“Absolutely!”
By Ring W. Savvy

email Ring

Trials and Tribulations of the On Line Age (Part One)
 
 
It has been mightily said by those who know, but not by me, that in the next few years,
barring an unforeseen calamity, like pestilence, disease or war (and Death was the fourth 
horseman and rode a pale horse), the computer will be the thing.  It will be the panacea 
of the future ages.  It will be the answer to all the shortcomings of the human race.  
The future of mankind shall depend upon the computer for everything.  Well, grasshopper, 
in my humble opinion, it ain’t necessarily so.

What was not noted in the newspapers, and brushed aside by the television news shows, who 
are too busy discussing Iraq, Washington politics, Michael Jackson, the latest 
unemployment figures and the tanking economy (can you say, “Titanic?”) that there was a 
major “glitch” in the worldwide network and someone had hacked away into many networks 
and servers.  For those uneducated about computers or even a little computer illiterate, 
that would equivocate to someone peeking and poking inside your personal home and 
furnishings (and you know how painful that can be).  Checking into your things, as it 
were.  Making your business their business, like thieves in the night.  Only these 
thieves change a few things here and there and that affects you very much.

Now with the help of Time Warner Road Runner and a terribly expensive bill paid by me 
each month, I am on line continually, companioning with my trusty computer (God bless 
Bill Gates and AOL-TimeWarner).  I have actually done business on line, having ordered 
some products in the past, which were mostly DVD albums, electronic stuff, books, 
programs for the computer, and a Kenwood amplifier.  The items have been generally as 
advertised and what I wanted.  I have even gotten some out of print books from dealers 
who have that sort of thing, managing at one point, to complete my collection of all the 
total number of books (twenty-two) written by James Lee Burke, my favorite all time 
author.  I also subscribe to a music service where I can download old jazz albums and CDs 
and other music into computer music called MP3.  Currently my collection has about six 
hundred and fifty albums.  Needless to say, my computer is musically inclined and MP3s 
are constantly playing.  Note that I said I subscribe which means I pay a monthly fee for 
the service, at least until August of this year.  No free ride for me.

I generally check my credit card accounts every few days.  The three I use most have an 
on line area where you can jump in, after appropriate passwords, and see what has been 
charged to them, cross indexing with the little slips of paper receipts tucked into an 
old bank zipper bag.  I also have a financial program on the computer where I keep track 
of all my myriad accounts and so I can figure up what I am worth, which is, oh say, just 
approximately, $128.96.  That’s net, of course. 

Okay, I can hear you grumbling about what all this personal stuff got to do with the 
computer and the possibility of the future, etc.  Let me tell you.  This will be a part 
of a series on how the computer has affected my life or how can they do that?