I envy Mary Richards

I have been watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Me-TV, and I must confess: I envy Mary Richards. Not her hair. Nor her cozy little part-of-a-house apartment. Nor her architectural-salvage M.

I envy Mary Richards the simplicity of her technology. The sum total: A table-top telephone. A Sony portable television, reception adjusted by built-in antenna. A Sony stereo system: a receiver/radio/turntable unit and two small speakers. A portable manual typewriter.

Mary never had to figure out how to get an old-phone ringtone into a cellphone. Her ring came with the phone, loud and clear. Mary never had to reprogram her television after getting a new cable box. She watched what was already “on” and reprogrammed by changing the channel. Mary did not have to buy a ground loop isolator to fix a problem with a humming turntable, only to find that the device failed to fix the problem. Her turntable was grounded. Mary did not to have to uninstall the software package that came with her HP printer and download a simpler and better package from Apple. She used Wite-Out.

Of course, Mary never made it past 1977.

Jokes for Murray Slaughter to insert in the above paragraphs:

“Cellphone? Sounds like something you’d use in prison.”

“Cable box? Sounds like what Marie uses for storing sweaters.”

“A humming turntable? Doesn’t it know the words?”

“Download? Sounds like what Lou’s gonna do to Ted in about ten seconds.”

*

March 2, 2022: Now that I’m watching the complete run, I know that Mary’s life in technology became more complicated. In the sixth-season episode “Ted’s Tax Refund” (November 29, 1975), Mary gets a new stereo system (components!), follows the set-up instructions, and has sound in only one speaker — Gladys Knight, but no Pips. Murray’s instructions fail — no sound at all, then just a weird noise. Lou hooks everything up.

[In my youth, I had the same all-in-one Sony system that Mary had in the show’s first give seasons, the HP-138. Here’s one on eBay. The simplest way to remove a turntable hum might be to get an extension cord and run all components to the same outlet. And Elaine got it out of me: I do kinda envy Mary her apartment.]

Infinite Jest and Liberal Arts

Josh Radnor directs and stars with Elizabeth Olson in the new film Liberal Arts:

“The screenplay is salted with a love of literature, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest plays a key role. “That book really messes you up,” Radnor said. “But read it.”

Sundance Film Festival: Josh Radnor’s wry and touching Liberal Arts a major hit (77 Square)

Related reading
All David Foster Wallace posts (via Pinboard)

The Last Mountain

[Click for a larger view.]

The mother of all environmental problems is the climate-change issue. It is very real; it is happening today; and at the core of the problem is coal.

Gus Speth, former dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, quoted in The Last Mountain

*

The epicenter of the climate-change battle in the United States is Appalachian coal, and the epicenter of the battle around Appalachian coal is Coal River Mountain.

Allen Hershkowitz, Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council, also quoted in The Last Mountain

The documentary The Last Mountain (dir. Bill Haney, 2011) tells the story of West Virginians’ fight against mountaintop removal mining, a technology with catastrophic consequences for the environment and human health. In this film, the line between what’s wrong and what’s right is clear. Greed, corporate lobbying, and utter disregard for the well-being of West Virginia’s people are amply on display. (Meet Don Blankenship.) But there’s hope too, in the promise of wind power and in the efforts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a host of dedicated citizens and environmental activists. Among them: Susan Bird, Maria Gunnoe, Jennifer Hall-Massey, Lorelei Scarbro, David Aaron Smith, Bo Webb, and Ed Wiley. Their names are as important to note as those of the better-known figures. Watch Ed Wiley stand up to West Virginia’s then-governor Joe Manchin: we should all have such courage.

Read more
The Last Mountain (the film’s website)

[This film serves as a nice reminder that giving money to the candidate, not the party, can be a smarter choice. That a contribution to the Democratic National Committee might help the likes of Joe Manchin makes me cringe.]

Chrome and Flash

Chrome-and-Flash problems seem to be in the air. From Lockergnome: How To Fix Shockwave Flash Crashes in Google Chrome.

Serving suggestion

Gunther at Lexikaliker found an interesting Serviervorschlag [serving suggestion.] The picture is funny in any language.

Apple and China

From a New York Times article on why Apple products are made in China:

A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.

How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work (New York Times)

Related listening
“Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory” (This American Life)

National Handwriting Day

[“. . . Unit on Germs and one on Atoms or the Human Body. I think it was a very good idea to have Penmanship so that we can improve our handwritings. I also think that we should have . . . .”]

It’s National Handwriting Day. Because it’s the birthday of John Hancock.

Above, a sample of my 1967 handwriting, courtesy of my fifth-grade teacher Marcia Schorr. Thanks, Mrs. Schorr. And thank you for everything.

Related reading
All handwriting posts (via Pinboard)

[Yes, I always had trouble with the cursive capital I.]

Now more than ever

On December 4, 2011, in an idle moment of amateur prophecy, I wrote:

If Romney becomes the nominee, look for Bain to become a familiar name in political discourse. I think though that it’ll be Gingrich, and that Obama v. Gingrich will resemble Clinton v. Dole. Gingrich seems well suited to play a cranky old guy.

I still think it’ll be Gingrich. And indeed, he seems well suited to play a cranky old guy. More specifically, a cranky old white guy. The next nine months will, I think, come to feel like a slog through toxic sludge. But I have little doubt about how the election will go.

[If I were a Republican voter, I’d have voted for Jon Huntsman. I guess I wouldn’t have a great career as a Republican voter.]

Recently updated

Hi and Lois watch: Things are back to normal on the Hi-Lo production line.

An ism

What my friend Sara calls an “ism”:

Learning is the process of realizing you did not create the world.

It’s hers, and it’s one smart ism.