Sometimes in my reveries, I get caught up in trying to predict the future, using the information I have today to extrapolate my expectations for tomorrow. And then along comes some revelation out of left field that changes everything.
A few days ago, it was an ad for the Motley Fool, a stock tipping service that had a reputation for insight back when the stock market was relatively fair. Today, who knows whether Motley Fool can be trusted? Not me for sure.
Anyway, according to this ad from Motley Fool, “the next big thing” is here, and it is 3D printing. I am probably way behind the times, but I was astonished at the claims made in the ad. If these claims are true, we can forget about those manufacturing jobs the president keeps dreaming about. There will be no need for factories.
If you want a new part for your car, you will be able to order it on the web and print it out at a nearby retailer – or even at home. No, I am not kidding. Apparently the 3D printers can make you everything you could possibly need, from a house key to a new kidney. Not to mention all kinds of deadly weapons.
Talk about change!
How do you predict the future with this kind of thing going on?
Today I got another surprise news flash.
According to the New York Times, AM radio is doomed because of “rising interference from smartphones and consumer electronics that reduce many AM stations to little more than static.” And you and I know that M radio is the base for those loudmouth right wingers who infest the airwaves.
Who is the king of right-wing talk radio? Rush Limbaugh, of course.
According to the Times, the AM frequency “remains the realm of conservative talk radio, including 80 percent of the 600 radio stations that carry Rush Limbaugh.”
See? You never can tell when a little good news will come along to brighten your day.
I don’t imagine the end of AM will mean the end of Rush. He will probably migrate to some FM network, where he will continue to spread his poison. (Although I understand he’s having trouble with that, too.)
But it will certainly mean those homeless men I talk to occasionally over at the church next door won’t be able to afford to listen to him. And he will be less accessible on those radios in a lot of old pickup trucks – you know, the ones with the .12 gauge shotguns n the racks behind the drivers’ heads and the Confederate flag blocking the rear window.
As you might expect, some politician in Washington – a Republican of course – is fighting to save the AM stations. But he is not likely to succeed.
Money talks and the advertising money is moving away from AM radio.
The Times goes on and on about the nostalgia AM offers, but as far as I’m concerned, my memories of Hank Snow and the Lone Ranger pale beside my abhorrence of recent talk radio trash.
I certainly won’t miss it when it’s gone.
