This was on Yahoo:

Isn't that amazing? That dog was so lucky, but even more than that…

The kid!

The kid made me think of how lucky the youth of today are to be living in a time when technology is opening up vast new horizons for everybody.

Seeing that kid sit next to such a cool device just made me think back to the old saying, "The future is now!"

I love technology. Things are moving so fast these days, updates and upgrades happen virtually overnight. Actually, I’m still waiting for major gains in CPU speed, but other than that it just seems like you can sit back and let economic competition build you a better tomorrow. People keep coming up with better, faster, safer, and cheaper tools that allow us all to accomplish more than ever before. I wonder what cities will look like in 50 years? Probably like gigantic circuit boards, with lights everywhere.

Usually when I come into contact with some super powerful tool, like an industrial strength magnet, it provokes a good amount of awe. I’m amazed I have access to such useful and powerful items. Like super flashlights, the kind that can be seen for miles away? Way stronger than anything a kid would ever have. Way stronger than disposable emergency lights. Industrial strength. And they’ve got lamps for everything — your driveway, your front yard… If you never wanted to live in darkness, you could go to MagnaLight.com and buy every light they offer. You’d probably have trouble falling asleep, but hey, some people don’t seem to need it. You could make your own Vegas in your back yard! But your neighbors might not be thrilled…

Seriously, access to military grade lights on MagnaLight.com — it’s amazing. It’s like NASA shows up and says, “Here, Beaver. Have a laser.” “Golly gee, Mr. Spaceman, thanks!” Then later, “Hey Ma, I made the dog disappear!”

MagnaLight has all kinds of lights, for around your house, but also for you car or truck (like roof mount lights), and regular handheld. But what’s so regular about a flashlight that operates more like a gun? “Bam! I blasted that tree good. Look at the size of that hole!” Lights so bright… And, I’m glad to see some are eco-friendly. That’s good, considering that one of the major actions we’re supposed to be taking is swapping out all our old light bulbs. Oh yeah, I better get on that…!

I saw on CNN today that a man's LG cell phone was in his shirt pocket when the battery exploded, killing him. According to the company that makes that device, that scenario is extremely rare. But still, the fact that such an event can occur, even if remotely, is very scary.

I'd heard about laptop batteries blowing up, and how this was made fun of on "The Simpsons." At that point, I figured that explosive devices were rare, to such an extent as to be comical. But now hearing that a phone has killed a man outright, I'm not so sure.

If a phone battery can become explosive under certain circumstances, we are all in danger. Can you imagine what would have happened if he and a friend had been using that phone when it blew up, maybe both leaning in to hear someone on speaker? Or what if he had given it to a child? "Here, kiddo, say hi!"

Even if something is rare, it is still dangerous. There are so many people on earth that rare events tend to happen more than a few times. So how can we save ourselves from Death By Cell Phone?

Today I had the idea that you could walk into a room and your friends, who were watching TV, were now on the other side of the screen. That would mean that the TV screen is really a portal to another location. Or, it could be a monitor with a feed from a camera somewhere.

It got me thinking: What if in the future, technology is so advanced that it allows us to get complacent, lazy even? Say you want to go see a friend. As it used to be, you'd give him a call. Before phones, you could write a letter or go in person. Now, we can instant message each other. In the future, what if we take things one step further?

Imagine a room in your house in which the walls act as both cameras and televisions. So you enter the room, and say, "Let me see Jenny." Your house calls her house, or apartment, or wherever she is. How does it know where to find her? Maybe she's got a chip in her head. Let's not worry about that. Ok, so the network finds her, and a CGI operator comes on the screen wherever she is, saying, "Your friend Jimmy would like to speak with you. Is that OK?" She says sure, and BAM — you're having a two-way visual meeting, live.

Sounds cool, right? You don't have to do anything when you're in that room except issue voice commands. Now here's where things get scary (unless the chip-in-the-head thing already got to you). Jenny's out and about, right? Maybe at an art museum? Now imagine she's at her house. You're at your house. Everybody is at their own home. Nobody goes anywhere, because they can all link up virtually.

But I don't think that will really happen. I'll bet the technology will reach and surpass that level, sure, but I think we'll have plenty of reasons to keep active.

We'll have to fight the robots!