Spiraling down into paranoid hysteria - sort of

Those pickles are MMM-MMM good.

You should have seen Joshua's eyes light up when we opened up that five gallon bucket. He loves pickles and looked like he wanted to dive right in.

Anyway- moving on...

Brad and I saw this thing on the History Channel the other day about this machine called a fleuroscope which was used from the twenties through the fifties in shoe stores. It was basically an X-ray machine that was supposed to be the most modern way to get well-fitted shoes. A child would put their foot in the machine and the salesclerk, mother, and child would look into one of three viewfinders to look at the X-rayed foot. Unfortunately, the machines emitted about 25 rems of radiation; in later years, it was determined that the maximum exposure for workers who dealt with radiation was 5 rems per year. So people were getting sick and dying... because they were being progressive- and using the most "modern technology". People totally misunderstood the power and danger of X-rays.

Kinda makes you stop and think. What technology are we using now, even taking for granted, that may be far more complicated and dangerous than we realize... Hmmm. I'm not exactly a Luddite, but I can sympathize with their viewpoint. I don't think I have the courage to be a true Luddite though. I don't really want to know what life would be like without the modern conveniences of washing machines, plumbing, the internal combustion engine, debit cards, central heating, and the internet. Although, come to think of it, with all the talk about Iran and their electromagnetic pulse bomb, I have been thinking about what nineteenth century life would be like and how I would deal with it. Time to go stock up the Y2K cupboard, I guess.

Brad says that in twenty years we'll probably find out that the internet is fatal. He says that if that day ever comes, he's probably going to buy a pack of cigarettes, stop looking both ways before crossing, and keep on surfing the web.