Posted on 03/18/2017 6:04:20 PM PDT by upchuck
Complete article here: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T057-S001-7-things-that-will-soon-disappear/index.html
Quick list:
1. Keys - Keys, at least in the sense of a piece of brass cut to a specific shape, are going away.
2. Blackouts - Frustrating power outages that leave people with fridges full of ruined food are on their way out as our electrical grid becomes increasingly intelligent – and resilient.
3. Fast-food workers - Burger-flippers have targets on their backs as fast-food executives are eager to replace them with machines, particularly as minimum wages in a variety of states are set to rise to $15.
4. The clutch pedal - Every year it seems that an additional car model loses the manual transmission option. Even the Ford F-150 pickup truck can’t be purchased with a stick anymore.
5. College textbooks - By the end of this decade, digital formats for tablets and e-readers will displace physical books for assigned reading on college campuses. K–12 schools won’t be far behind, though they’ll mostly stick with larger computers as their platform of choice.
6. Dial-up Internet - According to a study from the Pew Foundation, only 3% of U.S. households went online via a dial-up connection in 2013. Thirteen years before that, only 3% had broadband (Today, 70% have home broadband). Massive federal spending on broadband initiatives, passed during the last recession to encourage economic recovery, has helped considerably.
7. The plow - Modern farmers have little use for it. It provides a deep tillage that turns up too much soil, encouraging erosion because the plow leaves no plant material on the surface to stop wind and rain water from carrying the soil away. It also requires a huge amount of diesel fuel to plow, compared with other tillage methods, cutting into farmers' profits. The final straw: It releases more carbon dioxide into the air than other tillage methods.
8. Your neighborhood mail collection box - The amount of mail people are sending is plummeting, down 57% from 2004 to 2015 for stamped first-class pieces. So, around the country, the U.S. Postal Service has been cutting back on those iconic blue collection boxes. The number has fallen by more than half since the mid 1980s. Since it costs time and fuel for mail carriers to stop by each one, the USPS monitors usage and pulls out boxes that don't see enough traffic.
9. Your privacy - If you are online, you had better assume that you already have no privacy and act accordingly. Every mouse click and keystroke is tracked, logged and potentially analyzed and eventually used by Web site product managers, marketers, hackers and others. To use most services, users have to opt-in to lengthy terms and conditions that allow their data to be crunched by all sorts of actors.
10. The incandescent lightbulb - No, government energy cops are not coming for your bulbs. But the traditional incandescent lightbulb that traces its roots back to Thomas Edison is definitely on its way out. As of January 1, 2014, the manufacture and importation of 40- to 100-watt incandescent bulbs became illegal in the U.S., part of a much broader effort to get Americans to use less electricity.
I have a bunch and I've never used them. I hated CFLs so I expected to use my stash of incandescents. Once LEDs got cheap I used them and haven't looked back. The only incandescents I still use are specialized ones like refrigerator and oven, or ones in closets that I rarely use. And if the closet ones burn out I'll put in 60-watt equivalent LEDs.
One thing I even do is user overpowered LEDs. I'll put a 100-watt equivalent LED in a 60 watt fixture because it really uses 17 watts. I can light up my yard from my porch lights because of that.
Number 11. Our Constitutional Republic if the Democrats ever get back into power.
Then again, with the growing Judicial Anarchy taking place, it will disappear even with Republicans in power.
We are at the mercy of a Judicial Star Chamber.
“...there is a huge pool of collectors for...”
...a Lincoln penny, 1909-S VDB (well, that’s what I’m searching for to complete my collection of wheat pennies).
Good look with your search, for the last and elusive needed penny!
No. 11: Kiplinger Magazine.
The extra CO2 will breed a master race of super plants. If anyone survives the Global Warming, the plants will get them. Al Gore warned us! It is already happening in Florida.
Have a backup generator to keep food at an acceptable temp to preserve until we get around to cooking it. Safes all have key backup.
I never stop thing about EMP, or what ravenous liberals will do to get your food.
The author was at least wise enough to leave out his prognostications about firearms. I am sure he wanted to tell all the unwashed masses that they would no longer be needed in the brave new world.
I solved that problem, guaranteed.
If the bait is more than two (2) separate screens each with three lines of text or one (1) image, I exit immediately, after about 3 seconds.
Anyone who actually spends money advertising that way may as well burn the cash.
“Somehow, I doubt very much that everything you and others imagine about the future will come true; it never has before3, when people predict what will be “normal” in 20, 50, or 100 years.”
Not predicting. Talking about my now.
“You only read at the library,on a machine? With a book, you can read ANYWHERE”
Notice. I use my tablet and phone.
“And pssssssssssssssst...we have “keyless” cars, but the STILL have sort of a key. ;^)”
I don’t have to touch the fob to operate my car.
I just closed e-bay. There were 92 of them listed ranging from about $500.00 to a high of $5300.00. I have bid in the past with no luck so far, but one of these days...
I believe they are extinct. A South Pacific island had a rare species of ants which gave off a particular odor. They were called De Odor Ants. Alas the island sunk beneath the waves, and there are no more deodorants.
I was really hoping Kim Jong Un and Hillary Clinton would’ve made this list.
My Mariner from 2006 has a six speed in it.
That’s has been a great setup for me.
I don’t know how those suckers work, but you never notice a shift at all.
Not after the EMP bombs go off.
Me too, want some more? LEDs have became cheap and powerful in about any color you want. You can match the glow of the incandescent bulb and never know the difference.
I wonder how many people predicted that live theater was going away when long form movies came into vogue. Or that movies in turn would fade away when TV became widespread after WWII.
I just traded a car I bought new in 2008. I never replaced anything on that car except tires and a battery, not a fuse, a hose, not a wire not anything, not even freon in the AC.
I used to be in the auto parts business and hoses belts and freon were big sellers every summer, along of course with the standard tune up items points plugs distributer caps and spark plug wires. Parts stores would starve if they depended on those items today.
LEDs in 100/60/40 can be had for less than a buck and I defy you to tell the difference in light. I have a six bulb light in my bathroom I get 600 watts of light for the price of one 60 watt regular bulb. As bad as I hate all those busy body regulators industry has measured up and produced some great products.
Anyone who hasn't tried some of the new low volume toilets have no clue how advanced they have become. Flush first time every time and no double flushing, 3.5 inch flapper valve makes a difference. Wonder how many years it would have taken for that technology to bubble up without being forced. Well the old one was well over a hundred years old so maybe never....
Don't get out much do you. DVDs don't hold enough data for decent quality video, 720x480 screen resolution sucks, better to stream true 1080p from NetFlix. BlueRay is a step up but not near big enough to do 4k. Thumb drives or even SSD pocket drives are a better medium.
True enough but there are ways to help minimize the privacy invasion such as a VPN. If you haven’t already spent the money; get a pay one and not one of the free ones. The free ones throttle the bandwidth and probably the amount of data per day or something.
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