© picture by Dan DeMarle 2020

Thursday 1/30/2020 – America is in the midst of the Senate Trial of President Donald J. Trumps’ impeachment and pretty much all of the news media is focused on that historic event. That is except for when they are pulled away to fixate on the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter (there were also 3 other people on that helicopter, but who cares about them).

While you might think my list of the world’s top concerns would be that impeachment, it is not. Here is my actual list, and it should be yours as well.

1. Climate Change – on 3/28/19 at the UN General Assembly speakers said we only had 11 more years to act on Climate change. After that, we are past the tipping point.  Since it is now 1/2020, we essentially have 10 years left. The current crowd in Washington for the last little over 3 years has done everything they possibly could to make things worse, and not better. If nothing changes, that will continue for the next four years. Meaning we are all totally screwed, and so are all are progeny, and their progeny, etc….  Even if there is a political sea change in 11/2020, when the new crowd takes over, we will have only 9 years left.

2. China Quarantine – As of 1/27/2020, China has reportedly mass incarcerated (quarantined) an estimated 56 million people. Let me say that again, a nation on Planet Earth has locked away in a few short days 56 million people and everyone in America seems to be perfectly fine with that.  As every dictator on earth knows, add a little threat of apocalypse, and people will fall all over themselves to give away their civil liberties. Remember 9/11?

3. Global extermination – not directly related to climate change, but on 1/23/2020 the doomsday clock was reset to just 100 seconds before midnight. We are a minute and 40 seconds from doomsday. That is bad, I mean like crap your pants bad.

4. Coronavirus – as of 1/30/2020 “The United States set its advisory at Level 4, which represents the highest safety risk. The World Health Organization said the virus represents a risk outside of China. ” Now whether or not this little virus has the capacity to wipe out humanity remains to be seen, but as noted in number 2 above, it is proving extremely effective in messing up human societies and empowering dictators. My that little virus is powerful, just ask the 56 million people in China, oh you can’t all of their social media is monitored.

5. Artificial intelligence – Whether it’s killer military robots, machines taking over all of our jobs leading to massive unemployment, or AIs messing with our elections and ensuring bots make us all hate each other, AI is a huge risk for the entire human race.  When Elon Musk and other leaders start saying we are going to fast, we most likely are.

6. Behavioral Economics – every day Facebook runs experiments on us to see how we can be manipulated, without us ever knowing about it. They show you and 100,000 people one-word choice or option, and I and another 100,000 people another and learn how to manipulate all of us.  The truth is we all so easily manipulated.  Remember a few weeks ago, when we all got weather alerts on our phones. We all looked, we all thought.  We were all so easily manipulated and so easily controlled.

7. The impeachment – it is not the impeachment that bothers me. It is the fact that America’s most august body and mostly one political party (you can pick either one) is so partisan that it can’t get it’s shit together.  In fact, both parties are each using this as a way to get us even more polarized.  So if both parties can’t get it together to impeach or not impeach a President, how the holy hell will they get it together enough to work on the 6 much bigger dangers above them on this list.

and finally,

8. People are not wearing enough hats.  Ok, this is totally a nod to Monty Python. After the depressing bits above, a bit of satire. Watch it, and see one of my points mentioned in the first paragraph.

© words by Dan DeMarle 1/30/2020

 

 

© words and picture by Dan DeMarle 1/2020

© Words and pictures Dan DeMarle 2020

When the world is crazy

The noises are too loud

The screaming on the news too strong,

When the chaos seeps out from beneath the attic stairs

 

When the house is too cold

The bills too many

The world too dark

 

I lay on my bed and…

picture fireflies in a night sky

and us laying out on our mats

looking up

at the majesty of the night sky

and I know there will be a dawn.

© words by Dan DeMarle 2020

4/6/17

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2017

From today’s Public Market – 100% recyclable including the box (no I don’t know what the bristles are made of – I assume bamboo). Great way to cut down on plastic. Just think of all the toothbrushes you have used in your life still being around a billion years from now. Then some alien civilization finds it. Gets your DNA from still intact bristles and clones you to use for protein sandwiches! Ughh!

Anyways $4 for one and $6 for two. They will be back next week and are next to the egg lady. They have other cool stuff too!

Because they are wood, you can carve your name and date of purchase into them, using that wood burning kit, your creepy Uncle Bob gave to you, after getting it as a goodbye gift from his favorite guards in the big house. Or you could just use a pen. Anyways…

Lastly these are great incase of an apocalypse. Then they can be used for kindling or quickly carved into a mean little shank to fight off any Alien invaders.

This just goes to show the many uses of things from the Rochester Public Market. Save the Earth and save yourself from becoming a protein sandwich to some Alien parasite, now AND a billion years from now!!

© words and pictures by Dan DeMarle 2020

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A man goes to heaven and meets St. Peter at the gate. The man says ‘I’m here’. St. Peter says “Show me your scars!” The man says “I have no scars.” St. Peter says “you mean with all the battles God gave you to fight – battles to protect the weak, the put upon, the oppressed, you fought for none.” The man stood silent.

“Ok then” said St Peter “then show me your burns.” The man shrugged no “I have none.” St Peter says “you mean when the World erupted in fire due to climate change you did nothing to help put them out, nothing to save God’s animals, nothing to save the homes and lives of your fellow men and woman from the fires.” The man shrugged sheepishly.

“OK then” St. Peter says, “show me your bowed back and stretched arms from trying to lift up and help those less fortunate than the family God birthed you into and from you. God gave you those gifts for a reason.”  The man has nothing to show.

“Ok”, St. Peter says with a smile, “Show me your bank balances, hidden and not hidden from the Government,”  The man then smiles broadly with glee, and suddenly finds himself inside a very different gate burning with fire.

© words by Dan DeMarle – premise adapted from a story told by Martin Sheen

Christmas 100 years ago.  This was after the end of World War 1. This is from the Democrat and Chronicle on 12/25/1919.

Christmas in Rochester 125 years ago.