One, Two, Twenty Twenty Two

If you are reading on a smartphone, use landscape / hold phone sideways. 

I am told via the Twitterverse that 2022 is the only year that will have 3 numbers the same, until 2111. So that is 89 years from now. Cool. 

And then, I thought: Hey - I won't be here for that. And my wife and kids will not be here for that! And that was slightly depressing. Slightly distressing, dreary, gloomy, dispiriting, disheartening, discouraging, upsetting and even somewhat sad. I said out loud "OK Google, what are the SYNONYMS for depressing? And you can see the Googleverse response above.

And then, THAT response made me pause, reflect and then ask: "OK Google: what are the ANTONYMS for depressing?

Bright, cheerful, comforting, encouraging, exhilarating, glad, happy, joyful, light, pleasant, sunny, cheering. 

One of my favorite humans is Seth Godin. He blogs DAILY. I myself, blog on Sundays. Seth writes a blog if the sun comes up. I blog EVERY Sunday without fail - sorta. https://seths.blog/2022/01/time-doesnt-scale-2 is all about how Time doesn't scale. And why Time is worth so much. 

"OK, Google. What was big news in 1922?"

1) The Harlem Renaissance. 2) The Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. 3) The Teapot Dome Scandal. 4) The Great Railroad Strike of 1922. 5) The Disarmament Conference 6) Sinclair Lewis published Babbitt. 7) Amelia Earhart Sets Altitude Record for Females. 8) T.S. Eliot "The Wasteland" is published. 9) Rebecca Felton becomes the First Female Senator. 10) First Automated Telephone Service. 

Wow, right? Saying "OK Google" over my shoulder (the smart speaker is behind me) is like my own personal time machine. 

On October 14th, 1922 the first automated telephones began service at the Pennsylvania exchange in NYC. The purpose of the automated telephone service was to replace the human operators necessary to connect calls. 

Did you catch that? Replace. The. Humans. In 1922. Wow, they have been talking about replacing humans with technology for 100+ years, eh? A few years ago, before COVID hit, the big news was all about Climate Change, and Crypto, and Cyber, and  AI, and how robots were going to take all of our jobs. 

Right now, if you are so inclined, you can ask Google about Rebecca Felton, or learn more about The Teapot Dome Scandal, or better understand The Great Railroad Strike. And instantly, you will have way more knowledge, way more information, way more....( do I need to Google "way more")? 

So I was (slightly) depressed when I thought about how I won't be around in 2111. And, there is a 99% chance that every fully-formed adult that knows me will also not be around in 2111. But something that I worked on, something that I created, something that I contributed to - might be. 

Maybe something that I worked on, or created, or made or supported WILL be around in 2111. Cool! 

As we celebrate a New Year, what we are really celebrating is Time. A snapshot of time, a window of time. The next 12 months - who will you spend time with? What will you spend time on? 

Your time, my time, their time - we all get the same number of minutes per day. We all can have our own George Bailey Moment (It's a Wonderful Life) if we spend our time well. If you read this far, you just invested TIME in reading my blog. Sorry? (Not Sorry....). 

"OK, Google, how can I better manage my time?"

You, Tom? Or people in general? 

No one likes a smartass robot. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/