Historical Markers

The way things used to be: It's a conversation that has been taking place since the Graks moved in to the cave down the way and started smearing paint on the walls. I remember when we didn't need fancy "cave painting" to make a house a home. Remember when stories were something that were shared by word of mouth? We didn't have to have "books," right? Sooner or later, they're just going to be replaced by the electronic chip in the base of our spines that replaced the corneal implants that replaced the tablets we were dragging around that gave us access to that trickle of information we used to call "the super highway."
J.C. Penney is closing one hundred thirty-eight stores. That brick and mortar omnipresence is becoming less omni. Penney's is not disappearing, but it is shrinking. The place that once filled my Christmas wishlist left its location in Crossroads shopping center a long time ago. I bought some of my first stereo equipment from them. Much of what I came to understand about retail occurred to me through those doors. Now I shop and compare online. Thanks, Al Gore.
Goodyear will no longer be flying blimps, either. The Spirit of America was deflated last week. It was this moment in history that finally clued me into the difference between blimps and other airships. Goodyear will continue to fly airships, they won't look too terribly different from blimps. They will be semi-rigid dirigibles. Not just balloons filled with gas, but a structure that will hold its shape even when the helium is let out. Not hydrogen, though, since that would be looking back, Hindenburg-ish.
There was never a blimp among the tokens used to play Monopoly, but there was an iron. You remember irons. They came before permanent press. There was also a thimble and a shoe and a wheelbarrow. You remember wheelbarrows. They came before the Yardmax. Thimbles? We used them to measure drinks for mice. Now we're being asked to play with a penguin, a rubber ducky, and a T-Rex. How will this effect my play? Not much, since it's been at least a decade since I played Monopoly competitively. Or any other way. The closest I have come was a few years back when I got extra tokens from McDonald's when they were playing their version and I won a free order of french fries.
I still eat french fries, even if I don't find my way to McDonald's as much anymore. Things change. Sigh.