"Smelling flatulence is a blessing and you may live longer"

Well, I and others trapped in a crowded elevator would rather smell pleasant thoughts inducing roses than methane released by fellow humans.

Many people jump on the bandwagon and believe everything that promises a longer life. Just read and see the commercials on the idiot tube.

Almost everyday, somewhere, somebody comes up with a device, diet, spiritual, or even incomprehensible item or a  good way to live longer, peddled by some overt or well disguised charlatan. By and large the tsunami of  infomercial and advertisements manage to rake in a nice pile of money for the 'entrepreneur'.

The latest discovery claims smelling flatulence could make you help live longer. If it works, then more sniff to it. - Bring on the smell of rotten eggs mixed with the aroma of stale beer.

Myself and millions of others would rather smell fresh flowers or even the tempting smell of a grease burger. That is up to now.

Equipped with this new olfactory data promising a longer life, a chance to pay more taxes, hear about new discoveries to extend life, often for a price defined in dollars, one find it hard to remain indifferent.

There is a downside to our ability to smell, or not being able to smell.

According to recent research data of older adults, researchers have found a link between the inability to identify certain scents, like peppermint or fish and an increased risk of mortality over the next five years.

Known as "olfactory dysfunction," the loss of smell is an even stronger predictor of when a person will likely die than conditions such as heart failure, cancer or lung disease, according to researchers at the University of Chicago.

This is serious stuff and not exactly the inducer of that "feeling good" or the micro euphoria like when a small refund arrives from the Internal Revenue Service, or whatever.

One thing you can count on: You will see more people sniffing, discreetly if possible.

Perhaps you will see a beatific smile on the face snuggled next to you in the crowded subway car. At the same time most people exchanging looks that could kill, but unable to alleviate the rotten smell let loose by someone who obviously having problems smelling or is just plainly anti-social. 

Underheated Planet, Mini Ice Age In The Cards?

The Inconvenient Idea is explored by an article published in the Financial post, "Lawrence Solomon: Proof that a new ice age has already started is stronger than ever, and we couldn’t be less prepared", authored by Lawrence Solomon:
 
http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/lawrence-solomon-proof-that-a-new-ice-age-has-already-started-is-stronger-than-ever-and-we-couldnt-be-less-prepared

Read the article and reach your own conclusion. Myself for one, I am not inclined to believe the assumption put forward by the article. But, then!

After all, right now we are getting prepared to pay a carbon tax. A tax apparently designed to save  the planet from warming and the coming climate change.

However, on the remote chance that the mini ice age manifest itself, will there be a refund on the moneys we paid for the good cause of stopping the warming of the Earth?

Really! It Is Not For A Few Dollars More

                                                                                  
I must be a rascal. During the years gone by, I have resigned more than once from a job because I quite simply felt I deserved better financial compensation for my labours than what the employer had offered in a crisp new contract.--

And I promptly went out and started looking for another job that met my financial expectations. 

Many others have done the same thing and we did not hide the fact that money was a major factor influencing our decisions regarding employment matters.

Times have changed. Today we face a pandemic of self-sacrifice when it comes to financial expectations. Things are not done for the money, judging from the actively promoted illusions.

 Let me explain: Doctors’ dissatisfaction and their protests hardly ever mentions money. Yet, they do deserve to be paid better. But no, they claim they want to improve Medicare - and for this reason many of them move to the US.  

Provincial  other civil servants may strike here and there, not for more money. They just want to upgrade the services they provide.

Same with the teachers when they talk about strikes. Their earnest desire is to improve the quality of education. Hell, they don’t mention that they want money--They just focus on the children’s interests.

And how can one leave out our politicians ? They never make mention of money or the excellent benefit packages as the reasons they seek public office. No, all they want is to serve us, the compensation they would receive - is just incidental.

Except when they quietly vote themselves substantial raises.

Fire Department Story With Happy Ending

Someone sent me the following  story, and I am sharing it with you:

"One dark night outside a small town in Michigan, a fire started inside the local chemical plant and in a blink of an eye it exploded into massive flames. The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around.

 

When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact."

 

 But the roaring flames held the firefighters off.

 

Soon more fire departments had to be called in as the situation became desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files.

 

From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight. It was the nearby township volunteer fire department composed mainly of Finns over the age of 65. To everyone's amazement, that little run-down fire engine roared right past all the newer sleek engines that were parked outside the plant.

 

Without even slowing down it drove straight into the middle of the inferno.
Outside, the other firemen watched as the Finnish old timers jumped off right in the middle of the fire fought it back on all sides. It was a performance and effort never seen before.

 

Within a short time, the Finnish old timers had extinguished the fire and had saved the secret formulas. The grateful chemical company president announced that for such a superhuman feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave fire fighters.

 

The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their chief, "What are you going to do with all that money?"

 

"Vell," said Eino Karpinen, the 70-year-old fire chief, "Da first thing ve gonna do is fix da brakes on dat f***ing truck!"

You Have Your Degree - Now You Need A Job

There are many committed people that struggle financially and in other ways to obtain that much coveted degree. Preferably in something they really like to do.

Of course, in the final analysis they want to utilize the hard earned degree to earn a decent salary and pay their student and other loans.

Anyone interested in obtaining a degree and working for a decent or top salary in North America may consider the opportunities offered by various fields with the appropriate degree.

By and large Professional majors such as dentistry optometry and pharmacy show above average employment levels, with salaries approaching and in some cases exceeding $100,000

However, Humanities graduates reported far lower earnings.

Some say, these degrees are easier to come by and there are far too many people graduated from Humanities. True, society only needs a certain number of librarians and others to accommodate the need for their skills in a functioning society.

The inconvenient truth is, if you want to make money you will have to sweat and forget about the "easier" degrees.

There seem to be a prevailing, indeed growing belief among the general population, that most people they know in university are often struggling to acquire degrees in areas where the field is saturated and where there is little demand and pay.

On balance, anyone with sound mind would be suspicious of  anything that proclaims a guarantee when it comes to  degrees.

In my experience, two young people I know, graduated from engineering. Both stepped into good jobs. Some of their friends who took, sociology, women's studies, art, etc., are flipping hamburgers.

However, no one should be discouraged. Experienced oil patch tradesmen, with overtime, were making over $200.000 before the oil prices tumbled.- Other tradesman are doing quite well too.

Hold Your Nose, You Are Only Human - Not Bovine

Things are never boring in sunny California. Right now they are thinking of regulating cow farts.

O.K. the Progressives, whatever they mean by that, want to secede from the United States of America, simply because they don’t like the outcome of one election.

But that alone is not a healthy challenge for some. No! Now they want to bring under control cow flatulence. How will they do it?

No problem for the wise ones churning out the regulations and unenforceable rules; The Farmer must take extra steps to capture the methane gas produced when the cow belches or farts.

How will this imposing Earth saving system work? How, and who will be groomed to insure compliance? Will the inspection rely on instrument read outs only, or special humans with super olfactory senses will be recruited for this smelly but environmentally significant task?

And if they deliver the goods and the emissions from millions of cows will be commanded, what comes next?

There are close to seven billion homo sapiens emitting obnoxious gases at least 20 times a day.  Sure,  the majority of us are polite enough to pass wind in bathrooms, or in the privacy of our homes, or on empty sidewalks with no sensitive nostrils around.

But amongst us respectful citizens, there’s an unsavoury breed: the public farter.

No cow behaves like some of the two legged truly gutsy gas monsters. They’ll laugh at your horror as they assault your senses with their stink.

However, for now  at least in California, the cows are the target of sincere but misguided attempt in reducing the methane content.

When I mentioned this to someone, he held up the paper and pointed to two headlines, -- "Trump keeps jobs in America" and  "Liberals regulate cow farts in California".- No comment.