Well.
How is everyone? I don't expect you to answer that, but I thought I'll start out on a less egocentric note than seems natural to me. (You have to expect that bloggers, by their very nature, tend to be egocentric, because they're usually blogging about what happened to them.)
My wife and my stepson---or at least, my wife---like to keep the house temperature cool, like 69° or 70° F, which is a little too cold for me. So I obtained a Hoodie, and wear it until I start perspiring, at which point I take it off. (I get hot flashes, and sweats, possibly because my Urologist shot me up with Estrogen, while he was fixing my middle, as the limerick says. Don't ask me for the rest of the limerick.) Now ... what was I saying?
I have a huge problem with short-term memory, though heretofore a lot less trouble with long term memory. It's a little like ... What did you say your name was?
Ah, temperature. Because it is kept so cold around here, I suddenly realized that the most comfortable place in which to sit and blog, for me, is---the bathroom! It is a tiny space, which has its own baseboard heater, and I can set it exactly at the temperature that I like! Except, of course, that it would tie up an essential facility ...
I hope you found that funny, because that is the Humor segment of today's post.
About News: since I started reading the New York Times, I regret to say, I find it harder to maintain my customary relentlessly optimistic outlook. Many things get me depressed. The arguments over whether the 2020 elections were stolen; the break-in of the Capitol (and the subsequent misbehaviour); the Democrats' slim majority in Congress; frequent news stories of accumulating piles of plastic waste; the problems with schools reopening, and my own doubts about whether I could have functioned in a remote classroom; and the race of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to send themselves into space.
But almost the worst story of all is the utter dysfunctionality of Haiti, as a nation. All the news stories that outline the history of the country seem to indict the USA as---if not the principal culprit, at least one of the culprits who have kept Haiti in its state of dysfunctionality. Only a Haitian can take the reins of any improvement of that country's condition. One expects that it has to be an educated Haitian, because modern government requires a certain degree of awareness. But it looks as though all educated Haitians are cynical in the worst way. There seems to be no way out of the mess. As far as the international community is concerned, it looks to be a money pit, and throwing good money into it after the bad will not get anyone anywhere.
One of the most frightening facts that have emerged in the last year is that there is a vast number of Americans who do not believe anything except what their favorite truth peddler tells them. They don't believe that Trump lost the 2020 elections, they don't believe that Trump has cheated on his taxes, they don't believe in Climate Change, they don't believe in the seriousness of COVID, they don't believe in vaccinations.
I have a feeling that the GOP is going to get elected back into both Congress and the White House sooner or later, and repeal every good action that the Democrats will take in the next year or two, whether good or bad or indifferent. If they (Good Actions of the Democrats) improve our lives in the long term, these Unbelievers will doubt that it was the Democrats who made it so. (Compare, for instance, how Obama lowered the unemployment rate, but Trump took the credit.) Even if some action of Biden's makes lives immediately better for every American, we know who will get the credit: Trump.
It hardly seems worth Biden's while to try very hard.
On top of all this are the twin divides of Racism/Xenophobia, and Classism/Education-phobia. I can only conclude that Haiti is merely a foreshadowing of what will happen to us. The difference is that we have a lot more resources, more oil, more learning, none of which will be permitted to make a difference. Already the youth are heading towards cynicism.
If one of our Axioms is going to be that we cannot combat Global Warming, saddled with the broader political picture that sits like a stationary cold front over our society, what should be our guiding principle?
Some people choose to be optimistic, even if that choice is not supported by the facts. I suspect that some denominations are going to style themselves Church of Hope in the Face of Despair. Churches are so good at believing in irrational things! They call it faith.
Should we continue to recycle, given that we know no US government is going to attack the problem of pollution head on? The American political system is designed to move incrementally. We have incrementally painted ourselves into a corner, and now we need quick action, but the system is not designed for it. We thought we were the poster boys of everyone working together, or at least, everyone who mattered. But vast stretches of the US is populated by those who did not get the Memo, and don't believe that the Earth is round, to begin with. As for me and my house, to quote the prophet Joshua, we will continue to act as though our actions make a difference. Burn less gas, eat less meat, elect more environmentalists, practice less hate, and so on. It isn't easy, but it gives us something to do.
Meanwhile, the plastics industry is making plastic cheaper and more convenient to use, the gas industry is making gas more readily available. (Can't they make gas out of plastic? Apparently not; plastic is very low-energy stuff, into which you need to pump a lot of energy to make anything out of it other than more plastic.)
It's a rainy day over here, but that's clearly better than temperatures in the triple digits, as they have in some places in California. I don't understand why Californians continue to stay there with the prospect of murderous summers in the foreseeable future. (According to their laws, the Big Farms have control over their water, so that most citizens can't get the water they need. But the state government dares not change the laws, because Trump will label them as the destroyers of Californian agriculture.)
Keep up your optimism, or at least, act as if you're an optimist!
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