The contrast was astounding! The ultra-high-tech with the “old way” in a high-tech atmosphere.
We take a lot of internet/hi-tech stuff for-granted: the availability of the world-wide web, the ability to communicate via email around the world—in seconds, the availability of information at the click of a “Google.”
Over dinner, my high-tech savvy nephew was telling us about some of the amazing things that can be, and are being done on the internet. Some of it is absolutely scary: robots searching for vulnerabilities in information, for example, to start the hacking process, and finding them within 45 minutes of a website going live.
(A rabbit-trail to that conversation led to his revealing how incredibly vulnerable the internet actually is, and why, therefore, hacking convictions carry terms of 30 years in prison.)
Other modern internet technologies are much more exciting, to be sure: the ability, for example, to instantly know how many minutes it will take to get from point “A” to point “B,” where the traffic slow-downs are, and exactly how many extra minutes it will take to travel an alternative route (something I take advantage of regularly); or the growing use of driverless cars (which I don’t—yet.)
I asked him whether an organic Google search of specific words would get the same results for everyone. It was a pointed question; I wanted to see whether my other company’s rise in Google search rankings that I had detected on my computer was attributable strictly to my personal frequency to the site.
“Absolutely not,” he told me, “everyone in the world will get different results depending on a whole lot of factors.” Even the proximity of a computer or cell phone that had recently been to the site could influence another computer’s search for it. I requested he search my company name–after I left–so that my cell phone wouldn’t influence the results. He assured me he didn’t need to wait because he could do an “incognito” search that wouldn’t include the tell-tale info to skew the results.
Sophisticated technology is all around us. When we travel, we no longer need boarding passes. We can just show a QR code on our cell phones. (I never do that, because I worry that I may not have reception at the point of download, or, if I’m in another country, it may cost me to download that code, or my phone battery may have died just when I need it. But many don’t worry about such things). Just another simple example of the amazing world of technology all around us!
All that in the twenty-five years since the world-wide web was invented!
Yesterday, I was boarding my flight in a Bay-area airport not far from where the conversation with my nephew had occurred.
Now, I sincerely doubt the issue arose because of the “discount” adjective that’s typically associated with this airline.
I’d already gone through Security, and had had my random search of my electronics done. That, itself, was a testament to technology—swabbing my laptop and cell phone and inserting the swab into a machine would tell them I didn’t have illegal substances with me.
All around me, passengers had their cell phones ready for the scanning of the QR code. I had my paper QR code and passport ready.
Not necessary! As I walked past the gate agent, he took a peak at my paper boarding pass and scribbled my seat, 17A, on a scrap of paper that already had a dozen other seat numbers on it. No explanation given, but I assume the internet was down.
I sure hope the internet doesn’t go down some day when I’m doing business in the back seat of my driverless car! Or the car’s detection system gets hacked!
At least, that’s how I see it. . .
Rent 2 Own tip
Can you do a rent 2 own if you are in a Consumer Proposal? The answer is both Yes and No. a Consumer Proposal is almost equivalent to a bankruptcy in the eyes of a lender, so the rent 2 own program, to lead one to mortgage qualification isn’t much different.
First the “No” part. You need to pay off the Consumer proposal fully, before we can get you into a rent 2 own situation. That “Paid in Full” is equivalent to bankruptcy discharge. At that point we can get you into a rent 2 own Program. From then, on, it’s “Yes.” With the coaching that we provide (if taken seriously), you should be able to get your credit back to a “mortgage-able” level within three years. At that point (provided there are no other issues preventing you from getting a mortgage), you should qualify on the same basis as anyone else. The exception may be if real estate was included in the Consumer Proposal. Then you may have to wait six years, until it drops off your credit report.
