Posted on 04/22/2018 6:13:57 AM PDT by sodpoodle
Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime
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. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Check
Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check 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 "catalogue 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. Joined Handwriting (Cursive Writing)
Already gone in some schools who no longer teach "joined handwriting" because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type (pun not intended)
10. 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.. "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again and again.
All we will have left that which can't be changed.......are our "Memories".
Logic is dead. Excellence is punished. Mediocrity is rewarded. And dependency is to be revered.. This is present-day North America. When crooks rob banks they go to prison. When they rob the taxpayer they get re-elected
I only use a land line, and I have a FAX machine that uses it. I will not use a Cell Phone, and when we do have power outages, the land line is the only way I can call N V Energy. & report the outage.
A ‘walkabout phone’ system in your house is also dead in a power outage. It needs power to run the hub.
I refuse to do ANY online banking or purchasing. NOT in the past & NOT going to start now. I write only about 7 checks a month at the most. All at same time when Soc Sec comes in. I do NOT have a debit card. I do have an ATM card.
How is getting rid of cash going to help YOUR teenager who makes money in the summer mowing lawns or babysitting? You got a 15 y/o son who mows lawns & gets paid with CASH. Learning how to handle that CASH is one of the basic building blocks of a successful life. That kid is TOO YOUNG to have his own checking account, so the homeowner isn’t going to be able to pay him ‘electronically’ anyway.
Someone hasn’t thought this thru.
“Printed books are the only true non-volatile memory at our disposal. “
Did you see my previous photo illustrating the volatility of a printed book?
I only use a land line, and I have a FAX machine that uses it. I will not use a Cell Phone, and when we do have power outages, the land line is the only way I can call N V Energy. & report the outage.
A ‘walkabout phone’ system in your house is also dead in a power outage. It needs power to run the hub.
I refuse to do ANY online banking or purchasing. NOT in the past & NOT going to start now. I write only about 7 checks a month at the most. All at same time when Soc Sec comes in. I do NOT have a debit card. I do have an ATM card.
How is getting rid of cash going to help YOUR teenager who makes money in the summer mowing lawns or babysitting? You got a 15 y/o son who mows lawns & gets paid with CASH. Learning how to handle that CASH is one of the basic building blocks of a successful life. That kid is TOO YOUNG to have his own checking account, so the homeowner isn’t going to be able to pay him ‘electronically’ anyway.
Someone hasn’t thought this thru.
It isn’t just a ‘CASHLESS SOCIETY’ they are after-—It is knowing exactly where you are at all times. Every electronic purchase you make is traceable.
I just paid Graphtec 5500.00 for a Plotter. They, like my sand supplier @ 3300.00 wanted a check rather than VISA or MASTERCARD. This preference for checks started a few years ago when the card companies upped their bite of the pie.
“How about your punched card reader? “
I uploaded all my punch cards back in the seventies and began using a terminal.
I don’t answer the cellphone everyone that knows me has come to terms with that, hasn’t been a problem. On the other hand, I can check freerepublic, navigate, listen to my music, read any of my books, order some food, .....
The cell phone is a tool.
“and when we do have power outages, the land line is the only way I can call N V Energy. & report the outage.”
Our power company has automated texts to our cell phones about outages in our area. As soon as one happens we get info about the severity and expected length of outage.
#2 - I’ve never used an ATM. Why pay the bank for letting me have my money?
I pay our credit cards off every month (knock on wood) so get back a percent or two. Of course, the drawback is “they” know those transactions so privacy goes out the door. “They” would know my transactions anyway with all the cameras following me around the store so six of one and half a dozen of another.
#4 - I do most of my reading at the desk computer. Eventually, it gets hard on the buttocks and back but not so hard I want to spent however many hundreds of dollars on something hand held. Plus, the computer will enlarge the text.
#5 - Mr. b gave up his cell so we share using my old flip phone with cheap service. We finally dumped the land line and went with a wireless home phone that plugs into the wall and can have phones in every room just like the land line. You’re right on the sound quality of cells but the wireless home phone’s sound is no different than landline. Big savings over land line costs, too. Those two changes are saving us over $100/mo. with no sacrifice.
The post office is lots cheaper than UPS and it’s easier to drop something in the mailbox for the mailman to deliver rather than drive 20 miles into town to find a UPS office.
Sometimes, I pay by check to have a receipt.
Mr. b still subscribes to the local newspaper but I haven’t read it for years. FR is my place for news.
There hasn’t been any music worth listening to after the 70s.
I’d rather have cable tv over any computer service tv. The speed here is too slow and the internet is always going down. Can’t stand commercials but with a remote, it’s easy to switch the channel to avoid them. We had Netflix for a while but no one watched it because the selection was crappy and it was always getting hung up on itself.
I don’t own the cloud, someone else does. I don’t store anything where someone else can snoop into it. Sure, I’ve had computers die which makes my stuff go poof but I get over it. What’s worse is Windows not able to accept older CDs.
Everyone should know how to write in cursive.
Excellent points.
I’d like to add another.
When you have an e-book or read something on the Internet, the content reads you (information on your access, ISP, links visited, etc.).
With a dead tree book, you read it. Privately. No one knows which pages you’ve highlighted or annotated or lingered over.
I love my dead tree books.
I have noticed the reliable quality of books, too. My Narnia books that I got as a kid in the 1970s work as well now as on the day I got them. And they work under most conditions except total darkness.
I do not reread most books. But when I pick up a book I have read before, I remember the story and the characters. I do not know how that experience could be replicated with electronic books.
We share my cheapo service flip phone when we leave the house. It’s mainly for safety. Otherwise, it is turned off. If someone wants us, they better dial the house number and even then I might not answer.
“When you have an e-book or read something on the Internet, the content reads you (information on your access, ISP, links visited, etc.).”
You do realize that FR can see you!
A few short years ago, a power outage led to a ‘domino effect’ across Pennsylvania & other eastern states.
Everything went down in a blink—and cascaded into a long & continuous blink.
Transactions were broken up in mid-stream. Your purchase at the store on your credit card was processed by the store, but the charges NEVER got to your credit card provider. Checks that were being processed got only half recorded. ATM usage also got tangled up.
It took OVER a year for a large team of very dedicated & talented person to put together all the threads & get all the transactions straightened out. I don’t know if any never got solved. Even Global money transfers were affected. Imagine running your company-—Payroll is due to be paid today—and the LARGE Accounts Receivable check you deposited that AM is part of this snafu.....What do you do???
Putting all your faith in finding mis-applied payments to your mortgage or other open accounts payable with everything electronic is also very troublesome. If you are doing EVERYTHING electronically & someone hacks into your bank account, you won’t be able to continue your normal operations.
A POX on the people who think everything done electronically is wonderful.
MY personal largest gripe is that NONE of the auto parts stores use their large books anymore. Their computers only go back about 20 years. I drive a 1976 Chevy truck & a 1979 Buick station wagon. None of these stores can find a part for me because they can NOT look it up. Many parts they still stock are usable by me, but THEY CAN NOT LOOK IT UP!!
Summit Racing is my go-to place. They have books & a wide array of ability to buy what I need from ANY supplier they can find for me. I needed a lower radiator hose for the Buick last year. Took the guy 18 minutes (he kept coming back to me & telling me DO NOT HANG UP)to find me my hose-—In Missouri at Continental —BUT HE FOUND IT!! I had it 36 hours later-—$12.97....shipped direct from wholesaler to me in Nevada. At that time, I had already been driving that station wagon 36 years. Not parting with it, either.
Everyone squeaks about how vulnerable our power grid is-—Isn’t this the same power grid that runs their ‘electronic paradise’??? Someone needs to connect the dots.
Of course, but that’s OK. :)
Let one speck of dust get into the chip and it’ll drive you right through the intersection and into an 18 wheeler.
“We share my cheapo service flip phone when we leave the house. It’s mainly for safety.”
When I leave the house ...
My smartphone plays Pandora on my car radio.
My wife can track my location using Life360.
I can google locations of stores and offices.
I can google prices while shopping.
My wife can update the shopping list.
I can send photos of possible bargains to my wife.
I can get updates about appointments, etc.
I can check and post to FR.
....
books are going to become increasingly expensive, perhaps become the newest diamond industry....
try looking for a book from many yrs ago...even a paperback might set you back $10/20 bucks....
Stay on roads. Don’t run into people or objects (e.g. fallen trees) on roads. Don’t drive into tornadoes. Obey traffic laws. Follow other vehicles at safe distances. Don’t cut others off or otherwise drive in a way that other vehicles can’t reasonably react to safely. Takes turns, starts and stops at accelerations which vehicle occupants can reasonably acclimate to. Watch out for breaks, potholes and other defects in the road surface itself. Don’t drive faster than the visibility allows; if there is dust, fog or snow that reduces visibility, slow down before arriving in the reduced-visibility area. Watch for wet or icy patches of road, and slow down before arriving at them. Drive more slowly in snow or on ice. (Periodically do “brake checks” to ascertain safe braking rates under current conditions.) Look out for emergency vehicles, accidents, “unexplained brake lights”, signal or sign outages, riots or criminal attacks, and other non-usual conditions ahead of the vehicle and modify driving in light of the information. Pull over for emergency vehicles that are flashing their lights and/or activating their sirens. If there is an earthquake, stop, but, if there is a tsunami coming, renavigate and drive to high ground as rapidly as safely possible. Avoid routes that are known to have road hazards (washed out, avalanched, forest fire, etc) unless they aren’t completely blocked and are the only exits from a worse local situation (e.g. volcanic eruption).
“A POX on the people who think everything done electronically is wonderful.
MY personal largest gripe is that NONE of the auto parts stores use their large books anymore. Their computers only go back about 20 years. I drive a 1976 Chevy truck & a 1979 Buick station wagon. None of these stores can find a part for me because they can NOT look it up. Many parts they still stock are usable by me, but THEY CAN NOT LOOK IT UP!!”
Before if you drove a 40 year old car and wanted parts it was a trip to the junkyard and hours of searching.
NOW you can go on-line and order just about any part you need in a few minutes!
The movie theater will be extinct in the future.
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