Why don't we have this in America?

Maybe we do, but we don't have it in DC, at least at any cinemas I've been to. To wit: I went to see X-Files the other night in Paris. Sucky movie, don't go - seems pretty clear they accepted whatever piece of trash script that was offered to them, and the movie has zero to do with the popular TV series. Real piece of crap. Anywho... I noticed when standing in line to buy my tickets that there was a TV screen overhead that told you how many seats were still available for each movie (it's the last column in the photo above, titled "places" or seats) Kind of cool. Not entirely sure the utility of it, but still kind of cool. At another movie last year, Ratatouille I believe (that one is worth seeing, very cute), the screen just outside the doors to each individual movie had a clock indicating how many minutes until the movie starts, and/or how many minutes have passed since the movie already started. Now that's cool.

No, these aren't earth-shattering advancements in technology, but they're small reminders that we aren't number one in everything. And worse, you start asking yourself why we're not. At some point, it goes beyond humbling and becomes worrisome - like when your friend from London can hop on a train and be here in Paris, 300 miles away, in 2 hours, whereas the 230 mile train trip from New York to DC takes 3 hours, if not longer. That's disturbing.