Sunny Side Up

Well folks we are officially in the depths of a depression unlike anything seen in the United States since the 1930's. It's bad. But not to worry. Even during the last down turn we were amazed by the 1939 New York World's Fair and the unveiling of new inventions such as domestic robots, black and white television, and flourescent lighting. Television was so unbelievable in 1939 that RCA encased exhibit TVs in transparent Lucite shells so fair attendees could see the innards. Proof that a film projector was not running inside. The futurama exhibit even had a diorama of what a modern metropolis would look like in the distant world of 1960. The 1939 World's Fair exemplified utopian ideals of urban planning and the application of technology and machines to solve all the world's problems. Almost seventy years later we are still waiting. We now have the machines but additional problems have cropped up that were not part of the original equation. In some cases machines have eliminated people and they have created other problems that did not exist prior to their invention. When the US interstate system was created in the 1950's it was designed with one major flaw. The designers failed to consider that the interstate itself would generate massive urban growth along interchanges which further compounded traffic congestion.

Since we have been in the depths of an economic down turn I have been listening to music and watching video clips from the 1930's to see how they handled it. I like Keep Your Sunny Side Up by the Kentucky Serenaders. Living outside a utopia, it does provide some light at the end of the tunnel.