I Am Dismayed To Realize That Much

I Heard A Computer Scientist The Other Day Refer To Playing With The Kinect As 'storytelling.' At First I Thought That Sounded A Little High-minded, But After Trying A Few Games I Could See What She Meant.

Now We're E-mailing And Tweeting And Texting So Much, A Phone Call Comes As A Fresh Surprise. I Get Text Messages On My Cell Phone All Day Long, And It Warbles To Alert Me That Someone Has Sent Me A Message On Facebook Or A Reply Or Direct Message On Twitter, But It Rarely Ever Rings.

When I Heard About The Microsoft Kinect, Though, I Felt An Urgency Rising In Me. A Game You Played Without Touching Any Machinery? A Chance To Wave Your Hands Around, Minority-report Style, And Move Things Around On A Screen? This Sounded Like Almost Too Much Fun, With Gadget-y Pizzazz That Sounded Astonishing.

Orchid Hunting Is A Mortal Occupation.

You May Never Learn The Names Of Any Of The People You Talk To In A Dog Park, Even After Many, Many Hours Spent There With Them, And Many Hours Of Conversation. But If - Knock On Wood - Anything Should Ever Happen To Your Dog, These Nameless Non-strangers Will Rally, Sympathize, Offer To Help, And Hold Your Hand. I Know This From Experience.