jtr1962
Flashaholic
I'm starting this thread to see what people are wishing for in 2014 besides the usual clichied good health, world peace, good luck, love, happiness, etc. Here are some of the wishes I hope come to pass in the new year:
1) Telemarketing finally dies the quick death it's deserved to die ever since some marketing genius with no common sense thought it up. Really, if someone asked me to think of a worse business model than calling people who don't want to be called to sell them things they don't want to buy I would be hard pressed to find one. I have reason to hope this wish will come to pass sooner rather than later as sophisticated call-blocking algorithms make it increasingly difficult for telemarketers to actually reach a live person.
2) We at least seriously discuss getting rid of income taxes. They were always a bad idea, but I think now that people are deriving income from all sorts of activities which are harder to track than traditional jobs, it makes more sense than ever to replace an income tax with a sales tax.
3) Human-powered transportation starts to be considered as important as other types, especially in cities, and we start building things like grade-separated bike highways.
4) Reality TV starts to die off. Seriously, I enjoy some reality shows as much as the next person, but mainly when they show things which most people would never be doing, like driving trucks on ice roads in Alaska, or crab fishing. I don't see the point of reality shows like the ones listed here. At the rate we're going, soon someone will put a camera above their cat's litter box and turn it into a reality show.
5) Along the lines of #4, we start to see higher quality programming in general even if it means fewer channels. Now we have a lot of mostly nothing. I continue to be amazed how I can look through the guide at a few hundred channels, yet often not find anything even remotely worth watching.
6) Fewer movies which are remakes of old movies which had nothing wrong with them.
7) The long overdue realization by the advertising industry that advertising has long ago reached its saturation point. More doesn't mean more sales. In fact, it may mean fewer.
8) More people choosing to become unwired and less attached to their devices. Yes, I know this is a lot to ask, but I honestly think people are too available for their own good nowadays. There's nothing wrong with going out for a walk and just leaving your cell phone at home. The world won't come to an end if nobody can reach you for a few hours, or even a few days.
9) Some sort of bailout on student loans, especially those over about 20 years old. Too many people are putting their lives on hold on account of student loan debt which is difficult or impossible to pay.
10) Some serious revolutionary technological developments so that we'll all have a lot more to talk about here!
1) Telemarketing finally dies the quick death it's deserved to die ever since some marketing genius with no common sense thought it up. Really, if someone asked me to think of a worse business model than calling people who don't want to be called to sell them things they don't want to buy I would be hard pressed to find one. I have reason to hope this wish will come to pass sooner rather than later as sophisticated call-blocking algorithms make it increasingly difficult for telemarketers to actually reach a live person.
2) We at least seriously discuss getting rid of income taxes. They were always a bad idea, but I think now that people are deriving income from all sorts of activities which are harder to track than traditional jobs, it makes more sense than ever to replace an income tax with a sales tax.
3) Human-powered transportation starts to be considered as important as other types, especially in cities, and we start building things like grade-separated bike highways.
4) Reality TV starts to die off. Seriously, I enjoy some reality shows as much as the next person, but mainly when they show things which most people would never be doing, like driving trucks on ice roads in Alaska, or crab fishing. I don't see the point of reality shows like the ones listed here. At the rate we're going, soon someone will put a camera above their cat's litter box and turn it into a reality show.
5) Along the lines of #4, we start to see higher quality programming in general even if it means fewer channels. Now we have a lot of mostly nothing. I continue to be amazed how I can look through the guide at a few hundred channels, yet often not find anything even remotely worth watching.
6) Fewer movies which are remakes of old movies which had nothing wrong with them.
7) The long overdue realization by the advertising industry that advertising has long ago reached its saturation point. More doesn't mean more sales. In fact, it may mean fewer.
8) More people choosing to become unwired and less attached to their devices. Yes, I know this is a lot to ask, but I honestly think people are too available for their own good nowadays. There's nothing wrong with going out for a walk and just leaving your cell phone at home. The world won't come to an end if nobody can reach you for a few hours, or even a few days.
9) Some sort of bailout on student loans, especially those over about 20 years old. Too many people are putting their lives on hold on account of student loan debt which is difficult or impossible to pay.
10) Some serious revolutionary technological developments so that we'll all have a lot more to talk about here!