Has Society embraced

Is that link not supposed to work??

]:)

I hit tiny url

http://tinyurl.com/dugu6

in aug/sept 2004.
Who else is missing? ]:)

I think we have not lost "human" touch.
As automatic features do enable much technology it is still the user (the human being) who determents what to use.
Let alone think about the possibility that it gives to elder to contact their (grand) children thousands of kilometers away. And see and speak to them by internet chats+cams. Or play games or...
Those features are to be measured as well as the ones that are (or can work out) more negative like in the Winnipeg case.

Rob

This Winnipeg guy is obviously an extreme case of reclusivity (if that's a word). Our technology-driven world works both ways. There is less face-to-face interaction but there is also more knowledge-sharing. The TR website is an example. I'm not a psychologist, but this sort of interaction will probably cause kids to mentally develop differently than in the days with no Internet (Internet being only one example). Kids may grow up with more knowledge but less equipped to cope with the real world issues of dealing with people and solving problems that only other people cause.

For this Winnipeg guy, why didn't the mailman notice that his mailbox was overflowing? Seems like somebody, somewhere should have noticed this guy was gone. If I ever go more than 3 months without posting a message on TR, will someone please come look for me? Thanks.

I agree with a combination of the above posts. We techs have taken on the responsibility of making lives easier, making things work more efficiently. But the users must realize themselves that if they adopt all tech, than they will lose out on the human factor. It is up to them to decide whether they want that or not.

As for myself, part of my extended family, like many that are out of state, keep in touch via IM and digital photos. I say this is a great improvement because I'm terrible at sending letters. (sending, not writing. One year I found Xmas cards to be sent 3 months after Christmas!)

And my personal preference is to pay bills online, but not direct deposit or automatically. I like to decide when each bill gets paid.

So the amount of human interaction, as well as how much you'd be missed if you were gone, depends on the end-user. If you're a recluse, than you're going to be unnoticed, even in a primitive society.

Well, as much as can be achieved.

Direct deposit, online banking, online bill paying..Ebay, Amazon, LLBean, all online.

I IM my firends/family. Email if I have something longer to say. Sent Valentines via online sites.

Heck, I even order my friday night Pizza online.

And what is the end result? I have MORE time to be around people I want to be around. I can do in 5 minutes online what might have taken hours to do 10 years ago. This frees up time to do what I LIKE to do- and be with people that don't have thier palms out, wanting my money.

Except for my son, of course. He always suggests that I can spare him a few bucks. But, at least he does it face -to -face.

wording.

By statuatory warning do you mean like the warning that comes on some hair dryers: Don't use in the shower? :D

I say this because with halitosis, bad breathe is better than no breathe at all. Likewise for technology. With halitosis you have the choice of brushing your teeth or using mouthwash. With Technology you pick and choose what you want to implement and how far you will go with it.

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)

I was down to my last flower petal.... :D

[B]Not Sarcastic[/B] it is then .... Thank you old guy .... Charmed, I am sure.

]:)

This one was found two days ago not far from where I live. I may have driven by her house. I was wondering what that swarm of flies was. You can't blame this mummy on isolation due to technology.

[b]Woman lived in fear and isolation
After body found in house, cashier recalls lonely, timid friend[/b]

09:06 PM CST on Thursday, February 16, 2006
By MARGARITA MART?N-HIDALGO and MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News

Police are investigating whether the Mercer Drive house where a body was found had been burglarized. After not hearing from her for more than a year, Ms. Moore learned Wednesday that Ms. Day's life may have taken the most tragic of turns: Police found the mummified body of a woman inside Ms. Day's home.

Although the Dallas County medical examiner's office and police have not positively identified the body, a police report lists the victim as 54 years old, the same age as Denise Day.

And residents in the upper-middle-class neighborhood near White Rock Lake are all but certain the dead woman is Ms. Day.

Ms. Moore, 43, said she tried to reach Ms. Day during the last year but to no avail. Dozens of phone messages went unanswered.

She dropped by the house in the 9300 block of Mercer Drive several times, but no one came to the door. The last time she saw Ms. Day was in 2004, when she took her grocery shopping.

"I'm just really distraught, to tell you the truth," said Ms. Moore, sitting at a table in the cafeteria. "I knew all this time something was wrong."

Dallas police detectives are trying to contact relatives and two women who might have entered the home two weeks ago, said Deputy Chief Alfredo Salda?a, head of the crimes against persons division, which investigates unexplained deaths.

First police report
A neighbor called police Feb. 1 and said the two women arrived in a pickup, entered the home with a key and left with some boxes, according to a police report. But it's unclear who they were.

Deputy Chief Jan Easterling, who oversees the northeast division, said a neighbor had called police last April, but no report was made. Other than those calls and one on Wednesday, police have found no other calls concerning the victim or the house.

A report on Wednesday shows that an e-mail request came in about 10 a.m., asking that Ms. Day's home be checked.

Jackie Moore, Denise Day's friend, said she knew something was wrong. Later that day, about 3 p.m., an officer entered the two-story home through an unlocked garage door and discovered the mummified body on the floor of a downstairs bedroom.

According to the report, other doors were locked and windows were covered with iron bars. It appeared that the utilities had been turned off, and neighbors said no one had been living there for about a year.

Officials with Dallas Water Utilities said service was shut off for nonpayment in April. The last payment received was in January 2005.

Chief Salda?a said detectives are investigating whether the house had been burglarized because the inside was in disarray.

Dresser drawers were open, and clothing and newspapers were strewn on the floor. The house was so cluttered that there appeared to be nowhere to walk.

"Usually when people live in conditions that are cluttered, there's usually a pathway that they walk though, but this one was hard to determine," Chief Salda?a said.

Chief Easterling said police are also investigating possible burglaries at two other homes owned by the Days.

Officers went to the homes in the 2900 block of Rambling Drive in the same neighborhood, but on the other side of Ferguson Road.

"There was enough evidence for the officers to make the burglary offenses at both these locations," Chief Easterling said.

Neighbors said that the two houses were burglarized last week. In one incident, a neighbor said that on her way to work, she saw a man crouching in between the two houses, which are side by side. Three days later, another neighbor saw two people taking an antique car from the garage of one of the houses, neighbors said.

Neighbors said the Days bought the two homes 20 years ago but never lived in them and never rented them out, despite paying taxes.

According to property tax records, the houses are assessed at about $135,000 each. Post office records show someone asked that mail be forwarded to a post office box in 2004. The box was closed in July.

Ms. Day told Ms. Moore she was an only child, that she'd gone to college and that she had married once, when she was in her 20s. She also said she worked with her father, Glenn Day, who died more than a decade ago.

Ms. Moore said she met Ms. Day about 10 years ago. The woman and her mother were regulars at the East Dallas eatery, and Ms. Moore recalled her friend loved to eat brisket, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas and peach cobbler.

At the restaurant, she seldom mingled with other customers and kept to herself. Ms. Moore said her friend was a "sweet, sweet girl" but had a lot of problems and lived a sheltered life.

Most of their conversations revolved around Ms. Moore's children and grandchildren. Ms. Day seldom talked about herself. "Seemed like she opened up more after her mother died," Ms. Moore said.

It took her awhile to gain Ms. Day's trust, Ms. Moore said, and even when she did, it was hard for her to get close. Ms. Moore said she'd often suggest that they do things together, but Ms. Day never seemed interested.

"She didn't want to bring anybody into her life that way," Ms. Moore said.

Ms. Moore said she tried to set her up with her brother on a date but that Ms. Day never took her up on the offer because she didn't think anyone would find her desirable.

She said Ms. Day's house was messy and dirty. Garbage bags were piled up in the kitchen. Stacks of groceries appeared to have been there for years. The walls in one bathroom were covered with mold, and the curtains were falling apart.

"The house had been leaking for years," Ms. Moore said.

The city issued a warning for a litter code violation to the house in October, and a citation was issued in November.

Because no one cleaned the property after the citation was issued, the city mowed the lawn and sent a bill for the service to the homeowner.

City officials said they did not know whether the fines and bills were paid.

Ms. Moore said she didn't know whether Ms. Day had any friends, but she said the woman was very close to her mother, Vivian, who died in 2004.

She said she became concerned for her friend after Mrs. Day died because she seemed depressed, physically weak and more reclusive.

She said Ms. Day would call her and leave messages telling her, "You're all I have now... I'm lost 'cause I don't have Mom...."

Still, Ms. Moore said, her friend longed for a life of her own.

"She always talked about wanting to live," she said, "she never talked about wanting to die."

I agree ... I spend most of my time (I actually mean, Fridays and Weekends) ... knocking some into me.

Someday the other five will adapt and learn to compensate for the not so common one ... :D

]:)

you realize of course I was not including you in that category. Just the ones you were talking about needing the warning...

You are wonderful, magnificient, overachiever, and super smart. Whew, I don't want to push you in two threads. You might take my cane away and use it on me. :^O

After all that?? No way OG.... :x

]:)

P.S .. I am off .. Going to Oxford tonite ... YAAAWN

Technology just gives us new and different ways of doing things. People have been opting out of direct contact since Ogg first got mad with Gog those millenium ago. The key point in the story is that he is 'estranged from his family'. All the technology did was to allow him to survive without human contacts that he did not want. Think about it - why do we have the word 'hermit' and what it means?

People are scared of what is new, they do not want change, that is the problem.

I know many people who function better in today's technological society better than their parent's or grandparent's functioned in their day. These people have inheirited genetic conditions that make one on one social interactions very difficult, painful, and often misunderstanding. The technology allows them to put the interactions back a step and slow it down to their pace.

Case in point some people with Aspergers Syndrome have trouble understand people talking to them as most people talk and a speed faster than they can comprehend - result is they do not get or understand the message or conversation. Put it in an email and they understand it fully as they take their time to read it. By doing all interaction via email they greatly reduce misunderstandings etc. Thus they function much better.

Why wouldn't they notice?
because the majority of low income people in Canada don't file taxes every year, they file every three to five years. [ handicapped pension, not taxable ]
So the only benefit is the G.S.T. rebate of 200 a year, more usefull to let it build to 600 to 1000 in rebate.

Here in BC, the welfare system now is requiring current tax assesment annually, to try to get away from the file every few years habit.