Butch: What happened to the old bank? It was beautiful.
Guard: People kept robbing it.
Butch: Small price to pay for beauty.
There's an often overlooked scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - where a local political candidate is try to gather a crowd. Once he does - and the poeple are bored - a salesman takes over and introduces the crowd to the latest technology: a bicycle.
There are still bicycles but I'm seeing more and more of those gyroscopic stand as you travel gizmos (ferget the name of that contraption).
"Dixons, the UK's leading high street retailer of consumer technology, today announces that it will no longer sell 35mm film-based cameras." - Dpreview (Today)
It's true. We're living in on of those "cusp of technology" edges. The new always usurps the old. Whether the new product is better or worse - it usually wins.
Of course - those sticking with the old may grow poor while they're around this paradise - but in fifty years - those "old things" become priceless. Rarities.
Early century bicycle in mint condition: $150,000.
Something physical and sometimes beautiful - from the past. That old Remington typewriter. Your old comic books. How about that old bankbook that was stamped by a machine as you made withdrawals or deposits. That stupid machine once made a big error, adding a bunch of zeros to my balance. I was ten years old. I was debating for several weeks whether I could take say, $1000 from the bank. Would they know I only had ten dollars?
Finally, not wanting to be greedy, I wrote out a withdrawal slip for $50. The old woman behind the gate took one look at my passbook and said, "Oh dear. That's one of those where the bank made an error..."
Crestfallen. About $10,000 poorer.
We toss away the old to make room for the new - and then - when we can't find the "old" we pay large fees just to have one around us again.
3 comments:
The contraption whose name you seek is a Segway. The funny thing there is that I rarely hear about them in my circles anymore (which may not mean much); people seem much more interested in Pocket Rockets (pint-sized, lawnmower-engine-powered mini-bikes dressed like go-fast, fairing-clad thunderbikes), and - much more amenable to my tastes - modern takes on the classic motor scooter (including the one that started it all, Vespa). Given that a a lower-end Vespa doesn't cost all that much more than a Segway, guess which one I'd rather have.
If, say, Macy's or Bloomie's stopped selling film-based cameras (or non-home-theatre audio gear, or non-quartz wristwatches, or...) my world would certainly not get knocked off it's axis (I can't even remember when I last stepped foot in either place).
To quote:
Time it was
And what a time it was
It was
A time of innocence
A time of cofidences
Long ago, it must be
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you
- S & G
"...Of course - those sticking with the old may grow poor while they're around this paradise - but in fifty years - those "old things" become priceless. Rarities. ...."
speaking of rarities, I have a number of !RARE! Soviet-made rangefinder cameras, some of which I will part with for the right incentive :-)
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