Now that the last of the time zones has entered the new year,
let me wish you all a happy, healthy and (if possible) prosperous 2012.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Or 2013 (not too far away hopefully) using the Autodesk calendar.

I've been wondering why “Happy New Year” is such a popular saying. Perhaps it's because we're so fed up with the old year that we're just glad to see it get kicked to the curb. There is a reason “the good old days” is also a popular saying. Since the 1950's and 60's basic things get worse from year to year, not better, so I'm not sure why we're looking forward to it.

You now have the opportunity to pay 30+ years for a house your parents would have paid cash for and it'll be on a puny piece of land half the size they would have used for a garden.

Popular science promised us flying cars 20 years ago! Where the hell are they? I'm lucky if I can afford one that can crawl through Edmonton snow and slop and I can be certain it won't fly, except perhaps one short flight off an icy, unsanded bridge. Computer aided design and manufacturing was supposed to make cars cheaper yet somehow they've magically gotten far more expensive.

In the 60's man went all the way to the moon. Now we can't even afford to fire off a shuttle older than any car on the street and piddle around our own planet.

If you're from generation X or later any pipe dream you may have had about some sort of half baked retirement has likely gone the way of sand through fingers. Pensions and health care in general have taken a beating and heaven forbid if you hurt yourself and tried to go to a hospital! Faster to drive to Mexico and pay a street doctor for help.

Service in general has all but vanished. One of hundreds of examples would be if you tried to fly in 2011. You probably had the pleasure of flight agents so lazy they're happy to watch you try to check yourself in, load your own bags on the belt, watch you wait for your late aircraft and security that treats you like you're trying to sneak into North Korea.

I could go on but who is going to read it. You all know what I'm talking about. So here's my predictions for 2012:

You will have less freedom, not more. There will be more people on an overcrowded planet, not less. The gap between prices and wages will continue to widen (in the wrong direction). Organizations such as utilities, banks, oil companies and insurance companies that have you over a barrel will press home the advantage and bend you even further over that barrel to shake loose any last nickle. Health care will magically cost far more while at the same time service will degenerate even more. Governments will cost more while somehow making even more hair-brained decisions. Taxes, of course, will go up (no surprise there). Environmental problems (both real and imaginary) will get more serious.

It won't be long before airline passengers will have to fuel and fly their own aircraft while the pilot watches. Hopefully the day you decide to fly there will be at least one pilot/passenger on board somewhere.

At security you might as well strip before you even get to the gate, where you will be CAT scanned, retina scanned and probed in various places. Don't worry, this will be normal and everyone will have to do it.

Mortgages that span several generations will be introduced because one lifetime won't be enough to pay it.

All this may sound somewhat negative but it really isn't. The thing to keep in mind here is that history has shown us many times that things can (and will at some point) get much, much, MUCH worse. Even though some countries like Japan took a beating this year, we haven't had any truly global disasters so let's be thankful. When we do, we'll look back on years like 2011 as the shining golden age that we all wish we could go back to.

If you're in good health today, enjoy every minute because the one thing you can count on with absolute certainty is one day, that WILL change.

So, in the spirit of the holidays, here's to hoping things continue to degenerate slowly rather than rapidly, keeping in mind that things can ALWAYS be worse. Enjoy your family while you can. Go outside while you sill can. Drive somewhere while you can still get gas for your car, go snowmobiling before it gets banned... you get the idea.

Happy New Year!!!

Nicely written Actionart.

Happy new year to all in SI-Community.

Let's hope the world won't end this year. I wanna live :D

Oh my GOd ActionArt, now I feel the urge to go cut one of my femoral artery. Or maybe both.

And of course, I've forgot to say:

Happy New Year!

It was meant more as comedy but it is a little sad as it's mostly true...