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Friday, April 25, 2008

Ancient/Modern/Postmodern Friday Five

From Singing Owl:
Yesterday I had two separate conversations in which people were musing about how much change is occurring. The WW II generation, of which my mom is a part, went from horse and buggy to automobiles, saw the lessening, or even the end of many diseases, went from widespread use of kerosene lamps and outhouses (in the country, and most folks were rural)) to a totally electrified and plumbed society. The fastest means of communication was a telegraph. The second conversation--gulp--was about MY generation and how much change occurred in the last half of the 20th century. The person said his 13 year old had not seen a vinyl record album until a few days before, couldn't remember a time without cell phones, and on and on.


As for the questions!

1. What modern convenience/invention could you absolutely, positively not live
without?
The computer, of course! I started blogging as an experiment, and now I’d addicted. Plus there are video chats with the Exceptional One in my future. But I say that knowing that I take air-conditioning for granted, and I’d give up (gulp) the computer/internet not to be so hot all the time.

2. What modern convenience/invention do you wish had never seen the light of day?
Junk mail of every variety. If it’s not wasting paper, it’s wasting memory and computer time and space on my answering machine. And let’s not talk about the energy and people-time wasted…

Why?
Or maybe we will talk about it. Waste, waste, waste, and more waste.

3. Do you own a music-playing device older than a CD player? More than one? If
so, do you use it (them)?
I have an MP3 player that I don’t use, but I play most of my music on the computer. Windows Media Player—I’m behind the curve here.
(It would be a better answer if I had read "older" instead of "other"...my bad. There's a tape deck in my car. I occasionally use it for books on tape when I'm driving.)

4. Do you find the rapid change in our world exciting, scary, a mix...or something
else?
I do find it exciting, even though I’m what you might call a slow adopter.

5. What did our forebears have that we have lost and you'd like to regain? Bonus
points if you have a suggestion of how to begin that process.
A slower way of life. Because we have cheap electricity, we can stay up later and keep ourselves busier. Studies show that using computers and other electronic devices before bedtime makes it more difficult to sleep, and then we’re tried and crabby all day. At least I am. So my suggestion would be that we learn to follow the sun a bit more, to go to bed at a reasonable hour, and de-tech and de-stress a little. And I should be the first to learn…

8 comments:

  1. Ahh, junk mail. Yes, good point.

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  2. What Mrs. M said. OH YEAH! Didn't think of that one.

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  3. HAving been on the computer till mumble mumble hour last night....I'd agree on that following the sun thing!

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  4. It is so funny I read number three wrong as well.

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  5. Junk mail! That's a good one.

    And No. 5: Benny Franklin had it right with "early to bed and early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise."

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  6. yes, junk mail.


    and 5 stars to a slower way of life. (sigh).

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  7. just wanted to say "hi"... i read the F5 yesterday but had no mojo with which to respond.

    and yep this week's sermon is yet another sermon to myself. i leave tomorrow on a retreat and am so, so, SO looking forward to getting connected!

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  8. Junk mail includes all these catalogs. . .

    The only way I can stand living in south Texas is having an air conditioner.

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