Outreach no. 253

              OUTREACH 0 UT EAC the newsletter of 7 71m elfr glar 7effoka ewfr 57 r sapd&4e sfanueei& timlewtomcuh mtenmctthoc MARCUS BACH founder no no253 253 THE LETTER dear friend of the fellowship almost everything in this final decade of the 1990s 100s iros promises to be incredible consider just one factor SPEED speed on the highways here in los angeles if you drove strictly according to the posted regulations along the boulevards and freeways youd probably be run down or honked at by other motorists or signaled by a cop to get moving the custom in the thick of traffic is drive defensively and go with the flow speed in the air the goal is two hours to tokyo speed in outer space unlimited speed in the global transmission of TV coverage A single satellite is already capable of serving forty stations speed in communications I 1 1 never expected to go for FAX now I 1 find myself slipping letters into FAXS sophisticated mouth and watch them instantly transmitted by facsimile to their farflung far flung destinations all around the world speedier than telephones quicker than uncle sams overburdened mail service FAX is here to stay therell come a day when the child of your grandchild will be asking daddy what was a post office speed is a pressure word whether applied to the building of athletes or the construction of towering ultramodern ultra modern ziggurates ziggurat es in short from A to Z the name of the game is SPEED consider the speed being developed in reading writing and rithmetic arithmetic rith metic watch the accelerated expertise at the supermarket checkout check out counters where the flashing fingers of the checkers work their prestidigitations no longer do you see price tags on the things you buy the checkout guys and gals simply rub the purchases across the bar coder with the speed of light your total charges are flashed on a nearby screen before you can reach for your hip pocket or ferret your purse from your cluttered shoulder bag the rule now is SPEED IT UP for impatient lines of shoppers are baying at your heels just as you were baying at their shopping carts a moment earlier As I 1 write this I 1 pause to look up at my set of encyclopedia britannica on my sturdy study shelves the set consists of 24 huge volumes leather bound combined weight of the set is 120 pounds the index volume contains more than 1000000 1000000000 ooo 000 subjects shelf space required is approximately six feet As I 1 look affectionately at this precious collection I 1 think of the many hours weve communed together many times my arms have ached and my eyes have burned as I 1 ran down research questions about world history the worlds people the animal kingdom the solar system myths and mysteries science and fiction facts and figures art and religion my motto has always been you name it ill find it no matter how long it may take I 1 look at these books in awe realizing that this entire set has now been put on a five inch silicon chip and all you need is a computer