4 I tried not to appear too eager, knowing that my good fortune came solely due to another writer's illness, but it was difficult to control my excitement. This ticket provided me with the opportunity to write an article far more significant than last month's feature on Mr. and Mrs. Judge Brown's 25th anniversary jubilee.

5 "Five hundred words by noon Saturday," she added before disappearing through the maze of desks into her corner office. I looked down at the tickets, hoping for a Shakespearean tragedy, a jazz concert, or a touring company presenting a version of a Broadway play. I gulped. The ticket was inscribed with the logo for KidsPop, the symphony orchestra's overt attempt to entice children away from video games and into the world of classical music. My heart plummeted to my knees. I was doomed; my knowledge of classical music was limited to melodies used as soundtracks for chase scenes in 50-year-old cartoons.

9 Pompous lions, full of boastfulness and bravado, paraded through our thoughts—grand, regal, and majestic. The lions gave way to a barnyard full of pecking, cackling hens and scratching, crowing roosters, mimicked by the violins. Then, the brisk fingerwork of two talented pianists recreated a frantic, stampeding herd of wild donkeys in the third movement.

10 Now came a contrast in tempo—the lumbering sluggishness of giant tortoises, painfully trudging along, step by laborious step. Keeping pace with the tortoises, a herd of elephants followed, dancing a clumsy waltz.

2 Computers have become smaller and smaller over the decades. The first computers filled warehouses. Transistors and then silicon chips allowed computers to shrink small enough to fit on a desktop, then a laptop, and finally a phone. When experimenting with further reductions in size, developers often contend with the limits of human eyesight, which control how small the computers can be and still present visible information.

3 One new solution employs microprojectors to create a readable display for tiny computers. These machines project computer information onto any surface. Though an impressive breakthrough, such public displays can lead to privacy issues; most people do not want their information displayed on a wall for everyone to see. Moreover, current models are prohibitively expensive, and their blurry screens give users headaches.