I just saw what stupidity this world has come to.

Before I forget...Domeguy and the other members here...

Amuse...Amusement.


A-Without

Muse- to think, ponder, or contemplate.


Amuse/Amusement.

Without thinking......something fed to us to prevent thinking.




This is much of what television and movies has become ...a tool to prevent thinking...Amusement.

Another word for this is "Herding." How to "Herd" people's minds/souls..with the same olde mental and spiritual Xerox Copy...particularly when you need to "Herd" them into a voting booth and they are raised on a steady diet of talk shows...to become an emotional train wreck....they will be guaranteed to vote with their emotions..not by any kind of lucid clear thought...or thinking process.

We often today call them "Snowflakes."


Remember....Amuse/Amusement.


Thanks,
Orangetom

Not an Ishmaelite

LOL...good for you. At least you tried with them..but alas, now the TV has been replaced by a smart phone, or as they actually are, a hand held computer that also can make a phone call. I was in AL this weekend getting my wife’s home ready to sell, (will that ever end) and we went over to her sisters home for a game night. Everyone who had a phone was on it, doing something. If they spoke, they never looked up. My wife finally grabbed a few of them out of their hands and said if you are playing, put the phones away. All the teenagers decided to quit the game. I honestly dont think people know what to do without a phone in their hand.

Everybody is of course free to do what they want, but it seems to me that it's not very productive to buy/acquire a pet, pay for its food, various accessories, and upkeep, and then pay for a TV channel to spend time with it because you don't have the time.
I always thought having a pet was supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship.
I don't have any pets, because I don't have time to spend with them. Every so often, my wife brings up getting a dog. She was not at home much, working, and now that we've moved farther out, she's home even less. So, I point out that she wants a dog i'll have to care for, even though I didn't really want one, nor have the time to properly devote to one. Thanks, but i'll pass.
She has a bird, hardly has time to mess with that.

Yeah, kids these days have nothing to do outside their phones. We had a rule, no electronics during meals. It had to be enforced. Now, they're all adults. So, last couple yrs, everybody is over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Still have to enforce. After the meal, everyone, including my wife, is on their phones. I'm left sitting in silence, as i'm the only one who thought these holidays were a family social get together.
I break out the rum, bourbon, etc. Later, "all you did was sit there and get drunk". Yeah, I had time to get drunk before you noticed I was drinking. Maybe if I wasn't essentially sitting by myself on Christmas day, that wouldn't have happened.

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Gunfixr,

You'r free to do what you want...even get drunk in your house.

Phones ....like television have become the drug habit of choice for many today.

I have plenty of alcohol at my house...including 6 fifths of Bacardi's 151 as a sort of emergency stash...I chose the high octane stuff for a purpose.

But I do recognize other things than alcohol as drugs on which people have become dependent.

I have a basic flip phone..and it works fine. No need to update. From some of what I have seen these new phones have more bells and whistles than I want to spend time keeping up.

I had room mates at one time years ago...same thing..they got pets and then no time to take care of them.

Lady friend got a hot tub some years back...and then never took care of it...no time...only time for someone else to take care of it so she could just step right in and be "Flashdanced" to ease and comfort.

The "Flashdance " phenomenon only means more work and commitment for me...not an increase in my standard of living.
I have become very wary of that kind of thing now that I am older. I no longer look to running touchdowns for people with great ideas provided someone else "Flashdances" them through life's difficulties. Another version of the "Flashdance" phemonon is Expendability and disposability. Textbook leftist patterns. Making someone else expendable and disposable...for their purposes.
To me that kind of thing has become more of Ishmaelite bondage...for me.

"Oh...what a feeling!!!"


Thanks,
Orangetom

Not an Ishmelite.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gunfixr

Yeah, kids these days have nothing to do outside their phones. We had a rule, no electronics during meals. It had to be enforced. Now, they're all adults. So, last couple yrs, everybody is over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Still have to enforce. After the meal, everyone, including my wife, is on their phones. I'm left sitting in silence, as i'm the only one who thought these holidays were a family social get together.

I break out the rum, bourbon, etc. Later, "all you did was sit there and get drunk". Yeah, I had time to get drunk before you noticed I was drinking. Maybe if I wasn't essentially sitting by myself on Christmas day, that wouldn't have happened.

---

There is a webcomic called "Schlock Mercenery" set in the 30th century. One of their pet indisposable devices is a thing called a 'handbrain'. It very closely reminds me of a cellphone on steroids.

I've mentioned a rather stupid National Geographic tv movie called "American Blackout" ( https://youtu.be/aNx8UHteFUU , if you really desire to waste the 88 minutes.) Watching the truly cell-addicted go through withdrawal, first as the cells come down, then as the actual phones start to die, would be almost amusing. Except that, as with any other junkie, they are most dangerous when they've missed their fix, and will do anything to get it.

I have a flipphone, and get regularly sniggered at by the kids. My usual reply is "Nice manners. Your mom must have a loud bark." (Thanks, Sgt. Friday.) I DO spend a bit of time talking to a fellow prepper in (location undisclosed by request). But none of this other foolery., and nowhere near as absorbed.

And I have heard that the AMA is considering codifying diagnoses and treatment for CCS... cellular cervical scoliosis. People are spending so much time hunkered over their cells it's damaging their neck vertebrae.

I'd heard, too, that some outfit was coming up with a dock you could put cell in, which would take over a great deal of computing power of the unit, to convert it back to its original form: a wireless phone...the catch being with this dock, you do not need a cell, but the dock IS the cell, and the computing power being taken over used to make a very powerful directional and verbal encryption with other docked phones. Something actually USEFUL, from a comms POV.

Hunting season out here... the locals have a "leave cells at camp/home" rule... so as not to scare off the game with an untimely Bakelite Bell ring tone or some such.

Alexander Graham Bell would either be laughing his 6 off, or PO'ed like a bull buffalo with only other other bulls around, at the shape of what has happened to his device.

Prefer to keep my 2 meter/70 CM two way radio with me ...and spare batteries. If I need more range at work I go to the roof of our 85 foot tall building.

On he road I have a Hf radio as well as VHF/UHF and have talked to Russia and New Zealand from my Truck while waiting in the parking lot of the local grocery store.

Often speak with my friend who recently retired and moved to Tennessee...from here..some 400 miles away and from my base station Ham radio here at the house....no phone calls. The other night we chatted for some 40 minutes before ceding the frequency to other hams who meet on a schedule.
If we need to continue talking we find a clear unused frequency and shift to there...and give up the frequency we were on to other hams for their scheduled meetings. No problem...just simple courtesy and respect.


It is not a phone but I like it better as I can also get AM/FM radio bands on it...as well as all the short wave broadcasting bands and Single Side Band as well.

Phones are convenient...very convenient and natural to tie the phone into the computer systems. But these are complex systems and if any one of several systems go down...you have nothing.

Two way radio I operate at my discretion ..not at the governments discretion....and my power source is independent of them...too.

I keep several car and deep cycle batteries around here as alternate power sources for my radios as well as make my own antennas for my systems.

I also keep several batteries as spares for my simple flip phone.

As a ham ..operating out in the field you become acutely aware of the need for spare batteries.

I also keep five AA type batteries in my pocket for my Mag Light. Buy these by the 40 pack.


Just some things you learn about independent operation.

I like the convenience of the cell phone but am wary of becoming dependent on it.

I will not get a cell phone for which I cannot remove the battery at my discretion...and or replace with a fresh one. Someone did not design the non replaceable battery to help us.




Thanks,
Orangetom

Not an Ishmaelite

I've seen American Blackout.

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Part and parcel, I suspect, why these external rechargable battery packs and aa/aaa-to-cell adapters are making such a success story of themselves.

I too have a flip phone. I had a smart phone when my son worked at Verizon for a yr, but I gave it up. I never did like the thing, although it did have some very useful features. The GPS did get me to TN to WI and back whiteout a single wring turn. With all of these small devices like phones, IPads, etc. it is nice to have all the info of the world in the palm of your hand. But alas, we are now so used to them as a society, we can’t live without them. Cursive writing is no longer being taught in school as hand writing is so seldom used, you just type on your device. I’m not sure how a signature on paper will work in the future as they won’t know how to sign their name. I’m not sure how everyone else gets on this site, but I use my iPad, and yes, I too am somewhat dependent upon it. I use the internet a lot as I have an inquisitive mind. If I want to do something I know nothing about, I research it as much as possible, certify myself as an expert, then go ahead and do it. I didn’t know how to build a house, so I got books, learned carpentry, electric wiring, plumbing, and built a house. Now I would use the internet, as I have in learning about distilling. I will always try to keep books around like the Foxfire series as a backup, but personal hand held devices are here to stay, will get more and more invasive into our lives, were we will be hooked up to them and be online all the time in the future. Should an EMP happen, we will be in the Stone Age again.

We won't need handwriting to sign on the dotted line before long. You'll just get the chip in your hand scanned.
For those who won't take the chip, you won't be doing anything important enough officially for it to matter.

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