A touch of humor

There are still bits and pieces of joy in Obamanation and will be until he imprisons the last one. P. J. O'Rourke provides a light-hearted, but insightful, look at the signature of our era.

"Each era of civilization has its characteristic sights, scents,
and…beep. What was thatBeep. There it goes again, the signature
noise of contempor...ary life: a brief, penetrating electronic squeak that
seems to emanate from everywhere and everything in the modern world.

It's the sound the microwave makes when the frozen lunch is done. Beep.
It's the note struck by the bar code scanner as it empties your debit
account, by the airline e-ticket check-in as it prints you a ticket for
Spokane, Washington, instead of Washington, D.C., and by the TSA wand as
you're frisked at security. No elevator door shuts in your face without
emitting this particular commotion. No truck backs over you without a
prolonged series of these blarings. No nurse pronounces your blood
pressure astronomical until the medical equipment has tolled this knell.The
toys Santa brings today start beeping while still wrapped and under the
tree. (What happened to the Christmas-morning tradition of inoperative
playthings, crying children, and the frantic search for an open
drugstore where D cells could be bought?) The car beeps incessantly if
those children aren't firmly strapped into their booster seats for the
ride to dinner at Grandma's. And the car's horn beeps, too, in a lame
substitution for the satisfying honk of yore. The phone beeps when it
needs recharging. People we're never able to get on the phone tell us to
leave a message after the beep. The computer beeps, the fax machine
beeps, and so does the barbecue fork with the built-in meat thermometer."

Read it here.