Comment

Comment by Joan Denoo on January 17, 2013 at 2:39am

It has to be more than 65 years ago I sat in a theater and saw films of out expected future, with cars flying between sky scrapers, and huge highways carrying vast numbers of people to and from their activities, robots doing the work that humans were doing, and all kinds of gadgets would be made available to make life easier for everyone.
WW II had just ended, we still were on sugar and fat rations, and we still were trying to repair our home that burned during the war. Our bathroom and kitchen fixtures were old beat up pieces of pot-metal plumbing but that was all we could get at that time. It took a couple more years before we could replace the electrical and plumbing with fixtures with new modern ones. We had a washer with a wringer on it and there was no such thing as a dryer. 
I remember watching the film thinking that with all those modern conveniences like a washer and dryer and dishwasher and vacuum and new tools shown for carpenters and plumbers and electricians it seemed that everyone could just sit ... we didn't even have TV in those days. The vision was that all the work would be done, toil of trade labor and homemaking left a lot of time for pleasure in the new cars and toys that would be coming onto the market. Ronald Reagan was beginning to plug electric appliances of every kind and we all wanted everything. 
The movie didn't tell that robots would replace workers on the assembly line, thus reducing the need for human labor. Machines would do the work of keeping inventory and checking out at the grocery story and a lot of them had to be laid off. Cheap clothes started coming into stores and dressmakers were no long needed. Manufacture of shoes went overseas and shops closed their doors. Fast foods came along and many mom and pop restaurants closed down. One by one, the commerce of our nation changed, the main streets changed, beautiful old commercial buildings were torn down and monstrous bank building grew to change our skyline. 
That was the end of the "ball bearing era" and the beginning of a new technological era.
Today, we are at the end of an era and I don't know what to call it, and going into a new age with computers, world-wide trade, opening opportunities for those who are prepared, and closing doors on many of the old ways of making a living. Kind of like the end of the horse and buggy era when we needed black smiths, and an ice man. 
When my mother was a little girl, my father was her family's ice man in a little farming town. No electricity, outdoor plumbing, no phones, few cars, the "Green Hornet" bus took us from Tekoa to Spokane, or we took the train. Both are gone now. The first airplane came through doing stunts.
What is the name of the new era? What will our coming generations do for a living? How will we find work for all the unemployed workers? How will our graduating college kids find work? How will we take care of our children and elderly? With all these questions, that implies opportunities for innovation. Are we prepared for that?
  

Comment by Steph S. on January 17, 2013 at 12:39am

Wow - I'm like 3 pages behind. I love all the pictures and life stories. I'll come back here and post more. It's past my bed time.
Have a wonderful day!

Comment by Joan Denoo on January 17, 2013 at 12:31am

Loca the Pug singing 'The pug that couldn't run'

"I'm bouncing, flouncing, falling all around the show..."

Loca, the pug that couldn't run.

Comment by Patricia on January 16, 2013 at 11:40pm

The bunny is a riot!!!!

Comment by The Flying Atheist on January 16, 2013 at 11:22pm

That's a hilarious video, sk8eycat.  The dog just sits there and watches.  He's probably thinking, "There's no reason for me to get up.  That crazy rabbit is doing all the work.  I'll just relax a bit." 

Comment by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on January 16, 2013 at 11:13pm

Thanks for sharing so much of your personal life, sk8eycat.

And that's a great kitty gif, Patricia. Well worth sharing.

Have a good night, everyone.

Comment by sk8eycat on January 16, 2013 at 9:51pm

Ooooooh, Patricia!  I feel better already!

Joseph, it's not the whole world that is sick...it's the USA that needs a high colonic every time the fundies get one of their buybull-based restrictions added to the law books.  They THINK that the stiff-necked, bigoted puritans who settled Massachusetts in the 17th century were the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  They know NOTHING about what happened on this continent between 1620 and 1776. And anyone who thinks the buybull is a history book will believe anything.  No wonder we call a congregation a "flock."  They'll let anybody herd them.

http://www.dogwork.com/buhr9

(You kind of have to wait for the video to load, but it's worth it.)

Comment by Joseph Corder on January 16, 2013 at 7:58pm

sk8eycat, It is a sick world in which we live!  One horror story after another and it all centers around basic needs for survival!  This is INSANE!!  Basic needs for survival, should NEVER have to be thought of as free handouts or for profit, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Comment by Patricia on January 16, 2013 at 7:50pm

Medical help.....

Comment by sk8eycat on January 16, 2013 at 12:25pm

Joseph, my Social InSecurity Increased by exactly $19 per month, and my MedicareLess Part B premium increased by exactly $5.  Last year I only went to my regular doctor 3 times, so I didn't even use up my deductible until the 3rd visit in November.

I am one of Mitt the Twit's useless, lazy 47%.  I'd like to see him, and the rest of the Tea Party leadership try to maintain a house, a 68-year-old Aspie sister, 2 elderly kittehs, and be able to sleep at night on my budget.  (I know that Ann Romney has...what?...Lou Gherig's Disease, ot something like that, BUT they can afford state of the art treatments and meds AND support a horse [NOT cheap!] and trainer. Plus more than one residence. And a collection of cars. I had to sell my car last summer...couldn't afford gas, smog checks, other maintenance...and the $300 I got from the wrecker helped pay the pool man.)

My sister gets about $600 a month SSI because she's never had a job which paid into Social Security and Medicare, but she blows most of it on mail order crap...scented candles and stuff from Crate & Barrel. There's no use talking to her about helping with the household expenses because her form of autism makes her deaf to anything that contradicts her world-view. She's also a JeeHoover's Witless...has been since she was 20 or so...because they are the only people who will put up with her.

Well, I have to put up with her because Mother's trust left the house to both of us, and she does help with the chores that I'm physically unable to do.  I just make sure to thank her (she has never learned to thank anybody for anything...nor has she ever had the impulse to give anybody a gift in her entire life).....and when she starts babbling about trivia, I just nod and say "Uh-huh," once in a while.

She knows better than to try to proselytize around me.

Actually, some of JWs attitudes are close to atheism than fundy ideas.  They know that most xian holidays are really pagan celebrations in drag, for one thing.  but they are in a close tie with Mormons for ringing doorbells and annoying people.

Oh, dear.  I'm bitching again.

Whoever it was who really said, "Old age is not for sissies," was spot on.  But I AM a sissy.  I just have no place left to run to.

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