4 hours ago by Sarah Rainsford:

rowing uncertainty and worries due to tensions with Russia are felt here, as our government openly encourages citizens to ‘stockpile’ food under the assumption of lack of power (to cook good). As if there is recognition of threats to the power grid, which is unlikely to happen due to bad weather but it likely to happen during conflict (as Russians and Ukrainians learned).

Stockpiling was not encouraged but discouraged during COVID-19 lockdowns (e.g. toilet paper).

Humans don’t have this

OME of the birds have begun moulting, as inevitably they will, and it is never pleasant to look at, even if it’s beneficial to animals especially in places that transition between seasons with sharp differences temperature- and precipitation-wise.

Bot (Bottle) seems to be the first with visible moulting this year. I’ve just given her as many seeds as she wanted (until she felt full and flew away). She is a mother now and winter this year might get very cold due to climate breakdown. The chicks must have grown by now (but unable to fly).

No animal can eat datacentres

ears ago we used to buy sacks of seed like these, but later we chose premium (vastly better) seeds at a local market. Months ago the government asked people to lessen or altogether stop the feeding of birds, saying there was no need during summer. This was immediately refuted by some NGOs. I had this theory about grain shortages leading to that advice. Are we prioritising humans over all other living beings?

It’s no secret the planet is overpopulated (by humans mostly).

Anyway, months ago I noticed that many stores no longer stocked large bags of seeds for birds. Last month not even the largest stores stocked them. Was this a business decision or something else?

I still have my sources for sacks of seeds, but they’re not cheap, even if they’re better and less “official”.

There are already press reports about how the oil shortages, the wars, and the drought lead to a grain shortage, potentially driving hunger/famine.

The demand grows, so do the prices. Poor countries are not prioritised for exports and the weather leads to crop (agra) failures.

And they tell us we need more energy-hungry datacentres that drive climate change!

Paying more for less.

ROWING up in the 90s (as I often put it), coffee jars were reasonably large and full to the rim (filled to the highest point). Not anymore. Many brands leave a lot of air in the product (it’s not for any taste-related purposes) and dosages went down gradually while prices rose.

Now, in the check-out tills, I’d see them selling sachets of coffee because the stuff got so expensive that they adopt the “microfinancing” approach or “one day at a time” mindset. What next, sachets of toothpaste and shampoo?

This is not the hallmark of a society moving in a good direction. They normalise poverty and brand that as “lifestyle” or “style” (sachets are, per weight, actually very expensive).

More disposable bits

offee sachets seem to have gained some traction in recent years. In the 90s you seldom saw those at shops, only at hotel rooms and maybe sometimes in some restaurants (rarely).

I recently got lots of them for a very good price and compared to instant coffee or blends or beans (I’d never bother with capsules; it’s a ripoff) they taste very nice and are very quick to prepare. They do, however, generate more waste.

I think those sachets are more about selling us a lot less for a vastly higher price.

It’s sort of like capsules, except the need for a proprietary machine.

They pretend to

ids of the 1980s did not have computers at home, except those born in the late 80s or mid 80s. People born in the early 80s seldom had a PC at home unless a parent needed one for work or was working in the “IT” or similar industry/occupation. Mobile phones did exist, but very few people had them back then. To us, the kids, phones were “on the hook” and TV was the thing to watch things on (with a remote control; some TVs didn’t have that yet).

Now, by contrast, kids grow up with skinnerboxes and computers, such as tablets. They’re being spied on, they get exposed to loads of rubbish, and politicians who grew up in the 60s get to decide if it’s OK or not OK.

Politicians don’t represent the public interest.

Why stop?

asks and sanitisers are still available here in large quantities. Being masked isn’t something to feel shy about. In some countries, masks are still common and were common before COVID-19.

Masks and test kits are “back on shopping lists amid signs of Covid-19 resurgence in S. Korea” and I too was still masked this morning because in crowded places there are all sorts of airborne diseases and besides, masks keep us warm and help improve privacy (as long as many other people also wear masks).

Never make fun of masked people; they might simply recognise risks (better than others) and some are immunocompromised.  Add your comment(s) |  Send this to a friend