Oct 30, 2010, 12:11 AM
We have the best thing in Wisconsin - we can listen to the Canadian public radio broadcasts. One of them, was really touchy tonight. I will post the transcript for you guys to enjoy it together and celebrate the Canadians.
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SCRIPT: MT. EVEREST CELLPHONES Duration: 00:02:21
Back in 1923, A New York Times reporter asked mountain climber George Malloy why on Earth he wanted to climb Mount Everest. At the time, no one had reached the summit of that mountain, which I understand is pretty tall. And Mr. Malloy responded with an answer that was either wise or stupid in its simplicity. He said, "Because it's there."
Whatever that answer may have lacked -- more words, for example -- it was quotable. And it was sort of prescient. It's almost as though Mr. Malloy foresaw a time when communication would consist only of unsatisfyingly short responses, and glib pseudo-profundities. A time of texting. Our time.
People have been repeating George Malloy's remark on the subject of Everest for eighty-seven years. And now, they'll be able to repeat his remark on Everest itself -- via text, video, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Classmates-dot-com. Just kidding. No one uses Classmates-dot-com any more.
A Nepalese telecom company has installed 3G phone service on Mount Everest itself. That means that ninety per cent of people in Nepal now have mobile coverage. It also means that one hundred per cent of people who are more interested in their web presence than their presence on the world's tallest mountain also have mobile coverage. Which means that soon the hills will be alive with the sound of ringtones. Witty ones, like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", or yodelling.
Of course, it won't be cheap to call someone -- because you'll always be calling during peak minutes. Peak minutes! I've been waiting ninety seconds to shoehorn that joke in. Anyway.
In the long run, this is a good thing. Because my research indicates that humans' ability to actually remember anything is dwindling in inverse proportion to our ability to document everything. So in the future, the only way you'll recollect that you were ever climbing a mountain in Nepal is to consult YouTube and watch the video you made. And then, when someone asks how you know you climbed Everest, you can point at your computer monitor and say, "Because it's there."
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http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/
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SCRIPT: MT. EVEREST CELLPHONES Duration: 00:02:21
Back in 1923, A New York Times reporter asked mountain climber George Malloy why on Earth he wanted to climb Mount Everest. At the time, no one had reached the summit of that mountain, which I understand is pretty tall. And Mr. Malloy responded with an answer that was either wise or stupid in its simplicity. He said, "Because it's there."
Whatever that answer may have lacked -- more words, for example -- it was quotable. And it was sort of prescient. It's almost as though Mr. Malloy foresaw a time when communication would consist only of unsatisfyingly short responses, and glib pseudo-profundities. A time of texting. Our time.
People have been repeating George Malloy's remark on the subject of Everest for eighty-seven years. And now, they'll be able to repeat his remark on Everest itself -- via text, video, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Classmates-dot-com. Just kidding. No one uses Classmates-dot-com any more.
A Nepalese telecom company has installed 3G phone service on Mount Everest itself. That means that ninety per cent of people in Nepal now have mobile coverage. It also means that one hundred per cent of people who are more interested in their web presence than their presence on the world's tallest mountain also have mobile coverage. Which means that soon the hills will be alive with the sound of ringtones. Witty ones, like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", or yodelling.
Of course, it won't be cheap to call someone -- because you'll always be calling during peak minutes. Peak minutes! I've been waiting ninety seconds to shoehorn that joke in. Anyway.
In the long run, this is a good thing. Because my research indicates that humans' ability to actually remember anything is dwindling in inverse proportion to our ability to document everything. So in the future, the only way you'll recollect that you were ever climbing a mountain in Nepal is to consult YouTube and watch the video you made. And then, when someone asks how you know you climbed Everest, you can point at your computer monitor and say, "Because it's there."
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http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/
