History Adventuring

Time-travel with me into the future. Where we're going, we'll still need roads, but our cars won't need the kind of stuff that human drivers need, like stop signs, or stuff painted on the road. And if you're already panicking that computers will take over, don't worry, they already have. The fact that you're reading this right now combines so much amazing computing power that it would have been unthinkable to anyone in the 1960s, or '70s, when I was a kid. Speaking of being in the geriatric age group, if you're like me or older, you took a lot of pride in knowing the rules of the road, such as what to do at a stop sign if four cars approach at the same time, the difference between a "yield" sign and a "merge" sign, or maybe how to parallel park. But calm down there old-timer, that type of knowledge will just be as quaint as how to use a horse and buggy is nowadays. Sorry! The best way to picture how traffic will flow in the future is ...

Let's time-travel back to 1917 Phoenix, Arizona and go to Bayless Grocery Company. Some of it will be wonderfully easy, and some of it will be terribly difficult. Do you have your list? Let's go! We just walk up to the counter and ask for things - no need for a shopping cart. How easy! But this is where it gets difficult - you have to tell the person behind the counter what you need, specifically by name and size (or weight). Speaking for myself, this would be extremely difficult because I'm so used to walking up and down aisles at the Walmart Neighborhood Market and picking things up I really can't tell you the names, especially the brands, of things I get all of the time, and weights and measures are still kind of a mystery. How many quarts in a hogshead? Pecks in a bushel? Let's start with getting some honey, sugar, tomatoes, and coffee. There doesn't seem to be a size for the honey - is fifteen cents for a comb a good price? Twelve pounds of sugar sounds lik...