Are you as bewildered as me sometimes?

Bretrick said:
I ask myself. "What in the world is happening"?
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I think that the world is just going about business...as usual. People's focus is so intense, can get up to the second headline news splashed in their faces constantly. But if you think about it, what's changed? None of us here are any strangers to war, conflict, economic swings etc.
Everything is pretty much the same as it was, 50 years ago.
 
Nathan said:
I think that the world is just going about business...as usual. People's focus is so intense, can get up to the second headline news splashed in their faces constantly. But if you think about it, what's changed? None of us here are any strangers to war, conflict, economic swings etc.
Everything is pretty much the same as it was, 50 years ago.
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Yes, the world goes on. People go about their business. I'm off to visit a waterfall.
World events do not stop me doing what my heart desires.
Only the Covid Lockdowns stopped me for a short while.
 

I went to visit my dad on Friday, the same day as the decision by The Supreme Court. On the way there I was baffled and was wondering what the heck was going to happen over the weekend here and how divided our country is. I was rather bewildered. My dad now lives in a residential assisted care home. The owner is a wonderful woman from Ukraine. One of her workers there is also from Ukraine. Her husband is still in Ukraine fighting in the war. Her 15 year old son came with her. If I heard her right, when he turns 16 he will be required to go back to Ukraine to fight in the war. My heart sank for the woman and her husband and son. Afterwards my perspective changed some. Yes, I am still bewildered about what has been going on in my country but at the same time I am very grateful to live in my country.
 
Packerjohn said:
Oh yes, I am bewildered everyday I look at the news. I really feel that my country has "gone to the dogs" and sooner or later there is gonna be "hell" to pay. Them young folks with the fur faces, tatoos, starring all day at smartphone & high expectations about housing and living are gonna have to wake one day and "smell the roses." The trouble them roses is gonna be stick weed. Yap! Those younger generation are sure to end up paddling up the river without a paddle.
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I have hidden tattoos, šŸ˜
 
C50 said:
I saw this tidbit somewhere......if you give every person on earth one acre of property we could all live within the borders of the state of Maryland. Kind of puts things in perspective.

I like this....human beings are parasites and the earth is our host. Eventually parasites will kill their host or the host will kill the parasites.
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The land area is 9,707 square miles, which is 6.2 million acres. Sounds like a lot, but it won't give every person on earth an acre of property.
 
WheatenLover said:
The land area is 9,707 square miles, which is 6.2 million acres. Sounds like a lot, but it won't give every person on earth an acre of property
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When I read that statistic I googled Maryland but only looked at total area, not land mass. I saw 7.9 million acres and figured that was close enough.

But guess what? It's still way off the mark. I feel like an idiot for missing this, the earths population is 7.96 BILLION, and I knew it was in the billions, it's something how our brain tricks us sometimes.

In conclusion.....another internet statement proves false, I'm an idiot, and there's a hell of a lot of people on this planet.
 
Geezerette said:
It seems like we worked so hard in past years to solve social problems, and thought we were gaining ground, but it now feels like everything is just collapsing and negative forces seemed to just come out of nowhere.
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dseag2 said:
So true. It feels like we are slowly being set back 50 years. šŸ˜”
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Recently saw a something on social media to the effect that older people could not understand how disheartening regressive events and legislation are younger people. My first thought was "Y'all don't seem to understand how infuriating and depressing those things are for those 1) directly effected by erosion of their rights and 2) those of us who took risks and made sacrifices trying to resolve social issues, move toward more equitable societies."
 
C50 said:
When I read that statistic I googled Maryland but only looked at total area, not land mass. I saw 7.9 million acres and figured that was close enough.

But guess what? It's still way off the mark. I feel like an idiot for missing this, the earths population is 7.96 BILLION, and I knew it was in the billions, it's something how our brain tricks us sometimes.
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Okay the math is getting complicated, would everyone in the world fit into Maryland and each have 435 square feet of space?
We really need to go metric.
 
Packerjohn said:
Oh yes, I am bewildered everyday I look at the news. I really feel that my country has "gone to the dogs" and sooner or later there is gonna be "hell" to pay. Them young folks with the fur faces, tatoos, starring all day at smartphone & high expectations about housing and living are gonna have to wake one day and "smell the roses." The trouble them roses is gonna be stick weed. Yap! Those younger generation are sure to end up paddling up the river without a paddle.
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They said the same thing about my generation in the 60's. Drugs, hippies, pot smoking, free love, riots, demonstrations, dropouts, and marches, etc. etc. Yet here we are, retired sober living off pensions and savings we from working over a lifetime.

"Don't give up the ship, until it is sunk"
 
WheatenLover said:
The land area is 9,707 square miles, which is 6.2 million acres. Sounds like a lot, but it won't give every person on earth an acre of property.
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Thank you! i'd planned on doing that after skimming thru other replies, knew it had to be false.
And it could not solve any of our problems anyway, likely would create more. Food production for one.

But now curiosity has sprouted:
Acres in the 'lower 48' (the contiguous continental USA--1.9
World population on 1/1/22--7,868,872,451 people
So not even possible that way.

If we consider the whole planet there are some 57,308,738 square miles, some 57% of which is in inhospitable to permanent habitation by humans due to deserts & extreme elevations. That leaves 15.77 acres. So a little over 2 acres per person. But rising sea levels in coming decades will claim a chunk of that and warming of Artic and Antarctic won't likely free a corresponding amount of land. I'm not going further down that statistical rabbit hole.
 
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I'm pretty lucky I guess. As of this morning and all days preceding this morning, all that is taking place in the world I have no control over. So with no control I let it go & live life to the fullest that I can.

Will the world as we know it end? Those 60 or younger that might live to their 80's or 90's will more than likely look back at these times as being good times. Earth has a limited supply of resources that are being consumed daily by 7 billion people. That number is slated to rise while the earth remains the same. It's not rocket science to understand that using a limited amount of resources won't last.
 
As for blaming the Devil, what a convenient way to avoid responsibility. While some will admit to being temporarily under his influence when committing interpersonal localized sins like stealing, adultery or lying about another person, national and global issues are generally on some group that is perceived as inherently evil or 'less than' themselves and so more easily used by the Devil. And few will admit to their role in giving power (thru elections, religious obedience, or economic systems) to individuals and groups who actually have nefarious goals that harm others.

Personally, i think free will means humans need no persuasion to do evil in the cause of serving our own wants and can resist it if we choose.
 
C50 said:
I saw this tidbit somewhere......if you give every person on earth one acre of property we could all live within the borders of the state of Maryland. Kind of puts things in perspective.

I like this....human beings are parasites and the earth is our host. Eventually parasites will kill their host or the host will kill the parasites.
Click to expand...
Come on, guys, we're crowded enough! šŸ˜
 
Liberty said:
Not by a long shot, WheatenLover, huh. Someone needs to get their figures right. There are 7.96 billion people in the world...duh!
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Don't blame WheatenLover, I was the one who initially tossed out some erroneous numbers.

I'm fairly certain I read the original post on this site but didn't catch the mistake, then I repeated the misinformation on this thread. My bad.
 
C50 said:
Don't blame WheatenLover, I was the one who initially tossed out some erroneous numbers.

I'm fairly certain I read the original post on this site but didn't catch the mistake, then I repeated the misinformation on this thread. My bad.
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I think Liberty is saying that, not by a long shot, can everyone on earth live on one acre, alone, in MD. Liberty doesn't seem to be denying my figures.
 
Nathan said:
Everything is pretty much the same as it was, 50 years ago.
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Not quite the same. Birth rate has fallen below replacement in the developed world, so the populations of the Western world and East Asia are aging as 3rd world populations overflow and are moving in. Then we've got a China that has been sleeping for centuries and is waking up, and a Russia that seems intent on restoring its dominion over Eastern Europe. Perhaps most important of all, the world is saturated with technology and an ease of communication like we have never before seen.
 
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feywon said:
Thank you! i'd planned on doing that after skimming thru other replies, knew it had to be false.
And it could not solve any of our problems anyway, likely would create more. Food production for one.

But now curiosity has sprouted:
Acres in the 'lower 48' (the contiguous continental USA--1.9
World population on 1/1/22--7,868,872,451 people
So not even possible that way.

If we consider the whole planet there are some 57,308,738 square miles, some 57% of which is in inhospitable to permanent habitation by humans due to deserts & extreme elevations. That leaves 15.77 acres. So a little over 2 acres per person. But rising sea levels in coming decades will claim a chunk of that and warming of Artic and Antarctic won't likely free a corresponding amount of land. I'm not going further down that statistical rabbit hole.
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Curiosity sprouted for me, too.

Here's an NPR article on how that land is used (published July 26, 2019):

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/26/7457...-9-billion-acres-of-land-heres-how-it-is-used
 
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