What I Would Totally Love

...to see from you is:

We have members from all over the world, right? Yet we get very little threads about how life 'n stuff currently is where they live.
Current events in South Africa or wherever, one just doesn't get in the 'World News' hub of the West.

Or am I wrong to think ATS is so global?
And I'm sorry for everybody to whom that is a dirty word. But I think one development we have learned that took shape is that we are influenced by a group that acts globally.
And we could make our contribution by collecting observations from wherever we got fingers into.

You don't have to overdo it like 'some people' (a certain Russian PR tool,) but knowing Bell is an actual person and those ongoings are real events, we owe it to ourselves to keep an eye out.
But maybe that's wishful thinking? We are 'monochrome'?

a reply to: Peeple

Current events in South Africa or wherever

Same place.

And what I can tell you is that Operation: F* S* Up has been carried out successfully since 1994 without a hitch.

I'll report back when we re-enter the bronze age via smoke signal, not to be confused with the smoldering ruins.

originally posted by: Peeple

Or am I wrong to think ATS is so global?
And I'm sorry for everybody to whom that is a dirty word. But I think one development we have learned that took shape is that we are influenced by a group that acts globally.
And we could make our contribution by collecting observations from wherever we got fingers into.

You don't have to overdo it like 'some people' (a certain Russian PR tool,) but knowing Bell is an actual person and those ongoings are real events, we owe it to ourselves to keep an eye out.
But maybe that's wishful thinking? We are 'monochrome'?

The Western propaganda tools are ok though? Everything we know as reality now that was always, and still is, denied as conspiracy, yet most still won't accept. These globalists we are being influenced by are anti-human and will further their agenda By Any Means Necessary.
Just checking, carry on.

OT,
I live in Western New York, everything has doubled in price since 2020.
I stopped watching my local news because it has become the same propaganda as every other official media, like insisting that sending billions and billions of taxpayer money to slaughter people in Ukraine is virtuous while condemning and name calling anyone that dares question the psychotic narrative.
I am growing more food than ever because I like to eat healthy and I can't afford to buy healthy food. I don't believe being fat is healthy.
My state is attempting to ban every form of energy except electric. They want all new construction to be 100% electric, yet have no plan to upgrade our infrastructure which is vastly lacking the ability to supply anything close to the electricity required.
I essentially try to live in my own little bubble in my few years left in this world. I am very much at peace with it all however, my Faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient.

originally posted by: 19Bones79
a reply to: Peeple

Current events in South Africa or wherever

Same place.

And what I can tell you is that Operation: F* S* Up has been carried out successfully since 1994 without a hitch.

I'll report back when we re-enter the bronze age via smoke signal, not to be confused with the smoldering ruins.

Way back in 1979 the writing was on the wall for many to read... The S. African friends I had were making plans to leave whether they did manage to finally get out I do not know.

Most people seem to want to hear bad but where I am myself and many of my X-pat friends bless every day were are here and consider ourselves lucky to be away from all the B.S. and expenses of most first world countries. In another three weeks the Koreans will be returning home so that us locals can get a tee time at some of our favorite golf courses...otherwise thank you Lord or Buddha and anyone else I can think of for letting me spend the rest of my life here.. See no drama here so BORING !! hahahah

a reply to: 727Sky

I would love to experience BORING, to be honest.

a reply to: Peeple

Depends what you want to know Peeple?

Day to day life or the potentially serious things in society that could have CT written all over it?

I've see threads with serious topics fall to the wayside because they didn't fit the narratives on display at the time.

ATS is global but so are the relatable topics I guess, could prove to be distracting if one wants to consider how 'things' are implemented locally.

Maybe nobody cares beyond the paranoia buzz?

I live out in flyover.

Parsons never really shut Missouri fully down. He left it county and municipal leaders to decide. So there are plenty of areas that never even masked out here. I live in KC though, so while we didn't shut down fully although they tried, we did end masked for quite some time. It was a strange dichotomy where you live in a large metro and some areas are attempting to follow the narrative and do hard lockdowns and outlying areas are like, "Forget you!" and opening up and taking advantage of the business. That went on for nearly half a year with much whining from the mayor and city council, but the outer areas kept giving them the finger, and we kept fleeing to the "free state" of Liberty for food and shopping.

As a result, plenty of areas around here are in much better position to weather the current economy because they were operating most of the entire time.

When I go out to have lunch, I hit three small mom and pop joints, and they are all pretty well jumping. The sushi bar nearly always has a wait although I'm a regular, so they will work to squeeze me in pretty reliably. The coffee shop is always busy and the bakery goods they make are pricey but always sold out or well on the way to selling out by the time I hit there for lunch. I will occasionally pick up a loaf of their orchard bread. It's crusty and loaded down with lots of fruit and nuts - perfect to toast a slice before heading to practice. The taco joint is also busy.

Practice is great. I hit it four nights a week. Sparring on Mondays, general on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and competition on Fridays. Numbers there were way down just after COVID although our instructor worked really hard to keep things going. Classes moved to Zoom, and as soon as venues started opening again, they went to sign-up slots with limited class size. It's sort of exciting, this up coming belt test will be the first since COVID where we will be re-adding self-defense back into the testing requirement. We'd spend time on it one or twice during sparring, but not as much in general class. Now we're working it as a full part of the curriculum for everyone again.

I spend my days in the office around practice and home. It sounds like I don't have any time for family, but that's not true. My son practices, and my husband decided he would practice. So all three of us take classes. Some of us (me) are more serious than others (them, lol) although my son is starting to get more intensity as he gets older. So we all spend time together at practice as well as at home. I am glad in the sense that practice is a good group of people with good discipline and attitude, and it's a gold mine of good examples for my kiddo outside his immediate family. So long as he wants to engage, I am happy to keep funding him at it.

At home, I have three cats: one old lady and two younger boys. We weren't going to have the younger boys until our elder passed one, but my parents found an abandoned 3-week-old kitten, couldn't keep him, and knew we had been discussing getting kittens so our son could enjoy having real babies around the house when he was young. So we ended up with a bottle baby and then a second youngster to help civilize our bottle baby. Yeah ... that didn't work so well, but we luvs our boiz.

We mostly spend our weekends catching up on the things that don't get done during the week like chores and laundry. I play lots of video games on my computer around that, chilling. Some weekends, we're at a tournament. We'll be at one in a few weekends in fact. Weekends are actually precious to me in that they allow me to recharge all my batteries for the week ahead and spend even more family time.

We do have members from all over the word. Many different cultures, ethnicities, professions, religions, and many other 'boxes' into which we could be 'categorized.' Not that any of that determines our purposes. Ultimately, it is not how we are different that brings us together... it's our similarities... such as our unwillingness to shun human contact.

So many out there simply won't or can't endure actually 'listening to one another.' I have always thought that one common trait among ATS members is the recognition that otherwise "social" contact never fully embraces the interests we have, our curiosities, our intense calling to "investigate.' Seems like out there, in polite "social" gatherings, our penchant for 'open discussion' is more or less rejected for things like 'talking about celebrity antics' and 'media-fueled outrage' and. of course, gambling on sports.

The rest of the world may be dissimilar, but I fear not so much as to make anyone area especially 'alert' or even 'interested' in anything that doesn't appeal to ego affirmation.

Having been in the service, (back before it was 'genderized,') I got to travel to many places, all over the world. I was fortunate; I had already experienced culture shock in my life, so it wasn't too hard for me to live elsewhere... but when I returned it became all the clearer that people have VERY little understanding for the roots of the narrowness of some perspectives - including their own.

I point out that you too are sensitive to 'perceptual disharmony' as you nudge in your post about having to curb your expression about ATS being global... "global" is a fair word... destroyed by bias and abuse... now it seems to virtually belong to NGOs hell-bent on taking over the world, rather than a simply descriptive term about how people from all over the world are participating in a conversation together.

a reply to: Maxmars

My perspective is that people are people, and at our root, we all have the same needs and instincts. Our various cultures are ways in which we came together and attempted to best satisfy those without killing one another in the process because while we are animals, at the same time, we are something more. We can't lose sight of either side of ourselves.

While every culture out there has to some degree answered all the problems of living together socially, some do a better job of it than others in various ways. It's like anything - Joe might be incredibly artistic without being very practical; Jill might be ruthlessly practical and efficient but lacking in art and beauty. And Jud over there can kick both their butts so in the end it doesn't matter what Joe thinks of Jill or vice versa because Jud steamrolls them both, but it's not a clean victory and what emerges is a hybrid of the group.

originally posted by: stosh64


OT,
I live in Western New York, everything has doubled in price since 2020.

I'm a former Buffalonian, I moved to Florida in late 2020. The improvement in my life is immeasurable. I still miss family and friends there, but I've created a new life here that simply is worlds better than back in NY.

I am in the US south. Very small, conservative town that made national headlines within the past year for a really (I think) silly reason.

I was thinking about getting some chickens, since egg prices are outrageous. But then I learned about the avian flu and I don't know that my butt, who knows nothing about raising birds, is ready to invest in something, especially living creatures, that may fall ill.

Gas goes up and down here, but not too much that I am crippled with filling my tanks.

The real estate market here is still up, though there are fewer and fewer local and first time buyers who are purchasing, or even able to think about purchasing a home. LOTS of people coming in from CA, still, and while it has slowed, I don't see it stopping any time soon. The nearest bigger town has been utterly overrun with transplants, and it is causing the cost of living to increase here in my town, which really isn't sustainable. I worry about that a lot.

My kids' schools are decent, I suppose. Well, maybe not. My 8th grader's science teacher recently displayed a picture of a chinchilla and explained to the class that the "bunny" was "breeded" to have smaller than average ears. My kid corrected the teacher. It is laughable, but also sad as sh!+, that her teacher is that incompetent. My eldest, in high school, has a wonderful history teacher, who is being pressured at AP conferences to teach "theories" and not actual history. At least he is smart and knows better than to go that route, for now.

A very mild winter we have had, and while my kids want more snow, I am ok with it being done. I am ready from spring and allergies to arrive. Speaking of allergies, I have encountered a lot of people telling me their allergies are acting up, but it seems more likely to be colds- and among them, covid. We just had a round of it (maybe- daughter tested negative twice, but dr said all the classic [cold] symptoms are present). The flu is supposedly going around bad, but it has, thankfully, dodged my household.

I have been trying to talk to people about these shot-down objects, but most of the people in my town, whose paths I cross, aren't interested.

Sorry, I am not from any exotic area, but that is what life is like where I am.

originally posted by: chelsdh

I was thinking about getting some chickens, since egg prices are outrageous. But then I learned about the avian flu and I don't know that my butt, who knows nothing about raising birds, is ready to invest in something, especially living creatures, that may fall ill.

I think you might be pleasantly surprised to find that chicken raising is not 'extremely' worrisome, nor terribly difficult. People have cultivated fowl for long that you can learn everything you need just from common sources, like the internet. I won't be overly concerned about disease... it does happen, but I'm afraid commercial sources are always sounding alarms.. mostly to buy their "protective" products... I'm not saying "do it," but some time in research might prove to make a difference... and the eggs alone are worth it.

Gas goes up and down here, but not too much that I am crippled with filling my tanks.

I find the same here, and I live close to a city where the prices are actually 'up and down' from week to week.

The real estate market here is still up,,, LOTS of people coming in from CA... it is causing the cost of living to increase here in my town, which really isn't sustainable. I worry about that a lot.

I imagine your local government (mayor?) should be actually "doing something" about that... or at least caring enough to monitor and report the effect for everyone to 'keep an eye on.' But it seems that sort of thing doesn't happen enough in our country right now.

My kids' schools are decent, I suppose. Well, maybe not. My 8th grader's science teacher recently displayed a picture of a chinchilla and explained to the class that the "bunny" was "breeded" to have smaller than average ears. My kid corrected the teacher. It is laughable, but also sad as sh!+, that her teacher is that incompetent. My eldest, in high school, has a wonderful history teacher, who is being pressured at AP conferences to teach "theories" and not actual history. At least he is smart and knows better than to go that route, for now.

Ugh... it seems we have so many new and younger teachers who were never taught about pedagogy (the art and discipline of teaching) but that stands to reason, since the universities have all apparently undergone a 'culture shift' and found it more important to indoctrinate 'elites' than to pursue the diffusion of human knowledge. I am vicariously proud of the history teacher you mention... but fearful that these kinds of 'curriculums managed by committee' can bring pressures to bear on uncooperative teachers in lots of nasty ways.

I have been trying to talk to people about these shot-down objects, but most of the people in my town, whose paths I cross, aren't interested.

I wish you could find some people to discuss the subject with, it is very revealing of our society and its relationship with the government of the time. But some folks feel themselves to be operating at or beyond their limit for 'news' that seems so far away... I don't really blame them, after all, we shouldn't have to worry about this kind of thing... in theory, it's why we have a government...

Here's a link on the subject you might find interesting.... So where's the wreckage? Why are they being so vauge? Where's the footage?!

Give it a read... here at ATS we specialize in really talking about things, not just buzzwords, or virtue signaling.

To be honest, I'm a bit frightened to focus on local politics (especially since I'm sure the Russians are in SA too).

If something major happens here sure, but just to report on a gradual decline, I'm sure it loses impact.

I've resolved to focus more on cultural-type studies.

OK, here's a titbit from the UK. A detail.

I went in to my local chemist's to collect a prescription last week. I noticed a display rack carrying a selection of masks. A handwritten notice in front of them gave a blanket price of "2 for £1". That's how much the mask-wearing habit has disappeared already.

Well my favorite vlogger on SA affairs:



See also: www.youtube.com...