Peds, Mario, and computer driven cars

New inventions are promoted every day, and I welcome the joy of progress.  One of the first things I appreciated is the progress from wearing nylon stockings that were held up by a garter belt, to pantyhose. In the 60s, with miniskirts dominating the fashion world, it was very difficult to wear the former as the contraption might be viewable if the hem was too high.  That is when pantyhose became popular and replaced the antiquated hook and latch device. The major problem I had was that both the nylons and the pantyhose were easily ruined. As a clumsy person by nature, my fair share of pantyhose was spoiled. I was ecstatic when NOT wearing them came into fashion. My conservative nature bucked the trend for a while, preferring to continue to wear them rather than go bare legged. Even when pants took over my wardrobe, I wore peds on my feet so it looked like I was wearing pantyhose, right up until that extremely hot, fateful day on Friday, July 31, 1996 when I threw caution to the wind and took them off because of the heat, never to be worn again.  I was quite a maverick that year, and it never felt so good!

It had been quite the challenge to keep track of all the warranties and manuals for the many household appliances dominating the kitchen counter. As the number of inventions multiplied to include a microwave, food processor, waffle griddle, air fryer, blender, slow cooker, rice cooker, convection oven, bread machine, and juicer, the very long kitchen counter more resembled a shelf of appliances at Walmart, with the exception that there was no coffee maker because I am a tea drinker. Their instructional booklets filled two drawers in the kitchen, places that could have held goodies like M&M Peanuts and Mike & Ike candies.  Alas, instead of treats, paperwork and verbiage occupied this valuable space, UNTIL the world wide web came about, and all those documents could easily be found online just by googling.  Now those drawers hold healthy, snacks such as crackers and peanut butter, organic coconut fig energy squares, and raisins, not quite as exciting as I would like under non-dietetic circumstances.

I was around when the game Pong was invented, and a favorite memory is me and Hubby playing it in the game room of the hotel we stayed at on our honeymoon.  Yes, on our honeymoon, and my favorite memory was playing Pong.  For hours.  I loved the burgeoning video game field, and soon learned to appreciate Spaced Invaders and Pac-Man. Who would have thought that following a little, blinking ghost icon as it runs away from munching maniacs would be so much fun? Nintendo was the first game system we purchased, mostly for the children, but I also enjoyed the action of Mario Bros. game.  To this day, it is still my favorite, (I have played Super Mario Bros., Super Marios Bros. 2, Super Marios Bros. 3, Dr. Mario, Mario is Missing, Mario’s Time Machine, and Super Mario Bros.: the Lost Levels.)  However, as the games progressed, they also became more intricate and difficult to play.  My son could easily whip through any of the levels, but my skills were less impressive, and would be accompanied by groans, screeches, leg kicks, arm punches and grunts, almost turning it into a form of exercise.

The technology I am most excited about is on the newest cars.  They have advanced driver assist, automatic emergency breaking, mobile aps and smartphone technology, parking assist, 360-degree cameras and blind spot monitors, and active health monitoring to detect a range of health conditions such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels.  Of course, my biggest excitement is for autonomous vehicles that are capable of driving themselves. Using radar sensors, and complex algorithms, these cars reportedly operate safely.  My son who lives and works in California bragged about the Apple Computer driven cars.  A study was done, and these cars were safer than people driven cars.  In over a year’s time, they were only involved in 2 accidents, and one of the accidents was not the car’s fault. Being blind, Francis welcomes this progress, and, if I ever win the lottery, having one would be a wonderful treat.