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 ********************* HOW TO GET SILICON SOAPWARE EMAILED TO YOU There are two email lists, one that allows reader comments and one that does not. 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