Future Games

I do not approve of the premise of the popular "Hunger Games" stories.  Pitting teenagers against each other for the entertainment of the masses is just wrong.  I know what you're thinking:  Hey we do it all the time, it's called high school sports.  Yes, but we don't force them to actually kill the opposition.

I have long been an advocate of getting old people to do government-sponsored  fighting.  It just makes sense to stop wasting young innocent lives and instead get really angry old guys to do the fighting with each other.  Geezer Games might be a popular sport.

In his novel "Twenty Thirty"  Albert Brooks envisions a society nearly 20 years in the future, where killer diseases such as Cancer and Alzheimer's have been eradicated by cures discovered  circa 2014.  The population of octogenarians has grown well beyond predicted lifespans.  The burden of medicare and social security  to support the new cadre of un-dead has bankrupted the government.  Young people are forced to enter virtual indentured servitude to support aging parents. Generational conflicts inevitably evolve into open warfare between the old and young.

Both Brooks' pre-apocalyptic vision and the world where Hunger Games exist seem all too possible as our national leaders in both parties are stuck on short-term selfish concerns.  It seems inevitable that the legacy we are leaving to our grandchildren is a polluted, over-heated planet, ruined economies, and the real specter of endless global conflict as a population control measure.  

One of the recent reality shows (National Geographic) features "Doomsday Preppers."  Folks who call themselves "Preppers" range from citizens who believe in being stocked with emergency supplies in the event of a local, short-term disaster, such as weather or other act of God, to those who are actually preparing for Armageddon or polar shifts or pandemics.  Preppers are a subculture whose fears and plans have created a whole specialized market, blogs and newsletters.  

As a fan of science fiction I have read numerous accounts of the post-apocalyptic future.  None of them seems worth the effort of preparation to me.  If I have the choice of a future, I think I would rather fight another geezer to the death for sport than to hide out in a  bomb shelter with no TV or cold beer.  

Thud!

I have been writing on Blogger since 2003, and it has always mystified me that Blogger/Google has provided storage space free to any moron who can figure out how to post text.  The service does not require the author to make the blog public or to include advertising.  So why do they do it?

For years,  I've been wondering when the next shoe would drop.  Yesterday, I got a message that Blogger "no longer supports [my] browser," which happens to be Microsoft's Internet Explorer.  Hmm.

Somewhere, I heard the thud of a size 12 brogan hitting the floor.

The message suggested that I start using the Google (Blogger's parent) Chrome browser.  And sure enough, I had problems accessing the editing features for blogger posts until I caved-in and downloaded Chrome.

I fear we will be seeing more of this sort of extortion in the future, as the competition between Google and Microsoft becomes more intense and forces users to "choose a side."  This competition may keep the act of blogging to remain free for a while longer, but eventually someone has to pay....

I recall the early years, when Cable providers assured the public that "Pay TV" would be commercial free.  How's that working-out?  Most  cable and "free" TV today is unwatchable - unless you have a DVR and can skip through the commercial breaks.    Even "commercial-free" PBS is loaded with sponsored blurbs - which thankfully are run between shows and not in the middle of them.

I find it unsettling that most futuristic visions from Hollywood and in print literature portray a tomorrow that is either post-apocalyptic ( e.g., "The Road",  "Book of Eli")  or a society dominated by commercial advertising ( e.g. "Idiocracy", "I Robot").    

Don't forget to click on the ad that appears just below this post.  I make money when people click on my ads.
Daddy always said: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Solar Flares and Hemorrhoids

If your favorite wireless gadget is acting-up today, it could be because of the solar storm that is pummeling the Earth's atmosphere with cosmic radiation. Scientists (who may actually understand this stuff) warn that some communications may be disturbed - GPS, and other satellite based transmissions will be most vulnerable.

A lot of people are worried about global warming and believe that humans can do something to delay or prevent it. I believe that it is far more likely that civilization as we know it will be destroyed by a disastrous and unforeseen extraterrestrial EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that wipes out all communications, computer memory, and the power grid. Such an event would result in a long period of apocalyptic return to barbarism and chaos for surviving humans. Ok maybe I read too much sci fi during my youth, but I'm not the only one who worries about such things.

Also, I have long held the apparently unscientific belief that the dramatic recent rise in reported cases of personality disorder in humans (especially in children) can be linked to the corresponding increase in the amount of radio waves that are beaming all around and through our collective brain tissue from electromagnetic  sources - microwaves, cell phones and other wireless devices, radar, HD transmissions, ifrared remotes, lasers and you-name-it.  

If microwaves can cook popcorn, it is completely logical that they can alter the molecules of the human/fetal brain. The correlation calculations are not complete yet but I am confident is stating that extraterrestrial radiation will be proven to be the source of many physical maladies. Perhaps we have solved the mystery of unpredictable flare-ups in skin afflictions like psoriasis and certain nagging itches such as hemorrhoids. The current wave of solar powered high speed cosmic protons are crashing through the Van Allen belt at a speed of 14,000 miles per second. These are heavy duty quantum particles that can seriously plunk your magic twanger, Froggy.

Updated version:  A loyal reader (GWP) has informed me that sonar was incorrectly listed in my list of electromagnetic wave sources.   I am pleased to correct this information.  Of course sonar is a sound based wave.  Sonar transmissions are suspected as links to whale and dolphin strandings by some scientists. So they are potentially of earthshaking importance.  (e.g., if the Maker of the Universe sneezes, we could be in for a rocky ride of sonar storms, not to mention celestial germs).