(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
Category Archives: Pigs
Fire As A Force Of Nature And Man
So fire is a tool for heating and cooking, but obviously it is also a destructive force that can be and is weaponized.
From tales and mythologies of old, dragons would spew fire from their mouths and destroy the enemy leaving only maybe their charred remains (likely, we will get to see more of that in Season 8 of Game of Thrones coming up soon).
In the 20th century, flamethrowers were widely used in World War I and II, and today thermonuclear weapons create great fireballs and mushroom clouds.
But already as far back as the Bible, Samson fought with fire against the Philistines.
He caught 300 foxes, tied them tail to tail in pairs and put a lite torch between them and they ran terror and havoc through his enemy’s encampment.
By the time of the Greek and Roman Empires, they would use catapults to hurl pots or bundles of flaming materials at their enemies.
In the Movie, Gladiator, upon releasing these catapults, he orders: “Unleash Hell!”
During the Spanish Inquisition, the inquisitor and his henchman would force Jews and others to convert or face execution by fire in the auto-da-fe.
Again in the Salem Witch Hunts, they would burn suspected witches at the stake.
And in more recent times, in the War Against Terror, ISIS was shown in videos that went viral torching those they considered infidels.
The other night watching a movie, “Redbad,” there was a riveting scene, where the Franks pour accelerants on live pigs and then light them up with torches and send them darting like crazy into the enemy ranks and villages.
Fire for good or for evil, those flaming pigs, I will never forget. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Unbridled Government Spending
I liked this notion from Margaret Thatcher:
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.
And from the Wall Street Journal:
The problem with resisting socialism is that until the money runs out free-spending progressive politics are remarkably seductive.
In other words, we love to spend what appears as “free” government money–more and more entitlements, bigger and bigger government…basically, we can’t resist the candy in the candy store.
But the problem is that the money eventually runs out and by then we have gone too far and are left eating our own flesh.
Why can’t we spend our precious money and scarce resources prudently and also save wisely for a rainy day–why do we have to act like pigs in the poke?
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Plastic Pigs
So you’ve probably heard about this mammoth island of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean.
It’s between the West Coast and Hawaii.
And it’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Get this…
It’s about twice the size of Texas.
Now researchers are predicting that by 2050, our oceans will hold more plastic than fish!
“More than 8 million tons of plastics end up entering our oceans each year.”
And we’re dumping the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute.
Just 5% of plastic waste gets recycled.
So far there is a 165 million tons of plastic trash in the ocean right now.
The plastic pieces can survive hundreds of years.
We are making a darn mess of this planet.
The 5 cent surcharge for plastic bags is a joke in this respect.
Maybe ISIS actually won’t be the end of Western civilization, but plastic will be.
Who’s paying off whom to keep this plastic money wagon going to poison our planet? 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Customers Gone Stinkin’ Wild
I took this photo yesterday in a Home Goods store.
This is the aisle for rugs and mats.
And it is a disaster zone!
I asked the clerk (with the orange apron on) knelling on the floor at the end of the aisle if the customers did this.
And he said, “Oh yes!” and he had to clean it all up.
My G-d, what gets into people?
It’s one thing to shop–pick things up and put them down–but throwing everything all over and trashing the place–stuff on the floors and literally left dangling off the shelves.
And forgetting for a moment what this does to other people’s shopping experience and the potential loss of sales for the store…
How about we think for a moment about the poor guy working in the store to earn a few bucks for his family who now has to go on and his knees to clean up this pigfest?
Is this really shopping or for some people perhaps it’s is a way of venting their anger by choosing to sh*t on the innocent next guy.
Gee whiz folks–can you have a heart? 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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