Novelties of the Urban Scene - and a tip
Sept 22, 2013 8:42:53 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2013 8:42:53 GMT -5
The past few days I spent in South Wales (revised and updated version), and not having been in a Big City for some time was in a position to make three observations which may spark some interest among the Membership.
1) Hand-held devices. They are everywhere, and all seem to be of a type that measures about two and a half inches across, and about five inches down. Glancing over people's shoulders I saw tiny coloured squares, some of which may be menu items and others elements of games and pastimes. I have also in other cases seen a mixture of photographs and tiny tiny text (illegible after two minutes I should think). It may be - I do not know - that the devices use a wireless connection.
On the very crowded foot-paths, on the omnibuses, on the under-ground rail-ways and in the food courts these things are in constant use by forty-five to fifty per centum of the population. (I am being very careful not to exaggerate here.) All approach their machines with an evident slavering eagerness, a selfish and single-minded glee; they are not happy until the hectic thumb is going up and down! Women in particular hasten a little crab-like along the foot-paths staring fixedly and - it must be - maniacally at their gadgets; somehow they contrive to avoid collisions.
What are they getting out of it all? Personal relations surely? That is human nature. But only a few actually speak into them as one does a tele-phone. Some amercian must be making pots out of all this frenzy!
And suddenly an idea came to me: back in 1990 I purchased one of the early IBM-type PCs, manufactured by the Epson company. It came with the XTree programme - and believe it or not I still use XTree twenty-three years later! (And indeed I still use the original solidly constructed keyboard.) My point is, that one is likely to retain and use something valuable which one receives as a gift, and with which one becomes familiar - here the XTree programme. So now I would like to offer our esteemed member Mr. H. a hint! Simply arrange for one of Sorabji's Symphonies to be provided free of charge with every one of these gadgets; then people in their hundreds of thousands will become accustomed to his style of composition, and for years to come slaver for more daily!
2) The second unfamiliar sight is that of the motorized scooters that weave their noisy way along the foot-paths through the gadget-obsessed throng. Not motor-scooters (such as Lambrettas); rather platforms upon which the rider simply stands - and sometimes two riders together. The motor is attached to the rear wheel. The O.E.D. informs us that these are not new; but they are new to me.
3) And then I went across the harbour and waited twenty minutes for an omnibus. The passing traffic was constant, and - here too I am careful not to exaggerate - fifty per centum of the motors were Mercs, twenty per centum were Jags, ten per centum BMWs, and assorted others comprised only twenty per centum. I believe that is the form of the future - at least of Mrs. T's. future.
I wonder how much all this is a mirror of present-day London or Zürich?
1) Hand-held devices. They are everywhere, and all seem to be of a type that measures about two and a half inches across, and about five inches down. Glancing over people's shoulders I saw tiny coloured squares, some of which may be menu items and others elements of games and pastimes. I have also in other cases seen a mixture of photographs and tiny tiny text (illegible after two minutes I should think). It may be - I do not know - that the devices use a wireless connection.
On the very crowded foot-paths, on the omnibuses, on the under-ground rail-ways and in the food courts these things are in constant use by forty-five to fifty per centum of the population. (I am being very careful not to exaggerate here.) All approach their machines with an evident slavering eagerness, a selfish and single-minded glee; they are not happy until the hectic thumb is going up and down! Women in particular hasten a little crab-like along the foot-paths staring fixedly and - it must be - maniacally at their gadgets; somehow they contrive to avoid collisions.
What are they getting out of it all? Personal relations surely? That is human nature. But only a few actually speak into them as one does a tele-phone. Some amercian must be making pots out of all this frenzy!
And suddenly an idea came to me: back in 1990 I purchased one of the early IBM-type PCs, manufactured by the Epson company. It came with the XTree programme - and believe it or not I still use XTree twenty-three years later! (And indeed I still use the original solidly constructed keyboard.) My point is, that one is likely to retain and use something valuable which one receives as a gift, and with which one becomes familiar - here the XTree programme. So now I would like to offer our esteemed member Mr. H. a hint! Simply arrange for one of Sorabji's Symphonies to be provided free of charge with every one of these gadgets; then people in their hundreds of thousands will become accustomed to his style of composition, and for years to come slaver for more daily!
2) The second unfamiliar sight is that of the motorized scooters that weave their noisy way along the foot-paths through the gadget-obsessed throng. Not motor-scooters (such as Lambrettas); rather platforms upon which the rider simply stands - and sometimes two riders together. The motor is attached to the rear wheel. The O.E.D. informs us that these are not new; but they are new to me.
3) And then I went across the harbour and waited twenty minutes for an omnibus. The passing traffic was constant, and - here too I am careful not to exaggerate - fifty per centum of the motors were Mercs, twenty per centum were Jags, ten per centum BMWs, and assorted others comprised only twenty per centum. I believe that is the form of the future - at least of Mrs. T's. future.
I wonder how much all this is a mirror of present-day London or Zürich?
