Sunday January 08, 2006
Your Bones Got a Little Machine
On our holiday expedition to Kentucky, Alexandra picked up a 1979 copy of Quest magazine, an upmarket glossy created by the Worldwide Church of God after the world failed to end in 1975, as predicted. No, really. It’s an interesting item in its own right. The cover story is about Jesse Jackson and it includes a piece by George Plimpton about a “tale-tellers’ convention” and an essay on suicide (don’t do it) by Buckminster Fuller.
But after suffering through a week of incessant blogging about the Consumer Electronics Show, I was more interested in a full-page ad for the unfortunately named “Bone Fone,” a sort of ghost of gadgets past.
The copy explains how it works:
You’re standing in an open field. Suddenly there’s music from all directions. Your bones resonate as if you’re listening to beautiful stereo music in front of a powerful home stereo system.
But there’s no radio in sight and nobody else hears what you do. It’s an unbelievable experience that will send chills through your body when you first hear it.
And nobody will know you’re listening to a stereo. The entire sound system is actually draped around you like a a scarf and can be hidden under a jacket or worn over clothes.