That's because it was an excellent transaction. Communications were top notch, packaging was protective and tracking number was supplied. Not only that, the part was whole and worked. I'd recommend Paul to anyone looking for Rover parts.

As for that other little schism.... piffle.... it was nuthin. Just a different point of view. Makes the world a more interesting place.

I'm a Father, Son and Holy Ghost guy.... he isn't.

 

Senormac, I'm glad you're happy with the part you needed. Thank you for the business.

 

Off-road, while I hate to cite Wikipedia, below is the link to the page devoted to the concept of "Singularity." It's coming, likely in most of our lifetimes depending on who you cite. It's simultaneously thrilling and chilling.

Technological singularity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Hi Paul, I know it's Wikipedia but it's a good synopsis of where we are headed. It's exciting, chilling and frightening and one of my concerns is how many can really see it and can many rise to the occasion or just fall be the wayside. I see it as the ultimate challenge but many will see it as a threat to their livelihood and existence. We should be preparing the very young today for this phenomena not preaching whatever religion to them instead. Unfortunately for many, if not all, there is no stopping this march of technology and it'll take more than blind faith and a few hail mary's to save their asses. It's no good having lots of 'smart' credit cards when you ain't got a job and any cash in the bank and the bailiffs are foreclosing on your house and chattels.

 

Isn't this kind of what the Terminator movies were about ? Ah-Nold was one of them.... then, in the second film he became a protector of man against them

 

I think you are hiding from the inevitable Senormac, it's the only way forward given the past 25 years and longer of advancements. As I said, many will never accept or recognise the inevitable and resort to the ostrich scenario but there won't be anyone to stand them up and dust them off. Even I can see the glaring signs at my tender age so surely the younger people can if they care to look. If you read Gizmag, which is simplistic in it's concept, and peruse the Chinese techno websites what many see as their everyday life is a decade behind the times today. The only way forward for us all is with eyes wide open and exerting mental agility like never before otherwise it's early redundancy, no retirement and with no state handouts. When one looks at the state and international economies it's clearly obvious the 'pots' are empty, zilch, only national debt wherever one looks and commercially the winner takes/grabs all. Sad but true, loyalty in the workplace is history as is the pension industry as we know it.

 

I think you're underestimating the nature of human interaction and how the very essence of our being relies on being connected, in some manner, to their fellow man. I may say I'm a hermit but I need people in my life and when the going gets tough people create cottage industries and bartering occurs. Warmth, caring, interaction, and love will always be a constant in society.

 

Well, this may be a little to left of center for many of you but this is about the only way a society based on consumption (which is what we essentially all are) can continue. I think this is the direction we will ultimately move in and I think governments and the corporations that are supporting them will recognize that the way were are currently travelling, before lone consumption will be unsustainable. Thus, is order for governments to keep themselves alive and corporations to continue to make money, they have to provide for the very people being squeezed out of the market.

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/can-a-g...ty-and-poverty

Right now this concept would seem to be utterly implausible. But, at some point in the future, both governments and corporations will see their very existences threatened by the sheer number of people who have been alienated from the consumption class. It will be in their best interest to provide some form of an existence so as to maintain consumption and suppress the urge for rebellion. This is where the notions of "A Brave New World" come into play.

We, as a species are easily distracted. Look to the number of people who will happily line up hours and days in advance of the issuance of the new iPhone! We are so into our things, be they sports, video games, celebrity watching, whatever. If governments, in conjunction with corporations, can come to some sort of means for providing the masses with enough support that they can feed their entertainment addictions, all will remain fine.

Have any of you read David Foster Wallace's masterpiece in metafiction, "Infinite Jest?" I cannot recommend it strongly enough. He was one of the greatest authors of the later half of the 20th century. Sadly, a victim of depression, he took his own life a few years ago and the world is sadly lacking as a result. He had a power of observation of the human being and his addictive qualities like few others. But I digress.

To me, governments and corporations will find it in their best interests to mollify the masses with bling. It won't take much and if it's successful, there will be little concern of any civil uprising (unless, of course, we run out of iPhones or similar nonsense). In Huxley's New World people used Soma, a drug offered to everyone, to keep them happy and quiet. How different is that from the insane magnitude of kids on Ritalin, adults on Effexor or any or the other medicines handed out so freely today. Hell, there's even a sleeping pill, or maybe it's classified as an anti-anxiety called Soma that's available today. That's scary.

The bottom line in all of this is that for the foreseeable this is the direction I think most first world countries will be forced to go. Those that are able to work within the newly evolving economy will, naturally, do wildly better than those left to video games, junk food and TV. But, they (the people who either doubted or checked out of any opportunity for advancement) won't be a bother because they will have been taken care of leaving those truly able to prosper in the new economy free to reap the benefits of their hard work.

Inequity will be greater than at any time during the industrial or post industrial boom but with the masses mollified, possibilities in the coming singularity will be like nothing the world has ever seen.

 

Good food for thought there Paul. It's a bit late, 02.54am to be precise (I'm an insomniac), for me to assimilate and digest the thought train right now but tomorrow when I'm working away on the landscaping I'll be thinking this through. All my 'insights' come to me when working in the garden

On this subject my immediate thoughts are that those out of kilter 'have nots' who formerly 'had' everything, many will opt to literally jump off the merry-go-round into oblivion rather than face an increasingly uncertain future, which in fact, will suit the governments down to the ground. Rather cynical as it may sound it's very possible. I have to admit I wouldn't want to be 21 again envisaging what I see as a 'big brother' manipulated and depressing future.

 

Much as I hope you are correct KD I actually believe your hopes and trust is deluded in this respect. It's not a passing phase like WW2 or the Great Depression we are entering, this is the ongoing evolving future and I'm afraid those same people will be out to look after themselves and their kith and kin. I doubt whether I'll ever see the future as I 'see' and 'read' it today but if one extrapolates the past 10, 15 or 25 years or even 50 years it's not beyond human comprehension to envisage the future.

Thankfully you seem to have more faith in the human race at large than myself for which I commend you and have some admiration but I believe I am not a manic depressive but see the realities as they unfold and it's the very recent history of the past 5-10 years that's the telling story. Maybe I've got it totally wrong, in some ways I hope so, but in truth, I don't believe so.