2021 - DJT has not been indicted or prosecuted and jailed for attempting a coup d'etat of his own government or in any way held criminally accountable for malignant neglect of the pandemic for much of 2020 which lead to hundreds of thousands needlessly hospitalized & dead on his watch. W_hy's T_rump F_ree? :brow:

I hear you. I also ask why George W. Bush has not been tried by an interantional set of judges for crimes against humanity.

In fact, all politicians should be jailed. No questions asked-- should be automatic.

My wife and I were just talking about this very thing this morning. We had many substantial life changes occur (both good and bad), none of which had anything to do do with Covid, but all of which solicited a question from one or more people about whether Covid had anything to do with these changes. Indeed, we even got to the point of associating Covid with these changes, until we gave it more thought and realized, things change. Especially as you get older.

I do know folks who have gotten sick and/or died from Covid, but those incidents didn't factor into the foregoing analysis.

I just thought of a long standing phrase of "Fuck Cancer." I will add to that and say "Fuck Covid and fuck those who have supported it."

I've actually enjoyed and benefited from some aspects of our collective response to Covid, but I know it's not all about me. I did enjoy driving when the highways and streets were empty (that period did not last long enough) and I also liked seeing some elephants and other wildlife come down out of the hills and start wandering towns.

Social distancing is in my nature anyway, and a mask is not inconvenient for me. Not in the least. And the needle? Meh. I've been stabbed with worse.

I encourage everyone to remember some good wisdom that came out of the pandemic: "In the rush to get back to normal, think about what is worth rushing back to." And "This could be a pivot point for the better, with lessons learned." It then listed a bunch of lessons, like essential workers are paid the least, working from home, material culture we can do without, etc. It was a good list. It kind of told capitalism as we practice it that it is not the life's blood that it thinks it is. We don't need to be held hostage. We can slow our roll and make capitalism come to us.

It kind of told capitalism as we practice it that it is not the life's blood that it thinks it is. — James Riley

Thanks for writing this. I never stopped to think of this, but now I do, this instant.

(Diversion from main topic.)

The capitalist's strongest slogan is, "people don't migrate to Zimbabwe, Rumania and Myanmar from the United States of America; the trend is migration in the opposite direction."

I bought this slogan.

I emigrated from poverty-stricken Hungary, to the wealth and health of Canadian democracy and freemarket system.

I felt good about it.

I still feel good about it. Lifestyle makes a lot of difference in life worth.

But there were all those years I worked, when I did not feel good about it. In Hungary at the time when I lived there, work was a joke. But it was bearable and humane. The setup of the whole country's system was bearable and humane. No freedom; no wealth; no opportunity. But it was cozy, comfy, and stress-free. Well, that's a lie; lots of stress, mainly around finances. But much less stress than around employment involvements in Canada. Heck, even getting a new job is a veritable headache, I mean, stress.

So in more humane countries the issue is stress borne from poverty and lacking; in the United States the demand to respond in distress is higher.

-------------

The USA economy is robust, and productive; Hungary's economy was at the time at least, feeble and in imbalance. The personal freedoms in the USA were better, in Hungary, worse. But not counting poverty-related stress and disadvantages, the life in Hungary was just a tad less stressful. There was no threat to the basic physiological and security needs, the bottom two rungs of Maslow's pyramid of needs. There was much more fulfilment in everything else in the USA.

So the big question is: who is happier; those who have limited freedom, access to goods, and can't travel, but feel safe and more comfy; or the other way around.

That I can't decide. Even though I've lived in both situations.

I also liked seeing some elephants and other wildlife come down out of the hills and start wandering towns. — James Riley

For some reason I thought you were American.

That I can't decide. Even though I've lived in both situations. — god must be atheist

And if you were forced to decide???

That I can't decide. Even though I've lived in both situations. — god must be atheist

I think there is an unnecessary "either/or" thing in the approach to this issue. When I said:

It kind of told capitalism as we practice it that it is not the life's blood that it thinks it is. We don't need to be held hostage. We can slow our roll and make capitalism come to us. — James Riley

I was thinking that maybe we could cut our military budget in half and still have the world's preeminent defense system by several orders of magnitude. And, where the production of a bomb or a helmet here generates X amount of jobs and the resultant taxes, etc., the production of a widget for the poor over there generates X amount of jobs and the resultant taxes; for a wash. The only difference is, at the end of the day, we have a widget instead of a bomb or a helmet. So we harness capitalism to do our bidding, instead of it harnessing us to do the bidding of a Plutocracy dependent upon the MIC.

Another angle is trickle up, instead of trickle down. Anyway, I wasn't looking for an argument on this issue. I was just thinking about some of the lessons that the pandemic taught us. Workers and consumers have more control than they think they do, especially when we bail out people instead of mega-corporations and banks. The return on the investment is spent right here at the bottom and if the top wants in on the action, they have to actually work for it.

For some reason I thought you were American. — praxis

I am. I saw it on the T.V. set. :death:

For some reason I thought you were American.
— praxis

I am. I saw it on the T.V. set. :death: — James Riley

Ah, I watched The Tiger King this year.

My impression - totally cray cray.

My Conclusion - ego bad.

My lesson - stay away from crazy egotists.

I don't really remember the difference between late 2019, 2020 and 2021. I think I've just been in survival mode.

I guess it was a rhino, not an elephant, and while this occurred on an empty street during shutdown, apparently rhino's do this even when there is no shut down. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/watch-rhino-strolling-on-streets-chasing-man-away-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-68382

The "news" I saw had other example of other animals in other countries, too. Maybe BS, but the I liked the idea. :grin:

There were some alpacas running around the outskirts of Moscow a few weeks ago:



Nothing to do with the pandemic, but quite noteworthy.

Alpacas are amazing animals that captivate everyone literally at first sight. Their homeland is South America, but to get to know them, you do not need to travel so far, it is enough to go to the Moscow region. In the urban district of Serpukhov, there is a small farm "Alpaca House", where you can communicate with these friendly animals. — mosreg.ru

And if you were forced to decide??? — praxis

Every decision is a forced decision. I decided to abandon Hungary, and live in Canada. But how much of that was a decision? That's another million dollar question.

What I meant when I said "that I can't decide" was that I can't make a value judgement on this. Not that I would be frozen and unable to choose when I was presented to choose between these two choices.

In the year 2020....

2021 is simply a continuation of the epoch that has started after 2020. We are in the throes of scientific, social and religious change. We could call it, borrowing a term of Ulirich Beck, reflexivity, but it is a reflexivity on steroids. We have had a number of realizations that indicate the frailty of our instututions. Science cannot find a (social) cure for corona, democracy is under threat in the US and the EU and a chasm has opened up between the old with their faith in techo-fixes and the young with a sense of hedonistic romanticism.

Lenny said it all...

Absolutely, Tobias, absolutely.
Please allow me to quote a very short excerpt from an email correspondence with a brilliant friend of mine.

She wrote:
This is chilling, in my opinion.
https://twitter.com/jonniegg/status/1469220563520569344

(end of her letter.)
I replied with this wordage:

This is the point where I break, Dawn.

Technology is gripping mankind, and this is the first breaking point. If this worries you (rightfully so, I am afraid) then the future is not for you.

I decided to roll with the punches. Man can fight men, and man can fight machines, but man can't fight machines that are a thousand times more capable than him.

I throw in the towel.

This is just a first glimpse of the future, Dawn. You either resign to it or you work yourself toward a nervous breakdown. This is the most apt application of the serenity prayer that you must practice. There is nothing we can do, we are putty in the hands of technology.

Don't envy those who own technology. They are laughing now, but not for long. They, too, will fall victim to technology sooner than you thought would be possible.

(end of my message)

And yes, I did play this song to the above friend during her last visit with me. We're headed into "In the Year 2525" incredibly fast, way ahead of schedule. Zager and Evans: genius musicians, song writers.

@god must be atheist Well... I am not thinking the end of the world is nigh yet. And I am also sorry for switching my chosen song,, from the brilliant Zager and Evans to the euqally brilliant Cohen. It is chilling, yes, I agree. I also think constant monitoring is far more invasive than an obligation to be vaccinated. I do not know if it is a 'test' for a roll out in the West. I do think that governments are always prone to resort to mass surveillance. This surveillance system is 1984'ish.

:up: My friend has 135 of those. I'm wearing their socks as I type. :grin:

I hope they're as warm as my camel socks. Softer, probably. Where in the US does your friend keep those 135 alpacas?

It's not just socks. Apparently these Russian alpacas are good for weddings too:

Alpacas at a wedding create a fabulous atmosphere, emphasize the individuality of the event and simply have a positive effect on the psyche. — Alpaca House

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQGi9Tkl0RO/

This is all off-topic but it's the Lounge and I don't believe in summarizing the year in a nutshell.

No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone. — Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Where in the US does your friend keep those 135 alpacas? — jamalrob

He's up on what I call the Wyoming Steppe, land of horizontal snow. Bison (now cattle, in the summer) country. They have a nice ranch but treat the little bastards like queens in a barn; letting them out when the weather is nice. I thought they would grow better wool if left outside in the winter, but I don't know shit about them so I keep my mouth shut. They do have to worry about predators, though. So they have big white dogs and some Llamas.

Good Conrad quote. :up:

He's up on what I call the Wyoming Steppe, land of horizontal snow. Bison (now cattle, in the summer) country. They have a nice ranch but treat the little bastards like queens in a barn; letting them out when the weather is nice. I thought they would grow better wool if left outside in the winter, but I don't know shit about them so I keep my mouth shut. They do have to worry about predators, though. So they have big white dogs and some Llamas. — James Riley

Very evocative. :cool:

"Covid-19 started as a simple virus, and then successfully mutated into an IQ test." — god must be atheist

That actually made me laugh pretty hard.

I would say the main thing I've learned about 2021 is that oysters are actually surprisingly good, and it is in fact, very hard to say no. Sometimes.

Absolutely. In fact, I have never heard an oyster say no.

oops! I'm lying. My Jewish grandmother used to say "NO, keep your hand out of the cookie jar, you little Ganef," and she also often said "Oy," quite a lot.

As to generally: yes, saying No is very hard when a very beautiful woman propositions me, except when it happens when my wife is also present.

But luckily no very beautiful women ever propositioned me. Prepositioned me, yes, postpositioned me, yes, demoted me and promoted me, yes, but never propositioned.