Out of Respect For

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Professor Taboo

I want to apologize in advance for some of my language here and my anger at human indecency in the United States this year.

I really, really was hoping that for the last 3-5 weeks I could avoid having to write this, to go here to what I am about to attempt to drive home to far too many naïve, inconsiderate, well-intentioned(?) Americans who despite their general goodness, STILL are not thinking outside of themselves, the bigger picture of just how many other Americans are suffering the loss of loved ones. What makes our nationwide gross naivety, embarrassing gross obliviousness to one of our nation’s highest death-counts in our entire 244-year history? Allow me to put this in the most polite way I know how:

Many of the current 233,000 PLUS American deaths, if not most of them, could have been saved.

During one of the world’s most deadliest pandemics, with necessary PPE’s, distancing and/or quarantining/lockdowns from high-risk exposures, and finally by following the top expert’s warnings and medical-viral protocols, it’s monumental consequences could have been reduced, probably reduced greatly!

In a number of those 233k cases the odds for surviving could have been easily increased! Yet, too many unaffected Americans—of a specific demographic and political affiliation—wanted to minimalize the pandemic in January–March 2020 and right now they still want to minimalize the near QUARTER-MILLION DEATHS (233,000+) as something other than a historically unprecedented F*CK UP by not just our federal, state, and county leaders across the continental 49, but by perhaps half or more of the American population—332-million citizens total today—who don’t seem to get it, they refuse to get it, or worse ignore those 233,000 families and extended family members! By the time I get this blog-post published, that death-toll will have already climbed significantly. Wrap your brain around that please.

But allow me to put this self-inflicted 2020 American catastrophe and popular insensitivity in proper perspective.

If you have a faint heart or a hint of humanity for mass deaths caused by wars, terrorism, natural disasters, or pandemics, then I advise you to skip the following slide-show of some of our nation’s most horrific losses of life since 1776. WARNING, some images may be graphic and disturbing:

Over 11,000 deaths – the 1900 Galveston, TX hurricane
Over 11,000 deaths – the 1900 Galveston, TX hurricane
Over 11,000 deaths – the 1900 Galveston, TX hurricane
Over 3,000 deaths – 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Over 3,000 deaths – 1906 San Francisco earthquake
WW 1 – over 116,000 American deaths
WW 1 – over 116,000 American deaths
WW 1 – over 116,000 American deaths
Pearl Harbor attack – over 2,800 American dead
Pearl Harbor attack – over 2,800 American dead
Vietnam War – over 58,000 Americans killed
Vietnam War – over 58,000 Americans killed
Vietnam War – over 58,000 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed
Sept 11 attacks – over 2,990 Americans killed

At this current rate we will surpass in 2021 the total American deaths of World War II: 419,400. Once that number is passed only the American Civil War remains as this country’s last greatest loss of life. Do we really want to surpass the most appalling four years this country has ever endured, bar-none?

You might be asking “Professor, deaths from a pandemic, from an invisible killer-virus similar (in terms of risk and death) to other global diseases or cancer or heart disease are not the same thing as world wars, large military conflicts, terrorism, or natural disasters.” Perhaps. That’s a logical yet premature response. I’d immediately ask Is this not a war on a virus to stop and minimize as much as possible the number of casualties this pandemic steals?

When a war is waged between two or more nations, do they not rally all their mental, physical, and material resources of their people to win the war? Do they not rally with each other to defeat or better prepare for the next horrific, natural disaster? So why wouldn’t we do the exact same thing? Why wouldn’t we do everything possible to wage war on this lethal enemy as aggressive as possible?

This maniacally invisible hostile who cares nothing about who we humans are is wiping out over a quarter-of-a-million Americans, innocents who were not given the/our best chances of winning or of surviving? To add insult to injury with a smack, it is not the dead that must suffer years or decades after COVID-19 takes those loved ones, it is the living who must endure the torment that their loved ones probably did not have to die or suffer permanently for the remainder of their lives.

So yes, how is this war, this fight against COVID-19 any different than those above images for lives that did not have to die or contract permanent damage?

On the contrary and despite America’s epidemic indifference to the loss of so many innocent lives, following below after this paragraph are examples of what many of us ~~rudely~~ brush over about this Pandemic War. With already too many orphaned kids of their parent(s), or grandparents, or uncles, aunts or cousins, 233,000 dead Americans and counting represents only a portion of all the suffering. Sons and daughters who lost their elderly parents. Grandchildren who lost their favorite Grandpa or Grandma. Dearest close friends or coworkers—who have unnecessarily lost their favorite coworker, boss, or job—must also face the looming reality of bankruptcy or homelessness. Here’s an idea of what I mean by American indifference to unnecessary loss of lives and permanent damage or suffering…

Tuesday night, October 27^th here in Arlington, TX, the site of MLB’s World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays, third baseman Justin Turner had to be removed from Game 6 in the bottom of the 7^th inning after he had tested positive for COVID-19. Quarantining were the rules, the protocols of MLB and all the teams and players BEFORE they started the 60-game season in July 2020. Everybody with the league, including all 3,000+ players agreed to COVID-19 protections and rules. Duh, it was for the safety of everyone involved in the bizarre 2020 season. It was for the safety of everyone’s family members too. Despite this necessary protection for all lives, here is what took place when the LA Dodgers won the World Series:

And yet, this is what Justin Turner decided to do for himself, and his teammates let him do, encouraged him to do with no regard for their own safety, their teammates, everyone’s family members, and let’s be clear… no regard for the children there on the field for pictures and celebrations! This gross indifference essentially represents the entire bulk of Americans in that specific demographic I mentioned above.

But there’s more. Unbelievably, there is MORE blatant disregard for the highest possible safety of fellow Americans, teammates, coworkers, family members, and yes… small children too. A revisit of photos I’ve already posted in previous blog-posts going back to early Spring 2020:

Defiant rebel salon owner Shelley Luther – May 2020
Florida beach front Memorial weekend 2020 – Patrick Fallon/Reuters
Gulf beach at Port Aransas, TX, Memorial weekend 2020 – Eric Gay/Associated Press
2020 July 4th Partiers, Lake Lewisville, TX — Juan Figueroa/DMN Staff photographer
July 4th Partiers, Lake Lewisville, TX 2020 — Juan Figueroa/DMN Staff photographer
Florida State University football fans this Fall 2020 season vs. Georgia Tech
Infection cases per 100k throughout the SEC and Big 12 Conference seasons, Fall 2020
Fans in the Argyle student section in face coverings stand during the national anthem before the Argyle high school football game against Decatur, in Argyle, Tx, on August 28, 2020. (Michael Ainsworth/Special Contributor)
Oklahoma vs Iowa State, Oct. 3, 2020
Clemson University fans, Sept. 19, 2020
University of Georgia fans vs Auburn University, Oct. 3, 2020
Texas A&M cadets, Sept. 26, 2020 vs Vanderbilt University
Texas A&M fans vs Vanderbilt University, Sept. 26, 2020
NFL Kansas City Chiefs fans, Sept. 10, 2020 — Kansas and Missouri are now seeing a major spike in new cases since this season opener vs. Houston Texans. Hospitals are overrun today, ambulances turned away!

The ripple-effect of this ignored Pandemic War stretches so VERY MUCH FURTHER than simply the 233,000+ American deaths! The emotional toll and permanent change for so many families will likely never be fully appreciated, fully known, or fully empathized if so many in America unaffected by this killer pandemic continue and continue to brush-over, minimalize, and constantly dream-up excuses or justifications to be unsafe and disregard, no… basically say “I don’t give a f*ck about YOUR safety or chances of surviving this deadly pandemic war. I will do whatever tha hell I want.” Though some Americans do not explicitly verbalize it out loud, their actions say it.

I must ask some really idiotic questions: When there exists a chance of you or a loved one surviving a highly risky undertaking, say like climbing Mt. Everest, or going into a wild, remote woodland with nightly temperatures of 20-30 below zero and grizzly bears, or joining your military for an ongoing conflict against formidable enemies trying to kill you, do you not want the best chances of survival? If there is any significant chance you could survive life’s dangers, say a 75%, 50%, or a “decent chance” of returning alive, intact, and unharmed, who WOULDN’T take the best odds possible? Is how you might die, leaving all your loved ones behind, important to you? Important to your wife, your own kids and how they might suffer in the aftermath?

And yet for most of 2020 there have been too many Americans who answer those questions with their middle finger, the F*CK YOU bird.

This insane thinking and self-absorbed snubbing for the safety of fellow Americans, let alone our own family members, has got to stop! Why? First, I can’t believe anyone would seriously ask that question! But for those dimwits who don’t get it and most of all simply Out of Respect For all the American fatalities from COVID-19 that didn’t really have to die early, and their suffering family members—whose loved ones seem to not matter to all to these thousands or millions of moronic Americans not yet personally affected—I can only say in utter bafflement and rising resentment:

Are you a human being? Do you not have any empathy or respect to how this Pandemic War has permanently affected millions and millions of American lives!? Are you F*CKING KIDDING ME!?

Where did America’s common decency disappear to!?

Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

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From Rope to Threads

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Professor Taboo

Well, as much as I’d rather post something more comical, scientific, or spell-bounding intriguing… this quick post will be simply a matter-of-fact report (rant) on current goings-on with me, those around me, and stuff in the U.S. If you were wanting/needing a lift-me-up blog-post, best you go somewhere else this time. I’m a realist as well as a hopeful optimistic realist. 😉

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Dallas, TX has very recently experienced over one week of triple-digit temperatures. Today’s expected high (yesterday’s) was a cool frigid 93º Fahrenheit. A happy respite from the 103-106 temps the other week. Most of those days we were also under National Weather Service “Excessive Heat Warnings” and “Air Quality Alerts.” The latter is basically a warning of high levels of ozone air pollution from man-made machines, factories, and refineries to go along with methane and CO² up there. This also includes dust/dirt in lower strata from heavy construction equipment, state-sanctioned (roads & highways) and/or private-sector contractors everywhere in the DFW Metroplex. That pollution is distinctly worse during windy days.

I watched this afternoon, about 1 or 2pm, out my front window three (3) Dallas Police Officers (all white), in two squad-cars, and one of the onsite property managers remove two different residents from my building who were apparently delinquent on their (daily?) monthly rent. One resident, a male perhaps in his late 30’s, packed up everything he could into his massive backpack and rolling suitcase, more things in bags under one arm, and walk out to the street. He then walked down the street until he was out of sight. He may have continued on to the busy 6-lane intersection a half-mile away, under a state highway bridge, with some 6-8 other homeless people (6-8 on a daily basis that is) holding cardboard signs walking out into and around stopped vehicles.

The other residents, a couple perhaps in their late 20’s, began packing up their little beat up used compact car—which was already quite full with tons of other belongings—eventually evacuated the property under watchful eyes of police and property management. As they left, their vehicle’s exhaust was visibly blue smoke; oil leak(s). I doubt their car would pass the state inspection laws in order to obtain liability insurance, required by law to own and operate a vehicle, assuming of course they owned it and possessed current, valid liability insurance minimums. The last 6-8 months I’ve witnessed these sorts of evictions take place. What is glaringly obvious are the vast numbers of homeless people everywhere on our busy street corners and intersections the last 12-24 months. It’s impossible to not notice.

This past week I’ve tried to help this neighbor three doors down. About 2-weeks ago his compact vehicle had a major breakdown. Jumper cables didn’t help. A tow-truck came to haul it off to some repair shop. His only source of income is his job as a Lift/Uber driver. He pays his rent week to week, for obvious reasons. Yesterday I drove him 8-miles to the shop his car was being worked on. It’s in a “sketchy” part of town at a very rundown business building of many old used vehicles scattered everywhere outside. They fill-up the make-shift parking lot.

When he returns to my car where I’m waiting—to make sure his car REALLY IS fixed/ready—with an obvious down-trodden face he tells me “There’s a snag, a hangup. Can you wait a bit longer?” I tell him of course. Ten minutes later he returns with all of his belongings to go straight to work, and tells me “the part that was sent to them had stripped threads.” He soon told me with an upset tone that he’s sure THEY (the shop) fucked-up the refurbished replacement part. I must take him back home… without his vehicle (for income). This foul-up has now cost him another full-day of income, making it the 5th day without making money. Today, to help him out at least a tiny bit, I go to the management office and pay for one night on his room/place. That’s all I could afford given my own strapped situation.

I literally just received the THIRD Amber Alert in as much as 7-9 days! This doesn’t count the significant increase in Amber Alerts we’ve had in Texas so far just these last 7.5 months! They’ve been going off noticeably more ever since COVID-19 quarantines and businesses and schools shutdown. By the way, that also includes most daycares for working Moms or Dads.

As many of you know, I am a sports fan, particularly a soccer/football fanatic. If any of you in the U.S. are sports fans as well, you know painfully that ALL of our professional and collegiate sports seasons have either been cancelled, postponed, or undetermined. As a result and for the first time in my entire life, I have become a semi-fan of the South Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), watching a few games at 4:35am… because most of this spring and summer there has not really been any other sports viewing-choices right now or there hasn’t been in the U.S. for several months! And I’ve NEVER liked baseball until my son got into it seriously at age 10 over nine years ago. Pfffft, KBO? Seriously!?

If any of you have followed the current American MLB shortened season going on, its season and teams are an organized mess because of COVID-19 infections popping up in at least 4-5 different team’s club houses at different times. The New York Yankees just had 1-2 games postponed because of positive CV-19 tests. More postponements or cancellations might be happening. The entire league’s 60-game season it is said will have a HUGE asterisk attached to it and its October World Series (if it happens?) because of this unprecedented time America and Americans are going through.

I watched two interviews over the past 2-3 weeks that I thought were poignantly revealing summaries of what our country has been put through. Sadly, it did not need to be this bad, not even close! Had our federal leadership heeded all the warnings coming from all the domestic and global experts back in Dec. 2019 thru mid-February 2020, this continuing crisis could have been shortened SIGNIFICANTLY and with much less economic tragedy. But then it happened again this past May over Memorial Day weekend and in another spike July… over 4th of July celebrations and holidays. Here’s what wealthy mogul and former Microsoft owner Bill Gates said about the handling of this pandemic by our federal government and leadership: Bill Gates on GPS: “Testing insanity” is unique to U.S.

The other interview was by Christiane Amanpour of PBS with former Republican Governor of Ohio, John Kasich. It is well worth the 3-minute watch, I promise.

Personally, I have been COVID-tested twice now because both times I was experiencing 6 of the 11 symptoms for the lethal virus. Fortunately, both results were negative. But my last CV-19 test, inside Dallas County (one of the worst hot spots in Texas) took almost 5-weeks to return a result. The only reason my two results have been negative is because #1) I stay at home alone as much as possible. #2) because since early March I have social-distanced like an OCD MoFo, I wear a mask anytime I go out in public, I wear rubber gloves when I go into any places of business doing my BASIC shopping for essential items and/or grocery store items. And #3), if I don’t get out of my vehicle, that’s because I’ve shopped online for curbside delivery done by only ONE worker to my car… that is, a car parked over 8-10 feet away from any other vehicle!

And yet, after near 7-months of this consistent distancing, preparation, and wise, considered caution anywhere I go… this has become a change from “doing well enough” in April 2020, to making things tighter and stretching out longer in July 2020—going from a stabilized ship in a horrible storm at sea—to grasping for ropes to cling to as the HMS Titanic goes down, and to now desperately seeking THREADS that might hold me above the surface of a self-created (by my nation & its leaders) Level-5 hurricane I and everyone around me are getting sucked into. And yet there’s more.

Day before yesterday I ran out of one of my two high blood-pressure meds. When I requested the pharmacy to contact my primary care physician’s office for the refill, the next day they called back stating his office denied my request. I know why. I haven’t gone to have my blood lab-work done yet. It costs me $135 (no insurance) to have it all done, plus the tele-visit or video-visit with the doctor to initiate it. Plus on top of that the cost of the generic prescriptions. It’s money I do not currently have because of several other pressing priorities due to COVID-19 affects and consequences on businesses.

Oh well, hopefully life gets better for everyone and reduces hypertension and high blood-pressure—that if chronic, inevitably leads to heart disease and other medical problems. HAH! 😆 That’s a subject Dr. Sanjay Gupta covered in his extensive 1-hour documentary on HBO called One Nation Under Stress. In the documentary Dr. Gupta uncovers the root causes of why American life expectancy, that is primarily Caucasian’s life expectancy, is falling and is now shorter than all other major developed countries. It is a disturbing revelation of our nation’s true health. Here’s the trailer:

So what’s the rub? Can we Americans make it until November 4-5? Can we survive with minimal casualties in this raging, unforgiving storm/hurricane of a crisis that could’ve been lessened significantly, probably avoided in many ways? Because this pandemic virus has affected and infected so many socioeconomic and healthcare sectors and lives, that not even I could’ve anticipated, it could get much worse and last much longer! And I am a HUGE nerdy science guy who tries his utmost to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But this shit is going to outlast even my own predictions back in February. I told everyone then this pandemic and its ripple-effects would last till late-August or early-September before a downward trend and gradual respite occurs. It appears my prediction is coming up wrong and well short. 😔😷

I wonder… how in THA HELL did our Greatest Generation (of America) do it for well over 5-6 years during World War II on top of coming out of the Great Depression!? Holy crap they must of been truly “E plurabus unum” (like superhero MoFos)… like we stamp on all of our coinage. HAH! Is it really a United States of America rather than a DISunited States of America, “One nation, under stress, and very divided!” as our new revised Pledge of Allegiance the last 4-years might be uttered today? Other nations around the world handled and managed the pandemic SO MUCH BETTER than the U.S.! That’s undeniably true.

Ugh, my rant is done. Tired I am. Everyone keep being safe, being well, and safely distanced. Try to keep going and hang in there! I hope I can too. 🙄

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P.S. One last thing. Have I ever expressed my rising annoyance with most everything electronic, internet, streaming, or WiFi-based over the last decade or more? And with that near boiling-point annoyance of said electronics I am quickly approaching the brink of ‘going postal.’ Have I expressed that? And how many times all my electronic devices I have ever owned (especially the last 10-12 years!) get overly spammed, hacked, and breakdown into some cyber-neurotic psychotic tantrums after ONLY 24-months from their purchase? Then I am forced to purchase a new cutting-edge “newer” device. Imagine that!

Does anyone else experience this incredibly frustrating, cyclical consumer entrapment on a society addicted to an electronic-everything world? Just a passing thought.

I really miss those days (in the 80’s and 90’s) when items, machines purchased would last a good 10-15 years, easily. Now, most mega-corporate business models are structured to generate what they call “perpetual revenue” and repeat consumers that appease, gratify share-holders for many quarterly P&L reports. Ugh, I so love hyper-capitalism.

That last sentence was extreme satirical sarcasm by the way. 😠

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Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

Monsters

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Professor Taboo

When all’s been said and done
And another day’s begun
When the lines go on and on
And all you’ve got is gone
You’ve doused yourself in sin
And the daylight’s creeping in
When the shadows start to grow, oh
Maybe it’s time to go?
Maybe it’s time to go?
Maybe it’s time to go?

Panic sets in and paranoia grows, push the darkness as deep as it will go… so no one knows? Hide or run away, while life unravels and frays?

When all’s been said and done
No distance left to run
When the emptiness arrives
And there’s nowhere left to hide
When it’s stacking up inside
From the corners of your mind
When the teardrops start to flow, oh
Maybe it’s time to go?
Maybe it’s time to go?

Baby, I’ve got the monsters
Baby, I’ve got the monsters
Baby, I’ve got the monsters
Baby, I’ve got the monsters, again
Baby, I’ve got the monsters
Baby, I’ve got the monsters
Baby, I’ve got the monsters, again

Maybe it’s time to go?
Maybe it’s time to go?

Anxiety manifests in many forms from a plethora of causes. They can be social in nature, relational as the music video profoundly illustrates, they can be general in nature, for example from sociopolitical stressors and volatile unrest. They can be phobias of separation, or even medical-genetic in nature. Some anxieties are normal, common, some recurring, maybe chronic but manageable, and yet others are progressively inflamed and worsen if unidentified and untreated professionally.

The great news? All of it can be treated and managed successfully, even cured. There is always hope. But doing nothing or ignoring the problem sometimes makes everything worse…

They’re creeping up, again
They’re creeping up, again
They’re creeping up, again
They’re creeping up, again

“Monsters“ by Empathy Test

Approximately 40-million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders, or ≈18% of the population. Though acute anxiety is very easily treatable and quite successful, only 37% address it or receive treatment.

Do you have any anxiety monsters that creep up? Do they cause havoc in your life? Share any of your thoughts about unidentified and untreated anxiety monsters, perhaps those in your immediate or extended family or in your circle of friends? How does “anxiety” touch or effect you, directly or indirectly?

For help with Anxiety Disorders and/or Depression, call the national helpline of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

For more information on Anxiety Disorders go to the Mayo Clinic’s webpage here.

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Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://professortaboo.com/contact-me/.

Every Single Cell-Phone

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Professor Taboo

Last night on PBS NOVA, Decoding COVID-19, the award-winning science show since 1974 aired a most intriguing, informatively packed episode about our current progress and fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. From their website introduction:

In an unprecedented global effort to understand and contain the virus—and find a treatment for the disease it causes—is underway. Join doctors on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 as they strategize to stop the spread, and meet the researchers racing to develop treatments and vaccines.

Life and Survival vs. Loss of Privacy

In the latter portion of the show doctors and scientists discuss how all biophysicists, epidemiologists, virologists, geneticists, pathologists, everyone around the world in these scientific fields are racing to find a vaccine. A vaccine that can take up to 2-years of testing and manufacturing before it reaches the Earth’s population.

Meanwhile, the only defense we humans have at the moment is monitoring, managing, then restricting our social behavior. In Wuhan, China, the first epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, on April 8, 2020, Chinese authorities reopened the city and province for business. Residents were allowed to travel and move about in public with face-masks. The emotional, mental, and social benefits for Wuhan residents was enormous. However, life in Wuhan was/is nowhere near back to normal.

Wuhan residents, healthcare doctors, and government officials have a serious concern and fear of a second resurgence of COVID-19 infections soon after reopening. This is justified. And so many restrictions are still in effect there. For example, anyone entering or leaving a building, property, park, or space are required (by law?) to use their cell-phone to scan in, upload special location-marking codes to a regional database. Gates of complexes, condominiums, stadiums, malls, entertainment events, parks, all have entry and exit stations, policed by security guards where every single person must scan a QR-code using a phone app at all specific entry/exit points, with your specific health condition, and based upon everyone else’s health-data condition that has been near you at the same time. Your color-coded COVID-19 warning-status is constantly updated. Green? You’re good, free to move about as you please as long as you have not been near another risk or high-risk person. Yellow or Red codes mean you will not be allowed to enter or exit before medical attention arrives. For those two color-codes, further medical testing, removal and possibly immediate quarantine may be required.

These measures in Wuhan have seemingly been very effective in squashing new outbreaks. They also have further benefits in conjunction with widespread testing. Everyone with a cell-phone will get multiple notifications of anyone who has been in near-contact with you wherever you’ve traveled. Without a doubt, for a lethal pandemic such as SARS-CoV-2 this level and complexity of monitoring is ideal for public health and safety until an effective vaccine arrives.

Therefore, here is my question for you, my readers and followers:

Is your own personal privacy more important than other people’s life and well-being?

In this day and age of hyper-sophisticated electronic technology and the fact that almost all of Earth’s human beings possess a cell-phone packed with GPS monitoring data for wireless providers and other mega-corporations to purchase and to use, is your personal privacy, movement data, and social activity more important than stopping and reducing COVID-19 from wiping out millions of the human race, possibly even taking your life, or someone dear to and deeply loved by you? Would these type of Chinese-inspired data-sets and phone apps help incompetent American leadership in any way for tracking COVID-19 infections, its hot-spots, and then assisting in testing kits and potential hospital admissions?

Yes? No? Maybe? Unsure?

Share your thoughts and feelings below. When is it right to Take One for the Team, the Village, and when is 24/7 electronic intrusion too much and goes too far for some group of questionable people of greed and control?

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Live Healthier — Love More — Laugh with Family/Friends — Learn More Science

Grow Your Fire!

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Professor Taboo

When you feel drained, tired, beat up, and doubting if you can keep your stability, your sanity, stop… take some slow deep breathes, and find your beat, your peace.

Perspective:

We are tourists on this Earth. We are visiting, passing through like a tourist for a time. Perhaps 80+ years, 95 or 100 if we’re lucky. Less than 40-years if not so lucky. So this makes our short tour here pure gold. How will we/I make those 50, 60, 80 brief years on this Earth? How will we impact others, family and the ones we love deeply through the great times as well as the hard times? Times like right now during this pandemic? What is your/my part in it? How will it be remembered?

One of my all-time favorite stories and top five films is Sydney Pollack’s 1985 blockbuster Out of Africa. Toward the end of the movie after Baroness von Blixen’s most trying, crippling last months in Nairobi, Kenya and being forced to sell off all of her belongings, giving up her farm-home, land, and Kĩkũyũ workers, she must explain to her head butler and dear friend Farah what is going on. The movie’s transcript:

Karen: [to Farah] Where I am going you cannot come.

Farah: There is no cooking where you are going?

Farah is confused by Baroness’ departure and why he cannot come with her so Karen shares an analogy he would understand.

Karen: Farah, do you remember when we were on safari, and during the day you would go ahead and find a camp, and build a fire?

Farah: Yes. And you would see the fire and come to this place.

Karen: Well, it will be like that. Only this time I will go ahead and build a fire.

Farah: And this place you are going…it is very far away?

Karen: Yes.

Farah: (after a pause) Then, you must make this fire very big, Sabu, so that I can find you.

We must continue. Move on, move along. Get to the next campfire to rest for the night. Build that fire! And let that fire grow. Let each of them grow as this song goes…

When things seem unbearable, seem to be frustrating over and over and over where everything and everyone seem to be acting stupid and against you… like not being unified team players… and you ask yourself more than once “Why? What’s the point?” and you want to throw your hands up or yield to something or someone you KNOW you are not…

Then that is when you must dig deep. Relight your fire, fan that fire again and again, and rise to move forward again, fight again! This is now. This is our one and only chance to do better, again, and be right, DOING the right thing as many times as it takes. By keeping yourself safe, doing social-distancing, being the best team player not a bitching Prima Donna, your fire burns huge, burns alive and well for many, not one.

“Let it burn, let it grow!”

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Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always