if people have become stupidly reliant on technology

The Slo-Man recently had some time on his hands to read the interweb and he stumbled upon this news story.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/101006/canada/canada_transport_police_offbeat

The Slo-Man is, frankly, appalled. Is the world we created?

The Slo-Man wonders - was this her first time driving to work? Surely, she must have gone there at least once before for her interview? Did she consider getting directions from friends, her supervisor or another website - even to cross check? At at what time of the night was this drive to work? Was it too dark to see that there was no turning? Was she new to the area? How long has she lived in that city? And how fast was she driving?

As always in times such as these, the Slo-Man called upon the LLBF. And the LLBF told the story of a time in Cape Cod when he, the LLBF, watched his nephew turn right instead of left, disregarding the LLBF's directions and following instead instructions from his GPS. The nephew was the last to arrive at the Olive Garden, 20 minutes after anyone else. The nephew, however, is highly intelligent and so there was never any danger of his finding himself in the Atlantic Ocean at any time. It remains a mildly amusing story, the only after effects being some good-natured chaff at the hands of the family.

Humans have created technological tools out of their talent for thought. However, stories such as this demonstrate that humans forget that these are but tools, the responsibility for thought cannot be transferred to that unreasoning tool.

And, the Slo-Man thinks of Freddie, hums the tune and shakes his head in wonder.

The Obsolescence of phrases and the "t-Shirt bra"

The English language evolves continuously, words change their meanings almost from generation to generation. “Sick” used to mean unwell, ill, under the weather. For anyone over the age of 20 it still does. Somewhere, somehow, subtly sentences sustained a serious setback in their construction.

Parsing, clause analyses and the parts of speech are no longer taught as grammar and spelling have taken a backseat to the immediacy and intimacy of the internet. Parsing as a term alone remains as a term understood now by some computer programmers, a term that was replaced by software developer and software engineers. A modern generation of young students would, the Slo-Man expects, be hard-pressed to explain the difference between a gerund and a present participle and who, in a support of “free expression”, never have been enjoined to not split the infinitive.

These are examples of changed meanings or lost meanings, but the Slo-man is concerned here about terms that are no longer generally applicable or commonly usable, phrases that are obsolete because the situations or conditions they describe are no longer extant.

All this was brought to the attention of the Slo-Man by the LLBF, who was visiting after a recent trip to the shopping mall, in itself a concept less than 100 years old. On a cool late summer day in his adoptive city, reminiscent of the advent of the festival season of his far away foster city, waves of nostalgia washed over the LLBF. On such a day as this, the LLBF was wont to remark gently “Ahh, my dear, a nipple in the air, eh?”.

And that brought the Slo-Man memories of an age past and left him lamenting the lapsing of lace lingerie and yet another phrase.

about anger management

and the anger management experts. He was downtown in an elevator that had a news feed on a TV monitor and a news item caught his eye. An anger management counsellor pulled a gun on someone who had blocked his car.

Oh the irony! Too quote Sellers and Loren "Oh Doctor, I'm in trouble, well goodness gracious me! You may be very clever, but however can't you see?" You're flawed, human beings are flawed, your diet is flawed, your thinking that there is a silver bullet that will (a) help you lose weight (b) remove the wrinkles (c) reduce the cellulite (d) get you the admiration of the idiots on the streets is flawed. The perfect tomato, the milk that had all the goodness taken out of it (in the name of science) and for which we paid top dollar and now the milk with the stuff left in (for which we pay top(per) dollar), the GM food that will kill the planet, the anger management counsellor and the need for the supreme confessional in the sanctimonious Oprah are all ironies created by the lazy. Content to let someone else tell them the obvious about a situation, instead of exercising their own brains. Conditioned by big business and ads that sell products that seemingly have been "improved" by the simple expedient of adding fruits. Research? Ahh who needs it. If you're selling shampoo, just add pomegranate, or mango, or paw-paw or whatever.....

Anger management? Forget the classes, write a blog!

how marijuana was found in a septic tank

The Slo-Man read this headline and called the LLBF for support. "Help me," he cried, "How could this happen?".

"Obviously, someone flushed it down", said the LLBF, who is known for being practical when he's not dreaming.

"But what possessed anyone to go through the goop to find it? What hapless handyman, what investigative individual came up with the idea to do so?" the Slo-Man exclaimed.

"Oh I see, what you mean." said the LLBF who had been lost in a reverie. "Surely the rest of the article tells you more?"

The Slo-Man, who, generally, did not do more than glance at the headlines, saw the merit of yet another practical suggestion from the LLBF and went off to his search-engine for the story.

about the "most powerful leader" in the wwuurld

with apologies to Clarkson, May and the Hamster, but recently the Slo-Man has been gorging on a steady diet of Top Gear, topped off with James May's 20th Century and James May's Big Ideas.

The Slo-Man's LifeLongBestFriend (LLBF) reported rumblings about Barack Obama and his (already) failed promises. The LLBF saw distress in the social media and on the talk shows and it made him thoughtful about the end of the lune de miel.

When the people vote for "change" and most people say they do, do they really want change? Do they believe the leaders they voted for will be willing and able to fulfil their promises? Well before the election results the Slo-Man recalls reading an article about the promises Obama would / would not be able to keep if he came to power. And the LLBF (who has a soft corner for BBC comedies and word play) murmured "Yes, Prime Minister". That biting satire from Jay and Lynn brought into focus how the head of state typically flies by the seat of his pants, blown this way and that by the exigencies of each political reality.

Now the Slo-Man notes that polls reported that about 90% folks in America supported the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Current support is much lower, ( to use an understatement ) and the Slo-Man wonders, what did these people think would happen? Sending a family member to war, is what people voted to do.

Almost 9 years on, there is still shock when "roadside bombs" kill soldiers. That is a modern war-zone. Maybe some felt that an underdeveloped country would be easy to control by a well-equipped army. Lessons from Indo-China? To reduce loss, how about increasing the use of unmanned drones ? But there are folks who object to unmanned drones.

It seems to the Slo-Man that there are always folks who object. Some will object to the fan-dance and some will object to the fan, but object they will. So what is the leader of the Free World ( now there's a point to ponder in a later entry) to do?

What is the answer, pull all soldiers back home, leave the tribal countries be, give up on finding those Weapons of Mass Destruction and that great, bearded benefactor of the defence contracting companies ?

Alas, poor Barack! He's done what any great leader would do, taken the HealthCare debate off-camera, despite pleas to put it on C-Span as he promised. It's not easy being a political leader with the eyes of the world daring you to blink. There are so many who are strident in their one-sided, I-could-do-better, un-informed-and-proud-of-it vituperation and just one elected leader.

The Slo-Man signs off secure in the knowledge that he has no answers and will never be a politician and the LLBF nods in agreement. He's left shaking his head sadly. His sympathies go out to the families who are actively involved and those whose lives are forever changed.