We got a small bottle of butter flavored popcorn salt from Wise potato chip company. The same salt they use on their brand of buttered popcorn. We had never used up our Cretor's popcorn salt, but the Wise delivery truck guy offered some to my wife when unloading at the local store. He said we don't sell this, which is why it is in mini whisky bottles with no shaker, but I try to carry about 4 or 5 bottles on my truck for my friends. He also had cheese powder as well in those same type of bottles.
Now you can laugh at this if you want. But I prefer mac and cheese made from the cheese powder packets that come in like Kraft boxed mac n cheese, over those made with way too much gooey cheese mixed in already, or heat and serve types.
We used to buy Kraft cheddar cheese TOPPING in a glass jar. Now we can only find it in 1 pound bags, by Kraft.
Ergo, we do use a lot of it, usually on baked potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and of course mac n cheese.
Although she sold it because it was a pain to clean, I bought Debi a countertop popcorn popper that looks like the larger commercial popcorn poppers. It too did have a bottom blade that stirred the bottom of the popcorn pot. This was good because it prevented burned popcorn.
Debi has her own way of making bagged popcorn for the microwave, and she has it down pat as to how much oil and popcorn to put into the brown paper bag she uses.
I never liked hot air popped popcorn, always tastes too dry to me, no matter what you put on it. But then I learned a little trick. Keep some extra virgin olive oil in a small sprayer and spray the popcorn with that as it falls out into the bowl, then sprinkle the popcorn salt on. Makes it taste much better and the salt sticks to it.
The one in her phone is shown as "Level and Grade V1.0.1" She did have an Android phone before she got the iPhone. I could not find the level in her Android phone, although I know it is there, and I checked several folders of where I thought it would be. Heck, I couldn't even figure out how to start the program if I did find it. Found the flashlight program and several others, but no level. And as I said, when I open the folders on her iPhone, they all have serial numbers instead of names, except for the common ones. Android does too after you open a possible folder where something might be.
Debi got a ticket in my car once from those darn stop light camera's when she didn't do anything illegal. In fact, ton's of people got a ticket at the same intersection for the same thing. We just paid it rather than going to court over it. But those who did take the time to go to court, they all got tossed out.
In all the years Debi has been driving that route, no one has ever stopped when they were in the exit lane because there is no stop light for that lane. The two straight lanes have two stop lights, one over each lane, they are there for a street where folks can get onto the road from the street that inters the road, a T intersection to them wanting on the road. But the exit lane to make a right at an upcoming street has never had a stop sign or light, and it makes no sense to put one there either. You cannot drive across the road from the T onto the exit lane, there is a curb there, hi hi. There is a stop light at the end of the exit lane before you get onto the road you are making a right turn onto.
On my way to my doctors office, there is a street on the left with a big sign that says No Left Turn onto Mills Road. But long before you get to that, there is a sign that says East on Mills Road Exit Here. If you take that Exit, it takes you West to a cross-street where a sign says Mills Road turn Left. So you turn on that road and it takes you to another road with a sign that says Mills Road turn Left, and this takes you over a bridge, over the highway, and after about 500 feet or so, another sign says Mills Road next Left, only you are still not on Mills Road, it takes you to an intersection that is Mills Road. Better turn right, or that short length of Mills Road to the left exits you back on the highway you got off of but in the other direction, hi hi.
Vertical Clouds
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Re: Vertical Clouds
Popcorn is like any other food. There are many types and varieties plus more than a few ways to prepare it. About the best popcorn taste my buds enjoy is that which is popped in coconut oil and then consumed adding nothing to end product. That is what the popcorn actually tastes like. Adding salt, butter, caramel and whatever covers up the original flavor. When anything is added to the popcorn, it's the additional ingredient that overpowers the taste buds leaving the sole purpose of the popped corn itself to be simply for texture. Texture is important, of course, but modified popcorn is still modified popcorn.
I think the same way about cheese. That powdered stuff and processed cheese spreads are simulations of the real thing. There is nothing wrong with Kraft selling a bag of chemicals labeled cheese if that is what whets your appetite. However, if I want mac and cheese I won't substitute something cheesey in appearance and consider it the real thing. There are times when it's expedient to just buy a box of processed food and consume it. But real food has all the nutrition, taste, and aroma my body hungers for.
When I still lived in Illinois there was a huge controversy when they installed those stop light cameras in our neighborhood. The argument was that it made things safer by preventing accidents. What they didn't tell you is that those tickets go to arbitration and not a real court. They also didn't mention that the people who make the cameras get a cut of the fines collected. There were class action law suits and all kinds of protests, but to no avail. The powers that be refused to comply with their constituency's wishes and as far as I know those cameras are still in place.
There are some places where a store you want to patronize is on the left side of the street near an intersection. Those places will not allow you to turn into their parking lot directly. In fact concrete median strips are often in place to prevent left turns into shops near the intersection of busy streets. The only way in is to make a left turn at the light beyond the store. At least a block down the street, or more likely a quarter mile down, is an opportunity to turn into a side street or perhaps a parking lot from some other mall. The idea is to make a U-turn and head back to that stop light so that you can make a right turn down the street with the shop on it. Once you do that, you then discover there is no entry to the store from that street. The entry is on the street you just turned off of and which is perpendicular to the street of interest. The entry typically is into a strip mall which you must drive around in order to get to the store you are interested in. Then, after you finish shopping, you discover there is only one way out of that strip mall, and that way out is in the opposite direction you were going when you first came to the store. I can imagine some traffic engineer designing the intersection for maximum flow of traffic. Unfortunately that leaves any businesses on that road mostly inaccessible. I don't run into this situation often, but there are a few of them here in Missouri.
I think the same way about cheese. That powdered stuff and processed cheese spreads are simulations of the real thing. There is nothing wrong with Kraft selling a bag of chemicals labeled cheese if that is what whets your appetite. However, if I want mac and cheese I won't substitute something cheesey in appearance and consider it the real thing. There are times when it's expedient to just buy a box of processed food and consume it. But real food has all the nutrition, taste, and aroma my body hungers for.
When I still lived in Illinois there was a huge controversy when they installed those stop light cameras in our neighborhood. The argument was that it made things safer by preventing accidents. What they didn't tell you is that those tickets go to arbitration and not a real court. They also didn't mention that the people who make the cameras get a cut of the fines collected. There were class action law suits and all kinds of protests, but to no avail. The powers that be refused to comply with their constituency's wishes and as far as I know those cameras are still in place.
There are some places where a store you want to patronize is on the left side of the street near an intersection. Those places will not allow you to turn into their parking lot directly. In fact concrete median strips are often in place to prevent left turns into shops near the intersection of busy streets. The only way in is to make a left turn at the light beyond the store. At least a block down the street, or more likely a quarter mile down, is an opportunity to turn into a side street or perhaps a parking lot from some other mall. The idea is to make a U-turn and head back to that stop light so that you can make a right turn down the street with the shop on it. Once you do that, you then discover there is no entry to the store from that street. The entry is on the street you just turned off of and which is perpendicular to the street of interest. The entry typically is into a strip mall which you must drive around in order to get to the store you are interested in. Then, after you finish shopping, you discover there is only one way out of that strip mall, and that way out is in the opposite direction you were going when you first came to the store. I can imagine some traffic engineer designing the intersection for maximum flow of traffic. Unfortunately that leaves any businesses on that road mostly inaccessible. I don't run into this situation often, but there are a few of them here in Missouri.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I've popped and ate popcorn popped in many different ways, and in several types of oils.
What oil you use imparts its own flavor to the popcorn.
Even so, I still prefer my popcorn with butter and salt, hi hi.
There are only a few cheeses I like, and some of them actually turn to rubber and you can chew them like gum for hours and the darn stuff doesn't dissolve. A couple of pizza places use this type of cheese, so we quit getting pizza's from them.
My dad would never eat anything with cheese of any kind in or on it.
Me, I normally only like Cheddar cheeses and real American cheese, with the exception of yellow cheese sauces which I do like. And ironically, for mac n cheese, I like the powdered the best for that dish.
When I drove OTR, although most of the driving was on highways, there were more than just a few towns I had to made deliveries in where the LAW WAS NO LEFT TURN from any of their major roads. Or more precisely if, if any road was a 4-lane road, no left turn was allowed, at all, except at controlled intersections with lights. It was sometimes a challenge to find out how to get to a particular business to unload, when most of the side streets were marked No Thru Trucks. You never knew if they meant No Trucks at all, or if you had a deliver on that street then you could be on it.
I remember one company I delivered to several times, they told me to turn about a mile before I normally would have, then take a four-lane that went up to a drive behind their store. Once I knew that trick, they were easy to deliver to and get out of.
There are several older subdivisions in my neck of the woods where the roads are all one-way roads, similar to many roads in Kirkwood. Every other road is the opposite direction. I remember when I was using a school bus for school, and they went down a street called Ann Avenue. This street was actually too narrow of a street for busses, and it was scary when two busses had to pass each other in opposite directions. Later they banned busses from that street, but not until the widened another street for the busses to use. There were also a couple of streets like that in Webster Groves I remember from those days.
What oil you use imparts its own flavor to the popcorn.
Even so, I still prefer my popcorn with butter and salt, hi hi.
There are only a few cheeses I like, and some of them actually turn to rubber and you can chew them like gum for hours and the darn stuff doesn't dissolve. A couple of pizza places use this type of cheese, so we quit getting pizza's from them.
My dad would never eat anything with cheese of any kind in or on it.
Me, I normally only like Cheddar cheeses and real American cheese, with the exception of yellow cheese sauces which I do like. And ironically, for mac n cheese, I like the powdered the best for that dish.
When I drove OTR, although most of the driving was on highways, there were more than just a few towns I had to made deliveries in where the LAW WAS NO LEFT TURN from any of their major roads. Or more precisely if, if any road was a 4-lane road, no left turn was allowed, at all, except at controlled intersections with lights. It was sometimes a challenge to find out how to get to a particular business to unload, when most of the side streets were marked No Thru Trucks. You never knew if they meant No Trucks at all, or if you had a deliver on that street then you could be on it.
I remember one company I delivered to several times, they told me to turn about a mile before I normally would have, then take a four-lane that went up to a drive behind their store. Once I knew that trick, they were easy to deliver to and get out of.
There are several older subdivisions in my neck of the woods where the roads are all one-way roads, similar to many roads in Kirkwood. Every other road is the opposite direction. I remember when I was using a school bus for school, and they went down a street called Ann Avenue. This street was actually too narrow of a street for busses, and it was scary when two busses had to pass each other in opposite directions. Later they banned busses from that street, but not until the widened another street for the busses to use. There were also a couple of streets like that in Webster Groves I remember from those days.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I get frustrated with those no-left-turn intersections, but I don't drive a truck. It must be a nightmare for truckers because deliveries are normally made at the rear of the store which has a totally different access route than the front of the store. I had an interesting experience one time when I was looking for the local FedEx store to drop off a package. I knew there was one in town, but didn't know exactly where it was located. So, I asked my friend Google to guide me. Well, Google knew exactly where the store was and she sent me down some side streets to get there. That was very unusual but then I got the instruction to turn down what looked like a dirt road. In fact it was for a few hundred feet. The paved road at the end ran along the back side of a strip mall, and then suddenly in the middle of this alley I was told I reached my destination. I didn't see any FedEx signs nor were there any addresses on the doors. I was thoroughly confused but reasoned that this is the mall in which the FedEx store was located. I just snaked around to the front side and sure enough FedEx was in the middle of the strip. I suppose all the FedEx drivers know about that back way, dirt road and all. Why my friend Google figured I was one of those drivers is beyond me.
Rubber cheese is a reality but I have not had to eat any lately. I make my own pizza almost every weekend and get myself a chunk of whole milk mozzarella cheese from Schnucks or Dierbergs first. One of the better pizza places in town doesn't use the traditional mozzarella. They put some kind of yellow cheese in it's place and I suspect it is cheddar. It was a surprise the first time we ordered from them, but they will put any cheese you want on the pizza if you request it first. I sometimes add Romano and/or Parmesan to the Mozzarella, and that has a great taste. It does not brown up but the flavor is an interesting change of pace. I favor fresh ingredients when I can get them but I often use frozen vegetables for dinner. They are close to fresh and usually don't have a lot of added chemicals.
Rubber cheese is a reality but I have not had to eat any lately. I make my own pizza almost every weekend and get myself a chunk of whole milk mozzarella cheese from Schnucks or Dierbergs first. One of the better pizza places in town doesn't use the traditional mozzarella. They put some kind of yellow cheese in it's place and I suspect it is cheddar. It was a surprise the first time we ordered from them, but they will put any cheese you want on the pizza if you request it first. I sometimes add Romano and/or Parmesan to the Mozzarella, and that has a great taste. It does not brown up but the flavor is an interesting change of pace. I favor fresh ingredients when I can get them but I often use frozen vegetables for dinner. They are close to fresh and usually don't have a lot of added chemicals.
Re: Vertical Clouds
We didn't have GPS back when I was driving OTR, but at least we did have a few special road maps specifically designed for truckers. For local deliveries, rather than a map, we had a booklet of just text, listed by street names. If you knew how to read that book, it was better than any map ever was. Truckers had another type of book, similar to the local books, but showed the best routes to take. The sad part was, it was a very hard book to learn to use, but once you got the hang of it, it became like a Bible to us. But didn't work like most folks would think it worked, which is why there was so much confusion on using it.
Although one could use it to drive from New York to LA, that's not how it showed the routes. You had to know ahead of time, what major towns you would try to bypass along your route from Point A to Point B, because the book itself only showed the best route from a major city to the next major city. So you had to first look for the route between cities, then look ahead to the next city from that city, and check for the bypass routes to get around that city.
Also, in the early days, the CB radio was great, until it got overburdened, but you could still get good directions that way too.
We have an expensive Italian restaurant here who makes a lot of dishes, but I like their spaghetti and meatballs better than anything else. Their pizza used to be great also, but they changed the type of cheese they use now, and it really is like rubber. So we no longer get their pizza's unless we are eating there and can eat it right out of the oven. Even then, we end up leaving most of it as inedible after it starts to cool.
I've not gone out since my health has declined further. My wife don't know how I can sit in a chair all day at a computer, and half the night too, and never go anywhere. I do actually get out, but only if I'm feeling super good that day, and then not for more than about a half hour, not long enough to stop and eat anywhere, unless it is in the car. I hack, cough, my nose runs like a broken water pipe several times a day, and I can easily have a panic attack if I can't breathe. My little portable tanks are supposed to last me about 2 hours, ha ha, even using O2 saving tricks I know, I only get about one hour fifteen minutes from a portable tank. So to eat anywhere, I have to drag along one of the larger tanks on rollers, which are good for like 4 hours if I'm careful with them. I can't eat right away once I get in and get seated, I have to sit until my heart rate slows back down and I get enough O2 back in me so I can turn off the air long enough to take a few bites, then hit the air again.
Lucky for me, I'm used to sitting for hours on end, but I do like to have something to do while sitting, hi hi.
Although one could use it to drive from New York to LA, that's not how it showed the routes. You had to know ahead of time, what major towns you would try to bypass along your route from Point A to Point B, because the book itself only showed the best route from a major city to the next major city. So you had to first look for the route between cities, then look ahead to the next city from that city, and check for the bypass routes to get around that city.
Also, in the early days, the CB radio was great, until it got overburdened, but you could still get good directions that way too.
We have an expensive Italian restaurant here who makes a lot of dishes, but I like their spaghetti and meatballs better than anything else. Their pizza used to be great also, but they changed the type of cheese they use now, and it really is like rubber. So we no longer get their pizza's unless we are eating there and can eat it right out of the oven. Even then, we end up leaving most of it as inedible after it starts to cool.
I've not gone out since my health has declined further. My wife don't know how I can sit in a chair all day at a computer, and half the night too, and never go anywhere. I do actually get out, but only if I'm feeling super good that day, and then not for more than about a half hour, not long enough to stop and eat anywhere, unless it is in the car. I hack, cough, my nose runs like a broken water pipe several times a day, and I can easily have a panic attack if I can't breathe. My little portable tanks are supposed to last me about 2 hours, ha ha, even using O2 saving tricks I know, I only get about one hour fifteen minutes from a portable tank. So to eat anywhere, I have to drag along one of the larger tanks on rollers, which are good for like 4 hours if I'm careful with them. I can't eat right away once I get in and get seated, I have to sit until my heart rate slows back down and I get enough O2 back in me so I can turn off the air long enough to take a few bites, then hit the air again.
Lucky for me, I'm used to sitting for hours on end, but I do like to have something to do while sitting, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
A good part of my work at Motorola demanded I be sitting. In my later years with the company that's all I did except for those occasions when I had to walk to the server room, the cafeteria, or restrooms. While there is no proof of all that sitting causing blood circulation problems, most people who have such venous afflictions sit a lot. You have a lot of other problems and I don't think you need to be concerned about circulation. Your heart is doing an extraordinary job as it is. Like yourself, when I'm sitting at home it's generally in front of a computer. I dislike watching television or movies or even playing video games ad nauseam. There are times when I run out of productive things to do. Those are the times you will be reading my rants about Linux and my adventures therein. LOL
The book you mention truckers used to bypass cities seems to be a valuable asset. I can't imagine what a text version of a map would read like, but apparently it was a very useful tool if you knew how to read it. My Garmin GPS had updates for a few years, but then stopped. They claimed the updates they are now issuing would not fit into the memory on my particular device (that's when I bought a TomTom). However, in lieu of updated maps they had updates contributed by users. It was a bit like Wikipedia. The information could be useful, or totally wrong. While that seemed like a good idea, you don't want to have bad information when you are lost.
Scarmoza cheese can be substituted for the traditional Mozzarella you find on most pizzas. It looks the same but has less moisture and tends to be chewy. I've used it a few times myself and found it to be less tasty than Mozzarella, but it is edible. I suppose it might be cheaper than Mozzarella quality cheese which might tempt some commercial places to use it. While it can be chewy, I've always found it edible. But, it needs to be more than just edible to end up on my pizza.
The book you mention truckers used to bypass cities seems to be a valuable asset. I can't imagine what a text version of a map would read like, but apparently it was a very useful tool if you knew how to read it. My Garmin GPS had updates for a few years, but then stopped. They claimed the updates they are now issuing would not fit into the memory on my particular device (that's when I bought a TomTom). However, in lieu of updated maps they had updates contributed by users. It was a bit like Wikipedia. The information could be useful, or totally wrong. While that seemed like a good idea, you don't want to have bad information when you are lost.
Scarmoza cheese can be substituted for the traditional Mozzarella you find on most pizzas. It looks the same but has less moisture and tends to be chewy. I've used it a few times myself and found it to be less tasty than Mozzarella, but it is edible. I suppose it might be cheaper than Mozzarella quality cheese which might tempt some commercial places to use it. While it can be chewy, I've always found it edible. But, it needs to be more than just edible to end up on my pizza.
Re: Vertical Clouds
This may seem odd to say, and some of it may predate your job with Motorola.
My grandpa bought ONLY Motorola products.
Our Intercom System from the shop to the greenhouses was Motorola.
He even had Motorola radios installed in all of our delivery trucks, music radios that is.
After grandpa passed away, every one of our trucks was also equipped with Motorola FM communications radios.
Dad also bought Motorola TVs for at home, and passed the older one down to grandpa on mom's side.
And when I was working at MRTC, the huge mobile radiotelephone was also Motorola.
Motorola products simply did not break down is why we bought them.
I don't know what happened, but after around the late 1980s they seemed to go downhill fast on quality.
I just wasted a half hour trying to find the particular text only street guides I was talking about. Even tried the word Vintage in my searches, all to no avail.
They were one of the best tools we had for local deliveries, and much easier and quicker than using a road map.
When you looked up a street by name, it showed what hundred block along a main road the street appeared, and what the range of addresses were on it, and if it was off a side road, it still showed you from the main road to the side road then to the street. We kept one in every single delivery truck in our fleet. The drivers loved them, especially around holidays when we were so busy.
We also had huge wall maps as well, in fact, I still have two of them here in my office rolled up for safe keeping. One is very old, the other a whole lot newer. The original one was a pull down type, like a movie screen mounted to a wall. We often referred to it for older areas of the city where the new wall map no longer showed streets that buildings were built over.
I finally found one for Iowa, and the inside pages of one for Connecticut, both are saved as Webp, so I'll have to convert them, upload them to someplace I can link to for you, since I can't upload images directly to here, at least I think I can't.
I used to hate pizza until I worked at the Drive-In Theater and had to make them. Then I could make them with only the ingredients I liked, and now I can eat just about any pizza, but still prefer the simple ones. Usually a hamburger pizza, hi hi.
My grandpa bought ONLY Motorola products.
Our Intercom System from the shop to the greenhouses was Motorola.
He even had Motorola radios installed in all of our delivery trucks, music radios that is.
After grandpa passed away, every one of our trucks was also equipped with Motorola FM communications radios.
Dad also bought Motorola TVs for at home, and passed the older one down to grandpa on mom's side.
And when I was working at MRTC, the huge mobile radiotelephone was also Motorola.
Motorola products simply did not break down is why we bought them.
I don't know what happened, but after around the late 1980s they seemed to go downhill fast on quality.
I just wasted a half hour trying to find the particular text only street guides I was talking about. Even tried the word Vintage in my searches, all to no avail.
They were one of the best tools we had for local deliveries, and much easier and quicker than using a road map.
When you looked up a street by name, it showed what hundred block along a main road the street appeared, and what the range of addresses were on it, and if it was off a side road, it still showed you from the main road to the side road then to the street. We kept one in every single delivery truck in our fleet. The drivers loved them, especially around holidays when we were so busy.
We also had huge wall maps as well, in fact, I still have two of them here in my office rolled up for safe keeping. One is very old, the other a whole lot newer. The original one was a pull down type, like a movie screen mounted to a wall. We often referred to it for older areas of the city where the new wall map no longer showed streets that buildings were built over.
I finally found one for Iowa, and the inside pages of one for Connecticut, both are saved as Webp, so I'll have to convert them, upload them to someplace I can link to for you, since I can't upload images directly to here, at least I think I can't.
I used to hate pizza until I worked at the Drive-In Theater and had to make them. Then I could make them with only the ingredients I liked, and now I can eat just about any pizza, but still prefer the simple ones. Usually a hamburger pizza, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Motorola made its first mark in the world selling AM car radios out in a country town 40-50 miles away from Chicago. I read the history once but don't recall all those early details, and I believe old man Galvin got the railroad to build a spur out to the Motorola factory. It was a small factory which they quickly outgrew because the product was so popular. They found a larger factory in the city of Chicago which gave them more space and cut down on shipping costs. Then WW II came about and Motorla became the sole supplier (so I read) of walkie-talkies to the military. I believe they stopped making car radios until the war ended. Given the success they had with the Army they started building commercial communication radios for municipal use. The police and fire fighters used Motorola communications exclusively. There was other competition, such as Collins Radio, but apparently Motorola had the best reputation and skilled sales people who knew how to make sweetheart deals. By the time radio telephones came on the scene, Motorola dominated that market too. Western Electric, a Bell Telephone supplier, only bought Motorola products and nothing else. The claim was they did that for security reasons. They didn't want any foreigners to depend on for reliable communications. So, it's not surprising at all that your grandparents ran the business using Motorola products. They ruled the communications world at the time.
Good as they were with commercial communications, Motorola failed almost every time they went into the consumer market. Those televisions, for example, were cutting edge technology with square CRT's and all that solid state electronics. They were way ahead of the curve, but could not make a profit from any of it. Apparently politicians don't have the same influence over consumer goods as they do over commercial goods bought on contract. CB radios suffered the same fate, although Motorola didn't enter that market until it was already saturated. They were doomed from the start. That's the period of time in which their well know high quality reputation suffered. Cell phone technology was developed by Motorola and like the other consumer products did very well at the onset. Then the competition came and out priced us and taught us a few things about quality as well. Cell phones also got a bad rap in some circles for those reasons. So, in the end Motorola sold off the cell phone business to Lenovo (who still uses the Motorola name, by the way) and is now back in the commercial communications business exclusively once again.
Bob Galvin, the son of the founder Paul Galvin, retired from Motorola in 1990. His son Christopher Galvin took over the reins at that time, and, well, as you noted things went down hill from there. Where have we heard THAT story before?
You need not go through any trouble to dig up that text version road map. I have an idea what it was like just from your description. It does seem like a handy guide, but must have taken some time to find what you are looking for. All I do now is ask my clever phone for directions to a named place, and within seconds I have a map and a voice guide. Sure beats reading a map or a book.
Good as they were with commercial communications, Motorola failed almost every time they went into the consumer market. Those televisions, for example, were cutting edge technology with square CRT's and all that solid state electronics. They were way ahead of the curve, but could not make a profit from any of it. Apparently politicians don't have the same influence over consumer goods as they do over commercial goods bought on contract. CB radios suffered the same fate, although Motorola didn't enter that market until it was already saturated. They were doomed from the start. That's the period of time in which their well know high quality reputation suffered. Cell phone technology was developed by Motorola and like the other consumer products did very well at the onset. Then the competition came and out priced us and taught us a few things about quality as well. Cell phones also got a bad rap in some circles for those reasons. So, in the end Motorola sold off the cell phone business to Lenovo (who still uses the Motorola name, by the way) and is now back in the commercial communications business exclusively once again.
Bob Galvin, the son of the founder Paul Galvin, retired from Motorola in 1990. His son Christopher Galvin took over the reins at that time, and, well, as you noted things went down hill from there. Where have we heard THAT story before?
You need not go through any trouble to dig up that text version road map. I have an idea what it was like just from your description. It does seem like a handy guide, but must have taken some time to find what you are looking for. All I do now is ask my clever phone for directions to a named place, and within seconds I have a map and a voice guide. Sure beats reading a map or a book.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I've read the Motorola story a few times myself, although I don't remember much about it, but what you said rings familiar.
The Galvin name also rings a bell. St. Louis did not have any UHF stations for years, so none of the TVs sold there came with a UHF Tuner. Seems like the one dad bought that sat on top of our TV had the name Galvin on it.
I could only afford the cheapest one I could find, I think it was a Channel Master, and probably made by Finco, looking at images on a Search Engine.
Now my uncle on the other hand, since all TVs had the space for the UHF Tuner, he would just buy the tuner for inside the model TV he had and install it himself. In fact, he made many modifications to TV sets back in the day when he was working at a TV repair shop.
I had a few of them I had kept, and since they were useless to me down south here, I ended up putting them through my paper shredder. Big Mistake, those little 1.75 to 2.00 booklets from the 50's to 60's now fetch over 150 bucks. Why I don't know, they are useless because all the roads and often addresses have changed also.
At the flower shop, we used clay beads to mark the stops on the big wall map, but not right on the house. The only purpose for doing this was not to help you find the house the delivery goes to, just the street the delivery is on. Then, once you had all your dots on the map, you just numbered the stops on your route in order so you didn't do any backtracking. Once your list of stops was numbered, you took all the clay beads off the board, rolling them into a ball for the next guy to set his route.
Then once you were on the road, after you made your first stop, you could check the book to see which cross street was closest to your next stop, or where off a main drag your next street would be.
They were a very handy booklet and cut down a lot of driving time.
Ironically, nearly all of our routes were based on where the funeral homes are, because that comprised about 80% of our deliveries, except around holidays when we had tons of residential deliveries. Many with PO Boxes and no addresses per se on the rural routes. I think I mentioned one of our stops that the instructions only had to read 5mph Bump Gate and we knew who and where that stop was located.
At one time, we used to pack and ship funeral flower arrangements via the Greyhound Bus, to specific funeral homes who wanted our flowers, even though they had a few florists near them. None of those florists had the ability to make some of the odd things we used to make, back in the hay day of floral designs. Like a large chair covered with flowers, or a big wagon wheel. Now those types of things we would deliver ourselves due to their large size. And some rural funeral homes ordered so much from us, we had a special driver just to make that western rural run. Normally an off-duty cop too, hi hi.
The Galvin name also rings a bell. St. Louis did not have any UHF stations for years, so none of the TVs sold there came with a UHF Tuner. Seems like the one dad bought that sat on top of our TV had the name Galvin on it.
I could only afford the cheapest one I could find, I think it was a Channel Master, and probably made by Finco, looking at images on a Search Engine.
Now my uncle on the other hand, since all TVs had the space for the UHF Tuner, he would just buy the tuner for inside the model TV he had and install it himself. In fact, he made many modifications to TV sets back in the day when he was working at a TV repair shop.
I had a few of them I had kept, and since they were useless to me down south here, I ended up putting them through my paper shredder. Big Mistake, those little 1.75 to 2.00 booklets from the 50's to 60's now fetch over 150 bucks. Why I don't know, they are useless because all the roads and often addresses have changed also.
At the flower shop, we used clay beads to mark the stops on the big wall map, but not right on the house. The only purpose for doing this was not to help you find the house the delivery goes to, just the street the delivery is on. Then, once you had all your dots on the map, you just numbered the stops on your route in order so you didn't do any backtracking. Once your list of stops was numbered, you took all the clay beads off the board, rolling them into a ball for the next guy to set his route.
Then once you were on the road, after you made your first stop, you could check the book to see which cross street was closest to your next stop, or where off a main drag your next street would be.
They were a very handy booklet and cut down a lot of driving time.
Ironically, nearly all of our routes were based on where the funeral homes are, because that comprised about 80% of our deliveries, except around holidays when we had tons of residential deliveries. Many with PO Boxes and no addresses per se on the rural routes. I think I mentioned one of our stops that the instructions only had to read 5mph Bump Gate and we knew who and where that stop was located.
At one time, we used to pack and ship funeral flower arrangements via the Greyhound Bus, to specific funeral homes who wanted our flowers, even though they had a few florists near them. None of those florists had the ability to make some of the odd things we used to make, back in the hay day of floral designs. Like a large chair covered with flowers, or a big wagon wheel. Now those types of things we would deliver ourselves due to their large size. And some rural funeral homes ordered so much from us, we had a special driver just to make that western rural run. Normally an off-duty cop too, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
The Motorola story was written and published as "The Founder's Touch." Apparently the founder commissioned somebody to write the book, but it didn't do so well in the book stores. Thus, every new employee hired after the book was published got a free copy. I was one of those employees. I believe the original name of Motorola was the Galvin Manufacturing Company. Paul Galvin was the founder and the impression I got was that he had the same kind of talent and business acumen that you talk about here. Once they moved to Chicago the Galvin family moved to an upper class suburb north of Chicago where many state politicians also lived. One state senator in particular favored Motorola in many ways and I suspect that neighborly relationship had something to do with the success of the company. The Galvins made headlines at one time due to a murder of one of the girls. I don't think they ever found the person but rumors galore spread about how the Galvin family became heavily biased against people of color because one of the household service people was implicated but never indicted. At any rate, I was fascinated when I read the book about the roots of the company.
It is a shame that you got rid of all those street guides given what they sell for today. I would suspect such things are totally useless in this modern time, but that's not the attraction. No such references are available anymore and collectors will pay high prices for such items regardless of their utility. I would have no idea where to find such collectors, but having the books indeed would have been cool.
I find it interesting that your floral business used Greyhound buses for delivery. It was my impression that cut flowers need to stay cool in order to stay fresh. There is nothing cool about Greyhound storage compartments. LOL But, obviously, it worked out well for you.
It is a shame that you got rid of all those street guides given what they sell for today. I would suspect such things are totally useless in this modern time, but that's not the attraction. No such references are available anymore and collectors will pay high prices for such items regardless of their utility. I would have no idea where to find such collectors, but having the books indeed would have been cool.
I find it interesting that your floral business used Greyhound buses for delivery. It was my impression that cut flowers need to stay cool in order to stay fresh. There is nothing cool about Greyhound storage compartments. LOL But, obviously, it worked out well for you.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Yes, I'm sure that is a super great book to have about Motorola and Galvin!
I have a few things I've kept that I didn't sell at auction, or things I've acquired since then. I have many things up for sale, but no takers yet. Then too, I'm not advertising them except once locally. I figure it is on my website if someone is hunting. I have many things I want to put on my website, but don't have the energy to get it out for cataloging. Like my entire ham radio station and all that equipment. It's worth a bundle to the right people, but I would shoot for like 50% of the going rate if someone would take all of it at once, then they could easily double their money by doing the sales work.
When we shipped flowers via the bus, these were fairly large funeral arrangements, they all were back in the day. We had 5 foot long outer wax coated boxes, and a wax coated inner box that was like 4-1/2 feet long. They would pack sphagnum moss into these metal boxes and fill them with water, then put them in a freezer to freeze. When we were ready to use 6 of them in a shipping box, they were wrapped in lead foil back then, then the lead foil wrapped with crepe paper, and inside the twin boxes were paper mache trays these blocks sat in. The flowers arrangements were drained of water, wrapped in glazed tissue paper and placed inside the center box with crumpled up newspapers to hold them in place, and a metal band went around the paper mache pot to make sure it couldn't move around. Then the lid was placed on the inner box, and a second lid on the outer box. The flower arrangements were usually never on the bus more than 3 or 4 hours.
The funeral homes would keep our boxes, trays, and would dry out the sphagnum blocks, and when we made a special delivery to them, we would load the truck up with all they had saved for us. And naturally we gave them credit for returning the boxes to us, even though we are the ones who picked them up.
FWIW: Before I was born, the outer box was made of wood, but much thinner than a packaging crate, more like veneer thickness wood. The same type of wood crates we got Emerald Leaves and other greens in back then.
By the time I was old enough to work at the florist, we were using waxed cardboard boxes for shipping on Greyhound. But only a few years after I became a master designer, we never shipped anything anymore, mainly because those bigger unusual types of arrangements were no longer made. We still had a few from the really old timers for local funerals, but after that, nobody bought the big oddball stuff anymore. Just a simple spray on an easel was our biggest thing we made.
Well, except for one special order I worked on for a church. An 8 foot diameter wreath made with artificial greens and decorated for Christmas they hung up on the wall of the church behind the altar.
The times have changed, and drastically my friend.
I have a few things I've kept that I didn't sell at auction, or things I've acquired since then. I have many things up for sale, but no takers yet. Then too, I'm not advertising them except once locally. I figure it is on my website if someone is hunting. I have many things I want to put on my website, but don't have the energy to get it out for cataloging. Like my entire ham radio station and all that equipment. It's worth a bundle to the right people, but I would shoot for like 50% of the going rate if someone would take all of it at once, then they could easily double their money by doing the sales work.
When we shipped flowers via the bus, these were fairly large funeral arrangements, they all were back in the day. We had 5 foot long outer wax coated boxes, and a wax coated inner box that was like 4-1/2 feet long. They would pack sphagnum moss into these metal boxes and fill them with water, then put them in a freezer to freeze. When we were ready to use 6 of them in a shipping box, they were wrapped in lead foil back then, then the lead foil wrapped with crepe paper, and inside the twin boxes were paper mache trays these blocks sat in. The flowers arrangements were drained of water, wrapped in glazed tissue paper and placed inside the center box with crumpled up newspapers to hold them in place, and a metal band went around the paper mache pot to make sure it couldn't move around. Then the lid was placed on the inner box, and a second lid on the outer box. The flower arrangements were usually never on the bus more than 3 or 4 hours.
The funeral homes would keep our boxes, trays, and would dry out the sphagnum blocks, and when we made a special delivery to them, we would load the truck up with all they had saved for us. And naturally we gave them credit for returning the boxes to us, even though we are the ones who picked them up.
FWIW: Before I was born, the outer box was made of wood, but much thinner than a packaging crate, more like veneer thickness wood. The same type of wood crates we got Emerald Leaves and other greens in back then.
By the time I was old enough to work at the florist, we were using waxed cardboard boxes for shipping on Greyhound. But only a few years after I became a master designer, we never shipped anything anymore, mainly because those bigger unusual types of arrangements were no longer made. We still had a few from the really old timers for local funerals, but after that, nobody bought the big oddball stuff anymore. Just a simple spray on an easel was our biggest thing we made.
Well, except for one special order I worked on for a church. An 8 foot diameter wreath made with artificial greens and decorated for Christmas they hung up on the wall of the church behind the altar.
The times have changed, and drastically my friend.
Re: Vertical Clouds
You have a lot of valuable items for sale, or that could be for sale. I've only seen the website with the saxophone and that was quite impressive. Being well done, however, doesn't automatically make it highly visible. Your website is not like E-bay, for example, where people come by the thousands hunting for such bargains. My guess is lack of visibility is why you have not had many offers so far. You just don't get the traffic to attract that collector who has been looking for what you have all his life. Even if I had some suggestions, which I don't, it likely would take a lot of time and effort on your part to attract a crowd. I sold a few things on E-bay many years ago, and down here in Missouri we disposed of a few items using our neighborhood newsletter. But, that is it for my experience in selling. LOL
The packaging for your flowers shipped via Greyhound was spectacular. I don't know what they do now and days, but I do know a lot of flowers are flown in from other countries and arrive in good shape. It beats me how they do it.
Apparently I will be learning a thing or two about another of your old haunts. I've been to Kirkwood already, but Creve Coeur is now on the agenda. I finally found somebody who could pronounce the name of that place which is something I was curious about ever since I first saw it. LOL That "sombeody" was the receptionist at the audiologist's office which my wife has visited lately. She has been suffering vertigo for about a year and it seems to be concentrated in her right ear. Originally she saw an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist who couldn't find anything physically wrong, but that's not unusual. Accompanying the dizziness is some nausea and general fatigue that has kept my wife of many years off her feet far too long. She was in the hospital a few weeks ago and they figured the vertigo was a separate issue from the other problems she was experiencing so that a MRI was scheduled. They found a brain tumor which they didn't think was too significant by the way but could be related to her problems. That prompted the ENT specialist to send wife to an audiologist to literally probe deeper into her ear to see if they can find anything. They diagnosed her with some kind of syndrome but could not find the source of the problem. Thus they decided she needs to have a "balance test" which is only done in some clinic in Creve Coeur. The test will take more than three hours but hopefully pinpoint the source of all this dizziness. It sounds like a super PITA, which it is, but it will be worth it to find out what exactly is going on. Knowing the source will bring up the possibility of treating it, or curing it. This will all happen the middle of next month.
The packaging for your flowers shipped via Greyhound was spectacular. I don't know what they do now and days, but I do know a lot of flowers are flown in from other countries and arrive in good shape. It beats me how they do it.
Apparently I will be learning a thing or two about another of your old haunts. I've been to Kirkwood already, but Creve Coeur is now on the agenda. I finally found somebody who could pronounce the name of that place which is something I was curious about ever since I first saw it. LOL That "sombeody" was the receptionist at the audiologist's office which my wife has visited lately. She has been suffering vertigo for about a year and it seems to be concentrated in her right ear. Originally she saw an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist who couldn't find anything physically wrong, but that's not unusual. Accompanying the dizziness is some nausea and general fatigue that has kept my wife of many years off her feet far too long. She was in the hospital a few weeks ago and they figured the vertigo was a separate issue from the other problems she was experiencing so that a MRI was scheduled. They found a brain tumor which they didn't think was too significant by the way but could be related to her problems. That prompted the ENT specialist to send wife to an audiologist to literally probe deeper into her ear to see if they can find anything. They diagnosed her with some kind of syndrome but could not find the source of the problem. Thus they decided she needs to have a "balance test" which is only done in some clinic in Creve Coeur. The test will take more than three hours but hopefully pinpoint the source of all this dizziness. It sounds like a super PITA, which it is, but it will be worth it to find out what exactly is going on. Knowing the source will bring up the possibility of treating it, or curing it. This will all happen the middle of next month.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I only advertised locally on some of our local websites that only let you advertise once for free.
There are a few things I could advertise nationally for free, if I wanted to deal with packaging and shipping.
It depends on what the flowers are, each kind is handled differently. But most of what is shipped from overseas is in something similar to hyperbaric storage when they are packed and shipped, which wears off in less than a day. Things like plants and greenery can be easily shipped and held for days. But cut flowers with blooms, gotta go as close to overnight as possible.
Des Peres is pronounced Dee Pare, and Creve Coeur is pronounced Creeve Core.
Or sometimes we will say, I was born in Despair in Misery, hi hi.
Debi has some inner ear trouble and has to double check her balance quite often.
I now live in Ten-E-See or 10-E-C, hi hi. Sure beats Misery, hi hi.
There are a few things I could advertise nationally for free, if I wanted to deal with packaging and shipping.
It depends on what the flowers are, each kind is handled differently. But most of what is shipped from overseas is in something similar to hyperbaric storage when they are packed and shipped, which wears off in less than a day. Things like plants and greenery can be easily shipped and held for days. But cut flowers with blooms, gotta go as close to overnight as possible.
Des Peres is pronounced Dee Pare, and Creve Coeur is pronounced Creeve Core.
Or sometimes we will say, I was born in Despair in Misery, hi hi.
Debi has some inner ear trouble and has to double check her balance quite often.
I now live in Ten-E-See or 10-E-C, hi hi. Sure beats Misery, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
All I know is that the roses I get my sweetheart on Valentines Day are fresher and in better condition than the ones I've grown in my garden. And, in February they must be shipped for thousands of miles so that I can buy them for $4.00/stem.
Hopefully Debi won't get to the point my wife is at with her vertigo. Actually there are exercises that can be done to alleviate the effects, and they seem to work pretty well. But my wife of many years seems to have more than one problem aside from the vertigo. Hopefully we will be able to fix it.
Your phonetic spelling for Creve Coeur is exactly the way the receptionist pronounced it. I've seen it on maps a few times and for some reason it didn't look pronounceable. Missouri has been pretty good to me in the sense that the cost of living here is much lower than up by Chicago. The people in my subdivision are very friendly for about 5 seconds at which point they retract back into their shell being aloof and distant. Not being a social creature by nature, that lack of friendliness is exactly my kind of neighborhood. The politics in Missouri is about three magnitudes more corrupt than what I thought was a Mafia type government in Illinois. It turns out Illinois is doing quite well with the latest governor, but I haven't read anything good yet about the governor in Missouri. He got involved with molesting little kids, if I recall correctly, and then promptly won reelection. St Louis is a den of iniquity, and the latest poll I've seen but it at the very bottom of the list of nice places to live. The politicians have been in the news a lot this year, not only Josh "Sedition" Hawley, but a lot of the St Louis County bosses are being perused by the local DA. The scariest story I've been reading is about how some elementary schools are engaging in sex trafficking with their captive audience in orphanages. Just one of those stories would be enough to make me want to go back to Illinois, but there are many seedy characters in Missouri politics, and that is being conservative.
I'm certain it's not as bad as the media makes it all out to be. At least that was the case in Illinois where I had a better handle on things. But our senators in Washington rank somewhere between curmudgeon and scum. Fortunately one of them is retiring at the end of his term this year, and the other is thinking about running for president.
"Despair in Misery" is an apt description, indeed.
Hopefully Debi won't get to the point my wife is at with her vertigo. Actually there are exercises that can be done to alleviate the effects, and they seem to work pretty well. But my wife of many years seems to have more than one problem aside from the vertigo. Hopefully we will be able to fix it.
Your phonetic spelling for Creve Coeur is exactly the way the receptionist pronounced it. I've seen it on maps a few times and for some reason it didn't look pronounceable. Missouri has been pretty good to me in the sense that the cost of living here is much lower than up by Chicago. The people in my subdivision are very friendly for about 5 seconds at which point they retract back into their shell being aloof and distant. Not being a social creature by nature, that lack of friendliness is exactly my kind of neighborhood. The politics in Missouri is about three magnitudes more corrupt than what I thought was a Mafia type government in Illinois. It turns out Illinois is doing quite well with the latest governor, but I haven't read anything good yet about the governor in Missouri. He got involved with molesting little kids, if I recall correctly, and then promptly won reelection. St Louis is a den of iniquity, and the latest poll I've seen but it at the very bottom of the list of nice places to live. The politicians have been in the news a lot this year, not only Josh "Sedition" Hawley, but a lot of the St Louis County bosses are being perused by the local DA. The scariest story I've been reading is about how some elementary schools are engaging in sex trafficking with their captive audience in orphanages. Just one of those stories would be enough to make me want to go back to Illinois, but there are many seedy characters in Missouri politics, and that is being conservative.
I'm certain it's not as bad as the media makes it all out to be. At least that was the case in Illinois where I had a better handle on things. But our senators in Washington rank somewhere between curmudgeon and scum. Fortunately one of them is retiring at the end of his term this year, and the other is thinking about running for president.
"Despair in Misery" is an apt description, indeed.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Debi is still limping around, and in great pain after falling off the pull down ladder to the attic.
She's been up and down that thing a thousand times if not more. But this time she said she got dizzy after looking up and down as she was coming back down. She missed grabbing the rail to brace herself because everything was spinning around on her.
Yeppers, St. Louis is run by Democrats. You can blame my family and relatives for that, they all voted the Democratic ticket every year for over a century. That is until the majority of them decided to switch parties. You have to be corrupt to get into politics, no matter what party you are in or for. I don't know a single poli-TICK-ian that isn't on the TAKE.
The entire world is changing, and not for the better.
She's been up and down that thing a thousand times if not more. But this time she said she got dizzy after looking up and down as she was coming back down. She missed grabbing the rail to brace herself because everything was spinning around on her.
Yeppers, St. Louis is run by Democrats. You can blame my family and relatives for that, they all voted the Democratic ticket every year for over a century. That is until the majority of them decided to switch parties. You have to be corrupt to get into politics, no matter what party you are in or for. I don't know a single poli-TICK-ian that isn't on the TAKE.
The entire world is changing, and not for the better.
Re: Vertical Clouds
All I could suggest is for Debi to see an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist. There are treatments and physical therapy that can help.
St Louis gets a bad rap frequently which surprised me at first. It used to be Chicago that was the favorite target for Republicans who weren't clever enough to get a foothold in that political scene. Now the focus seems to have shifted to Missouri. It's pretty much the same here as it is in Illinois where the Democrats are favored by the city folks and the Republicans are out in the boonies. In Missouri Josh Hawley is one of our two Republican senators and he gained a lot of national attention when he helped attempt to overthrow the government. Mike Parson, the Republican governor of Missouri, has been involved with child pornography, which ironically appeared to help him get reelected. To be honest I don't know how long he has been governor, but it's been a long while.
The world is changing, but it's been doing that since day one and before. It sure seems like it's getting worse, but more likely it's just getting too complicated. There are 8 billion of us now, and I think we are getting on each other's nerves.
St Louis gets a bad rap frequently which surprised me at first. It used to be Chicago that was the favorite target for Republicans who weren't clever enough to get a foothold in that political scene. Now the focus seems to have shifted to Missouri. It's pretty much the same here as it is in Illinois where the Democrats are favored by the city folks and the Republicans are out in the boonies. In Missouri Josh Hawley is one of our two Republican senators and he gained a lot of national attention when he helped attempt to overthrow the government. Mike Parson, the Republican governor of Missouri, has been involved with child pornography, which ironically appeared to help him get reelected. To be honest I don't know how long he has been governor, but it's been a long while.
The world is changing, but it's been doing that since day one and before. It sure seems like it's getting worse, but more likely it's just getting too complicated. There are 8 billion of us now, and I think we are getting on each other's nerves.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Debi has an appointment Monday with a specialist. She had to visit her GP first in order to get sent to a specialist.
Just another money making gimmick by the health care industry.
Insurance won't pay for you to go directly to a specialist, you have to be referred, hi hi.
The county used to be mostly Democrats too, not just the City of ST. Loo.
But back then, folks voted for the Person, not the Party they belonged to.
Party division they brought on themselves is one of the basic things that changed that.
But technically, it doesn't matter which party anymore, they are both part of the same machine.
They've turned the whole thing into a Game of My team is better than your team.
But now we all know which team is for America, and which team wants to destroy America.
The Proof is in the Pudding as they say. And we know who's pockets the pudding is going into, at the expense of the people.
I doubt if SS will go up 15%, which is the REAL and TRUE figure of Inflation! Not the 6% fed us by the government.
Just another money making gimmick by the health care industry.
Insurance won't pay for you to go directly to a specialist, you have to be referred, hi hi.
The county used to be mostly Democrats too, not just the City of ST. Loo.
But back then, folks voted for the Person, not the Party they belonged to.
Party division they brought on themselves is one of the basic things that changed that.
But technically, it doesn't matter which party anymore, they are both part of the same machine.
They've turned the whole thing into a Game of My team is better than your team.
But now we all know which team is for America, and which team wants to destroy America.
The Proof is in the Pudding as they say. And we know who's pockets the pudding is going into, at the expense of the people.
I doubt if SS will go up 15%, which is the REAL and TRUE figure of Inflation! Not the 6% fed us by the government.
Re: Vertical Clouds
The "true" rate of inflation is 8.2%. Social Security COLA has been announced to be 8.7% which is slightly over that inflation percentage. However, you need to understand that the COLA number is based on 12 months preceding while the current inflation rate is what they measured last month. I would agree that the SSA never keeps pace with increased costs of living, but it isn't short by very much.
The current divisions among our political parties are at an all time peak. As you know there has always been differences of opinion and a few crooks and nut jobs in both the major parties. They have more or less behaved themselves up until about the time of Bill Clinton. That is when it got personal and issues became secondary. A lot of people blame Donald Trump for the change, but he is the effect not the cause. Trump is more vocal than any previous president so that he gets a lot more attention than he deserves. Over the last decade or two foreign countries have infiltrated our political system. It is at the point where some of their agents hold political office and can influence public opinion greatly. The contention you see is a planned situation designed to create chaos and mistrust of our well established institutions. Just look at how the voting system itself is now being questioned because certain political figures with enormous influence say it's corrupt - those political figures who lost elections, that is. I've talked about this in other threads and won't expound a lot on it now. Understanding the current situation would best be approached by understanding the psychological warfare techniques being used by Russia and China. They have been at it a long time and their tactics are beginning to bear its fruit. Democracy is on the line as it never has been before, and both Democrats and Republicans are the tools of destruction being used by foreign powers.
I hope Debi is able to resolve her dizziness issues. I know how difficult it is dealing with vertigo and its related afflictions. Referrals are not always needed to see a specialist. A lot depends on the type of insurance you have. The good news is that she can see a specialist if she jumps through the right hoops. The bad news is that she has to jump through the hoops. Not easy when the world around you is spinning like a top.
The current divisions among our political parties are at an all time peak. As you know there has always been differences of opinion and a few crooks and nut jobs in both the major parties. They have more or less behaved themselves up until about the time of Bill Clinton. That is when it got personal and issues became secondary. A lot of people blame Donald Trump for the change, but he is the effect not the cause. Trump is more vocal than any previous president so that he gets a lot more attention than he deserves. Over the last decade or two foreign countries have infiltrated our political system. It is at the point where some of their agents hold political office and can influence public opinion greatly. The contention you see is a planned situation designed to create chaos and mistrust of our well established institutions. Just look at how the voting system itself is now being questioned because certain political figures with enormous influence say it's corrupt - those political figures who lost elections, that is. I've talked about this in other threads and won't expound a lot on it now. Understanding the current situation would best be approached by understanding the psychological warfare techniques being used by Russia and China. They have been at it a long time and their tactics are beginning to bear its fruit. Democracy is on the line as it never has been before, and both Democrats and Republicans are the tools of destruction being used by foreign powers.
I hope Debi is able to resolve her dizziness issues. I know how difficult it is dealing with vertigo and its related afflictions. Referrals are not always needed to see a specialist. A lot depends on the type of insurance you have. The good news is that she can see a specialist if she jumps through the right hoops. The bad news is that she has to jump through the hoops. Not easy when the world around you is spinning like a top.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Our electric, water, and sewer rates here have climbed very close to 30% over 2 years ago.
Electric had the highest increase of 30%, water only 12%, and sewers 22%, over the course of 2 years, but the biggest increase was this last year. Our utility bill shows what it was last month, and last year, right on the statement.
Groceries, almost across the board have gone up at least 15%, some things more, a few things less.
And you know the price for Gasoline has skyrocketed. $1.89 to $4.96 here.
I don't disagree that both parties are corrupt! But what I see is which party does things to help the People and themselves of course, and which party is only for themselves and their elite cronies.
Who sold nuke technology, who sold uranium, who sold whatever else it was to countries hell bent on destroying is.
One hint, the party starts with D.
Debi had her doctors appointment this morning, and did get the referral to see a specialist, who cannot see her until the middle of December sometime.
Electric had the highest increase of 30%, water only 12%, and sewers 22%, over the course of 2 years, but the biggest increase was this last year. Our utility bill shows what it was last month, and last year, right on the statement.
Groceries, almost across the board have gone up at least 15%, some things more, a few things less.
And you know the price for Gasoline has skyrocketed. $1.89 to $4.96 here.
I don't disagree that both parties are corrupt! But what I see is which party does things to help the People and themselves of course, and which party is only for themselves and their elite cronies.
Who sold nuke technology, who sold uranium, who sold whatever else it was to countries hell bent on destroying is.
One hint, the party starts with D.
Debi had her doctors appointment this morning, and did get the referral to see a specialist, who cannot see her until the middle of December sometime.
Re: Vertical Clouds
It's hard for me to say how well Tennessee, Knoxville in particular, represents the general economic condition in this country. You are not living in the most affluent part of America and thus would be more affected by inflation that more affluent locations. You have every right to be upset because you have no recourse. Working people are losing spending power too, but that is temporary for the most part. They all get raises over time or work more hours to increase income. Us fixed income folks are indeed in a fix.
There are no simple explanations for why inflation occurs the way it does, but basically this round is due to the fact that the federal government handed out free money to stimulate a stalled economy during the pandemic. They are STILL doing it as I write this by the way. When People have extra money they spend it, and when they spend it the supply of goods decreases. That's the formula for inflation. What I find interesting is that Joe Biden is being fingered for causing inflation because he was good enough to help out all the citizens of this country, even the Republicans in Tennessee, in their time of need. How this can be construed as bad is beyond me.
I'll make a prediction here because I see a familiar scenario developing. The Federal Reserve is upping interest rates to combat the inflation. The Republican party is blaming the president for that as well. There will be a time when the economy responds to the higher interest rates and people will have less inclination to go out and spend money on big items such as cars and houses. That downturn in spending will cause a recession, or something very close to it. I predict those same Republicans pointing fingers at Joe Biden for creating inflation will be pointing their fingers at him again for taking steps to keep in under control.
You don't see the pattern here, I'm sure. I see blame being assigned to the current administration regardless of what good it attempts. I don't see any viable, or even nonviable, alternatives coming from the R's. I also am tied of hearing about how past presidents complied with treaty obligations involving the exchange of nuclear technology while not one word or criticism is coming from those critics regarding top secret documents that were stolen for reasons yet to be made public. Hint: he sold some of that information to the highest bidder.
All this gives us something to talk about, but it won't solve any of the world's problems. LOL
I don't know what is going on in the medical community because my wife of many years had to wait several months to see a rheumatologist and a dermatologist. She didn't need referrals for either, but there definitely is a lack of medical professionals these days. Even when you do get an appointment, 50% of the time it's with a nurse practitioner or doctor's assistant and not the actual doctor. We may have the world's best medical care in this country, but it's getting more difficult to get that care.
There are no simple explanations for why inflation occurs the way it does, but basically this round is due to the fact that the federal government handed out free money to stimulate a stalled economy during the pandemic. They are STILL doing it as I write this by the way. When People have extra money they spend it, and when they spend it the supply of goods decreases. That's the formula for inflation. What I find interesting is that Joe Biden is being fingered for causing inflation because he was good enough to help out all the citizens of this country, even the Republicans in Tennessee, in their time of need. How this can be construed as bad is beyond me.
I'll make a prediction here because I see a familiar scenario developing. The Federal Reserve is upping interest rates to combat the inflation. The Republican party is blaming the president for that as well. There will be a time when the economy responds to the higher interest rates and people will have less inclination to go out and spend money on big items such as cars and houses. That downturn in spending will cause a recession, or something very close to it. I predict those same Republicans pointing fingers at Joe Biden for creating inflation will be pointing their fingers at him again for taking steps to keep in under control.
You don't see the pattern here, I'm sure. I see blame being assigned to the current administration regardless of what good it attempts. I don't see any viable, or even nonviable, alternatives coming from the R's. I also am tied of hearing about how past presidents complied with treaty obligations involving the exchange of nuclear technology while not one word or criticism is coming from those critics regarding top secret documents that were stolen for reasons yet to be made public. Hint: he sold some of that information to the highest bidder.
All this gives us something to talk about, but it won't solve any of the world's problems. LOL
I don't know what is going on in the medical community because my wife of many years had to wait several months to see a rheumatologist and a dermatologist. She didn't need referrals for either, but there definitely is a lack of medical professionals these days. Even when you do get an appointment, 50% of the time it's with a nurse practitioner or doctor's assistant and not the actual doctor. We may have the world's best medical care in this country, but it's getting more difficult to get that care.