Jack’s Winning Words 9/2/21

“Does anyone remember how we used to get money before ATMs?  We lived like apes.” (Dana Gould)  It was 50 yrs ago that something called a “bankcard” was being developed which would allow you to get money out of a machine.  Sure enough, in 1969 the first ATM began to operate.  A friend of mine, at that time,was on a team trying to develop a “bar code”, whatever that meant. What do you think is next?  Cheap desalinization? Artificial intelligence? Immune system engineering? Are we still living like apes?  ;-)  Jack   

FROM DR J:   And now.. those are out of date… VENMO is queen!===JACK:  What's VENMO?  Before there was Google there was something called, a dictionary or an encyclopedia.  What should I be using now that Google is out-of-date?==DJ:  ALEXA!  Venmo is a way to pay someone immediately via your smartphone… ;-)===JACK:  Alexa is too snoopy for me.  Sometimes I forget that she can be listening.  Some recently wanted to use VENMO to send money to a project that I had mentioned in Winning Words.  Since I didn't know about V, I said, "No."  Stupid!  I need to get with it, or I'll seem like an old fogie. (What's s fogie?)

FROM THE SCIENTIST:  Our barcode readers at work now take 3D barcodes. Oh, and it’s been ages since I’ve been in a bank. The baker at the market was always having my 8 to tell her the correct change on our purchases, but even the cheesemonger takes plastic now. … Money is a curious thing though. Do apes have a system of barter?===JACK:  Grandson John works for a bank and says that many branches are being closed.  But, something new is always being created.  V will one-day talk about how things were when her mom was a kid. 

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  this one is kind of thought provoking.  blessings on your day,  ===JACK:  "Kind of...?"  I think how ministry has changed since I was ordained.  "Modern" pastors seem more reliant of social media, while my style was face to face...no texting, but voice to voice telephoning.  New churches are being started differently than I did it (door to door).  Change is not necessarily bad...just different.===SP:  maybe some day we will learn how to "fix" people so we can do better than the apes.===JACK:  Who knows?  Maybe the "ape-like" society is what God wanted.  maybe some day we will learn how to "fix" people so we can do better than the apes.  ===SP:  pass me a banana, please.===JACK: and don't throw your poop at the pastor when you don't like what he says. 

FRO SR RD:  ???????????????????????????????????? 😩===JACK:  We have the questions.  God has the answers.  Long ago, when people believed in a flat-earth, when map-makers came to the edge of the know world, they would write..."Here be God."

FROM HUNGRY HOWIE:  If we don’t solve the problems of the climate and sectarian war we could go back to living like apes===JACK:  You're more than right.  Solving the problem of climate change is a major undertaking.  ...and there are some scientists who say that it's too late...for humans, as well as apes.  Time will tell.  As the song goes: "When will they ever learn?"

FROM EM DEE:  Mom and dad never had a checking account or credit cards.  Dad cashed his paycheck at the bank and would come home and separate the cash into different expense  envelopes.  They paid utility bills and property taxes at the bank.===JACK:  My mom was a cashier for a Montgomery Ward store.  Her job also included payroll.  She had to, not only figure out (without computer) how much employee was owed, but also stuff individual envelopes withe correct amount.  She was proud of the fact that she always "balanced to the penny."  At home she take the contents of her envelope and do as your parents did.  I recall going to the bank and cashing a check for her.  The amount was two cents.

FROM SHALOM JAN:  We actually walked into a bank, where we were recognized by the tellers, who did not require I.D. in order to cash a check that had been given to us for our work pay.  I considered that kind of living with the idea that I was a human being.  I'm having trouble now finding physician specialists who treat me that way.===JACK:  I went to get a physical about 40 years ago.  The doctor had "a new physician" who was helping him.  That new physician has been my doctor ever since.  Nobody at the bank knows who I am, but they treat me kindly just the same.  Maybe it's the white hair or the cane. ===SJ:  Thank goodness ATMs have not changed teller courtesy===JACK:  I don't care for those outside teller vacuum tubes.  I want face to face...but I'm a dinosaur.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I have a Cell phone, but don't do all the fancy; stuff with it! Lucky if Ican make calls, answer calls, and text and ck. emails on it!! ===JACK:  I'm sometimes  jealous of people with Smart Phones doing all kinds of stuff that I can't do..  But, I enjoy the inventions that I can use, like the Keurig.