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The way we live is changing fast. Every fortnight in our new Future Focus series, supported by Volkswagen, we’ll look at how one aspect of everyday life could change in the coming years. This week: payments and grocery shopping.
TIRED OF STANDING in supermarket checkout queues? Fed up of looking for spare change for the bake sale or the charity collector?
The good news is, you might not have to fumble in your pockets for cash for much longer. The bad news is that if you think you’re glued to your smartphone now, it’s probably only going to get worse.
Enter Amazon Go, the first physical store run by the online shopping giant Amazon, which opened in Seattle in recent weeks. The major difference between Amazon Go and the local supermarket is that there’s no checkout – you just download and use the Amazon Go app to enter and leave the premises, and the cost of your groceries is automatically deducted from your bank account after you leave.
But while Amazon Go might be the first completely cashless, cashier-less store, they’re not the only retailer moving in that direction. Sainsbury’s has also been trialling a checkout-free system in its London Euston outlet, and the rise of online grocery shopping and delivery across the sector has already offered a cash-free alternative to brick-and-mortar supermarkets.
Morissons and Ocado in the UK have even integrated their online grocery services with Alexa, Amazon’s personal assistant, to allow for grocery orders using voice commands.
But we’re still using physical retail outlets for at least some of our shopping – so why is cash falling from favour?
The problem is that the extra time it takes to handle and manage cash over card payments is inefficient. “Everybody has a smart phone, everything else happens instantly in the world, except money – cash is the one thing where it seems to take forever to do anything,” says Charles Dowd, CEO and co-founder of Irish payments startup Plynk.
“In India they’re pushing really hard for the demonetisation of society, and in the Nordic countries they’ve almost achieved it entirely, which is really impressive. There’s a role for cash, but it’s inevitable that it will change. Everybody’s arguing over what might replace it – will it be an app, Apple, Google, Visa, a bank, or some other unknown start-up?”
Plynk is one of several Irish fintech start-ups which are changing how we deal with cash. Founded in 2015, the app “takes the social awkwardness out of financial interactions between friends,” according to Dowd. The idea is that you install it on your smartphone and get a virtual Mastercard. As a result you can move money instantly via messaging from phone to phone, account to account; forgetting your wallet or not having enough cash on you is no longer an excuse for not chipping in on the taxi home.
“Studies have shown that in person-to-person transactions, things tend to either be settled through barter – deferred barter – or through cash,” says Dowd.
We’re trying to replace that cash element. We talk about cash being our competitor – where you used to use cash to pay friends back later, you can now use Plynk instantly.
Apps like Plynk, Way2Pay and even JustEat have taken physical cash out of the equation when it comes to paying for low-value goods. But Apple Pay, Android Pay and mobile wallets have also made huge inroads, while contactless payments are widening the ever-increasing gap between Ireland’s card and cash spend.
Last year, the Irish Cancer Society introduced contactless payments as an option for collectors on Daffodil Day for the first time, while in recent weeks, a Paris church, Saint-François de Molitor, has introduced collection baskets which have a smartphone and contactless terminal installed.
However, the time is also coming where we won’t have to use a plastic card to authorise payments at all. As Internet of Things (IoT) technology becomes more affordable and mainstream, our internet-enabled appliances and vehicles may start to undertake transactions on our behalf.
This is no longer the stuff of science-fiction. Visa Ready are preparing for IoT with their Token Service Provider (TSP) programme, which takes the account number from your card and turns it into a digital credential. This could be added to, for instance, an IoT-enabled car; which could then pay for petrol without the customer even having to leave the pump.
Already, Amazon’s Dash Wand with Alexa (only available in the US at the moment) can be used at home to scan and reorder your usual groceries directly from Amazon, once you log into your account or app to confirm the order.
This isn’t the only way that we might see our grocery shopping change. Yet again, Amazon is leading the way with its AmazonFresh pickup option, again located solely in Seattle for the time being.
AmazonFresh allows customers to place a grocery order online and pick it up just 15 minutes later. There are no queues, no searching high and low for that one vital ingredient – and no cash.
While retailers like Tesco and Dunnes are beginning to offer similar Click and Collect services here, there’s nothing yet that’s quite as instant as AmazonFresh. However, the increased availability of these services indicates that walking up and down the aisles with a trolley, and even traditional supermarkets themselves, could soon be consigned to the past entirely. The rise of IoT and location-tracking technology could even lead to your phone notifying the store’s collection area when you’re on your way.
The coming years will see an even greater push towards paying by card, by phone or by app for our everyday buying, while the power of cash dwindles. Currently, Amazon Go’s technology that allows customers to walk in and out of their store – though they haven’t shared the full details of what it entails – is likely too costly for them, or for other retailers, to roll out on a huge scale just yet.
But it’s a tantalising taste of what might be down the line for our corner shops, as long as our internet connectivity can support it countrywide.
Not even Charles Dowd, however, can fully predict the future of payments: “The future looks obvious until the future arrives,” he says. “And you say ‘I never saw that coming’”.
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RIP to the 3,000 that died in 9/11, will always be a horrible day for their family.
Just as important to remember and pay respects to the 110,000 Iraqi civilians that died in the war that followed 9/11.
They don’t count they are not American
God bless America. !
100,000 killed in Iraq in Americas war “OF” terror mostly civilians
Went to war with falsified evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction nobody gives a S*it
agree totally.
The war in Afghanistan maybe? Iraq was linked but separate
Most of the Iraqi civilians that have been killed were killed by their own fellow religious and fellow countrymen. The US and others freed them from a brutal dictator and his psychopathic sons, if the Iraqis then decided to kill one another that’s hardly the west’s fault.
I still remember exactly where i was,what i was doing and who i was with when it happened,something ill never forget,R.I.P to all those who lost their lives in the towers,and to the selfless members of NYPD and FDNY who went in to save people probaly knowing they would never make it out.
I too remember exactly what I was doing that day! I was working in what was then NTL out in Eastpoint business park, & they had tv’s on in our office all the time, so we watched it all happen, it was like watching a movie, totally surreal. My dad tried to contact his relatives in NYC all that day, as a cousing worked in the twin towers, luckily not that day! However, a colleague of my dad in Dublin lost a daughter in the towers, and her sister escaped from the other tower! So sad :(
Our work was next to American Airlines offices in Eastpoint & they received bomb threats, which meant we were all evacuated! It was a very very surreal day which will always stick in my memory. I know a lot of lives have been lost since then, and continue to be because of it, but 9/11 is something I won’t forget.
My dad had just landed that day having returned from Boston. Knew he was on ground and safe but I’ll always remember working my summer job in my dads factory listening to 2fm on radio reports of small plane hitting wtc. I was thinking poor pilot but then it started to filter on radio something was really wrong. Went to my moms workplace turned on sky news to see a nother plane hit just before my eyes. I remember thinking oh no tomorrow there will be huge military response. As I watched the peolle jump put of the buildings I felt sick then as the towers fell I just knew there would be vengeance. Rightly do with the taliban. Iraq later on was wrong but UBL wanted a response he got one. But not whst he was expecting. He wanted Soviet style war but thr Americans forced a different style causing him and others to go underground. Afghanistan eould be passified if they kept eye on the ball instead of going after saddam.
Rest in peace all those thst died on 9/11. Two jet liners loaded with fuel can only imagine the horrific fire. No building could have survived a combination of sheer brute force and hot jet fuel
I was on my way to work in Eircom when I bumped into a friend who told me.. I thought it was a sick joke, until another friend confirmed it.
Was in telesales, every person we called that night asked us how we could even think about making sales calls that night, they were right..
I was at school, we had a tv in the class room and I will never forget watching it…. Our tutor, a priest, turned the tv off when the second plane hit.
In a new your minute, everything can change …. I think the entire world changed in the minutes of this terrible event….
U still cry watching documentaries on tv about it.
Innocent lives just gone….
Rip to all that didn’t make it home that day…. And respect to all Fire & Police departments whom sadly didnt make it out…. You are all the Hero’s of that tragic day ….
“In a New York minute everything can change.” Don Henly.
Very true,was sitting by Lough Derg with my busisness partner in outside a pub,just toasting a successful busisness deal and commiserating at the loss of the week before of one of my parents.
Went in to get another round of drinks to hear one of the staff say to another about a plane crashing into the first Tower.No TV set in the pub,dashing to the car to listen to it on 2FM.
Me trying to ring a friend who had an office at the time on Veezy st which runs parallel to the towers.
No answer,and was no answer until I rang him at home that evening. He had been in Boston on busisness,had seen the plane go in on the news,rang his office and told his secetary to get everyone out and to go home and like NOW! His office was half flattened by rubble and debris in the fall.
Hell of a day!!!
I’m the same I was feeding my baby watching the devastation on the news !
Ill never forget were i was that day the world got a little darker that day rip
I remember one year after I was in nyc what was more heart breaking then the holes in the ground and the surrounding buildings gouged was the missing posters stuck up. Some fresh some faded but so so many of them.
Sad day for so many families. That same day I spent some time with squad 4 nypd in the bronx who lost 14 men an entire unit.
Richard the world was a very dark place before this with American foreign policy…many many innocent people lost their lives in 9/11, including an old school mate Ruth Clifford and her young daughter…but in my humble opinion, and it’s only my opinion, the US has blood on their hands big time. RIP to each and every one of them.
It’s also the 40th Anniversary of the U.S. backed coup in Chile. Which removed the Democratically Elected President and Installed a Fascist Dictator.
Im with you 100% it just got that bit more darker because shame on us we only then started seeing the world as is because it happened to a western nation the world always had the nasty things going on but for me i was in second year in school bout 14 so it awakened my mind to the darkness in the world but also the good in people and on a bright note we always know on our darkest day people will shine trough remember the heros
Aran, “the US backed coup”, is a gross exaggeration. The right wing Chilean Army overthrew a left wing socialist that they believed was going to turn Chile into another Communist Cuba. The US involvement was trivial in comparison to this. Allende only got 30 odd percent off the votes so he had a lot of enemies in Chile.
My girlfriend is gone into labour.no joking9/11,bless them souls who lost their lives on that day.my hero is in the cuh and its struggling to not come out.
Don’t know if its a boy or a girl either..
The victims families are owed an explanation from the government that represents them, it’s the least the US Government could do.
With the news over a year ago that the prime witness in the 9/11 investigation completely made up his testimony under torture of planning the attacks on the towers with Bin Laden and all the other crucial evidence he gave then the official explanation is itself a conspiracy.
The families are owed more than a conspiracy theory as to what happened to their loved ones.
Its not about that you have 364 days a year to tell us this it one day a year we all think about the poor people who had to jump to there deaths the people who had no way out and the people who tried to help there fellow man and died aswell
Disgusting how you use 9/11 on 9/11 to continue to spout you’re anti-American/pro-Russia/pro-Assad/pro-Russian Television prop. and disguise it as you care about the 9/11 victims. Couldn’t you just have a little decency? #from NY #have a mother who worked right next to the trade center (Liberty Plaza). #know people who lost relatives. We’re the Arab-Americans across the river in Jersey City also paid off to celebrate??? What the conspiracy behind that? Should we launch an investigation? It’s beyond me why they even live in America if they hate it so much.
Museums hiding the existence of giants, 9/11 an inside job and all rebels fighting in Syria being foreign jihadists. Is there any crackpot theory you don’t believe in?
Today is about remembering those who lost their lives on this day and nothing else.
Well said sir
I intend no disrespect to the families of the 9/11 victims. I left the US the day before 9/11 having worked there for two years in New York. I am merely saying that the families are owed an explanation as to who killed their loved ones because anyone who believes the official explanation which is now itself classed as a conspiracy theory is bat sh*t crazy.
Re Jason.
Anymore? Global warming, there’s another one. That is a complete falacy. I do believe giants were real and giants of 9 to 12 feet are more than likely present today on the Solomon Islands.
RIP to all who were lost that day, hard to believe its 12 years,
Still no harm in people in asking questions about the huge wholes in the official theory. There are a number of victims families also involved in organisations that are looking for a new investigation in to what really happened that day.
Some individuals on here get very angry when people pose “crackpot” questions like… How two office fires managed to bring down a 47 story steel framed building in 8 seconds. And why it was not even mentioned in the 9/11 commission report and most Americans don’t even know it fell despite the existence of expert groups like architects and engineers for 9/11 truth. pilots for 9/11 truth etc.
Questioning official stories is a duty, particularly when there are so many holes in the admins version of the story.
Fantasy Island ended in 84′.
Even liberty hall wouldn’t collapse with two fires not straight down like that. Keep on living in your fantasy world Jazz where the laws of physics don’t exist.
Trouble is the laws of physics do exist and were aptly demonstrated on 9/11.But crackpots who know Jack shit about demolition work or the use of high explosives in demolition or how the towers were put together keep bleating on about how quick the fire destroyed them.
Liberty hall is built out of concrete and bricks outside an iron frame work
. WTC1 and 2 were basically two giant rectangle boxes standing up right with concrete floors and girder support,covered by a aluminium and glass skin.They were designed to flex in high winds and even shear off above the 50th floor if a nuke had hit Manhatten.
They were not designed to withstand a 100 ton flying bomb.2/3 of which was AV GAS. If you classify that as an office fire,I wouldn’t fancy working in your office!
Indeed always question authoithy but do some research first in how your pet theory might actually have to work in real life,then apply Mr Occams razor to it and it is usually the simplest explanation that is the truth.
Martin WTC7 had more damage than just a couple of office fires, there was also some considerable structural damage to the building and the fires burned all day before the building collapsed. The gave up trying to fight the fires as they didn’t have enough water supply and evacuated the area for fear of collapse.
For me the simplest explanation is that the same thing that caused the metal but not plastic trim on the cars to burn up around New York that day also caused the the metal in the building to burn up. Direct energy weapons as purposed by Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago
Yawwwwnnnn.
I see we have all the experts in metallurgy and structural design out in force tonight.
Cia ran, what happened to the cars to make them burn but not the trim or plastic just the metal?
Beg, check the burning of Mandarin Oriental Hotel to see what happens when skyscrapers burn according to laws of physics..
Can you people not just accept the fact that America was attacked by a group of radical Islamists.they trained and carried out their attacks with military precision.
America was fully justified in its reaction in the aftermath of being attacked.
This group has also killed in Madrid,Bali and Mumbai.but I’m sure you will find a conspiracy theory to blame that on the United States too.
Ciaran I never said the us government did it.
I am saying who ever did it used direct energy weapons.
Maybe your underestimating their weaponry.
The problem is that, as long as people are going to blindly accept such “facts”, the animals who commit such atrocities, not only will stay unpunished, but will continue to commit them..
The Tesla’s tower of wireless communication/energy pulls the charged particles down from space and spreads this out on a high voltage and frequency wave which then can power any device tuned to the frequency. He also called it a death ray while its not the same as the tec today its the basics of it
JP Morgan ruined Tesla financially and stole his visions of the future from us. That’s the one that’s hurts even unborn generations.
Some day I hope a proper independent investigation of 9/11 is done but it will be harder now that all the twist beams have been smelted.
I think you will find the answer in Area 51.
Your answers along with the other conspiracy theorists can be found at long last in Area 51.
I think someone
Mr tesla i think someone had been playing a little to much of command and conquer
Never played it but I did study electric
*electrical engineering and have an interest in physic more than the average person
Your not the only electrical engineer in the country,so you may step down of your pedestal.
You should play it.cracking game
Last game I can l played was Mario kart with the kids but they don’t play games anymore.
I am saying I am not commenting on a subject that I have no experience in and maybe you should look into science yourself if your so quick to know everything maybe you could build an Einstein refrigerator for yourself and save some money.
@Simon Jester “do some research first in how your pet theory.”
What theory are you on about???, you and yours are the only ones defending a conspiracy theory. I just want some realistic answers regarding the impossible collapse of building 7.
Unanswered questions about obvious false official claims. You are the one asking people to put on their tin foil hats an believe your ridiculous office fire theory. That all the massive support columns in the basement failed at exactly the same time due to standard office fires 20 floors above them( leaving them all cut at a 45 degree angle) see image:
http://media.portland.indymedia.org/images/2006/06/341239.jpg
You then say these fires caused a collapse that defy the laws of physics. How can you swallow that crap? time you did some research genius.
Says a lot about you when you felt it necessary to take the liberty hall scenario as a serious point.
Open your eyes man. Either your not that bright or your are commenting for someones agenda. either way your wrong.
Good job mr Telsas free energy device was never constructed.It would work in the 40.0 Mhz range,same range of human brain waves .So we would be all drooling cabbages controlled by an elite with free energy by now….
So which nuke reactors were they plugged into to power them?? No one commented on 400 feet giant towers with balls of copper on them around NYC pre 9/11 either??
Nor were Mr Telsa’s designs ,shall we say very “man portable and concealable” either.
NMartin ..READ first what I wrote properly,before you fly off the handle will you?First off you canme in with the office theory fire which is utter bullshit anyway.As you can hardly claim a plane crash into a building as a normal office fire..
Now Martin I’ll explain how the coloums failed.
WEIGHT going downwards will fall in a straight line.Increasing weight[IE floors and contents of WTC 1&2 being added will cause acceleration to the initial weight and SHEAR steel etc in a straight line.
Now GENIUS I suggest you go and try this for yourself.But then again as the super sleuth and conspircy know it all you dont need to do this as you live in a parallel universe where these laws dont apply.
So you are a demolitions expert then?? So tell us GENIUS how you bring down two towers without structurally weaking key points first off which requires knocking out internal key supports like lift shafts,satirways etc without anyone noticing that..How do you explain thsat one genius??
Get some reality into your life man!You are commenting on something that is explanable.
But you see some greater picture where the international organisation of Global Crud is involved which makes me belive you are;
a] an Idiot,[b] deluded[c] ignorant of physics,steel properties and the reality of explosive demolition work .[d] Paranoid,if you belive I’m posting for someone elses agenda.
Also ,If you belive you have cracked this…How long do you expect to live??I wouldnt be shooting my mouth off on the Net about it.After all if the society of International Crud can wipe out five buildings in NYC and cause global wars.
Do you think they wont think anything of”disappering”you too???
All the anti American sentiment on here is pointless…go back to ur rocks ye crawled from…think of the families that lost loved ones u ignorant keyboard warriors
You will find most of the families want an independent investigation also , the 911 commission was a total whitewash , so much does not add up about that day .
Another loony conspiracy theory nut!
Great retort there William , it all makes sense to you then I suppose
John, there’s a piece in this month’s Scientific American magazine about why some people fall for conspiracy theories. It’s a mild form of schizophrenia To quote:-
I never mentioned anything about a conspiracy William , what I’m getting at is the failure of anyone to in the vast US intelligence network to notice anything unusual prior to the attack and the failure of their defences on that terrible day . Nice try try though
By your reasoning then William , the 911 victims families calling for an independent investigation have schizophrenia , I don’t think so buddy . Now trot on
Not by my reasoning, by the Scientists writing for Scientific American. All families are not calling for an investigation that claims the CIA blew up the buildings or that all the Jews were told in advance to leave or a picture of a devil was seen in a cloud or there were no aircraft parts in the rubble of The Pentagon etc etc.
The problem with conspiracy theorists is that NO amount of rebuttal will change their minds. It’s exactly the same fault religious people have. No matter how many paradoxes & contradictions you throw at them it’s like water off a Duck’s back.
All conspiracy theorists in all their conspiracies behave in exactly the same way. I’ve been watching them for nearly 40 years. [Mind you you would think I could spot them a bit sooner in a thread.]
John, the intelligence service came VERY close to copping on about the WTC attack. In fact by a twist of fate, the ex-FBI man who had just been given the job of head of security in the WTC had warned about such an attack when he was with the FBI and his superiors did’t take him seriously. He was killed in the attack. If I remember correctly he was only one of two FBI men killed.
A mole who worked in an hotel in NY told his FBI handlers that there was a lot of suspicious activity by people staying in the hotel and that too was ignored.
Other FBI agents came across the fact that foreigners were learning to fly planes and one tutor stated that he was suspicious that they only wanted to learn to land the planes.
Now will this rebuttal of your point cause you to pause and realise that you are wrong here and maybe wrong when other posters in this thread have pointed out you were wrong on other points. No? Quelle suprise!
Wrong about what William all I said was the 911 commission was a whitewash which it was . I think maybe you have me confused with someone else nor did I say all of the victims families wanted a new investigation .
Personally I think that the words ‘Conspiracy Theorist’ are used about anyone that asks questions about the official version of anything. Six months ago if I said that the American government was spying on people it would be a ‘conspiracy theory’ but now with whistleblower Edward Snowden we know this to be true. Did you know that the existence of the mafia was once considered a ‘conspiracy theory’ (until Apalachin Meeting raid). There are many other examples – http://www.infowars.com/33-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true-what-every-person-should-know/
The old tin foil hat thing is wearing a bit thin these days Trevor , people don’t like to be out outside their comfort zone , it’s far easier for them to ridicule people and keep their heads firmly buried in the sand , but thankfully the times they are a changing .
Interesting read if you care to find out more about the official 911 report. It’s all facts, no tin foil hats or conspiracy theories. I like facts.
http://www.911truth.org/the-911-commission-report-a-571-page-lie/
Interesting read if you care to find out more about the official 911 report. It’s all facts, no tin foil hats or conspiracy theories. I like facts.”
—- problem is some facts were left out eg what the FBI said at the inquiry – which Bush held up for over a year
Emotional to say the least….gone but never forgotten.forever in our thoughts and memories.
I think twelve years of thoughts is enough. Think about one of these next: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_disasters_by_death_toll
Cuddle flip, if you think 12 years is enough then should we forget about the people that died in chernobyl, world war 1 and 2…should we forget the people that died in the holocaust or through genocide or The Birmingham pub bombings in Britain or the Omagh bombing in 1998 the list is endless of people that have died….and all for what…
People die everyday needlessly due to war, fighting, hatred and revenge, natural disasters etc etc….nobody should be asked to forget about loved ones no matter how long ago they passed….whether it is a year or two or more, every soul that has passed has a right to be remembered. The reason this particular date and act is remembered is because it affected the world and many cultures and countries…it affected people that were going about their every day lives and it affected people that thought they were fighting for a cause. It affect people who were trying to save others while doing their jobs and professions. All these people are someones children, mothers, son, fathers, uncle, aunts and so on.
Every person world wide should be remembered and never forgotten it just happens that this happened in our life time and most of us can recall our emotions and feelings around this heinous act.
Donna, just in case you think otherwise, 3 people were killed when Chernobyl blew up, about 25, mainly firefighters, who fought the fire without any radiation protection, died in the weeks that followed and an estimated 20 died from Thyroid cancer.
I wasn’t differentiating between how people die or the amount whether large or small.. I was saying that everyone should be remembered.
Death affects us all and we would be sad human beings if we didn’t feel anything or react to some degree when we see or hear about things like 9/11 or the Omagh Bombing,Genocide, Holocaust,murder, suicide etc…
Death is a horrible thing whether it is through illness,accidental,murder or suicide etc and it hurts the people it leaves behind.
My point was people HAVE A RIGHT TO BE REMEMBERED.
While the US 9/11 should be remembered etc .
It was on this same date 40 years ago that the USA backed a far more vicious attack on Chile – but the Chilean 9/11 is rarely membered. Kissinger said at the time that ” the future of Chile was far too important to be left to Chileans” . That’s what the US thinks of Democracy . From 3,000 – 5,000 killed outright – and 30,000 – 40,000 missing or jailed . All thanks to USA – and they have the nerve to BS about what happened to them . Compared to what they have done to Vietnam , Chile , Iraq , Afghanistan , Laos – it [ US 9/11 ] is a tiny event – but gets worldwide attention .
Why are there no commemorations re Hiroshima / Nagasaki, Vietnam , etc etc etc .
500,000 Iraqi children killed by US sanctions on Iraq –
–but Madeline Albright said this ” was a price they were willing to pay ” . An amazing statement since she or US did not pay for it – but half a million Iraqis did – and more during the Iraq invasion .
US hypocrisy knows no bounds .
ps -Here is an article on Chilean 9/11
People tend to forget. What happened on 9/11 was the first time maybe since ww2 that a major terroist attack occured In the western world. In other parts of the world particulary the middle east unfortunately there is striff there everyother day without western intervention. That’s the way it is. All I will say is remember those who died in 9/11. Its our neck of the woods really.
The Munich Massacre and the Troubles are but two examples I can think of out of my head, plus the 1991 bombing of the Twin Towers. There have been a lot of attacks in the Western World since WW2. Just nothing of the sheer scale of 9/11. Mind you nothing like it has ever happened before or since.
In the Middle East, the terrorists are killing each other, the attack on the WTC was by non Americans.
People always say, you know where you were when JFK died “it was before my time”. When Elvis died…..i was watching tv…..when the Twin Towers where hit. I was sitting at a desk dumbfounded. Jaw wide open. Not believing what i was watching. 12 years on i still cry for those people who lost their lives and for the people who lost relatives. RIP
God bless the hero’s of 9/11. The civilians who turned into hero’s from the streets of lower Manhattan to the skies on united 93. Never forgotten. This is not a day for political point scoring
Rotund as I said families should grieve and remember but it’s the continual communal reliving of traumatic events as happens with 9/11 every year that is unhealthy. Life has to go on, bereavement is part of life. Remembering the past, remembering the dead is different to this over the top reliving of 9/11 every year: the tv programs etc, the militarisation of it and the sentimentalisation of it are all unhealthy
Hiroshima/Nagasaki never forget
Pearl Harbor, never forget!
Rape of Nanking,Burma railroad,sack of Singapore,Bataan death march.NEVER forget.
At least now America is a tamed Rottweiler.
Anybody who believes the official 9/11 story is a complete bafoon
Perspective: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
Oh dear.
we’ll never forget…
Get over it
Wonder if you had a friend or relative atomised would you be so quick to throw out such nonsense?
Yes I would. Grieve in private. This public raking up of communal grief is psychologically unhealthy. You have to move on.
The numbers killed on 9/11 fade into insignificance compared to civilians killed in the illegal “shock and awe” attack in Iraq. Per head of population, relatively more people died in the Northern Ireland conflict of the late sixties, seventies and eighties. The American response to 9/11 was disproportionate, was 9/11 a crime against humanity? Yes it was. Should the victims be remembered? Yes they should, but in s proportionate way. The crimes committed by the US by far outweigh the crimes committed against it.
Be sure to tell those families in the north and iraq to get over it too.
Islamists illegally cross over from Iran and Syria into Iraq, kill thousands and somehow the figure gets pinned on the US Army. My neighbor was in the US Army (his family have been marines ever since landing on these shores from Ireland in the 1700s) he was telling me all the people he was fighting were there nuts from Iran and Syria, NOT Iraqis.
Kevin I am talking about the initial shock and awe blanket bombing of Baghdad not the ongoing war that followed.
Blanket bombing of Bagdad…. Do you read indymedia much??
IF the USAF had carpet bombed Bagdad as you say. Bagdad would look like pics of post ww2 Berlin.IOW burnt out heaps of rubble.Carpet bombing is sooo passe dear.. You would use a nuke if you wanted to instantly create a rubble field where there was a city these days…But if you wanted to neutralise a cities defences and facilities and power,you would do exactly what the US did in the start of Iraqui freedom.Something that would be impossible to do with carpet bombing without destroying 75% of the city. Intrestingly ,there was more ordinance dropped on Bagdad than Berlin in the 2nd world war in a week,with 90% fewer civillian casualties than Berlin 60 years ago.
Some lessons are learnt the hard way.
Bit early for ninth of November memorials, surely?
Some good deals to be had all the same:
http://i.imgur.com/CHxDjoN.png?1
http://i.imgur.com/4nNe60V.png
I don’t think anyone will ever forget where they were that day… I just remember staring at the TV screen in shock, not able to believe it was real, and worrying frantically for my relatives in New York, even though they didn’t even live near or work in the Twin Towers! You just never know what’s going to happen next in life, what the next big accident/ disaster/ terrorist attack etc will be, and we should never forget the victims. I wish people would stop arguing about how exactly the towers would have collapsed, or calling out conspiracy theories… we should just remember the victims right now, and nothing more!
have your say