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 #213 New Moon of April 21, 2012 Contents copyright 2012 by Thomas G. Digby, with a liberal definition of "fair use". In other words, feel free to quote excerpts elsewhere (with proper attribution), post the entire zine (verbatim, including this notice) on other boards that don't charge specifically for reading the zine, link my Web page, and so on, but if something from here forms a substantial part of something you make money from, it's only fair that I get a cut of the profits. Silicon Soapware is available via email with or without reader feedback. Details of how to sign up are at the end. ********************* We've just been through the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Now we have a round-number anniversary of another well-known disaster coming up: The 75th anniversary of the May 6, 1937, Hindenburg fire. Far fewer lives were lost in this latter event, but it may have had at least as great an emotional impact on the American people because of the progress in media technology, mainly radio, during the intervening quarter century. Although there are conflicting claims as to who was first, there was very little commercial radio broadcasting before World War I. Many more stations appeared in the 1920's. By the late 1930's radios were fairly common. Even though the arrival of the Hindenburg was not being broadcast live, when disaster struck the radio-listening public would have heard about it within minutes, as regular programs were interrupted by special news bulletins. News of the Titanic, in contrast, would have had to wait for newspapers to be printed and distributed. So the Hindenburg fire may have been the first major unexpected news event where people could give a meaningful answer to "Where were you when you heard about ... ?" There's another anniversary coming up in about a year and a half: Fifty years since the JFK shooting (11/22/1963). It's interesting to note some similarities between the Hindenburg and JFK, beyond just the fact that both were traumatic events that most members of the public would have heard about fairly quickly after they happened. The first thing that struck me as I was reading up on the Hindenburg was the search for the cause or causes and contributing factors. People have proposed a number of theories, such as leaking hydrogen, flammable paint, and so on, but none seems completely satisfactory. There was even speculation that it might have been sabotage. That all reminds me of the conspiracy theories around the JFK assassination. It may well be that neither will ever be fully settled. Another is that both led to changes in society. The Hindenburg is said to have undermined the public's faith in lighter-than-air technology, while the JFK shooting led to a round of restrictions on certain types of firearms. Of course these have not been the only major traumatic events where the public got the news almost instantly. It's probably just coincidence, but there have been four such events roughly a quarter-century apart: The Titanic in 1912, The Hindenburg in 1937, JFK in 1963, and the Challenger disaster in 1986. And of course there have been others that don't fit that timetable, such as Pearl Harbor (1941), John Lennon (1980) and 9-11 (2001). So considering the different ways awareness of these events spread through the population, it appears that we as a society entered some sort of new media-based age between the time of the Titanic and the Hindenburg. ********************* I'm reminded of the time I noticed the expiration date on a bag of junk snack cheese munchy thingamajigs right after I'd seen one too many horror movies. I had this mental image of the bag sitting there as the hour of doom (possibly midnight at the end of the appointed day) approached. At the stroke of twelve there would be thick gurgly sound effects as the contents of the bag started breaking down into a liquid with the approximate appearance and consistency of crude oil, perhaps as party guests looked on aghast. That's how it might happen in a horror movie. I doubt that would happen in real life, but you never know. ********************* Interesting incident at a local fast-food place a few days ago. A father and pre-teen son were sitting in a nearby booth. There was a partition between us so that I could hear their conversation but we couldn't see each other. Thus they didn't notice that I was sort of listening. I wasn't paying attention to the start of the conversation, but the son had evidently complained about being told he had to get a haircut. The father seemed to be trying to talk him out of feeling that way: "Get used to it. Every three weeks or so for the rest of your life you're going to need to at least get your hair trimmed around your ears." I heard more or less that same statement at least three or four times. That got me to thinking of all kinds of rebuttals that could have been made: For example, why will the son need to keep his hair trimmed? The father sort of answered that one by talking about how many (most?) employers prefer to have their male employees look like his idea of what a man should look like, and how companies may refuse to hire someone on that basis without ever saying why. So the kid had better keep his hair neat if he wants the job. But look at the unspoken assumptions: Fashions are going to continue to favor men with neatly trimmed hair. The kid is going to end up in a type of job where conforming to standards of appearance is important (retail, for example, rather than Silicon Valley computer stuff). And he's not going to go bald. Those may be statistically likely, but they're by no means certain. And then there was the phrasing. "This is the way it is, so don't complain about it." This was followed by threats of punishment. "If you keep carrying on like a little kid, I'm going to set your bedtime earlier because little kids need more sleep." I could sense an undercurrent of dad telling the kid not to even feel discontented about the situation. So the kid's going to need to keep his hair neat so he can get a well-paying mainstream job to pay for the self-help books and therapy sessions and weekend retreats he's going to need when he eventually wants to get back in touch with his feelings. ********************* At one point during that discussion another person who had been sitting nearby came up to them and put in her two cents' worth: She had worked in Human Resources and her experience agreed with what the dad was saying. After she had left the dad lectured a bit on how children should listen respectfully when an adult had something to say to them. "Put your food down and look at them while they're talking ...". And so on. Right after that another person came up from behind me. After asking me for spare change he approached the father and son. Before he even opened his mouth the dad was yelling at him: "Scram! Go away! Go away now!" I was reminded of that saying about a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of small minds. And no, he didn't explain that to the kid. He didn't explain anything as far as I can recall. I suppose I could have reminded them of the saying, but I felt it best not to get involved. They left while I was still reading my paper. ********************* Sort of related to that little family drama was a radio commercial for a junk-removal service: Call their number and your junk will be hauled away by "clean-cut young men." Part of me was reminded of the dad's advice to the kid about regular haircuts. But other parts of me were wondering if the people who deal with sex or age discrimination in the workplace might be listening. ********************* I'm also reminded of an idea I came up with years and years ago and never did much with: The Ace Sexist Pencil Sharpener Emptying Service. I had one TV commercial plotted out mentally. I don't know if I ever published a description. I know I never made the video. It starts in a late 1950's or early 1960's office with a wall-mounted hand-cranked pencil sharpener. When a secretary goes to sharpen a pencil, she finds the sharpener full of shavings. So she looks up "Pencil Sharpener Full" in the Office Procedures Manual. The manual says that all the secretarial staff (assumed to be female) should run around waving their arms and screaming in panic. So all the secretarial people start running around waving their arms and screaming in panic. After a few seconds of this a heroic masculine voice booms "We'll save you!" The camera pans over to the doorway to reveal a manly male hero in the uniform of the Ace Sexist Pencil Sharpener Emptying Service. He and his heroic crew march into the room, singing the company anthem: We are the men of the Ace Sexist Pencil Sharpener Emptying Service. We advertise on television all the time. And if you see it on TV It's got to be good. They empty the sharpener, clean up any spillage, and depart, leaving the secretaries to live happily ever after, or at least until the pencil sharpener fills up again. Part of the gag would have been references in other fiction. For example, whenever anyone in any fiction universe anywhere changed channels on a TV, at least one channel would be showing that commercial, in keeping with the claim that they advertise on television all the time. Like I said, it was one of those ideas I didn't do much with. YouTube wasn't available then, and now that it is we're enough farther away from the rigid gender roles of the 1950's that the whole thing doesn't seem as relevant as it did then. And besides, making a video is a lot of work. Also, I haven't seen one of that kind of wall-mounted hand-cranked sharpener in years. Are they still around? ********************* Incident Along Fantasy Way Neighbor Cat I don't know the technical term for it But my next-door neighbor keeps turning Into a cat. It started when she was born -- The building had a rule: "No dogs, no children." Cats were OK. Her parents didn't want to move right then So they went to somebody a friend of theirs knew Who was a wizard on the side. So, whenever the landlord heard a baby crying And came knocking on the door to tell them "Either the kid goes or you go!" All he ever found Was a little kitten. There were, of course, Problems. A kitten in diapers would never do So she always went naked. And the only toys she could have Were things like rubber mice and balls of yarn, And even in human form She was sensitive to catnip. But in general it worked. By the time she started school They had moved to a house in the suburbs. They were going to get the spell lifted Real Soon Now But they never did And when she learned to control it herself She decided to keep it. So now on moonlit summer nights When the city is quiet And rooftops and alleyways beckon Like mountains and canyons in some exotic land And several of her friends Whose parents knew people who knew that same wizard Come howling beneath her window She is off, Into the night, Shadow among shadows, Rejoicing. Thomas G. Digby written 2220 hr 8/10/74 entered 2015 hr 3/29/92 ********************* HOW TO GET SILICON SOAPWARE EMAILED TO YOU There are two email lists, one that allows reader comments and one that does not. Both are linked from http://www.plergb.com/Mail_Lists/Silicon_Soapware_Zine-Pages.html If you are already receiving Silicon Soapware and want to unsubscribe or otherwise change settings, the relevant URL should be in the footer appended to the end of this section in the copy you received. Or you can use the above URL to navigate to the appropriate subscription form, which will also allow you to cancel your subscription or change your settings. -- END --