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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> [ExI] Thanksgiving<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'>Dear chat group:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>>…<span style='color:black'>If there were a competition for being thankful, I think I must win i</span>t…<span style='color:black'> bill w<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Silver medal at best sir, for surely I am thankfuller than thou. Life in our world today does not suck. We have enough food, we have homes, things are going well for humanity in our fortunate times.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Since we are generally technology fans here but not followers of any particular deity, now is a good time to thank technology for the good things that make our lives not suck. Technology is great: you don’t need to pray to it, you don’t need to give it money (well, I suppose that depends on how you look at it (I have given plenty for computers over the years (but oh they have given back a thousand-fold.)))<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>I have looked back over the years and identified what I think are the most important developments which were the punctuation in the equilibrium, developments which caused a chain reaction in cool stuff. I don’t include stuff before my time, such as the communications tech which developed during the war.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>I have these: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:.75in;text-indent:-.5in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Commercially viable computers, which I will kinda arbitrarily assign to Apple computer, about 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:.75in;text-indent:-.5in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>HTML, which enabled the modern internet as we know it with websites and links and all the cool stuff on there, about 1993<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:.75in;text-indent:-.5in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Cell phone technology, which reached inflection point around 2000 or so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Those are the three biggies in my lifetime, and ja I know they are debatable, but since we are in a festival of thanksgiving, do share please with this tech-oriented group what developments rocked your world and which ones you anticipate soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>I am tempted to add Zoom to that list, because I have discovered how that one seemingly minor development is the key to open a hundred doors. Now I can pull together meetings with students and do software efforts without ever having to suffer their actual presence (ewww, teenagers, take me away Calgon (but if I hafta work with them for half an hour on the computer they are most tolerable (and highly productive (fine example available on request.)))))<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Let’s hear it please.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>