[78-L] Found A Good One Yesterday

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> The Salvation Army store in Niagara Falls NY sometimes gets nice piles of 
> 78s.
> A few months ago I picked up 8 33RPM Theater Use ARC discs..last year the
> entire Songs Of Our Times series was in the back room..yesterday there was 
> a
> plastic bin containing 7 or 8 albums, mostly big band but some R&B and a 
> couple
> of Jan Savitt records I was missing, including Tuxedo Junction (also lots 
> of
> Miller which I mostly ignored except for Sweet Potato Piper which I was 
> once
> told was a hard one).
>
> Their records are 4 for a buck (actually 4 for 99 cents). I went up to the
> counter and told the cashier I had 28 records, trying to make it as easy 
> as
> possible. She could not figure how to calculate my total and thought she'd 
> give
> me a bargain and charge me $8.95. "No" I said.."4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28".
> "Duh...." she said.
>
Back in the sixties "pocket" calculators first appeared (for VERY large
prices!). Within a decade or less they had become the "pocket change"
items they are to-day (and the 8008 chip had been created to power
better calculators...this begat the 8088 and then the 8086, and home
"mini-"computers became a reality...?!). The next step was that humans,
ESPECIALLY younger humans, no longer felt it necessary to learn
arithmetic...why bother, when a calculator was only $2.98?!

I am now seeing the next stage of this "use a machine" mentality! Each
morning, I read my way through the morning paper (Toronto Star)!
As I do, I carefully note all the errors generated by the "ace reporter"
having relied upon "Spell Check v.Wotever" rather than having
learned way back in grade school how English words are SUPPOSED
to be spelled! BTW, Microsoft Word Spell Check still thinks my
REAL name is "Steven C. BRA...?!"

Lemme see...we have so far ALREADY lost "writin'" and "rithmetic"
and "readin'" is rapidly being replaced by "Twitter!" About 90+%
of our "musicians" are electric-guitar players, of various degrees
of incompetence; when I was the "Head Man" of my own blues
band, I quickly discovered there were only a limited number of
keys I could use (you want a WOT? FLAT?!)...?!

Fortunately, I grew up in Waynesville, Ill's (pop. 510) where
one had to do about 99% of one's own tasks; I also learned
to read, write and "figger" by myself when I was around 2.6
or so! Spelling was one of my fortes (I had a mental block
on "foreign"...?!)...and I was great at arithmetic until the
3rd grade when I encountered "long division" (I eventually
learned that well, and can now perform it "in my head!").

In the next decade, we will see the driving of one's auto-mobile
automated and computerized...?! Now, how are they going to
automate and computerize walking...?!

Steven C. Barr
(whose feline buddy..."Ecru," the ecru cat...is unlikely EVER to
be digitized/computerized...?! When CAT v.1.01 appears, I
want the beta...?!)