Sometimes, it’s the small changes to gadgets and gizmos that make them more interesting or more helpful.
Take luggage, for example. I only own one suitcase – one of those big old-style mofos that you have to lift up and carry with you wherever you go. It does have wheels, and a long strip of fabric that you can attach to the suitcase to pull it along, but the suitcase inevitably falls over whenever I try to wheel it anywhere. I haven’t travelled anywhere since 2001, so this isn’t a big problem for me. (I’ve been experiencing cash flow problems: cash has been tending not to flow in my direction lately.)
Nowadays, people don’t have to risk lower back injuries if they want to travel out of town. Suitcases come with handles that either can be left folded into the suitcase or can be extended to easy-grasping level. This allows for convenient transportation without unnecessary lifting, straining, bending, pushing, or otherwise aggravating your mind or body. Now, if they could only design airplanes that are comfortable for tall people to sit in…
Another new gadget that I saw lately was a new kind of Walk-Don’t Walk sign on Adelaide Street West. When the light starts to flash Don’t Walk, it also issues a 10-second countdown, which tells you how long you have to cross the street before the light changes from green to yellow. I thought this was cool.
This is all much more pedestrian-friendly than the setup that existed before about the mid-1980s or so. Back then, there wasn’t even a flashing Don’t Walk warning: when the intersection light changed to yellow, the pedestrian light instantly changed from Walk to Don’t Walk. Little old ladies, lulled into a false sense of security by the reassuring Walk sign, were often left stranded, helpless, in the middle of an intersection as angry drivers zoomed around them. I can’t say that we live in a kinder, gentler world now – for one thing, corporations pursue profit far more aggressively these days – but at least life is easier for pedestrians.
Apparently, the Liberal leadership race is likely to be close, with a real possibility of a deadlock between the third-place and fourth-place candidates (Dion and Kennedy). This leads to the inevitable question: how will they settle a tie? A coin flip? Rock-paper-scissors? Thumb wrestling? If thumb wrestling was the primary criterion, Ken Dryden would probably win the leadership outright – as a former goaltender, he probably possesses superior hand strength.
I have a new pet peeve: people walking on the sidewalk who aren’t looking where they’re going. Other pedestrians have to perform a quick two-dimensional path calculation to try to get out of the way, as there’s usually lateral skew as well as forward movement to consider. It’s doubly extra irritating if the offender has a small yappy dog on one of those long flexible leashes.
By the way, I’m gainfully employed again – woo hoo! I’ll try to write here every day, but starting Monday I won’t have as much free time, so we’ll see what happens.
Posted by davetill 