-What strange times we live in, eh?
Who’d have thought that within our lifetime, heck with in nine months of our lifetime, one third of t
he world’s wealth would disappear?
Okay, I kinda thought it could, but I am, as you well know, a bit of a “realist,” or as some of you might say, a “bitter coal-black-hearted pessimist with persistent visions of impending doom.” Same difference.
Still even I didn’t really think that such a huge amount of money would just evaporate. Not that I think we are all gonna starve or anything. At least not yet.
But I guess we could. I mean there is enough food in the world right now to feed everyone, just not enough money to. At least not enough to make it economically profitable. And when you get down to it that is why people do things, to make a profit. Take away the profit and most people wouldn’t do anything. Make it profitable for them to starve their neighbor and most people’d leave the Johnsons’s kids’ bellies emptier than a at the drop of a hat. Want proof? Just look at Africa! That continent should be feeding, clothing, and building everything in the world and turning a profit! It’s got the resources to! Instead half of the time everyone over there is starving to death because a few thugs will make more money if they let their people turn into walking skeletons!
- Does anybody else wonder if there is any significance in the fact walking and talking are so similar in our language? Seems to me that they used to be things humans were always doing all of the time. Walking places and talking about things. So how did chalk earn that particular sound?
-So the Vatican says that the washing machine has done more for women’s lib (whatever that is) than anything else. Feminist types are pissed. They think that the Pill and the right to kill their unborn kids or to join the workforce (to which I say “WHAT? Anyone could always get a job if all they wanted was job. The good ones on the other hand..”) were more important.
I guess I gotta agree with the Vatican though. I mean really, women are the only ones who make the biggest deal about clean clothes and if they were still having to spend two or three hours a day doing laundry manually over a washboard then I doubt they would have time to gain women’s suffrage, even if they didn’t have kids or a job to be late for.
That is the reason men were in charge. Dirty trousers just weren’t enough to shame us to not be the bosses.
-So Saint Pat’s is Tuesday! I love it but you’d think there would be a great party thrown by us Anglo/German/Norwegian types for Saint George, Saint Boniface, or St. Olaf. Alright, alright, the German’s have Oktoberfest which is boss, but what about the English and Norwegians? Come on guys we gotta have something! Maybe a Protestant convention? An Axe throwing festival?
Sorry I forgot. The English don’t celebrate who they are on principle because being British or American or whatever is more important than being English. And Norwegians don’t celebrate because, well, it is just better to not make a display. People might be watching after all and we don’t want to give the impression we are like “those people.”
- Matt Labash is right and may be one of the finest writers to appear in anything I just read. Everyone who is on Facebook should go read his recent in depth article on the social networking site right now. GO!
- It snowed yesterday. I swear if I hear anyone who was whining and moaning about a few flakes say anything about the heat this summer ( whether good or bad!) I am going to remove their lungs from their body through their toes!
- I walked a couple of miles yesterday to pay a bill and get a receipt. No big deal, just wanted to save gas and wear and tear on my car. Still the whole time I couldn’t help thinking that there wasn’t a single one of our cursed city planners, city councilmen, zoning commissioners, or any other bureaucratic so-and-so had yet to have to walk through the town they legislated and restricted into being. Man is it depressing. And boring. Not like when I have walked miles in other cities. Too many single family housing with big lawns and ugly fences for too far. Not enough streets and too many coul de sacs. Would have been nice to have something else to see, like a little shop here and there. Ah well. This is America. C’est la vie.
I wonder what effect it would have on our zoning and planning if every year those who were involved in the process had to traverse the area they wrote legislation about or had helped build the public infrastructure of by every possible means of conveyance.
It might be useful, at least at first. Let them see how the streets feel to a car and a bicycle, see how nice they are to walk. But what’d be great about it, what would gather the townsfolk from nigh and yon, would be when all of those folks had to start crab walking, doing somersaults, riding elephants and camels, walking on their hands, and doing three legged man races through the area. The wagering on who would finish first would get big enough to draw attention from around the country. We could even get on ESPN 2!
Ridiculous I know. But it would certainly generate interest in local politics.
I can see it now “Vote Smith! Fastest cartwheeler in three states! Ensure your bet with a vote for Smith!”
Now that’d be a democracy.
-Bob
-Why is buffalo meat not on more menus? It tastes great and you get to pretend that your dinner was killed to conquer the plains!
frighteningly accurate calenders. Seriously. That is the reason. Think about it.