On May 17, 9:52*am, Swingman wrote:
On 5/17/2011 8:15 AM, J. Clarke wrote:





In , says...

Swingman wrote:
On 5/16/2011 5:39 PM, Bill wrote:
-MIKE- wrote:

Old people have been saying that about every technological advance in
the history of civilization.

I thought of that while I was typing.

I'm sure there were old cavemen who said
fire and the wheel would make everyone lazy.

And how many people in your family could start a fire without a pack or
matches or a lighter if their life depended on it!

Technology seems to breed ignorance--especially such as the "assembly
line"--which devoured the tradesmen whose "lost" skills are coveted by
many of us. Just sayin'.

Don't look now, but the fact that the average caveman scratched fleas
around an open fire, lost his teeth at 15, and lived to the ripe old age
of 21, BLOWS your "technology seems to breed ignorance" contention
completely out of the water, there Bill!

Maybe we should say "technology seems to result in forgotten knowledge",
instead? * I know that the vast majority of college students cannot
explain how a lamp works (they lack the concept of "circuit").

Note by the way that the average cave man did not "lose his teeth at
15" or "live to the ripe old age of 21". *If he made it to 20 he usually
made it into his 50s or 60s. *People equate "average life expectancy"
with "average age at death" and it doesn't work that way. *As for teeth,
the incidence of tooth decay in the paleolithic was about 1 percent--
most of those 50 year old cave men died with their teeth intact.

IOW, if the advancements in quality of life and the increase in healthy
life span through technology is breeding "ignorance", I'll take all you
got.

Careful what you wish for. *I think if they double the cost of health
care a few more times one may wish they were a horse! *; ) *If they put
any more preservatives and (tasty) artificial flavors in my food stuff,
I might not be able to eat at all!

The actual "increase in healthy life span" hasn't been that great. *The
big improvements have come at the other end, with major reductions in
childhood and infant mortality. *A modern adult is not likely to live
all that much longer than a cave man but a much higher percentage of
infants make it to adulthood.

Clarke ... go **** yourself.

You might think you know everything there is to know, Dude ... But
you're woefully inadequate at recognizing a joking reference when you
see one.

Must be nice to have that much time to waste on self-righteous Googling
for naught, Jeeezus!

--www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 4/15/2010
KarlC@ (the obvious)

One of the funnier lines in the movie version of The Flintstones (John
Goodman, Rick Moranis, Nicole Kidman, FB O'Donnell, Elizabeth Taylor)
was when Goodman said: "My father lived to the ripe old age of 34."
Clarke would likely take exception to that joke as well.

Come to think of it, that was actually a pretty good movie, B-52 doing
the theme song..yup, was kinda fun.

And THAT reminds of the time I gave the keynote speech at the wedding
of a Navy buddy in Halifax Nova Scotia. As he was one of the members
of HOG, the party was very well populated by bikers (there were 70+
HOGs in the procession). As the night wore on, I slipped a quickly
assembled CD into the player and the opening cut was The Flintstones
by The B-52's. The place went nuts! Lots of fun. Then Flowers On The
Wall by Eric Heatherly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9f7uhZcbfQ)
really got the place rocking.
One of the bikers, named 'Tiny" (400+lbs) said: "You're a crazy son of
a bitch, you know that!?" and proceeded to damn near break my back in
a bear hug.
Fun times.
Fun times.
I think Tiny liked me. *blush*