Lookin

Barely enough room to swing a cat. 😎

Same here, and also with what I'm wearing. Leather soles or sandals, I move at a pretty good clip. But I find it very difficult to mince in sneakers.

I realized I liked guys during my first year at summer camp. When I left for the Poconos, I had no older brothers. If this theory is correct, the house should have been crawling with them by the time I got back. But, no, it was still just my sisters and me.

Fifty 😳 years ago , I worked on a number of consumer product brands that sold in the millions of units annually. We tried to keep the prices steady but, when the cost of an ingredient went up even a little, it could take a hundred grand off the bottom line. When that happened, we had four choices: Absorb the loss, which was easier then since executive compensation wasn't as closely tied to stock price (profitability) as it is today. If we expected costs to go down again, we could hold on for better days ahead. Raise the price and hope we didn't lose too many customers. We had lots of data and could predict volume loss pretty well. Reduce the amount of product. 'Shrinkflation' wasn't a word then, but that's what it was. It was more difficult than simply raising the price, but it was a way to lower ingredient costs, packaging costs and shipping costs all at once. Reformulate the product, using cheaper ingredients. That was a riskier proposition, although we did extensive consumer testing to ensure there wasn't a statistical difference in consumer preference. What that can lead to is a gradual deterioration in product quality over the course of many years of cheapening the product. There are products today that bear only a slight resemblance to the same brands a decade or two ago. Looking at an ingredient list these days often requires a degree in chemistry. 👨‍🔬 The choices these days are pretty similar to the choices we had a half-century ago, except that companies are much less tolerant of any cost increases that would lead to a miss on quarterly earnings, and the resulting hit to the stock price. It's also my opinion that customers have become more accepting of price increases, smaller portions, and lower quality. I wouldn't want to manage a consumer brand these days. Nor do I continue to buy products that have been degraded over the years. That's led me away from many packaged food products and back to unprocessed foods, like beets and carrots. As long as I don't eat too many.

Here, let me lick that for you . .

Do these fake ears look stupid? They look like Yoda on crank.

I no longer live in the City but still watch the San Francisco evening news and I think we get a different mix of stories than the networks broadcast to the rest of the country. We do see the homeless problems well documented, but we also see the tremendous range and number of groups and individuals using their time and talents to help the unhoused. The City itself has lots of programs, but no one believes they could or should do everything. They tried setting up a drug use/education/treatment center but backed off because of liability issues. They're trying to get a private organization to take on the challenge. There's a major church in the Tenderloin that provides a wide range of services starting with food. There are dozens of food banks. There are organizations providing clothing, health/dental/vision services, hygiene support, family counseling, financial and employment support and, if I recall, there was a veterinarian going around checking on pets. There are also individuals going out on the streets to contact homeless folks with offers of help. One guy built a portable charging device and goes through the homeless areas offering phone charges. No doubt homelessness is a big story but, in my opinion, the bigger story is the number of folks reaching out to help. It brings a ray of hope, rather than a cloud of despair. I guess it's possible that some folks don't want to hear what's right with San Francisco and prefer to hear about decay instead of renewal. I'm sorry their heads are filled with sad stories and I hope they will one day notice the good things that are happening. There's a lot to see.

When I was living in India many years ago, I was struck by the prevalence of intergenerational living. A family would own a compound with several living units inside the walls. Kids would grow up surrounded by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I always considered it an ideal way to live. If a child's own parents weren't up to the job, there were plenty of adults around who could pick up the slack. Cooking was also done in groups with skills being passed along. And older adults weren't required to keep the household running and they had plenty of help when they needed it. I've always enjoyed cooperative living and have fantasized about getting a group together, selling our houses and buying a larger property with separate living units, but with a common kitchen and social areas. I figured we could even hire a handyman who could help with the plumbing and drive us around when necessary. I've mentioned this to some of my contemporaries and the allure was there. But I think there's also a rut we get into and the idea of actually selling a house that's been part of our lives and part of our estate planning could be a risky move. It would be hard to go back if the cooperative living didn't pan out. I think the key to making it work would be finding a property that we all really wanted to live on. Having seen cooperative living work so well, it's an idea I can't get out of my head. And, as our population continues to grow and as we learn more about the value of social bonds, the idea seems to get better with age. Which is certainly something we all strive for.

Honey, you don't know the half of it. Just learned that Chiquita herself is pushing eighty. She came to life in 1944, but was not trademarked until 1947. Although we were born within a year of each other, and are blemished on the outside and rotting on the inside, my own attempts at getting trademarked have all been patently denied. I guess not all elongated fruits are equal in the eyes of the law.

A slippery slope indeed. Personally, I do the self-checkout when I don't want everyone to know I'm buying five bags of potato chips for the price of two. But I wait for the cashier when I've got more than a few items. In their pursuit of every last nickel, I'm not sure how long my market will even have a cashier, let alone a bag boy. At least they haven't sent me around back to help unload the delivery trucks. Not yet anyway.

Great topic and very timely, as I just turned eighty. 😳 It's impressive and heartwarming to hear my fellow posters are blessed with supportive families and/or the wherewithal to keep going throughout the golden years. Personally, I've never been much of a planner. There's a chance a couple of my younger relatives would put me up when my cash runs out after a couple months in the Olde Poofters Home. But it's not a sure thing. I'm thinking my best bet might be to snuggle into a wicker basket and drop myself off at the local fire station.

Thanks for the kind words! 🤗 It's been really busy the past few months and I haven't had as much posting time as I'd like. Things are slowing down though and, as soon as I get a few notes in order, I'll be churning out the usual drivel.

Still unclear on what exactly did the pediatric cardiologist do to earn disapproval and not be welcome? What majority wanted him to 'Just go.'?

Are you sure? In Louisiana, where the pediatric cardiologist and his family feel unwelcome, 53% of adults say homosexuality should be accepted and 36% say it should be discouraged. In Missouri, where a woman and her transgender daughter feel unwelcome, 57% of adults say homosexuality should be accepted and 36% say it should be discouraged. If my math is correct, it seems that minority rules in the two communities cited by the OP.

Haven't been able to get this question out of my mind. I keep wondering why the person who doesn't welcome me would want to live near me. Isn't he also free to move somewhere else? Are his ties to the community stronger than mine? Does he have more furniture than I do? If I were to look for a sign of an unhealthy society, I don't know that I'd look much further than people having to uproot their lives to get away from people they don't like or who don't like them. The success of our species is based in large part on our ability and desire to work together to do things we couldn't do alone. When did it become a great thing about the US to tell others to 'Just go.'? No doubt I'm overlooking something. One of these days I may wake up and decide to move away from everybody who doesn't welcome me. I may even leave a note saying I'm sorry for bothering them. But that day is not today and, if someone chooses to leave to get away from me, I sure hope the door doesn't hit him in the ass.