Eating

With all the eating going on during the holidays and this month, let's talk about a TRUE eater!!

Joey Chestnut. Seriously, how does this man do it??? He competes in 20+ events each year and holds 55 WORLD records!

* Nathan's hot dogs: 76 dogs and buns in 10 minutes

* Hard-boiled eggs: 141 in 8 minutes

* Glazed donuts: 55 in 8 minutes

* Pulled pork sandwiches: 45 in 10 minutes

* Taco Bell softshell beef tacos: 53 in 10 minutes

* Krystal hamburgers: 103 in 8 minutes

* Big Mac sandwiches: 32 in 38 minutes

* Tamales: 102 in 12 minutes

* Grilled cheese sandwiches: 47 in 10 minutes

* Ice cream sandwiches: 25.5 in 6 minutes

* Pepperoni rolls: 43 in 10 minutes

* Chicken wings: 182 in 30 minutes

* Shrimp Cocktail @ St. Elmo's: 18lb 90z in 8 minutes

* Twinkies: 121 in 6 minutes

He's a god. Also, he lives just north of my hometown! I didn't know that until today. He just turned 40. 6' 1'', 230lb. He should stop eating like that. I wonder what else he could do? He says the most unpleasant eating competition was ice cream...brain freeze was only secondary to the freezer burns on his hands and inside his mouth. Dang. 

Crying

Why do you cry? Not the reasons. But physically, why does your body cry? And what makes your body do that?! Haven't you ever wondered?

I looked it up;

"Crying signals to yourself and other people that there's some important problem that is at least temporarily beyond your ability to cope."

"Research suggests that when you cry, your body releases endorphins and oxytocin. These natural chemical messengers help relieve emotional distress along with physical pain."

"When you feel an intense emotion - say, hurt during a breakup or joy during a wedding - you get worked up. Your heart rate may go up. Your breathing changes. And that response comes from the sympathetic nervous system - think fight or flight. Basically, your body is getting riled up. But when you cry, your body actually starts to relax, Your heart rate slows down. And the opposite system, the parasympathetic nervous system, is getting involved, which suggests that tears are something that actually may allow our nervous system to mellow out and recalibrate."

Did you know that tears are different, depending on what causes them? 

"There are 'basal' tears. Those are just the in general tears that keep your eyes moist all day. Then there are 'reflex' tears. Those are the tears that wash away harmful irritants like smoke or particles. They contain substances, such as antibodies, to help fight germs. Last, there are 'emotional' tears. They contain additional proteins and hormones you won't find in other tears, such as prolactin, potassium, manganese and stress hormones. Your body doesn't make these tears automatically. It is thought that emotional tears themselves have an evolutionary purpose: They're a way to get empathy. Research has found that people who get social support when they shed tears report that they feel better than those who hold back their waterworks, or who don't have any support."

That was interesting!

What your parents share

Did you know, you get your ability to lose weight from your mom? 

But, how easily you gain weight is something you get from your dad's side.

Your ability to focus, or lack thereof, is because of your mom's genes.

If you hit puberty early, that's your dad's fault.

How well you age and how much you show it come from genes you only get from your mom.

Also, your mood(iness) is more likely to be passed down from mothers to daughters. 

The sex of your children comes from your dad's genes.

The genetic risk of Alzheimer's comes from your mother.

A woman's fertility is inherited from her father.

And debunking an old myth, your hairline is determined by both your parents, not just your mom's!

Cha cha changes....

This is such an interesting article about today's workforce!  I know I mention the workforce a lot, but it's part of my working life so it's interesting to me.

‘Older generations are so confused': This young woman on TikTok says Gen Z, Millennials don't share the same work ethic as Boomers — 3 reasons why she might be onto something

Story by Vishesh Raisinghani   

Generational grumbles are as old as time itself. There’s probably a cave painting about how the younger generation ruined the hunter-gatherering economy with their “fancy agriculture.” Since then, every successive generation has found a new medium to express their disappointment with "them young’uns." 

One recent example comes from the comment section on TikTok, which recently erupted when a young lady explained why Gen Z and millennials don’t exactly share the same values when it comes to work.

“Older generations are so confused about why we don’t want to work hard anymore or prioritize our careers,” Demi Kotsoris says in the clip. “We know how short life is now.”

Kotsoris goes on to explain that the pandemic and greater access to information have reshaped the perspective of younger generations and made them question whether work should be the center of their lives.

Of course, the response was heated. “This mindset is so [‘you only live once’] that you will regret those decisions later,” reads one comment on Kotsoris’ video.

“People are just SELFISH & LAZY NOW,” says another.

But the replies may have missed the point of the video. Here’s why Kotsoris’ message resonates with so many younger workers and why her experience highlights some deeper truths about modern work.

Work isn’t as rewarding anymore

For baby boomers coming up, there were clear rewards for working hard. Putting in an average amount of effort allowed a typical worker to buy a nice home, raise children comfortably and travel the world. In the 1980s, the average home price was just four or five times the median income. Now it’s closer to 7.5 times.

Having a college degree was also far more rare in the 1980s. Now, nearly everyone on the job market has a degree, eroding that edge for workers. Meanwhile, the dollar has been eroded too. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation for decades, so an hour of work today isn’t worth as much as an hour of work in the '80s.

Upward mobility also saw a decline. A person born in a middle-class family in the 1940s was 93% likely to outearn their parents by the age of 30. For those born in the 1990s, that rate is just 45%.

Some boomers could beat the odds and create generational wealth by investing in stocks. However, even that's not as easy as it used to be. The S&P 500 was trading at around 10 times its earnings during the 1980s. It’s now trading in the low-20s.

The relationship with employers has changed

The employee-employer relationship has also changed since the '80s. Defined-benefit pension plans are nearly extinct. A major corporation that went public before the 1970s was 92% likely to survive the next five years. By the early 2000s, that rate had dropped to 63%.

Unions have also declined, which means workers now have far less bargaining power than their parents did.

All these factors have made younger workers question the value of company loyalty and lifelong careers.

The pandemic altered perspective

The global pandemic may also have shifted work culture for everyone, not just younger employees.

The crisis triggered a retirement boom. And at the same time, younger workers saw how short life can be, and how easily their lifestyle can be disrupted by a global crisis like a pandemic or climate change. A study by Deloitte found that Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to prioritize work-life balance, flexible work arrangements and purposeful work.

The pandemic highlighted that remote work is a viable option for many companies. In fact, a survey by Buffer found that 98% of remote workers would like to continue working remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers.  

...speaking of how much is enough...

MIT says the living wage in 2022 before taxes for a family of 4 in the U.S. is $104,077 a year. That's a livable wage. The lowest is $88,720, in Texas and the highest is $147,248 in San Jose.

In my hometown, the living wage for 2 adults, no children, are as follows;

Food - $7,352

Medical - $6,655

Housing - $9,634

Transportation - $9,634

Civic - $5,878

Other - $8,394

Required income after taxes - $47,678

It's a little curious that transportation and housing are the same. And that seems pretty low for housing. Maybe they aren't including property tax and insurance. Also, I think we spend more than that on food, annually. My fella and I are doing pretty good considering one of us is already retired.

You can go here, https://livingwage.mit.edu/ to find yours.

It's interesting.

as the year ends...

...it's time again for lists! I love lists. I make lists all the time!

I'm always surprised when I see the list of "celebrities" that died. I've forgotten 1/2 of them. 

Sidney Poitier, Loretta Lynn, Bob Saget, Naomi Judd, Angela Lansbury, Kirstie Alley, Ray Liotta, Sally Kellerman, Anne Heche, Ralph Emery, Meat Loaf, Louie Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Betty Davis, William Hurt, Estelle Harris, Bobby Rydell, Gilbert Gottfried, Mickey Gilley, James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Olivia Newton John, Coolio, Robbie Coltrane, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gallagher, Irene Cara, Christine McVie, . See what I mean? 

The top searches in Google were;
Wordle, Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth, Johnny Depp, and The World Cup

The top news stories of the year were;
Omicron and living with Covid. 
Russia invades Ukraine. 
January 6th
Oil prices, inflation hits a 40 year high and the Fed raising rates.
Texas school shooter kills 21.
Roe v. Wade is overturned. 

Boris Johnson resigns. maybe he'll have time to comb his hair now
The Webb Space telescope captures thousands of galaxies in it's 1st color image.
A new Alzheimer's drug shows promise
Hurricane Ian
Midterm elections
The Queen dies
Kroger buys Albertsons
Elon Musk acquires Twitter
Protests in China against the  zero-tolerance approach to Covid
The latest big winter storm!

The highest grossing movies of the year;

#1 Top  Gun: Maverick

#2 Wakanda Forever

#3 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2022;
#1 As It Was, Harry Styles
#2 Peru, Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran
#3 Bad Habits, Ed Sheeran

Top Country songs;

#1 Gospel Night at the Strip Club,  Ashley McBryde

#2 Something in the Orange, Zach Bryan

#3 Outrunnin' Your Memory, Luke Combs

Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift are the biggest music artists but the highest grossing touring artist of 2022 is Bad Bunny. 

Man am I getting old!!!!

America's #1 drink is....bottled water! The most popular liquor is Whiskey, with Vodka a close second. 

American's spend more on fast food than groceries. The top 3 fast food joints are;

McDonald's, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A. But if you don't want to count Starbucks, #3 would be Taco Bell.

The best selling books of 2022;

#5 Ugly Love, Colleen Hoover

#4 It Starts With Us, Colleen Hoover

#3 Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

#2 Verity, Colleen Hoover

#1 It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover

At Amazon, their best sellers in their respective categories are;

ThisWorx car Vacuum

Stanley IceFlow stainles steel tumbler

Echo Dot 3rd generation

Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint Scalp and Hair Strengthening Oil

Crocs Unisex clogs

Fire HD 8 tablet

Left Center Right dice game

Earth Rated dog poop bags

Atomic Habits, by James Clear

Amazon Basics lightweight super soft easy care bed sheets

The most significant science stories;

#1 the James Webb Space Telescope send back mind-bending images.

#2 and eruption in Tonga creates shock waves

#3 Omicron spikes

#4 NASA crashed a $300 million spacecraft into an asteroid and proves it could save the 

     world

#5 Climate protests escalate

Most popular dog breeds;

#1 Golden retriever - duh

#2 French bulldog

#3 Labradoodle

...and, Meow;

#1 American Shorthair

#2 Ragdoll

#3 Maine Coon

Top baby names of the year? 

HIS                        HERS

Liam                      Olivia

Noah                     Emma

Oliver                    Amelia

Lists are fun.

the body

 If you have Disney + and you're interested in the body and brain, living longer and being healthy, you should watch the NatGeo series, Limitless. Not just because it's Thor either. Although that was nice :-)

I'm pretty sure they picked him because he's a good age for this series and of course because he is really physically fit...not just because he's Thor! Anyway, it's really fascinating. 6 episodes. And if you're over 50, the last episode is amazing. My fella and I had conversations all day about that one.

internet animals

Oh yeah, I get sucked into those animal videos on the internet alllll the time! They're fantastic! You know why? Because without them, we would never know how intelligent animals really are. That they have feelings. Sometimes it's just astounding. Take for instance, the video of the water buffalo turning over a tortoise that was on his back. Or the giraffe that that took the tree limb off the antelope's antlers. Or the videos of birds actually playing. Elephants ganging up together to help a baby elephant out of a hole. Humans think they are the only creatures on earth that can feel empathy. People all over the world, thanks to smart phones and the internet have shown us differently. Humpback whales have shown us hundreds of times that they can and will protect seals, dolphins and other marine mammals from Orcas. What about the big brown bear that saved a crow from drowning? Or the orangutan that carefully guided a struggling bird, to the shore. And the countless videos of dogs showing empathy towards every kind of animal you can imagine. Even cats, known for being self centered, are sweet and caring. It's an amazing world out there!

https://youtu.be/rD6ziL-1bBY

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ce57YDBJOlb/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

https://youtu.be/TSPgenqMlvQ

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CedTPOeg9ot/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

What has YOUR state done?

One of the channels I subscribe to on YouTube is The World According to Briggs. Briggs is a funny guy. All he does is lists. Lists about states. Top ten states with the best weather. Top ten states that no one wants to move to. Top ten states with affordable housing. Top 10 reasons not to move to Wisconsin. He does city and small town stuff too. Some of it statistical and some of it based on opinion/surveys. But they're fun. Last week he did one called, Coolest Inventions From Each State. Ready?

Alabama - the electric hearing aid 
Alaska - ranch dressing

Arkansas - movies with sound in 1923

Arizona - the taser

California - the iPhone in 2007

Colorado - the cheeseburger

Connecticut - vulcanized rubber (and nylon)

Delaware - Kevlar

Florida - air conditioning (and Gatorade)

Georgia - the cotton gin

Hawaii - surfing

Idaho - the television

Illinois - the transistor

Indiana - the washing machine in 1874

Iowa - the 1st gas powered tractor

Kansas - helicopter

Kentucky - bourbon (and the song, happy birthday)

Louisiana - Jazz

Maine - the diving suit

Maryland - bottle caps

Massachusetts - Facebook

Michigan - the automobile assembly line

Minnesota - rollerblades

Mississippi - Pine sol cleaner

Missouri - the ice cream cone

Montana - the portable heart monitor

Nebraska - the ski lift

Nevada - blue jeans

New Hampshire - the Segway

New Jersey - the lightbulb

New Mexico - the atomic bomb

New York - toilet paper

North Carolina - the airplane

North Dakota - the Kodak camera

Ohio - the traffic light

Oklahoma - the parking meter

Oregon - Wiki pages

Pennsylvania - bubble gum

Rhode Island - automatic sprinkler system

South Carolina - the military submarine

South Dakota - the cyclotron

Tennessee - cotton candy

Texas - the electric typewriter 

Utah - airbags

Vermont - sandpaper

Virginia - chap stick

Washington - Windows operating system

West Virginia - steam boats

Wisconsin - the blender

Wyoming - the first National Park

..."be nice to each other"

guns and death

Yesterday, a landmark, historic settlement was made by the gun manufacturer, Remington. In a suit claiming that the gun manufacturer is responsible for a massacre/mass shooting, it settled out of court for $73 million dollars.

It's a slippery slope, isn't it? No matter what side of the issue you're on. I've had several questions, as a casual news reader. One is, why did they settle instead of go to trial? Did they think they would lose? Did they settle because if they lost it would set a precedent, which would be bad for other gun manufacturers. Now that they've reached a settlement out of court will other gun manufacturers be targeted? The other thing that was really curious to me was, even though this was "breaking news" when it happened, I couldn't find a single headline about it in any news outlet that was in even the top 10! USA Today, Fox News, NY Times, MSN...The way the media covers anything about guns and gun control and the 2nd amendment is so aggressive, I just don't understand why they didn't have a million words to say about this?!!?

Gun related deaths in the US topped 45,000 during the pandemic. (There was a spike in homicides.) Is that a moral issue or a gun issue?

I didn't/don't follow this case but I gathered that part of the suit against them was how they market their firearms. That made me wonder, why is it ok for Anheuser-Busch to market (target) a young audience?

Did you know, drunk drivers cause more than one third of all traffic related deaths. Alcohol related deaths, ie excessive alcohol use, is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths each year. Who is responsible? The drunk driver, the bartender who served them, the alcohol maker, the store they purchased that alcohol from?

According to CDC statistics, drug overdoses  accounted for over 91,000 deaths. Is that a health issue or a big pharma issue? What about the doctors that prescribe the drugs?

Cigarette smoking is estimated to cause 480,000 deaths annually. 

Where is the outrage, exactly??

The United Stats of America

Did you see that series? It was a 2012 limited TV series. Really, really fun. It was 6 episodes of the best statistical information. Narrated by the Sklar brothers. Very entertaining. 

We watched a couple episodes last night, for the 2nd time. I love the 2nd one, Moving On. All about where people live and the influence of 7 inventions that moved people out.

For instance, did you know that 99% of Americans live on only 8% of the land?! No wonder cities seem so crowded! 83% of Americans live in urban areas. 

But what influenced how and where we moved?

* The first invention that moved people from the east coast, west, was the railroad. 

* The next invention that influenced where we lived, steel. The steel frame of a building. What used to take up 16 city blocks could be crammed into 1 building. In Chicago, 13,000 people live in every square mile! Whoa.

* Which led directly to number 3 - the elevator. Now buildings could be even taller.

* Number 4 is the automobile - which moved us out to the suburbs! 

* Number 5 is the highway! A direct route to wherever the city was.

* Number 6 is air conditioning! Now we could move farther south and into places like Arizona, where 168 days a year are over 90 degrees! 

* The last invention that influenced where we lived? The airplane.

See? Wasn't that fun!?

tell me again, what time is it??

 Here we go again...getting ready to change our clocks, for FOUR months. Ugh.

You know I hate that. Did you know, that your State can opt out of Daylight Savings Time and just stay on standard time? But it takes a literal act of Congress to stay on Daylight Savings Time. I don't understand. Please, somebody, explain that to me. What difference does it make?? IT'S STILL THE SAME AMOUNT OF DAYLIGHT!!!! OMG! I don't think DST is that big of deal. Honestly, I would rather be on standard time. I bet most parents feel like that too. It's hard to get your kids to go to bed during the summer when the clock says it's bedtime but the sunshine says otherwise. And I would rather have that sunshine on the clock, during the winter when the weather is so gloomy anyway. Either way though, just pick a time!!! Good grief! 

It's really ridiculous in Indiana. We should be on Central time but lawmakers chose Eastern time so we would be the same as NY. whatever. BUT, not all of Indiana is on Eastern time! The northwest corner is on Central time, to be like Chicago. And the southwest corner is on Central time, to be like Louisville. For the rest of us, it's like living in Alaska during the summer! 

Stop it already!!! (I'll be back in 4 months to complain about it again!)

Timelines vs the U.S.

The first year of the Jewish calendar is 3761, BC. The year of creation, according to the bible.

5,781 years ago. Five THOUSAND. Yep.

The first day of the Maya Calendar was August 11, 3114....BC. That's 5,134 years ago. 

Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people in 1240 BC. 

That's 3,260 years ago.

The Roman calendar started in 753, BC.

2,773 years ago.

Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism, was born in 563, BC.

2,583 years ago.

Alexander the Great conquers an empire that stretches from Greece 

to western India in 334, BC

2,354 years ago.

Construction of the Great Wall of China, began in 221, BC

2,241 years ago. Construction continued for over 2,000 years.

Jesus of Nazareth was baptized by John in 27, AD.

1,194 years ago

The Colosseum, built by the Emperor Vespasian, opened to the public in 80, AD.

1,941 years ago.

Year one in the Muslim calendar is 622, AD.

1,399 years ago.

Marco Polo begins his journey to China in 1271, AD

750 years ago.

Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world in 1577 (to 1580) AD.

444 years ago.

The first permanent English colony in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.

414 years ago.

The Seven Year War, from which Great Britain emerged as the world's dominant power, 

ended in 1763.

258 years ago.

The Revolutionary War ended in 1781.

240 years ago.

The Continental Congress ratifies the declaration by the United States of its independence from Great Britain, in 1776.

245 years ago.

Construction of the U.S. Capitol began in September of 1793.

228 years ago.

Napoleon invades Egypt in 1798.

223 years ago.

Delaware became the 1st State in 1787.

234 years ago.

The Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803.

218 years ago.

Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.

62 years ago.

The city of Damascus, Syria, is believed to be as old as 10,000 BC. 

St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest city in the US. Founded in 1565.

I posted this because I was thinking the other day about how young our Nation is. 

I thought about it because I was listening to some commentary on the radio about how hard it is to find things to buy that are "made in America." It's been difficult for a long time. Then I thought about everything Americans contributed to the WORLD. What we invented, what we industrialized, what we built. It's really amazing. Now, we let everyone else do it for us. Is that ok? Other countries have always relied on imports to have what they want. If the US is going to do that then we better be good at something else. We're so arrogant as a country. And bossy. And self serving. I mean, who do we think we are anyway?!?! Babies. Oh, I like to believe that we are still caring and generous and good, at heart. But holy cow are we  dysfunctional!!! It's easier to see now, why there is such a lack of good old American pride. I don't think we know what we're supposed to be proud of. 

Here are the top 10 countries in the world;

#10 - Netherlands

#9 - Sweden

#8 - United Kingdom

#7 - New Zealand

#6 - United States

#5 - Australia

#4 - Switzerland

#3 - Germany

#2 - Japan

#1 - Canada

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-rankings

How they were ranked: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/methodology

...speaking of Facebook

 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not a newsy. But I see the headlines. I hear the news bites on the radio. Sometimes in the morning, I listen to talk radio - briefly. So I think I have the basics about the FB "whistle blower."

I agree that FB, or social media in general, is harmful to kids and a lot of adults. But most of that conversation is something different than what the whistle blower is talking about. She says, FB is dangerous....duh. She says that the FB mentality is all about the bottom line....duh, aren't all big businesses like that? Liquor is bad for minors but there are still ads on TV that would make a young person believe that in  order to be cool, you have to drink Bud Light, (or whatever). There are things I like about social media. There are things I don't. But I do believe that they should be held accountable in some way. FB is too big to be reigned in now. People can complain that ads are targeting young people. But how can FB possibly know if a 10 year didn't lie about their age? Please. I lied about my birthday. Be realistic. FB will say though, parents should pay more attention to what their kids are doing online. That's true. But even the best parents don't know everything their kids are doing online. And if you give a 10 year old a smart phone without parental controls, well....I guess everyone should be accountable?

I understand that some small changes could make a big difference though. But it would affect their revenue and bottom line. Mark Zuckerberg is the 5th richest person in the world. At the detriment of society, does he need to be? I don't believe in all censorship though. And social media is part of the global culture now. 

I guess we'll figure it out.

Social media

Were you affected by the Instagram/Facebook outage yesterday? Did you survive?!

Do you follow a lot of people/businesses on either of those? I don't have that many FB friends so it didn't really bother me too much. I sure didn't miss all the ads though! I did, however, miss my stuff on Instagram. Again, I don't have hardly any friends on Instagram but I follow a lot of quilling people, good news pages, animal/dogs pages, crafty stuff.  

Honestly, I had no idea it was so stressful to SO MANY people!! Wow. I mean, I know there are a lot of people that base their whole day on what's on social media, but really??? Holy smokes!

There should be more outages :-) Even if they're planned. You know, like when the kids were little, we had "no TV" nights. I loved those. Everyone always found other things to do. Imagine that. No, really, imagine. hahahaha

I see so much good in the internet. I also see much I don't want to see. How do you create a balance?  

Great Places?

 Did you see this list last month, from Time Magazine?

It's called, The World's Greatest Places in 2021.

Indianapolis made the list? I'm pretty sure I could've come up with a better list;

https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2021/

There are some cool places on the list though!

Americans

It's been a long time since I was in school. What are American schools teaching in American history? I learned about the 13 colonies, the revolution, slavery, the civil war and reconstruction, the 20's, the depression, WWI and II, the Alamo, Lewis and Clark, a little about the cold war, the civil rights movement.
I guess now they throw in 9/11 and more economic and environmental teachings? 

If you are a citizen of the US, that makes you an American. Isn't that right? Regardless of your race, religion, color, sex, whatever...you're still an American. Right?

I saw a story about Illinois passing an act requiring Asian American history be taught in high schools. Specifically, "the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward. The contributions made by individual/Asian Americans in government, arts, humanities, and sciences. The contributions of Asian American communities to the the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the US."  Is that segregation? I feel like it is. Why can't it just be part of American history? I really struggle with stuff like this. Do they teach a unit just about Native Americans? Or is that just part of the history of that time? I don't remember learning about the Trail of Tears in school. I think it should be a bigger part of our history but I don't think it should be a separate thing. To date, there are no federal requirements for teaching black history in the US. Maybe it would be less divisive if we just did a better job teaching history? Why can't we stop trying to separate everybody?

If you're African American, you should have to be more specific then. Africa is BIG continent. What if your ancestors are from Libya, or Egypt? Then you can say you're African American. Technically, you can be a white African American. What about Russia? If you're heritage is Russian, doesn't that make you an Asian American? How about India or Iraq or Turkey? They're all part of Asia. My heritage is mostly European. Should I identify myself as a European American? Or maybe just a North American? If your ancestors come from Brazil, Chile, or Argentina, do you call yourself South American? Or do you just say you're an American?

Oh I guess I know the deeper answer. Asian is a racial category, not geographical. Same for African American and Latino. Race = a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc. 

No wonder it's so hard for everyone to get along.

Drugs are bad

Did you know, last year there was a 29% increase in drug overdose deaths?! It's the equivalent of 11 deaths every hour. Holy cow! Over 93,000! That's  21,000 more deaths than the previous year.

When you think about it though, it isn't really that surprising, is it? The mental health toll of covid plus every tom dick and harry was making drugs and lots of extra $$ to spend. 

I read, "what's really driving the surge in overdoses is this increasingly poisoned drug supply. Nearly all of this increase is fentanyl contamination in some way. Heroin is contaminated. Cocaine is contaminated. Methamphetamine is contaminated." Also, "when I have extra money, I stock up on my (drug) supply."

So far, this year is probably not looking any better. 

Just another overlooked consequence of 2020.

LGBTQIA2S

Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Queer and/or Questioning
Intersex
Asexual
Two-Spirit

Lesbian and Gay - check, I get it. Except, they're both homosexual. I mean, a woman can say she's gay but a man can't say he's lesbian. See, even in the gay community the sexes have to be divided.

Bisexual - check, I know what that is too.

Transgender - ok, so you're transgender if you want to dress like the opposite sex and/or you want to be the opposite sex. Actually, they want you to say if they "identify" as the opposite sex. This one still confuses me.

Queer and/or Questioning - yep, losing me now. Isn't queer the same as gay? And what the hell is questioning? You want to be special because you're questioning your sexuality? Oy.

Intersex - The is a person who is born with certain traits of both male and female. Is that right? I'm actually not sure. I looked it up but I'm still not sure.

Asexual - this means that you don't have sexual feelings for either sex. That makes you special? I think that just makes you different. 

2 Spirit - Ummm, yeah. I didn't make that up. It defines two-spirit as a cultural and spiritual identity for indigenous people who embody both female and male spirits.

Wait, I think they forgot Pansexual. That means you're attracted to everyone! Like a sex addict?

Wouldn't it just be easier to say, heterosexual and non-heterosexual? Or is this just another way to keep everybody divided. Seriously. I used to work for a gay doctor. I've had gay friends. I have gay co-workers. For the most part, they could care less if I know they're gay. Why does the media want us to care?

People, people, people!

I was really starting to feel like the pandemic population and traffic was normal. It was nice. You know, because I don't like people. But now that things really are getting back to normal, there are just too many people and too many cars in the world! They're everywhere!!! ick

Did you know, as of March 2020 there were 7.8 billion people in the world? It took 2 million years for the world's population to reach 1 billion, and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion. Wow! Conservationist claim that the Earth can only support 1.5 billion people. Hmmm. I wonder at what point will they know they were wrong? Granted, there are plenty of poor countries in the world but 6.3 billion people can't survive? According to Science Daily, 95% of the world's population lives on 10% of the world's land. But if you add in agriculture, we take up 1/2 of Earth's land.

China = 1.4 billion. That's 153 people per kilometer (.62 mile)

    China lost 348,399 migrants last yr
India = 1.3 billion. That's 464 people per kilometer

    India lost 532,687 migrants
USA = 331 million. (only 4.25% of the world's population) That's 36 people per kilometer

    USA gained 954,806 

Indonesia = 274 million. That's 151 per kilometer

    Indonesia lost 98,955

Pakistan = 221 million. That's 287 people per kilometer

    Pakistan lost 233,379

But!...A little country called Monaco has a population density of 26,337 people per kilometer. Is that even possible?! Monaco's total population is only 39,242!

The top 5 most populated states in the US are;

California = 39,613,493. That's 254 people per square mile
Texas = 29,730,311. That's 144 people per square mile

Florida = 21,944,577. That's 409 people per square mile

New York = 19,299,981. That's 410 people per square mile

Pennsylvania = 12,804,123. That's 286 people per square mile

The Hoosier state has a population of 6,805,663. That's 190 people per square mile.

US cities are home to 63% of the population but comprise only 3.5% of land area.

Apparently I should quit complaining about how many people there are out there in my daily life.