Cell Phone Zombies

[cooldude]

Any of you guys ever seen a "cell phone zombie"?

You can tell who they are right away. They spend all day wih thier head down, staring stupidly at thier cell phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTduyvT8zoM

The whole world is going on around them, but they wouldnt know. They are oblivious to everything around them. Its more than annoying. Its pathetic really.

And some of them drive like that!  

[RallyeMike]

People are so busy capturing and sharing the mundane details of their lives they are missing out on the real thing. I don't get it, but I imagine it's similar to what old timers thought when TVs invaded every home.... "why the hell would you want to sit around and watch that garbage?!"

I will happily live the rest of my life without ever having a smart phone. I hardly even have my flip phone turned on.

[Ryan.C]

People are so busy capturing and sharing the mundane details of their lives they are missing out on the real thing. I don't get it, but I imagine it's similar to what old timers thought when TVs invaded every home.... "why the hell would you want to sit around and watch that garbage?!"

I will happily live the rest of my life without ever having a smart phone. I hardly even have my flip phone turned on.

agreed

[JB400]

Didn't get a smart phone until just recently.  I ended up turning most of the features off.  Why anyone would want something like this, I don't know.  Waste of time and money.  Only reason I got one was to talk to the boss, which I don't have to worry about anymore.

[Lighthorseman]

I'm not sure the other LEOs out there will have the same experience, but in my area, we 're dealing with more deaths due to distracted driving than impaired driving.  So many times, the cellphone is in the driver's lap, with a half-completed text-message onscreen.

[Kern Dog]

I remember when personal computers were getting popular in the late 80s. One of the companies ads touted how these devices can "Bring people together". 
Holy crap...They may have done that to some amount but they also have allowed introverts to sink deeper into their holes away from society. Ever met a Software developer? Ever met an "Extreme Gamer"?? Some of these people are so pale and fat from rarely ever going outdoors to do anything. These introverts are lacking in social skills and freak out when things don't go their way.
I do not follow ANY social networks aside from a few car forums.
I have heard people say how someone they know online posts about the coffee they had that morning or how the boss made them stay late.... Does anyone really give a crap about that stuff??? Okay, maybe their shallow online friends will "Like" a comment just so the OP will "Like" theirs later.
It happens on car forums too. Some guy will post....."I changed the oil today..." Really? Who cares? Get back to me when there is something unusual, funny or tragic that happens while changing the oil.

We are in an era where there is no "real" tragedy to band together. The military fights for us in far off lands that most of us will never see in person. Hunger is not as serious here as it is elsewhere. I certainly am not anorexic. Poverty is real but so is FREE government help for the really needy. Since we have no big struggle, we occupy our time with distractions that 3rd world countries have never heard about.

Yes...Cellphone Zombies are a pathetic eyesore. What in the hell is so damn interesting or important???  What is wrong with walking and enjoying the scenery or talking with the person next to you?  Are these Zombies a byproduct of an overstimulated society with 24 hour news channels, 500 cable TV channels and all night fast food restaurants ??

[XH29N0G]

OUCH     I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

[Lighthorseman]

......OUCH    I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

[alfaitalia]

I'm not sure the other LEOs out there will have the same experience, but in my area, we 're dealing with more deaths due to distracted driving than impaired driving.  So many times, the cellphone is in the driver's lap, with a half-completed text-message onscreen.

Here the Police are clamping down hard on using mobiles (ok...cells!) at the wheel. It's always been illegal but the fine just doubled to £200 (about $160) and 6 points on your licence. If you get 12 within three years you lose you licence for a year. Speeding is only usually 3 points so you can see they mean business. What triggered the clamp down was a texting trucker who killed a whole family when he ploughed into a stationary queue of traffic.


That said I would not be without it..although I don't walk along the street looking at it. It's just too useful. Web access when out and about without having to carry a big in tablet around is very useful...not to mention I have my Charger and Mercedes FSM on it and Torque diagnostic software (the OBD adapter is always with me...just in case!).

Also if my wife texts it probably means I don't have to actually talk to her...lol.

[dual fours]

OUCH     I was reading this on my daily walk and just walked into a parked car.

Stupid car!

[dual fours]

Yes...Cellphone Zombies are a pathetic eyesore.

Wait till they start to reproduce.

[tan top]

Any of you guys ever seen a "cell phone zombie"?

You can tell who they are right away. They spend all day wih thier head down, staring stupidly at thier cell phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTduyvT8zoM

The whole world is going on around them, but they wouldnt know. They are oblivious to everything around them. Its more than annoying. Its pathetic really.

And some of them drive like that!  

yep about right for that certain  generation     been saying this for the last 5 or so years , think the world is going to end up like the silvester stallone film  demolition man    ....  don't think its  that far off now  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZqM2sAX91M

[Lighthorseman]

Cannot recall the name, but there was a pretty funny movie whose premise was that the dumbest guy on the planet got transported to the future...where he was a comparative genius, as society had dumbed down SO much that he was the smartest guy on the planet.

Wish I could remember the name of the movie.  

[XH29N0G]

I remember the plot too, but also can't remember the name of the movie.

That's not a good sign.

Oh I know, I'll ask my phone.....

Just did?  And I got idiocracy.. Wow these things are great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Dino]

I remember the plot too, but also can't remember the name of the movie.

That's not a good sign.

Oh I know, I'll ask my phone.....

Just did?  And I got idiocracy.. Wow these things are great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[Kern Dog]

I think about this stuff often. The stupid seem to breed much more and faster than the smart people do. Todays average person may know how to use a computer and a cell phone but cannot fix a car, change a tire, fix a refrigerator, mow a lawn, build a doghouse or cook. The smartest of society are probably smarter than any person from the past buy THEY are not the ones that reproduce the most. The stupid are reproducing at a faster rate.
On average, the people are getting dumber and less self reliant. A person from the 1800s would survive a catastrophe far better than any person today.
Evolution? How about DEvolution.

[XH29N0G]

I have heard that argued before, but I don't think it is that dire. 

I'm in a line of work where I see a swath of smart kids.  I meet very smart people who were: the first in their family; the kids of immigrants; from poor families and the key is opportunity. As a society, I don't think we are anywhere near running out of smarts or breeding ourselves into dumbness.

The key is opportunity for people to pull themselves up and succeed.  Education (not just talking book smarts, but business smarts, and the types of do-smarts that were just described) are what allow us to do that.  I am still very optimistic about people's prospects. 

[Dino]

 

What he said!   

[alfaitalia]

I consider myself to be a rather better than average home mechanic (complete engine rebuild, tuning, bodywork....Ill do it all to standard that most would be happy with (not most on here I would guess!!))....I worked in the motor industry for nearly 20 years but only about 12 months of that was on the wrenches....I wanted more cash....so moved into car sales! However I learnt my "skills" myself......and the main reason I did it was because I was always broke as a kid and I lived out in the sticks so even getting a broken car or motorcycle to a garage was a problem. Its amazing what you can learn if not fixing your car means not getting into town to meet girls at the weekend!! But lack of cash to pay others to fix it was the main reason. Lots of kids now are heavily backed by their parents...too much IMO..."my cars broken dad...will you pay for the garage to fix it? ...Of course son"...where is the need to learn how to fix it yourself there? My dad would show me what to do....but that's it. If I could not fix it or afford the parts.....then I didn't drive it! I guess a lot of the basic servicing I learnt without even realising it after all the times I watched dad service his old motors....they were old back then!
So yes there are bright kids out there.....but we make life too easy for them so they don't bother to learn the sort of stuff I love doing today. Nothing more satisfying than hearing that motor fire up that a so called expert had said was past repair....or seeing that bead of welding go perfect...at only the tenth attempt!!

[dyslexic teddybear]

JMO....perhaps many are confusing lazy with being dumb. I see many, many examples of younger people in entry level jobs, and doing all sorts of outdoor activities that require effort...without a phone glued to a hand.

Every person I see with a phone glued to a hand seems .....just lazy. Too lazy to bother with a real life.

Driving.....a bit different....I see all ages being careless.....and a lot of stupid. Modern cars can almost drive themselves......so now we have ads with smiling people showing how enjoyable and safe it is to depend on your car to stop so you can do other important stuff instead of driving....as you drive.

Yet law enforcement constantly talk about how big a problem distracted driving is......at the same time above mentioned ads promote.....driving without paying attention. The dumbest part.....we are teaching people to do it.

[cooldude]

I have heard that argued before, but I don't think it is that dire.  

I'm in a line of work where I see a swath of smart kids.  I meet very smart people who were: the first in their family; the kids of immigrants; from poor families and the key is opportunity. As a society, I don't think we are anywhere near running out of smarts or breeding ourselves into dumbness.

The key is opportunity for people to pull themselves up and succeed.  Education (not just talking book smarts, but business smarts, and the types of do-smarts that were just described) are what allow us to do that.  I am still very optimistic about people's prospects.  

I think that modern,  macro, socio-stupidity is a learned trait. Does that make any sense?  

In other words,we are being taught how to become stupid.

[XH29N0G]

Learned stupidity is not a new thing but you are right that cell phones have given me a new way to express it.

When I was 11, it was all about seeing how fast my grandfather's the car could go down my his driveway - at least until he came out and stopped us.  I guess the 4 wheel "o shit" skid marks and torn up back yard might have given us away.  His response?  "Why don't you drive in the pasture instead." 

[cooldude]

That sure was fun stuff wasnt it? Nothing better than tearing up a pasture in a festival of stupidity and horsepower! Yeah, those were the days.   


As for cell phones, I think they attract, and then captivate some people in a way that channels thier infancy. Like a pasifier does to a baby.

What happens when the pacy gets taken away? They cry and pout, and act out tantrums. 


Remember the kids in school, like 1st or 2nd grade, that were always less mature than the rest of the class? Some were still sucking thier thumbs, or dragging around a ratty old security blanket, or so on.

My grandpa even told me of one woman who would come to his school and take her son behind the building at lunch, (1920s) and was still breastfeeding her son, when he was about 8 or 10 years old.

Some people develop slower than others. And the cellphone craze seems to grab on to some people in such a way that takes them right back to infancy.

Its a rather sort of insidious marketing ploy, me thinks.

[XH29N0G]

My son, who is home on spring break, just let loose a tirade.   

Apparently he lost 50% off his grade for being on his cell phone during a presentation.   

Problem is, he says, he was the one giving the presentation. 

He sent the professor a note, and we will see how that turns out.  I hope for the best.   

Come to think of it, they didn't have emoticons when they had landlines 

[ws23rt]

My son, who is home on spring break, just let loose a tirade.   

Apparently he lost 50% off his grade for being on his cell phone during a presentation.   

Problem is, he says, he was the one giving the presentation. 

He sent the professor a note, and we will see how that turns out.  I hope for the best.   

Come to think of it, they didn't have emoticons when they had landlines 

Wow--Did he not have a head's up for his presentation?  Was it an intended trap?

Are we in a transition period where the professors are playing games with our kids.

Our kids will learn what we give them and add it to what they live in life. Talking this stuff out at home is vital.

[XH29N0G]

I think he will sort it out; he suspects it is a case of mistaken identity and has brought it up with his professor.

He is having a blast his first year in college with a job at the wind tunnel where he models turbulence with computers and by joining the SAE Baja racing team. 

Cell phone gets used to send pictures of stuff they make and to show videos of these vehicles in competition.  This coming Saturday is a scrimmage. So yes cell phones are ever present. 

[69DAYTONASE]

Shocking to see this so widespread the first time I picked up my kid at college. I felt like yelling out: "pick up your heads, reality is going on all around you" 
There were actually studies done years ago to find out why the boomer generation wasn't as well socialized as previous generations and it was discovered the culprit was TV. This computer and ipod stuff is MUCH worse than TV was and is!
Has anybody noticed there are hardly any kids playing outside like they used to?
Sad indeed!

[cooldude]

Yeah, us genxers were a lot tougher lot than the snowflakes kids of today, in general.

We didnt have "safe spaces", and not everybody got a trophy. A safe space back in the day, was just a place to keep the beer cold.

Sensitivity training was for dogs, not people, and we were a lot more rough and tumble, and playing outside in all sorts of weather. We got into fist fights, played the dozens, and didnt have a bunch of panty waist, hand wringing ninnies following us around to protect us from getting offended over some ridiculous slight.  

Political correctness should be made into a noun, so we could substitute it for toilet paper when needed. Thats about all its good for anyways.

I think that every generation gets weaker and dumber than the last.

Thats one of the things I liked about the old school Mopar hobby. Back then,there was real competition, and there was a chance to prove that we (and our brand of cars) was better than everybody else, and that they sucked. And its perfectly OK to be better than other people. No brag, just fact.

Whah, no trophy for you, brand X geeks. Better luck next time!

That was the attitude we had, and we expected them to be the same. It was a point of honor to compete for all one was worth.

And thats how it was done, when we pulled up in a ground shaking Mopar with some uncorrect rock music going really loud, while skipping school.

Heck Yeah!

[Kern Dog]

I agree.
The blame for the Millenials being a collection of entitled assclowns falls ENTIRELY on the people that raised them. Sorry, OUR generation did this to them with a LOT of help and direction from the Government. THIS is of course their absolute intention, to get MORE people dependent on the Government.

A group of people raised to be responsible and self reliant will have a better chance of success than .....Oh,  say a collection of people that blame others for their problems, look to Government for solutions, demand vacations and medical benefits and a $15 minimum wage, etc.

[69DAYTONASE]

Agreed!
But this entitlement problem actually began full tilt with the WW2 generation who were the first to encounter and be programmed by a "centralized" (socialist) public school system. Being endoctrinated in collectivism they were the first generation to continue promotion of it. Unwittingly aiding those who aggressively favored the very philosophy they fought against and that resulted in the deaths of millions of people in WW2...National Socialism!
In New York State you HAVE to pay public school taxes or they will seize your property, doesn't matter if you have kids in the system or not. Socialism.
If funding of schools was tuition based the result would be a better education due to direct accountability to the parents for the classroom content.
Want a shocker? Read some of the McGuffey's readers schoolbooks which formed the core of what the generations prior to WW2 were educated on. 4th grade language skills that exceed today's present graduate college skill level.
Dumbing down? Oh.....you betcha-and with a sinister motive! To destroy a free thinking America and turn it into a "socialist utopia" (the last two words are an oxymoron)
The enemy my good people is right in plain view herding your kids and grandkids into those yellow sheep pens on wheels known as school buses and rushing them off to your local indoctrination centers known as public schools for their daily dose of liberal and progressive humanist propaganda!
But try to talk to the average parent about this and you always get the same response: "Well, I went to the public school and I turned out ok".....blee, blee, bleeeee- ah-h-h, no you didn't!
The social ills from the 1950's to present day should be enough to wake up anybody.

[Kern Dog]

Lucky for America, not EVERYone has blinders on.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

[timmycharger]

Want a shocker? Read some of the McGuffey's readers schoolbooks which formed the core of what the generations prior to WW2 were educated on. 4th grade language skills that exceed today's present graduate college skill level.
Dumbing down? Oh.....you betcha-and with a sinister motive!


Reminds me of an older movie "idiocracy" if you have not seen this, its worth a watch in my opinion.  Pretty funny movie, basically predicting where we are heading as a society.

[Lighthorseman]

That's the one! 

[timmycharger]

That's the one!  

Shoot! I missed your earlier post on this!!


edit: and the two responses after... 

[69DAYTONASE]

Lucky for America, not EVERYone has blinders on.

People may be waking up. I am encouraged by my kids friends. Pretty much all raised in a traditional manner, home schooled, Christian schooled. My kid was home/Christian schooled and did the first 2 years of college at my Alma Mater, made Deans and Presidents list. The valedictorian was a 100 percent home schooled kid. The top 5 students were all home/Christian schooled.  
But we all had to still pay public school taxes.
Almost, if not half, of this country still has their hands over their eyes, ears, and mouth- content to live as a mushroom in the dark....

"Political correctness is tyranny with manners"
-Charlton Heston  

[RallyeMike]

CBS national news was reporting tonight how pedestrian deaths are up 25% due to both drivers and walkers who are distracted. While reporting, a women in the background of the shot clearly jaywalks in front of cars at an intersection ...... talking on her phone 

[69DAYTONASE]

  this must make Bill Gates very happy since he is a very vocal advocate of decreasing the population of the planet.
(Never mind that the earth was created FOR a created mankind, not mankind evolved from a chance random process as a result of a spontaneous event.)

[alfaitalia]

Ermmmm...I think you may have gotten that the wrong.......oh never mind.

[Dino]

Ermmmm...I think you may have gotten that the wrong.......oh never mind.

Yeah don't bother, you won't be getting anywhere with that.   

Lots of irony in this thread, and the rest of the boards, good fun.   

[69DAYTONASE]

Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anybody's feelings. I forgot we aren't supposed to discuss religion or use religious symbols like the Angel Emoji provided  oops, I did it again, sorry!  oops, sorry! 

[cooldude]

People are having their brains rewired, by cell phones. They are also having their idea of what society is, and should be, is also being rewritten.

Its sickening, really. I marvel at the overt stupidity.

We might be able to explain to the zombies out there, that this sort of careless stupidity is how the Roman Empire was weakened to the point of collapse. People just got mentally weak, which led to political instability.

Politicians of Rome used short sighted policies of government nanny state tactics, such as social welfare, free bread and benefits of all sorts to gain the support of the mob in the streets, which only led to more mental weakness, less integrity by the politicians, and really bad government policies.

Whole parts of the Empire were being overrun and captured by barbarians. The mob in the streets didnt care, as long as they got more government handouts. They just lived in a bubble, oblivious to what was happening to the Empire.

And then one day, Alaric showed up with a small army of barbarians, laid siege to the city of Rome itself, and the handwriting was on the wall. AD 410, and Rome fell.

We could possibly explain these things to the kids of school age today, if they could lay down their cell phones long enough to listen. But even while we speak,the phones would be endlessly buzzing and beeping, and the mush filled minds of the kids would stray.

They might even break out in a sweat, as cell phone addiction has a Pavlovian response symptom. 



I fear it is a hopeless situation. I fear the country has already passed the point of no return. Too far gone to save.

[Kern Dog]

How about THIS...?
People that shoot video from their phones in the upright position. I call it "Vertical Video". It looks like shit....like looking through a doorway.
Our eyes are side by side. Because of that, our computers, TVs and movie screens are all a 4x3 aspect ratio, WIDER than they are TALL.  It is a natural thing for our images to be viewed wider than tall. Lazy idiots that film pictures and video in the vertical format have infected youtube, LiveLink and every other site.
Look at 2 videos of the samething, one shot vertically and the other shot in the right way. Anyone with more than 3 brain cells would see that a vertical aspect looks totally inferior.

[redgum78]

Another (not very good!) movie is "Cell" cell phones turning their owners into Zombies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775440/

[69DAYTONASE]

I fear it is a hopeless situation. I fear the country has already passed the point of no return. Too far gone to save.
[/quote]

It's the humanist foundation to thinking taught in the public schools and promoted by the media in general that results in these mind numbed dronebots tuning out to reality.
Our country was formed dependant on an informed electorate participating in government.
Like you, I have wondered many times if this country is too far gone. I think the greater problem is with an unwillingness of the part of people to speak out against this sort of thing(political correctness.. Tyranny with manners) 1st amendment being what it is, not many are willing to exercise it for fear of ridicule.
Throughout my kids Christian schooling the students were taught "responsible use of the internet" ...that it should only be used for educational purposes and wholesome entertainment. But I can recall more than one of the high school teachers at her school chastising students on what exactly that means. Any violation meant their iPhone was taken away and the parents had to pickup the device and meet with school administrators. Suffice to say violations were rare!
I will admit to eating crow myself on this subject when I thought my kid was on the Internet too much looking at nonsense only to find out the subjects looked at were faith strenghtening organizations.
How did I find out ? Unbeknownst to me I got signed up for 3 of them by my kid which allows me to sent protest letters with a few Clicks to various media outlets to combat their degrading programs. These organizations have a very high success rate too!

[cooldude]

Yep, I see your point.

Perhaps the issue of cell phone zombies is one merely, of an underlying lack of self control, the inability to govern ones self in a reasonable way?

I wonder if people who are cell phone zombies, are more likely to become addicted to other things to the level of unhealthy addictions?  Or, more easily led astray by peer pressure, or media hype,or the systematic brainwashing by the public schools,or just any  fad or trend coming down the line?

Perhaps the cell phone zombies lack a certain moral strength, and are moral and intellectual weaklings?

If that be the case, then the only way to break their addiction to cell phones, is to help them grow as human beings, until they simply outgrow the addiction?

[69DAYTONASE]

You have a good point there in everything you are saying. 
Instead though they will probably portray it as a "disease" and raise taxes to fund "treatment" for it....y'know $1 for the cause and $99 for the government 
Maybe they can call it "reality aversiphobia" or give it a cutesy acronym like: IBP(Idiot Box Phobia)syndrome.
I'm sure there must a pill for it already with numerous side affects that can cause death and is known in the state of California to cause cancer!

[RCCDrew]

At work today we have been talking about the recent trend of people dying while playing video games between 12 to 30 hours straight. So it's not just cell phones.
Read the book The Unincorporated Man. In the future (in the book) millions die due to Virtual Reality. VR becomes so good that people like VR better than their own lives. They end up starving to death while in their own chosen adventure.

[ws23rt]

I have no personal problem with what others do with their waking hours.

If someone want's to play video games all of their waking hours -that would only be a part of -my- business if and when money/aid comes from my pocket in the form of taxes.

Stuff like this is self leveling unless the gov. gets involved.

Someone that wakes in the morning and seeks the drug of their choice to fill their day is not much different. It's a personal choice and letting it play out as it will is best.

The last thing we need would be centers for these folks unless they paid up front for it.

[Chad L. Magee]

Excellent!  The plan is working perfectly.  No more need for brains...

[Insert generic evil scientist laugh here]



Ironic that the misuse of technology may be our true downfall....

[ws23rt]

Perhaps salvation?--I am an optimist.

[cooldude]

Here is a funny video of people texting while walking...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVAC_vpzSI


Look at those idiots!   

They are all around us. We see them everyday. Ive even seen cops driving a car while texting.

What a shame that we as a people have become so stupid, isnt it?

[Cncguy]

I'm a little guilty of this, as I anticipate the next Charger to come up for sale. I hope once I find one,  and buy it, that will be the cure for my infection.

[sunfire69]

Saved one yesterday...not sure why....this guy was about 40 maybe 45...talking on his phone and stepped right off the curb into traffic...he hadn't noticed the light had changed...I had to yell at him to stop but he doesn't stop his call....

[cooldude]

How many thousands of dollars have people wasted on cell phones, paying the ridiculous exorbitant monthly bills, just so they can send a text while driving that says..."What R U doing?"...Or.."What ya eating"?

Thats money wasted that could have been spent on something real, like actually owning and fixing up an old Mopar.

Instead, they have what to show for  years worth of working and slavishly paying cell phone bills?

(Answer...Nothing)

For what they waste on a years worth of paying cell phone bills, they could have the money to go out and actually enjoy the hobby, and maybe buy some things like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tr5eoRkpcI

But instead, they stupidly pay the huge bills, month after month, and have nothing to show for it at the end of the year.

Some people are so easily led around by the hucksters, and convinced that they cant be hip unless they waste money here on this fad, and waste money there on that fad. Always some new fad or huckster to get their money.

And in the end, they get absolutely nothing to show for their money. Nothing.

For the price of a monthly cell phone bill, they could have been investing in stocks and bonds,which even if they perform poorly, would have at least built up some value.

But paying a monthly cell phone bill, month after month, is a 100% loss, guaranteed. But people are dumb enough to settle into the harness, and go to work day after day, to keep mindlessly paying the bills. They dont even question it anymore.

They just accept the economic slavery, like the stupid Ox accepts the yoke of its master.

And its all for nothing. No chance at getting any permanent gain for months and years of toil.

You know how the old saying goes..A fool and their money are soon parted.

[Kern Dog]

Well, THAT was depressing but true. 

[alfaitalia]

KD...you telling me you have not noticed a pattern in his depressing, everyone is out to get us, the government are out to keep us downtrodden and powerless, the youth of today are useless and are going to ruin the future for everyone, the end of the world is nye type posts? Lol. No?....must be just me then. Maybe I'm wrong and cooldude is happily on his way through life with a hop and a skip and a cheery wave!...or not.
Life's too short....gotta get on and enjoy it without worrying too much about this shit. As Jethro says (Cornish comedian...YouTube him) .."you have got to live each day as if it's your last day on Earth...cus one day you will be bloody well right!"......And the way your new leader is going....that might not be so fanciful. Oops...politics...that's me banned!

[Kern Dog]

I like the new leader a LOT more than the last 2 we had.

[69DAYTONASE]

I'd say the "new" servant of the people(remember he works for us) has the last few genuinely "Trumped" !

[stripedelete]

I didn't see any anything depressing about cooldudes post.

He said, "delayed gradification is the only way to get ahead.  Instant gratification will lead to a lifetime of working for the bank".

At least that's what I read.  And I couldn't agree more.

What's depressing is those living-in-the-moment will soon be confiscating what I sacrificed for.

[69DAYTONASE]

So true, I am reminded of a quote from British Prime Minister Thatcher:
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money."

[alfaitalia]

So true, I am reminded of a quote from British Prime Minister Thatcher:
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money."

Lol....very true. I always had plenty of time for Maggie.....I'm in a minority now though....folks only remember the bad things she was forced to do because of the economic climate of the time and soon forget the good. Fairly typical I guess.
Not sure what people spending there own hard earned money on phones has got to do with socialism though....its not like they got them through government handouts!

[stripedelete]

So true, I am reminded of a quote from British Prime Minister Thatcher:
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money."

Lol....very true. I always had plenty of time for Maggie.....I'm in a minority now though....folks only remember the bad things she was forced to do because of the economic climate of the time and soon forget the good. Fairly typical I guess.
Not sure what people spending there own hard earned money on phones has got to do with socialism though....its not like they got them through government handouts!

I can help with that.   The best way is to tell a story we were read in school, at home, and I think there was even a cartoon when I was a kid.  I'm 54 so I'll update it for the times.   

There were a group of squirrels living in the woods.  One squirrel was forward thinking and spent the summer working on his nest and the fall gathering nuts for the winter.   The other squirrels mocked and teased the forward thinking squirrel.   They spent these days playing in the forest, taking thier little squirrels to Disney every year or flying to the beach.  They all had the latest iPhone with expensive data plans so they could check the other squirrels status while they were lying around their oversized nest.  They went out to eat 5 times a week and paid someone to mow thier squirel lawn.  So they had plenty of time to watchHBO, Showtime and the Movie Channel.  They only drove best squirrels cars and tossed anything out that didn't work any more instead of making the smallest attempt to repair it.  All of this was placed above nuts and paying for squirrell healthcare.

Well the winter finally came and it was a bad one!  The forward thinking squirrel was fat as hell, sitting in his nest reading the Wall Street journal and contemplating the purchase of a tree in Florida, "because who needs this shit".
The other squirrels were cold and starving, so they come to the squirrel who practiced a little delayed gratification and asked him for nuts.   
===> Now when I was a kid, this was the point in the story when the live-in-the-moment squirrels froze to death.
But since I'm updating the story........

When they demanded nuts, he said, "no way Jose,   busted my ass for these nuts!".   But that didn't make any difference.  You see the other squirrels had elected a squirrel president and government that promised to take care of them.  So they cried for HER help.   She said, "From each according to thier means, to each according to thier needs".  Or something like that.  Maybe it was something about having less of the nut, so others can have more of the nut.

Anyway, she called him greedy and claimed there was no way he could have saved that many nuts without the help of the government.  So she deprivatized his nut 401K and spread it around.  There was nothing he could do since they had banned private ownership of squirrel guns years before.

Later while still a relatively young and healthy squirrell( maybe 70 in human terms) he developed a  heart problem.  He needed a simple stint to survive.   But he was told that he had lived long life and he was now a burden to those other younger squirrels lying a around thier nests ( staring at thier cell phones to find out what the other squirrels had for squirrell breakfast) and he should go back to his nest and get his squirrel affairs in order.

When he died they took whatever nuts he had managed to hide and gave one to each of his children and the rest of the nuts went to the government for redistribution.

That should clear up the correlation between pissing away money and socialism.   It did for me---when I was 6.

[Kern Dog]

Holy crap... that is some heavy stuff.

[XH29N0G]

The moral? Ditch the phone, save your nuts, and hope for the best, but the last one is not in your control.

Depressing?  I read this morning that one of the tax proposals would benefit the top 1% with 99.6% of the proceeds.  This means those who saved up till now might not hit the same fate as those who saved before.  Unfortunately, I don't think I'm at that level.

[cooldude]

KD...you telling me you have not noticed a pattern in his depressing, everyone is out to get us, the government are out to keep us downtrodden and powerless, the youth of today are useless and are going to ruin the future for everyone, the end of the world is nye type posts? Lol. No?....must be just me then. Maybe I'm wrong and cooldude is happily on his way through life with a hop and a skip and a cheery wave!...or not.
Life's too short....gotta get on and enjoy it without worrying too much about this shit. As Jethro says (Cornish comedian...YouTube him) .."you have got to live each day as if it's your last day on Earth...cus one day you will be bloody well right!"......And the way your new leader is going....that might not be so fanciful. Oops...politics...that's me banned!

Aw, shucks. There aint anything depressing in my posts at all, as long as one is on the right side of the example.  

Human history is one long repeating story of imbalance and correction. Like a see saw.

When the old see saw gets too loaded with stupidity(as it is today), there is a tilting and rolling off moment, and when the source of the stupidity has fallen off, it resets for a time. And the whole thing repeats itself sooner or later.

Wisdom isnt depressing, except to the unwise.

Its not that the groups you mentioned are out to get us, as much as they are just facilitating us in our relentless pursuit of stupidity, as we relentlessly "get" ourselves.

[Kern Dog]

How about THIS...?
People that shoot video from their phones in the upright position. I call it "Vertical Video". It looks like shit....like looking through a doorway.
Our eyes are side by side. Because of that, our computers, TVs and movie screens are all a 4x3 aspect ratio, WIDER than they are TALL.  It is a natural thing for our images to be viewed wider than tall. Lazy idiots that film pictures and video in the vertical format have infected youtube, LiveLink and every other site.
Look at 2 videos of the same thing, one shot vertically and the other shot in the right way. Anyone with more than 3 brain cells would see that a vertical aspect looks totally inferior.

Maybe there is hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA&t=10s