European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 03, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Latest gizmos Don t compute into better life Andy Rooney Tribune Media a m this is u confession. I am writing on a computer. I admit this with some reluctance because for All my Adulf life i be written on one of the great machines of any kind Ever made the Underwood no. 5 typewriter. Alas my trusty Underwood sits Here by my Side now gathering office dust. I use it a few times a week but i Veall but abandon cd it. This word processing computer is a Marvel. It s easy to move sentences and paragraphs or even whole pages from one place to another and it s easy to make corrections before i print what i be written. A you a think then with this wonderful new tool in a using that in be a better writer would t you the sad fact is. No machine seems to end up saving time or Money making life better or improving our performance. There Are 123 million cars in the United states. We drive a total of 1 trillion 400 billion Miles a year. Never mind the Odd millions of Miles. Are we happier human beings since the automobile was invented and we can get More places quickly there s no evidence this is True. When i was a kid we drove to a summer place we had on a Lake about 75 Miles Home. Much of the trip was on Small narrow dirt roads and it took almost four hours. Once we got to the Lake we stayed for the summer. They built a six Lane Highway 25 years ago and the trip takes one hour now. Is our summer vacation better because of the Highway it is not. Our secluded spot on the Lake is crowded now easily accessible to everyone. We Seldom go there anymore. For Many years i carried a big old Hamilton Railroad pocket watch that had to be wound every Day. It kept Good time. Not great time but Good time. Depending on the temperature it would gain or lose 10 seconds a week. Every few weeks i d reset it. Now i Wear a Quartz watch that does no to vary a second a year. Is my life better organized because i know the exact time am i More prompt getting places than when my pocket watch was a Little fast or a Little slow i am not. I Don t know Why technological Progress is so Little help. The latest invention always holds such Promise but then 10 years later we look Back at what its done to our lives and Seldom Are we Able to say that the invention has made us happier or More productive. In that Remote cottage on the Lake we lived at night by candlelight and kerosene lamp. Their hic Cring flames were fascinating to me. And i d often go to bed and stay awake Reading by the lamp for hours. Now i have a special Reading lamp attached to the headboard of the bed. It casts a Bright easy Light to read by. Am i Reading More i climb into bed turn out the Light and go to sleep now. We did Over the Kitchen and have a big. Serious two oven Gas Range with the added convenience of a built in microwave in the top oven. Is dinner vastly better at our House than it used to be not that i notice. My Mother washed our clothes in a big tub in the cellar on a washboard. She Hung the clean laundry on a line in the Back Yard. She washed the dishes by hand and used a hand pushed carpet sweeper to clean. We have a modern clothes Washer a dryer several electric vacuum cleaners a dishwasher and a smorgasbord of detergents under the sink. Do these Modem conveniences mean everything is made instantly spic and Span in our House done task. Tennis rackets and Golf clubs Are made of i tech materials that Cost a Fortune. Balls travel faster and farther. Is Ivan Lendl More fun to watch because of his new Racket than Bill Tilden was is Jack Nicklaus a better golfer because of his clubs than Bobby Jones or Ben Hogan no Way. There seems to be inevitability about our lives that no amount of technological Progress can improve. Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter. Comeback Carter shows she a still a to wonder by Michael e. Hill the Washington Post if it was t one pigeonhole it was another. When she played wonder woman Lynda Carter carved a Niche for herself in to history a for which she would forever be teased labelled and stereotyped As a comic Book character in tights and Tiara. Only the shows fans and sponsors cheered. Then she married a prominent Washington lawyer came to the nations capital and started a family. But even that chapter of her life she said was turned into tabloid Type headlines actress seeks Washington social stardom. The spotlight follows the stunning cart Quot wherever she goes and so she says docs the sniping. In recent months the spotlight became More glaring than flattering As she sat beside her husband Robert Altman while he and Clark Clifford defended their innocence in the Bocci Bank scandal. Carter recently returned to the stage that first brought her Fame and National attention a television a to Star in an Abc rendering of a Danielle steel novel. Daddy. Carter joins Patrick Duffy and Kate Mulgrew in steels 1989 Saga of a Man Duffy whose wife Mulgrew spoils Christmas by announcing her departure from the marriage to resume her College education. Duffy is left with a Host of Domestic problems a plus an alluring new woman in his life played by Carter. Daddy could be the Start of a sustained return to television by Carter who put aside much of lbs Lynda Carter in television s posing. Her show business career when Domestic life beckoned. This re entry vehicle came her Way Courtesy of Douglas s. Cramer the producer who started things for Carter in the first place. Her appearance in daddy will be followed by another to movie currently titled posing for lbs. A a it a a True Story a three stories actually a about Ordinary women who for an inexplicable reason decided to pose for Playboy. The stories Are about what brought them to that Point and what were the Lynda Carter has been married seven years. Two months after she and Altman exchanged vows she started work on a promising to series with Loni Anderson called partners in crime. A i d been married in january and we started filming in March Quot she recalled. A the first year of our marriage we were commuting a he was doing most of it. I was t Loo disappointed when the series ended. Redid 13 shows and it was t picked up. Loni had a bad year a her Mother died a and the series Wasny to what it was supposed to be. We were Happy it did not continue. Quot alter All of that i was ready to leave the business. Forever and Ever. I was so burned out. Id been working so Many years and had been disillusioned by the Industry and the town . I really wanted to have something of substance in my while confined to bed for two during her second pregnancy she said she decided to resume her career full time. And so Carter finds life full and fulfilling a and at times trying. Her son is 3 her daughter about a year old. She has a to movie scheduled for the november ratings sweeps period. A to series she said is under discussion. And then there a been the Bank crisis and its attendant coverage. Quot my life has not been Boring a said Carter. Quot the Washington Post has not been Tot Nice to me a she said. A the Washington Post had their angles they wanted to pursue they be been mean spirited in their Angle on me. For what reason i Don t know. All in be done is stand by my husband and try to work with charities in this town. Quot there a a real mean spirited Ness toward me and my husband. He a a Home town boy and they seem to want to eat their own. Maybe its Washington or the tabloid mentality in this Arena of Competition with programs like i lard copy. Maybe they feel they want to compete in the same but it has t been All hostility. Quot in a Happy to say that the people we consider to be our friends have not Only remained our friends but have risen to new Heights and have gone to great lengths to be supportive and Loving Quot said Carter. Quot i will always remember those who have shown me and my husband so much love and november 3. 1991 sunday Page
