, and astronomy club for me). Though I was once a technical writer, I’ve also been a trucker, amateur musician, and for the past few years, a proctor at a community college.
I still shudder (internally) when people mix cases and tenses, but I only correct them when I’m helping them write papers for school or prepare talks for church or other public speaking.
If I were susceptible to such seizures, it’d happen at work where we use Google Hangouts to communicate between our campuses. My boss lady (her term, not mine) frequently misspells words and has to correct her comments in subsequent ones so we have some idea what she means.
There are a few of us in the Village that remember when there
was more than one Civil War Veteran.
There were 2 WWI veterans in our outfit when I was in the Army.
Trucker I once was paid to proofread, edit and correct. I despair anyone will be able to spell soon or know meaning of words, much less write coherently.
I never correct anyone but I shudder and roll my eyes.
Janis shouldn’t complain. At least she doesn’t have Sarge to read her the riot act.
Wish me luck. I’m about to embark on a mission to The Dread Wally World. SITREP to follow. I hope.
“Morituri te salutamus.”
“Avete vos.”
Abandon hope, all ye who enter
I not only survived, it was surprisingly uneventful. Based on reports, I was expecting the shopping version of “Zombie Apocalypse”, but that was not the case.
Ghost, if you pay attention to the reports of shopping disasters, they tend to happen when population density (including mental denseness) reaches a critical mass. In smaller towns and cities, with healthier mental health, such events rarely happen.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636191/
Just how many people did Arlo feed Thanksgiving, anyway? Advice for Arlo (and by extension, Janis): “Clean as you go.” Which is a corollary to The First Rule of Bachelor Housekeeping: “Never let it get ahead of you.”
By the way, I note that Janis’s “tradeoffs” continue to exhibit a pleasing appearance. 🙂
Interesting article, TR. Thanks.
The inspiration for today’s real-time strip: https://www.al.com/
Today Auburn and Alabama play each other to finish their regular seasons.
My least favorite G&S, but sure wonder where this going. This odd couple are strangely attracted to each other by a melody he wrote; also, he is disturbed by DJs who refer to classical pieces as “songs.” [So am I.]
https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2018/11/24
Peace,
Arlo is asking for a second season