The Oppenheimer Report - 6/11/12

I seem to spend a lot of time in this blog raging against the machine, and more specifically against the relentless march of technology. I suppose I‘m just turning into a grumpy old man, but I do seem to spend an inordinate amount of my free time trying to get some confounded electronic device or another to operate correctly. The other day, on my drive into Huntsville I had two different cell phone problems. As required by law, I use the hands free features on the phone, but while en route it simply stopped working. I pulled over and spent ten minutes simply trying to get my stupid (smart) phone to turn on. I must have inadvertently pushed something and now the phone would turn on and then immediately shut itself off. Then the Bluetooth stopped communicating with the speaker in the car, and that seems to be an ongoing problem having to do with my very disappointing Tom Tom GPS. After another fifteen minutes of fiddling around with that piece of crap, it began to operate properly on its own. There seems to be the obligatory half hour of time spent every day fiddling with some software glitch or malfunctioning hardware. While I concede that most of my problems fall into the category of “operator error,” some of this electronic stuff is just not user friendly. They should have a special section of Consumer Reports devoted to Codger Friendly electronics. Just give me a can with a long string.

While I do grumble incessantly about technology, there are some pretty cool things one can do on the computer today. The other day, Shauna wanted to see where a newly discovered relative lives in Ontario, and she, who is much more inclined to embrace new technology than I, consulted the new and improved Google Earth. For the three of you out there who may still not have heard of this internet feature, Google Earth is a satellite function which enables the user to beam in on any point on planet earth, simply by punching in a location. I have glided over the mountains of Palm Springs, California in a failed attempt at nostalgia (I did not recognize a thing and it seems the city has changed a bit in the past 50 years), and taken an aerial tour of the coast of S. Africa. I have not used this feature in a few years and they’ve improved it immensely in that time. I read somewhere that the technology is so advanced that now there are privacy issues. Finally, I can find out what’s been going on at Area 51!

Spain got her bailout, except we’re not calling it a bailout, it’s an investment in solvency. What a surprise, the stock market rallied. Every time we loan someone $125 Billion that seems to happen. Ireland and Greece weren’t too happy about this latest Euro bailout though; I think they were actually required to be accountable for the money they were loaned. Parts if the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama are underwater after heavy rains hit the area, with three to six more inches of rain expected in the forecast. We’ve been having a lot of weird pop up thunderstorms up here in the GWN, including a little golf ball sized hail and a funnel cloud not from our house. The LA Kings won their first Stanley Cup tonight beating the NJ Devils decisively (6-1) in Game 7. And how many years has Toronto failed to even make the playoffs?

　

　

　

　

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED