Pictures and Conversation

‘And what,’ said Alice, ‘is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?’

(Except this post doesn’t have pictures yet, because I still haven’t scanned any in.)

Last night over dinner Michael remarked, ‘Have you thought about the amazing generation gap our children are going to face?’

‘Why, Michael,’ I replied, ‘I’m surprised to hear you say that. You know I would never cast your age up to you – especially in front of the children! What makes you think they’d notice that their papa is so much older than their mama?’ (Hee, hee!)

Never one to be distracted by my frivolous attempts to bait him, he persisted with his point. ‘Do you realise that they will likely regard CDs as archaic?’

‘Now, that’s just not reasonable,’ I protested. ‘CDs are SO cutting edge!’

‘To you, perhaps. They’re going to be replaced by digital technology – CDs are giving way already to MP3s.’

‘That doesn’t count. MP3s don’t really exist. They’re just concept – a theory – an idea out in cyber-space.’

‘No, they do exist, and they’re the wave of the future.’

‘Well, the problem I see with MP3s, aside from the fact that they don’t really exist in tangible form, is that they rely on a computer to play music. You’re not just updating the standard – you’re introducing a whole new way of life. We went from stationery musical instruments to victrolas to record players to cassette tape decks to CD boomboxes – in all scenarios, you’re dealing with a central music-making station. An MP3 just isn’t the same. Are people going to start installing laptops in their cars so they can play their MP3 collections in the car? Ha!’ (Very good defense, I though, for someone who knows as little about it all as I do against someone who knows as much about it as Michael.)

Michael was not to be dissuaded, and began explaining the virtues of digital storage, comparing how many MP3 files could be saved in such small amounts of space to how many songs – 27, maybe? Or 30? – could be burned on a CD, and bringing up such topics as our digital camera’s flashcard for memory storage comparison. I held gamely to my point. ‘Well, no matter how many songs you can store on it, it won’t work if you don’t have something to look at and hold. A CD, now, not only has a very pretty shimmer effect, but can actually be picked up and played.’

‘You can still burn MP3s onto disks, you know,’ Michael pointed out. ‘That’s what MP3 players are for – it can be a separate entity from a computer.’

‘Well, then, if you burn it onto a CD, then it’s a CD. Like I said!’

‘Do you even know what CD means?’

‘Sure I do. Circular Disk! Hence the shape.’

Sometimes, as Cilla observed, a girl likes to be silly. Almost anything can happen, and she has to know which way to jump.

We watched one of the play-off games earlier this week – the one where Furcal hit a three-point home run, winning the game in the eleventh inning. It was highly amusing to ask Michael such questions as, ‘Now, are the bases all equidistant from each other?’ (a trick question, it turns out), ‘Is any base historically easiest to steal?’ and ‘Can you steal first? Why not? Well, maybe if the pitcher really wasn’t paying attention…’