Everything old is new again

It seems it is today's outlaw that becomes tomorrow's genius.

Decades ago in NYC, there were hundreds of people walking down the street talking to themselves, gesticulating wildly. I found myself steering clear of them. Little did I know they were beta-testing cell phones with bluetooth headsets! Now I find people EVERYWHERE having personal conversations about their love life or home frustrations - wandering around as if they were not in the middle of a crowd of strangers. Who knew?

Likewise, decades ago the cops were arresting the creators of advertising on the sides of busses and subway cars. A short time after that, some of the most talented were commissioned to do public graffiti on the sides of buildings. It now appears that the least talented are now buying and selling the sides of trains, busses, trolleys and even billboards on trucks. Who knew?

So, what other nuisances will become tomorrow's marketing breakthroughs? Garbage cans that, when banged together, generate an audio commercial in the wee hours of the morning? Discarded newspapers that lose their newsprint after a couple of days to reveal colorful advertising beneath? Sidewalks designed to crack to reveal an advertising message beneath your feet?

Perhaps spammers will hire novelists and cartoonists to write serialized fiction - including a snippet in each spam message to encourage poeple to save and forward the spam. We might actually look forward to our next spam blast! Like most technological breakthroughs on the internet, it will probably be the porn sites that discover this technique first.

Just a thought...