Best Wishes to All

     The ENTIRE  Korner staff extends best wishes to all our viewers, near and far, with the hope that you will all enjoy a wonderful holiday season with family and friends.
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     Jim Harken, BHS-91, wrote, "I'm trying not to be so busy that lots of great memories get past me. Having three little ones, we're all excited for Christmas. Their thoughts of Santa and getting to teach them about the birth of Jesus, it is truly a special time. I have lots of great Christmas time memories of good old Boonetown. Sledding on killer hill at McHose Park. Christmas programs, caroling and the candle light service on Christmas Eve at First Presbyterian.The luminaries along Story Street on Christmas Eve. The lights and displays at the Athletic Association during the holiday season. Shopping in the stores downtown with all the decorations and the Christmas music playing. Snow piled in the middle of the streets downtown. Singing in the choir and playing trumpet with the band and orchestra in the Winter Concert at school. "Coming home" to mom and dad's house as I got older, married and had kids. So many good times and good memories."
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     Thanks to Kathleen Wheelock for the nice ecard holiday greeting and very special thanks to Jack Kelly, BHS-58, from clear out in Locust Grove, VA. for his Peanuts Christmas greeting card. Jack wrote, "I'm a loyal fan of your blog and enjoy hearing about the people and places in my hometown."
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     Question of the Week: The Kornerman was traveling south on South Story and all at once, it hit me. It is gone.  Dr. Whitaker had lived on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and South Story and, for years, I was accustomed to seeing, on that corner, a bird house that replicated the Whitaker home. It looked exactly like it. Now its gone.......and, the question is...."how long have I been asleep?" "how long has it been gone?" Many years I imagine but the Kornerman just never paid that much attention before.......kind of took it in stride. But, suddenly, the other night, that bird house came to mind again.
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     Loren Frazier, BHS-58, had some thoughts on the material some visionaries have provided that we have been passing on to our viewers. Loren wrote, "they said that 70-percent of us will have smart phones and also that people will not need cars as they will use those phones to call for a car to pick them up. I assume that the 30-percent without smart phones will be us septuagenarians and octogenarians and nonagenerians so we will not be calling for a car, but we probably, due to force of habit (commonly called stubborness), will still be driving our own cars. This may end up increasing the accident rate rather than decreasing it as the information suggests. Just kidding. I really think older drivers do a better job at it than younger people, especially those concentrating more on their phones than their driving. Another comment. The need for a facial expression reading app to tell if a politician is lying is a completely unnecessary product. Already, we can tell if a politician is lying by just observing if his/her lips are moving. If they are, he/she are lying. And, finally, the reduction of the number of lawyers by 90-percent would, undoubtedly, be a good thing."
     Vern Modeland, BHS-50, wrote, "you muse about the future", "our kids will never own a car and will never have a driver's license."" I thought we were already there."
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     Here's this edition's more complete dose of that material. "The Tricorder X price will be announced next year. There will be companies who will build a medical device (called the "Tricorder" from Star Trek) that works with your phone. It scans your retina and your blood sample and you breathe into it. It then analyzes 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease. It will be so cheap, that, in a few years, everyone on this planet will have access to world class medicine, almost free."
     Then too, "electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean. Solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years but you can only now see the impact. Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil fuels. The price for solar will drop so much that all coal companies will be out of business by 2025. With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water. Desalination now only needs 2kWh per cubic meter. We don't have scarce water in most places, we only have scare drinking water. Imagine what will be possible if we can have as much clean water as we want, at almost no cost."
     The Kornerman says, "the thing that strikes me is that many of these things mentioned by these visionaries as future possibilities seem to point toward the elimination of many, many "human" jobs. Think of the effect that might have?"
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     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: None to report.
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     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/SUPPORT.........
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