Best Vaccination: Laugh at Yourself!

 

Where did all the girls go?

After turning twenty one,

I bought a brand new car.

A sports job with a five speed box,

And glances from afar.

No Triumph, Sprite, or MGB

Too commonplace you see.

I found the Fiat 1-2-4

Sport Spyder was for me!

At every light some one would say

"I really like your car!"

Positano Yellow you could 

Spot it from afar.

For girls it was a magnet.

How could I ask for more?

On sunny days with soft top down

It even would seat four.

Although those days were long ago.

They seem like yesterday.

I wonder if I had one now

Would I still feel that way?

My other half still harbors the

Convertible allure.

With modern folding hard tops they're

Much better that's for sure.

She loved the new Miata so

I bought one as a gift.

With automatic I still miss

My rapid five speed shift.

For sure this Mazda goes Zoom Zoom, 

But I don't feel as free..

It's bumpy, noisy, small and so

I always bang my knee.

Getting in is difficult

But with the sun o'er head,

I think about the beach and of 

The care free life I led.

If I Zoomed by you today

You might have heard me shout.

"Please call 9-1-1 for me -

You see I can't get out!"

#thebrewsterblock

Problems for the World to Solve

Let's Get Together

Remember the song "Let's get together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" (Haley Mills; Robert and Richard Sherman)? It is one the world should be singing, translated into many languages with the same refrain but new lyrics.

Some of the world's greatest problems - COVID for example - would be better addressed by international cooperation. The International Space Station is a great example. The problem is that much of the needed funds are now going towards the goal of self preservation or being ready to destroy the other guy. This must make God or our alien creators and masters proud.

Here are some suggestions from which we would all be beneficiaries, including other living things like plants, fish, and animals. There would have to be an agreement that any new invention or technology which resulted from the combined effort could not be patented. That way any country would be free to allow private industry to help without any monopolies locking up the creation out of financial greed.

Let's hear some of your thoughts. Comment below.

CARS: Thankfully this is being addressed albeit slowly. Petroleum powered cars must go. This alone will help to purify the air and slow down global warming. Petroleum will always be needed for commerce, construction, and travel but there are hundreds of millions of cars, most being extremely inefficient.

PLASTICS: I doubt they will disappear but some like shopping bags and drink / water bottles could go. Replacement products are needed. There is hope with the commercials I am seeing involving three major soda companies and their new bottles.

DRINKING WATER: More high volume low cost desalination technology is needed. Israel is advanced in this area. The whole world should have access to clean, safe, drinking water.

FOOD: I have read that there is enough food to feed the world but not everybody has access. Large scale food greenhouses already exist. You can't always spread crops laterally but you can go vertically, just like residential buildings. Sharing such technology would allow current countries who can't grow crops to do so.

ENERGY: Solar, wind, and harnessing the tides are all possibilities here with minimal progress in each. Another known technology is the use of the sun's rays to superheat a liquid using huge parabolic lenses. This is ultimately used to boil water for a steam engine, which then drives a generator. Combined knowledge here could be shared and large plants built in the hottest areas of the world. Electrical power could then be transported in conventional towers and cables.

SHELTER: Many of the poorest have never had a home. I saw a video once about someone who was building stacked homes out of large concrete sewer pipes. Sounds crude but these were liveable. What about spent shipping containers and tractor trailers once they are off the road. Now they end up in some farmer's field. Quonset huts would also be like a palace to those with no home of their own.

CLOTHING: Right up there with food and shelter. Used clothing is already collected - for a profit. Governments could do it, on a non profit basis (cover costs only) for the needy both here and abroad.

There are lots of possibilities where combined genius can be used for common good. Surely re-directing government money from charitable handouts to jobs for the betterment of the human race is desirable.

It easy to talk about taxing the super rich and certain corporations so that they pay more to fund common benefits, many of whom pay none. These are good causes to which the extra cash could be directed, rather than to executive salaries and bonuses, and politicians' pensions.

What are your ideas?

#thebrewsterblock

Anti-Vaxxers Without Borders

Not "Only in America"

I am sure there are people throughout the roughly 200 countries with a COVID problem who will fight being vaccinated. Most of us will never understand this and we are advised that we can not embarrass or shame them into taking a different stance. Fortunately some of them who caught the virus and possible gave it to family members are now trying to convince their peers that vaccination is good. They regret their past resistance.

In the past I have not minced my words on this topic. I have certainly cast anti-vaxxers in a negative light and I am not going to stop now. OK, so I won't convince any hard liners and some may dig in their heels even deeper. This is like a flat earth society. Members are still out there so I am told. If they have ever travelled "around" the world they have to know they are flogging a dead horse. If they have a TV at home - same thing. So all I can do is keep making the case and hope that maybe others closer to them will sway a few. 

Let us assume that even the most ardent have reasonable intelligence, no mental disabilities and that they do not belong to some anti-vaxxer cult. Adding to the list of assumptions, I assume that:

1. They are not constantly receiving fines for seatbelt and helmet violations

2. They have never tried to open a plane door for fresh air during a flight

3. They have never been in prison for sexually assaulting or kidnapping someone to satisfy a sudden sexual urge

4. They don't attempt to walk around society totally nude.

5. They don't attempt to rob a bank when they are short of cash.

6. They don't just steal a car, groceries, (or any other object) whenever they need one.

7. That if they have been employed for an extended period they obey their employers' rules.

8. That they don't turn into peeping Toms whenever they are horny.

9. That they practice good personal hygiene to some degree.

10. That many attended school longer than any mandatory period.

OK so what? All of these things are dictated by rules and laws of governments or other authorities. Somebody told them they "have to" or they "can't." However to my knowledge no government, especially Federal, has told them that they MUST wear a mask, unless they are working in a Federal building.

So what is all of this crap about freedom and "you can't make me?" It is political. Many are just crying for attention. 

I can't help myself. Grow up. Get a  life. Stop messing up ours.

#thebrewsterblock