It seems like only yesterday I was filling the bathtubs on our way out the door to the millennium New Year’s Eve party, nervous anticipation in the air about what might happen at the stroke of midnight….would we have no power or water for days on end? Would the Internet stop working? Hey, maybe the credit card companies’ computer codes would go haywire, and our balances would be wiped clean! Fortunately, there were no great catastrophes, and we have soared into this century with ease.
There is a great debate about whether the first decade of the new millennium just ended December 31 or a whole year ago. As best I can tell from my extensive research (translation, a quick Google search), either answer is correct, since a decade is only defined as a ten-year period, and counting from 0 to 9 or from 1 to 10 still lands you in a new decade. As an aside, during my laborious search, I came across another fascinating query: What do we call these decades anyway? There were the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties (Wow, my mind just sang the Happy Days theme song, More Than a Feeling, and Liv in’ on a Prayer as I typed. And let’s face it, there was no memorable nineties music), but how do we refer to the last decade and the one we’re in now?
One thing that no one can debate is how much life has changed in these last ten (or 11) years. In 1999, there was no such thing as an iPod. Or an iPhone. Or an iPad. Or even an Apple retail store. In 1999, 61 million Americans used big, clunky, expensive cell phones. Today, 91 percent of Americans, over 300 million of us, wouldn’t dare leave home without one. In 1999, the twin towers stood proudly as the highlights of the Manhattan skyline. In 1999, there were no U.S. troops in Iraq. In 1999, all area school students still used books instead of laptops. It’s mind-boggling how quickly things are changing every day.
One thing that has joyfully remained the same is this: Folks still like to sit down with a good magazine. Even in this world filled with technology, magazine readership is up – 11 percent since Google’s inception 12 years ago. Have you seen the ad campaign recently launched by the magazine industry’s top publishers? The headlines say it all: “We Surf the Internet.We Swim in Magazines.” And “Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?” Fortunately, our advertisers have agreed with the thinking that there is still plenty of power in print, and I wholeheartedly thank them for that. Please support them, readers! They are the ones solely responsible for bringing you this fabulous, free magazine month after month. And sure, you can jump on your smart phone to learn more about our advertisers. I won’t stand in the way of technology!
