CONNECTICUT LIBRARIES
September 1998, Vol. 40, No. 8
"Strike three! O'Neil is out, and he is not happy! That last strike looked a little outside to us up here in the booth, but they've been calling them that way all night. You folks can see on the instant replay that the pitch was a little off the plate, but it's in the same location as the one Wells threw last inning to retire Griffey with two on. The Yanks have nothing to complain about."While baseball rules define the strike zone, every fan knows that some umpires have a wider strike zone than others, that the zone is a little higher in one league than in the other, and that some fast-working pitchers always get the close calls. When I see a television replay of Paul O'Neil, Bernie Williams, or Tino Martinez getting called out "looking" at a pitch that isn't within six inches of the strike zone, I long for some good old reliable automation behind the plate, instead of mercurial human nature. But then I ruefully recall other well-intentioned attempts to modernize the national pastime: artificial grass, designated hitters, aluminum bats!
One Digital Day (Times Books/Random House, 1998) brings me hope. The book is testimony to the incredible things that computers and microchips are doing for us today. The work of 100 photographers documenting the use of microchips around the globe in one 24-hour period, it is chock full of photographs of the mundane, as well as the amazing.
The book's large format permits the inclusion of many very impressive photographs. The editors have capitalized on available space to vary picture size and page layout. They provide captions that are long enough to give the reader all of the relevant information, but brief enough to keep you moving to the next page. Thumbing through this delightful volume is as quick and as easy as clicking a mouse on a Web page!
So what are microchips doing for us? Here are some of my favorites. In the Port of Singapore, they track over 30,000 shipping containers a day, allowing trucks to drive in and out of storage areas without stopping, and without reams of paper. In the same city, shoppers order a fruit called the "durian" online through the 717 Trading Company. You see, the durian is so smelly that even though people love it, they hate carrying it home in their cars and keeping it in their homes. 717 provides "just in time" delivery; the fruit arrives just in time for dessert. For anyone who has forgotten a password or PIN number, there's Sensar, Inc. It scans the consumer's iris to confirm identification because the iris is the human body's most unique feature. Similarly, the South African government uses a biometric sensor on the fingers of would-be pension recipients. The system has wiped out fraud and put payments into the hands of the poor, illiterate seniors who need them.
In Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Paso Fino horses have their gait electronically judged for grace and excellence via a device created by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico. The horses simply stroll along a path that has been embedded with electronic devices. Back in the 1970's international development agencies attempted to help the people of Denpasar, Bali boost its annual rice yield. Traditionally, the farmers relied on "water priests" to manage their irrigation system according to religious laws. The modernization process resulted in crop failures, insect invasions, and poisoned drinking water. Researchers from the University of Michigan developed a computer model of the farming system and discovered that the traditional methods were the best way to cultivate these fields. They are now gathering data on the Bali system in order to improve farming in other regions of the world.
Meet fire chief Ken Whitten of Oklahoma City and five-year-old Amy Stewart of Leixlip, Ireland. Chief Whitten's amputated right arm and hand have been replaced with a "bionic" limb that feels heat and cold. His latex fingers provide feedback, allowing him to control the pressure he exerts so that he can pick up a soda can without crushing it. Little Amy, who is blind, is learning to read by computer. Her pc converts the written lessons received by her sighted classmates into Braille print-outs that Amy is learning to read. As Michael S. Malone points out (page 35), perhaps technology's greatest contribution to modern life is hope, hope that our children will reach adulthood, that they will live longer than our parents, that the plagues of the past will be defeated, that our lives will be richer and more enlightened, more complete. May we all enjoy many digital days together, at work, at home, at the ball park, and in peace.
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