TECHNOLOGY'S VANISHING ACT! POST 67

Hi,

An email showed up the other day with some predictions about TECHNOLOGY and the affects on our society so I thought in light of our previous blog, I'd share it with you.

Economically, technology will be changing a tremendous amount as we have already seen but the future holds many changes that will be very hard to imagine. Not only politically but personally and it may help to at least be aware of some of them.

Things that this email predicted will disappear from your life are: the POST OFFICE; the NEWSPAPER; the BOOK; the CHECK; the LAND LINE TELEPHONE; MUSIC; TELEVISION; OWNING "things"; AND PRIVACY.

I would add that Music should include all the arts and that much of our culture will disappear into the Tech box and become difficult to differentiate from that of the rest of the world unless Americans are willing to salvage it for future generations.

Okay, there are four groups that stand out as ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGING: THE POST OFFICE; CHECKING ACCOUNTS; OWNING THINGS; AND PRIVACY. These three offer the most problems and change.

Although many of us are used to communicating over the Internet rather than writing formal letters, that is not the real issue in losing the Post Office. Loss of the Post-Office means that all our financial information will be posted on the net. That will include banking, brokering, paying bills, receiving whatever information from those sources that are necessary and anything that you now do in the privacy of the mails.


STRIKE YOU AS UNSAFE?????????? IT CERTAINLY WILL BE!!!!!!!!! Many now pay their bills on the net for convenience and thus far it would appear safe. However, when a whole nation of people have their financial information UP FRONT AND PERSONAL, what true SCAM artist will be able to resist????? Including that greatest of all scam artists, the Government. Only in their case, they won't have to sneak into your accounts!!!!!!!!!They'll simply pass a law and make it LEGAL!!!!!!!!!! THIS FEATURE is certainly a bigger loss of privacy then we have felt so far and leaves citizens very vulnerable to unethical or immoral political groups.

Paralleling this is the CHECK. Your checking account!!!!!!!!! probably your savings account, your contracts for CD's, and other banking entities will be under scrutiny as well. Britain plans to do away with CHECKING ACCOUNTS BY 2018. It appears that it is costing banking billions of dollars to process checks so ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OR PLASTIC CARDS seem to be the plan for the future. OF COURSE, EXCEPT FOR ITS MAJOR CITIES, BRITAIN since WW2 has dreadful postal service in the 'burbs'. It simply never recovered its former glory.

Not OWNING THINGS is pretty general but what the e-mail author points out is that the Apple, Microsoft and Google are currently proceeding with something called "CLOUD SERVICES"
THAT WILL BE INSTALLED IN ALL FUTURE COMPUTERS. You pay a subscription fee to the Internet cloud provider. The INTERNET WILL ACTUALLY BE BUILT INTO THE OPERATING SYSTEM EVIDENTLY leaving no choice but to use the CLOUD SERVICES to save your files. the author was not CLEAR ABOUT CHOICE IN THIS SITUATION!!!!!!!!! IF IT IS NOT A CHOICE but A DEMAND THAT'S really tough. This VIRTUAL world will allow the user to retrieve music, books, files from anywhere which sounds great unless those files are LOST IN VIRTUAL SPACE!!!!!!!!!EITHER MECHANICALLY OR BY THIEVERY.

The user may lose necessary privacy files. For instance, an artist who keeps files of sketches and paintings on a computer will have to retain non Internet equipment in order to maintain the integrity of the work and protect it from thieves and forgers. As will authors, composers etc. because once it is PUBLIC PROPERTY, LEGAL RIGHTS BECOME HAZY. There is bound to be tremendous legal opposition to this feature if it cannot be refused. Think of the businesses now using the Internet and the liability to them and their privacy issues!!!!!!!!!!!

AS TECHNOLOGY SEEMINGLY MAKES OUR LIFE EASIER, OUR RIGHTS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED!!!!!!!!!! It is going to mean that RESPONSIBILITY IS GREATER AND UNDERSTANDING LEGALITY WILL BECOME MORE NECESSARY!!!!!!!!!!

We have already experienced a great loss of PRIVACY CALLED PROTECTIVENESS or as it should be called OVER-PROTECTIVENESS. The email author points out cameras in phones, buildings, traffic lights and your computer; GPS coordinates, Google street views; and buyer profiling. Sure, these have proved very useful, sometimes fun, sometimes helpful to the users but WHAT IS THE PRICE OF LOSS OF PRIVACY when local, state, or national government DECIDES TO USE THE CAPABILITY FOR ITS OWN DESIGNS. Again there are many LEGAL ISSUES HERE. SOME ARE CURRENTLY BEING ADDRESSED BUT many have not yet become problems. JUST BE SURE to VOTE in A GOVERNMENT THAT IS NOT A 'SNOOPER' AND IS WILLING TO LET YOU BE!!!!!!!!! There's not much of that lately.

LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!BECOMES MORE AND MORE RELEVANT.


When we support these products with our hard earned funds because we want the latest, the newest,or the best for ourselves and our kids, we are not thinking about the DOWNSIDE. All TECHNOLOGY IN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE has to be viewed REALISTICALLY and the DARK SIDE STUDIED!!!!!!!!! Unless BUYERS BECOME AWARE and use their POWER OF REJECTION (NOT BUYING AN INTRUSIVE PRODUCT!!!!!!!!), there will simply no control of how INVASIVE TECHNOLOGY CAN GET!!!!!!!!! PROFIT SPEAKS LOUDLY!!!!!!! NO PROFIT--NO INTRUSION!!!!!!!!!! YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE DECIDING VOTE even when it is made to seem that you don't. REMEMBER THE EDSEL!!!!!!!!!

For those too young to remember Ford's faux pas, it was called the EDSEL after one of the sons. It was produced and was considered a disaster by Ford, who produced in the late fifties and BUYERS DID NOT BUY IT. Ford Motor Company lost MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on EDSEL's design, manufacturing and marketing because BUYERS REFUSED IT. It was considered a GREAT FAILURE and an embarrassment and production was halted after 1960.

SO YOU SEE, YOU DO HAVE THE LAST ECONOMIC WORD ON THESE KINDS OF THINGS!!!!!!!!!! USE IT!!!!!!!!!

When the NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES DISAPPEAR into the Web completely, there will be subscription fees. No savings to the buyer. Since technology took over the youth, there is little interest in paper reading which leads to BOOKS. The advent of EBOOKs is simply the tip of the iceberg and although this Blogger hates to see the demise of the BOOK, my own EBOOk, "Absolute Power!" is listed in Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. The reason is REALITY. It is cheaper for the buyer, more convenient, and a wave of a future in which home libraries will be a collector's item, public libraries will host TECHNOLOGY on a full scale, and authors will find their home on the web. SAD BUT TRUE.

THE LAND LINE PHONE has already started disappearing across the nation and as profit diminishes, we may all be forced to relinquish its service which in large part have been taken over by CELL PHONES. The primary problem here is that if you are not assiduous in CHARGING YOUR PHONES, you will be at a loss in the event of an EMERGENCY. THIS IS TECHNOLOGY THAT REQUIRES RETHINKING!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are the "PERMANENT" BATTERES THAT WILL NOT REQUIRE "CONSTANT" CHARGING. I think it's about time for that advance.

The email cited a video "Before the Music Dies" and a book by Steve Knopper, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" about the self-destruction of the music industry. BUYERS ARE SHOWING THEIR DISTASTE with the industry by buying 40% of the "catalog items", in other words THE OLDER BUT GOODIES. The live concert tours are also being affected by the GREED AND CORRUPTION affecting the whole industry. IN POST 63, there is an evaluation of what happened to the art world in America because of the greed and political corruption of many major artists. IT IS VERY POSSIBLE that because artists of all persuasions have a kind of second sight, that they are more aware that AN END IS IN SIGHT AND THIS encourages a lot THE SELF-DESTRUCTION. It's an interesting point but one that RESEARCH will have to take on.

Sitting in front of the TV used to be one of the few kind of family events at home in America. Well, FORGET IT!!!!!!!! The viewer now uses Netflix to choose the TV movies and can watch alone. The rest of the folks are into their computers playing games and doing other things. The computer has dramatically reduced TV revenues . MUST BE WHY IF YOU DO WATCH TV THERE ARE 20 COMMERCIALS AT THE BREAK!!!!!!!!!!AND they run every few minutes.
Cable companies are trying desperately to re-ignite the medium but with hundreds of stations, of which only a few offer TV worth watching!!!!! MAYBE THEY SHOULD GO THE OTHER DIRECTION????????!!!!!REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STATIONS AND MAKE THE GOOD SHOWS FIGHT FOR TIME!!!!!!!!! That would reduce cost, increase quality and thereby, raise revenues! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

These, of course, are only a few of the changes that may be expected. Only the creative imagination and the imagination of the computer entrepreneurs can really indicate what can be expected but be assured the changes so far are a drop in the bucket. Remember how industry changed society and lives evolved in so many ways. Technology promises that much change and more.

Cheers, Connie

NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!-MMMHMPH POST 66

Hi,

Another Economic FIASCO. The headline in a local paper ".....Owners left powerless in Bulk Buyer Takeover". Condo Owners lost control of their HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION to a large firm THAT BOUGHT OUT UNITS ON CHEAP. According to the article, over 11,000 condos across this nation have suffered similar scenarios.

The problem here is not only the takeover but the reasoning behind the Condo concept. From the beginning folks "in the know" made clear statements that CONDOMINIUMS were much safer than COOPERATIVES BECAUSE OF THE HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION and legal bylaws!!! Home owners supposedly could not lose control of the buildings and grounds and NOTHING COULD HAPPEN TO THE INVESTMENT.

That word-NOTHING- CREATES UNEASINESS. SEARCH FOR NOTHING! Can you find it?????????? NOTHING ALWAYS HAS SOMETHING WITHIN IT THAT RENDERS the word NOTHING USELESS.

NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!!!!!!!Puleeeeeeeeeeze!!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK. The Government says that all the time and look at the messes they're trying to clean up!!!!!!!!!

In this case NOTHING HAD A LOT OF SOMETHING: property values reduced from a quarter of a million dollars to 40-50,000 dollars with numerous vacancies at that price; the collection of dues for HOA dropped, so disrepair began when existing homeowners couldn't meet upkeep; a majority of these 1/4million dollar units became available at the CHEAP; a large company saw the profit in buying up whole groups of UNITS which led to control of the condo association through the HOA.

One likes to think that FAIRNESS always rules--but it's not written in the HOA bylaws!!!!!!!!What is written is that a majority of homeowners control the welfare of the residents and buildings. That means MR. NEW PROFIT MAKER (who is now THE MAJORITY) is in control of this very democratic Association and has the existing tenants over the proverbial barrel. It's legal. It's not real nice. But baby, it's business (condos WERE always more of a business then just owning a home--that's why an HOA was needed) and PROFIT is necessary (either for keeping up the Condos or for a new majority investor) and is the MOTIVE.

Is that wrong? NO!!!!!!

This particular group seems to have been more fair than some would have been. They really refurbished the run down place, added attractions, only doubled rather low dues and assessed current homeowners what amounted to a minimal amount under five grand for the improvements.

HOWEVER, in the interest of protecting their derrieres, they blocked new owners wanting to buy condos by claiming " the new buyers would not have the means to meet condo obligations" In other words-UNIT OWNERS must SELL TO BIG COMPANY (B.C.) at a LOW PRICE OR NOT SELL at all AND PAY whatever B.C. DECIDES TO CHARGE for fees and assessments. B.C. meanwhile restores the units to use as RENTALS so the REMAINING HOMEOWNERS NOW LIVE in a RENTAL FACILITY.

IT'S ALL LEGAL, FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!Some readers will feel B.C. has done the town a FAVOR by cleaning up what was fast becoming a rat-infested defunct project. Others find profit making like this to be gross and morally UNJUST but have no advice to offer. All emotions aside--Condos are a BUSINESS and not TRUE HOME OWNERSHIP (one home+one owner) a system that has its OWN SET OF PROBLEMS).

This in no way attacks the condo owners and HOAs that are currently functioning well and keeping their legal promises to homeowners. There are many with fine standards and HOA officers. But remember this situation affects all condo owners by underlining the hazards that owning cooperatively entails. The condo owners who are now lucky enough to be holding strong assets, should still review their legal papers and by-laws to try to find those loopholes from which profit takers can gain advantage.

Okay, what's at stake here??????????(BESIDE THOSE REMAINING HOMEOWNERS LEFT HOLDING THE BAG????) The big answer is always the same.

LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!! SORRY, THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!!!!!!!!But there are no free lunches or dumping of responsibility!

"NOTHING CAN GO WRONG" SHOULD SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whenever you enter into an agreement that makes you only part of the whole, the only thing you really control is your PART. UNLESS, and this is a BIG UNLESS you either own a large portion like over 51% or you are HOA politician enough to convince others to buy into your investment (buy the defunct units) and stand on your side. CONDOS are an interesting use of CAPITALISM (profit taking) AND COMMUNISM (all for one and one for all). However, all business transactions have dozens of legal loop holes and it simply takes the right set of circumstances to make them pop out.

Have you read about TAKEOVERS in large companies????????? Well, now you understand how that happens. FIND THE LOOPHOLE, MAKE AN OFFER "THEY CAN'T REFUSE" AND IT'S PAYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Although leery of condos from the beginning because of an innate cautiousness about business, the reports showed that they thrived and only a few went under. Most, not all, HOAs seemed reasonable in their demands and restrictions. It is true of most things that when times are prosperous, attitudes soften and dire predictions calm. Still over the years intuition has proved better than most propaganda.


There is little that can be done for the owners in those 11,000 condos (that number is sure to increase as hard financial times continue to deflate home prices). The only advice to those currently in condo associations not currently under siege is to change some of the supposedly 'GOOD' RESTRICTIONS (like deciding who can live there and who cannot) to rules not so easily adaptable to ONE OWNER TAKEOVER. Go over your homeowner's laws with your lawyer with a fine tooth comb and change what can be reinterpreted for someone's advantage. WILL THAT DO IT???????? NO!!!!!! Not Entirely. But it may help in some ways to make the profit process less painful and maybe provide legal ways to cut current owners a slice of the profit.


AS LONG AS THERE IS A CHANCE TO MAKE A PROFIT UNDER ANY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, LAW, OR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY-- PROFIT takes precedence AND THOSE INVOLVED CAN BE RESPONSIBLE ONLY BY BEING AWARE! Make sure it's not your profit that's being taken.

CHEERS, CONNIE

MAKE NATURE WORK FOR US AND SOLVE UNEMPLOYMENT

Hi,

My blog two weeks ago had as an idea that we build a pipeline like the one we built to Alaska but for WATER!!!!!!

SOUND LIKE PIE (or pipe) IN THE SKY?????????? Well, think again!!!!!!!!! A newspaper article in the good old New York Times or Wall Street Journal said that China is planning to move the water from their flood plains to their drought areas. THEY GET THE IDEA!!! Can they accomplish it?????????Who knows but they will do it the Communist way.


I'm on an ECONOMIC MISSION. LISTEN UP!!!!!!!!!

What a great economic idea for a suffering economy. Put people to work, create eventual major profit and make the lives of our citizens far better. CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME!!!!!!!!!! A very old saying that Americans seem to have forgotten. How about it WARREN BUFFETT????? How about it PAUL ALLEN, BILL GATES, STEVE WOZNIAK AND STEVE JOBS put some of that MONEY YOU MADE ON THE COMPUTER and MAKE SYSTEMS THAT ALLOW THE COMPUTERS DO THE PLOTTING AND PLANNING!!!!!!!!!!!

A capitalist plan can bring together a corporation, investors and the Internet for the planning and implementing of a pipe line OR PIPE LINES or CONNECTING sections of PIPE to control that precious snow that is melting into FLOOD WATER. SURE IT'LL TAKE SOME CATCHMENT BASINS BUT THE PROFIT!!!!! POTENTIAL IS BEYOND BELIEF!!!!!!!!! I'll bet all those AMERICANS who donate to charities to help others would buy stock in something that would make America a safer land in which to live!!!!!

What "the hey" is the matter with AMERICAN INGENUITY AND AMERICAN ENGINEERS. We're talking about GREEN ENERGY OF A REAL AND MAJOR KIND. Saving forests and vegetation and land that is now under attack. The COSTS OF FIRES AND HELICOPTERS AND WATER BUCKETS PLUS THE COST OF ARID LAND AND FIRES AND FLOODS AND SAND BAGGING ADD UP TO A GIANT AMOUNT. Just the cost of personnel alone and the major dangers to the population should make someone who can do this - DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!! Have we lost sight of the forest (YEAH, IT BURNED) for the trees. Have we just thrown up our hands in despair and surrendered to the forces of nature???????? Are we simply accepting the fatality of flooding and fire?

If our corporations have become too prosperous, blind sided, busy, or poor in capitol or leadership for new projects then let's look in the other direction--which is too bad in a Capitalist country!!!

On the Progressive????? front line where's Al Gore???????Where's Ted Turner?????? Where's George Soros????????? WHERE'S PETER LEWIS??????????Where's PRESIDENT Obama??????These proponents of a GREEN ECONOMY should be acting on this. WHY AREN'T THEY PUTTING THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTHS ARE??????? Have they got their proverbial heads up their proverbial behinds??????? (There's a more vulgar expression for that!!!)

Yeah, I'm mad because lately we seem to be satisfied with watching disasters on the news--welcome them even--as a diversion. INSTEAD OF SOLVING THE PROBLEMS THAT EXIST!!!!!!!!!! WHERE ARE OUR EDUCATED YOUNG??????????????

UNEMPLOYMENT????????? Any idea how many Americans this project would employ???????? Construction workers would have jobs again.

HEY, OBAMA. HEY TRUMP. HEY PALIN. YOU POLITICOS LISTENING??????????? THERE'S YOUR CAMPAIGN PROMISE. THERE'S YOUR GREEN AMERICA. THERE'S YOUR EMPLOYMENT LINE!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it will be costly but all that MONEY SPENT CONTROLLING FIRES AND FLOODING CAN BE EARMARKED FOR PIPELINES and CRAMMED WITH SNOW. I hate to encourage GREED but can you imagine that the water now flooding all those states could become a commodity more expensive than OIL!!!!!!!!!

PLUS, WE ARE PLANNING TO RUN NATURAL GAS LINES ACROSS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!! WHY CAN'T WATER LINES BE RUN AT THE SAME TIME????????What state would not pay to bring in damage saving water!!!!!!! REMEMBER WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT WATER COMPANIES?????????? WHO WOULD PAY A WATER COMPANY FOR WATER IN THEIR HOME?????????WHO???? ONLY A MAJOR PORTION OF OUR POPULATION!!!!!! What state would not be willing to pay to keep the snows from overburdening the populace and what FLOODED states would not contribute to control flooding.

THINK INVESTORS--THINK!!!!!!!!! We mined gold, plutonium, and silver, diamonds, precious gems as well as coal and iron, lead and more. We made atomic energy, began the electrification of the world and our ancestors ran railroad lines everywhere. We invented so many things, it makes my head swim. WE RAN A PIPE LINE TO ALASKA for oil !!!!!!!!!

SO WHY AREN'T WE DOING THIS????????

What did the movie, "NETWORK" say years ago. "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE"--where's that fire in the belly that created the steam engine?????Where's the investors that brought us the computer (AFRAID OF REALLY HARD WORK????) or will they stand up and be counted?????????

I know you're out there and have the brains to do the job!!!!!!! I just don't know where so this blog is an attempt to flush you out and suggest the next GREAT PROJECT for America. BECOME AN AMERICAN HERO!!!!!!!!!! A HEATED PIPELINE FROM THE FROZEN NORTH TO THE ARID DESERTS WITH VALVES ALONG THE WAY TO ALLOW WATER WHERE IT IS NEEDED!!!!!!! A DREAM???????

NO!!!!!!!!!! MAKE IT A REALITY. NOTHING VENTURED-NOTHING GAINED.

CHEERS, CONNIE