This is Capitalist Economics in rude good health. Keynes said that digging a hole in the ground and then filling it in again is good for jobs.
Karl Marx says it is inevitable in a Capitalist system:
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My mood is lightened. All under control then!
His brother had other ideas:
Like everyone else here, I think Politics is a subject to be avoided at all costs.
I have even worse problems understanding Economics. My pal was trying to explain how Nixon getting rid of the Gold Standard in 1971 in the US caused the Crash of 1974 in Britain.
Or made it less worse than it could have been, so he actually did a good thing... or something.
I said to him could we talk about the Euros football instead please. My brain is hurting.
But in Highgate cemetary, London, someone had a sense of humour, and moved Karl Marx' tombstone 200 yards to create the gag.
Adjacent tombstones:
1) Karl Marx, known for his Egalitarian views in Economics:
2) Herbert Spencer, known for coining Darwinian "Survival of the Fittest" in Economics and founder of famous retail chain "Marks and Spencer":
Collectively known as "Marx and Spencer" and doubtless still arguing about it all right now!
I have even worse problems understanding Economics. My pal was trying to explain how Nixon getting rid of the Gold Standard in 1971 in the US caused the Crash of 1974 in Britain.
Or made it less worse than it could have been, so he actually did a good thing... or something.
I said to him could we talk about the Euros football instead please. My brain is hurting.
But in Highgate cemetary, London, someone had a sense of humour, and moved Karl Marx' tombstone 200 yards to create the gag.
Adjacent tombstones:
1) Karl Marx, known for his Egalitarian views in Economics:
2) Herbert Spencer, known for coining Darwinian "Survival of the Fittest" in Economics and founder of famous retail chain "Marks and Spencer":
Collectively known as "Marx and Spencer" and doubtless still arguing about it all right now!
Go back and watch your Star Trek again. Trapped in that doorway between universes (one of matter, one of antimatter). Arguing about it until hell freezes over or the debate over the audibility of cables has been resolved. Whichever comes first.Collectively known as "Marx and Spencer" and doubtless still arguing about it all right now!
It HAS been resolved, long ago.
Just after the first serious experiment.
Only "True Believers" don't acknowledge it and get into "I don't hear you" mode. 🙄
.
I'm not sure if this counts as humor but....
Today we were at a farmers market and walked by an old lady selling coffee. My wife ordered an iced mocha and we paid for it. The cash drawer was just sitting out on a table and we just put the money in and took our change. Which was weird enough in this age to have what appeared to be over $100 just sitting there. There was an odd, slightly unstable looking guy that has walked up and is standing near the drawer, she talked to him so maybe he was watching it for her. But he was pretty much just staring at us.
Then she starts making the drink. The process goes pretty slowly, but she was quite old and we were in the shade so I didn't mind. At the point of adding the chocolate she gets some on her fingers. Which she then proceeds to lick clean. And not just lick clean but mash them against her lips so the chocolate mixes with saliva that oozes out between her fingers and smears around her mouth. This goes on for a disturbing amount of time. Then, she slightly wipes her hands on a dirty towel and goes back to making the coffee, handling the cup all over and the coffee filter and the ice scoop, etc.
There was so much saliva and so much licking that later I wondered if there was a hidden camera somewhere trying to get our reaction, because it seemed unreal. Ever seen a disturbing image in a movie that was hard to get out of your mind, it's like that?
I can't even bring myself to glance at my wife at that point but I know then that there is no way she is going to drink that coffee. We've already paid and and I'm trying to figure out how to exit with the least drama. I certainly don't want to end up on someone's viral video edited to show us as being the awful ones being rude to an elderly lady. And she seemed to know a lot of people that had started to gather in the area and few looked all there. It crosses my mind to just go "oh, never mind, keep the money" and walk away without the cup, but I thought that would draw more attention than I'd want. At that point I'm thinking that we will take the coffee and toss it out at the next trash can we see and chalk it up to a lesson learned to watch the people at places like that before we order food.
She finishes up making it and sets the cup down on the table with chocolaty finger prints all up and down the side of it and tells my wife "I'm going to let you drink that down a bit so I can add some more ice". I'm feeling horror and humor at the same time, thinking "yeah, honey, drink that" as my wife says "No, that will be fine" and the lady starts arguing that it needs more ice. I picture it escalating into a Seinfeldian moment where the crowd starts challenging us as to why we aren't drinking it down so she can add more ice. My wife quickly picks up the cup and says "No, that's the perfect temperature" and we do our best to disappear into the crowd.
The person in line behind us, that witnessed the entire thing, proceeded to order. So I guess maybe we are unusual in that bothering us?
I know there are always horror stories of what goes on at restaurants that you don't see but we did see this! And that is also why I prefer restaurants with open kitchens.
Today we were at a farmers market and walked by an old lady selling coffee. My wife ordered an iced mocha and we paid for it. The cash drawer was just sitting out on a table and we just put the money in and took our change. Which was weird enough in this age to have what appeared to be over $100 just sitting there. There was an odd, slightly unstable looking guy that has walked up and is standing near the drawer, she talked to him so maybe he was watching it for her. But he was pretty much just staring at us.
Then she starts making the drink. The process goes pretty slowly, but she was quite old and we were in the shade so I didn't mind. At the point of adding the chocolate she gets some on her fingers. Which she then proceeds to lick clean. And not just lick clean but mash them against her lips so the chocolate mixes with saliva that oozes out between her fingers and smears around her mouth. This goes on for a disturbing amount of time. Then, she slightly wipes her hands on a dirty towel and goes back to making the coffee, handling the cup all over and the coffee filter and the ice scoop, etc.
There was so much saliva and so much licking that later I wondered if there was a hidden camera somewhere trying to get our reaction, because it seemed unreal. Ever seen a disturbing image in a movie that was hard to get out of your mind, it's like that?
I can't even bring myself to glance at my wife at that point but I know then that there is no way she is going to drink that coffee. We've already paid and and I'm trying to figure out how to exit with the least drama. I certainly don't want to end up on someone's viral video edited to show us as being the awful ones being rude to an elderly lady. And she seemed to know a lot of people that had started to gather in the area and few looked all there. It crosses my mind to just go "oh, never mind, keep the money" and walk away without the cup, but I thought that would draw more attention than I'd want. At that point I'm thinking that we will take the coffee and toss it out at the next trash can we see and chalk it up to a lesson learned to watch the people at places like that before we order food.
She finishes up making it and sets the cup down on the table with chocolaty finger prints all up and down the side of it and tells my wife "I'm going to let you drink that down a bit so I can add some more ice". I'm feeling horror and humor at the same time, thinking "yeah, honey, drink that" as my wife says "No, that will be fine" and the lady starts arguing that it needs more ice. I picture it escalating into a Seinfeldian moment where the crowd starts challenging us as to why we aren't drinking it down so she can add more ice. My wife quickly picks up the cup and says "No, that's the perfect temperature" and we do our best to disappear into the crowd.
The person in line behind us, that witnessed the entire thing, proceeded to order. So I guess maybe we are unusual in that bothering us?
I know there are always horror stories of what goes on at restaurants that you don't see but we did see this! And that is also why I prefer restaurants with open kitchens.
Dark roast diplomacy in action.
Back in my Surveying years, my field party hated working in a certain small town as the only option for a sit-down lunch was a restaurant with a, er, reputation. One of its more memorable health code infractions involved a multitasking cook who dropped a telephone receiver mid-sentence into a pot of beans she was stirring. She must have assumed no one was looking because she yanked the receiver out by the cord, dropped it into a towel, allowed it to cool briefly, then wiped it "clean" and hung it up. All the while the beans kept simmering as if nothing happened...
On a hot summer day a couple of years later, I stopped at a convenience store in the same town for a Coke and a pack of nabs. After paying for my items the lady behind the counter - a sprightly woman probably pushing eighty - asked, "Do you want a bag?"
"No, thanks," I replied.
She sighed slightly and said, "Well, I guess I'll stay here then..."
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