In a place called Brooklyn, Michigan, a couple of folks spotted a Bigfoot.
Suddenly, while driving west on M-50 near the Jackson County border, a large bipedal, reddish-brown/auburn (brother-in-law’s description) colored creature crossed the highway from passenger-to-driver side in front of us. The event happened so fast that for a few awkward seconds I was totally absorbed in stunned silence.
As a kid growing up in New Jersey I went to the New York World’s Fair a bunch of times. The single exhibit that I remember best is this one: the General Motors self-driving car. I remember seeing a typical American family (whatever that is) playing checkers or something while the car drove itself down the highway. I’ve been waiting 45 years for this invention to come to light. And here they are: Google invented them! The New York Times has a story on it today:
What happens if a police officer wants to pull one of these vehicles over? When it stops at a four-way intersection, would it be too polite to take its turn ahead of aggressive human drivers (or equally polite robots)? What sort of insurance would it need? These and other implications of what Google calls autonomous vehicles were debated by Silicon Valley technologists, legal scholars and government regulators last week at a daylong symposium sponsored by the Law Review and High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University.
Over the last two years, Google and automobile makers have been lobbying for legislative changes to permit autonomous vehicles on the nation’s roads. Nevada became the first state to legalize driverless vehicles last year, and similar laws have now been introduced before legislatures in Florida and Hawaii. Several participants at the Santa Clara event said a similar bill would soon be introduced in California.
Does anyone else remember that World’s Fair exhibit?
Contemporary Retirement is hosting the carnival for baby boomers today!
Last year at this time, I cursed the day I decided to make my home in Boston because the snow and ice were so severe that I thought I wouldn’t make it through the winter. This year, it’s the opposite. Our fall was warm, our winter has been relatively warm, and, except for a freak Halloween storm, we have had virtually no snowfall.
Yet, I’m still not content. Don’t get me wrong: I am thrilled to death that we don’t have to contend with snow. But the freaky occurrences around the world that signal global climate change are too blatant to ignore. The fierce hurricanes, the failing crops in the Southern Hemisphere, off-the-charts levels of pollen, icebergs crumbling, and other catastrophic events are like death throes.
Have you ever seen someone die? It doesn’t often happen suddenly. No. It’s erratic. Their temperature is high, then it’s low. They have an appetite, then they don’t. They are alert, then they’re not. Same with climate change. Erratic. And scary.
Midlife Musings is hosting this week’s carnival for baby boomers.
I grew up on snack cakes: Hostess, TastyKakes, Drake’s, you name it. Now, when I say I ‘grew up on them’, this is no exaggeration. I ate this stuff EVERY DAY. You could say I was a real Snack Cake Aficionado. I hardly ever met a snack cake I didn’t like, except for TastyKakes peanut butter tandy cakes. I just don’t like peanut butter-flavored foods.
I loved cupcakes, Krimpets, chocolate Juniors, fruit pies, devil dogs.
Now, I would hardly touch the stuff today, but back then, who needed broccoli when you could scarf a butterscotch Krimpet.
Sadly, Hostess declared bankruptcy today. But I think they will restructure and survive.
BloggingBoomers Carnival 241 is hosted today by Accidental Locavore.
Remembering a friendly neighborhood bar
Martha Stewart documents her emergency room experience (warning: it involves stitches)
Jane Fonda gives an inspiring TED talk on the Third Act of life
The New York Times on a cool community time bank for skill sharing
My cousin Dan, who retired in 2009 after 37 years working for the U.S. Postal Service, sees the future of U.S. mail delivery, and it’s bleak:
Admit it, you went to your mailbox on the last two Mondays forgetting it was a holiday and you were disappointed that there was no mail. In fact, Americans just experienced the future of the U.S. Postal Service – five-day-a-week mail delivery.
We boomers grew up with the mail being our primary means of communication with family, businesses, and faraway friends. My mother’s house had a mail slot in the front door. The snap of that spring-loaded door would have us running to see what had arrived in the mail. Technology has replaced that sound with an electronic beep or that silly AOL phrase, “You’ve got mail,” but we still get excited.
First-class mail paid the bills for the U.S. Post Office. But now with mail volumes down to historic low levels, five-day delivery of the mail is inevitable. I attended a meeting with the Postmaster General in 2009 where he announced, “Personal communications using first-class mail is extinct.” The word ‘extinct’ really bothered me.
Because of my 37-year relationship as a Postal Service employee, I still try to use the mail, but it is a losing battle. The familiar blue mailbox on every corner is disappearing and thousands of post offices are slated to close. Even my mortgage company notified me last month that it will no longer send a paper bill, assuming that if I have a mortgage, I must have a computer.
It will take me a while before I stop going to the mailbox on a Saturday, and I think I’ll miss it.
