Silicon Soapware #234

[bubbleblower]

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                            SILICON SOAPWARE 
       wafting your way along the slipstreams of the Info Highway
                        from Bubbles = Tom Digby
                           = bubbles@well.com 

                      http://www.well.com/~bubbles/

                               Issue #234
                       New Moon of January 1, 2014


Contents copyright 2014 by Thomas G. Digby, and licensed under a Creative 
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.  See the Creative 
Commons site at http://creativecommons.org/ for details. 

Silicon Soapware is available via email with or without reader feedback.  
Details of how to sign up are at the end.  


                          *********************

Carrying on the theme of it having been half a century since the chain of 
upheavals in American culture commonly referred to as "The Sixties", 
there was one publication whose release I hadn't thought much about until 
I noticed it in a list of events for January of 1964.  And even though I 
remembered it once I saw it listed, it didn't seem all that major at 
first thought.

Then I got to thinking about it.  Over the years this publication (and 
others like it) gradually led to significant changes in laws and 
etiquette.  It eventually even led to changes in what items people think 
of as being part of standard table settings in restaurants.

It was the publication titled "Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory 
Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States" released on 
January 11, 1964.

If you weren't around back then it may be difficult to imagine how 
different people's attitudes toward smoking were.  People felt free to 
light up just about anywhere except in church or where prohibitions on 
smoking were posted for safety reasons, such as around flammable 
materials.  Most restaurants included ashtrays as part of their standard 
table settings.  Many sold cigarettes, either directly or through vending 
machines.

Among the fine points of etiquette a gentleman was expected to know was 
how to light a lady's cigarette.

People who were sensitive to smoke quietly endured the discomfort as best 
they could or just didn't go out to restaurants or bars or night clubs.

One way to get an idea of what it was like might be to watch movies (or 
TV episodes) made and set in the US or Europe from the start of talking 
pictures through about the middle of the 1960's.

Although not all adults smoked, those who didn't tended not to be 
conspicuous about not smoking, so it was easy to get the impression that 
everybody smoked.

Things did not change overnight when the report came out, but there were 
gradual changes.  A few annoying people took to grumping about second- 
hand smoke intruding into their personal space.  The government started 
requiring a sort of a subtle hint of a health warning (something like 
"Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.") on 
cigarette packs.  Some people forbade smoking in their homes.  And so on, 
a movement gradually gathering steam.

The transition was not smooth.  People disagreed and argued over it.  
When the science fiction club I was attending at the time (LASFS) got its 
own building in the 1970's there were heated debates over whether and how 
to restrict smoking at meetings.

The debates still continue in some quarters, although the anti-smoking 
side seems to have prevailed except among libertarians and anarchists and 
such, at least around here.  It may be different in some other places.


                          *********************

Back when smoking was more socially acceptable and perceived as pretty 
much harmless, cigarette advertising was ubiquitous.  You would see 
cigarette ads on billboards, on the sides of buses, in newspapers and 
magazines, and on TV.  Celebrities, including pro athletes, endorsed this 
or that brand.

Many of the TV commercials were elaborate productions, full of people 
singing and dancing.  Others had actors portraying scientists or doctors 
telling the world that it was OK to smoke, especially their brand.  
Cartoon characters appealed to young people.  And so on.

Of all these, one that sticks in my memory from perhaps my early teen 
years was fairly simple: It was little more than a narration about how if 
you arrive at an appointment or something a few minutes early and there 
are no magazines you want to read in the waiting room, smoking a 
cigarette is a perfect way to pass those few minutes of waiting time.

No, I don't recall the specific brand of cigarette.  But what I do recall 
at the time was thinking that I would smoke when I was an adult and that 
I wouldn't have to worry about being bored while waiting for whatever I 
might have to wait for because I could pass the time by smoking.

I didn't really have any plans to start smoking, and I didn't really feel 
like it was something I wanted to actually do, but I just sort of assumed 
that sooner or later I would.

It never happened.

What I think saved me from acquiring an unhealthy habit that could have 
proven to be almost impossible to break was the fact that I'd never 
really fit in with my peers.  So when my rebellious angst-filled teenage 
years came along I ended up rebelling against my peer group rather than 
my parents or the school authorities.  Thus tobacco and alcohol never 
became a part of my life, and I got through high school with pretty close 
to straight A's.

I didn't start thinking of myself as part of anything like popular 
culture until the hippies came along, and even then I didn't fit 
perfectly.

But that, along with my finding science fiction fandom at about that same 
time, is a tale for another day.


                          *********************

As I was looking at the morning paper on the first morning of the new 
year one item in a list of new laws taking effect caught my eye: "People 
living in the country illegally can now practice law in California."

That seemed kind of odd, and I suspect it's not the complete story.  I'm 
pretty sure there are additional hoops for any aspiring lawyer, even one 
who is in the country illegally, to jump through.  For example, I would 
expect them to be required to pass the bar exam or otherwise demonstrate 
knowledge of the law before they begin practicing.  To do otherwise would 
be madness.


                          *********************

Recent events in Africa lead to another question: If you trained monkeys 
to wave their arms around at random and recorded enough video of them 
doing it, would you eventually end up with the works of Shakespeare in 
sign language?  If monkeys can't be trained to be random enough, how 
about using robots?  One advantage is that you wouldn't have to actually 
build them and mess around with video cameras and such.  Just have 
computers generate the video images.

That leads to more serious thoughts of machine translation to and from 
sign languages.  I wouldn't be surprised if people are working on it now.


                          *********************

Given progress in self-driving car technology, it seems likely that most 
children born today will never be taught how to drive a car manually.

There was a story in the paper recently about how, with the rise of 
keyboards and other such input devices, cursive handwriting may become a 
lost art.

People working as cashiers in retail stores and fast food and such don't 
know how to make change manually.

Many adults don't seem to be able to do arithmetic at all, relying 
instead on calculators.

What other tasks formerly considered essential will our children not be 
taught?


                          *********************


                     Bridges at the Edge of Dreamland


This Dreamland ends at a cliff edge.  
Beyond we see only endless starry sky.  
But then where do the bridges lead? 

There are many bridges, leaping off the edge into the void, 
Their lights like strings of stars.  
Supported by no visible pillars or cables 
They somehow hold their place.  

Most are highway bridges, 
Although here and there a railroad makes the crossing.  

There is traffic on the bridges, cars going to and fro, 
To and from I know not where,
Their headlights tiny against the void.  
I could stop one and ask the driver, 
But that somehow feels wrong.  

Some claim the bridges lead nowhere: 
Curious drivers venture out as far as they dare, 
Then give up and slink home.  
But the inbound drivers I have seen do not look defeated.  
And besides, is that any way to run a railroad?  

I could dream up a car and drive out onto a bridge 
To see where it leads me.  
But I prefer the train.  
Free of any need to worry about the road, 
I can relax and gaze out the window
And dream.  

And wonder where one's dreams can take one 
If one is already in Dreamland.  



                                -- Thomas G. Digby
                                Initial Version 23:13 09/09/2001
                                Edited          22:22 01/21/2002


                          *********************


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