First World Problems
Today was more of the same. Grocery shortages, people wandering around lost.
However, this is not the first, or may not be the last...
All the Years of Watching Nardo Waste Our Food, I Never Thought it Would Come to This!
Today I was supposed to pick up my cheque for instructing art up until the session was cancelled last week. I certainly can use the cash, since I found out my next prescription is going to cost me $120 CDN. Shite. I'm on fixed income disability. Yesterday I was at the Food Bank, today I'm juggling more arrows.
First Reconnaissance : This morning I went out to gather some supplies for GFs salon, she needed foils for doing hair colour. I got to the store only to find they won't accept cash. Most places are not using money, claiming it risks to transfer virus between folks. All my cards are maxed and my debit account is empty, so I can't even use the debit card. I went to the Grocer in the mall to find, yaaay! Eggs! Only one dozen per family per purchase... well, at least I found some!
Second Reconnaissance : When I got back home I needed to get GFs card to go back to pick up her foils. I would have to wait until the afternoon to pick up my check. I did two loads of towels while I waited out the time. Then found out when I phoned, City Hall is staffed, but closed to public, so I would not be allowed to come to the counter to pick up the check. They told me they would try figure out how to get the cheque to me. Maybe they will have to mail it. I still needed to go back to the beauty supply to pickup the foils for GF. This time I drove all the way there only to find they were no longer open. That's now two trips and eggs without any success. The backup to which I got two rolls of wax paper for preserving food, which I will need to cut. Just call me Edward Scissorhands! So, no luck. I went back to the grocer where I got eggs this morning, because they have a SB kiosk in the store. Only to find they no longer have milk. What?!! No milk?! Not in the kiosk, none left in the store. How will I get my doppio espresso macchiato with foam?! I began to laugh. The SB near where we live had closed at 3p, they started closing early. They still took my cash, thankfully. Last week I was driving from grocer to grocer to see what I could find for food supplies. No bread, no eggs, no butter, no many things, but we managed to get food for what seems to be a virus lock down coming next week. Too many stupid people still floating about. As I said yesterday, the beach was full of lost souls sitting in cafes, getting something to eat.
Trip Three : When I got home, GF asked me to go get another list of things. I told her I was wandered out, gave her the card, and said, "You're turn to figure it out." I was spent, both emotionally and physically and running on empty. So off she went, brave soul, and came back with enough to keep up for a 2 week emergency, should anything further develop with COVID.
The Battle Over Toilet Paper
Americans have been alarmed by empty grocery shelves, but while food suppliers and retailers say they are struggling with surging demand, they insist the supply chain remains strong.
As aisles and aisles of empty store shelves give the appearance that the United States (and Canada), improbably and alarmingly, is running out of food, the nation’s biggest retailers, dairy farmers and meat producers say that isn’t so. The food supply chain, they say, remains intact and has been ramping up to meet the unprecedented stockpiling brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
We hear tell tales of the dust bowl during the drought era of the 1930s, but many countries have experienced food shortages over the centuries. And we have those ancestral fears flowing through our bones. In addition to the droughts or agriculture, were stock collapses in the economy affecting industry. Military was used as a vehicle to spend our way out of recession. America was always looking for a scapegoat. If it wasn't communism, then fascism, now globalism. The writing is on the wall. You can find it on Wall Street posted on the Dow Jones, as we leave the 19th century Industrial Revolution into the 20th century Technological Evolution of the present millennial Information Age.
“Montreal soup kitchen,” Library and archives Canada, Online MIKAN no. 3192281, 1931
But this is different, COVID-19 pandemic is more akin to the Black Plague that hit Europe from 1347 to 1351.
Here's an interesting coincidence : The Black Death came from China and spread rapidly throughout Europe. By the end of the epidemic, it has killed 2/3 of Europe's population. The Black Death (or black Plague) was a very harmful disease that went from 1347 to 1351 (or 14 century) It went from China to Europe in the span of 5 years. It was the most devastating disease in human history. Around 25 million people died in Europe, and 60 million in China just from the plague. This disease spread so quickly from the lack of hygiene, and the lack of care while treating people with the harmful disease.
12 Ships From China : https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e1d8260c7564611954d18867e135395
The Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór [anˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), or the Great Hunger in Ireland, was a period of mass starvation and disease from 1845 to 1849. Sometimes referred to as the Irish Potato Famine, outside Ireland, brought about by potato blight, which infected potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, also causing some 100,000 deaths outside Ireland and influencing much of the unrest in the widespread European Revolutions of 1848. Well, rest assure, there is no shortage of potatoes at the moment, other than the fast food outlets can't keep up with making french fries.
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Irish Famine Scene at the Gate of the Work House circa 1809
Throughout Russian history famines and droughts have been common, often resulting in humanitarian crises traceable to political or economic instability, poor policy, environmental issues and war. Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union tended to occur fairly regularly, with famine occurring every 10-13 years and droughts every five to seven years.
The immediate cause of most of the shortages of 1981, was the failure of the grain harvest for the third year in a row.
In the rebuilding of empires after war and destitution, industry often took precedence over food for industry and military.
KHABAROVSK, Soviet Union - There was a popular new diet in the Soviet Union in winter 1991, but it’s not likely to catch on elsewhere: a loaf of bread three times a day, supplemented by two pounds of potatoes. “On our income, that’s all we can afford to buy,” said Yakov Shvolansky, a 72-year-old retiree, as fellow pensioners nodded in solemn agreement. “Meat? I haven’t tasted meat in a year.”
Moscow 1990-91 Empty Grocery Stores : https://www.rbth.com/history/328157-did-soviet-government-officials-live-luxuriously
It has not been forgotten there that hunger played a role in the events of 1917. Since the collapse of Communism, Russia has created a system of subsidies and direct payments dedicated to the priority branches of the Russian agricultural and food sector. Government funds in the amount of RUB2.28 trillion (current value: EUR30.4bn) have been allocated for this purpose. The document also indicates the minimum levels of production and the self-sufficiency ratios (the share of domestic production in domestic consumption) for the basic types of food, that Russia is supposed to reach by 2020.
Stalin perpetrated genocide on the agrarian Kulacs in his retreat from Germany into the backwoods, where he took refuge to regather and rebuild his armies. Dekulakization (Russian: раскулачивание, raskulachivanie; Ukrainian: розкуркулення, rozkurkulennia) was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their families in the 1929-1932 period of the first five-year plan. To facilitate the expropriations of farmland, the Soviet government portrayed kulaks as class enemies of the USSR. Hunger, disease and mass executions during dekulakization led to at least 530,000 to 600,000 deaths from 1929 to 1933, though higher estimates also exist, with historian Robert Conquest estimating in 1986 that 5 million people may have died.
"We will liquidate the kulaks as a class" and "All to the struggle against the destroyers of agriculture"
More than 1.8 million peasants were deported in 1930-1931.
Only to name a few..
'You're Lucky to Find Butter'
dr. π (pi)
.
However, this is not the first, or may not be the last...
All the Years of Watching Nardo Waste Our Food, I Never Thought it Would Come to This!
Today I was supposed to pick up my cheque for instructing art up until the session was cancelled last week. I certainly can use the cash, since I found out my next prescription is going to cost me $120 CDN. Shite. I'm on fixed income disability. Yesterday I was at the Food Bank, today I'm juggling more arrows.
First Reconnaissance : This morning I went out to gather some supplies for GFs salon, she needed foils for doing hair colour. I got to the store only to find they won't accept cash. Most places are not using money, claiming it risks to transfer virus between folks. All my cards are maxed and my debit account is empty, so I can't even use the debit card. I went to the Grocer in the mall to find, yaaay! Eggs! Only one dozen per family per purchase... well, at least I found some!
Second Reconnaissance : When I got back home I needed to get GFs card to go back to pick up her foils. I would have to wait until the afternoon to pick up my check. I did two loads of towels while I waited out the time. Then found out when I phoned, City Hall is staffed, but closed to public, so I would not be allowed to come to the counter to pick up the check. They told me they would try figure out how to get the cheque to me. Maybe they will have to mail it. I still needed to go back to the beauty supply to pickup the foils for GF. This time I drove all the way there only to find they were no longer open. That's now two trips and eggs without any success. The backup to which I got two rolls of wax paper for preserving food, which I will need to cut. Just call me Edward Scissorhands! So, no luck. I went back to the grocer where I got eggs this morning, because they have a SB kiosk in the store. Only to find they no longer have milk. What?!! No milk?! Not in the kiosk, none left in the store. How will I get my doppio espresso macchiato with foam?! I began to laugh. The SB near where we live had closed at 3p, they started closing early. They still took my cash, thankfully. Last week I was driving from grocer to grocer to see what I could find for food supplies. No bread, no eggs, no butter, no many things, but we managed to get food for what seems to be a virus lock down coming next week. Too many stupid people still floating about. As I said yesterday, the beach was full of lost souls sitting in cafes, getting something to eat.
Trip Three : When I got home, GF asked me to go get another list of things. I told her I was wandered out, gave her the card, and said, "You're turn to figure it out." I was spent, both emotionally and physically and running on empty. So off she went, brave soul, and came back with enough to keep up for a 2 week emergency, should anything further develop with COVID.
The Battle Over Toilet Paper
Americans have been alarmed by empty grocery shelves, but while food suppliers and retailers say they are struggling with surging demand, they insist the supply chain remains strong.
As aisles and aisles of empty store shelves give the appearance that the United States (and Canada), improbably and alarmingly, is running out of food, the nation’s biggest retailers, dairy farmers and meat producers say that isn’t so. The food supply chain, they say, remains intact and has been ramping up to meet the unprecedented stockpiling brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Click to viewWe hear tell tales of the dust bowl during the drought era of the 1930s, but many countries have experienced food shortages over the centuries. And we have those ancestral fears flowing through our bones. In addition to the droughts or agriculture, were stock collapses in the economy affecting industry. Military was used as a vehicle to spend our way out of recession. America was always looking for a scapegoat. If it wasn't communism, then fascism, now globalism. The writing is on the wall. You can find it on Wall Street posted on the Dow Jones, as we leave the 19th century Industrial Revolution into the 20th century Technological Evolution of the present millennial Information Age.
“Montreal soup kitchen,” Library and archives Canada, Online MIKAN no. 3192281, 1931
But this is different, COVID-19 pandemic is more akin to the Black Plague that hit Europe from 1347 to 1351.
Here's an interesting coincidence : The Black Death came from China and spread rapidly throughout Europe. By the end of the epidemic, it has killed 2/3 of Europe's population. The Black Death (or black Plague) was a very harmful disease that went from 1347 to 1351 (or 14 century) It went from China to Europe in the span of 5 years. It was the most devastating disease in human history. Around 25 million people died in Europe, and 60 million in China just from the plague. This disease spread so quickly from the lack of hygiene, and the lack of care while treating people with the harmful disease.
12 Ships From China : https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e1d8260c7564611954d18867e135395
The Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór [anˠ ˈɡɔɾˠt̪ˠə ˈmˠoːɾˠ]), or the Great Hunger in Ireland, was a period of mass starvation and disease from 1845 to 1849. Sometimes referred to as the Irish Potato Famine, outside Ireland, brought about by potato blight, which infected potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, also causing some 100,000 deaths outside Ireland and influencing much of the unrest in the widespread European Revolutions of 1848. Well, rest assure, there is no shortage of potatoes at the moment, other than the fast food outlets can't keep up with making french fries.
Irish Famine Scene at the Gate of the Work House circa 1809
Throughout Russian history famines and droughts have been common, often resulting in humanitarian crises traceable to political or economic instability, poor policy, environmental issues and war. Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union tended to occur fairly regularly, with famine occurring every 10-13 years and droughts every five to seven years.
The immediate cause of most of the shortages of 1981, was the failure of the grain harvest for the third year in a row.
In the rebuilding of empires after war and destitution, industry often took precedence over food for industry and military.
KHABAROVSK, Soviet Union - There was a popular new diet in the Soviet Union in winter 1991, but it’s not likely to catch on elsewhere: a loaf of bread three times a day, supplemented by two pounds of potatoes. “On our income, that’s all we can afford to buy,” said Yakov Shvolansky, a 72-year-old retiree, as fellow pensioners nodded in solemn agreement. “Meat? I haven’t tasted meat in a year.”
Moscow 1990-91 Empty Grocery Stores : https://www.rbth.com/history/328157-did-soviet-government-officials-live-luxuriously
It has not been forgotten there that hunger played a role in the events of 1917. Since the collapse of Communism, Russia has created a system of subsidies and direct payments dedicated to the priority branches of the Russian agricultural and food sector. Government funds in the amount of RUB2.28 trillion (current value: EUR30.4bn) have been allocated for this purpose. The document also indicates the minimum levels of production and the self-sufficiency ratios (the share of domestic production in domestic consumption) for the basic types of food, that Russia is supposed to reach by 2020.
Stalin perpetrated genocide on the agrarian Kulacs in his retreat from Germany into the backwoods, where he took refuge to regather and rebuild his armies. Dekulakization (Russian: раскулачивание, raskulachivanie; Ukrainian: розкуркулення, rozkurkulennia) was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their families in the 1929-1932 period of the first five-year plan. To facilitate the expropriations of farmland, the Soviet government portrayed kulaks as class enemies of the USSR. Hunger, disease and mass executions during dekulakization led to at least 530,000 to 600,000 deaths from 1929 to 1933, though higher estimates also exist, with historian Robert Conquest estimating in 1986 that 5 million people may have died.
"We will liquidate the kulaks as a class" and "All to the struggle against the destroyers of agriculture"
More than 1.8 million peasants were deported in 1930-1931.
Only to name a few..
'You're Lucky to Find Butter'
dr. π (pi)
.