A Major Disruption In Your Living Room

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A MAJOR DISRUPTION IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

I just read a newsletter which I received from The Motley Fool. I believe that what it speaks about is absolute near-term Global Futurist gospel. The is about to be a major disruption right in your living room. Please forgive the spacing and idiosyncratic fonts in this post -- I was so excited and so eager to get it out on a timely basis, that I didn't get a chance to edit it properly.

I have excerpted the following information from that newsletter [this excerpt does not contain the full content of the newsletter itself]:

December 20, 2015

Hi Fellow Fools:

It shouldn't shock you to hear that I'm known as "tech-guy" in my extended family ... always rambling about new gadgets and predictions for the future.

So when scheduling conflicts forced us to open Christmas presents early and my wife unwrapped the newest version of Apple TV, I was more than happy to oblige my family's request to immediately set it up. After setup was complete, their next request shouldn't surprise you either: they wanted to watch a Christmas movie.

So, I handed my wife the remote and told her to simply ask for what she wanted.

Pressing down a button to activate Siri, she said, "Let's watch a Christmas movie on Netflix" ... and was immediately provided a listing of holiday films matching her search. One click later, the movie popped up in Netflix, and we were enjoying a family Christmas flick together. It took all of 10 seconds. Everyone thought the new device was pretty magical. I could tell because they actually applauded when we found a movie so effortlessly.

The future of TV is here ... and there may still be time for you to profit from it.

The future is now

Long-time readers of this column will recall that I've discussed the huge profits up for grabs as consumers shift their spending dollars from expensive cable bills to new forms of entertainment.

An email I sent on July 19 titled, "How you could profit from millions canceling cable" predicted the following:

"My research ... [from February 2014]... showed that we were nearing a tipping point where consumers would begin calling it quits [with their cable bill]. I anticipated that these cancelations would be relatively light to start, but would gain traction and eventually destabilize the entire industry."

At the time, that opinion was very controversial. Up to 2013, the number of people subscribing to paid television options like cable TV had never declined in a single year!

But just last week, we saw the clearest indication yet that my prediction will be right on the money. New findings from researcher eMarketer now predict that before the end of the decade, 23% of households won't pay for the traditional TV we're used to.

Think about that for a moment. We've gone from cable growing every single year to years of accelerating losses so great that nearly a quarter of American homes will have "cut the cord!"

From this new research to my family's reaction to the Apple TV (a device built to appeal to cord cutters), all evidence points toward Americans shifting away from the "old TV" that's been dominant for decades at a stunning pace.

A bet you can make that's worked for centuries

While this trend is unwelcome news to TV incumbents like Comcast (not that you'll be shedding a tear for them!), there's a larger shift that creates huge opportunity for investors like you.

TV is at the center of an entertainment industry that PwC estimates will hit $2.2 trillion by 2017. The industry's continuing growth is a pretty safe bet. Namely because entertainment's growth is fueled by people being more productive at work and having more free time, and also having more discretionary wealth to spend on being entertained. With the world's wealth and productivity having risen for centuries, that's the kind of investing bet I like to make.

Netflix (NFLX) has been the poster child of how ahead-of-the-curve investors can benefit from this trend so far. Fool co-founder David Gardner recommended Netflix six different times to Stock Advisor members through the years. As I'm writing this, the best of those recommendations (from December 2004) is up a stunning 6,393%!

But, there's more opportunity ahead

However, while Netflix is the clearest beneficiary of the evolution sweeping the television industry, there are plenty of other areas of opportunity spread across the trillions of entertainment dollars spent each year.

Here's one example of a booming area of entertainment that's set for huge growth: virtual reality. Yes, it's been an absolute joke for decades, but don't be surprised to see it finally begin invading homes next year.

The promise of virtual reality - taking tours of the world's greatest wonders, stepping inside the scenes of movies - has always been a no-brainer experience consumers would love. The missing ingredient was technology good enough (and cheap enough!) to deliver compelling experiences.

That's about to change in 2016. A series of VR headsets are coming out from companies like Facebook (FB), Samsung, HTC, and many others. I'm going to the world's largest technology show in two weeks, and the number of emails flooding my inbox from virtual reality companies wanting to show me new, amazing technologies is simply overwhelming.

Best of all if you're an investor, this progress has turned into results. The company that makes the processors that many of these VR sets rely on to power their visuals has seen its share price explode in the second half of 2015 as tech insiders saw the advances in VR technology.

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Yes, I believe that it is inevitable. Expect a major disruption right in your living room. Also, please be mindful of the fact that neither this blog nor the author ever provide investment advice. There will be some kinks to be worked out (aren't there always some bugs and bug fixes with every major consumer technology app release?), some privacy or other concerns, some die-hard traditionalists and the usual background noise of the naysayers, but this is an innovation and an application which simply should not and cannot be ignored by anyone.

Happy holidays, and my very best wishes to each and all for a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year.

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- Douglas E. Castle



THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning



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Where The Smart Money Is Going

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Where The Smart Money's Going

Direct Participation Programs

Preferred Stocks

StartUps

By Douglas Castle For Global Edge International Consulting Associates, Inc. & The Global Futurist

NOTE: This article should not be construed by the reader as containing or offering any financial, investment, legal, tax or accounting advice. Any financial computations, tables, projections, or statements are presented for illustrative purposes exclusively. Global Edge International Consulting Associates, Inc. [GEI] assists companies in creating and constructing their crowdfunding campaigns. For further information regarding this, see http://bit.ly/GEIserve . This article is copyright 2015 by Douglas E. Castle, and it may not be reproduced or republished without the author's express written consent unless the article is reproduced in totality without any changes or deletions, all links and images are kept intact and functional, and proper attribution is given to the author of this article and GEI.

With the increasing incidence of high-volatility periods and “corrections” in the publicly-traded capital markets, and with the low interest returns being offered by well-rated banks and bond issuers domestically and internationally, accumulating a small fortune (never mind about a large one for now) through the traditional vehicles of “buy low, sell high” in the stock market, or “ride the yield curve” in the bond market has become feeble propositions. The risk-reward ratio just isn't as inviting as it might have been during some long periods of economic prosperity and market stability years ago.

Additionally, new vehicles for investment, such as crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) financing and other variations on these themes using the internet as a surrogate exchange have opened up alternative means of investing capital in microdoses with a built-in means of diversification by simply spreading small investments over a large variety of early-stage enterprises. That having been said, these rapidly-proliferating investment vehicles and their accompanying strategies have a great deal of inherent early-stage business risk, but there is the inherent possibility of hitting several winners, even if this occurs just randomly.

Some smart money rules are listed below:

Rule 1: Diversify your investment portfolio in industries which are not interdependent and not correlated in terms of their pricing in the marketplace (in whichever marketplace that you are trading);

Rule 2: Invest in assets which offer you the possibility of gains (due to a rise in market pricing), but which, first and foremost, generate a current “cash-on-cash” return, in the form of interest, dividends, rents, royalties or a flow through of profits. By way of a quick example, if you invest in an asset which generates a 15.00% return per year, you will have recovered 100% of your investment (without considering any income made by reinvesting your 10.00% received yearly) within 6.67 years, after which time you effectively own your investment for “free”;

Rule 3: Invest in assets which are to be managed with a clear operating strategy, and which are not dependent exclusively upon a future “exit strategy” (such as eventually going public, being acquired by a large conglomerate, etc.) for recovery of your invested capital.

Some smart money opportunities (by type) are listed below:

Preferred Stock In Established Companies: Preferred dividend stocks, or preferred shares, are special equity securities that are considered "hybrid" instruments. Although they trade on equities exchanges, preferreds more closely resemble debt instruments like bonds. Preferred stocks normally carry no shareholder voting rights, but usually pay a fixed dividend.

These stocks are generally not as volatile in their market pricing as common shares, but they offer the holder a “cash-on-cash” return, usually payable semiannually or quarterly. You don't purchase them for capital gains... you purchase them for income and total portfolio growth.

In the current low interest environment where banks are paying interest rates of less than 2% on deposits, there are some very stable preferred stocks which are offering dividend yields (the fixed dividend amount divided by the stock purchase price) of 6% to 7.5% – this is between 3 and 4 times what the banks are offering. And when the price of these stocks falls, the dividend yield rises. They are the last bargains left in the public capital markets;

Stock In Startups Bought Through The Various Internet Platforms: These common shares are usually relatively low in terms of price per share, but have some potential for significant capital gains either in the private aftermarket, or if the shares become publicly-traded on a recognized exchange. They are an outgrowth of the crowdfunding movement which has become so big in the westernized nations.

The key here is to buy a highly-diversified “basket” of these shares and watch them grow. While each company (i.e., each issuer of stock) may either rise or fall, with the usual incidence of risk, many of these shares are priced so low that the least bit of good news will cause a significant percentage rise in their market price.

And while you can lose money on some of your individual picks, odds are that your diversification in the “basket” will have it such that the winners outpace, overshadow and compensate for the losers. Look at each of these purchases as if it were a lottery ticket, but with much better odds of winning;

Direct Participation In Business Transactions And Their Related Investment Opportunities: If you have substantial wealth, you may choose to join an investment club or partnership which invests directly in businesses in exchange for a revenue-based royalty, rent, interest, or share of operating income and certain incidental tax benefits in certain cases. These investments are generally not loaded down with brokerage fees and are not subject to market risk or volatility. The only risk is the risk associated with the successful ongoing operation of the actual business itself. You can learn more about direct participation programs by clicking on the link which follows: https://www.google.com/#q=direct+participation , and you can learn more about investment clubs by clicking on: http://bit.ly/CLUBS101 .

Regardless of what you choose to do, know this: The Smart Money is trickling out of the conventional investments, the customary exchanges and traditional structures. That much is reasonably certain. And don't bother to take that to the bank – banks that pay interest at rates which are lower than the adjusted rate of inflation are ways of merely slowing the loss of your wealth.

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Thank you, as always, for reading me,

Douglas Castle for Global Edge International Consulting Associates, Inc. and The Global Edge International Blog

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THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning



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Your Digital Footprints: An Indelible Electronic Trail

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Regardless of how you may feel politically about Hillary Rodham Clinton, her opinions, politics or candidacy, a recent article in the New York Times exposes some of the dangers which are manifest in our internet (or other electronic) communications and activities. While the article dealt with the political and legal implications of some "newly discovered" emails which Ms. Clinton failed to report to governmental authorities, the events described in the article could just have easily happened to you, me or anybody. Electronic communications contain our digital fingerprints (or, if you prefer, digital footprints) and always leave an indelible electronic trail.

While many of us are already striving to cover our digital fingerprints by regularly destroying or otherwise eradicating our email records (and even the hard drives which facilitated their creation, sending and receipt!), or by curtailing our activities and disclosures on social media, our digital footprints are not only something to be concerned about on our side; they have been transmitted to other parties (even if we have done all that is possible on our side to make them disappear).

This transmittal activity means that your electronic communications, whether sent or received, always leave an indelible electronic trail. With our increasingly dangerous dependency upon email and text messaging in lieu of in-person conversations and written correspondence, the potential for vulnerability and victimization is increasing for every otherwise tech-savvy citizen or subject. Remember that your electronic communications involve multiple parties - not just you!

There is no such thing as digital privacy. An excerpt from the Times article titled "State Department Gets Libya Emails That Clinton Didn't Hand Over," has serious implications for all of us.

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The State Department said on Thursday that 15 emails sent or received by Hillary Rodham Clinton were missing from records that she has turned over, raising new questions about whether she deleted work-related emails from the private account she used exclusively while in office.

The disclosure appeared to open the door for Republicans on Capitol Hill to get more deeply involved in the issue. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who is running for president, said he planned to send a series of questions to the State Department about the missing emails and about why it allowed her to use the personal account.

Republicans said that the State Department’s statement was likely to increase pressure on the House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, to subpoena the server in Mrs. Clinton’s home that housed the account.

Mrs. Clinton has said that she gave the State Department about 50,000 pages of emails that she deemed to be related to her work as secretary of state and deleted roughly the same number. She said the messages she deleted were personal, relating to topics like yoga, family vacations and her mother’s funeral.

Her longtime confidant and adviser Sidney Blumenthal, responding two weeks ago to a subpoena from the House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, gave it dozens of emails he had exchanged with Mrs. Clinton when she was in office. Mr. Blumenthal did not work at the State Department at the time, but he routinely provided her with intelligence memos about Libya, some with dubious information, which Mrs. Clinton circulated to her deputies.

State Department officials then crosschecked the emails from Mr. Blumenthal with the ones Mrs. Clinton had handed over and discovered that she had not provided nine of them and portions of six others.

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, who is running for president, said that she had given the State Department “over 55,000 pages of materials,” including “all emails in her possession from Mr. Blumenthal.”

The chairman of the House committee, Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, said that many of the emails that Mrs. Clinton had not handed over showed that “she was soliciting and regularly corresponding with Sidney Blumenthal, who was passing unvetted intelligence information about Libya from a source with a financial interest in the country.”

“It just so happens these emails directly contradict her public statement that the messages from Blumenthal were unsolicited,” he said. Mr. Blumenthal identified the source of his information as Tyler Drumheller, a former high-ranking C.I.A. official, according to a person with knowledge of his testimony to the Benghazi panel. Mr. Drumheller was part of a group that sought to do business in Libya.

Supporters of Mrs. Clinton have argued that the committee’s mission has crept far beyond its original scope: to investigate the Benghazi attacks, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Republican committee members have said that they are within their right to look into her email use because the resolution that created the panel directed them to examine how the administration complied with previous inquiries into the attacks. Mrs. Clinton’s emails relating to the attacks were not handed over to any of the panels conducting those inquiries.

Other panels in Congress may consider investigating the matter. Mr. Graham, who oversees a Senate subcommittee with sway over the State Department’s budget, said that the department “seems to have a system that is not working very well” in regards to its production of documents to Congress.

“I’m going to ask them whether they think Mrs. Clinton has handed over everything she should and what they are going to do about it,” he said. “And if they give me runaround responses, we’ll drag them up on Capitol Hill and make them answer these questions in public.”

While the State Department acknowledged that it did not have several of Mrs. Clinton’s emails, it also told the Benghazi committee that it had not turned over other messages of hers. The department said that it had not done so because the contents of those messages fell outside the requests made by the committee.

“The State Department is working diligently to review and publish the 55,000 pages of emails we received from former Secretary Clinton,” it said in a statement.

That statement is unlikely to satisfy the committee, which believes it has been clear in its requests. Members of the panel have contended that the State Department has withheld documents to protect Mrs. Clinton and grind the investigation to a halt. State Department officials have said that one of the reasons it has taken so long to produce documents is that the department’s record-keeping system is cumbersome. They have also said that the committee has not been specific enough in its requests.

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The Takeaway: Every sender, or recipient, as well as all parties copied on all email and social media correspondence can become sources of information, regardless of your attempts to obfuscate, or destroy evidence of communications on your side, by yourself. And as regulatory and legal authorities become increasingly inquisitive about our communications via all electronic media (even our wireless cellphones, with our phone conversations and texts) in waging the war on terrorism, an increasing segment of the populations in each of the respective industrialized nations will become targets -- for better or for worse.

The Global Futurist Solution: If you wish to divulge or impart secret information to a second party, and you are reasonably certain that the party in question has not been bodily rigged to record any audio or video, have a live, in-person chat with that person (assuming , of course that you can be seen and don't necessarily mind being photographed from a distance associating with this second party) in a heavily-populated area. Nobody said that keeping secrets was particularly easy; and the trend is that it will become increasingly difficult.

Thank you, as always, for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle for The Global Futurist Blog

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THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning



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Top Five Techno Trends: The Next Five Years -- Douglas E. Castle - The Global Futurist

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During the course of these next five years, several macro-trends are emerging for all futurists, strategists and investment professionals to observe closely. While I do not offer investment, financial, tax, legal or accounting advice in this article, any prudent businessperson should take heed of these sweeping macro-trends:

1) Technology will become increasingly smaller;

2) Technology will become increasingly multifunctional;

3) Technology will become increasingly either wearable on the Human body or implantable (think of applied nanotechnology) within the Human body;

4) Technology will be increasingly integrated with Human physiology and psychology;

5) Technology will become significantly capable of sending and receiving data, and acting upon it, in terms of self-regulation (think of a very futuristic thermostat).

It is unquestionable that biometrics, biofeedback, miniaturization technologies and all of the macro-trends described briefly above will represent the approaching intimacy of the relationship between Human and machine. Devices will be seen as enhancements to Human health, intelligence and capabilities. We will become increasingly dependent upon these devices, rendering us increasingly vulnerable to those who control or who can commandeer this technology.

Yes. It's going to be a brave new world - but with some major dangerous dependencies lying in wait.

Thank you, as always, for reading me.

Douglas E Castle

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THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning

Cyber Security Assessments And Insurance - The Global Futurist - Douglas E. Castle

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The incidence and scale of hacking (and other types of data security breaching) activity, multiplied by its accelerating level of sophistication has individuals and businesses in an ever-increasing state of fear.

With our dangerous growing dependency on the electronic storage and transmittal of information, as well as with the growing percentage of commerce and banking transacted online and via mobile devices, there is a rapidly rising risk of significant financial and personal (real, physical) loss. Of course, this increasing risk, both actual and perceived, will translate to increasing opportunity for certain entrepreneurs, enterprises and visionary investors.

I would suggest that two business-to-business industry sectors which will ripen to full bloom during the next two to three years [although I do not provide financial or investment advice to any reader/s under any circumstances] will be: 1) cyber security assessments, evaluations and standardized ratings*; and 2) insurance (i.e., insurance products and policy providers) against losses due to incidents involving hacking or other types of data security breaches.
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* These standardized security ratings could be some variation on the theme of ISO (the International Organization For Standardization) 27001, or promulgated by some other body, either existing or to be created.
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Start scanning and scouring the news and marketplaces for companies which are contemplating significant investments or forays into either one or both of the above industry sectors, and you will be looking at the future, albeit today.

Prepare yourself, your systems, your routines and your portfolio accordingly.

Douglas E. Castle for The Global Futurist Blog

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THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning

Computer Security: Codes Or Encryption? - Douglas E. Castle

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Computer Security: Codes Or Encryption?

By Douglas E. Castle For The Global Futurist Blog

And Global Edge Technologies Group LLC

As computer hackers become increasingly sophisticated and collaborative over their efforts year after year, encryption (no matter how sophisticated or complex) will not provide an adequate defense against various forms of data interception, database compromise, and computer security. Instead of predicting the future, I am going to propose that encryption protocols be augmented by the use of private codes. While codes and code books would seem to be things of the past, they should well be revisited as a means of beating cyber criminals who intend to unlawfully intercept and abuse or corrupt your data.

The combination of encryption and code in securing important emails is a practical application of this combination of technologies. But before going further, allow me to differentiate between codes and ciphers.

Codes, which require a code translation book (preferably not recorded on your business' computers), are word or phrase substitutions. They are used in police and military communications, Gregg Shorthand, and in conveying other sensitive types of data transmissions and critical communications. They are very effective at keeping interlopers unaware of the meaning of the message (even if intercepted) because the only persons who know what the encoded expressions mean are the sender and recipient of the data, each with his or her respective code book. For example, in a message, the expression "All Clear" can easily mean "There is an emergency situation. We have been compromised. Abort the mission." The more code used in a data transmission, the more difficult it becomes for an illicit interceptor to translate the meaning of the correspondence.

Ciphers, as related to encryption rely on formula or algorithms where letters, numbers or symbols are consistently or formulaically substituted by other letters, numbers or symbols. Regrettably, even the most complex algorithms (even compounded ones or temporally shifting ones) are ready targets for hackers. The hackers' work is to find the algorithm -- and there are far too many programs designed to do just that. Codes, if properly constructed and changed periodically, are far more difficult to break. Using a combination of both codes and encryption should be the best practice for electronic communications of private information, and I am optimistic that I have either inadvertently predicted the future or influenced it for the benefit of my readers, clients and colleagues.

Some resource links follow for your further research and reference regarding the brief discussion above:

The Different Types Of Codes And Ciphers

Downloadable Mobile Applications For Codes And Ciphers

Online Cipher Creation Programs And Tools

As always, thank you for reading me.

Douglas E. Castle - Join me on LinkedIn

http://DouglasECastleBlog.com
http://DouglasECastle.com
http://DouglasECastleConsultancy.com
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THE GLOBAL FUTURIST – Douglas E Castle

http://theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com

Discovering and following significant trends across an extensive range of domestic and international consumer, business, demographic, cultural, economic, political, technological and other key areas of influence and impact on life and business; predicting future change, preparing for it and profiting from it.

Key Terms: business, forecasting, trends, future, prediction, disruption, displacement, innovation, complexity theory, economic waves and cycles, projections, planning

FORECASTING, FUTURISM AND UNCONVENTIONAL PREDICTORS

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FORECASTING AND FUTURISM: USING “UNCONVENTIONAL” INDICATORS

Should Unconventional Predictive Systems Be Used By Forecasters?

By Douglas E. Castle, From The Global Futurist Blog

In forecasting and in futurism, I believe that it is best not to exclude any predictive system or indicator, regardless of how unconventional or seemingly – superstitious, from consideration. What is likely a great deal more important is just how much weight to assign to each of these systems and indicators. Going one step further, the more of these systems that one uses (assuming that each is given appropriate consideration or “weight” due to its historical correlation with the actual occurrence of events) in a multivariate prediction model, the better the quality and reliability of the forecast.

In a configuration being used by a forecaster where there appears to be a confluence amongst a large number of these predictive systems, both scientific and anecdotal, the more likely the outcome and the validity of the particular event being forecast. Plainly speaking, when all of the indicators in all of these systems point in the same direction and at the same time, the greater the likelihood of a given event's occurrence. Let's call this Douglas E. Castle's Theory Of Predictive Confluence. I like the sound of it.

Given that most self-proclaimed “Futurists” [i.e., pundits, gurus and prophets – I'm grinning now...] base their predictions either upon an amalgamation of predictions made by other forecasters or trend-spotters, or upon a combination of the extrapolation of past trends and events in combination with some applied imagination, I refuse to rule any potentially predictive system “out” simply because it is associated with the seemingly supernatural or superstitious.

In the recent past, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that when a significant number of supposedly credible authoritative sources predict an event, especially in the capital markets, it tends to come true; this, to me, is less about prediction and more about a self-fulfilling prophesy based upon a “herd movement” mentality.

In the simplest example, if a large number of these authorities and experts are predicting a bank's imminent collapse (regardless of any real financial data to support the prediction), there will be a high probability of depositors running to the bank to withdraw their funds in order to place tham at a “safer” institution, and, if the bank's shares are traded on a public exchange, it is also highly probable that the market price of the shares will take a precipitous dive. In this case, the future was actually made, and not merely predicted because of the influence of the forecasters on the behavior of consumers and investors. This is a kind of “forced future.”

In my forecasting, I use a recipe comprised of these ingredients:

1. An extrapolation based upon correlative history and an application of my imagination;
2. A Prediction Equation based upon all types of systems, both conventional and unconventional; and
3. A composite of the predictions of other notable and influential futurists.

In the past, I have found this recipe to be the best for both short-term and longer-term forecasts.

Enjoy the spectacle of the Blood Moon in particular, and more generally, open your mind to all predictive systems and indicators – they all exist, some for thousands of years, for a reason. I choose to keep an open mind and be receptive, as I believe every businessperson, investor and futurist should.

Douglas E. Castle

NOTE: THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED BY THE READER AS BEING LEGAL, FINANCIAL, TAX, ACCOUNTING, ECONOMIC OR INVESTMENT ADVICE. NO OFFERING OF SECURITIES OR OTHER INVESTMENT INTERESTS OF ANY TYPE IN ANY ENTITY IS MADE HEREBY, NOR IS A SOLICITATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF SECURITIES OR OTHER INVESTMENT INTERESTS OF ANY TYPE IN ANY ENTITY MADE HEREBY. THIS ARTICLE IS INTENDED FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND REPRESENTS THE VIEW OF THE AUTHOR ONLY.

THIS ARTICLE IS COPYRIGHT 2014 BY DOUGLAS E. CASTLE, WITH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY REPRODUCTION, TRANSMITTAL OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS ARTICLE, EITHER IN WHOLE OR PART, IS UNAUTHORIZED AND MAY BE UNLAWFUL, UNLESS FULL ATTRIBUTION IS GIVEN TO THE AUTHOR AND ALL LINKS IN THE ARTICLE REMAIN INCLUDED AND “LIVE.”

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The Cyberworms Multiply, Awaiting Instructions

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The cyberworms (quiet, subtle creatures [remember Conficker?] which have infiltrated and infected more than an estimated 80% of the information and communications equipment in the industrialized world, and which continue to multiply through various spreading and contact vectors) are lying in wait for instructions from their programmer-masters, who will awaken them at some point within the near future and give them orders to act. We are, for the most part helpless to stop sophisticated, constantly evolving worms [they have very mutational and adaptive intelligence programmed into their code -- their DNA, so to speak], which act like remote-controlled robots which can be instructed to commandeer their hosts at any time.

A quick refresher from Wikipedia:

The first variant of Conficker, discovered in early November 2008, propagated through the Internet by exploiting a vulnerability in a network service (MS08-067) on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta.^[14] While Windows 7 may have been affected by this vulnerability, the Windows 7 Beta was not publicly available until January 2009. Although Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band patch on October 23, 2008 to close the vulnerability,^[15] a large number of Windows PCs (estimated at 30%) remained unpatched as late as January 2009.^[16] A second variant of the virus, discovered in December 2008, added the ability to propagate over LANs through removable media and network shares.^[17] Researchers believe that these were decisive factors in allowing the virus to propagate quickly.

The Global Futurist Blog (sometimes spoken of at http://DouglasECastle.com) has reason to believe (the prediction mechanism here is an amalgam of long wave theory, catastrophic event timing, and a bit of astrology and prophesy) believes that these worms will be instructed to rain mayhem over all of their host users. Further, I believe that Bill Gates and Microsoft are creeping rapidly out of supporting their invaded hardware and software due to their sharing this vision. I believe a massive attack of catastrophic proportions will be undertaken between either in 2015 or 2016.

Sadly, most virus and malware removal tools are not sophisticated enough to detect the infection, or to isolate and neutralize it, were it to be found. Many government, security and utilities systems are supposedly closed -- such that the mini-net is sealed off from outside communications. Again, I believe that there are insidious ways (employees bringing work home, or accessing closed systems from outside) that these safety measures can be easily compromised.

I cannot predict the nature of the event, but it is likely to be coordinated by giving either all or large caches of these cyberterrorbots instructions in coordinated fashion. Rest assured that it will be catastrophic, and will involve a vast show of power over established authority.

We'll keep you posted.

Douglas E. Castle 
THE GLOBAL FUTURIST BLOG

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Hot Issue Of TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS Newspaper Is Out! - 07.16.2013

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Here it comes...

TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS This newspaper is a supplement to The Global Futurist Blog. Published by Douglas E Castle 14 July 2013 Stories Leisure Business Education Technology Sports #trends #trending
Today's headline WTF, Internet? Social media holdouts, you're the worst Shared by Social Media CMO www­.digitaltrends.com - Disclaimer: I really love you, mom, please don’t be mad at me for the following anecdote. You’re probably cursing the gods for giving you a kid who decided to be a writer/is sort of a jerk. How abo...

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