Things ain't what they used to be...often they are better

Alan Sullivan has a great post on things that are better than they used to be. Among them wines, auto tires, smart munitions that save lives, and the weather.

What would I add? Square-drive screws. They're not really new, but have become common recently. I would hate to live without them.

Bourgeat copper pans lined with stainless steel.

Software of course, improves at a breathless pace. I would mention in particular the incomparable SketchUp, which lets me sketch my projects in 3-D. And I'm not talking about drawing in 2-D and then rendering the drawing in 3-D. I mean pulling and pushing the 3-D shapes themselves. The coolest. And Ecto, the blogging client, has made my life much easier.

retracting dog leashes.

Charlene wants to add: E-mail. Of course it's not new, but her world of law practice has recently hit a point where a huge amount of information-moving drudgery is now done at the click of a mouse. It's improved because she can do more with it.

She adds eBay. Of course. And craigslist for free want-ads of any kind. And the produce department at our local Albertson's...thank you globalization and NAFTA!

American politics is better. Wow, how that's changed. it's Spring!

Charlene says: "Worse--colleges, which once were where you would go for the joy of learning, and now they're just a travesty."