Great Post!
Posted on 11/22/2017 5:51:13 PM PST by grundle
I am thankful for being a middle class person today instead of the richest person in the world 200 years ago.
I can have a real time conversation with someone who is 1,000 miles away.
I have light bulbs.
I can get from New York to California in hours instead of weeks.
Antibiotics will save my life if I step on a rock and cut my foot.
I don’t have to worry about getting smallpox, measles, or polio.
I can eat ice cream in July, without having to hire an expedition to climb a mountain to bring back ice.
I could buy an air conditioner if I wanted one (although I don’t actually have or want one. I live in Pittsburgh, and don’t think it’s necessary). But think about being a rich person living in Atlanta in July before air conditioning was invented – that would have sucked.
I can listen to just about any music, watch just about any movie, or watch just about any episode of just about any TV show, whenever I want.
My access to information online is bigger than any library that the richest person owned in the past.
I have a flush toilet.
I can take a hot shower whenever I want.
I don’t have to worry about my drinking water being infected with deadly bacteria or parasites.
My clothing is more comfortable than any that existed in the past.
I have zero problem with the fact that there are some people today who have thousands of times as much money as me.
I am grateful for what I do have. I am not resentful for the fact that other people have way more money than me.
What's shallow about acknowledging the advances of the last two centuries?
Thanks!
Interesting. I too continue to be impressed by advances in technology (computers and the internet, especially). In some respects people have become more foolish, but technology has been compensating for that.
How long this can go on I don’t know. Eventually we may become so stupid that our technology will destroy us. I’m pessimistic in general.
> “...as the world’s richest man 200 years ago...you would be getting more and better tail than any middle class man today.”
Don’t need any tail — got internet porn. :-) That includes more and better variety than even the richest man would have had access to (and with no risk of diseases or complications, such as unwanted pregnancies or being murdered by jealous lovers).
Not quite true. Most rich persons in the third world has a chauffeur, a butler, a gardener, a maid etc working full time for him/her. Very few in USA can boast such cadre of household workers.
Porn? Interesting? I can’t think of anything more boring than 2 strangers having a go at it on video. Even more boring than watching golf on TV. Golf is 100 times more fun playing yourself. Ditto with sex.
Great Post!
I’m thankful for the fact that people like you who favor -
Same Sex Marriage
Abortion and Euthanasia
Universal Health Care
Recreational Drug Use
And who vote for idiots like Gary Johnson
- don’t have any real power in this country.
Any FReepers reading this who doubt that these are “Grundle’s” actual positions can find verification here -
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3544327/posts
http://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3554913/posts?page=16#16
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Grundle2600&oldid=353969441#My_user_name
He who is first will be last, and he who is last will be first.
You don’t know just how right you are.
Please refer to my post #28.
> “Porn? Interesting?”
Many persons watch internet porn because they are bored with their routine sex. (I do because I’m bored with not having any sex at all. :-)
> “Even more boring than watching golf on TV.”
I didn’t watch it in my younger days, and though I played many sports into middle age, I’ve never played it. I rather enjoy watching it now, though. Pretty scenery, and it’s easy to see and identify with the players. Also there’s plenty of time for the drama of the competition to build up.
Louie14 had access to higher quality women than you but point well made
One cannot be connected to this new world and yet maintain privacy. Once cannot navigate this new world and yet establish roots.
It's all nomadic, gig society and neurosis from here on out until our robot masters put a remnant of us in their zoo.
“but we’re entering Gattaca territory”
Yup. Well said.
You will not believe how fast 4.5 hours fly by when playing golf on a nice and challenging golf course, IF ONE ROUTINELY BREAKS 90 on 18 holes. As you said, the scenery is beautiful, the air is fresh, and most golfers are good company. I used to play 18 holes 5 times every week for 16 years after retiring, when not on vacation. It made me healthy (I walked) and enjoyed every minute of it. It was almost sad when each round was over.
Poster is obviously not the mack-daddy father of a UCLA basketball thug.
Sorry to be a spoilsport, but this reads very much like a column by George Will called Who wants to be a billionaire? Not so fast — I meant a billionaire in 1916.
Excerpt:
Boudreaux says that if you had Rockefeller’s riches back then, you could have had a palatial home on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, another overlooking the Pacific, and a private island if you wished. Of course, crossing North America in your private but non-airconditioned railroad car would be time-consuming and less than pleasant. And communicating with someone on the other coast would be a time-consuming chore.If in 1916 you suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, a sexually transmitted disease or other ailments, you would have had no recourse to antibiotics or modern pharmacology. Commercial radio did not arrive until 1920, and 1916 phonographs would lacerate 2017 sensibilities, as would 1916’s silent movies. If in 1916 you wanted Thai curry, chicken vindaloo or Vietnamese pho, you could go to the phone hanging on your wall and ask the operator (direct dialling began in the 1920s) to connect you to restaurants serving those dishes. The fact that there were no such restaurants would not bother you because in 1916 you had never heard of those dishes, so you would not know what you were missing.
Mark Levin talked about this essay on his radio show on May 10, 2017.
I'm not saying it's plagiarism, but I recall that The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby was suspended for four months in 2000 for less when he wrote a column about the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I believe that suspension was politically motivated to remove Jacoby from the paper in the closing month of the Bush-Gore campaign, but Jacoby did not contest the suspension.
-PJ
> You will not believe how fast 4.5 hours fly by when playing golf on a nice and challenging golf course...
I’ve always loved sports (one sport or another), and have both played and coached them. I started with baseball as a kid, then basketball (because I grew tall), then tennis, and finally volleyball (indoor and outdoor). Unfortunately the serving and jarring of running on the pavement of tennis eventually took their toll on my back.
I would have taken up golf in my old age — as many persons from other sports do — but as I understand it, the drive puts a lot of strain on your back. With my predisposition to back injuries, I don’t think I could take it.
Still, as I’ve watched it on tv, I’ve gained a respect for the game that I didn’t have previously. I like its gentlemanly aspect, and combination of competition with respect for the rules.
I think most are oblivious to where we are as a society. Granted, we may not be as far as Sci-Fi but the quality of life is far beyond.
Not if the politicians got there way you couldn't.
Calexit spokesperson says they want to get rid of the middle class
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