History of the Future: Part 3

15 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , , , , , ,

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

04 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , , , , , , ,

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.

To the Future!

26 Aug 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , ,

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

17 Aug 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , , ,

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.

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

28 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing Tags: , , , , ,

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.

Spock and Sherlock: A study in Geek

30 Jun 2012 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek Tags: , , , , ,

Hello All,  I am so sorry that these posts are so far and few between. Anyway I hope that this one is interesting enough to make up for the long wait.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

This quote was first used in The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1890. It has since then been used to death in reference to Sherlock Holmes.

But in 1991 in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the character Spock quotes it and attributes it not to Holmes or Doyle but rather to a Vulcan ancestor.

But I am not angry instead I am geeking out because just this year in the BBC series Sherlock, Episode 2 The Hounds of Baskerville, Sherlock (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) recites the infamous quote and then in the same scene after Sherlock rants about his need to stay above emotions John Watson (played by Martin Freeman) says, “Alright, Spock.”

Isn’t that amazing!

‘Why is it amazing?’ you ask.

It’s amazing because it means that in a, granted fictional, universe in which Sherlock Holmes is a person  living in our modern-day they still have Star Trek. Which means that Spock’s unattributed quote combined with John’s remark implies that Sherlock is actually quoting Leonard Nimoy’s character Spock. Thus proving for all time that Sherlock is a Treker.  He doesn’t know that the earth revolves around the sun but he watches Star Trek. Well that’s Sherlock for you.

Though one wonders what he makes of The Next Generation episode: Elementary, My Dear Data.

For more on the Sherlock/Spock connection check out this Blog : http://thenewdiogenesclub.blogspot.com/2012/01/mr-spock-and-mr-holmes.html

Drinking, Highly Illogical

14 May 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Star Trek, Victorian Fiction, Well founded paranoia Tags: , ,

I haven’t posted anything in a while so here is an extra long one.

Every age comes with certain privileges that we can choose to partake in.  At 16 we can drive at, 17 watch an R rated movie and, 18 we become voting citizens of our great nation. But then nothing truly interesting happens at 19 or 20 and then at 21 is finally given the right to legally buy and consume alcohol. Why? It’s such an odd number to choose? At least 18 has a certain logic, you can vote you graduate from high school and start worrying about things like student loans and car payments, 19 would at least follow in sequence. In Ohio we have to renew our drivers license every four years. So if they made the drinking age 20 then they could get rid of that extra year before your first renewal.

Does anyone really think that a 21-year-old will really be anymore mature than an 18-year-old? Is it some medical fact that at 18 alcohol will affect your brain cells but not at 21? Drinking will kill your brain functions no matter what age you are.

I found this website that seems to answer the 21 question though I have no idea where they got their facts from.

http://www.madd.org/underage-drinking/why21/

My question is really Why Drink at all? What is the point? And how can people stand it? Alcohol messes with your memory and it dulls senses it ruins your reaction time and it just tastes bad.

The only time that I am ever really satisfied after a bit of spirits is when I am sick. I think of it this way Alcohol is used to disinfect therefore drinking it when you’re sick will disinfect your insides. Maybe not technically true but it makes me feel like I’m doing something to get better.

In Victorian era fiction we read about Spirits being used as a medicine, a restorative, a calming agent, something to warm your insides, and yes like I said a disinfectant.

Am I proposing that we bring prohibition back? No. Consuming alcohol just doesn’t hold any appeal for me. It doesn’t make you have more fun it just shuts off your common sense. So drinking at home with people you know and who you know want the best for you is fine but anywhere else is just Illogical.

In his autobiographical book I Am Spock Leonard Nimoy, writes a fictitious encounter between Spock and one of his many female fans. She has just offered Spock a drink and this is how Spock refuses her:

Spock: Madam, my mind is in precisely the condition it should be. I see no reason to alter that condition with stimulants or depressants.

Spock is right, if you are thinking clearly and you are walking without bumping into things and falling down, who in their right mind would want to change it? Personally I do not like to feel stupid and clumsy, trust me I feel that way enough when I’m sober there is no way I would purposely place myself in that state of mind.

I have actually used Nimoy’s quote before to turn down an invitation to go out to a bar. Though after that I didn’t get many invitations to anything. Oh well, people who need to be inebriated to have fun mustn’t be very good company anyway.

If we could start using it like a medicinal helper instead of, “A sure sign of a good time,” (Bud light’s slogan) then maybe the drinking age wouldn’t matter so much. Maybe if people would stop doing stupid things with stuff that should be used sparingly then maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about monitoring alcohol usage in the extremes that we do. But people are stupid and they do drink to be numb and to get stupid. So the illogic behind the drinking age must be overshadowed by the illogic of drink itself.

Lunch Time Etiquette

24 Apr 2012 2 Comments

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , ,

The following manners apply to anyplace where large groups of people gather to consume food that they packed themselves: be it cafeteria, break room, or public park.

Upon entering a room in which someone is eating an orange, one should never exclaim, “I smell Oranges!” This just serves to show everyone how unobservant and rude you are. This will also result in the Orange eater not offering you any. Instead you should casually glance around until you locate the orange eater and then casually approach them. Begin the conversation thusly, “Why I see that you have chosen to eat an orange today. I can tell that you care about your health very much because oranges are high in vitamin C and are a tasty way to ward off many nasty diseases such as scurvy.” Then go on to explain that you have recently returned from a long sea voyage and that you fear you yourself might be suffering the early stages of Scurvy and that you would be forever grateful if they might share part of their life-preserving fruit.

Always pack a book in your lunch bag. First of all, it is brain food and will make your diet more complete. Secondly, it will help to comfort you after you realize that no one in the lunch room is eager for you to sit with them. If however, you actually want to read your book while you eat do not sit at a table with women. They will talk incessantly though not to you.

If you want to eat without having hate-filled stares shot at you do not sit at the Clique table. The Clique table is the table closest to the doors so that the Clique can judge everyone who comes in to eat. The Clique will be almost entirely women and they will be talking loudly and about things of little importance. If you remembered your book sit as far away as possible. If you forgot it sit one table over and eavesdrop.

The rules for Popcorn are different from that of Oranges. Forget it no one shares Popcorn. You can exclaim that you smell popcorn all you like because the buttery goodness is all mine.

Take your change from the vending machine because no one is going to announce that they found an extra quarter. Like wise don’t feel guilty about pocketing an extra quarter because chances are that the machine is the one that messed up and spit out that extra money in order to make up for all of the times it ate your change. Yea I can live with that story.

You Might Be Home Schooled If . . .

18 Apr 2012 1 Comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , ,

They say that imitation is the sincerest from of flattery.  I hope you feel very flattered Mr. Foxworthy.

You might have been home schooled if . . .

  • You went into Shock the day you found out that your mother was not the great repository of all human knowledge.
  • You took so many “field trips” to Wal-mart that people thought you worked there.
  • You had to total the cost of all of the groceries in the cart plus tax (showing your work) before you could get M&M’s at the checkout counter.
  • You have more reverence for an Author’s birthday than a Catholic has for a Saint’s day.
  • Other people scream and throw holy water on you when you tell them that your School didn’t have sports.
  • You discovered the cure for Red neck in second grade using everyday kitchen staples.
  • People in town shun you when they learn that you don’t worship the local football team.
  • When someone asks you if you know of AC/DC you reply “Why yes of course these are the two forms of electricity. Alternating current and Direct current. While Alternating current is the best for sending through wires into your outlets Direct current is actually used to run most household appliances.” The person stares at you and then walks away as if you had deeply offended their religion.
  • Upon learning about pep rallies you laugh and exclaim, “Really! People do that? That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
  • When someone asks you your favorite sport you reply, “Speed reading.”

And lastly:

  • If you are outside on a warm September day and there are no other kids around then you might be Home Schooled.

The Principle of First Trust

19 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by C.O. Bonham in Random Musing, Well founded paranoia Tags: , ,

They say that Trust is earned but this is a blatant lie. Trust is automatically given and expected. People expect me to trust them on our first meeting. People want trust without ever meeting them.

For example if you are selling your house you have to trust the realtor and the people viewing your house not to damage or steal any of your possessions.  If you do business over the phone you have to trust that person to keep up their end of things. When I order books online I have to trust Amazon to ship the items on time. 

Broken down on the side of the road don’t we trust that the person pulling over is a good Samaritan and not a serial killer?

On your first visit to a fantasy world you have to trust the first person you meet there. It is not possible to tell a caring Queen from a White Witch based only on first impressions.

If first trust is broken then I guess one could earn second trust. But even a chance to earn back trust is still a gift of trust from the person wronged to begin with.

Unfortunately, trust can’t be earned, it just isn’t practical. if we had to give every person we will ever meet a trust test before interacting with them all of our time would be wasted filling in dots with a number 2 pencil.

But even though you can’t earn my trust I still refuse to hand it out lightly.  So forgive me if I still lock my doors at night. Just because trust can’t be earned dosn’t mean everyone can be trusted.

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