Of books and bats and sealing wax

jephkelley:

“How did people buy airplane tickets before the Internet? Did we have to call the airline? Physically drive to the airport and buy tickets at the counter? Call a travel agent? Am I correct to think that buying airplane tickets before 1996 or ‘97 must have been a hassle? What was the Expedia, Orbitz or Priceline equivalent back then? Were there brick-and-mortar price comparison stores that were forced to close down with the introduction of price comparison websites? Why is the Travelocity mascot a gnome? What do gnomes have to do with travel? Don’t gnomes live underground? Someone who lives in a hole wouldn’t make a very good mascot for a company that makes its money encouraging people to travel. Though, maybe that’s the point, to get gnomes/people out of their holes/miserable lives for cheap and do some globehopping? If that’s the case, then that’s actually a pretty good concept. Do you like gnomes? Are gnomes real or fake? I read the Wikipedia entry for “gnome” and I got back “a diminutive chthonic spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus” and I only understand eight or nine of those 13 words, so I need a little help here. Google, are you writing this down? Or do I need to ask Jeeves?”