On the Nature of Things | Forum

noddy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 7:15 am heres hoping it all improves, or atleast you guys can extract yourselves to greener pastures.

Thanks. Here's hoping it improves for everyone because we already have nutty subway shooters and regular shoving on to the tracks again.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... 66a1725b06

Fears surging crime in New York could ‘frighten away’ desperately needed tourists
The bashing of a pop star on a New York street has highlighted a huge issue facing the city where a cop has quipped that “only Central Park squirrels are safe”.

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In February, overall crime in the city went up 58.7 per cent compared to the same month in 2021. Theft was up 79 per cent; assault by 22 per cent and murder by 10 per cent.

noddy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 2:26 am https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... 66a1725b06

Fears surging crime in New York could ‘frighten away’ desperately needed tourists
The bashing of a pop star on a New York street has highlighted a huge issue facing the city where a cop has quipped that “only Central Park squirrels are safe”.

--

In February, overall crime in the city went up 58.7 per cent compared to the same month in 2021. Theft was up 79 per cent; assault by 22 per cent and murder by 10 per cent.

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/17- ... residents/

At Least 17 Gangs Are Targeting LA’s Richest for Attacks

An LAPD task force has identified at least 17 Los Angeles gangs who have been following and violently robbing people throughout L.A.

All US rich big cities are now danger zones .. In Chicago, gangs drive with SUV into showrooms, clean up expensive goods on display .. they rubbing now Gucci, Hermes Louis Vuitton Bags and Nike shoes which are as good as cash on market, much easier to sell than Jewelry.
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Female nurses twice as likely to die by suicide as other women


https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 92925/full

For many, the stress from long hours and constant exposure to severely ill or deceased patients can take a massive toll on mental health. In fact, according to a highly alarming study, female nurses are twice as likely to commit suicide as other women.

The study, out of the University of Michigan School of Nursing, shows that female nurses are also 70 percent more likely to take their own lives than female doctors.

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“I’m worried about two key issues in today’s workplace. First, health care systems are placing increased demands on nurses, physicians, and other health care workers. Even before COVID, nurses reported substantial workplace stressors, including reduced staffing, increased complexity of care, and additional bureaucratic tasks. Nurses have been working non-stop caring for seriously ill patients and facing their own exposure to this virus,” says Friese. “Second, the nurses I work with routinely face tougher challenges at home that place added stress on them, such as caregiving for children or parents. You put the workplace and home stressors together and it’s no surprise that nurses are struggling. I worry that without concerted action, things may get worse before they get better.”
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Read highest suicide among doctors is among anaesthetists


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6907772/

https://www.independentnurse.co.uk/prof ... ng/223994/

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2021041 ... er-rates#1

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These American students,
ranging from kindergarten to eight graders,
are taught all subjects including math, science and culture in Mandarin Chinese,
and become fluent by the time they graduate.

Qin said his dream as a diplomat is to boost communication and maintain world peace so that all children can be fed so they may have other important dreams to pursue and achieve.When asked if he had any Chinese stories to share, Qin spoke of the ancient tales of Mulan, and how one day when Yinghua’s students perfect their Mandarin they can understand the splendor of the language Mulan was written in.

To Qin’s surprise, the students in the audience began reciting for him beautiful segments from the text Mulan.
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Well, Lori Lightfoot, probably the dumbest mayor in the history of Chicago, has lost her bid for re-election.

The first incumbent mayor to have done so in 40 years.

No small achievement.

Chicago has fallen !!

Pointed out in the comments that the curriculum was written by the unitarians.

Missing in all of this stuff under the woke umbrella is how much of it is coming from the unitarians.

NapLajoieonSteroids wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 5:40 am

Pointed out in the comments that the curriculum was written by the unitarians.

Missing in all of this stuff under the woke umbrella is how much of it is coming from the unitarians.

I was vaguely aware of the Catholics and the Protestants in Christianity,
but only after living in the Midwest did I come to appreciate the number and diversity of Protestant sects.

One time, after a few beers, the issue of religion came up for discussion, and at one point I asked
"What does Unitarian" mean, having seen such a sign in front of a church.
A colleague quipped, "Oh, they're the folks that will marry you and your monkey, if you wish".

Unitarian Universalists started off as Protestants who believed all religions had ‘a piece of the truth’.

They devolved into a metaphysical muddle that tolerates everything and challenges nothing except Christianity, which is denigrated.

Nice people but spiritually adrift. A great place for picking up women.

The celebration of the election of the new Chicago Mayor, Brandon Johnson a.k.a. Lightfoot 2.0, was nothing if not enthusiastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvX6MyVkGKI

rvX6MyVkGKI

Typhoon wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 10:03 pm The celebration of the election of the new Chicago Mayor, Brandon Johnson a.k.a. Lightfoot 2.0, was nothing if not enthusiastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvX6MyVkGKI

rvX6MyVkGKI

SRLM
Senseless Rioter Lives Matter

I have fond memories of the years spent in the US Midwest - Chicagoland, so it saddens me to see Chicago going the way of Detroit.

Same goes for Baltimore and New Orleans.

If I have to constantly watch my back while riding the CTA rail system or walking down Michigan Avenue, then my annual visit is on hold.

I've been to a number of countries that are so-called third world, people there may be poor, oppressed, and lacking in education, but even they know enough not to piss in their own drinking well.

This is bored children that are looking for some excitement. The South side of Chicago in the 1970's was worse. I drove through there once. Dan Ryan expressway. The police all stayed in their squad cars windows rolled up doors lock. People would walk right out in front of the car I was driving seemingly daring me to hit them. Baltimore is pretty bad right now. New York is getting there fast. I figure what is happening in Chicago is going to happen in many major cities once school is out. It is going to be a long summer in the cities.

Doc wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:21 am This is bored children that are looking for some excitement. The South side of Chicago in the 1970's was worse. I drove through there once. Dan Ryan expressway. The police all stayed in their squad cars windows rolled up doors lock. People would walk right out in front of the car I was driving seemingly daring me to hit them.

Quite. I used to venture to the South Side fairly often when I lived in Chicagoland - in the evenings.
Either to listen to blues music at the New Checkerboard Lounge on 43rd Street or go with a Lithuanian colleague/friend to eat and drink, play pool, and flirt at an enclave in Marquette Park [had a look recently on Google Maps, all abandoned and boarded up].

The major change since I lived in Chicagoland, back in the late 1980's and early 1990's,


is that back then the crime and general nihilism was confined to the problem neighbourhoods of the South Side and Near West Side. As it was pre-internet days, I carried a detailed map in my head of where and where not to go.
Back then, someone being shot, mugged, and/or carjacked in the downtown Loop or the Magnificient Mile part of Michigan Avenue was a rare occurrence. No longer the case.

Baltimore is pretty bad right now. New York is getting there fast. I figure what is happening in Chicago is going to happen in many major cities once school is out. It is going to be a long summer in the cities.

Lots of kids are bored, however, most do not go around smashing cars, beating up tourists and other citizens, and shooting each other. Don't understand how supposed adults [e.g., the new Mayor of Chicago] can rationalize and excuse such behaviour.

Read that the Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago. Wonder if they'll enjoy the new "Summer of Love".

Yesterday a schizophrenic vagrant died on a NYC subway after being placed in a chokehold by passengers. This man got on a crowded subway car and starting yelling something to the extent that he was homeless, hungry and ready to go to jail for life. He was confrontational and apparently had a well known history of assault, menancing and harrassing people on that particular subway route. (I read somewhere that one of the passengers who held him down was previously assaulted by him- but I can't find a source for that now.)

In fact, added to his long rap sheet was an arrest the week prior for attempting to push a lady on to the subway tracks.

The man in short was a mess who needed help and had to be away from society. Considering what he said and his actions, he was courting some sort of suicidal action- including life in prison- because of his condition, but the very fact made him a danger to others.

Go South, young man.

Bloombert | A $100 Billion Wealth Migration Tilts US Economy’s Center of Gravity South

Some 2.2 million people moved to the Southeast in just over two years. That’s roughly the population of Houston.

Stemwinder from the great James Lindsay.....'>.......

Was on the phone with an old acquaintance and he goes, "Did you see the news? I know we don't talk politics but they're booing the immigrants."

I had no idea what he was talking about. "What?"

"Yeah, out in Staten Island. It's crazy, they're out in the streets just booing."

"Like it was a Yankees game?"

He sent me a clip (which I can't find now) of the Staten Island protestors booing and booing; shaking; waving sticks signs in the air the will the aliens away, as if it were Joey Gallo [the baseball player boo'd out of town, not the infamous mobster]. While a serious subject, amusing.

Meanwhile on this part of the metropolitan settlement, the city has opened its pot shops. I think it's two or three that were approved; all strategically placed to pull in customers from the surrounding wealthy towns-- towns that wanted pot legalization but didn't want it in their towns under any circumstances.

This city dragged its feet because it didn't want it either, with broad support across party lines. But as one councilmen bluntly put it, "We don't want the pot, we just want the money." And the expectation (and pressure) was from the beginning that the city here would host the stores for the benefit of the towns- much as all illicit drug trafficking for the area starts with this place as hub.

So we checked out the closest one. They checked our IDs twice at two different checkpoints before allowing entrance. The place looked like if a branch of the local branch decided to open a headshop-- at least my memory of what they looked like. Like whenever I enter a liquor store, I didn't really know what I was looking at.

This has caused me problems in liquor stores before, especially nervous clerks after I wander around looking at everything because I don't know anything about anything. In the pot shop, no problem-- I'll admit that I haven't shaved or gotten a haircut in a while-- 'cause I fit right in.

I went I assume off-peak hours but it surprised me how many employees they had. The clientele looked mostly like people in their 50s (definitely from the wealthier towns) at that point of day. The sketchy bit to me is that they kept insisting people enter their full names and phone numbers into their little tablet cubicles. All orders are apparently done like that. I asked the stoned lady walking around if anonymity was an option and she said yes but they still require a name. What a perfect way to start up a database for the authorities.

In lighter news, we've also a burgeoning traffic problem. A few years back, pre-pandemic, a group of do gooders set out to petition the city to add more traffic lights. These guys would run out into the road at lights and stop sign intersections to harass drivers to sign their petitions for new lights on this street or that street.

I refused to sign because beyond the harassment, the areas they wanted lights seemed poorly thought out. I was in the minority because the issue apparently was so popular the city nearly doubled the amount of lights; every stretch petitioned for and years later...traffic and accidents have gotten tremendously worse. There are a few roads so plastered with lights that the speed limit is effectively under 10 mph and light traffic almost always develops into an immediate standstill. One 2 lane road I have in mind has the problem where the limit is theoretically 40 mph but due to lights every 10 yards no one has time to accelerate so once rush hour hits, it's a parking lot because one will end up hitting every light. This has led to more impatient drivers, more rebellious & aggressive drivers; more trouble.

So now there are guys running into the street to harass drivers to petition the city pare down the amount of lights and another group countering those guys saying it's not the lights, the city needs bigger roads.

Basically we've handed our governance over to people who play in roads.