This article from July 1961 is astonishingly accurate in its predictions of life in the 21st century.

It looks as if everything will be so easy that people will probably die from sheer boredom.

You will be whisked around in monorail vehicles at 200 miles an hour and you will think nothing of taking a fortnight’s holiday in outer space.

Your house will probably have air walls, and a floating roof, adjustable to the angle of the sun.

In patching/updating a co-worker’s machine, Windows Update produced this message.
I answered Yes.

In my continuing effort to do something interesting with my life–other than work at a continuous series of dead-end corporate desk jobs–I’m getting serious about starting my PC service business. This will be an onsite visit where I diagnose and fix problems with Windows PCs, home networks, DSL/cable modems, etc. Services will include cleaning spyware/adware and viruses off computers, installing software, configuring networking, and the like. I don’t know yet what kind of rates I’m going to charge for these services; I’m considering hourly, by visit, or by job (e.g. de-gunking a PC is $150, setting up a WiFi network is $300). We’re going to come up with some flyers and post them on various public bulletin boards around the area, and I’m thinking about taking out an ad in the Palo Alto Daily News.

My initial goal will be to replace my Barnes & Noble income. Then, I’ll aim to make it a full-time gig.

Meanwhile, and somewhat relatedly, the Design-a-Logo Contest is still going on and I’ve received a couple of good entries. Keep sending them in! Now with the additional cachet of knowing your design will be used in an actual money-making business!

Naked Jogger Zapped — SFGate/AP

For months, officers have been getting reports about a man making late-night runs in the buff. On Monday, police said they think they got their mystery jogger.

Fate Patterson, 39, of West Memphis, was arrested after he ran past a police car and failed to stop when he was ordered to do so by officers. Police chased him and were able to rein him in by using a Taser.

Palo Alto police are on alert after two local mountain lion sightings in residential areas.

City Naturalist Deborah Bartens said there have been more than 25 reports of cougars being spotted in Palo Alto in the past year, including open space areas. Nearly a dozen have come in the more populated parts of the city.

The last time this happened, PAPD killed the lion, who was sleeping peacefully in a tree, giving a story about how a tranquilizer “might not have worked”. I can only hope that PAPD has developed new procedures which do not involve murdering beautiful animals.