Fifty150
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It seemed to all the world, that he could do no wrong.
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Your Most Disturbing Realizations
- Thread starter LizzieMaine
- Start date
Speaking of, it disturbs me how much Harrison Ford has been doubling down on the "I am Indiana Jones, the character dies with me" thing lately. Indiana Jones is a fictional character that's already been played by nearly half a dozen other actors in live action, including River Phoenix. What's worse is how man fans I see actively encouraging it, even going to so far as to associate any other role Ford has done to Indy. Now LucasFilm is getting in on it. I just don't like the idea of a character having to be forcibly retired because he's been ironically played by a single actor.
If we retired every character who was raised to icon status by a single actor, we'd never have had some of the great recasts of cinema history.
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LostInTyme
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When I landed after falling off the roof two days ago and realized I wasn't dead.
Tiki Tom
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Being me, I thought I should look for the facts. On the way, I was distracted (squirrel!) by this funny video.
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Edward Reed
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Yikes! Keep us posted. I hope all works out well.
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I trust you have by now received medical attention?
Let us know how it goes, man. That sounds serious.
Tiki Tom
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That is frightening. Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.
Thank you all!
Went to the emergency unit of „my“ hospital where my cancer… treatments were done.
Once they pull my folder everything goes very fast and smooth there.
Nothing dangerous been seen or found, so the guess is one or more stones decided to migrate and gashed some of „inner infrastructure“ open.
Some antibiotics made it way better, no pain anymore.
Creepy experience anyway….
Going to visit my internist soon.
Went to the emergency unit of „my“ hospital where my cancer… treatments were done.
Once they pull my folder everything goes very fast and smooth there.
Nothing dangerous been seen or found, so the guess is one or more stones decided to migrate and gashed some of „inner infrastructure“ open.
Some antibiotics made it way better, no pain anymore.
Creepy experience anyway….
Going to visit my internist soon.
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Fifty150
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I have this friend. A homeowner. Lives in a very nice, upper middle class township, just a mile or so from The Big City. Amongst her neighbors are elected officials, appointed department heads from city and county agencies, and business owners. Homes are over $1 million. Her home is assessed at around $1.25 million.
When she was working, she had a middle class income. And like a lot of people, lived paycheck to paycheck. No real savings. Live within you means.......... drive a nice car - make $600 payments.......... take a vacation - spend a few thousand to travel........ go out for drinks with friends - buy a round or two............. go out to dinner a few times a week - at restaurants that serve $100 meals........ don't brown bag it - spend $20 a day on lunch and Starbucks......... go shopping - get a new outfit or shoes every other paycheck........ nothing too unreasonable.
She is on disability from a workplace injury. Her income is no longer in line with being able to finance her lifestyle. According to her, her income barely covers her property tax, property insurance, utilities, et cetera. I believe it. The numbers just don't add up. If she needed money for a car repair, or plumbing........it's just not there. She has been getting groceries from the food bank. The food bank did not require her to fill out a bunch of forms and disclose her finances. They just give a bag of free food to whomever comes along. Because she is a homeowner, she does not qualify for "free stuff". Various social workers have told her that their programs are for people who have no money, not a person with assets.
I get it. She does not want to lose her home. Nobody wants to sell the house, only to give a large percentage of the proceeds of the sale to the government in the form of capital gains taxes. The government still won't help you. You don't qualify for housing assistance when you have $1 million in cash from the sale of a home. And those "reverse mortgage" deals really are not deals.
But at the end of the day, she is a starving millionaire. She can't afford to eat. That is a disturbing realization.
When she was working, she had a middle class income. And like a lot of people, lived paycheck to paycheck. No real savings. Live within you means.......... drive a nice car - make $600 payments.......... take a vacation - spend a few thousand to travel........ go out for drinks with friends - buy a round or two............. go out to dinner a few times a week - at restaurants that serve $100 meals........ don't brown bag it - spend $20 a day on lunch and Starbucks......... go shopping - get a new outfit or shoes every other paycheck........ nothing too unreasonable.
She is on disability from a workplace injury. Her income is no longer in line with being able to finance her lifestyle. According to her, her income barely covers her property tax, property insurance, utilities, et cetera. I believe it. The numbers just don't add up. If she needed money for a car repair, or plumbing........it's just not there. She has been getting groceries from the food bank. The food bank did not require her to fill out a bunch of forms and disclose her finances. They just give a bag of free food to whomever comes along. Because she is a homeowner, she does not qualify for "free stuff". Various social workers have told her that their programs are for people who have no money, not a person with assets.
I get it. She does not want to lose her home. Nobody wants to sell the house, only to give a large percentage of the proceeds of the sale to the government in the form of capital gains taxes. The government still won't help you. You don't qualify for housing assistance when you have $1 million in cash from the sale of a home. And those "reverse mortgage" deals really are not deals.
But at the end of the day, she is a starving millionaire. She can't afford to eat. That is a disturbing realization.
Imho it could hardly get any more unreasonably.
Tiki Tom
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I know a few people who are “millionaires on paper”, but are struggling from day to day. And it is all the worse, because it is very important that they “keep up appearances.”
Edit addition: And, quite frankly, one of my most disturbing realizations (since moving back to the States) is that, here, the NUMBER ONE topic of conversation is MONEY. Every conversation —-with guys, at least—- seems to be about income, taxes, investments, real estate prices, business schemes, etc., etc. It is a jarring change from my former life, in which such topics were treated as private matters and, generally, not discussed with relative strangers. I am often left speechless when a person who I just met ten minutes ago, starts in about his portfolio or how he is considering such and such a move to minimize taxes. They, no doubt, think I’m from another planet.
Edit addition: And, quite frankly, one of my most disturbing realizations (since moving back to the States) is that, here, the NUMBER ONE topic of conversation is MONEY. Every conversation —-with guys, at least—- seems to be about income, taxes, investments, real estate prices, business schemes, etc., etc. It is a jarring change from my former life, in which such topics were treated as private matters and, generally, not discussed with relative strangers. I am often left speechless when a person who I just met ten minutes ago, starts in about his portfolio or how he is considering such and such a move to minimize taxes. They, no doubt, think I’m from another planet.
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Fifty150
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Very few people sympathize with the wealthy people who are hungry. Or the "rich" people who are poor.
Her main problem is cash flow. From earning a salary to living on disability is a big difference. But the big difference is that disability does not pay enough to match the cost of living. Disability does not even pay enough to rent a small room. Of course, there are always options. The 1st option is for her to lose her home. She can no longer afford to live in it. She will have to sell or give away most of her possessions, and move into a very tiny room somewhere. She may be able to find something for $XXXX monthly. Then rent her house out for $XXXX monthly. She will have to declare and pay taxes on rental income. Then claim a renters credit for her little room. And if everything works out mathematically, there may be $XXX difference which could buy groceries - if she is thrifty and uses coupons. Another obvious option is to eat meals from charity. Line up with the homeless and eat whatever sandwich the church is handing out that day. The strategy would be to find a rental unit with rent control, since her single family home is not rent controlled. In 10 years, her rent controlled unit would be slightly below the market rate, and she could collect market rate rent on her house. She can sell her 10 year old car for whatever the Blue Book value is, and save $XXX per month on insurance, fuel, and maintenance. We spoke about her cost of living expenses, and apparently, everything has been trimmed. No more gym memberships, spa massages, and such. She has even canceled her cable television and home internet service.
There are other options. Moving to another part of the country where cost of living is lower. We see that from a different perspective. She doesn't want to leave friends and family, and live somewhere all alone. I shrugged my shoulders and said "so what?" None of her friends and family are financially helping her. I suggested renting out a room, since she has a 3 bedroom home and lives there alone. But she didn't want to live with strangers. I suggested a small business....... but with zero start-up capital, - and if she wasn't injured and in pain, she could just simply return to work.
She's only 35. And the on-the-job injury is legitimate. No good choices here. Selling the house would not be enough money for her to live the next 40 or 50 years. Or she lines up for meals at the soup kitchen. I don't know. She may have to turn towards the less than legal, or less than moral economy
Her main problem is cash flow. From earning a salary to living on disability is a big difference. But the big difference is that disability does not pay enough to match the cost of living. Disability does not even pay enough to rent a small room. Of course, there are always options. The 1st option is for her to lose her home. She can no longer afford to live in it. She will have to sell or give away most of her possessions, and move into a very tiny room somewhere. She may be able to find something for $XXXX monthly. Then rent her house out for $XXXX monthly. She will have to declare and pay taxes on rental income. Then claim a renters credit for her little room. And if everything works out mathematically, there may be $XXX difference which could buy groceries - if she is thrifty and uses coupons. Another obvious option is to eat meals from charity. Line up with the homeless and eat whatever sandwich the church is handing out that day. The strategy would be to find a rental unit with rent control, since her single family home is not rent controlled. In 10 years, her rent controlled unit would be slightly below the market rate, and she could collect market rate rent on her house. She can sell her 10 year old car for whatever the Blue Book value is, and save $XXX per month on insurance, fuel, and maintenance. We spoke about her cost of living expenses, and apparently, everything has been trimmed. No more gym memberships, spa massages, and such. She has even canceled her cable television and home internet service.
There are other options. Moving to another part of the country where cost of living is lower. We see that from a different perspective. She doesn't want to leave friends and family, and live somewhere all alone. I shrugged my shoulders and said "so what?" None of her friends and family are financially helping her. I suggested renting out a room, since she has a 3 bedroom home and lives there alone. But she didn't want to live with strangers. I suggested a small business....... but with zero start-up capital, - and if she wasn't injured and in pain, she could just simply return to work.
She's only 35. And the on-the-job injury is legitimate. No good choices here. Selling the house would not be enough money for her to live the next 40 or 50 years. Or she lines up for meals at the soup kitchen. I don't know. She may have to turn towards the less than legal, or less than moral economy
LizzieMaine
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The plain fact that nobody wants to talk about is that nobody's "prosperity" is real. The whole concept of "wealth" depends on society agreeing that certain things are so, and when those things are no longer so, neither is the wealth -- as, for example, all the "crypto millionaires" are discovering just now. Money is valuable because we agree as a society that money is valuable. Gold is valuable becsuse we agree as a society that gold is valuable. Land is valuable because we as a society have set up a whole network of laws declaring that land can be "owned." But in reality we're all just monkeys fighting over sticks, until we all die, and different monkeys get those sticks. All this vast fiction of "economics" that we've created is designed, in fact, to help us not acknowledge that reality. Especially that part of the reality that says that any of us, with just a few bad rolls of the dice, a few keystrokes not in our favor, could lose everything we think we have.
LostInTyme
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I love the line, "monkeys fighting over sticks." It sums up the unreality of the life we all believe in (please excuse the preposition at the end of my statement). Also, the monkeys and sticks scenario has recalled a memory of mine, the opening segment of 2001, A Space Odyssey, where the monkeys (chimps) were fighting one another with sticks. How far we haven't come is the reality.
EDIT: Upon further reflection, the Chimps were using bones to fight with, not sticks, but the meaning is still the same. If Mankind survives, we may all end up that way. Sticks and bones and stones will hurt me. That is, after all the ammo has all been shot up.
EDIT: Upon further reflection, the Chimps were using bones to fight with, not sticks, but the meaning is still the same. If Mankind survives, we may all end up that way. Sticks and bones and stones will hurt me. That is, after all the ammo has all been shot up.
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Miss Lizzie, I want to thank you for writing this. Reading it brought out the first actual laugh I've had in the last week or so, and life events over the last few years have educated me on just how honest your statement is.
Tiki Tom
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I was heartened recently by someone who commented, in effect, that humans only attained consciousness (as we know it) about 50 thousand years ago, and that real science is only about 150 years old. Those are both very very short amounts of time in the grand scheme of things. Now imagine the vast ocean of time stretching out in front of us (roughly a billion years until the sun flares out.) We know that consciousness is evolving… imagine the Very real potential for improvement and improved consciousness if our minds continue to evolve.
Yes, yes. There is the whole “if we don’t kill ourselves first” thing.
Yes, yes. There is the whole “if we don’t kill ourselves first” thing.
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It's nowhere near as horrible here in the U.S. as Fox News and CNN make it appear to be.
Edited 06/09/22 because the bartenders are apparently erring on the side of caution.
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Edward
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Everywhere has its good and bad, after all. I am a child of The Troubles in northern Ireland. For years, people wouldn't visit there, or when we were elsewhere they treated us as if we were orphans from a warzone. In practice, well, it was a very real thing, but very many of us were privileged enough to grow up with little direct experience of it all. I often like to tell 'outsiders' about the times I fired a gun at an army base. Their reactions are priceless - until I explain it was an organised trip for our Scout Troop, and we were on the rifle range.
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