Monday, September 27
Sunday, September 26
Afternoon Ramblings
Life passes by quickly...
Life is change...
Life is temporary...
So... what are we supposed to do with our lives?
Do we have a purpose?
Is there meaning with our existence?
It's complicated... and yet, it is also simplistic... in that we are born... we live a certain amount of years... we die... and then... what exactly?
No one knows although plenty have offered speculations... especially the various religions and spiritual beliefs that say there is an after-life to which we journey after death. An after-life without a body, as we become a spirit of sorts... but, not necessarily a ghost per se...
And... it is unclear if this spirit has a mind or a brain or a consciousness that comes with a memory or memories... or, if it just floats around like a cloud in the sky pushed along by magnetic dark energy and matter.
However, some believe that there is a cosmic consciousness that is floating around in the universe that is comprised of all the knowledge and energy in the universe both past - present - future... but, it is unclear if this cosmic consciousness is a repository for knowledge from humans or from ALL LIFEFORMS... even though there is no conclusive proof that other lifeforms even exist.
It is also unclear to most of us if there really is a CREATOR that we refer to as GOD because of our exposure to The Bible, The Koran, and other religious texts and manuscripts that have been discovered from the following:
- Christianity
- Islam
- Judaism
- Sikhism
- Baháʼí Faith
- Atenism
- Hinduism - complex and depends upon the individual
On the other hand, faiths like:
- Buddhaims
- Janism
Just as many texts and manuscripts exist that address the concept of MANY GODS... however, there is always ONE of these many gods who controls and/or is the leader of these other gods... which is tangential to this one god concept and the foundation of CREATIONISM.
Was the universe and everything inside the universe created... or was the universe spontaneously created out of nothing... which begs the question how does one get SOMETHING FROM NOTHING? So, if one believes this, then one does not support the notion that the universe was actually created but that it just came into being... hence, no creation.
AND... does any of this really matter to someone who just wants to get high on drugs and fornicate... or to someone who just wants to wants to work in a factory and drink beer.... or to someone who just wants who just wants to sell illegal drugs to dopers????
Our entire universe and everything inside it, may just be millions of lines of programming code for as Matrix-like construct that is operating on someone's computer screen as some sort of virtual reality game to avoid doing their homework...
Mankind, however it was developed, lives in its own imaginative concept of reality that suits their purposes and nothing more... we are a selfish and self-centered species who evolved with two inherent drives: SURVIVAL & GREED. Those who are not blessed with those two motivating atributes simply have a meaningless but oblivious life and who are unaware of anything outside their sphere of influence...
These people were simply born, evolved into adults, eat for nurishment, fornicate for pleasure, defecate out of necessity, and die out boredom and their final awareness of insignificance. They either dance to the music or march to the beat of someone else's drums...
On My Back Porch
Most days, I sit out on my back porch when the weather is mild to hot and there is minimal humidity like today... it has nothing to do with the fact that it is also Sunday in the Valley... yesterday was spent moving landscaping rocks and tilling up the ground around a miniture Japanese Maple so that we could sow grass seed and no longer have to worry about planting flowers and weeding... the decision comes with age not with the fact that we are tired of flowers.
This morning, my wife and I discussed finances in that the cost of our healthcare has increased and no doubt will increase again... along with gasoline prices and food prices which impacts us most often as we have numerous medical appointment throughout the month all of which are in Knoxville about 30-50 miles away depending upon the location of the office.
At age 74 and 69 respectively, my wife and I are no longer that keen on driving a long distance to enjoy 5 days of vacation at a coastal town in South Carolina or Florida or along the Gulf Coast, nor are we that keen on flying overseas to see what Europe has to offer... and, with COVID hanging around like a bad neighbor, we have absolutely no desire to live on a cruise ship for 7 days.
Presidents and elected officials come and go every so often and while most of us only pay attention to the 4 year or 8 year cycles, there are elections being held every two years referred to as the 'mid-terms' and typically influence the power of the House and Senate... and, while that is interesting to some of us, it no longer is of interest to me because NOTHING EVER CHANGES or at least in my situation, nothing has changed since the mid 1960's... therefore, I no longer give a shit about politics.
There is RACISM in this country... there is no doubt about that... but, racism is not just about the whites, it is also about the blacks as they perpetuate just as much as the whites do... look at their communities... look at their churches... look at their cultural centers... look at the hatred they have for whites...
Racism in the USA will never change... as long as there are differences among and within the human race and there are differences with which we are born and they will never change... Some blacks are lighter than other blacks and those two groups don't care for each other... yet, dark blacks like to marry light blacks or whites because of the status that brings them for some reason...
BUT...
THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT...
- Blacks or whites
- Democrats or Republicans
- Educated or non educated
- Religious or not religious
THE REAL PROBLEM IS...
MONEY AND WEALTH
MILLIONAIRES
BILLIONAIRES
These people CONTROL EVERYTHING... and set into motion circumstances and scenarios that have people who are not in their financial domains FIGHTING EACH OTHER... which on the surface is very clever but it is also destructive... and, this destruction will NEVER HURT the wealthy as it diverts attention away from them...
Dolly Parton
Research shows that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate.
That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood.
They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day.
As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.
Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels.
That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.
During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education.
The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge.
What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.
On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of "Coat of Many Colors" dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.
Happy 74th Birthday Dolly Parton!
Charity Money
The Terry Fox organization contributes $0.83 for every dollar raised to cancer research.
The Canadian Cancer Society : $0.22 for every dollar raised.
Admin costs for the Terry Fox Run are low because most of the admin costs are paid by its many volunteers. Only $0.17 is used for run promotion and supplies. Every person organizing & managing absorbs all expenses other than the run donor sheets and some signage.
Do you know that the CEO of Shriners' , the Imperial Potentate, makes $0.00 per year? How about that for a salary? There are 22 hospitals helping kids in Canada , the USA and in Mexico . His salary is matched by the Provincial Potentate's income which is also $0.00 per year.
So the next time you see a Shriner in a mall, selling whatever, give generously.
Same for the Lions Clubs ---100 per cent of money raised for charity goes to charity. Even Lion's dinner meetings are paid for out of their own pockets.
As you open your pockets for yet another natural disaster, keep the following information in mind.
We have listed the charities from the highest (worst paid offender to the lowest (least paid offender).
The worst offender , for the 11th year in a row is UNICEF ,whose CEO receives $1,200,000 per year, plus a Rolls Royce for his exclusive use wherever he goes, and an expense account that is rumored to be well over $150,000.
Only pennies from the donations go to the UNICEF cause (less than $0.14 per dollar of income).
The second worst offender this year is Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross.
Her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses. She enjoys 6 weeks fully paid holidays including all related expenses during the holiday trip for her and her husband and kids, and 100% fully paid health & dental plan for her and her family....for life!
This means out of every dollar they bring in, about $0.39 goes to charity causes.
The third worst offender, again for the 7th time, was Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way. He receives a $375,000 base salary (US funds), plus so many expense benefits it's hard to keep track as to what it is all worth, including a fully paid lifetime membership at 2 golf courses (1 in Canada, 1 in the USA), 2 luxury vehicles, a yacht club membership, 3 major company gold credit cards for his personal expenses... and so on....
This equates to about $0.51 per dollar of income going to charity causes.
Fourth worst offender, in the fourth spot for every year since this information has been made available since 1998, is amazingly yet again, World Vision. Its President (Canada) receives $300,000 base salary, plus a home valued in the $700,000 - $800,000 range (completely furnished, all housing expenses, including taxes, water/sewer, telephone/fax, HD/high speed cable, weekly maid service and pool/yard maintenance), fully paid private schooling for his children, upscale automobile, and a $55,000 personal expense account for clothing/food, plus a $125,000 business expense account.
And get this: because it is a "religious based" charity, World Vision pays little or no taxes, can receive government assistance and does not have to declare where the money goes.
Only about $0.52 of earned income per dollar is available for charity causes.
Of the some sixty-odd charities we looked at, the lowest paid President/CEO/Commissioner was heading up a charity group in Canada .. We found, believe it or not, that it was...
Ready for this...?
I think you might be surprised...
It is none other than...
The Salvation Army 's Commissioner Todd Bassett, who receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization.
Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned, is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes.
Truly amazing...
Mystgerious Surge in Atmosphere
Levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the atmosphere have surged in modern times due to human activity, according to new research.
When scientists analyzed air samples trapped in drilled cores of Antarctica's ice, they found atmospheric hydrogen had increased 70 percent over the course of the 20th century.
Even as recent air pollution laws have sought to curb fossil fuel emissions, hydrogen emissions have continued to rise with no signs of slowing down. There's a chance that leakage is to blame.
Molecular hydrogen is a natural component of our atmosphere due to the breakdown of formaldehyde, but it is also a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, especially from automobile exhaust and biomass burning.
While hydrogen doesn't trap heat in the atmosphere on its own, it can indirectly impact the distribution of methane and ozone. After carbon dioxide, these are the two most important greenhouse gases, which means global hydrogen levels can also perturb the climate.
Nevertheless, the sources and sinks of atmospheric hydrogen are rarely studied. We don't even have a good estimate of how much humans have emitted since industrial times.
The current study is the first to offer up a solid figure. Between 1852 and 2003, air samples from near the South Pole of Antarctica suggest atmospheric hydrogen jumped from 330 parts per billion to 550 parts per billion.
"Aging air is trapped in the perennial snowpack above an ice sheet, and sampling it gives us a highly accurate account of atmospheric composition over time," explains Earth scientist John Patterson from the University of California Irvine. READ MORE
When scientists analyzed air samples trapped in drilled cores of Antarctica's ice, they found atmospheric hydrogen had increased 70 percent over the course of the 20th century.
Even as recent air pollution laws have sought to curb fossil fuel emissions, hydrogen emissions have continued to rise with no signs of slowing down. There's a chance that leakage is to blame.
Molecular hydrogen is a natural component of our atmosphere due to the breakdown of formaldehyde, but it is also a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion, especially from automobile exhaust and biomass burning.
While hydrogen doesn't trap heat in the atmosphere on its own, it can indirectly impact the distribution of methane and ozone. After carbon dioxide, these are the two most important greenhouse gases, which means global hydrogen levels can also perturb the climate.
Nevertheless, the sources and sinks of atmospheric hydrogen are rarely studied. We don't even have a good estimate of how much humans have emitted since industrial times.
The current study is the first to offer up a solid figure. Between 1852 and 2003, air samples from near the South Pole of Antarctica suggest atmospheric hydrogen jumped from 330 parts per billion to 550 parts per billion.
"Aging air is trapped in the perennial snowpack above an ice sheet, and sampling it gives us a highly accurate account of atmospheric composition over time," explains Earth scientist John Patterson from the University of California Irvine. READ MORE
USA - China Trade History
It’s a cliche among historians to define particular decades — almost any decade, if we’re given the chance — as “pivotal.” With that in mind, I’d still argue that the importance of the 1890s for China’s foreign relations is hard to overstate. The Qing empire entered the decade with hopes that the self-strengthening program reinvigorated after an 1884 defeat by France was finally bearing fruit.
The 1894 war with Japan ended any illusions about that: China was unable to defend its territorial interests. The rest of the decade was the “carving of the melon,” to use the parlance of the day, as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan divided the ailing dynasty.
The process had actually begun decades earlier. The Opium Wars spawned a British colony at Hong Kong and a handful of semi-colonial “treaty ports,” which grew in number and autonomy over the course of the century. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun ceded more than 230,000 square miles of Manchuria to Russia. But it was in the 1890s that China seemed truly in peril.
The spark to the fuse on China’s partition was not lit by Europeans, but by Japan. The terms of the 1894-95 war gave Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, jutting south from Manchuria toward Shandong. The Japanese claim was soon renounced thanks to international pressure.
The process had actually begun decades earlier. The Opium Wars spawned a British colony at Hong Kong and a handful of semi-colonial “treaty ports,” which grew in number and autonomy over the course of the century. The 1858 Treaty of Aigun ceded more than 230,000 square miles of Manchuria to Russia. But it was in the 1890s that China seemed truly in peril.
The spark to the fuse on China’s partition was not lit by Europeans, but by Japan. The terms of the 1894-95 war gave Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, jutting south from Manchuria toward Shandong. The Japanese claim was soon renounced thanks to international pressure.
The Europeans, it would seem, did not appreciate the Japanese usurping their colonial prerogative — yet the move suggested that the informal imperialism that had guided much of European policy toward China might need to be reconsidered. Might it be time to divide China, formally, among the European powers? READ MORE
Bay Leaves
When a woman was asked why, she said, "to flavor the food". If you boil the bay leaves in a glass of water and taste it, it will have no flavor. So why do you put bay leaves in the meat or other food?
The addition of bay leaves to meat converts triglycerides to monounsaturated fats and, for experimentation and confirmation:-
Cut a chicken into two halves, cook each half in a separate pan and place on one a bay leaf, and cook the other without a bay leaf.
Observe the amount of fat in both pans after cooking!
If you have bay leaves, there is no need for a pharmacy, as recent scientific studies have shown that bay leaves have many benefits....
They help to get rid of many serious health problems and illnesses......
The benefits of bay leaf
1. Treat digestive disorders and help eliminate -
•Lumps
•Heartburn
•Acidity
•Constipation
Hot bay tea regulates bowel movements
•lowers blood sugar
•is an antioxidant,
2. By eating them, or by drinking bay leaf tea for a month, the body is able to produce insulin
3. Eliminates bad cholesterol and relieves the body of triglycerides.
4. Useful in treating colds, flu and severe coughs, as it is a rich source of vitamin "C"
5. You can boil the leaves and inhale steam to get rid of phlegm and reduce the severity of coughs
6. Protects the heart from seizures and strokes, as they contain cardiovascular protective compounds
7. Rich in acids such as caffeic acid, quercetin, eigonol and bartolinide, substances that prevent the formation of cancer cells in the body
8. Eliminates insomnia and anxiety. If taken before bed, helps you relax and sleep peacefully.
9. Drinking a cup of boiled bay leaves twice a day breaks down kidney stones and cures infections.
3. Eliminates bad cholesterol and relieves the body of triglycerides.
4. Useful in treating colds, flu and severe coughs, as it is a rich source of vitamin "C"
5. You can boil the leaves and inhale steam to get rid of phlegm and reduce the severity of coughs
6. Protects the heart from seizures and strokes, as they contain cardiovascular protective compounds
7. Rich in acids such as caffeic acid, quercetin, eigonol and bartolinide, substances that prevent the formation of cancer cells in the body
8. Eliminates insomnia and anxiety. If taken before bed, helps you relax and sleep peacefully.
9. Drinking a cup of boiled bay leaves twice a day breaks down kidney stones and cures infections.
Private Jet Attendants
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| Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty |
After decades as a flight attendant on private jets, Lori has encountered it all. There was a pot-bellied pig that took a plane ride by itself, a celebrity’s guard dog that bit a member of the crew, and a British footballer who asked if he could change his knickers. “He got butt-ass naked right there in front of me,” said Lori, who asked to be identified only by her first name.
That wasn’t her only run-in with the footballer. On another trip, he boarded his plane in New York after spending the night partying with his wife. As Lori made her way to the athlete’s cabin, his assistant asked her to stop. “They’re shagging in the back,” the assistant said. She shrugged and stayed out of the way.
“I don’t think that’s inappropriate personally, because this is literally their flying home,” she told The Daily Beast. “They pay millions and millions of dollars. If I was them, and I was paying that amount of money, and I wanted to shag my husband, I would do it.”
Such is the life of a flight attendant for the ultra-rich, where customers pay anywhere from thousands of dollars for a single charter to millions for a full-time share of an aircraft. The variance in passengers’ behavior is just as wide.
Attendants divulged a host of wild accounts to us—from outlandish tips to lascivious escapades. Most spoke under the condition of anonymity, since they signed non-disclosure agreements and feared compromising their relationships with clients and employers. READ MORE
Saturday, September 25
WORLD COUNTRIES
The First World consisted of the U.S., Western Europe and their allies.
The Second World was the so-called Communist Bloc: the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and friends.
The remaining nations, which aligned with neither group, were assigned to the Third World. The Third World has always had blurred lines....
What is “Third World”? The modern definition of “Third World” is used to classify countries that are poor or developing. Countries that are part of the “third world” are generally characterized by:
(1) high rates of poverty
(2) economic and/or political instability
(3) high mortality rates
My concern(s) that align with the concern(s) of others is the fact that the United States of America is moving in the direction of becoming a THRID WORLD COUNTRY because of of but not necessarily limited to the influx of illegal immigrants but that we creating a situation where a majority of the general public is placed in a situation where they are encouraged to live off the government...
When you bring in thousands and millions of people who have no source of income, then they are foirced to live in the same dwelling whether that be an appartment or a house or in a tent... These people typically don't work... they don't want to work... and they just walk around or sit around all day doing nothing. Sometimes, these people get involved with drugs and alcohol... wherver they live, those areas turn into slums and others who live nearby typical move to another area of town...
Over time, these slum like areas grow and push out to other areas of the city or the county or the state... certain populated areas prosper and grow but for the most part, the entire country has been brought down to their lowest common denominator... and, this is what could possibly happen to the USA and Americans...
Weekend Warrior
For 45 years, I was one of those weekend warriors when I was married and living in North Carolina and again during my second marriage in Tennessee...
These weekend projects do not necessarily pertain to mowing the lawn or weed eating or planting flowers or trimming trees and bushes as those are things that normally need to be done and can be done during the warm months before the sun goes down in the evenings...
Weekend warrior projects are:
- backyard deck
- remodeling the bathroom
- remodeling the kitchen
- adding a carport
- building a patio
- replacing the roof
- adding a room to the house
- putting down hardwood floors
- finishing an unfinished basement
- screening in a porch
When I was in North Carolina, I purchased a tiller and created a garden in our distant back yard that was 1/4 of the size of a football field... in which I planted: corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, mellons, potatoes, zucchini, herbs, lettuce, collards, and strawberries....
In the fall, and since our house was nestled in the middle of numerous trees... I would rake up those leaves and layer them on the tilled up ground all winter... then I will till up those rotting leaves and mix them with the dirt... after 3-5 years, I had some of the richest soil that one could ever imagine...
These are weekend warrior projects and whether you are married or not, we are all guilty of having these types of projects in our minds that we work on during the weekends after working all week, rather than just sitting around the house doing nothing and drinking beer and eating fattening foods...
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