March 22, 2000
DOWN HOME:
Microprocessors unravel
the secrets of the fridge
___The wonders of modern technology grow increasingly practical with every passing nanosecond.
___Like the other day, I heard a reporter on a radio news program describe how computer microprocessors are getting smaller and smaller and more and more useful.
___He interviewed a computer expert who predicted microprocessors one day will be so small and inexpensive they will be attached to practically everything, for practically every kind of purpose.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___For example, a microprocessor in your orange juice jug will keep tabs on how much juice the jug is holding at any given moment. That tidbit of information would be useless, of course, unless it could be applied to an appropriate purpose.
___Enter the Internet. You could go online and call up your refrigerator on the World Wide Web and get a printout of the quantity of everything in the ol' fridge. (The expert didn't say if this would be easier than walking over to the fridge and opening the door.) Then, you could download the list to your virtual supermarket, which would deliver all the groceries to your door. (The expert didn't say how grocery stores are going to high-tech trick you into impulse buying when you no longer have to stand next to a stack of mango-flavored chewing gum while you wait to check out.)
___The computer expert said microprocessors will be everywhere, and you'll be able to find everything on the Internet.
___Nowadays, our family mostly uses the Internet for homework. The Internet is very useful indeed if you need to know the Gross National Product of someplace like Bora Bora. It's also very useful for finding the Baptist Standard: www.baptiststandard.com.
___ I like how the computer expert is thinking.
___Someday, a microprocessor in my car keys will lead my computer--and me, theoretically--directly to them. Parents of toddlers will suit the young 'uns up in microprocessor-coded togs, and they'll never have to scour the house and the neighborhood in order to find little Dusty hiding in the clothes hamper. If you can increase the type size of your computer sufficiently, you can use the Internet to find your glasses.
___My friend Mark predicts this new technology will solve one of the great unanswered questions of modern life: Where do all those socks go after the washing machine eats them?
___Thank God, we don't need microprocessors imbedded in our earlobes in order for the Lord to keep up with us. The Bible says God has counted the hairs of our heads and sees when a sparrow falls. God always knows exactly where we are, and he cares, too.
___That's a big comfort, even when I run out of orange juice.
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