WHEN I OBSERVED THIS OMINOUS PREDICTION in London’s weather report this morning, and then it quickly disappeared, I presumed it was an error.
BUT IT IS SO.
MY SYMPATHIES for those grounded by FREEZING FOG in Britain’s airports.
BUT THE UPSIDE IS it seems to be transforming the country into a series of illustrations for the covers of paperback fantasy novels.
That is all.
WHEN I OBSERVED THIS OMINOUS PREDICTION in London’s weather report this morning, and then it quickly disappeared, I presumed it was an error.
BUT IT IS SO.
MY SYMPATHIES for those grounded by FREEZING FOG in Britain’s airports.
BUT THE UPSIDE IS it seems to be transforming the country into a series of illustrations for the covers of paperback fantasy novels.
That is all.
THIS IS CLEARLY a manipulated image, yet I defer to halcyon’s good intentions, as
I AGREE with Time’s assessment of person-hood of the year, since indeed I have learned firsthand this year, via hobo artists and podcasters and many more, that the true and exciting engine of culture right now is self-built, funded, and powered by millions of busy hands and mice out there in the previously invisible world.
And so it is…
YOU whom I must thank for this astonishing strange and happy year.
THANK YOU readers, listeners, hoboers, wikiers, flickrers, bloggerers, boingers, casters, tubers, chalkers, and Canadians all, for all the joy and inspiration and brandy you have provided.
I AM VERY GRATEFUL.
PLEASE DON’T FORGET to download the audiobook for free from iTunes in the USA (see below), and meanwhile,
Happy, Merry, and
THAT IS ALL.
1969, DALLAS, TX: The first ATM machine is installed. Standing for “AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE MACHINE,” the first ATM could receive deposits and dispense cash (though only in coins) and was roughly the size of a city block. Despite its name, it was not wholly automated: A single human controller was required to supervise and make manual notations in the customer’s bankbook. He would sit in a little dome atop the machine. However, this bank employee was instructed to wear a tinfoil suit and talk like a machine so as not to ruin the futuristic effect.
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