Changes are coming

[Ziggady Zag, SASS #67251]

Just received this and see many truths, not that they're all welcomed..IMO

 

The very probable changes in our future..

 

1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Isn't most of our mail junk mail and bills?

 

2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

 

3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

 

4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

 

5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes

 

6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."

 

7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

 

8. The "Things" That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

 

In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

 

9. Privacy. If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.

 

All we will have that can't be changed are Memories.

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

I know a few with Kindle books - they said they are OK, but they still like to have a physical book to read - something about it they say that adds to the relaxation...

 

Anyway - kinda reminds me of the beginning of - Revelation 13:16-18

 

GG ~

Edited November 12, 2010 by Gunner Gatlin, SASS # 10274

[Long Jim Hancock]

Interesting...

 

Wait till' the dollar collapses and the GRID goes out.

 

 

They'll get resurected...but nobody will be able to pay for any of them.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

Only down side I can see from my chair is the connection I have with my friends on line.

My TV watching is down to time spent with my wife. I don't know what she will do, read I guess.

I have so many other things I should/could do but I enjoy sitting here and jaw boning with youse guys.

No body ever calls me except somebody wanting money or to sell me something I don't want or need.

Same with the mail service.

Shucks I guess I could be a hermit if I wanted.

[el Gato Gordo - SASS #15162]

4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

 

 

You would be hard pressed to get BOOKS at half price, on line or any other way ~ the PUBLIC LIBRARY lets you read them for free! Try it sometime.

 

 

Buena suerte,

eGG (who still likes to turn the pages)

[SGT. QUINCANNON, SASS #32999]

I remember a short film along the lines of this post from back before 1960. The movie said that by 1975 or so we would all have hover crafts and helicopters, houses would be made of plastic, cars would run on rails like a train, that Moon and Mars colonies were a sure bet, that meals would all be synthetic (partly true, but not universal) and if you lost a limb the docs would grow you a new one just like a lizard's tail. I have no doubt radical changes are indeed coming, but I doubt the prognosticator's ability to predict exactly which ones will arrive.

[Deja Vous]

A book would be hard to give up... It is like a family portriat that you never can seem to get out of you heart, and mind and never want to put it down.. Sitting at my puter with a book sounds like work.. lol.. Curled up on the floor with Rat dog or my friend sound like relaxing and reading a book.. Hmmm guess I need the real thing.. lol.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I remember a short film along the lines of this post from back before 1960. The movie said that by 1975 or so we would all have hover crafts and helicopters, houses would be made of plastic, cars would run on rails like a train, that Moon and Mars colonies were a sure bet, that meals would all be synthetic (partly true, but not universal) and if you lost a limb the docs would grow you a new one just like a lizard's tail. I have no doubt radical changes are indeed coming, but I doubt the prognosticator's ability to predict exactly which ones will arrive.

 

 

Well. let's see....

 

They missed on the hovercrafts, although that technology is certainly advancing....

The most popular siding on houses today is...vinyl; plastic pervades the materials used for exterior trim, gutters, window frames, flooring, paint, skylights, water piping, electrical boxes, wire insulation, and dozens of other house building components...and in Japan, there are plastic pre-formed hotel rooms, stacked on each other to form "sleeping units" that resemble a bee hive...

Cars aren't on rails, but many more folks are using mass transit, and cars are incorporating more and more electronic "rails" - control features that remove the driver from control of the vehicle....

Synthetic meals....I won't comment...less and less that we eat resembles anything from nature....

As for new limbs, two thoughts....we have amazingly realistic and functional artificial limbs, and we are growing body tissue replacements in labs now - everything from skin to ears to internal organs...with no end in sight...

 

Nothing is constant except change...and change is driven by the dreams we dream.

 

LL

[Noz]

The "cloud".

If I were a military planner I'd be delighted with this new perk. Id wait a few years, POP a small nuc at altitude and allow the EMP to wipe out all communications, and memories in the targeted countries.

Walk in and take them over.

[Sheriff Oso, SASS #57788L]

What Noz said. The EMP WILL COME, and most folks are totally unprepared. Those who know WHAT a Faraday cage is, haven't bothered to build them. And those that have are thought of of as "survivalist kooks".

 

Whether the EMP comes from nature or man does not matter. The Grid WILL go down and conservative estimates say it will take a minimum of 10 years to rebuild it.

 

We rely on technology so much today, and our kids would have NO IDEA what to do to survive in a world like that.

 

sad.

 

I HOPE I am wrong, but fear I am not (and I dont have any Faraday cages or MRE's, either).

 

FWIW...YMMV

SOso

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

The only thing constant is change.

 

The thread on WWII pics in color got me thinking about photography (being a photographer....) Go try to find some emulsion film these days. 35mm is still kicking, but try to find anything else. I have a medium format Pentax, try buying some 120 or 220 roll film at Wally World. Or try getting it developed. For you non shutterbugs, that's the same film used in the old box cameras from the 60's on back. Remember slides and slide film, as those old pics were from? Bet you'd have a real heckuva time finding Kodachrome slide film or a slide projector! Probably right next to the buggy whips in the antique shop!

 

JHC

Edited November 18, 2010 by Capt. James H. Callahan

[SlicLee SASS #16638 Life]

I watched a NatGeo program on the EMP supposition, the estimate was close to 100 years to rebuild.

In regards to money, the govts cant get enough money and short of armed revolution most people will probably do nothing when the govt says we, for your good are doing away with money and effective immediately you will be paid in credits in a bank account we have reserved for you and all members of your family.

I have neighbors from MexicoCity, they are in business there.

THey, and all people who made over a certain amount of money, were notified by mail, from the bank they did business with, the govt, needing money has taxed all people 10% removed immediately from your bank account.

They were also notified they might not leave their country with more than a certain amount of money. They wanted to remove $25K to bring here and buy a car here to keep here, NO, YOU CANNOT TAKE THE MONEY.

Can that happen here, of course, with someone like obama and his band of merry progressives.

Look at a 10, 20 or higher bill at the magnetic line on the left side, when put together in your pocket when going thru an airport it sets off a silent alarm and agents will come to you and take you to a closed room to interrogate you why are you carrying all this money. Their answer to you is that only drug dealers carry that much cash, when you ask how much cash sets off the alarm, their answer is your amount, they smirk, they think they're smart, they have some kind of power.

[SGT. QUINCANNON, SASS #32999]

Never mind.

Edited November 27, 2010 by SGT. QUINCANNON, SASS #32999

[GunClick Rick]

I'll be off the grid and i will take cash if you will..