November 17th ... 20012

I stumbled upon my own Blog just now ... while searching for other Blogs by friends
and those interested in similar things ... things I hold dear.

So, I have nothing earth shattering to tell you in this entry ... but I'll be beack soon with something that might be of interest.

   J J

Happy New Year ! Year of the Black-Water Dragon

Yes ! Today, January 23, 2012 is Chinese New Year. The Year of the Black-Water Dragon

I think a Nice, Happy, Prosperous New Year might actually start this February 1st for my Family.

So far, January 2012 has NOT been especially nice, cool, easy, logical, friendly, even-tempered

and definitely not Prosperous ( Dollar-Wise ) ! Could it have been worse .... Ohhh WOW, Yes, it could have been a thousand time worse ... so I'll just sneak my way out of January 2012 and slide into February 2012 and take it as a really good Omen ... we get a Free, Extra Day this February 29th, and as a Senior Citizen ... that extra day is very worthwhile. An extra 24 hours above ground ... so to speak.

An Election year. I am N O T going to start some sort of a Rant here. I think it's best if I keep my likes and dislikes to myself. I will say, I have no respect for the "Single" issue voters. Let me exaggerate to make my point. "Yes, I voted for the candidate who is a child-molester, alcoholic, wife-beater, thief, liar and a proven terrorist. But I like Strawberry Gum drops and He says he likes Strawberry Gum Drops and he has voted in favor of Strawberry Gum drops more times than any of the other 13 Candidates" ... so he gets MY vote !

Gulp ! There may be a few Single-issue voters floating around this year. Please, to protect your own sanity and good health ... if you bump into one of those voters ... Do NOT try and change their minds or broaden their understanding of the issues. You may wind up in a Rubber Room with Jack Nicholson & the Nut-breads.

Be good to each other !

J

My 2011 Place-Holder ... Nothing Gnu !

Well it's the 25th of October 2011, and I want to insert an entry here so the Powers-that-be don't get the idea we died and abandoned this Blog.

My Grand Daughter continues to amaze us every day ... she is too smart to be believed.

Still waiting for the economy and our household finances to come back into some sort of reasonable alignment. Things are no where as bad as they have ever been ... but there have been times when our Personal and Household finances were in much better shape than they are this year.

Recently, I have spent a lot of time wondering why "Logic" has gone from everyday life. It's obviously missing and no one seems to be looking for it or trying to bring it back. I have come to the conclusion there are few, if any, left in the populace that would even recognize Logic if they tripped over it. I guess life takes a lot less effort if you don't have to deal with Logic all the time. For instance ... look at the U. S. voting-records for the past 100 years.

Complete fools and Idiots, along with the mentally lazy, have elected and re-elected other complete fools and Idiots every two years. Then they are punished by having to listen to the Tragically-ignorant , who never take the time to Vote, complain that those who have been elected are muddle-heads and scammers.

Ain't life Grand !

It's been a great beginning !

My New Grand daughter is Unique to our family. Like every other family adopting a Son or Daughter from China ... we know it must have been a higher-power that matched that child with that particular Family. And no other child could have been more perfect. Ask any adoptive family.

The answer will always be the same. And for each family ... that answer is absolutely correct.



Interesting, isn't it ?



J

No ! I didn't abandon this Blog !

Well, I think it's required that I enter a current Blog for the New Year, 2010 ! Even if I don't have anything Earth-shattering to write about. So this is it !

If and when I find something to Rant about during February 2010, I'll jump on here and Rage!

Okay ?

J

Three Weeks in China ....Survived !

Recent 3-week trip to Tokyo, Beijing, Nanning, Guangzhou and Hong Kong was not actually a Survival exercise ... but there were Challenging bits and pieces, here and there. Finding and visiting some of the Original Hutongs ( alleys ending in a kind of New York-
Mafia-Compound ... several "homes" all shared by members of the same family ) revealed a part of China that is not changing as fast as the world-press would make you want to believe.

Serious, industrious people who seem to work 12 to 14 hours a day, every day, live in squalid shacks without running water, no electricity, no indoor plumbing or toilets ... yet, when you see them off to work and deal with them during the work-day ... you would believe they lived in a small suburban home outside of New York or Chicago or San Francisco or Austin, Texas.

You would have to follow them all the way into their part of China to see the conditions they find some way to deal with in order to Survive. And they do Survive and some in the family do better than others and they still seem to pull the others up and along with them as their tradition dictates.

In the areas I was visiting, the shops, stores, office buildings and hotels along the thoroughfares and avenues turned out to be facades ... adequately covering the fact that a half of a city-block behind them was a whole 'nother world !

Yes, the people can seem to be angry, self-centered, selfish, pushy and aggressive. Perhaps that's part of their survival-regimen. And one-hour or two-hour strolls on 4 or 5 swelteringly-hot afternoons does not create a "Qualified Expert". That's a fact. However, I think I did pick up a small corner of a Huge carpet and peek underneath. So ... when you tell me I am all wrong ... please let me know what your credentials are. That way I can judge how far wrong I am as opposed to an Illogical rant from a casual reader. Thanks !

J

H1N1...doesn't deseerve to be called Flu

On Average, over the Past 5 to 10 years .... 32,000 people die from the FLU in the United States each year. If we have a Six-Month FLU season ...that's 5,300 persons who Die each month. And that's from a wide variety of FLUs... N O T including H1N1 FLU.

Thru May 2009, here in Minnesota, only Two people have Died from Complications involving the H1N1 FLU. Both had other serious medical conditions before they caught the FLU.

The Press has Flogged this FLU event in order to sell more Newspapers and increase Watchers and Listeners to the Radio and Television. And that has been very successful for them. They scared the Crap out of people who were too lazy to find out what was actually going on.

W H O called it a Pandemic. The Press never made a strong explanation of what a Pandemic means. It does not mean lots of Victims and lots of Deaths ! Pandemic involves geography and does not have anything to do with the rate of sickness and death due to a FLU. All it means is
there has been One confirmed case of the FLU in a certain number of Countries around the world.

Did you know ... if there was One case of H1N1 FLU in each of 50 countries that could be called a Pandemic. That's just 50 people with the FLU. Period !

And the 32,000 people who Die in the USA each year...from the FLU ... but NOT the H1N1 FLU ...
are not enough to cause the W H O to Issue a Pandemic Warning. They have said Zero about that
rate of death for the past ten years. 320,000 people died here in the U.S. and no one has said a thing. Does anyone but me find this disconcerting ? Or is it just Business as Usual ?