History of the Future: Part 3

I bet you thought that I forgot about the third part of my promised three-part blog post about random future events. Well I didn’t forget I just hadn’t gotten to it yet because here it is. Would you believe that this whole post is actually a Sociology paper that I turned in for a college assignment and that I got an A on it? Well I it is and I did.

Now for you enjoyment, The conclusion to a History of the Future:

In the year 2043 people will begin to get rid of their cell phones because they can control so much that losing it is pretty much the end of the world.  Identity theft increases one hundred percent because it is so easy, just steal a cell phone and boom you have access to their car, their house and their bank account.  Why aren’t people protecting this information you ask well the answer is because people are lazy, careless and stupid.  They tried voice recognition but too many people figured out how to over ride that while at the same time the system was so faulty that the phone wouldn’t always listen to its owner.

More emerging technologies that have a darker side to them all have to do with things that go in your body.  First, super contacts that let you look at movies and surf the web while pretending to pay attention in class, were found to cause blindness and had to be scraped.

The micro chips that are supposed to be so great, so no one will ever be given the wrong medication or go missing, will be found to have a weird reaction with some people and will end up giving them a very strange blood disorder (their blood turned green) and the program was suspended until doctors could investigate the implications of this phenomenon.  The program will remain suspended until the antichrist decides to use it as his “mark of the beast.”

As the oceans begin receding in the year 2049, everyone will begin worrying about global cooling and foretelling a new global ice age.  Even though we all know that the first ice age wasn’t really a global ice age, but only a localized one.  One scientist though, will discover that this melting and freezing of the ice caps is all actually part of a cycle that runs through about every ten hundred years or so.

Unfortunately for everyone, a radical terrorist group has acquired a very powerful EMP bomb and has launched it into space, when it reaches the Stratosphere they plan to detonate it thus wiping out every electronic device on the planet.  This will set everyone back for at a period no shorter than ten years.  Living history re-enactors such as pioneer groups and revolutionary war enthusiasts will lead the way in survival during the period of rebuilding that will follow.  At the end of that ten-year period they are still only up to about 1985 standards which is pretty good for only having ten years to rebuild the world.  Of course they weren’t exactly starting from scratch.

The future is not set in stone and this is only one of the many possible futures; the flow of events could be diverted at any point along the path to create a new series of events and then those events may be diverted to create a new series and so on.

Perhaps instead of America and Canada uniting, they stay separate or maybe Mexico will try to be declared officially part of South America rather than North.  And the last part about the EMP bomb will probably not happen because someone like James bond would come along to stop it.  But it’s still all speculation.

There is no way to really know what the future holds, no crystal balls, no horoscope, no fortune tellers, the only way to know what will happen is to just wait for it.

History of the Future: Part 2

As promised part 2 of my three part post of Random future musings.  And you didn’t think I would keep up with this did you?

Things that are different geographically: America and Canada have merged creating a super nation called Amerida, mostly because it sounds similar to America, but also because Pan Am threatened to sue if they tied to call it Can Am.  All of the states and provinces get to keep their names and governments. Seriously the two countries were already so similar that hardly anyone really noticed any difference. They’re still working on Mexico but instead of partnering with Amerida it is just expected to be adsorbed as a state sometime in the next ten years, besides AmeriCandaMex sounds like a Mexican restaurant.  It will likely be called: Old Mexico (we already have a new one) or divided into smaller states.

The environment will be a big concern in the next 20-50 years.  The hole in the ozone layer is still a concern but it will be determined that it is a natural occurrence and that people are not responsible for it.  It was always there we just couldn’t detect it before.  All of the world’s power will now come from solar and wind energy.  Because no one can agree on just one type of alternate fuel, cars will run off of a combination of technologies, including: electric (with solar chargers), hydrogen, ethanol, and grass clippings.  The grass powered automobile will come along sometime in the next thirty years; I know this for a fact because my brother told me he was going to invent it.  Of course he also told me that he wanted to rule the world, so I’m not really sure if it’s very wise to rely on what my brother says.

Another development in automotive technology is the self diving car.  More deaths will occur in vehicles that are driving themselves than there ever were while humans were behind the wheel.  One problem will be with the voice response commands many people will be in their cars talking on their cell phones and they will say something like turn left not talking to the car of course but just telling their spouse where to find the milk in the fridge.  But the car takes that command and turns left– right into a building. Also in 2038 it will be discovered that a fatal flaw in the computer program allows the manual controls to be overridden and control of the car given to a hacker.  People will be kidnapped while driving their own vehicles and murderers will cause car crashes just to see how many people they can kill at a time.  But at the same time, insurance premiums for people who want to drive themselves will be outrageous not to mention the fines the government will give you if your car does not contain an onboard computer.  They say that it’s to ensure roadway safety but it’s obvious that the government just wants the power to control your car as well.

History of the Future: Part One

As promised a three-part post. These are my random predictions for the future. You can write these off as humorous and misguided musings but only time will tell.

And now I present for your enjoyment a history of the future:

In the year 2024 all newspapers had to stop producing paper copies due to pressure from environmental groups as well as a dwindling number of subscribers, so now they can save the planet and their money.  The e-newspaper, now humorously dubbed the News, Sans Paper, still requires a subscription and is then delivered straight to your inbox every day or for just $1.80 an issue you may buy a single copy to download off of the website as a PDF file, sales papers are not included.  No reporter has yet tackled the question of why the price jumped after they got rid of the paper.

Other changes to the media include the new restrictions on how much can be reported during elections.  Thanks to the news outlets using exit polls to announce the winner of the 2016 presidential election a full three hours before polls on the west coast closed, (the first thing that Hawaiians saw when they turned on their TV’s was news casters telling them who the new president was; no one in Hawaii even bothered voting that year) they are now forbidden to report any results in a nationwide election until the day after.

In education news, the public school system has been dumbed down so much that by the year 2028 the only children who can get in to colleges are homeschoolers.  But because of the low attendance the tuition prices became too high for anyone to afford.  Universities were forced to dumb themselves down in order to stay in business.  The government actually tried to outlaw homeschooling for a while but there was no way to stop the movement without taking away all civil rights.  Besides everyone knew that the only reason they were against it was because homeschoolers have consistently done better than public schoolers in all subjects and grades.

On the religion beat, scientists discover heaven?  Year 2030: Scientists working on a project to tel-port matter from New York to L.A. were suddenly overwhelmed by what they called, “a feeling of the most intense joy that a human being could ever hope experience on earth.”  The feeling of joy left as suddenly as it had appeared.  One of the researchers also reported hearing a voice that told him, “It is not yet time; this is not the door that you are meant to enter by.”  The lead researcher is hypothesizing that they may have momentarily breached another dimension of some sort.  As a result of this story conversions to Christianity will skyrocket.

To the Future!

Here is a Random musing about the Future. In preparation for my special three part posting featuring my random predictions for the future.

People have been trying to predict the future ever since time began; but not many people can even remotely claim to have succeeded.  Astrology doesn’t work (mostly because there are thirteen zodiac signs but astrologers only use twelve), psychics don’t know what their talking about, and Nostradamus was so vague that he could have meant anything.   There are so many books and movies that are set in the future that they can’t all be right.  And after watching some of them I don’t think that I would want any of them to be right.  Who would want to live in a future ruled by apes or robots?  No one really wants to become the society that burns books or makes Children fight to death on live TV, right? The future that H.G. Wells wrote about in the Time Machine doesn’t sound too appealing either.  The future in Back to the Future 2 isn’t so bad, maybe even doable, in fact the year that it takes place in, 2015, is only three years away.

When you think about it the future can only go one of three ways: it can get better, it can get worse, or nothing can change.  The hard part is defining better and worse because some people look upon the past as being more favorable than the present.  I would also like to bring up the saying, “the more things change the more they stay the same,” this really makes it hard to project into the future because if the future is always repeating the past then nothing can ever truly change and America is doomed because the Romans and the Greeks thought they were the end all and be all of civilization too.

Of course things may stay the same in theory but things will always be changing.  Technology will advance and then knowledge will be lost and then rediscovered that’s all part of the cycle of history.  History is full of parallels and repeated mistakes.  This is because people never learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and so they just make the same errors.  Like the old cliché says “either learn from history or repeat it.”

A popular saying printed on Christian T-shirts, bookmarks, key chains etc. . .  is: “I know not what the future holds but I do know he who holds the future.”  This means that as long as God is in charge there is nothing to worry about.  But the future gives us plenty to worry about anyway; it’s the greatest unknown, the ultimate variable and just plain scary.  And the farther ahead you look the scarier it becomes, because the more time that goes by is more time for something bad to happen; like a natural disaster, or a layoff at work, it’s also that much closer to death.  And death is a scary thing to most people.  Unless, you know he who holds your future.

Comments

One thing that some people fail to appreciate about our society is that this, more than any other era, is really the age of personal opinion. when else in history could you read a news story and then immediately put in your two cents. We go online read an article and then leave a comment. In fact reading the comments consumes more of our attention than the story that we came to read. The comments show what people really think. And reading the comments can also make you really angry. They can turn into real flame wars sometimes. Check out the following example that I made up and see if you can spot the commenter that makes me the maddest.

Headline: Ten year old boy eats Chocolate cake everyday. Doctors find no ill effects.

Comments

Cakeluvur: I like cake. You go kid!

Sparedarod: That is so wrong his parents should go to jail for not making him eat healthy foods. My kids don’t eat sweets ever. Cake is the Devil’s Food.

Cakeluvur: It can be Angel Food too! 😀

Spoildechild: @Sparedarod, You shouldn’t be so strict. Kids need to have things in life to make them happy or else they will grow up bitter and angry. Besides the article says that he got a piece of cake everyday. It’s not like they fed him nothing but cake.

Dietdiva: I wish I could eat cake every day and not get fat like this kid. 😦

Superdad: Maybe you should play three different sports like my boys. They eat all day.

Sparedarod: You are all crazy it dosen’t matter what else you eat sugar is toxic. I never had any sweets growing up and I turned out perfectly fine. We should ban all sugar.

Cakeluver: What we already have a higher tax on sugar than other foods.

DietDiva: No we have a tax on beverages. I pay the same tax for my unsweetened tea as i would if I bought a soda. McDonald’s even taxed my bottled water.

Superdad: @Sparedarod, You did not turn out fine at all it sounds like you turned into a bitter hag who thinks that everyone should suffer just because you had an unhappy childhood. Stop forcing your beliefs on others.

Peacemaker: Why do you people have to be like this? Everyone has the right to their own opinion. Everyone should stop putting down the opinions of other. If we all respected each others opinion then the world would be a happy place and we could all get along.

Now who do you think made me angry in the above example. That’s right it was Peacemaker. Everyone else had an opinion that contributed to the debate, even if some of them could have been nicer about it. But Peacemaker just commented on the arguing. His or her opinion was that people really shouldn’t have their own opinion. Peacemaker would rather everyone sacrifice their beliefs in the name of tolerance. But we can’t do that. We must keep arguing, debating and having different opinions. Because if everyone has the right to their own opinion then that includes everyone with a dissenting opinion too.

So come on leave your opinion. Lets see if we can start a good comment war.

Publication Validation

Hooray! I got my copy of Cross & Cosmos: year one in the mail today.

Anthology Cover Art

Naturally the first thing I did was flip to the contents page to find out what pages of the book my stories are on. And the answer is pages 347-396. Pages 347-360 are my first TC2 (The Cross & Cosmos) story “Souls are Wild” and pages 361-396 are its companion story “Black Hat Magic.”

This blog post could be a completely selfish tooting of my own flute (an instrument that I do know how to play by the way) or this could be an opportunity to remind myself and you that I am just one of eleven authors in this anthology; author of only two out of twenty-two stories. A 49 page drop in a 453 page book.

So on that humbling note here are some of my favorite (not written by me) stories from the first year of The Cross and Cosmos.

“Christmas Time” By: Kersley Fitgerald (I love time travel stories)

“Power of a Name” By: Avily Jerome (Action fantasy adventure)

“Fungus Among Us” By: Grace Bridges (Who is studying who? the answer might surprise you)

“The Quest” By: J. L. Rowan (Fantasy epic featuring a telepathic animal companion)

Why these four out of all of the amazing stories and awesome writers?

They are all relatively short, they are all from the original first four issues of TC2 so you can go read them online for free HERE, also all four have sequels written only for this anthology so now you have to buy the book not just for my sequel but for these others.

I’ve just had stories printed in a book, what am I going to do next? I am going to read my new book and then write more because seeing your name in print is an instant shot of confidence.

Don’t forget to buy it here: http://www.marcherlordpress.com/bookstore/fantasy/the-cross-and-the-cosmos-anthology-year-1/

Cross and Cosmos: Year One

Yea the day I’ve been bragging about for almost two years is here! The anthology Cross and Cosmos:Year One has finally been published by Marcher Lord Press.

With amazing cover art:

Final Cover–Smallish

 

And Featuring stories by me:

Re-read my Faustian Western “Souls are Wild” and then read the sequel “Black Hat Magic,” written exclusively for, and found only in, this anthology.

“Black Hat Magic” highlights the world of 1870’s theater where a soulless magician shares the stage with a Shakespearean actress.

You can buy the anthology from Marcher Lord Press at this site:  http://www.marcherlordpress.com/bookstore/fantasy/the-cross-and-the-cosmos-anthology-year-1/

Enjoy

Cathrine

My Dictionary or Words I Made Up and How to Use Them

Yes it’s true sometimes I use words that don’t exist in English. But then I say them again and they become real words.  Because, as long as a word is in use, and the meaning conveyed by the word is clear and understood, then it is a valid part of the language. Even if I am the only one who uses them.

My Dictionary

Blogaversary (Blog-a-versary) — The one year anniversary of starting a blog. Root words: Blog and Anniversary

Used in a sentence: I celebrated my one year Blogaversary recently.

Oreogasm (Oreo – ga-sim) — The pure bliss that comes from eating a Rainbow sherbert filled Oreo. Root words: Oreo and Orgasm

Used in a sentence: The new Rainbow sherbert flavored Oreos are so good you will have a oreogasm.

Corigami (Cor – igami) — The art of folding large sheets of corrugated cardboard into stand up movie displays for theaters and retail stores.  Root words: Corrugated and Origami

Used in a sentence: I got a paper cut while assembling corigami at work yesterday.

 

Yes technically these are all conjoined words formed by combining two or more words, but still I am the one who combined them. If you can prove otherwise leave a comment detailing the earlier use and I will gladly type a retraction.

Family Fiction Create Romance Contest

Attention loyal readers (yes I mean both of you). I have submitted a short-short story (less than 1000 words) to FamilyFiction.com’s Create Romance contest.

What this means to me: I chance to be included in a Short fiction anthology of the top 200, or if I make the top 20 a $50 gift card to Christian books.com.

What this means to you: The opportunity to go to Familyfiction.com and vote for my story. you can find it here: http://www.familyfiction.com/short-stories/create-romance-2012/a-meeting-beneath-the-black-light/

Before you can vote you must first register your email address. The directions are at the top of the page.

My Story, “A Meeting Beneath the Black Light,” is very obvious from the title. Girl meets boy at a Halloween event where black lighting is being utilized. For those who require deeper themes in their fiction consider it the story of a lonely college student, who learns that being yourself is a little overrated and that maybe becoming something else is the easiest way to truly be yourself.

If you like it come back and leave a comment.

Cathrine


	

Blogaversary

What, you may ask, is a Blogaversary? Well one year ago today I started this blog and in that time I have written 36 posts had 208 views, 38 Comments, and have made about 200,000 excuses not to write and post something.

The background that I have used for the past 365 days (or is it 366? this is a leap year after all) is titled Koi. It is a simple background that captures the feelings of the beach evoked by the dolphin in my blogs title as well as providing a non-distracting, almost paper like, reading surface.  I rather like it.

I will try to post more this year and hopefully I will have more news about publications.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this past year, hopefully you found it interesting enough to come back and visit this year too.

 

Cathrine 🙂

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