Mr Anachronism

A few items gleaned from the news of late:

Secretary of Defense Mattis says that 70% of those in the age group 18 - 24 are unfit for military service due to obesity, drug use - either licit or illicit - education or something else. While the 70% number is a shocker, if you've been a classroom teacher lately, you wouldn't find that all that surprising. God forbid if something happens that we need to count on our young people, hopefully they'll rise to the occasion.

Maybe not though. I also came across a little ditty about Portland, Oregon. Seems now that smoking weed is legal, they're having a hard time filling job openings because people can't pass the drug test. Now there's a big surprise.

From the Wall Street Journal last week an article about student loans. Says there are now over 100 people who have student loan debt of over $1,000,000. Yep, over one million dollars in student loans. The one example cited was accruing $130 per day in interest debt.

As part of my Alaska trip I'll be riding on the Alaska Railroad. Seems there are no cash transactions on the train. If you wish to buy something in the café or dining car it must be purchased with a credit/debit card. As much as I dislike the idea, it won't be long and it'll be that way everywhere. With my borderline? paranoia, I just don't like the idea of every purchase I make being recorded. Plus, how many people have gotten into big trouble with credit card debt? If you don't have the cash in your pocket for a purchase, hard to get in trouble by over extending. Of course, it is possible to get in real debt with borrowing. Just see the example above.

I developed a roll of film earlier today. That'll be another thing of the past real soon. For the most part it is already I guess. I saw where Canon no longer makes a film camera. Everything is digital and I understand the why of it. Makes perfect sense. However, I still like the mystery of taking the shot and developing the film to see how the negatives came out and the later magic in the darkroom when your image appears in the tray. Plus, altering a print in the darkroom is a much different process than altering digital images and I prefer the former to the latter. I'm not a total Luddite, mind you. This is the guy that just finished taking a multi-axis CNC machining course. Just a different skill set but also a reminder that it's never a bad idea to have some old school skills as a back up.

I'm not quite ready for the aluminum foil protective beanie yet, but I see some potentially dark days on the horizon. I've witnessed a few "digital" failures already. Most were no more than an annoyance but as we become more dependent upon the technology, the opportunity for major disasters grows. I'm not losing any sleep over these things but by looking at the big picture it's pretty obvious that young people not fit enough for the military, huge debt loads, no cash reserves or way to spend cash, and total dependency on technology could cause the perfect storm shutting down the whole country with a lot of people dying as a result. Not a pleasant thought, certainly, but one worth considering. At least in my case I'll be able to make a photographic record of the end of the world as we know it.