Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for March 10, 2025

Always a good Monday when NS starts a story arc!

History is a great teacher. If you don’t know how you got here, you’re less likely to know where you’re going.

I never did think that I’d reach the stage when my memories were from ‘the olden time’ … or, indeed, that someone thought it remarkable that I was young, once.

Danae, your dad may have been a cool kid!

What did you expect from her, dude? She’s pretty much Calvin if he was a girl and modern day (minus the tiger. She got a living talking horse instead)

I now realize it used to amuse … then, irritate … my parents when I asked them to “tell me about the olden days.” Because I get that now from young relatives.

This is something I’ve noticed. Back in the day, about a third of all fiction was set in the past. Cowboys, musketeers, knights, Vikings, etc etc. The first time I heard the name ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ wasn’t in a classroom, it was in a comic book. These days, there’s hardly any historical content in movies TV.

Smite her.

ouch

… and if you had no stamps, you waited until Monday morning for the Post Office to open! Who goes to the Post Office anymore?

Stupid people are entertaining; smart people are boring. Rumor and innuendo are entertaining; facts are boring. Emotional, teary eyed people are entertaining; scientific instruction is boring.

“Amusing Ourselves to Death” predicted all of this in the 80’s.

There was aslo this thing called Cursive writing…..

I think of texting back then was passing notes in school. Emails were putting them in envelopes and dropping them in the mailbox

This one deserves an “ancient history” corner.

My grandkids refer to the 1900’s as history!

I got my CURRENT job by stuffing an envelop with my business card and a flyer that advertised my services and sending it through the mail.

I sent out 60 mailers to targeted companies and got one response a couple weeks later. How does that compare to people clicking links and “carpet bombing” on a job board?

The studies I’ve read about have shown that we remember better what we hand-write vs. what we type… But since science research is currently being dissed by the powers that be, that insight will be of minimal application.

Danae today reminds me of a person who is ignoring the past except tor compiling lists of those who might have ‘slighted’ him or who had been tasked with compiling a record of his activities in earlier times.

That history isn’t that ancient, Danae.

Wish I did more letter writing back in the day. I think now it is a great skill.