Society Blogs (900)

It seem like an ironic joke - climate changes because of our pollution, would wipe out life on earth, if we did not do some drastic changes. And from out of the blue, we are doing more drastic changes then we could ever have imagined, only weeks and months ago. The world will never be the same place again. Emissions are dropping because of this unprecedented lock-down. Out global traveling will be down for years, most likely. The birth of a new kingdom, Funny words to say, but Corona is Latin for crown, which is an emblem of a kingdom. So, how will this 'new' kingdom or this new world, look like ?

Social distancing, but as well closer ties to family. Less long travels, but perhaps more exploring of our close neighborhood. Food security may be more important, and perhaps there will be a boost in local farming, which will need more people. Closed down borders, so we may be more dependent on local resources and craftsmanship. The economy may force people to invest more locally.

Now, let me hear what you think may develop.....

....but as with valid doctorates, and other relevant graduate degrees, as with those of our Ivy Leaguer POTUS Trump, who's counting?..... But I digress.... MORE DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS.... It would seem that thousands of Americans are loosing their jobs and income, thanks to the pander demic. But au contraire, dear lemmings without pensions. Compare the current fate of employees in the dreaded private sector, with those in do little, paper pushing, can't be fired, taxpayer funded, make work positions. The former face a bureaucratic Alpentraum of phone menus, crashed systems and week delays, all at the hands of the latter. But as a government employee, with a defined pension (what's that?), it's one more excuse not to turn up at the jobsite, except that, as with the former, the taxpayer pumped paychecks magically still keep on coming. No need to face the nightmare of trying to apply for government job loss benefits, as for folks with REAL WORK.. Who are these folks? Teachers (not in private or denominational schools), politicians, office staff, municipal "workers", and so on. Almost exclusively of what political persuasion, ---well, just guess? Their labor lobby organizations, with names like the Teachers' Unions, or Federal/Municipal/State Employees' Unions, are among the biggest financial contributors to Democrat political campaigns. Can't make this stuff up, my dear poor latter day proletarians.

People at home have joined up in production of protective gear for hospitals here, but it is taking place in many places around the world. Include something I found in English.

Creative people

Battle grounds are levelled. Fear and uncertainty equally distributed throughout the globe.

There are lots of people who are struggling with the current situation. People who earned a daily living. My heart is heavy because of a suicide I heard today. Not anyone I know. Nevertheless, I felt like crying.

Should we give up?

Should we lose hope?

Times may be bad. Work will be hard to come by.

But we shall overcome.

It's not a time to count our blessings. It's a time to be a blessing in some way.

We'll walk hand in hand some day.
Deep in my heart, I do believe.
We shall overcome.

Stay safe. !

There is a word that describes people who hoard dozens of rolls of toilet tissue.
The same word describes people who go against public health advice and ignore coronavirus warnings.
They are called Covidiots

Covidiots. Yes, Covidiots that's the newly coined word in the Urban Dictionary.

Reading that grocery stores all have limited operating hours, the local 24 hour Walmart is down to 7am - 8:30pm so my plan of beating the crowds and shopping at 4am didn't work out.

I was there a few minutes before 7am and a line of 30 people with carts were already waiting out front. We entered the store at a normal pace and all looked normal.

No empty bins on the breads, cookies and groceries.
Knowing what happened on previous visits, I headed straight for the paper goods for paper plates and tissues.

On the way, I glanced over to the wall where the meats are... sorry, where the meats were. It looked like they did when the last hurricane came through. Empty.

Workers were opening boxes of frozen fish and filling island refrigeration units.

I've been busy the last few weeks with projects and this morning was my first attempt at weekly shopping.

I veered over to the meats and the only thing there was lean ground chicken that I routinely buy weekly. Lucky for me and it became a priority as people were picking so fast, If I waited more than a minute, all would be gone.

Back toward the paper products I could hear a fight had broken out. Two women were hoarding as they collectively had more than 9 twelve-packs of toilet tissue in their carts and it was causing trouble. Another woman said "Lady, how could you possibly need 60 rolls of toilet paper. Leave some for the others!"

I'm faulting the store on this for not putting up signs limiting purchases of 2 packs.

I got paper plates, bowls and tissues without having to fight for it.

While I did read about shortages of eggs and milk, it wasn't an issue at that store.

Lysol products or rubbing alcohol? Forgetaboutit...

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone

I have a gaggle of those two foot tall nifty lawn jockeys. Adorable. The heavy cement ones with black riding cap, high boots and button britches, and shiny red jackets. Cute as buttons, all could easily be the very sons of Auntie Jemima herself. Not the new PC lady, but that formidable smiling original matriarch, covering the older real glass maple sirple bottles. Solidly within my first amendment rights to own, as they are for my posting of them here, the Blacks in my extended family love them, and made me promise never to let them go, or to set them free, as it were. Alas, over time, cracks began to show, and I had thoughts of taking them to the dump, not knowing how much people pay for them these days. All the alt liberal women in my immediate family hate them, and keep threatening to make the trip themselves, perhaps while I'm in Portugal, but I digress. Well, they always bring up lively conversation, when passers by see me use them to surround campaign signs for McCain, Bush or the Donald. But over time, most of the whips have broken off, and I thought of that final trip, to the promised land, which still hasn't happened. This was all well before CS, and my realization of how much I could use them to bolster the self image of our liberal friends hereabouts. So I post of these little gems, fully aware of how, at my expense, the alt lib losers/Bernie addicts here will instantly begin to steam, around the collar. The raceosexo-phoboradar units will set off all alarms, and we'll soon see it here, laced with hate speech. But it's all merely to let them feel righteously morally superior to me, and to others. My endless humanity. How I suffer for my loving compassion.

....well, it is a thing to ponder. Lots of examples, sadly, quite in the other direction, no? Often based on religion, power, money, sex, we look at such. with disappointment. The Crusades, the NAZI's, Communism, the great war, the Pope's inquisition, gay men wantonly spreading HIV-AIDS to normal innocents, a certain political party keeping the KKK and Jim Crow going, not to mention lynching. Even African tribal chiefs rounding up their own war slaves to enable the filling of the plantation bound slave ships. Yes, pretty grim indeed. But we must not forget the other side of things, often occurring in times of turmoil and danger. So we see the English and German soldiers football fraternizing in no person's land at Christmas, early in the great war. How some villages self isolated during the Black death plague, apparently a great sacrifice. The concealment and rescue of Jews-and others, during the German Third Reich. Passing out food and warm clothes to US hobos near freight train camps during the great depression. Many more examples. So, there is a tendency for humans to rally in goodness during these difficult times. Does beg the question, with the current great powers at each other's throats, how will humanity react with a threat that makes any pandemic seem like a walk in the park. Try a 10 KM diameter asteroid honing in on us all. Less than ideal such cooperation to the claims of climate changes. But this is partly due to the documented liberal bias faking of science early on, and to the activists assuming near religious behaviors, quite closed mindedly, abetted by biases in media pundits and editors. It seems that we can all rally, but only under some circumstances. Rigid thinking often seems to be a major enemy.

There's a new twist in selling a house in the city of North Miami. It involves the inspector approving the (single-family) dwelling is the same as listed on county records and in condition to be inhabited. Basically, it's the used house version of a Certificate of Occupancy or as most people it a CO.

The burden is on the seller and if the title transfers to a new owner without approval, it means the seller gets fined. It's the only time a city inspector can get inside to look at property without someone tipping them off there's a violation.

Let's say, I closed my carport into a garage, built a room addition not visible from the street, added a kitchenette, toilet and shower... all without building permits, so I can rent to another family living in my single-family dwelling. If I sell the house and not advertise the added illegal renovations, the new owner could (literally) carry on as a landlord to tenants.

Obviously, it's a problem the city is unable to control. They have a threatening warning on the Homestead Tax Exemption form that it must be your primary residence and you cannot rent any part of it or you forfeit the exemption and are subject to a fine.

It's a 'money grab' and I dislike having to pay the last minute fee (that's holding up closing on the property) but I do understand why they do this. It would be annoying if my neighbors all had multiple renters coming and going.