Think before you search

I haven't had any ads on this blog thus far; the austere beauty remains unsullied.  It remains a hidden gem, witnessed by the fact that a Google search on another computer revealed nothing for the term "Beaglesonian."  There is hope for us human beings now that the mighty Google has been shown to be fallible...

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I remember those ads for the fake butts (Frederick's of Hollywood!), usually very small ads in the back of some of the magazines Mom used to subscribe to; the dark side of Lady's Home Journal.  Those ads were something, sure to inspire impure thoughts in the minds of young lads.  The ad I recall most vividly was for the "Blumette Bra," now referred to as a "shelf" bra.  You can picture it's function precisely, and it probably spiced up the lives of many a midwestern housewife.  Plain brown wrapper, naturally, don't want the postman to get any funny ideas.

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In some ways we should be mentally prepared for our miserable plights in a bleak future.  Vonnegut was only one of many with an uncanny prescience.  Bits and pieces of many older works have shown possible scenarios of future life.  Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Norman Jewison's Rollerball, Huxley's Brave New World, Mike Judge's Idiocracy, Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy...the list seems endless. 

It's too late to worry about any technology falling into the wrong hands; it's already in everyone's hands, should they choose to use it.  Not easy to implement, but not impossible for certain highly motivated types.  We can already buy cheap, high-wattage laser tubes from China, build the appropriate gizmo,  and indulge in a little arson from the back of a rented van.  Bio-weapons?  No problem, if you don't mind some book learnin' and lab work.  Hint: use an anonymous account with good security before you start looking up the instructions.  Oh, and you'll be caught, eventually.

But I don't think future tragedies will occur at the wrong hands.  It's too much work when you can accomplish much more with a few gallons of gasoline.  The Big Bad will happen by accident, when someone turns the wrong valve or reads the wrong label or hits the wrong character on the keyboard.  Oops.