I had an interesting flight from Dallas to Newark. The man in the seat next to me is a postal mechanic from Newark who had been in Oklahoma City for training. He is a member of a team of mechanics that keep very large computer controlled mail and package sorting equipment in operation. The machine he works on has 13 different computers, hundreds of feet of conveyors, and mechanically operated gates. The machine understands hand written addresses and sorts them to go to the right places. It was interesting that this mechanic started out in our conversation describing the way people's learning is no longer based on personal observation, and that we are getting dumber by the minute because of it. I thought for a few minutes I was listening to myself.

It is always funny how those things happen.