GPS

You're familiar with GPS technology, aren't you?

You know, all the satellites roaming around the earth and sending out a signal that receivers then interpret as a physical location on the earth. Pretty neat stuff, eh?

And the application of the technology seemingly has no limitations. They use it to find lost hikers, bomb buildings, and can even give you directions anywhere you go.

That's correct. With a handy little multiple-hundred dollar device, you can have instructions given to you by a human-like voice, telling you where to turn, which lane to merge into, which road to take next. There have been countless commercials about this stuff, particularly ones that show a man talking to his wife on the phone in the car, and the female voice giving him commands. Of course, the wife thinks there's a woman in the car with him and gets mad.

That leads me to think that the next step in GPS technology isn't too far away: The back-seat driver GPS. You could program it with your wife's voice, and it would keep you company when you drive without her with you (it would be great for business trips).

Instead of helpful directions, like "prepare to turn right", it would mock you and heckle you. (DISCLAIMER: Annie's probably the better driver of the two of us, and she never criticizes my driving (she just hides her face in her hands sometimes). This content of this post does not come from my own experience, but from the strange leap-frogging insanity of my own mind).

"You missed your turn, dummy!"

"Quit following so close!"

"Watch out for that car!"

"Slow down! There might be deer on the road!"

It would also have a "Whiny Kid" mode (with an option of up to 3 different kids at the same time):

"Are we there yet?"

"I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Cletus keeps touching me! Make him stop!"

Oh yes, we live in a world of miracles and wonders.