Emails

This will not be so heavy, but sometimes it is nice to take a break.

A pet peeve of mine: the notion that email is not efficient, not a good way to communicate.

I can sit in my lair and correspond nearly simultaneously with people literally throughout the entire globe. I can conduct planning, give reminders, post updates, etc., etc., etc. Sitting at my PC, I can get more done, not just casual conversation, in one hour than in what would have taken me one week of phone calls and traveling. To boot, I have a "paper" trail of all the conversations for later reference.

As long as we are able to avoid a 24-like, EMP scenario, the world is going to be electronic. Bills are electronic. Statements are electronic. Medical records are electronic. Unless one moves to a shack in the mountains of Montana and eats tree bark, he or she will be on the grid.

So there are still people who don't like email. Yes, it is impersonal. Yes, intentions can be misunderstood with the "printed" word. Much of that, however, is not the email's fault. Better writers make better emails.

A few weeks ago I heard a theory that addressed the illogical nature of this phenomenon. Like kids who make excuses for reading out loud because they have never really learned how to read, like the video game junkie who finds every reason to skip gym class because he can't jump over a telephone book, those who don't like email all seem to share a common denominator: they cannot type.

I learned to type as a senior in high school, at a typewriter. Today, kids learn to type in elementary school.

With the invention of cars, at some point the world realized that they would be around for a while, a common mode of transportation. At some point, schools started offering drivers ed. At some point, nearly everyone knew how to drive, either because they had to do so in school, or because, as adults, they realized that if they wanted to function successfully in society, they needed to update their skills.

I'm sure there were generations during the transition that said cars were not effective, that they were a waste of time and money. How many of these individuals said so because they didn't know how to drive. It wasn't that cars where not successful in revolutionizing travel, it was that they didn't know how to use them.

Here's the point. I'm not making fun of those who don't know how to type. I want to encourage them. Most people don't have the money to spend on voice-to-text applications. There are already numerous resources on the web, some of them free, for learning how to type. Don't remain in the dark. Catch up!! Don't have time? What is getting in the way. TV? Video games? We make time for what is important.

Some day, when a solar flare, knocks out all the electronics in the world, you can hammer me with "I told you so!!!" Just in case, however, I would make a point to start finding "home row".

Nuh Uh

I'm about ready to plug back into the Matrix. I don't know how much more one can take.

Republicans: Stimulous Money Being Wasted

Well, "no $%^&, Shirlock!!!" Who with half-a-brain, any sense of economic principles, and an iota of insight into the current political culture thought it would be any different. News Flash!!! The money was never intended to stimulate the economy.

Deep down inside, everyone knows that "2+2=4". The raw data shows that government spending has never "stimulated" an economy; however, tax cuts has done it every time it has been tried. Who said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for different results?

What is really crazy is that the "money" being spent doesn't actually exist; the government is swiping a credit card that it gave itself, nothing to back it up. At some point, people (i.e., the Chinese) will want their money.

Wait, I hear some "unbelievers" saying that tax cuts don't work. Oh yeah, lets talk after the first of the year, when this Congress, and this Administration let the Bush tax cuts expire. Let me know how "stimulated" you are when the government has its hands deeper in your pockets. I'm sure there will be all kinds of stimulatin' going on when disposable income disappears. How many restaurant workers, movie theater employees, etc., etc. will have jobs when people work just to put food on the table.

Stop it!!! I'm not interested in your tired accusations of "Bush supporter!!!". Please dislocate the head from the anus. It is almost too late. Bush was only the opening act. While he was the author of the tax cuts, with the help of his pal Henry Paulson, he warmed us up to the whole idea of "Government Stimulus". Obama has reduced FDR's efforts to that of an amateur.

John McCain!!!! Now you want to have a pair and call light to the wasted spending?!!! Go away please.

Who knows, maybe someone will actually pay attention to some substance in the next election...