About Me
- Name: Dean
- Location: New Paltz, NY
About me? Why I'm a dashing swashbuckler, a loyal Knight of the Armchair, cast in the Errol Flynn vein ... vain ... whatever.
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Tuesday, June 01, 2004
It Creates a Certain Sense of Scale
I bought the complete National Geographic dvd set some time ago and decided to start reading it with the year I was born ... 1959. It's startling to see what was new then and realize it's so passe or commonplace now that no one even thinks to talk about these things. In the Geographics of 1959, they mention:
- The nuclear submarine, Nautilus, made the very first passage of the Arctic Ocean (December 1958).
- The brand new St. Lawrence Seaway opens to sea-going vessels for the first time.
- They welcome Alaska as the 49th state in the July issue (Alaska ratified back in August of '58).
- Hawaii has been a state for an even shorter time, though they don't mention dates.
- The hi-tech goodies of the day in the adverts are slide projectors.
- Ike is finishing up his last year as president.
I could mention all the things that weren't there, but where to begin? The list would be huge and I don't need to feel any older. (Which will sound silly to my parents, whom I've just invited to view this Blog. Perhaps I'll pull up a few tidbits from their birth years to add more gradations to the scale.)
- The nuclear submarine, Nautilus, made the very first passage of the Arctic Ocean (December 1958).
- The brand new St. Lawrence Seaway opens to sea-going vessels for the first time.
- They welcome Alaska as the 49th state in the July issue (Alaska ratified back in August of '58).
- Hawaii has been a state for an even shorter time, though they don't mention dates.
- The hi-tech goodies of the day in the adverts are slide projectors.
- Ike is finishing up his last year as president.
I could mention all the things that weren't there, but where to begin? The list would be huge and I don't need to feel any older. (Which will sound silly to my parents, whom I've just invited to view this Blog. Perhaps I'll pull up a few tidbits from their birth years to add more gradations to the scale.)
