Bloody officialdom....

[whatknot]

Yes. Initially they were going to take the recycle weekly which would have been good, but that seems to gone by the board.

Our printed leaflet (yet more recycling) says fortnightly recycling and rubbish collection and weekly for food

As we are direct onto a village street there are going to be a heck of a lot of new wheelie bins littering the village, what an eyesore

They also state that the wheelie bin has to be a closed lid, anything else they won't take

And they put the council tax up to the highest they could

 

[paulrbarnard]

Growing older we are also mostly wiser and can remember better days when you were not surrounded by so many acts of stupidity and incompetance. We seem to be going through a phase of replacing people with cheaper alternatives, take a walk into a bank and cashiers have been replaced by machines that can only do the basic's but cannot provide advice or assistance with anything else. You should be offered alternative methods and not forced to require a passport for getting things like the government gateway or need a so called smartphone to do things, it should be your choice. So much technology these days has been created simply because we can, if it was really essential then we would have died out as a race many decades ago. It is a good time to be old because would you want to re live your life in the world of today, the world is not moving on but in a state of collapse and turmoil where us older folk are hanging on trying not to fall into the abyss. So many people are mere sheep just following the gospel according to social media and no longer free thinking, hence this current phone zombie culture where the lights may be on but not much going on inside so getting things done becomes harder, no work ethic's and any of you running a business will have experienced this.

I think it is all a matter of perspective. For example a lot of the things you lament I gladly welcome. Why would I go to a bank and deal with a person when I can do 99.9% of what I need to do instantly on line. The only time I’ve been in a physical bank in the last 10 years has been because the bank insisted my wife and I attended together in person to get her name added to one of my accounts.
Parking with apps only was another shortcoming for some but I can just rock up in a car park see which company is contracted and instantly pay without getting out of the car. I can also ‘feed the meter’ with most of the apps without going back to the car. The only improvement would be a single app rather than the five I currently have. Most of them are directly supported by my wife’s car directly.
I hardly ever use my payment cards either. Just wave my watch in front of the card reader.
I went to the doctors last week and was able to share my heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen and amount of exercise for the previous month all from my watch. My Dad who is close to 90 even has his blood pressure monitored remotely through a watch he wears.
I find the technology is enabling rather than disabling.

 

[Spectric]

It will be a sad day when we no longer need to venture outside, work from home, order food and everything online whilst becoming even more distanced from our natural surroundings and losing our social interactions. Don't forget technology works both ways, paying for things by waving a credit card might be easy but it is also as easy for the criminals. I personally do not trust a lot of this new technology, it might be good for indicative purposes or looking for trends in data but it has it's limitations. My doctor still uses the old pump and stethoscope simply because it gives her more accurate results, nothing wrong with my digital machine at home for relative readings though.

 

[selectortone]

It will be a sad day when we no longer need to venture outside

E.M.Forster forecast this in his 1909 short story 'The Machine Stops'. He forecast a future where people lived alone in underground cubicles, had everything including meals delivered and communicated by what is now called social media. We're quite a good way there now.

 

[paulrbarnard]

E.M.Forster forecast this in his 1909 short story 'The Machine Stops'. He forecast a future where people lived alone in underground cubicles, had everything including meals delivered and communicated by what is now called social media. We're quite a good way there now.

I would find it a sadder world if I only went out when I needed to go to the bank or to buy food.
I go out everyday for walks, to visit people and for things that I want to do. I’m more than happy to deal with the things I have to do simply and at my convenience, even late at night, through on-line services.

 

[Yorkieguy]

It will be a sad day when we no longer need to venture outside, work from home, order food and everything online whilst becoming even more distanced from our natural surroundings and losing our social interactions. Don't forget technology works both ways, paying for things by waving a credit card might be easy but it is also as easy for the criminals. I personally do not trust a lot of this new technology, it might be good for indicative purposes or looking for trends in data but it has it's limitations. My doctor still uses the old pump and stethoscope simply because it gives her more accurate results, nothing wrong with my digital machine at home for relative readings though.

Some good points there.

'Social Media' is an oxymoron for 'Antisocial Media' where people should calm down a bit and lower their voices an octave or two, as often as not replying to an argument or assertion by attacking the person presenting the argument or assertion rather than the argument itself. (‘Going for the player – not the ball’). It's the force of the argument that carries the day - not the force with which it is put.

So many troubled and angry people out there who have yet to learn the lesson to not feed trolls. If you haven't read it - they haven't said it. It puzzles me why some invite others onto their computer screen who they wouldn't invite into their homes.

As to social interaction, during lockdown we were forced to find ways of getting by which didn't involve close personal contact - ordering shopping on line, used Zoom or Facetime to keep in touch with friends and family, some watched keep-fit videos on TV, used Whats App etc. But what I soon realised is that I don't go to a coffee shop because I'm thirsty and I don't go to a restaurant because I'm hungry - I could have a coffee or meal at home.

And I don't go to my woodturning Club (closed for 2 years due to Covid), just to watch a demonstrator who I could watch online anyway. We're social animals - I do all of those things to be among kindred spirits and to socialise. It makes me feel good. What lockdown did was to take away the choice.

Zoom is great for conferencing with people who may be at different locations far apart, but for social interaction with friends and family, it falls far short. Last weekend My wife and I drove 500 miles down to London and back to celebrate our twin granddaughters 22nd birthday, and both gaining Firsts at Oxford. Zoom can't compete with a hug and a kiss.

They spent their first year at Uni in their tiny rooms, with a bed, desk, chair laptop and kettle, doing 'online learning', with lecturers hiding in corners somewhere. Couldn't even share their own birthdays together, let alone with other family members, being told by the government 'don't hug your granny - you could kill her'.

No children were taken out of school in the last century through two world wars. Pointless trying to 'put the frighteners' on octogenarians like us - the Grim Reaper has us in his sights. We've had our time - we spent our early childhood in and out of air raid shelters, and walked to school with our gas masks, doing air-raid drill at play-time.

Thought for the day:

'The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it'.

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 11thC.
(He was clever).

Sorry, waffling and dribbling again.
David

 

[artie]

we spent our early childhood in and out of air raid shelters, and walked to school with our gas masks, doing air-raid drill at play-time.

Exactly how old are you?

 

[Spectric]

Do these people actually realise the amount of energy being consumed to run the servers on which antisocial media runs from, Google uses over 15 Terrawatts and facebook 58 megawatts. Why do people think the world needs to know what they are doing and to see pictures of what they are eating, are people really that vain.

The ones that really make me laugh are the so called youtube influencers, people obviously are now more gullable and open to persuasive marketing rather than self thinking, it makes you realise why people get scammed as the line between reality and wishful thinking is so blurred.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It puzzles me why some invite others onto their computer screen who they wouldn't invite into their homes.

My friend many years ago came into the pub and announced that he's sold all his CB equipment. He was a fanatic and when asked why he told us the day before he'd spent half an hour talking to someone on the radio he wouldn't have wasted two minutes on if they'd met in the pub.

 

[artie]

he told us the day before he'd spent half an hour talking to someone on the radio he wouldn't have wasted two minutes on if they'd met in the pub.

Ain't that the truth. A bit like being on holiday if you meet someone from your own area you spend a hour at least talking to them, but at home you wouldn't wave across the street.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Being in hospital with many people is the same.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Do these people actually realise the amount of energy being consumed to run the servers on which antisocial media runs from, Google uses over 15 Terrawatts and facebook 58 megawatts. Why do people think the world needs to know what they are doing and to see pictures of what they are eating, are people really that vain.

The ones that really make me laugh are the so called youtube influencers, people obviously are now more gullable and open to persuasive marketing rather than self thinking, it makes you realise why people get scammed as the line between reality and wishful thinking is so blurred.

15 Terrawatts for Google sounds like an immense amount of energy. The answer to a quick search (on Google) " power consumption per search" - the answer:

Google says it spends about 0.0003 kWh of energy on an average search query, translating to roughly 0.2g of carbon dioxide. Related fact: searching the web 100 times is equivalent to drinking 1.5 tablespoons of orange juice

I am not trying to be dismissive but recognise the world in which I grew up from the 1950s has changed radically. I can empathise with many of the comments re social media etc.

From my perspective the way we live could increasingly bear comparison with intensive farming - small "cells", limited daylight, kept entertained by the trivial, health monitored constantly, and potentially fed a controlled (vitamins, fat, protein, fibre etc) optimal diet.

The perspective of the young is very different - the "app" is the answer to everything, social relationships extend well beyond their local town, using AI, Alexa, internet etc is not a way to avoid intellectual effort but add to their capacity.

My 10 year old granddaughter is far more tech savvy than me - the problem may be the growing old, not being young.

Typical behaviours and attitudes in the 1960s now seem either unacceptable or bizarre - eg: rampant racism, mods and rockers, football hooliganism, foreign food is "muck", bring back national service, respect for politicians, etc etc. The world moves on - sometime we fail to!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Heaven forfend we bring back respect for politicians.

 

[Yorkieguy]

Exactly how old are you?

Since you ask:

85 next birthday. (Six when WW2 ended, 10 when clothing rationing ended, 15 when food rationing ended). Still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up!

 

[highwood122]

Had a reminder to renew my driving licence yesterday.
"Save time, do it online!" suggested the document, adding "Having your driving licence, national insurance number and passport (if you have one) details will help your online application".
Note the "if you have one" bit...

So, name and address completed, date of birth, place of birth, mother's maiden name, driving licence number, NI number...then came to the passport question. I haven't got one.
Well, I have, but it's expired.

The form says "press next" if you haven't got one.....so I did.....and that's when it confirmed that the system couldn't confirm my identity.
A bit of swearing on my part, before I started again, this time filling in the expired passport number. After all, it doesn't actually state that it must be current....
Same result.

So even though the system knows my full name, address, birth date and place, my NI, my mother's maiden name, and the fact that I'd once had a passport (for which I must've proved who I was, perhaps even with a copy birth certificate?), the system doesn't know who I am....

Apparently I now have no option to apply by post, once I've managed to buy some new photo's somewhere.

What a waste of bleediin' time....

i had a new passport still wouldnt work

 

[paulrbarnard]

15 Terrawatts for Google sounds like an immense amount of energy. The answer to a quick search (on Google) " power consumption per search" - the answer:

Google says it spends about 0.0003 kWh of energy on an average search query, translating to roughly 0.2g of carbon dioxide. Related fact: searching the web 100 times is equivalent to drinking 1.5 tablespoons of orange juice

I am not trying to be dismissive but recognise the world in which I grew up from the 1950s has changed radically. I can empathise with many of the comments re social media etc.

From my perspective the way we live could increasingly bear comparison with intensive farming - small "cells", limited daylight, kept entertained by the trivial, health monitored constantly, and potentially fed a controlled (vitamins, fat, protein, fibre etc) optimal diet.

The perspective of the young is very different - the "app" is the answer to everything, social relationships extend well beyond their local town, using AI, Alexa, internet etc is not a way to avoid intellectual effort but add to their capacity.

My 10 year old granddaughter is far more tech savvy than me - the problem may be the growing old, not being young.

Typical behaviours and attitudes in the 1960s now seem either unacceptable or bizarre - eg: rampant racism, mods and rockers, football hooliganism, foreign food is "muck", bring back national service, respect for politicians, etc etc. The world moves on - sometime we fail to!

Search is a very small part of Googles usage. In the tech press last week there was an article about data centers having to go liquid cooled and even local nuclear power generation to deal with the increased loads from AI processing.

 

[artie]

Still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up!

I can relate to that.

Sometimes one doesn't realise just how recent "the war" was.

 

[MikeJhn]

I am old enough to remember the aftermath of the war (75) Rationing etc also being hurried into a shop in Holloway Road to avoid the Black Shirts (Oswald Mosely) pushing everyone off the pavement, but what astounds me is the fact that man first took flight in 1903. No one had a laptop or computer in that age, the enormous advance in technology is just staggering.

I believe that having things delivered and shopping on line has greatly contributed to prevent the spread of Covid, my OH and I have managed to avoid it.

 

[stuart little]

I am old enough to remember the aftermath of the war (75) Rationing etc also being hurried into a shop in Holloway Road to avoid the Black Shirts (Oswald Mosely) pushing everyone off the pavement, but what astounds me is the fact that man first took flight in 1903. No one had a laptop or computer in that age, the enormous advance in technology is just staggering.

I believe that having things delivered and shopping on line has greatly contributed to prevent the spread of Covid, my OH and I have managed to avoid it.

I always thought Germany was top of the pile with their recycling etc.. I recently bought some Bosch lip & spur drill bits, they came individually packed in a plastic tube with a 'butterfly' combined stopper/hanger-upper! talk about excessive use of plastic!

 

[flying haggis]

Over recent months I have applied for a new passport, replacement driving licence (change of address) and a further new driving licence (70 years young).

All done on line. Photos at Timpsons who know how to take an acceptable picture. All straightforward and quick despite some horror stories.

Holding on to paper licences, insisting on ones rights, denying ownership of a smartphone etc may be very principled - but simply wastes a lot of time and energy. A bit like wasting the time of a scam caller - any pleasure in so doing is offset by the knowledge I am wasting my time as well.

Wasting the time of a scam caller is never time wasted!....