I've never really figured out just how one piece of carbon manages to hook up with another. But obviously, with all the carbon floating around bonded with oxygen and all these solid organic materials and all that; the pick-up lines have to be fairly successful. Are there bars for this sort of thing or what...?

-- oh, right... sanity --

The computer stuff does date the piece, true. But there are plenty of political / social references that should indirectly place the story in the early half of this decade. One good example is in this chapter also, when I reference the rabid patriotism that followed the 9/11 attacks. Most parts of the country have long since returned to the American version of normalcy and those of us living in California can see the opposite side of the pendulum swing at its most obvious. While I did not make a conscious effort to label time/place, like I do in my Whateley Academy story; Glass was never meant to be an abstract time and place. If I remember right, someone even tried to use mapquest or something to work out which city it's set in based on vague references and street names. I don't recall whether they found it or not. :)

Still, its a good point to bring up; it does jar the moment (of awe in the quality of equipment in the lab) a bit as is. I'll have to think about it a bit.