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Thursday, August 21, 2008

30 Years Gives 'Nuking It' Whole New Meaning

By Rory McClannahan
Mountain View Telegraph
          When you have children you tend to start a lot of conversations like this:
        "When I was a kid we didn't have ..."
        You can fill in the blank depending on your age. My favorite that I tell my spawn is, "When I was a kid, we didn't have remote controls for the television. As a matter of fact, I was the remote control."
        Normally, the boys get a glazed look on their faces that transmits, "Here we go again."
        Regardless of what my kids think, I sometimes stop and marvel at this world we live in. I'm not of an age where I think things were better when I was a kid. I think, no matter the problems we face, that we live in the best of times. (Although I do miss drive-in movies.)
        I got an e-mail last week about "Nightly Business Report," which is on PBS, celebrating 30 years on the air by asking people to write in about innovations during the past 30 years. Not only are they looking for innovations in technology that have changed the way we live, but also social, political and artistic innovations.
        That'll start you thinking.
        For me, I started doing a little research online. Which I guess would be the top innovation in the past 30 years. Computers, and by extension the Internet, have changed the way my job is done. Heck, it's changed just about everyone's job. If you would have told me 30 years ago that I would not only have one, but two, computers in my home I would have thought you were crazy. And if you would have told me that I wouldn't have to spend hours looking up books in the card catalog at my local library I would have said that wasn't possible. But there you have it. It just proves I'm not very smart.
        But I started thinking harder. What innovations have truly changed the way we do things. This is what I came up with.
        Susceptors.
        Not familiar with the term? That's OK, neither was I until a couple of days ago. Susceptors are the silver "pads" you find in microwave dishes, such as pizza or pot pies. What they do is convert microwaves into infrared heat so that dishes heat evenly. The innovation was first used for a product called McCain Micro Chips, which have nothing to do with presidential politics but were apparently french fries that were brought out in the early 1990s.
        Thirty years ago, microwave ovens were essentially a novelty; an appliance to reheat food and burn popcorn. (Does anyone really miss making popcorn on a stove top?) Anyone who remembers trying to cook with a microwave knows that you just couldn't make a dish worth enjoying. Early microwave pizza was horrible.
        Now, I can buy a frozen panini, pop it in the microwave and eat a pretty decent sandwich in a matter of minutes. That, my friends, is true innovation. It's almost better than time travel.
        Microwave food may not be as good as my Gramma Mac's homemade noodles, but it sure as heck is better than her boiled/broiled/fried chicken or her filleted fish. And with a household with two working parents, it sure makes it a lot easier to prepare lunch.
        To make your own entry for a top innovation of the past 30 years, go online to www.pbs.org/nbr.
        Contact Rory McClannahan at 823-7102 or online at editor@mvtelegraph.com.