I lived in Vientiane, Laos is a kid. Mail back home to the 'states was a three-month round trip affair with only about an 80% success rate. Phone calls to famil

I lived in Vientiane, Laos is a kid. Mail back home to the 'states was a three-month round trip affair with only about an 80% success rate. Phone calls to family were completely impossible unless we flew to Bangkok first. Nowadays, I can click on any of a half-dozen free webcams that show the old neighborhood, whenever I want. It still kind of blows my mind, the improvements in the world's communication infrastructure when I think about it.