Day 61

This may seem like an odd combination of objects. Actually it is, and that will be my point of tonight's picture. This is a key and an integrated circuit chip. A key opens locks of various varieties. An integrated circuit ship makes electronic things like televisions and computers work. With that said, why do we need IC chips in keys? An age old question. (Well actually only a few years old question.) I don't have the intent or ability to answer the question of why we "need" it but I think I do have some insight into why we have it. First of all, those of you who were fortunate enough to be around in the '60's will remember the space program when it was in its prime. After we got to the moon, it seems that interest in this sort of stuff diminished somewhat. What was left were thousands of engineers with no jobs. Now I have no animosity toward engineers. In fact I have a great deal of respect for them. However, if you give an engineer a job making napkins, he'll find a way to put a microprocessor in them. (How many of you have seen the trash cans at fast food restaurants that open automatically and thank you for putting your garbage in?) Bless their hearts, they have put electronics in so many things that worked just fine without them. To name a few, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, lamps, clocks, chairs, books, glasses, coffee pots, lawnmowers, watches, picture frames, hats(I have one that plays the North Carolina fight song), shoes, baseballs, cat litter boxes (really), and... keys. Which brings me back to tonioght's photo. The inspiration for this came to me as I was giving a co-worker a ride home from work tonight. His car had to be left in the parking lot. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The chip in the otherwise perfectly good key quit working. Go figure.