What's going on

May 21st 1971 Marvin Gaye released his 11th studio album. The record was made at in the Motown studios in Detroit. Berry Gordy, the man behind Motown, didn't approve of this record containing counter culture messages. He thought this was too politically charged, and while he gave in to Gaye's record, he was certain it would flop. Whats going on shot to number one where it stayed on top of the charts for 5 weeks. If you have not listened to all of it, you are missing out on some of the most beautiful, moving songs ever made. I was listening to this record this morning and even to this day it moves me to tears when I hear "God is love".

As I was listening to the rest of the songs I couldn't help but think "are things as bad or worse today as they were in in the early 70's when Gaye sang "whats going on?" His songs were done from the view of a soldier returning from Vietnam. Would a soldier returning from Afghanistan today not mention all of the things the Gaye sings about in his record. Ecology, War, Pollution, Unemployment, Poverty, Drugs. The record could have been released May 21, 2010, yet if I tune in to MTV or surf the radio for pop songs of today, there is not a hint, nor whisper of whats going on. Songs today are way out in fantasy land. I caught a disturbing video of two of the biggest pop stars today, Lady Gaga and Beyonce, where Beyonce springs Gaga out of prison, they go to a diner and poison everyone (I'm not making this up) and dance around them in red white and blue outfits as they die. Whats going on? Why is it no one is singing about Haiti? Why are we not singing about ending THIS war? Has there been one War song in the last 10 years we have been at it? Its truly mindblowing. Thousands of People are losing their homes every day to foreclosure, and unemployment has not been this high since the 30's, yet no is singing about it. It used to be the silver lining in the cloud about bad times was, the music got better, as it did in the late 60s and early 70's. Instead, in this "the worst of times" we have Beyonce singing about "All the single ladies". Its actually quite fascinating to me we could have so much trouble in this world and pop culture today seems to have put a blind eye to it. Maybe in this day in age people do not want to be reminded of their problems... instead they want to escape them. I believe there is a song racing up the charts now call "Billionaire by Travie McCoy" about a guy who dreams of being a billionaire". We do have pockets of passionate people trying to bring awareness to some of the problems in the World. (Sean Penn's all out effort to help those in Haiti comes to mind), but by in large there is little or no outrage over much of anything today. Too busy listening to Travie McCoy I guess.

What's going on?

With wings like eagles.

Hi Gang.

I didn't write this particular blog. I didn't take the picture. I did though stumble on it and felt it was so beautiful, it needed to be "re-blogged". Enjoy.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31)

Say Goodbye to... - Further thoughts on what's next, and some less than perfect predictions from the past

In my obsession with 2050 and beyond, I could not help but add more thoughts on the future. I have always loved reading about the future and enjoy looking back on what people thought the future might look like. For some reason the oo's did not hit me as living in the 21st Century. 2010? Now that seem futuristic. So bummed the Jetsons appear to be so much farther out. How many of us believed we would have flying cars some day? I did. While it does seem in some way things have not change that much at all ( Air travel and Home Interiors for instance), things indeed are a changing. I was thinking about a Top 10 list, but after reading so many over the last week, I've become sick of all things "Top 10"- So instead, here is a peek at what I see years from now.


Say goodbye to - Payphones- Phonebooks - Checks -Cash -Privacy - Lying - US Mail Service, Newspapers - Books - Magazines - Big Cars -Commuting -The US Dollar -Marriage - Signatures CDs and Blue Ray DVDs- Blackboards- Car Crashes - Driving - DUI's -Getting lost - Amber Alerts - Car Chases - Real Movie Stars - Suburbs - McMansions - Oil and Gas

Say Hello to - GPS/Personalized Advertising (Walk by a store and the store will text you or send you information) -100 Percent E-Bill/Pay - Working from Home - Global Currency - Vacations in Space and Under Sea - Stem Cell Organ/Teeth/blood replacement- Biometric IDs - Privacy Consultants (Will have to pay for Privacy) - Driver-less Cars - Robots as Chefs, Servers, Police, Soldiers, Nurses and eventually, Friends - Thought Police for crime prevention - Digital Movie Stars - Africa as a major tourist destination - Greater influence of Asian and Chinese Culture on the World (and US) as China grows to become the #1 World Power and as the US works its way out of debt - The continued development of the North American Union (US, Mexico and Canada further align, benefiting all three Nations) - The Dead (Family members images and memories brought back to life in 3D) - A New Reality show that gives practically EVERYONE 15 minutes of fame - An even greater view of real time War -Green Homes (Tiny Green Homes)- and my boldest prediction... the Queen NEVER dies.

And for fun, here are some past predictions that didn't pan out. (Hopefully mine will not be as bad as these)

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

“There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” — Albert Einstein, 1932.

“There will never be a bigger plane built.” — A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.

. “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

“Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.” — Popular Mechanics, 1949


“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility.” — Lee DeForest, inventor.

“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” — Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” — H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.