X-Message-Number: 28934
From: "marta sandberg" <>
Subject: RE: Postponing "the future" to the 22nd Century 
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:39:52 +0800

Mark Plus wrote:
>This despite all the propaganda I've heard since my childhood in the 1960's
>about "future shock" and the wonders of life in the 21st Century. (Maybe
>F.M. Esfandiary should have renamed himself "FM-2130" instead.) Indeed, the
>world in 2007 looks a lot like the world I remember from my teens.


Your teenage years must have been very different than mine.

If you want to see how fast things are changing then consider my 
grandfather.  When he was a teenager he took a berth on a ship to see the 
world.  It used engines assisted by sails as they could not pack enough coal 
into the holds to power it the whole way across the Atlantic.

There was no Panama Canal, so they had to beat their way through the Cape.  
Three times they where thrown back by storms and each time my grandfather 
was sent down to the hold to  roll the potatoes' - the change between hot 
and cold made the potatoes grow and the sprouts had to be rubbed off.  By 
the third time the potatoes where fairly slimy and there really was no way 
you could cook them to disguise the taste.

Finally they got through and quickly sailed up the west coast to their port 
in Canada.  As they sailed into port the police boarded the ship with guns 
drawn and lined up all the crew on deck.  After checking their passports 
they marched some of them off under guard.  The rest of the crew had no idea 
what was happening.  It wasn't until they went to the harbor pub that they 
finally understood.  The First World War had broken out two months before 
and all foreigners from the  opposing team' were interned for the duration 
of the war.

My grandfather had no idea.  Without a radio nobody knew that the world had 
changed whilst he was sailing across the Atlantic.

Before he died he sat in his living room watching the moon landing being 
broadcast live to his TV.

I don't think the future will be quite the same as the past,

Long life,

Marta

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