I've come to the same conclusion. At our age...
My hygienist recommended an electric tooth.
I meant to find one and put it on my list.
I forgot.
I got to over 80 items (items that are the same item in counts of 2, 3, 4, etc. each get counted as 1 item e) and
Ex-banker who has a global understanding of the financial systems, national, international, and trans-national, their history, the laws pertaining to them, and about all of the alternative financial systems that now exist, or might exist in the immediate future, around the globe.
Do you see what I did there?
She will explain to you exactly how AI systems can steal your life's savings.
She will tell you about the BIS. If you don't know about the BIS, maybe you should.
She will tell you practically everything there is to know about global financial systems, about how they connect to each other, about their history, and about the directions in which they are headed, and why.
We shouldn't be treating AI as a shiny object that must be good because it's technology.
WE SHOULDN'T BE TREATING AI AS A SHINY OBJECT THAT MUST BE GOOD BECAUSE IT'S TECHNOLOGY.
Btw, how is AI being used in warfare and in genocide?
I'm sorry but Bernard had this one right.
Will nobody think of AI and hold the data centers and all of the existential problems they bring , and bring without the consent of people, and against the expressed wishes of them?
I don't know. Maybe it's not necessary to breathe clean air, maybe it's fine for the water to be poisoned. Maybe people don't need any water to drink at all.
AI? Where are you?/ i
Catherine Austin Fitts warns that artificial intelligence could automate the power to stop people using their own money. She calls this the third lock: a system in which a financial intermediary can block a transaction even when the buyer and seller agree to it. Starting with the difference between cash and a bank payment, she explains how existing restrictions can require human review. Her concern is what happens when surveillance and algorithms can make those decisions automatically across a much larger financial systems."
/r
The idea that technology necessarily and forever makes our lives better is a hoax.
It doesn't necessarily make our lives better.
It makes our lives different.
I'll just repeat my PSA. Financial transactions using AI are legally construed under federal law as you having designated AI as your agent. The banks are legally liable for $0.00 if hackers hack the AI function and drain your account. Be careful.
Daniel, the fact that you have a prescription for fluoride toothpaste may mean that your dentist believes you have a condition that necessitates MORE fluoride content than is allowed in over-the-counter toothpaste. For a time, I was using it when I experienced acid reflux.
Joe, This makes sense.
Please clarify? How was your floride use related to your acid reflux if at all?
I buy fluoride toothpaste, no script needed.
Itβs in my water.
I did a quick check and it looks like all the places I lived in the US for more than a year since moving to upstate New York for high school had fluoridated water. Where I was born did too (TX). But from age 2 to 14 (OH, FL) it wasnβt. That was probably the more important time to have it. Lol.
@jon-nyc I'm seriously considering it because I have two previous cavities that didn't filled because I missed an appointment. I had to start the process again and I have 3 new cavities.
Also demineralization.
They only have time do do 1 or 2 per appointment.
So I have to go to get cavities filled 3x in a row.
Then it it will be time for a 6 month cleaning.
So 4 more appointments within six months.
Yikes.
@bernard @wtg @mary-anna @adagiom
It's all Greek to me!
These are my sewing needles.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HF2a5Z4Zk1hTGPZW6
I like them a lot. I also bought a spool of cotton thread.
I didn't try using them because I realized I had zero chance of success.
I'm keeping them because you never know.
That was my quixotic recent attempt at sewing.
@bernard I see what you're saying.
To clarify, this pharmacy manager is a borderline sociopath.
I won't go into the saga of the days long altercation we had, but, trust me, all of it was on her for a lack of professionalism.
And one day, she had to be dressed down. Her behavior was that egregious.
One the flip side, she's a consummate professional.
Some people have a a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality. Some people just do.
I was actually just wanting professionalism from her today. The "human connection" was really a pleasant surprise given our history.
I figured out key with her. Operate on her good side ,and the working relationship runs like clockwork.
My point was more that there's not any "human connection" or warmth anywhere, for all intents and purposes.
99% of human transactions are based on the exchange of money (how could it be otherwise?).
That kind of freaks me out.
It just a personal idiosyncrasy of mine.
I'm "reverse engineering" the problem as quickly as I can accomplish it.
I've lived alone for 4 months out of 59 years..
I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me (certainly not) but I had a best friend in life for 38 years.
Until I didn't.
I'm adjusting. It's a steep learning curve
You'd love (sarcasm) the famous " diva persona" of the Southern woman who talks to you as if ice wouldn't melt in her mouth why she eviscerates you to your face.
Such women exist. Ask me how I know.
Oh, I did tell someone off today, come to think about it.
It was my Lyft driver. Both of the rear seat belts were broken.
I told him people need seatbelts. I told him to have his seatbelts fixed immediately. I told him if he can afford a camera for his own protection he could afford to fix his seatbelts.
Expecting people to ride without seatbelts? What?
I was a total ***** from the time I got into the car until I got out of it without closing the door behind me.
He claimed he didn't know. He offered to stop the car and inspect.
I said just take me where I need to go and get your seatbelts fixed.
He got out of the car at CVS and said he was going to inspect his seatbelts.
I ignored him, opened the car door, and walked into the store.
But he deserved it, in spades, taking people's money and knowingly endangering their lives.
I didn't give him a review. He was off my timeline the spit second I was out his car.
The frequency of such radicals in the population is cause for studying the reasons for radicalization. It says nothing of the inherent violence of a particular religion. The vast majority (99%) of Muslims do not engage in violence. The vast majority of Jews and Christians do not engage in violence. The reasons for radicalization are likely pretty complex and certainly include the element of interference by outside countries (hello US and other western nations). It also seems reasonable to say that radicalization can come from indoctrination by bad acting clergy. I'm sure there are many reasons. Why do Muslims terrorists turn to violence? Why do militant Jewish settlers turn to violence? Why do Christian nationalists turn to violence? What seems clear is that state sponsorship allows these distortions of "sacred" text to manifest themselves in violence. We can be pretty sure that if Christians in the US had government sanction to use violence against gays and trans, they would. They have told us so.
Bad acting clergy? Yes.
And, I'd add bad acting authority figures, bad acting authorities, and bad acting elites, in various environments.
@jon-nyc Very pleased.
So excited! Except for one glorious month, I've been doing my laundry by hand, all of it, always, at my last place and here.
This GE Hotpoint (with Hotpoint written in orange- I'm easy to please) will be the in the same category of "not reliable, not durable", as the Amana...
BUT
This one can actually be set to fill to the top.
This one has a lid lock that only turns on during the final spin.
I bought a 5 year H.D. warranty for $150. Why not?
I got my shop vac. I got my air filters.
I'll unbox the shop vac, read the instructions, vacuum out the area under the grate, wash the floor air intake grate and the metal grate that leans on the air filter keeping it in place, outside with the garden hose, and vacuum the water out of the Amana this weekend.
Phone delivery same day.
Yeah!!! 
οΈ
I did the obligatory Google search.
I'll post it but my question is about atavism, in the most narrow philosophical sense, for context.
'In philosophy, social theory, and the history of ideas, atavism refers to the persistence or sudden re-emergence of ancient, primitive, or obsolete ways of thinking, acting, and organizing society within the modern world.
Rather than viewing human history as a smooth, upward march of progress, philosophers use atavism to explain why "modern" people and institutions frequently relapse into primal instincts, tribalism, or outdated social structures."
So, whether its a "real definition" or not, I mean the tendency of people in modern society for individual to seem to see themselves and to act as atavised units.
In plain English, I went to the Dr. Yesterday. I went to the pharmacy today.
I noticed that, as usual, to a person (except my nurse, and to my pleasant surprise, the pharmacy manager at my CVS (who once got so insulted by a particular unprofessional incident for which she was completely to blame, that I pointed my finger at while telling her off and switching pharmacies-and I don't do that. I rarely tell people off, and I had never pointed my finger in someone's face- that's something I just don't do) everyone was what I call atavistic.
Just doing a job, these people. I get it.
But in terms of affect and demeanor- stone cold.
May the usual banter or silence- but no, again stone cold.
I know that's just life but it's freaking me out.
People care if they live or die. The same people wouldn't care if you dropped dead.
I know this is just life. It's just Florida. It's just business.
But it's freaking me out a little.
Any thoughts? Should I get an emotion support animal? j/k
Should I get a cat? (not kidding)
I wanted to live alone and I know I'm lucky in this day and age to be able to do it.
You can come in my home with my consent, a warrant, or if you're the authorities and have reason to believe there's an emergency.
I've never had this before in my life.
However, the "realism" and reality of being alone come with it, apparently.
Or, it's probably more accurate to say, that these aspects of life become impossible to ignore.
Cliche alert.
They say nothing in life is free. It's true.
I have fluoride paste script.
I don't use it but I'm considering it.
The ADA advocates its use and will until the cows cmes home.
I know it's controversial.
So a I looked this up at the Mayo Clinic site.
Yes, there is the reality that is acts as a poison.
I don't know know if I want to use this script or not.
And thoughts?
How violent in the US? The US is a secular country but we know for a fact a large part of its government and military are Christian Nationalists. How many people have Christians from Europe (not the "EU") killed or starved to death in their colonial projects over centuries? The answer is in the 100's of millions. Doesn't the Old Testament not advocate genocide in explicit words?
So, are Muslims (a generalized label if there ever was one), "a religious g that advocates violence? Is "Islam" a religion that advocates violence?"
I don't like to use the word "Islamophobia" but I'm comfortable with the word"bigotry".
No amount of dancing on the head if a pin will lead to any logical argument proving that Muslims per se advocate violence.
Is a lie we are being told,, and have been told for centuries.
Some groups of Muslims advocate violence. Only some of this advocacy is religious. Much of it is political.
It's no indictment of Islam, unless you would you'd like to throw all organized religions into the same category.
It's amazing. I don't have magazines but need to bookmark this site.
My grandmother was born to a rich family in Brooklyn.
The family lived in a Georgian mansion in the '20's.
They had a chauffeur, a gardener, maids, all of that.
My grandmother grew up this way.
I don't know how her father made his fortune.
Then the Great Depression hit.
The family lost almost everything.
Then the father moved his family Upstate.
The family narrative was always that they imigrated from Russia, came through Ellis Island, lived in tenements, and bought the Upstate homestead with money from illegal import/ export during WWI and bootlegging in the '20's.
I was told this story. It made perfect sense to me. I had no reason to question it
In actual fact, the family narrative was an inverse mirror of the truth.
Upstate was not the plateau. It was the bottom.
It gets worse.
The father made a bad investment in a small business he knew little about, not enough apparently, and then almost immediately became lame.
So, my grandmother's sister was able to stay in school because she was too young to work, but my grandmother, still a child, had to drop out of school and go to work.
She went to work for institution for the developmentally disabled, in the next county. This was was a group of NYS institutions that ran in parallel to the NYS mental asylums.
It was the same institution where my mother worked.
My grandmother was already traumatized as a person would be, and then she went to work at the institution, where the working conditions were deplorable, and where the residents would beat her up. That was always known to happen- it didn't stop until well into the '70's.
So, she had married, and finally, she was able to quit working. Her husband bought the homestead, and they raised their family, my father, uncle, and aunt.
My uncle bought the homestead in a backroom deal among my grandmother and her two sons, in which she received an amount of money to be paid in payments by my uncle (he never paid them- that's who he was), she had an attached apartment built (and it was) with an entry door to the main house, and finally the agreement that if my aunt in California were to become sick, the brothers would bring her home to die (and that happened). In addition the brothers agreed to buy her a Buick and cover its costs (they did that).
Looking back on it now, some things make sense that even at the time didn't seem "normal".
My grandmother commissioned bespoke furniture made in NY. Everything made to measure for the living room, an entire suite of furniture make for the master bedroom from the same company, extraordinary furniture was the formal dining room, the porcelain lamps, the cabinets with objets d'art, the tapestries, and in general, every aspect of the house was formal, and the interior design was nothing I had seen or will see again in a middle class house.
Now I can see all of this was a reflection of her childhood.
What gets me about this story is the stone cold secrecy.
I think my father must have known. He was the eldest. Knowing him as I did, I'm almost certain he knew all of it. I'm not sure my uncle knew it. I wouldn't be surprised if my aunt didn't know it.
I have no reason at all to think my mother or my aunt, my uncle's wife knew it.
I still miss her. They say you get over grief.
I don't believe it. I think the way you process it certainly evolves, but I think the grief stays with you.
RIP, Nanny.
@bernard There be dragons! Lol! 
1971 FTW!
It's the same today!
You can read the "body language" of the royal family at any public event and "see" the narrative that's in play. People scoffed when I said the Queen's demeanor and facial glances toward Meghan during Harry's wedding told a story. Well, they most certainly did so. The Queen knew who Meghan was, what her agenda was, about her lies, about her sordid history, all of it before the big day. And actually you can look at footage of all the other members' interactions (I don't recall but Anne was probably stoic) and they were clearly incredulous and amused. None of it was subtle.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
So it's not for me? Lol.
Beautiful work.
