Memories on a Run

My run today took me past a place long familiar; a place where my cousin and I once climbed vast jungle gyms and scaled giant concrete pipes. Memories of building block towers and scavenger hunts abound there. The lawn is overgrown now, and the metal jungle gyms and concrete pipes have long ago been removed lest children be exposed to the hazard. In their place a plastic play set sits unused on its bed of recycled tires. Inside on the floor once strewn with blocks and other toys are scattered shards of broken glass, while vines make a steady, beautiful assault on the sidewalks and brick columns. As I ran by, I realized that my hometown is changing and so am I. My kindergarten is for sale, but my memories will remain.

Misplaced Priorities?

I saw the Apple iPhone ad linked below on TV last night. While I would be very happy to have an iPhone to use (read: play with), I did take issue with some of the scenes presented in the ad. Specifically, in a couple of scenes what looks like a businessman in a hotel room is using the video-call function to view either his child crawling or his wife. While this is an undeniable advance in wireless connectivity and should be celebrated as such, couldn't such technology be put to better use?

Being separated by about 600 miles from my fiancee this summer due to internship assignments, I would like to be able to video-chat with her occasionally. On the other hand I would much prefer being able to telecommute to my job so that I could be with her in person. Why isn't there 'an app for that'? Shouldn't we be making it easier to stay close to our families rather than making it more convenient, even seemingly attractive, to be apart?

Of course, maybe if I had an iPhone I would understand...

A Different Perspective.

There's a place in a lonely desert that nobody on the planet has named. It stretches on for miles in all directions without any signs of civilization, or life for that matter. It is in this lonely wilderness that an alien spacecraft landed. The craft released a robot that went about collecting data to send back to the civilization that sent it. The civilization sent the craft to discover whether there is life here, and whether they might survive here if they came. Perhaps in the future they will send explorers or settlers here.

This is not science-fiction. The civilization is us.