_ Drifting and helpless on an ocean of marvels An aide to Samuel Morse, speaking on the occasion of the first Thus the time needed to get a Transatlantic telegraph transmission: ‘Just think, now London can talk fuel pump in Tucson should have to Washington!’’ Samuel Morse: Washington?” “What if London has nothing EVER SINCE the days of Mr. Morse and his fellow telegraph inventors the equipment has gotten better and better and now we have reached the point of calling ours the Age of Communication, in which we can’t seem to get things straight for the life of us. It’s no good blaming the tech- nology. Telegraph, telephone, radio, television, FAX, coaxial cables, fibre optics and the little genie called The Chip who popped out of the bottle only the day be- fore yesterday —- every one is a triumph, some are near-miracies. If Egypt’s pharaohs had pos- sessed even one of them, building | the pyramids would have sce:ned trivial pursuits, scarcely worth the bother of hiring an architect and arranging the mortgage. The trouble starts when we try to use the stuff. So often, where the humans and the technology meet, we still seem to be knee- deep in mud, scratching our crot- ches for fleas and conversing in grunts, This is particularly likely to happen in times of emergency. On a frosty morning in January, we were stranded in the little Spanish-speaking town of Nogales in Arizona. Although on American soil, it is a Mexican town and a small one, not the sort of place in which you can expect to find a fuel pump for a Mazda 626 with injectors. Praise be for the miracle of communication. We telephoned to a Mazda dealer in the city of Tuc- son, only a hundred kilometres away. He doesn’t have a fuel pump ei- ther. You aren't surprised, surely? Never mind, he can order one. We'll get away tomorrow, “*How long will it take you to get one in?” “SA week or more,”’ says the man in the parts department. He doesn’t say whether a week or more means a week plus a few days or two, three or more weeks. So much for rapid communica- tions. This car dealership has com- puterized its parts department. The man on the other end of the telephone used the computer to check what part was required and to determine whether or not it was in stock. That took him about 30 seconds. If he were to now send an order for the part to the factory or cen- tral warehouse of Mazda in the United States it would be trans- mitted by FAX machine. No car dealer in a city of a third of a million people would be without at least one FAX machine, and, if it worked as the one in our house works, it would Paul St. Pierre transmit the order for the fuel pump, precisely described, in less than one minute. So far, according to the theory of life in the Age of Information, less than two minutes has been used up in ordering the needed part. At Mazda’s central U.S. depot another computer will identify the part and its exact location in the warehouse, using another few se- conds, A warehcuse employee will then have to walk or ride an electric buggy down a couple of long ai- sles and pick the part out of a bin. Be generous. Allow five minutes for that task. Allow another half minute for a computer to scan my credit card number, another minute to wrap the parcel and phone Federal Ex- press to come and pick it up. Ten minutes is a gerierous amount of time for the orcler to be placed and filled. How is the next week or so to be used up? Federal Express promises parcel delivery between major American cities overnight or, in some cases, as long as 48 hours. True, they don’t always do it. Federal Express lost a parcel of mine between New York and Vancouver for 10 days and couldn't even trace it. (ft contain- ed plane tickets to Arabia and ar- rived eight days too late.) Simi- larly, computers do fail and FAXes have nervous breakdowns. But most of the time the machin- ery of the Information Age per- forms as well as it is programmed to do. * Vancouver Ea See 2 « SPECIAL DOOR PRIZE + FREE DRAW ¢ DISPLAYS . + BRIDAL GOWNS DESIGNED BY DELICATESSE DESIGNS _ self & guest, please call to registe: 38°or, MARGE 275-1558 YV Vai RENT NORTH VANCOUVER 986-0388 WEST VANCOUVER 926-5541 to say to PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES been one or, at the most, two days. Yes, all right, plus 10 minutes. So we went to Juan-Diego in the Nogales Chevron station. No FAX, no computers, none of the information Age miractes, just two men talking, one in bad English and one in bad Spanish. He jury-rigged a Chevrolet fuel pump. He forgot to put back half the screws in the mounting brackets, but the car ran. We got home. As Mr. Morse foresaw, rapid communication doesn’t help if you haven’t anything to say. a ra 2 Tax Office at 983-7316. in full before or by 4:30 p.m., City of North Vancouver 141 West 14th Street North Vancouver, BC. V7M 1H9 99 VOLVO 244 DLO ; pos Graphite, AM/FM cassette, I only *17,995 ") VOLVO 745 GLA WAGON. pps Leather interior, air, sunroof, 1 only SS All Volvu Luxury Options, ! only ae VOLVO 760 GLE . pps *33,995 THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF NORTH VANCOUVER 1991 WATER AND SEWER RATES March 22, 1991. AK. Tollstam Treasurer—Collector sat Friday, February 22, 1991 - North Shore News - 9 DISCOUNT RATES MARCH 22, 1991 1991 Water and Sewer Rate notices have now been mailed. Any property owner who has not received a Water & Sewer State- ment should immediately contact the City of North Vancouver New Owners should be aware of their responsibility for payment of 1991 water and sewer charges and should ensure that they are paid by themselves or the previous owners. Discount: A 10% discount is allowed to water/sewer rates paid Penalties: A 5% penalty will be applied to outstanding water/sewer charges after April 30, 1991 and a further 5% penalty will be added to charges remaining unpaid after July 31, 1991. POSTDATED CHEQUES WILL BE ACCEPTED FACTORY SUBSIDIZED °91 VOLVO LEASE SPECIAL : VOLVO 944 GLE = VOLVO 244 DLA 18299 MONTH © 36 mths, $5,000 DP, T.P, $15,764 1988 JEEP CHEROKEE 4x4 Laredo Pkg. $16,995 1987 CHRYSLER NEW YORKER Sth AVE. 1 owner, luxury car $10,995 Only 29,000 km. VOLVO 744 SA $399 MONTH 36 maths, $6,000 D.P., T.P, $20,364 1984 VOLVO 244 DLA Automatic, clean unit 104,000 km 1987 VOLVO 744 GLE ( owner, Alt service records $499 MONTH ff 36 mths, $6,000 D.P., T.P. $23,964 86 HONDA PRELUDE | Owner, automatic Only 20,000 km $10,995 84 TOYOTA TERCEL SR-S Wagon, 4x4, air, sunroof 78,000 km $5,995