We have a wide variety of things to watch on our television set. We use a Roku streamer and mostly watch programs on Netflix, Amazon Prime, PBS and Acorn. We also have a number of programs and courses on DVD. Last night, we decided to switch to a DVD but found the player empty. What happened to the disc? We looked here and there. We questioned ourselves and each other but could not find a disc for the Great Course by Prof. Michael Wyesessions on "Geological Wonders of the World." Lynn chose that course but I have gotten some appreciation for caves, waterfalls, odd currents and wind patterns and other features of our globe.
So, what the heck could we (or somebody) have done with that disc? A mystery like that sticks in my mind and I started up on the search again this morning. It turns out that we couldn't find the program disc because we don't have it and we never did have it. The course is delivered to a channel on our Roku arrangement electronically through the Internet. I feel unimaginative and out-of-date. So, using the right combination of our tv remotes, I looked at the list of Great Courses we have purchased. They sit there, at the ready, for us to play them. The first position is occupied by Geological Wonders of the World! Mystery solved and we will watch the next lecture tonight.
I read that the Library of Congress and other collectors of recordings of various kinds have trouble keeping track of the arrangements that various companies and organizations use to lay out files on surfaces. The chapter of "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson on "sound" relates the history of making lasting recordings of sounds, voices and music. I have also read that some workers in artificial intelligence are moving toward offering people a constructed version of best guess remarks by deceased relatives for a price. This blog has 4,833 posts written and posted by me. So, if you miss me after I'm gone, an artificial version of me might be available.
