I went to Borders yesterday to see what was left of their books and cd’s, and was saddened to see nearly empty shelves. I’m sad because I love bookstores and hate to see another one bite the dust. There’s still Barnes and Noble, I know, but just the thought that we’re on an economic brink that sends one business after another crashing on the shores of a receding sea scares me. I didn’t find much of anything I wanted, just one Dick Francis from the list of those I’m missing. So, I went to the used bookstore in Sun City and found a bunch at half price.
I’ve been moving around the country on Google Earth and am fascinated with the way I can go to friends’ and relatives’ addresses and view their homes and streets from ground level. If you’ve never tried Google Earth, you should download a free copy and go exploring. Once you’ve inserted an address and swooped down to about a thousand feet, you can drag the little orange man over to one of the blue-outlined roads near the address and, voila, there’s the house and street. Then you can use the e-w-n-s arrows to circle the location and then walk down the street as far as you want. From the views it appears that the pictures were taken a few years ago, but I’m sure with technological advances, soon we’ll be able to see it all live, right from one of the satellites above, cars and people moving about the areas in real time. Portents of Big Brother. Orwell foresaw such things sixty-three years ago, and here we are, twenty-seven years after his dystopian novel 1984.
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