Holiday Time ?

I am more often recently reminded when I turn the radio on (which I don’t do very often) that if every tv in every house was removed, life would improve for all. That long held belief seems even more relevant, because if even National Radio NZ can dramatise fear, then tv must be even more dangerous.

Oh well …

[video:https://youtu.be/bDuouGPk8oA]

Cheers all!

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mimi's picture

if the intertubes would not be avaialbe then it might be even better, but then on second thought, I say, may be not. So, your Madonna video is not available (at least for me here in Germany), I just see old documentaries on TV and they help me understanding about what happened the last 50 years in Germany, so it is not all bad. TV Covid coverage is Gawd damn awful, it grows out of my nostrils, ear lobes and cause constant itching of my skin (it might me the heat to stay honest). Anyhow, I have the questionable company of two people, who only watch TV and the local radio stations. All in all they are better off than me, who reads online.

And the moral of the story is ... ? I dunno.

Be well, you on yours wherever they are.

PS. One thing I learned being back in Germany, that they can't live without "vacations" somewhere in Europe and beyond. The countries, who live of German tourists, can't either. Now everything is messed up and our own beaches are full of people, who find it "wunnebar" to stretch themselvs in rows on the sand like "Sardinen in der Dose". Of course TV is selling that idea of vacationing at home, as the ultimate, responsible and funniest "holidays" they might have ever have.

I miss empty spaces, wild life, friendly people saing "Good Day" when they cross your path in the forests.

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janis b's picture

@mimi

You mean you can't go to the canarishe inseln to celebrate ; ).

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Lookout's picture

Pretty well I imagine. 1984 continues to come to mind.

As described by Orwell, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for education, entertainment, fine arts and the news. In other words, it is the government department most responsible for the dissemination of propaganda and for the indoctrination of the populace. In short, it is responsible for mind-control.

No holiday here. Off to mow before the heat of the day....

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11 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

janis b's picture

@Lookout

Hope by now you're enjoying cooler temperatures and deserved relaxation.

[video:https://youtu.be/Lbm_umlMA7I]

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1 user has voted.

Victory Day is a public holiday in Rhode Island, where it is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed.

Funny the things we celebrate. Drop a couple atomic bombs on two densely populated civilian targets,
kill and maim half a million civilians, and hoorah! USians win? Victory declared. Mostly cruel.

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janis b's picture

@QMS

That's not the most favourable advertisement for visiting RI, but I could be convinced to visit Block Island though ; ).

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Block Island was great... but a bit hard finding public access places to bird. Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

vtcc73's picture

People seem wired to expand any idea the more they consider it. We tend to filter out or minimize the counterpoints unless we can be honest with ourselves. Things we want to do become better ideas the longer they dwell on them. Problems and scary things become insurmountable if we think on them too long. Another part of this is that most tend to think that how their life is this very moment is what will exist forever. That’s the only thing it probably won’t be, the same. I can sum these all up with the brilliant observation offered to me long ago: we don’t see life as it is but we see it as we are.

TV or radio or internet just provides the ammunition to discombobulate our lives, we do the hard lifting of using it on ourselves. Not looking at or listening to crap we know is designed to, and is so successful, shock and upset us is the only rational choice. We made that choice long ago. A lifetime of living in a profession that was all about risk assessment, mitigation, and avoidance made it easier to recover when I let stuff get to me.

COVID has been a good test. There are only so many things I can do to reduce risk and stay healthy. I accept the situation as it is and do my best to do what is in front of me. When the situation changes, I’ll come up with another plan and follow it. Worrying about stuff that might happen or that I can’t control is paying interest on problems I don’t have yet.

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6 users have voted.

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

dystopian's picture

Various PBS and NPR outlets here are quite propagandized now. As surely are things like Radio Free rah rah USA entities. I was never big on TV save when I was living on the road in motels as a traveling salesman. You might have heard some jokes about me...

About TV... There once was a lady named Enid Larson. I was friends with her when she was 90 or so, I was a 17 yr. old senior in high school in '73. This in a small town I lived in briefly, Big Pine on the east side of the Sierra Nevadas in CA. I used to go over to her house (figures, on Flower Alley) and learn things. Of course according to all the guys in high school she was my girlfriend.

Enid had a feature article written about her in National Georgraphic Magazine in the last half of 70's I think it was. I think it was titled "The Chipmunk Lady". She was
considered an expert on chipmunk behavior. She was a brilliant observer of nature.

Enid had a thing about the four worst inventions of man. They were the internal combustion engine, the flush toilet, the bulldozer, and the TV. She had lots of great reasons for choosing each. Good thing she didn't have to see how bad its gotten. RIP Enid. Thanks for the enlightenment.

At this link, pg. 34 has a short very old historical Owens Valley story by Enid ...
http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/the_album/the_album_1990_july_compress...

Saw a bumper sticker here in TX that said "Shoot your TV and free your mind".

Here, if the Fairness Doctrine hadn't been dissolved TV might have stood a chance, but that doctrine stood no chance against the oligarchs. Now it is mostly a tool of distraction, if not oppression and misinformation.

be well all!

back to the salt mine...

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7 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

I recollect the traveling salesmen jokes to have something to do with the farmer’s daughter, though my deepest impressions of travelling salesmen were from quite a different perspective, that of Arthur Miller’s profound play.

Thank you for the short story of Enid Larson, which adds to my indelible impressions of Big Pine and immediate surroundings - including streams and beavers, ancient pinion trees, and the sweat lodge.

What salty places are you mining these days?

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dystopian's picture

@janis b Too funny! We have a shipment of Tonga corals in Auckland leaving tonight getting to LAX tomorrow and to clients Wednesday. I'd appreciate it if you make sure the plane leaves on time tonight! Smile LOL Air New Zealand keeps threatening to shut down US flights in which case Tonga is effectively closed. I know some guys that just sent a container of equipment to Tonga to restart a fish operation. Kinda need air freight service to make live fish work.

The Indonesia CITES quadrant is allowing cultured corals to be exported again so we are getting stuff from Kupang and Bali again, finally. After two years of shutdown for nothing, except a couple people getting inserted into the money line it seems. These are aquacultured corals, not something taken off the reef. Prices doubled but at least it is something. Hoping for Fiji to reopen...

be well!

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4 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

I’d oblige, but generally I’m keeping my distance from airports, even though I’d happily join the Tongan coral contingent to get to America and my family.

Actually, the NZ government is currently working out details to create a travel bubble with the cook islands.

You be well too!

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janis b's picture

Sometimes I wonder why we humans choose to train our minds the way that we do, when in reality a different focus would be healthier and more supportive of our wellbeing.

COVID has been a good test. There are only so many things I can do to reduce risk and stay healthy. I accept the situation as it is and do my best to do what is in front of me. When the situation changes, I’ll come up with another plan and follow it. Worrying about stuff that might happen or that I can’t control is paying interest on problems I don’t have yet.

Thank you for your thoughts.

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4 users have voted.