Patrons of the white tiles and bright fluorescent lights covering floors and ceilings of supermarkets, department stores and pharmacies regularly face the option of buying products exclaimed to be "new" and "improved."
A state of existence and a proclamation that should fetch some finer inspection and yet faces none, or little at all.
Of the terms used in labels and packaging, "new" and "improved" seem to co-exist where they should not with any sense of availability. Conflict of interest? Conflict of existence.
In instances of an object being new, there is no model (as opposed to a remodel) prior to its existence. In the case of the improved, something would have to exist for the adjustments to stick to. Otherwise, it's a blueprint of additions and features with no base to apply it upon. Fine leather gloves for people with no hands.
This implausibility points less toward the marketing techniques of white rock liners and crystal gum rubbers and more toward the actual proof undeniable of constructed - and rather unfulfilling - acts of time travel.
Travellers from the future go camping and bring about objects and products from the future. On finding their past selves, hand off the items and instruct them to create a break in the continuity. This break results in the creation of something that isn't yet made, yet appears to be an improvement on such.
It's a conundrum which makes no sense when it makes sense to accept that it makes no sense to believe that sense can be made.
Written on Monday, 18 September 2006