As a young man I spent two years in Newfoundland, Canada and I have never gotten it out of my system.  

Recently a Newfoundland group played a concert here in Western Maine:   The Irish Descendants. 

Once again

the Ol'Buzzard

IS THIS THE NEW COUNTRY SOUND?

The Bluegrass answer to Two Cellos 

I like it

the Ol'Buzzard

THE UNREPORTED WAR

America is focused on war in the Middle East; we are obsessed with Isis, mainly because of their media exploitation of the beheading of  Westerners. - and our government's obsession with oil.   

However, all this time there has been a European leaning country under attack by Russia - a country truly fighting to keep its independents; and we in America are ignoring their struggle.  

You will not find reporting of the Ukrainian struggle on the news; but you can get a firsthand view, and understanding of the root of the conflict by accessing the Blog Fodder blog posted by a Canadian living in Ukraine

It really is worth following.   

America is involved, and has been for over a decade, in a Middle Eastern religious conflict that has no resolution.   It is quite possible we created the conflict by removing Saddam from Iraq.   Colin Powell warned the Bush administrator that if you break it you own it...   well we have tried to own it every since.    

The bottom line is that we should be supporting the Ukrainian people desperately fighting to keep their independence from Russia and not spending the lives and resources in the Middle Eastern black hole of religious extremism.

the Ol'Buzzard 

WHEN IT’S WINTER UP IN MAINE…

Well, the noreaster (blizzard) has finally arrived in western Maine.    It was supposed to hit last night about midnight, but is must have stopped in Boston for some Baked Beans because the first light windblown snow started about an hour ago at seven a.m.

The news media is hyping this storm as a “monster storm,” but they are predicting less than two feet here in Maine.   Granted that is a considerable amount of snow in one storm, but for Christ sake this is Maine; and if you can’t handle a couple of feet of snow you need to move away.

Actually, here in the western mountains, it is not the snow we worry about; but as the snow accumulates the snow zombies roam down from Canada.   These are the creatures we scare the children with when they don’t behave: ‘The Canadian snow zombies will get you when you go sledding if you don’t eat your brussels sprouts.’

The danger from snow zombies is you can’t see them.   You are zipping down the ski trail on your cross country skis, or snowshoeing through the woodlot behind your house and the damn things rise out of the snow as you pass by, and are on you before you realize. 

Unlike the zombies in all the phony, unrealistic movies, the Canadian snow zombies often carry weapons.  They will either beat you to a bloody pulp with a carrion bone or slice you up with a sword before feasting on your body. 

   We won’t even mention what they will do to you if they catch you with your pants down taking a dump in the woods.   It is scary.

Realistically, you can’t kill a zombie.   They are already dead.  So, the idea that you can shoot them with a pistol or kill them with a cross bow is ludicrous.   The only thing the snow zombie is afraid of is a snow blower, and I gassed mine up yesterday.   

I don’t ski any more but I do occasionally snow shoe: but not this storm.   Because of the depth of the fresh accumulation forecast I think I will stay in the house until the threat of snow zombies has passed.   I will, however, have to go out back and clear and fill the bird feeders; so if I suddenly stop blogging you will know the worst has happened.

the Ol’Buzzard 

      

  

STORM PREPARATION

Our last big snow storm 08

We have it coming: A major Noreaster (a blizzard to those who don’t speak Maine.)    The snow is due to start Monday night and continue into Wednesday.  Most Noreasters last from six to eight hours but according to forecast this one will stall and continue for more than twenty four hours. 

I don’t mind.   I have been complaining all of January that we haven’t received enough snow to bank the house.  We got approximately a foot in early January and then came rain so we have ended with about five inches of frozen, crunchy, ice crystal snow cover that has endured until now.  

The snow predictions range from eighteen to thirty-six inches with high winds, according to which computer model you pay attention to.

So preparations begin:  we will go into town tomorrow and shop to stock up the food larder.   Fresh vegies keep well and will give us salads.  Can goods including tuna, salmon and beans are a good put by.   We will likely lose electricity for and extended time but we can cook on the gas stovetop and move perishables into the back hall as temps are predicted in the single numbers to below zero at night.   We have put new batteries in our flashlights and in our battery operated lantern, we also have an oil lamp and gas lamps installed in the living room and kitchen.  We have six gallons of water for flushing the toilet and twelve gallons for drinking.   I moved about a quarter cord of wood to my wood storage unit by the back door and filled my normal storage on the back porch. 

Holds a quarter of a cord filled.

Tomorrow I will fill the snow blower with gas and start it and run it for a few minutes.  The shovel is by the back door.   I also filled the bird feeders and will probably have to make trips out back to keep them clear of snow.

We don’t have a check list, but have done this enough that it is second nature. 

It will be time for books and games and snuggle down with the cats; a not all together unpleasant prospect.  

the Ol’Buzzard

THE SONG THAT IS DRIVING THE SOUTHERN REPUBLICANS CRAZY!

Country songs are suppose to be the property of the southern redneck - tea party supporters - not northern liberals.   This is driving them crazy:

the Ol'Buzzard 

NEWS 24/7

News media running 24/7 give us the option to tune into the news programs of our choice – programs that give us the slant that confirms what we want to hear.   I admit, my favorite news program is the Rachel Maddow show.  I watch Rachel as much for entertainment as for news.

My first teaching job in a remote Indian village was third, fourth, fifth and six grades combined.   These kids knew little outside of their village life and politics.    Each morning I would tape the world news that aired earlier on RATNET (the single channel of television available in the Alaskan Bush) and play it for the children at the beginning of each school day.    I would ask them five questions:

 What is actual news?

What is sensational hype?

What is not news?

What is fact?

What is opinion?

I had parents that came to me and said that they were having to watch the news because their children wanted to discuss it when they came home from school.

The twenty-four news cycle bastardizes the news.   It has to be that way, for how many different ways can you present the same event for twenty-four hours?   Almost any natural news event can be covered in five minutes, but then the discussions, predictions, opinions and suppositions begin ad-nausea in order to stretch a precise incident to hours of coverage.

We are fed a mixture of news and pabulum and entertainment under the guise of information.   News is purposely slanted to the viewing audience (high numbers bring advertisers; and it is really all about money – not news coverage.  

  

MSNBC spent ten minutes on ‘inflation gate’ this morning: Were the footballs used by the New England Patriots slightly deflated for better handling during their final game with the Colts?  

At the end of the section we knew no more than we did at the beginning: If presented as news this should have warranted no more than a comment; it would have been more appropriate in the sports section.

In plain language the news man knew no more about 'inflation gate' than we knew, since the findings of the league have not been announced; but he spent ten minutes on hype, speculation and opinion.  My students would have said: NOT NEWS.  

The best coverage was from Rachel Maddow - she put it into perspective; entertainment. 

the Ol'Buzzard

IF WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT WARS LET’S BRING BACK THE DRAFT

The President in the State Of The Union speech asked Congress for a new authorization to wage war in the Middle East.


People with money, young people with options, young people raised with advantages, young people able to attend college on their parent’s dime don’t join the military.   The volunteer military, especially the enlisted, for the most part is populated by young people without privilege or options who see the military as a way to security in an uncertain future. 

I know this for a fact, as I spent 22 years as an enlisted man in the Navy.  The Cheneys, the Bushes, the Rumsfelds, and the Romneys don’t serve in the military – it is the people like me: I was a young man raised by my grandmother,raised in poverty,  in a tiny town in Mississippi  – few options, no future – my only chance to ‘get out’ was to opt for the military.

I hate seeing the young men and women coming back missing limbs or otherwise physically or mentally injured.   I have seen the deaths and carnage of war.   I have smelled it.   Bodies stacked like cord-wood on pallets in the hot tropical sun, waiting for a C-130 to come carry them home. 

We lost fifty-eight thousand in Vietnam for absolutely nothing.   We have been involved in the Middle East because of false pretenses.   Men and women are coming back injured from these wars and we have accomplished absolutely nothing. 

Every military person in harm’s way worries about death or injury, and especially at the end of their tour.   And even worse - to be the last fatality just before the end of hostilities – the last man killed in a war; a death that accomplishes absolutely nothing.

America has been at war for over a decade fought by our volunteer military; and combat injuries and deaths are still occurring.   The hostilities go on, but the American population is unaware and unconcerned because it doesn't affect us or our daily lives.   We go for days unaware that people are dying and being injured.   For the most part we are not even aware that we are at war until we come across something in the news or on TV to remind us; and then we as quickly forget and move on to the next news item.

Where are the protest?   Where is the outrage?  It is not right!

When our politicians decide this nation needs to go to war, or is in a war status there should be a draft instituted.   Everyone should have a stake in the fight.  Only then will our politicians be called to account.

WAR.  GOOD GOD.  WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

   

THE NEW OLD Ol'Buzzard

I have been blogging for almost five years.   My first post was in August of 2010.   I had noticed recently the picture on my profile no longer looked like the face I see each morning in the bathroom mirror so I decided to update – at least download a new pic.   

This fed my curiosity and I worked my way back to my very first post.   

There is nothing I would change – my feelings are still the same.

So, just as a point of nostalgia here is the first Ol’Buzzard post from August of 2010.   

Ol Buzzard's Introduction

Physicist speak of the beginning of creation as the Big Bang, a time when an indescribably dense point of nothingness explodes, throwing out matter which creates an expanding universe. I suppose we could describe the end of creation as the Big Suck. This would be a time when all matter returns in upon itself, forming a gigantic black hole and finally shrinks again to some minuscule point of nothingness.

The time of the Big Suck is really not far away. As a matter of fact, I have come to believe it is at the end of MY foreseeable future. You see, this is the way it works: It's like Schrodinger's cat. When I die, you people are gone - there is nothing left. If I can't see you, you don't exist. My death is the Big Suck. As my reality shrinks like a heavy star into a cognitive black hole from which nothing returns, so goes creation. You're snuffed. Time and space converge into nothing.

It isn't anything to get concerned about, because nothing is the natural state of things. String theory speaks of many dimensions so our little time space continuum is like a fart bubble in the ocean - insignificant and brief in cosmic time.

With this entire heavy nothingness in our foreseeable future you might wonder why I feel the need to sit down and write my take on this paltry existence that we call human life. The only explanation I can offer is because I have an orderly mind. I plan before I act; I weigh consequences and look at contingencies. I even make a list and keep a diary. Therefore it follows, as the night the day, that I feel the need to place my sev70enty years on this earth into some sort of order by cataloging my observations and experiences.

Franz Kafka said that the meaning of life is that it stops. Monty Python said that the meaning of life is - there is no meaning of life. Victor Emil Frank said the meaning of life is suffering. Abraham Maslow said it is experience. Then, if you really want to cloud the water, you throw religion into the mix. It's confusing.

My favorite explanation comes from Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve Hagen (thank you Steve.) Steve poses the question that perhaps we are intelligent creatures living in a meaningless world. The answer, of course, is yes... to the meaningless world.

However, I find it a real stretch to imagine any life-form that could twice elect George W. as the leader of the free world, as intelligent. If you have illusions of man as an intelligent creature just attend a Pentecostal church meeting in Kentucky or West Virginia where they pass around the poisonous snakes; or, check out the glazed looks on the faces of the congregation of any television evangelical program; tune into any political convention; go into the Bible belt and talk about the origins of mankind; or, watch young Arabs throwing rocks at Israeli soldier armed with automatic weapons. Suicide bombers, war and genocide - the list can go on and on. Can we link intelligence with our species? I think not.

Where am I going with this? Hell, I don't know. My intention is to look at all the aspects of human existence that came into being with my birth and will demise with my demise. I feel, because I see my own demise as imminent, I have the enlightened detachment described by the Buddha: the ability to view existence from an empty space, a place without prejudice, religion conviction, or political correctness. In other words: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...I'll call it a duck.

The Ol'buzzard

In case anyone is interested - I plan to post weekly.

PROOF POSITIVE: GOOGLE IS BIG BROTHER

Yesterday, online, I was browsing some commercial sites and visited J & P Cycles online store looking at leather motorcycle jackets and a replacement battery for my ride.   Later I flipped up a motorcycle jewelry marketer - not to buy, but just looking.

A few minutes ago I was checking my blog list and on one of the blog sites that allow advertising there was  a prominently displayed advertisement from J & P Cycles for leather motorcycle jackets and a J & P Cycles advertisements for motorcycle batteries; also at the end of the blog was an advertisement for motorcycle jewelry. 

Wow!   Talk about tracking - the NIS should be so good!

Big brother is truly watching you. 
the Ol'Buzzard

A BUZZARD EGG OMELET #28

In this cycle of Islamic terrorism all the progressive pundits on radio and TV are declaring that the problem is not the religion, but a few religious extremist who must be blamed. 

   

But, of course, it is the religion.   Not just ‘their’ religion but all religions.

  

The tenant of all religions are ludicrous when separated and viewed outside the context of religion.

Just the idea of an all knowing and infallible super designer that created the perfect earth and universe just to house his special creatures – created in his likeness…    Really?

As an engineer this Guy sucks.    I wouldn't let him build a shed.    His design of the female system is example enough.   The parts all look good but as far as reliability they break down and spend more time in the shop than a Chrysler minivan. 

  

I have heard it said that God is female; but why would She inflect childbirth, periods, PMS, menopause, urinary tract infections, vaginal problems, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and all the other maladies that plague the female system onto her sisterhood? 

 

And why is it men want sex all the time and women would rather paint their toe nails?  

 

Next to sex the greatest pleasure is food.   I love eggs, maybe more than bacon.   Why is it that all the good foods are poisonous to our system and bean curds and broccoli are good for you?   What kind of sick shit is that?  Who designed this?

Then there are all the ruled – each religion has their own list and interpretation.     Also, the quandary of who is going to heaven with you and who is not; who you are supposed to like and who are you supposed to disdain - the religious inspired bigotry and violence that encompasses every nation at the insistence of religions.

  

All this on the promise of some insubstantial glorious life after death in some otherworldly utopia.

  

Without this vague promise of life after death there would be no religions. 

Marx called religion the opiate of the people; but, it would be better described as the curse of the human race.

the Ol’Buzzard

BAD JOKES - I LOVE UM

A huge muscular man walks into a bar and orders a beer.   The bartender can’t help but stare because along with a barrel chest and rippling muscles this man’s head is about the size of an orange. 

 

The bartender hands the man his beer and says, “I hope you don’t mind me asking; your have a fantastic physique, but why is your head so small?”

The big guy nods slowly.  He has obviously heard this question many times before.  

“One day,” he begins, “I was hunting alone in the woods and I heard someone crying for help.   I followed the cries and they led me to a frog that was sitting beside a stream.”

  

“No shit,” says the bartender thoroughly intrigued.

“Yeah, so I picked up the frog and it said, ‘Kiss me and I will turn into a genie and grant you three wishes.’”

“I looked around to make sure no one was looking and then gave the frog a kiss.   Instantly, this frog turns into a beautiful naked woman.     She looked at me with penetrating green eyes and said ‘You now have three wishes.’

The man pauses and takes a sip of beer.

“Well, I looked down at my 115 pound body and said, ‘I want a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger.’  She nodded and snapped her fingers and suddenly I was so huge that I had ripped out of my clothes.   She then asked, ‘What will your second wish be?’”

“There was no doubt about what I wanted next.  I looked at her beautiful naked body and said, ‘I want to make mad passionate love to you right here beside the stream.’   We made love for hours – it was fantastic.   At last, as we lay next to each other sweating and panting she said, ‘You have one more wish, what will it be?’   I rolled over and looked at her and replied, ‘How ‘bout a little head?’ ”

Parodied from Cycle Source Magazine. 

 the Ol'Buzzard says

BILL MAHER WITH SALMAN RUSHDIE JE SUIS CHARLIE

WORTH A VIEWING
the Ol'Buzzard

IT IS A QUESTION FOR PHYSICIST

We know that if you are traveling away from an object at near the speed of light time slows down in your reference with respect to the object departed - you are traveling into the future of the object departed.  

So, if you travel toward an object at the speed of light why can't you travel into the past?  If you departed another galaxy for earth, at the speed of light, on a specific earth calendar date it seems logical that you would travel into the past from that reference date.  
Supposedly that is not possible, but it makes sense to me. 

Also if you could run in circles at the speed of light would it be possible to fuck yourself?

I'm just asking?

the Ol'Buzzard

VAMPIRE FICTION REVISITED

I recently read the book LET THE RIGHT ONE In by John Ajvide Lindovist, now released as the movie LET ME IN.

It is a good read and a fair movie; but in order to appreciate the movie it is best to have read the book first.  

Unlike the normal vampire story Lindovist presents a young girl vampire that is of undetermined age but is physically twelve years old for eternity; and a relationship she forms with a young boy living in her apartment building, who is the target of school bullies.  

This is a fascinating premise.   A twelve year old cannot control wealth or own property; she is restricted by all the laws and norms a society places on children; and yet she must survive in an adult world. 

A provocative book and movie.    If you like this genre….

the Ol’Buzzard  

FUCK MUSLIM TERRORIST

I think the cartoon that sparked this should be downloaded and displayed by millions of people all over the world as placards during marches and as window and bumper stickers.   Saturate the world with it.  

  That would be an appropriate action to combat this insanity.  

The Ol'Buzzard

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Maine’s incumbent governor ‘Pepe’ LaPage was just sworn in for his second term: meaning that I must be seriously out of step with other residents of the state.

LePage programs are aimed at cutting welfare, opposing a raise in the minimum wage, refusing Medicaid reimbursement money, cutting money from schools and colleges, and of course cutting taxes.

Like the rest of the Republican Party he gives lip service to encouraging entrepreneurship.

I have always had the vision of an entrepreneur, but never the motivation to jump through the hoops to complete and market a product. 

In the mid 1960’s I flew into Turkey with a Navy flight crew.   All the flight crews were buying worry beads to hang on their flight suites. 

When I returned to Maine I made worry beads from moose turds for my crew (dipping them in acrylics) and a pair of moose turd ear rings for my girlfriend.   About a year and a half later I found L.L. Beans selling moose turd swizzle sticks and jewelry at their outlet store.  

Another idea I had was to produce a home security package consisting of a large sign: WARNING, Do not enter, Attack Dogs Being Trained; and a bag of large dog turds from Mastiffs or Irish Wolf Hounds coated in acrylic, to be prominently displayed around the yard. 

It seems like most of my commercial ideas incorporate preserving turds of some type.   Maybe that speaks to the way of my character.

  

 Then there is the air bag motorcycle vest that inflates with helium instead of compressed air so you float away from the accident.

 Precisely measured bungee cords that allow people to jump out of high-rise apartment and office buildings in case of fire or emergency - or to avoid their boss, in-laws or x-significant-other.     

Blowup fantasy sex dolls, marketed to men who roll play armed militia - for their ‘bug-out shelter.’   The doll would be dressed in removable camouflage underwear, would have a pull string like the Chatty Cathy dolls and would say, “Ooo you are so manly,   You make me feel sooo safe,   Take me, Take me!    The dolls would be produced male or female, though I have a feeling the male doll would be the biggest seller.      

Virtual reality glasses that transforms your sex partner into any movie star or famous person that turns you on.  If your partner is never enthusiastic perhaps he or she need the glasses.   And if you feel really kinky, can you imagine having sex with either Einstein or Mother Teresa?    

   

Muslim Terrorist Prevention Emergency Kit:  a small zipper bag to be kept in your desk at work or on your person when traveling.  

The bag would contain a turban, a prayer shawl with the Arabic symbols for Allahu Akbar (God is Great) and a compass that points toward Mecca.   Don the disguise and drop to your knees in mock prayer during a terrorist attack and you may be spared – if not pull the cord on your motorcycle air bag and float away while throwing dog turds dipped in acrylic at the terrorist.

Perhaps it is just as well that I stuck to traditional occupation employment.

the Ol’Buzzard

THE SPIRIT OF LOKI

Here it is, three o-clock in the morning and I am sitting in front of the computer.   Two days ago I came up with Filthy Mc-Nasty throat: hoarse, raspy and flimmy (probably more than you want to know) so I am not sleeping soundly.

Also, being in my seventies I now get up at least twice during the middle of the night to pee.  

As usual, at one-thirty I stumble downstairs to complete my nightly ritual.   On my way back to bed I pass the window and notice that it is totally dark outside: the lights in the well house are not on (the heat from two one hundred watt bulbs connected to a thermostat keep the well house above freezing during the winter.)

We had an unusually warm December, with day temps reaching near forty and night temps just below freezing; but, a cold blast came in from Canada and tonight the temps have dropped to eight below zero – the first below zero night this year.

 

When you live up north and get your water from a drilled well, the prospect of the well head freezing and bursting is the thing nightmares are made of.  

So, on go my long johns, jeans, socks, boots, shirt, vest, heavy jacket, watch cap and gloves – my wife hears me up and brings down my flashlight – and off I go to the well house to replace the bulbs. 

The well house is across the road and about twenty-five yards from the house,    Windblown, over the snowbank, across the ditch I trek – at least the moon is out, reflecting off the snow so I don’t need the flashlight. 

I am the kind of person that does preventive maintenance.  After living in the bush for so many years I prefer to foresee the chance of trouble and address it before it happens.     True to form I had replaced the incandescent lights in the well house in November and sealed the door with weather stripping.   The weather stripping made perfect sense back in November with temps near forty, but now at eight below the weather stripping is frozen and I can’t get the damn door open.  

Back to the house I trek for a screwdriver, then back to the well house.   I tear out the weather stripping with the screwdriver and finally am able to pry the door open.  The interior is cold.  The small electric emergency back-up heater I keep in the well house isn’t working.  (They don’t make incandescent light bulbs any more but two years ago, thinking ahead, I bought six extra.) – I replace the bulbs and then head back to the house to get the back-up, back-up heater.  

Returning to the well house I replace the heater, finally get the door secured but notice light seeping through the crack between the door and the sill; and if light can get out cold air is getting in.   With the flashlight I am now searching through the snow for the scraps of weather stripping that were torn out with the screw driver.   Retrieving a piece here and a piece there I am able to stuff enough stiff frozen Styrofoam around the door to complete a seal.  

Finally, back at home I undress, add a log to the woodstove, lie down and start coughing. 

 Fuck-it; I’ll get up, get a glass of apple juice and turn on the computer.

So here I am.  

Do you believe in mischievous imps or fairies, brownies, sprites, elves or pooksa?     I do.   They are the spiteful spirits that keep the ten pen from falling when you throw a strike ball; they cause a faucet to drip all night; they cause trouble with your car that disappears when you take it to the dealership for repair; and they are surely the ones that made the lights go out and the back-up heater fail tonight when the temps dropped to eight below – probably thirty below with wind chill. 

We can’t see these rascally creatures; but cats can.   Did you ever wonder why a cat suddenly jump up and charge across the room for seemingly no reason?    He probably just chased a fairy.   Cats are always vigilant for these trouble makers and do their best to keep them from our houses.

Almost five.  Going back to bed – if I can find room between my wife and the two cats which are bed hogs.    

the Ol’Buzzard

RELIGION AS MUSIC

The few people that read this blog (my wife) know that I am not a religious person.  I object to the name Atheist on the grounds that  I should not be labeled by what I do not believe: I don't believe in unicorns, or werewolves, or gods, or devils, or fairies, or heaven, or hell, or Oz; or anythings that when you think about it seems blatantly preposterous.

I feel that religion does far more harm than good.  The few food pantries and shelters do not balance out the wars, violence, bigotry, ignorance and intolerance that is the hallmark religions in general and Christianity in specific. 

On an individual basis religion may be a comfort - a way to deny death; but, on an organized basis it is the bane of civilization.  

The only good thing that has come from religion is art and music: religion fantasy had been a creative motivation in every genera from classical, to gospel, to chants, to sacret harp, to country, to blues...   And I like most of it. 

Hill country music

Blue Grass

Blues

Gospel

and then there is Dylan
turn up the sound and enjoy

and the list could go on and on and on...

I would have included some rap by Gangstagrass; but, I didn't want Yellow Dog Granny to stick pencils in her ears.

the Ol'Buzzard

TECHNOLOGY AND STUFF

I have lived through remarkable changes during my seventy plus years.  I have probably seen more change in my lifetime than any single person from any prior generation. 

The greatest changes have happen over the past thirty years due to the advent of micro-miniature computer advancements.   These advancements have increased life expectancy, aided in every form of endeavor and made mankind more in control of his or her environment.     Life without electronics would be unimaginable to most people.

However, for every advancement we lose something of our humanity. 

Life was not ideal in the forties and fifties when I was a child.    There were many groups of people disenfranchised because of race or social status. But, there was a peace and a pace of life that was far more comforting than today.   There were no cell phones and people did not stay connected 24/7; if you were traveling you waited until your destination to communicate with friends or family: you actually talked to people face to face – people relished conversation.   There was no TV or texting so people ate meals together and conversed.   You communicated with distant friends and family with hand written letters – a personal touch that is lacking in e-mail.   Everything was slower: more personal.  

Today on technology news new products for 2015 were listed.

1.    A wearable camera that live streams to the internet.

2.    Electronic house plant waterer.

3.    Levitating speakers.

4.    A tooth brush that connects to your smartphone and keeps track of each time you brush and allows interactive games.

5.    A wrist watch that connects to your smart phone or computer and notes all your activity, physical condition and keeps time.

6.    Electronic roller skates.

7.    Coffee pot that is activated by your smart phone.

8.    Electronic baby bottle that tracks an infant’s intake and tells you the correct angle for efficient feeding.

9.    A wearable thermometer connected to your blue tooth that monitors your or your children’s temperature 24/7.

10.                    GPS tracking devices for young children.

11.                    GPS tracking wrist watches for your older children.

12.                    GPS tracking devices for your pets.

13.                    House locks that lock or unlock with a touch of your finger.

14.                    Travel bags and suit cases that lock and unlock via smartphone.

15.                    Gas cooking ranges that have digital video displays and can be operated with your smartphone.

16.                    Numerous home security cameras: one with an orb recording capability (spherical recording.)

17.                    An electronic belt that warns you if you gain weight and automatically loosens when you sit down.

18.                    And of course, numerous personal drones with various capabilities.

  

It is a new world.   Many things are better, but at a cost.

the Ol'Buzzard