Change is coming faster and faster in our technology, so there isn't a chance in the world that our cities of 1999 will be any more like today's cities than were the autoless, subwayless, skyscraperless, air conditioning-less almost elevatorless cities of 1899.

'And you keep your oath now, that you'll never drink again, Spijak?'... That's right girl that's my word. He lifts out a half finished bottle of vodka and takes a pull at it. ...and you won't be kippering none more than I can help.

The scientific study of perimenopause has been going on for decades, and the cultural discussion of this mind and body shift has reached something of a new fever pitch, with several books on the subject coming out this spring and a gaggle of “femtech” companies vowing to disrupt perimenopause.

Progress in this project has come in fits and starts.