Cyburbia Time Capsule for December 8, 2012

[Maister]

"It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future." - Yogi Berra

Those lists of predictions people make about what the distant future will be like are usually pretty droll. In 1909 'experts' might predict that all diseases would be cured, a bridge would be constructed across the Bering Straits, or that everyone would own a flying car in 100 years. Other times they get it right with uncanny accuracy and might correctly guess that planets outside the solar system would be discovered.

This thread, however, is not intended to address the distant future....but rather the not-so-distant future. The goal of this thread is to make our own predictions for what will have transpired by December 8, 2012 and then re-open this thread (presupposing there is any insitutional memory of it) and review it at that time for bragging rights and/or big chuckles. The prediction can either be world events, new technologies, events on Cyburbia (humorous or otherwise).....whatever, the sky is the limit. Ideally, your submissions should be a mix of humor and genuine prescience. No limit to the number of predictions one can make so post early and post often

I'll start.....in December 8, 2012:
- gasoline will cost $5.70 a gallon
- JNA will have joined the Clubbbbbbbbbbbbbe
- a coup will have replaced the government in Thailand.
- Obama will have recently been elected to a second term. The GOP, will have retaken control of the Senate
- kjelsadek will be a moderator
- Donald Trump will have lost his fortune
- a new country artist will have taken the charts by storm, comparable to a Garth Brooks
- high fuel prices, coupled with new technology will cause a resurgence in the popularity of dirigible airships. Most people will commute every day by blimp

[mgk920]

By 2012-12-08:

-USA $100 notes will have the same use status as USA $1 notes do today.
-Over-reaching government at the Federal level will be fomenting a rapidly increasing level of popular discontent and civil disobedience, with a similarly fast-growing underground and barter-based economy. And the more the administration tries to clamp down on this, the more broad and extensive this discontent becomes.
-The 2012 election will be the biggest landslide loss for an incumbent administration in USA history and they won't take the loss with grace. And in their proven arrogance will try to 'double down' on everything during the lame-duck period. The winners will be swept in on a no-uncertain-terms 'get the government out of our way' platform and will be well prepared to put that into place.
-Pot will be legal in most of the USA and regulated like tobacco and alcohol.
-One third to half of the regional malls existing on 2009-12-08 will have closed.
-The Green Bay Packers will have won another Super Bowl.

Mike

[PrahaSMC]

- Tim Pawlenty defeats Barack Obama in the 2012 election. In the aftermath, it becomes clear that Obama's coaltion of young and minority voters was largely unsustainable, due to historically low voter turnout among both cohorts.
- Unemployment stabilizes at 8-percent, as the economy endures a prolonged jobless recovery.
- Stalled by congressional gridlock and Republican denials over global warming, the US makes little progress in alternative energy or green infrastructure. By contrast, China, India, and Brazil experience robust growth in these sectors and permanently surpass the US in green innovation.
- Several more prominent baseball stars are revealed to have used performance enhancing drugs (namely, a very famous Yankee and Cardinal ). At last, it is widely accepted that steroids were a rampant part of baseball for decades, and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
- Another wave of major newspapers go under, leaving the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post as the only major daily peridocals available in most metropolitan areas.
- Gasoline slowly creeps up to $3.50/gallon.
- Netflix and DVD rentals in general will be on the verge of extinction, thanks to digital cable and a massive increase in the availability of "on-demand" services.
- College football will not adopt a playoff system
- LeBron James' impending free agency hype will be overshadowed by a year-long NBA lock-out.

[Hink]

Politics
- Barack Obama will win his second term based on the strength of the economy.
- The republican party will be in two factions - the hard right conservatives, and the fiscal conservative/social moderate
- Sarah Palin will have run for pres, but lost the primary to Romney, splitting the party even more.
- The main points of the debates for pres will be healthcare costs/job growth/border protection/abortion/ and green energy.
- Record percentage of the budget will go to infrastructure
- The Oil lobby finally loses and funding goes to rail instead of highways.

Sports
- Brett Farve retires, and then comes back.
- The Bengals win their second Super Bowl in the last three years.
- The Olympics in England go well, but the US gets crushed by China again this time by 30 medals.
- Soccer in the US is big based on how well the US did in 2010 World Cup.
- NCAA Football votes to have a 16 game playoff, like everyone on earth wants.
- NBA removes the rule that a player has to be out of high school for a year to play...NCAA gets more athletes that are there to stick around.
- Tiger Woods becomes the all time winningest golfer ever as well as having won the most majors. He is worth $1.5 billion.

Entertainment
- Reality television fad comes to a close
- American Idol ends.
- Hollywood goes bankrupt, and renegotiates how actors are paid- salaries go WAY down.
- File Sharing and free content cause movie makers and television shows to change their business model... giving away most content with advertising paying for it.

Misc.
- Google makes all other companies be honest by giving away most computer products/phones/software for free.
- Gas will be $3.75 / gallon.
- Commodities will be the same as now.
- Gold will be $950 / ounce.
- The housing stock in the US will be 30% vacant still.
- The DOW will be 15,450