Thursday, April 27, 2006

Watching the Road Is So 90s











A really nerdy friend of mine does this thing when he drives called "paying attention." Like most of my friends stuck in the Nineties he enjoys Whit Stillman films, dancing to Paula Abdul and rejecting cool gadgets of the aughts. I explain to him that he needs to get a satellite navigation system for his car because it's really important to have a satellite navigation system for his car. It just is. But he's always, like, "Nah, I've got a Thomas Guide. I don't need any other device." And I'm like, "Yeah, but paper maps don't talk to you. You want a map that can talk."

If your navigation system can tell you to turn right in a polite, conversational tone, it means you've arrived. People ask me what kind of system they should get. I always tell them the best devices are the ones that are so engrossing you forget your driving. Occasionally you might end up under water. That just means your device is working properly.

4 comments:

duboisist said...

See Tim

Told you I wasn't sheep.
Following the directions of you navigation system into water, that's sheep.

Tim said...

Actually, that's lemmings.

VagabondLoafer said...

Nothing wrong here. That guy’s just using the same mil spec navigation dataset the Navy uses. I hope he/she caulked their door seams first.
I’ll give up my ADC Street Map Book when they pry it from my cold dead hands.

Butternut said...

I used to have a navigation system in my car that told me when to turn and where to go. Then I dumped her. Ba zing!

Europe has more sat-navs than we do in the States because their streets were designed for horse drawn carriages and to keep the Huns out.