IIdle Thoughts V
Three times now, Donna and I have been awakened in the middle of the night with an alarm going off on my cell phone. No ordinary alarm either. You'd think World War Three was underway.
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The alarm is related to a system called 'Amber Alert'. When it sounds, it usually means that one of the two parents took a kid and ran away from the other parent.
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The first time it happened, I read the message. It was an event in the GTA. I wondered why I was being awakened with an alarm here in Brockville, at three o'clock in the morning.
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Anyway, I am fed up. This Amber Alert thing is completely out of hand. Instead of simply sending a text message, which I would likely read, it has to arrive with the loud and annoying alarm. It seems we are not able to 'opt out'. Until I open the message, I can't even turn off the phone. It is abusive to push this on every phone and it's nothing short of harassment.
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I will never read another Amber Alert message. When it comes in, I open it and delete it.
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When I get around to it, I'll write a note to my member of parliament.
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Update:
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I wrote the above article many months ago and I did write a complaint to the CRTC back then. I also turn off my cell phone when I sleep now.
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Happily, the 'powers that be' have scaled back these stupid alarms and lately (fall and winter 2021/2022) they are extremely rare.
A Brief History of Apocalypse Avoided
Our Destruction
In the 1930s a team of chemists at Frigidaire led by Thomas Midgely Jr. (1889-1944) worked to develop nontoxic, nonflammable alternatives to the dangerous chemicals used as refrigerants at the time.
They developed the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) . . . “Freon.” Midgely would receive the Society of Chemical Industry’s Perkin Medal for this research in 1937; in 1941, he was awarded the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest award, for his contributions to chemistry.
By the 1970s, CFCs were everywhere. . . refrigerators, air conditioners, spray cans. . .
Then, in 1974, F. Sherwood Rowland and his assistant, Mario J. Molina showed that chlorofluorocarbons—CFCs—could destroy the planet's ozone layer, which protects living things from harmful UV rays.
In 1985, a hole in the ozone layer was discovered.
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Our Savior
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F. Sherwood (Sherry) Rowland - 1927-2012 (Wikipedia Photo)
Every human being should be thankful for this man's efforts to save life on earth.
Rowland fought tirelessly against government officials and fellow scientists until the world was convinced that something had to be done. His story makes for interesting reading. Eventually, 193 countries signed a pact ('The Montreal Protocol'-originally signed in 1987) to rid the world of CFCs.
Rowland, a professor of chemistry at the University of California and Molina, a postdoctoral fellow in Rowland’s laboratory, won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Had it not been for their efforts (and The Montreal Protocol), a NASA study shows that, by the year 2065, no life would have been able to survive on the surface of the planet. Read that sentence again.
Interesting that our savior was a renowned scientist working to undo the damage done by a previous renowned scientist.
'Scientific American' reported that the northern hemisphere's ozone hole closed in April 2020.
And Another Thing. . . .
What's this about 'open face' sandwiches. Who came up with that? If it's an 'open face' egg sandwich, it's not a sandwich. It's egg salad on bread or egg salad on toast. A sandwich is food between two pieces of bread. Period. I don't care what the dictionary says. Just stop using that ridiculous term. Think about the earl of Sandwich. . . . . 'open face'. . . . . you'll have him spinning in his grave.
If you're driving down the road and your car gets squashed between two trucks, you get 'sandwiched'. If you get hit on only one side, you'll never say you were sandwiched, you'll say you were sideswiped. Same thing.
Runaway Train
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Debt.
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Ontario's provincial debt today (2022) is estimated to be about four hundred and thirty-two billion dollars and rising. That's about $30,000.00 per taxpayer, just in Ontario.
Canada's national combined debt was estimated at two trillion, eight hundred and fifty-two billion dollars in 2020 ($74,747.00 per capita) and it's rising fast. I may not be as highly educated as most of our government financial experts, but I see a serious problem here. This financial runaway train situation can not end well. Think about it.
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My preoccupation is; "How survivable will the crash be?"
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There are many at the government well. When the well goes dry, what will they all do? Should we be building bunkers?
What about all the government pensions (like mine and Donna's)? And what if they 'call in' the debt? To whom do we owe these trillions of dollars? Can they repossess the country?
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If our money becomes worthless, should we be trying to predict the things that will have real value after the crash? Food? Water? Heat? Steel bars for the door?
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Maybe it's just a matter of scale and our dollar will simply be devalued to a point to match inflation just enough to keep this runaway train on the rails. Who knows?
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In the USA things are similar. In 2019, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation published a comprehensive study comparing results from seven groups, each of which had proposed solutions and forecasts in efforts to curb the rising national debt.
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The Center for American Progress
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Bipartisan Policy Center
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Manhattan Institute
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American Enterprise Institute
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Economic Policy Institute
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Progressive Policy Institute
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American Action Forum
Click here to see a one-page document and an interesting graph chart.
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There seems to be some agreement across the board as most solutions include linking government spending maximums and government revenue to a certain percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) numbers.
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It looks like there are some people and organizations out there trying to tackle this problem but I wonder if it will be too little, too late.
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Let's all keep our fingers crossed and push for government restraint when we can.
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It's a Different World:
In the early days of the pandemic, my brother Mike believed that the virus was man-made. He reads a lot and the traits attributed to Covid 19 seemed to him to be too perfect. He believed that, if someone wanted to design a terrible virus, Covid 19 is what they would have come up with. . . especially the way it 'hides' from our immune system during the initial infection. People were walking around feeling fine one minute and near death from lack of oxygen the next. Mike also pointed to the fact that, early on, while many were comparing it to the common cold, the Chinese were out spraying streets and the outsides of buildings to try to contain it (this was because they knew what it was).
Well, surprise, surprise! A few weeks ago I saw an interesting news clip. A U.S. senate committee investigation came out with a statement that the virus did not originate in a wet market (as China claimed) but it originated in the Wuhan lab. They offered convincing 'proof' as well. I found one item of proof most interesting. Get this: They studied the local internet browser questions concerning 'flu-like symptoms' and pin-pointed a map and timeline that showed these questions grew around the area of the lab and not the area of the wet market (and a river separates the two).
Also, in the early days of the pandemic, it was spreading faster than anyone believed. I know someone here in Brockville that had all the symptoms of Covid 19 while the media were still saying it was 'localized' in China. He had it before it was big news.
It's not all that rosy here in the western world either when it comes to risks related to laboratory science. This year in Boston, a lab studying Covid 19 developed a strain that has a mortality rate of 80%. Top scientists and leaders of countries were urging that it be destroyed immediately. I hope it was. If that one gets out, we're all finished.
There is lots 'out there' about the virus for those interested in learning more. I've seen enough. This is what I believe:
Covid19 is a deadly virus.
It was hand crafted in the Wuhan lab in China.
It got out by accident.
It will be around for a while.
Long Covid will be be around for decades.
It would scare us to know the real health costs of the virus. How many have died from other ailments because they couldn't get treatment due to medical facilities overrun with covid patients?
Six-foot distancing is little help unless you are also wearing a mask.
Wear a mask. Wash your hands.
It's a different world:
The following is my un-scientific opinion.
Besides the obvious struggles and adaptations humanity has already suffered concerning the pandemic, more is happening. The problem goes deeper and is more complex. The pandemic has accelerated a global trend toward disorganization that has been brewing since the cold war.
'Community' (society) is a fragile thing that depends on some form of commonality. In an organized society, there is a common goal. Think of how focused allied nations were during World War ll. America was hand-building bombers faster than the Germans could shoot them down. That's organization. In the past, nothing has brought people together like a common goal (or a common enemy). In some ways this continues. I recently heard that, in those countries that participate, suicide rates drop dramatically during World Cup Soccer events. People feel more 'together' rooting for their team.
The pandemic came at a difficult moment in our history. In this 'information age', there is little consensus and little trust. Everybody 'knows' everything. Everybody knows what is right but everyone's version is different. This leads to chaos.
People are spoiled too. Too many feel 'entitled'. Very few want to work for a living anymore. Maybe there's a positive side to that. . . . there's more jobs for those who do want to work. People today bounce from job to job looking for 'fulfillment'. My dad worked for the same company for 46 years!
Many are in the wrong job. Shortly after we arrived in Brockville (2015) I encountered a cashier who couldn't make change for a dollar. She could not figure it out and had to use a machine.
Some nurses hit the news complaining about the risk and the workload. I'm sorry, that's what nursing is.
Look at the postal service. At one time they delivered to every residence twice a day. There was morning mail and afternoon mail. . . . and you could bet your life on prompt service. Workers had pride. Today, it's a joke. Don't get me started!
When we built our first house in Quebec (1978), after giving Hydro a call, it took about 24 hours to get the power connected. When we built our second house here in 2015 (pre-pandemic) our electrician was concerned that we hadn't given Hydro three months notice! Three months notice!!
We called a roofing company and they. . .get this. . . . 'didn't do new homes'!
Just the other day there was a news article that said Walmart will be raising prices and closing stores in an effort to keep ahead of a startling rise in shoplifting.
We are animals. We react to stimulus and we get anxious and confused when the world is disorganized. If I were younger, I'd start a new business tomorrow. There has never been a better time to be selling survival equipment.
I see a difference on the highway. Curtesy has evaporated. People flaunt the rules like never before.
The trend toward disorganization accelerated when the pandemic hit. People got isolated and became a bit more self-centered.
Supply chains break down. Companies need to survive, some (not all) take unfair advantage and jack prices on necessities.
There's anger out there. People are frustrated.
Be careful with 'information'. If it's for fun, listen to fake news and read the Ouija Board, if it's serious, listen to the experts and trust the science.
Political rhetoric has always been divisive but, here in Canada, it has mostly been 'healthy'. In the U.S. politics there seems to always be only two choices and this leads to a very 'us vs them' mentality. Think; North/South, Black/White, Rich/Poor. Trump/No Trump (he he he). Increasingly, I think a similar dichotomy is growing in Canada.
Are you for or against the vaccine programs?
Are you for or against the freedom convoy?
Are you for or against the carbon tax?
Electric Cars?
Abortion?
Immigration?
LGBTQ?
Well, you get my drift.
Speaking of anger and frustration, check out the following report about mass shootings in the USA (By Janie Boschma, CNN, Published 3:12 PM EST, Wed November 23, 2022).
The Gun Violence Archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
There have been at least 607 mass shootings through November 22 this year. That’s just short of the 638 mass shootings in the country at this point last year – the worst year on record since the group began tracking them in 2014. There were a total of 690 mass shootings in 2021. The United States is likely to soon surpass the total of 610 mass shootings in 2020, with more than a month left of 2022 to go.
Over 600 Mass shootings in the US each year! Isn't that crazy! In Canada, as far as I can tell with a bit of quick online research, there have been 22. . . . . total. . . . since 1965. I'll stay here, thanks.
Right-wing extremists are making gains around the world.
I do have hope that things will gradually settle, but the road will be rough for a while.
It's not all doom and gloom though, far from it. One-on-one, people are generally nice. Our circle of friends, neighbours and acquaintances here in Brockville are kind, caring people. Even the broader 'groups' we belong to (Yacht Club, 50+ Activity Group, Sam's Open Mic 'Family') are all full of good folk.
The pandemic hasn't caused all the challenging conditions that we experience in our world today, but I believe it has accelerated and exacerbated them.
I think we're turning the corner on this nasty business. Let's try to be nice to each other. We have to find ways to have meaningful exchanges of ideas without abrasive confrontation. Peacefully, please. Thanks.