New is Relative

It's funny, talking to Em or other kids her age. The other day, Em was telling me about the Amazon Kindle, really selling it.

'It's about the size of a book, and it would hold all your books! And magazines, and newspapers, and it can download a book in like a minute!'

Really? 'And it's been around for months, so it's nothing new!'

Months, that's the test of time. She's thirteen.

So on the Trek ride tonight, talking to Madam Brown, who's all of a year older than my daughter, I pointed out to her that I could remember when there was no such thing as email. Well, it existed, but only nine or ten people knew about it and fewer people than that actually used it, and they all had big-time security clearance and multiple PhD's.

Computers were in the movies and the Pentagon. Cell phones, again might technically have existed for the super-wealthy and spooks, but might as well have been Star Trek transporter beams for anyone else.

After the ride, Madam Brown was admiring the Otis sticker in the back window of my car, and I asked her if she'd ever heard the Mighty Mighty BossTones. Big shock, no.

I said, 'Well, I'll said you a Facebook link if your Dad is going to neglect your musical education like that. I'll bet you've never even heard the Dead Kennedys.'



'The Who?' she asked.




'No, the Dead Kennedys. The Who is a different band.'

'There's a band called The Who?'



I swear, The Who might suck, but not knowing who they even were? Next thing you know the kids won't know about the Beatles, Mojo Nixon, The Smiths...





And who will tell them about Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman?



By the way, if you wonder why I embedded all these videos and only linked the BossTones, it's because all their stuff was 'embedding disabled by request.'