Once upon a time you'd arrive at a run-down country hotel to be greeted rudely by a toothless hag with BO and a limp. Almost overnight she and her ilk were replaced by bright, young college grad… (View Post)

A school friend's father had a similar conversation in Detroit in the 1960s. The hollowing-out of inner-urban America has been happening for a long time. It's the inevitable corollary of sp… (View Post)

There's a sequence in 2001 when Heywood Floyd, on Space Station Five, has a video call with his daughter on Earth, after which the operator chimes in and tells him what it cost. Even Arthur C Cl… (View Post)

I sometimes cite my grandfather in this context. He was born in 1885, long before cars or aeroplanes, but he lived to watch men walk on the moon. Didn't seem unduly impressed. (View Post)

Patient: How can I live to be 100? Doctor: Give up smoking, drinking and sex. Patient: Are you sure I'll live to 100? Doctor: No, but it will feel like. (View Post)