A Web for Everyone!
Welcome to the New Year and more exciting advances in online technology! I can't wait to see if the 2012 predictions -- including increased mobile marketing, greater use of the cloud, and continued growth of online video will happen even faster than predicted.
I hope all the readers of this blog received the latest technology gadget on their wish list! While visiting my parents for the holidays, I was intrigued to watch how my 81-year-old father would take to the Kindle Fire he received as a gift from my brother. My dad doesn't even use the desktop computer. He leaves that task to my mom.
He was, at first, unsure what to do with the object. My brother set it up and began to step him through some of the resources. I saw my dad's eyes sparkle with interest as we showed him how to access Pandora and set up his own private radio stations. No matter how old the blue grass or country musician my dad named, the album cover popped up on the screen and the music began to play.
Next we went to YouTube and typed in the name of the new Suzuki humming harmonica I had bought for him. Instantly, we were watching a demonstration on how it was constructed and how to play this unique harmonica.
Next we accessed Netflix where my dad could watch his favorite shows whenever and wherever he wanted. Finally, by brother loaded the game Angry Birds. Ok, now we had gone too far. It was time for a break from technology. Besides, my dad needed to run to the general store to pick up his local newspaper. Still, my brother and I were delighted that my dad found his interests online and would enjoy the gift.
Technology is no longer a cold, mathematical venue for the geek. Personalized mobile devices enable us all to learn, share and entertain ourselves no matter what our age or interests. I can't wait to see what exciting new technologies 2012 will bring, and I hope you are, too!
Rishabh commented:
I agree with others here that the aemtnlly ill are likelier to be victims of crime than its perpetrators. But it was either Doctor X or Assistant Village Idiot (on their sites) who wrote this week about how certain types of people with personality disorders manage to function incredibly efficiently at killing others, Stalin for example. To say that someone is aemtnlly ill implies a level of disorganization and lack of personal responsibility for their actions (ie: their not being liable for their actions). However, although I do not own a gun myself, I have a sister who lives in Arizona and have visited her there and I can say that many good, decent people there own guns for self-protection. Not her. She's very anti-gun (has very PC children). But I met many perfectly stable, balanced people of every political stripe there who owned guns. It isn't only insane murderers or right wing types who do. If you saw some of the poorer barrios there, they look like mud huts or shanty towns in Argentina where I grew up. Or heard the stories of home invasions in nice neighborhoods (3 in my sister's, in broad daylight one week when I was there). There are scam artists, and drug related crimes and robberies that turn violent. I noticed it because where I live in the NE, the houses are unlocked and cars unlocked. There the cars are locked in garages, doors and windows barred, and still people have to be extremely careful about checking ID for door to door salesmen and delivery people. Ironically, the civilized people in Arizona are far friendlier, more polite, and more hospitable than most of us Northeasterners. So it isn't a question of obnoxious gun-toting Westerners versus peaceloving Northeasterners. One of the scariest things to me about this story is where do you draw the line? Because clearly this guy was scaring people with his threatening behavior and nobody felt able to do anything. Had he been under 18 they could have sent him to therapy, or kept him in for extra social skills or all the panoply of Special Ed services for disruptive kids (altho, from what my sister tells me, the schools in Arizona have very little money for that stuff). But with an adult, there's not much you can force someone to do until they do something awful. The tough part is that you don't want people able to have ordinary plain weird people locked up or forced into counselling because people find then odd. How do you preserve the liberties of all the thousands of troubled and harmless developmentally disabled or aemtnlly ill young people while protecting the public from potential threats like this guy?
Shanna commented:
You've really captured all the essentials in this sbuecjt area, haven't you?
Janese commented:
Appreciation for this iofnrmaiton is over 9000-thank you!
todd s commented:
Yes, new technologies to help people! There is a new website that offers (for free) companies contact information and pictures of their products. This looks like a very helpful and fun site for everyone! www.BuyFurnitureYouLove.org,
