Technology is everywhere, regardless of industry. Whether the field is medicine, automotive, computers, or even housing and construction, we can no longer ignore it nor not use it. Technology is helpful and in most cases, a very good thing. I'm currently going through cancer treatment and had what's called a port inserted into the upper right side of my chest. This thing is smaller than a quarter, took all of 15 minutes to install after the prep work was done, and now the cancer center at the hospital where I'm receiving my treatments, as well as any other doctor, can utilize this port for any number of things. While this technology has been around for a while, it's still amazing what can be done.
In regards to automobiles, we take for granted things like computer systems, fuel injection, flex-fuels, supercharging, direct drive transmissions, aerodynamics, transverse mounted engines and more. Ever wonder where these ideas ever cam from? Drag racing. Things like fuel injection and flex-fuels have been used in drag racing since the late 40's. Advanced supercharging and direct drive transmissions have been a staple in top fuel dragsters since the 50's. Aerodynamics and transverse mounted engines have been played with for over 60 years. This was all in the name of going fast, first and foremost, and eventually safety when that came into vogue in the early 70's after too many close calls and bad accidents. Take a good look the photo to the left - this is circa mid-50's and one can see the supercharger on top of the main engine. Those tubes above the supercharger, going into the air scoop is a fuel injection system. Lastly, that cool front mounted fuel tank would hold a mix of gasoline and nitro-methane.
More technology - I recently acquired a 2x3 foot reproduction banner that is identical to the ones that were at Shell stations back in the late 60's. I purchased it from a guy who makes these new banners with his computer and a professional printer. The quality is first rate. This is yet another warm fuzzy from my past for multiple reasons. One, because I was in love with Hot Wheels toy cars, and two, because I was in love with muscle cars and hot rods. There was a very cool Shell station that also did full-on mechanical work and I always begged my dad to go there to get the gas for our vehicle. Not only did 3 gallons of petrol get me either a free Hot Wheels, or at most would cost us 49 cents, but there were always cool muscle cars and street rods parked there in the warmer months that were owned by the station employees. Looking back, my dad was always pretty cool about these jaunts into my hot rod fantasies. He always got more than 3 gallons of gas, would pony up the two bits for the toy car if necessary, and would allow me time to drool over the awesome vehicles. Some of the mechanics were even good enough to take a few moments from their busy schedule to talk to me. That's become non-existent these days.
Call me an alarmist, but I see all these stories and headlines about AI. Everything from where it's going to be much harder to tell the difference between actual and fake photographs, ditto with videos, and who knows what else. Hopefully, other technology will develop along with this so we will be able to decipher what is real and what isn't. The "good 'ol days may not have always been so good, but at least we knew that shit was real.
Until next time, peace out.
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