The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Boomer angst: what does it mean if this in my inbox strikes fear in my heart?

    By artappraiser on Mon, 12/18/2017 - 5:29pm |

    If this in my inbox strikes fear in my heart:

    IMPROVEMENTS TO YOUR ONLINE AND MOBILE BANKING ARE COMING!

    does it mean I am old and paranoid and ready for teh assisted livin'? 

    Further questions that suggest you are in the same demographic:

    • Remember when change was such a popular campaign slogan that everyone running started using it?
    • Remember when most people didn't spend all day trying to fix the new way of doing something that wasn't ready for prime time? When everything wasn't "beta"?
    • Remember when planned obsolescence was considered a bad thing?
    • Remember when people used a cell phone to communicate orally with each other quickly and effectively and,. when they did, it wasn't acceptable for phone calls to be "dropped", and you could always hear the person on the other end?
    • Remember when people complained about being overwhelmed by email instead of texting all day?
    • Remember when your list of user names and passwords didn't need major maintenance time every day?
    • Remember when there was a real guy from India on the other end of the phone line who despite his poor English language skills, really wanted to try to help you fix a problem?
    • Remember when there were "customer service" persons who were trained to say "I'm sorry you feel that way, how can we help make it better?" instead of blaming the customer for the problem?

    Is it my imagination or has someone put most of us on a giant hamster wheel?

    Comments

    Activists have been able to use social media to organize protests

    Citizens can make attempts to find the truth using news sources that go beyond the usual MSM reports

    Physicians and pharmacists can check for drug interactions using computer assistance 

    Email overload can be controlled by creating folders by hand or via programs 

    I can shut the iPhone from sending messages when I am driving.

    Simple tech solutions to tech problems.

    I wouldn’t want to go back to the “good old days”

    I can use my iPhone and iPad to read the newspapers, books, listen to music, watch television and movies.

    Occasionally, I can look up and make contact with a living, breathing human

    Then there is my Ember mug, a Bluetooth connected device, that will warm my coffee or tea and notify my iPhone when the proper temperature is reached. My brother-in-law watched me go through the multiple steps needed to connect the mug to the phone. He watched as the mug slowly increased the temperature and reached the selected peak. After the He then put water into his microwaveable cup, heated it for a couple of minutes and put a teabag in the cup. I don’t think my brother-in-law wants an Ember for Christmas. My mother would have put a tea kettle on the stove. She would spend a little time relaxing a reading while waiting for the teapot to whistle. Like my brother-in-law, she would not have seen the Ember as progress, but like my mother I can relax and read as I wait for the Ember to signal that it is time to make use of the teabag. Progress.

     

     


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 8:59am

    You're the new Ronald Reagan - "we're from technology, we're here to help!"


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 7:09am

    It's the escalation of rapid change in the last few years that I see as effecting the moods and behavior of people mightily.  And I worry that the geeks doing it worry it's all built on strings and mirrors and is going to come crashing down. I.E., whole heath care system, communication systems, banking system, transportation systems...

    Ah but lucky for all of us, a solution is upon us: BLOCKCHAIN! If we would only listen to "them." cheeky


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 8:49am

    P.S. This Atlantic article from Sept. rang a bell with me:

    The Coming Software Apocalypse; A small group of programmers wants to change how we code—before catastrophe strikes

    as in: the real Y2K is upon us soon.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 8:53am

    BLOCKCHAIN vs AI, the grudge match. No good without an archenemy. "Tastes great" vs "less filling" updated by 40 years.

    [no, it hasn't got less silly]


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 7:53am

    well, I just ran across this @ the SFChronicle: real powa cat fights, as opposed to the male fantasy ones, can get just as serious and expensive as male ones: Ex-Black Panther awarded $3.5 million after clash with Oakland councilwoman (liberal viciously attacking a leftie, who'd a thunk it?!)


    by artappraiser on Fri, 12/22/2017 - 10:09pm

    Was going to ask how you know what all we fantasize about, but dayum, not even fantasy football here, rather unfair boxing out of weight/age class. That's a pretty serious grudge match, wonder what Brooks' problem was/is. (I guess houses vs. rental apts, & the attack on her incarcerating blacks as prosecutor, but still...)

    One concern I have is that Trump might find a way to use "elder abuse" as a defense line now.

    Anyway, the dust-up seems close enough to my video - I'll go back to the online telly now, have my virtual "less filling/tastes awful" American-style beer.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/23/2017 - 4:14am