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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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28 October 2010 Last updated at 11:12 GMT
Is time running out for the wristwatch?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11634105
By Andrew McFarlane BBC News Magazine
Wristwatch close-up
One in seven people in the UK has no need for a watch, a survey
suggests. Are mobile phone time displays killing off the wristwatch?
For decades, people have sworn they would be lost without one.
A faulty movement or dead battery sent them scurrying to the watch
repairers, desperate to restore to their lives the order of a regular
tick.
And in today's time-poor society, the need to keep tabs on the passing
minutes is greater than ever.
But according to market analyst Mintel, the growth of portable digital
products - phones, laptops, MP3 players - with time displays
represents a gathering cloud over the watch industry.
In its survey of more than 1,500 people in the UK, 14% said they had
no need for a watch. Mirrored across the country, that would amount to
7.2 million people, while the percentage doubled among 15 to
24-year-olds.
Mintel's analysts believe this will continue, with market figures
showing a 9% increase in mobile phone ownership since 2005. The number
of watch owners remained static.
iPod Nano Digital music player or wristwatch? You get to decide
"It's a growing trend that... is a potential threat to demand for
standard wristwatches," says Mintel's Tamara Sender. "Young people who
have grown up with technology are just as likely to check the time
with a mobile phone."
Watches remain popular - 86% of people still own one, even if many of
those last saw their timepiece buried somewhere in their sock drawer.
Sales are expected to hold up - if not grow - as people replace broken
ones.
But the concept of the watch could change, says Ms Sender.
Mintel cites as an example the new iPod nano, a miniaturised version
of Apple's popular digital music player, which features a watch face
and a clip on the back allowing it to be worn with a wrist-strap.
Such convergence of technology - as with phones, cameras, MP3 players
and internet applications - is inevitable, according to Dr Ben
Highmore.
Wristwatches are becoming "redundant" and will probably disappear in
the coming decades, believes the cultural trends lecturer at the
University of Sussex. "If you're in the habit of wearing a watch,
you'll continue."
Full article on url above
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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