Sunday, February 27, 2022

OUR HEARTS ARE BROKEN

 


Friday night I held her in my arms as she took her last breath.  A terrible decision to have to make.   My wife and I  are devastated.   Our young cat is searching the house for her. 

 

She went from 14 pounds to 7 pounds in a matter of months; the cancer in her stomach and chest caused her to gasp for breath.  


We know it was the right thing to do, but it doesn't make it any easier.  







I can't list the number of ways we miss her.


the Ol'Buzzard

Thursday, February 24, 2022

SUPPORTING UKRAINE WILL EFFECT EVERYONE

 


Twenty years of Iraq war and no one paid attention, except military families.      Civilians weren’t deploying and dying.  Some few protested, but no one really cared.   Life went on.   It didn’t affect us.  

 

World governments have rightly decided to support the fledgling democracy of Ukraine against an invasion from Russia.   Read the history of Russia: The Gulag, Chernobyl…  Deaths and destruction resulting from a Russian invasion

 

Employing sanctions against Russia will result in gas prices spiking upward, and as a result the price of consumer goods will rise. 

 

Now we can expect the population to pay attention – it affects us.

 

We will hear an outcry, not just from the right – whiney little subversive bastards they are - but also from people on the left who are not willing to actually sacrifice to support democracy when it becomes an inconvenience.

 

Because the majority is not willing to back a foreign country from invasion when it becomes personal, this action will more than likely put Republicans back in power in 24. 


Dominant world powers historically last for 250 years.   Have you taken a close look at who we are lately?  

 

Karma is not a bitch, it’s a mirror.

 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 


Monday, February 21, 2022

APOCALYPSE NOW

 


 

Man shall have dominion over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

 

Elizabeth Kolbert book, The 6th Extinction tracks the catastrophic events that led to five extinction on planet Earth.    The 6th extinction to be brought about by mankind, ‘who has led a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature’, and has drastically altered earth’s climate over a duration of one century.




  

Her new book, Under a White Sky reviews man’s technological research to deal with the results of the climate change we are presently witnessing.




 

There is no doubt that the world we live in will look dramatically different in one-hundred years; if we survive this era.   Mankind is only limited by the speed of his ability to compute and the volume of information he can retrieve; and with super computers mankind has conquered that deficiency.  There is some confidence in the scientific community (the brain trust of mankind) that we will be able to adjust to the changing climate.

 

CASSANDRA PROPHECY

 

Cassandra was priestess of Apollo in Greek mythology; cursed to utter true prophecies, but never to be believed.

 

Though climate change is of major concern to the survival of the human race, it is not the elephant in the room, the most likely scenario to apocalyptic destruction of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

  

We are looking at the possibility of another massive war in Europe.  But this only highlights the concern.

 

Nuclear weapons have proliferated through the earth’s nations: Chins, North Korea, Pakistan, India, undoubtedly Israel, soon to be Iran; and of course, the United States and Russia.

 

The world has two nuclear super powers, each with the capability of destroying all life on earth many times over.   So far, we have had reasonable men holding the reins on the world nuclear arsenals; but that is not a guarantee.  

 

President Trump asked general Kelly why we have nuclear weapons and don’t use them?

 

In Ronald Regan’s last year in office, he suffered from dementia.   Donald Trump was called a moron by his Chief of Staff.  The world is full of despots, and then we have religious fanatical states each looking forward to an end of the world scenario.  It is not beyond belief today that Republicans could elect Marjory Taylor Green or that ilk to be in charge of our nuclear arsenal.

 

We should not believe that nuclear weapons will never be deployed against humanity.  It had been done before.    In 1945 two very primitive nuclear weapons destroyed two Japanese cities killing over three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand civilians.




 

This is a scenario waiting to happen.

 

Mankind still possesses a primitive strain in his DNA that effects the species beyond reason.




Have a nice day

the Ol’Buzzard


Saturday, February 19, 2022

WAR IN UKRAINE: TAKE FROM A CANADIAN LIVING IN UKRAINE - MUST READ

 

THE BLOG FODDER


the Ol'Buzzard

WAR, GOOD GOD Y'ALL - WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

 


 

The two major super powers on earth are posturing.  Each with enough nuclear weaponry to destroy all life on earth.

 

If the world was energy independent, economic trade pressures could be brought against rogue countries that would somewhat negate wars.

 

Russia’s only economy is oil and gas.    The middle-east countries only economy is oil and gas.

 

Total energy independence is feasible; but capitalism makes it impossible.   The rich exploit to grow wealth; so, the movers and shakers of the world have no incentive to divest of energy control.

 

We have the technology to deploy a satellite telescope to orbit the sun and view time all the way back to creation.   If that same technology was deployed toward energy independence, we could be energy free within a decade.

 

Every home could be energy independent.  Heated and cooled from thermal heat pumps and energized by efficient solar arrays on rooftops and elevated structures.   Cars could be energy independent of fossil fuels; plugged in to home solar arrays for charging and equipped with solar collectors on all surfaces – along with wind-turbines and centrifugal force generators.  

 

Solar, wind, water and tidal collectors could supply all the power needed for economic and commercial purposes.  The tidal change in the Bay of Fundy alone could convert enough energy for North America to be free of the need for fossil fuel produced energy.

 

Total world energy independence would place rogue countries in a less powerful position – and economic sanctions from world organizations could carry more weight.  

 

This is all feasible, but buried in our DNA is a primitive strain that drives us to compete for power and wealth, with a willingness toward violence.     This drive is exploited through capitalism and greed; and I see no hope that that will ever change in our future.

 

Though we claim to be a sentient intelligent species, we share 97% of our DNA with our cousins, Chimpanzees.   And a good percent of the human population has not progressed far from our primitive ancestors most basic instincts.  

 

Add to that the zealotry of religions and there is little hope we will ever conquer war.




 

the Ol'Buzzard

Monday, February 14, 2022

TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS



 

News papers are expressing fear for the economy because stock values are falling due to the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

 

That just shows where the government’s economic priorities are.  Judging the economy by the fluctuations of the stock market reflect how well the rich are doing.   It ignores the economic plight of the middle and poorer classes where the real economy exists.


the Ol'Buzzard