Today's Wall Street Journal carries a story about the brewhaha between traditional Guinness beer drinkers and Yuppies over the demise of the "slow pull".

A newly-charged glass of the black brew used to take 2 minutes to settle before it could be topped up with its coveted "creamy head". Now, the same effect can be achieved in 15 seconds [thanks to some gas ejection mechanism installed in the can].

The traditionalists are up in arms! It's as tho a minute of prayer could be accomplished in the blink of an eye. And its not a pint-sized battle. Guinness serves 1,883,200,000 pints per year.

The article concludes with these words of wisdom: "Not every change for the better is progress." I heartily agree, but it has nothing to do with the "short pull". Some things are just better left alone ... unimproved. For instance:

A real wood fire in the fireplace. Yes, there is smoke and soot and endless scavengings for fuel. But is there anything else, anything, which keeps the cold out, the cold, cruel cold out, quite so sufficiently?

I'm sure others have their own favorite examples of techno-regressive advances. But the loss of the fireplace, that wood-smoking, log-crackling, soul-warming, hearth-burning fireplace ... is mine.