Monthly Archives: May 2013

Google Seeks A Benefit as Gen Y Goes Cashless

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Here is an unsettling thought  … the Internet age is setting us up for something many folks just don’t think about … yet … but like lemmings running into the sea we are all part of a building momentum. Trouble is, if we mention a biblical theme here, many of you will say “Nonsense!”

Is it? Really? Keep reading … and think about it!

The article we refer to below comes from MarketWatch.com (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-wallet-gen-y-credit-card-2013-05-17).

Here is our point. If you are temped to use a handheld device to be cashless as you walk around in your day-to-day routine, we believe that at some point the possible theft of handhelds will make something else more compelling. How about a tattoo with a code? So you swipe your hand across a scanner that can read a colorless tattoo and detect the code to conduct a cashless transaction. Cool? Yeah! But there is a catch.

The Bible refers to a time when no person will be able to buy or sell without the ‘mark of the beast.’ Oh, prophecy stuff you say. Not to worry, couldn’t happen here … right?

——————– Article ——————————–
Google Wallet: Gen Y credit card?
Emailing money may appeal to generation that’s already abandoned cash

By Quentin Fottrell

Facing stiff competition and tepid demand, Google Wallet has not made a big splash in the world of mobile payments. But experts say young Americans may help revive its fortunes.

In an effort to boost the popularity of its mobile payment system, Google this week announced that it
is integrating Google Wallet with Gmail. Customers who’ve linked Google Wallet to their bank account or maintain a balance with Google Wallet can simply click the dollar icon on their Gmail to make a payment. It’s not the first time Google Wallet introduced new features. ….

… there are signs that there is untapped demand for mobile payments. Just one-fifth of young Americans ages 18 to 30 always carry cash, according to a new survey by CouponCodes4U … . Nearly half said cash would not be used in the future. “It’s a generational trend,” … And some 72% of Gmail users are under the age of 34, according to a survey by Hunch.com, …. “The younger generations are adopting this technology in droves.” PayPal and Google Wallet, for example, connect to a bank account or a debit or credit card through a person’s smartphone.

“It’s early days for mobile payments,” says technology analyst Jeff Kagan. “I have children in their early 20s who rarely carry as much as $5 in their wallet.” That’s just enough for tips. “Today, we leave the house with a wallet, car keys and smartphone,” he says. “There will come a time when it will only be our smartphone. … Thousands of merchants are still not set up for mobile payments, making it more difficult for smartphone evangelists to cut up their plastic. What’s more, some consumers are still concerned about security issues of making payments via mobile phone. One U.K. survey found that 44% of people were reluctant to adopt mobile wallets due to fears of phone hacking; only 17% of those surveyed say they would use mobile wallets. (Google did not return requests for comment.)
——————- WindowView Perspective ——————————

We rest our case. It’s a generational thing. In an increasingly material and secular global society, the younger generation will be swept by the momentum the Bible already anticipates. To address the latter security issues … we are waiting for the charismatic leader who seduces the masses to be inscribed with some type of mark. And that will seal together the notion put forth in the article above and in what the Bible declared thousands of years ago.

Far fetched you say?

Have you been looking out your window to see the implications for what is going on out there?

Well, that’s why this window is here!

Our comments here relate to global changes … many of which creep up on us while we are distracted by our day-to-day life. Change is surrounding our lives in many ways … all the more reason now is time to look at the implications.

Director, WindowView.org

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When It Looks Like It’s Getting Better …

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… It isn’t necessarily so! Really good news is bad news. Why?

New energy reserves are coming globally in the form of natural gas in areas formerly considered out of production, oil from fields labeled the same way, oil sands and oil shale in areas previously thought too costly to process. Never mind any questions about renewable energy technology or use of carbon based fuels on climate change … The world has received a carbon-energy injection releasing us of near future energy reserve depletion. Consider the following news clip:
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HEADLINE: U.S. oil boom leaves OPEC sidelined from demand growth – Reuters
Rising U.S. shale oil production will help meet most of the world’s new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up steam, leaving little room for OPEC to lift output without risking lower prices, the West’s energy agency said.
———————-
WindowView is a ‘thinking place in cyber space.’ So think about this! The energy supply leaves humanity temporarily euphoric and free of concerns that would restrict material economies … But at the same time the source of relief is the problem. A blind eye will be turned to consequences as long as markets are on the rise or stable. But who has the money to pay for the consequences to come? Cash strapped governments? You?

Consider this: Sea level rise already spurred by climate change will only accelerate as carbon dioxide rises further from carbon fuel use. Sea level rise means coastal flooding, over 800 Million persons globally will need to move, dikes, walls and dams will need to be built. If not that, new homes, new towns, new infrastructure, new expenses to tax humanity for a global result of change. Who cares how it happened! Who will pay? Diseases will rise as invading waters complicate coastal life. Local economies and forms of employment will change … the entire shift will unsettle life on planet earth … human and all other.

The theme of the window is “Science and Scripture in Harmony.” If you look objectively through the window, have some understanding of how our material dilemmas lead to a spiritual side to being, then this theme rings true. We invite you to sit at your window, look, think and know the future is still ahead of all of us.

Director, WindowView.org

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Life’s Data as well as Bible Data is Preserved

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The WindowView theme of “Science and Scripture in Harmony” comes with some key reminders. We keep pointing to information as evidence. What stands over time tends to be data or information that is foundational and truthful. Depending on how you approach information, one might have to consider all is a product of the initial cause for existence. So, if that cause is from God, what of the reliability of longstanding evidence from science and Scripture?

Here is an example. For all the commotion about evolution, with the implication of ongoing macro-evolution over time (change over time), we have examples of stasis (relative unchanging sameness over time). That is, there are species that have existed millions of years without changing over time. The data in this case are the DNA codes within such organisms. The relatively unchanged form, function, and existence tell us evolution is not necessarily a driver for change. Use of the word evolution in this context imparts a process in action at all times—this makes evolution a driving force. Does that exist?. Some suggest that only micro-evolution is adequately demonstrated. Our point here is simple, science information exists to tell us there is a tendency to stay the same without change unless driven to do so. And when there is change … a return back to an original form can and does occur to demonstrate a tendency toward sameness and not branching evermore to something else. This is not to say apparent branching is not apparent, but then the evidence of transitional steps eludes us. Claims of such evidence is often met with complications. To consider the reasons why brings continued debate.

To all the above we think there is a note of key importance. The body of information that supports life is sufficient without change. The assumption of continual change and randomness is an assumption based on short, not long, time frames. The net message is one of a built in stability of lifeforms to bring life forward over time. The evidence is the “living fossils” that have little to no change.

Further, the vital point to a look at how the DNA codes have supported existence to all life is itself a bit of evidence for the complexity and awesome nature to there being an existence … at all! The testimony from life to those of us alive today is that life is rather incredible and perhaps a key testimony to why we exist … at all! Stasis, over time, provides an opportunity for multiple generations to come to the same testimony before moving on.

So let us consider another form of information and relative stasis over time. Consider a validation of another key source of data and the testimony that evidence provides … us all! From a monthly electronic letter I have lifted a few words … these are written by someone whose profession involves translation of ancient manuscripts:

“As we sometimes do, we talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls, commenting on how these ancient manuscripts have helped our understanding of the Bible. For one thing, the scrolls confirm the antiquity and authenticity of the traditional Hebrew text upon which we base translations; for another, the scrolls help us to determine the best text to follow in places where other important biblical manuscripts differ slightly from each other. In short, the scrolls help us keep translations accurate.”

“The bigger story is that throughout all generations, the Lord has preserved his word. He continues to do so today, even as the Bible is being translated into more languages than ever before.”

Life has sustained DNA translations to provide a basis for our lives to be a witness to the awesome nature of our existence. And as the Bible reminds us, there will be a fullness in time where everyone alive will have the opportunity to see the Bible’s testimony delivered, in respective language, to us all. When that state of fullness is reached, we come to a cosmic turning point with no return to earlier time. At that point some move into a continual relationship with the author of life and others do not … this is the final portal from here to the eternal. Which way will you be going?

Director, WindowView.org

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