Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, where the future begins tomorrow

Back in the mid-1980s, my favorite band, Daniel Amos, released a song entitled "(It's the Eighties, So Where's Our) Rocket Packs" poking fun at our sometimes-grandiose attempts to predict what life will be like in a few decades.

I now have a Facebook connection with a former member of the band, and I when I saw a story a couple of weeks ago that the first-ever commercially-available jet pack is about to go on sale, I just had to post the link on his wall. I think he was amused by it.

Well, just to raise the stakes, Popular Science is now reporting that a flying car will go on sale soon.

Both of these are niche products, of course, toys for people with a lot of money. But I still find it amusing that they've finally gotten here.

The future has turned out differently than we imagined it.