topic Re: How technology affects us... in BreakPoint

How technology affects us...

Ray.R — Thu, 01 May 2014 13:26:29 GMT

That's just for one email account....

Re: How technology affects us...

jcarmody — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:08:38 GMT

I applied for a job a few years ago that required me to email my resume', but their email server kept bouncing it back. I eventually resorted to mailing them a hard-copy. During my interview I was told that they wondered why a "technical guy" would use snail-mail instead of email.

Re: How technology affects us...

crossrulz — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:20:23 GMT

And 3218 of those is nothing but SPAM.

I question some people anymore because they are constantly checking their email. Why. It is nothing but junk anyways. Once a day suits me quite well. Of course, I'm refering to home email. Work email is important enough to leave open all day.

Re: How technology affects us...

altenbach — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:27:01 GMT

Interestingly, regular mail has basically turned into a spam delivery service. All my bills are electronic, so all I get are advertisements in the mail box. OTOH, e-mail has turned into a well filtered service where spam very rarely makes it into the inbox. 🙂

Regular mail is no longer useful for information delivery. It still does serve a purpose to deliver physical goods ordered on the internet. 😉

Re: How technology affects us...

elset191 — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:35:55 GMT

@altenbach wrote:
...

Regular mail is no longer useful for information delivery. It still does serve a purpose to deliver physical goods ordered on the internet. 😉

An industry which, of course, has largely been privatized. Not sure how much utility the USPS has left.

Re: How technology affects us...

yenknip — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:57:46 GMT

@crossrulz wrote:

Work email is important enough to leave open all day.

I check my work email 3 times a day, all email notifications are turn off, and I never have my Instant Messenger running. Constant interruptions are a prime cause of buggy software.

Re: How technology affects us...

altenbach — Thu, 01 May 2014 16:00:29 GMT

@elset191 wrote:

@altenbach wrote:
...

Regular mail is no longer useful for information delivery. It still does serve a purpose to deliver physical goods ordered on the internet. 😉

An industry which, of course, has largely been privatized. Not sure how much utility the USPS has left.

The USPS is actually quite competitive. I have used their small flat-rate boxes many times. There are also combined services, where only the local delivery is done by USPS (UPS SurePost, FEDEX Smartpost).

Re: How technology affects us...

SnowMule — Thu, 01 May 2014 20:28:27 GMT

@elset191 wrote:

An industry which, of course, has largely been privatized. Not sure how much utility the USPS has left.

Take all the junk mail you get that has those business-reply envelopes in it and separate the envelopes from the junk.

Remove personal identification, leaving the "spam".
Shuffle the spam and the envelopes. Visa to Mastercard, mastercard to chase, etc.

Put the shuffled spam into the envelope, and drop the envelope(s) in the mailbox.

Re: How technology affects us...

Ray.R — Fri, 02 May 2014 11:53:18 GMT

@SnowMule wrote:

Take all the junk mail you get that has those business-reply envelopes in it and separate the envelopes from the junk.

Remove personal identification, leaving the "spam".
Shuffle the spam and the envelopes. Visa to Mastercard, mastercard to chase, etc.

Put the shuffled spam into the envelope, and drop the envelope(s) in the mailbox.

If everyone did this, I wonder how long it would take for them to realize that it is just that spam!

Unfortunately... not to quote alpha.... but there is a high percentage of people who actually look forward to such spam... thinking that somewhere in the garbage of wasted trees, there is some form of happiness.... which is yet never found...

Some companies, including banks are now charging up to $2 per paper invoice / information (per month) that they send. As people go to "on-line" billinb/banking, other than receiving the occasional package from amazon (which is usually delivered directly to the house) or some wedding invitation, or DVDs from NI, the rest is practically all spam.

Re: How technology affects us...

altenbach — Fri, 02 May 2014 14:45:18 GMT

We have an election coming up and the mail recently was at least 80% shiny fliers. why do they all think they look more impressive if it is printed on thick, high-gloss cardboard? They all could use 75% less fiber by switching to thin glossy paper, but nobody wants to go first. All of it goes traight to the recycling bin, what a waste.

This brings me to a very related shift in technology. The loss of landline phones. Except for the occasional call of my parents, it is now 99% fake surveys, election pitches, shady offers and outright scams (Yes, I have been registered on the national do not call list since its inception). Landline phones are now basically worthless (mine is actually VOIP, but that's a technicality). I think landline phones will disappear faster than the USPS.

Re: How technology affects us...

elset191 — Fri, 02 May 2014 17:23:06 GMT

If we all voted for the candidates who we received the least amount of spam from, I'd bet it stop eventually. That's probably not a very sound way to run a democracy though. (Although, I wouldn't be surprised if I learned that the candidates I'd vote for send less paper spam.)

I can't remember the last time I used a landline outside of work. (> half my work calls are on my cell too) It was probably some time around 2005, while I was still in high school living at my parent's house, before I had a cell phone. Whenever I visit home and the phone rings they never answer it because it's always spam of some sort.

Re: How technology affects us...

PaulG. — Fri, 02 May 2014 18:00:50 GMT

@altenbach wrote:

The loss of landline phones. Except for the occasional call of my parents, it is now 99% fake surveys, election pitches, shady offers and outright scams (Yes, I have been registered on the national do not call list since its inception). Landline phones are now basically worthless (mine is actually VOIP, but that's a technicality). I think landline phones will disappear faster than the USPS.

I haven't had a landline in 8 years. We are even getting away from them where I work. Never looking back. I can't imagine what it's like to live in a schizo swing state like Ohio with a landline during an election year.

Re: How technology affects us...

crossrulz — Fri, 02 May 2014 18:10:36 GMT

PaulG. wrote:I can't imagine what it's like to live in a schizo swing state like Ohio with a landline during an election year.

My parents can tell you that it is painful. They actually told the people to not call them or they will absolutely not get a vote.

The only reason they still have their landline is for my grandparents (they don't like to change things they have been doing).

Re: How technology affects us...

AnalogKid2DigitalMan — Fri, 02 May 2014 18:23:39 GMT

One way that cell phone technology has affected me is that I don't remember new phone numbers anymore since they are in my contacts.

I do keep a printed list in my wallet as a backup in case my phone dies, but I can't recall the last time I referred to it.

The last time I got a new cellphone, the first thing I did was to press redial, it sorta kinda freaked out....

-AK2DM

Re: How technology affects us...

RobCole@Work — Fri, 02 May 2014 20:18:45 GMT

I have not seen a single election flyer yet that told me what a candidate stands for. They all are telling me how bad the other people are. I call it "hate mail".

I still think we deserve to pick the best candidate, not the one who's the least bad (which is what the advertising seems to be saying).

Rob

Re: How technology affects us...

PaulG. — Sat, 03 May 2014 13:17:27 GMT

RobCole@Work wrote:

I have not seen a single election flyer yet that told me what a candidate stands for. They all are telling me how bad the other people are. I call it "hate mail".

I still think we deserve to pick the best candidate, not the one who's the least bad (which is what the advertising seems to be saying).

Rob

Good luck with that. Our political system and media have not been more corrupt in my lifetime.

Re: How technology affects us...

thoult — Sat, 03 May 2014 19:59:06 GMT

Regarding landlines, we have buried phone cables here all the way back to the local exchange. In the event of a power cut, an old-school corded phone will still be fine to make calls, when the local cell tower will be down. That and it being a pre-requisite for a DSL connection are the only reasons we still use them.

Regarding snail mail spam, there's a particular jingoistic political party here that's been sending leaflets out to thousands and thousands of homes. Some bright spark realised you could send them back from whence they came using the party's own freepost service, at their cost. It's a little silly and petty - it's inefficiency all round - but it's potentially very satisfying to see it turn up in their letterbox!

Re: How technology affects us...

altenbach — Sat, 03 May 2014 20:22:37 GMT

@thoult wrote:

Regarding landlines, we have buried phone cables here all the way back to the local exchange.

No such thing for me, because I am in a FIOS neighborhood. When they laid the fiber, they removed the copper completely. That was many years ago and I never had a situation where I wanted it back.

I am not sure about the argment, for example in the case of a big earthquake here (I am in Southern California ;)) it is equally probably that the local exchange goes down or the nearby cell tower. Also remember to keep a corded phone around, because cordless phones will stop working in a power failure too.

I you want to be really prepared, keep some lead-acid battery bank and a ham radio in the house... 😄

Re: How technology affects us...

Ben — Mon, 05 May 2014 13:04:17 GMT

@altenbach wrote:

@thoult wrote:

Regarding landlines, we have buried phone cables here all the way back to the local exchange.

No such thing for me, because I am in a FIOS neighborhood. When they laid the fiber, they removed the copper completely. That was many years ago and I never had a situation where I wanted it back.

I am not sure about the argment, for example in the case of a big earthquake here (I am in Southern California ;)) it is equally probably that the local exchange goes down or the nearby cell tower. Also remember to keep a corded phone around, because cordless phones will stop working in a power failure too.

I you want to be really prepared, keep some lead-acid battery bank and a ham radio in the house... 😄

Now that is an area were I am working now.

Two emergency gas generators.

Solar collectors

Wind turnbine

Spare generator for the water wheel to drive.

Working on a steam engine...

That in theory can be upgraded with a larger cylinder. It may power everything in the shop.

Watch the lead-acid bateries since core heating can affect their performance.

Deep-cylce are what you want.

You need a license to operate the HAM radio to do more than just listen.

Make sure you have food and water since delivery could impact food supplies. I suggest having enought for about eight people minimum for about a year and half. Last I looked the wife had enough spaghetti and sauce to feed a small army for a month before she has to resort to others stuff.

There may be other things that can be said about technology but at least we can say is eventually it will fail.

And if you are not experienced in growing your own food, store more while you make your mistakes. Good news. Seeds will often last more than a year if properly stored.

Ben

Re: How technology affects us...

SnowMule — Mon, 05 May 2014 16:23:25 GMT

@altenbach wrote:

I you want to be really prepared, keep some lead-acid battery bank and a ham radio in the house... 😄

in the truck

2nd deep-cycle battery, 2kW suitcase generator in the bed, plus the truck's engine... VHF/UHF 50W mobile, plus a couple of handhelds... with the added bonus of being fully mobile...

...just so long as I have fuel.

and that's just into the truck... :umph