UP:

I call this Nature’s Cathedrals and if I had a better camera and didn’t have essential tremor you would be moved, too.  Sometimes I forget that nature can  take one away from feeling down. I recall going through an entire blog on birds once and feeling tremendously energized.  When I found the recent photo of 3-week old aye aye I was cheered, and then this lovely series of plants just outside my condo and not planted by me pepped me up immeasurably.  I think there’s a pocket inside us that relates to the appreciation of beauty, and it’s something that one rarely acknowledges or is aware of.  Anyhow, I thought this cheerful note might help offset some of the following:

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DOWN

I can’t afford The Week magazine, although it is first class, but as fate would have it, the April  21, 2023 issue appeared on the free table in the public library, and I read about the following column by David Wallace Wells of The New York Times.  Titled The Growing Number of Child Deaths, I learned that in the U.S. life expectancy is rapidly declining not by deaths of despair among the middle-aged or even by Covid but by the deaths of children and teenagers.  Why? “The U.S. is a violent place and getting more violent.  Gun homicides and suicides account for half of the increase in youth mortality….”  Americans are dying younger than in any peer countries.

Nan says:  The emotional insistence by an apparent majority of men who “don’t want to lose their guns”  smacks–and I write this seriously–of castration anxiety.  Has women in the board rooms threatened them so much or is it a feeling of guilt and/or insecurity?  Or somehow are some dregs of earlier childrearing harshness catching up with us?  I shudder to think how the stunted intellectual and emotional development of young children may  continue to influence the last days of our planet.  Let’s face it:  what the heck are they learning about respect, honesty, ethics and their own bodies?  Who was it said “as we sow, so shall we reap?”  The destruction of learning in schools and universities is poison. How dare we trifle with such critical issues?

ANSWER, via Quora:

SNEAKILY, DEVIOUSLY, CLEVERLY

“What companies will send people money when they’re asked nicely?”

You can find the nice companies by clicking…

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NEVER GIVE THIS TO SOMEONE YOU CARE FOR:

…BUT YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?:  ANSWER: A ONE-YEAR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO A MAGAZINE.  I WON’T INSULT YOU BY TELLING YOU WHY.

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Temper tantrum:

If you read my post of  April 7, 2023,   then you know that temper tantrums are spreading in our current culture. (Three members of the Nelsonville Ohio city council resigned in a huff, and when two of them wanted to rescind their hasty action they  were initially given a hard time, but there weren’t enough remaining council members left to make a quorum to accept or not accept their hasty actions).  I was reminded of this during the week when a female N.C state legislator  changed parties (from Democrat to Republican) in a huff after a barrage of criticism from other Democrats. When folks refer to the concept of Adulting these days, what do ya think they mean?

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OMG!

 Can ChatGPT predict stocks? Researchers from the University of Florida have found that the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, can predict whether a stock price will rise or fall based on news headlines. The AI outperformed traditional sentiment analysis methods and could lead to more efficient markets. From <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/WhctKKXwvqXJxmGcJKvsJsBlvPgMnSbWDWhqPKPfPKzkBHNsKRCFfkjZndpdJHhvKgxVpZV>

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INCIDENTAL:  I recently ran into my favorite early childhood book, from which I learned much of my vocabulary:  It was Freddy the Detective, with Freddy the Pig as protagonist. I see it advertised on Thriftbooks but for some reason can’t get it completely ordered.  Oh well, I know it was exciting; that should be enough.  Enjoy, if you can and want to and are able.

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As a fisherperson in my childhood there was always that moment when I wondered what was pulling at my line.  I’ve quit fishing due to having currently found out.  Worse even than dishonesty I abhor being manipulated.

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Corporations have grown so nefariously widespread, powerful and dishonest that if the Supreme Court reversed its 2010 decision I fear our whole caboodle would collapse, due to the disservice of our current playing book based on the pretense that corporations are people.   (But what kind of people, I ask you. Not my kind of people!)  If we keep turning our cheek for more we’ll be skeletonized. If you have a peaceful solution please SPEAK UP!