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Another thing Tom Champion could alert Somerville residents to
By adamg on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 12:20pm
The New York Times (!) reports Somerville is installing a mess o' giant trash cans that send text messages to City Hall when they're full and need to be burped emptied. If the DPW can't send a truck right away, the Voice of Somerville could robo-call nearby residents alerting them they need to find alternate trash-disposal locations.
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Comments
Automation is on the way, folks.
Does the late 1960's song "In the Year 2525" come to mind here for anyone?
Actually...
When I read the topic, I started singing in my head:
Now is the time,
Now is the best time,
Now is the best time of your life!
Life is a prize,
Live every minute
Open your eyes and watch how you win it
Yesterday's mem'ries may sparkle and gleam,
Tomorrow is still but a dream
Right here and now,
You've got it made,
The world's forward marching and you're in the parade!
Now is the time,
Now is the best time,
Be it a time of joy or strife,
There's so much to cheer for,
Be glad you're here for it's the best time of your life!
(It's actually sort of cool to see what they thought the future would be on the Carousel of Progress, like "news from around the world on the TV box").
yay for the carousel
That was the second theme they used for the Carousel of Progress (and, I believe, changed at the request of the GE sponsors.) The first went like this:
They brought the first tune back after a while, though. Not sure why but I bet I know someone who does. Anyway, the best part of the Carousel of Progress was always the last scene where the dialogue would go something like this:
FATHER: And right outside, you'll see a welcome neighbor.
MOTHER: The local GE Nuclear Power Plant!
Every time we went to Disney World and saw that, Dad would laugh as sardonically as I've ever heard him laugh.
As a kid
I only knew the second version as a kid. I was reading about the first version and the changes made by GE as the ride's sponsor. It was changed back to make it "less corporate" when the ride was refurbished not too long ago to better fit Walt's intention for the ride in the beginning.
When I was playing back the YouTube video, now that my innocence has been shattered, I noticed "Dad" in the final "futuristic" scene said something like...."Sure, today's more complex, but we have great things being brought to life every day now!"
Oh, well played, GE, well played. The only thing it was missing is a lightbulb surreptitiously turning on in the scene. Sheesh.
Yeah.
You're right. The original song was definitely more in tune with Walt's philosophy and the second was all GE.
The voice of the most recent father character, by the way, is Jean Shepherd of A Christmas Story fame. He visited the 1964 World's Fair as part of his radio show on WOR, and brought a tape recorder in to the original Carousel of Progress. He snarked the hell out of the thing as it was going on, being the satirical beat-type that he was at the time. Yet 30 years later, there he was as the voice of the dad. I like connections like that.
Thew New York Times, I see I
The New York Times, I see I see. Any particular reason why the Globe wasnt on this?
Im not surprised the Herald missed the scoop, I would only expect them to covert the story if the garbage cans started eating people and happened to be manufactured by a company whos CEO once met Dukakis at a summer camp in 1936.
Where around the web are recycling guidelines for Somerville?...
Where around the web are the recycling guidelines for Somerville?... at what weblink?...
Non sequitur as an excuse to use a fun site
It's currently the first Google hit for "somerville recycling".
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=somerville+recycling