PLAYPEN: Covid-19 Everything Political

[chez]

Too bad they don't think liberty is a right.

Alan I travel a lot to many different countries and meet many people. I judge how well off the people are by the smiles on their faces and their overall approach to life. I'm always amazed to find the happiest people I meet are not from the rich countries, but from the poorer nations where comforts of life as we know them are very rare.

I walk down a busy city in the USA, say Atlanta, and I just don't see much happiness anywhere. It's dog eat dog, people hurrying, pushing each other, being rude, heads stuck in their phones...all trying to get ahead. But it seems the more people have, the more they want. You can see it on camera forums where there is always a huge rush for new gear. Gimme the latest IPhone, need the fancy new car...

Cubans, even though they have so little, from my view are happier than the people in the USA on average. I see a lot of smiles on faces and they truly seem to enjoy life with little they have. Music everywhere in the streets and alley ways, dancing every day, walking and talking...just enjoying life.

I think we in the "western world" have lost what life's all about, lost our view of what is important and what is not. Sometimes getting back to the ways of poorer people firmly prioritized what important in life and what makes one happy.

[Rob C]

Some places are saying plumping is essential so long as it involves water.  Leaking water main & You want to keep your house from flooding, no worries.  Gas line and you want to keep your house from exploding, to damn bad. 

I’m being serious on this one; thankfully this kind of stupid has not hit Philly yet.

Only in America...

[elliot_n]

The proposals seem very sensible — a slow, cautious release of the lockdown. The experts prevailed.

[Alan Klein]

While the corona virus crisis is not letting up, Trump's wall building efforts are intensifying.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-wall-exclusive/exclusive-as-the-u-s-shut-down-trumps-legal-fight-to-build-wall-ramped-up-idUSKCN21Y2DR?il=0

Trump tells the truth.  He said in the campaign he would build a wall, and he is.  OK the Mexicans aren't paying for it.  But built it he is. 

[Alan Klein]

Amen. I shudder at what may yet happen in places like India, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, and so on.

I hear Africa too is starving for PPE and testing kits. With all the bitching and moaning, we did pretty well with all that stuff.  We're really blessed and don't know it often enough. 

[JoeKitchen]

With a modicum of good luck, you and your wife may survive to read the comics or listen to them, whatever your choice may be.

:-)

I think a 98%+ probability of survival is plenty of good luck Rob. 

[Alan Klein]

Again, you are talking about a different problem. The old guys who went up Puig Maria did it to escape the plague by not being with other people who could probably pass it to them. Again: the answer to escape was - and remains to this day - keeping well away from others. Whether the poor can or can not do the same is not the point. As I already stressed: the point is the efficacy of distance. And that is the entirety of the point, not to be confused with whether or not the poor can or can not achieve it. It isn't a moral judgement: it's a distinct one of logic. Trying to cloud the issue don't cut it. And ignoring or attempting to devalue the logic of distance does the poor absolutely no good at all.

The rich could afford to hide out.  The rest had to work to eat so took their chances.

[Alan Klein]

Alan I travel a lot to many different countries and meet many people. I judge how well off the people are by the smiles on their faces and their overall approach to life. I'm always amazed to find the happiest people I meet are not from the rich countries, but from the poorer nations where comforts of life as we know them are very rare.

I walk down a busy city in the USA, say Atlanta, and I just don't see much happiness anywhere. It's dog eat dog, people hurrying, pushing each other, being rude, heads stuck in their phones...all trying to get ahead. But it seems the more people have, the more they want. You can see it on camera forums where there is always a huge rush for new gear. Gimme the latest IPhone, need the fancy new car...

Cubans, even though they have so little, from my view are happier than the people in the USA on average. I see a lot of smiles on faces and they truly seem to enjoy life with little they have. Music everywhere in the streets and alley ways, dancing every day, walking and talking...just enjoying life.

I think we in the "western world" have lost what life's all about, lost our view of what is important and what is not. Sometimes getting back to the ways of poorer people firmly prioritized what important in life and what makes one happy.

Maybe all the Cubans who cherished freedom have left. 

[JoeKitchen]

Maybe all the Cubans who cherished freedom have left.

You can tell his opinion is bull when he could not refute Raul with any comebacks.   

[James Clark]

Found the photo. From at least 30 years ago.  Its a really crappy scan of a really wonderful 8x10 trans.

I shot this for a company call Colwell General.  They were at the time in the business of making paint color cards for different paint manufacurers. I think they still do it but Im not sure.  I set this up in the studio.

Cool car, nice setup - looks like a real garage    Those clamshell fenders are bad news at speed.  Yikes.

[chez]

Maybe all the Cubans who cherished freedom have left.

Maybe...or the people that left had their view of freedom influenced by western propoganda and entered into the endless rat race so many here live in.

[chez]

The rich could afford to hide out.  The rest had to work to eat so took their chances.

Nothing has changed through the ages.

[JoeKitchen]

I just don't understand the obsession some have with cars.

My wife is the same way, and has a very special place in her heart for BMWs. I dont dare ask which place is more special, that or the place for me. 

[armand]

I just don't understand the obsession some have with cars.

My wife is the same way, and has a very special place in her heart for BMWs. I dont dare ask which place is more special, that or the place for me.

If you have to ask, you can't afford the answer.


Sorry, I'm trying to stay out of this thread but that fruit was hanging just too low.

[JoeKitchen]

If you have to ask, you can't afford the answer.


Sorry, I'm trying to stay out of this thread but that fruit was hanging just too low.

 

That's a great way of putting it. 

[James Clark]

I just don't understand the obsession some have with cars.

My wife is the same way, and has a very special place in her heart for BMWs. I dont dare ask which place is more special, that or the place for me.

Well, some, like Aston Martin (at least up to the latest designs - yuck) or a Jag E-type, are just beautiful objects, and they are enjoyed the same way a painting or a piece or architecture is enjoyed.

Some are amazing feats of engineering, like a Bugatti.  It takes cutting-edge technology to craft a car that will hold together at over 200 MPH, not to mention special tires, heat management, etc.   The Nissan GTR had a similar appeal 10 years or so ago, as does a Tesla if you're into that kind of thing.

Some are fantastic tools that skilled drivers use to do fun things with.  Lotus, and to a slightly lesser extent Porsche, transmit road feel, weight balance, road surface and adhesion cues that allow the operator to really test their own skill at controlling the machine - a reward unto itself, just like bettering your proficiency at any other skill is.   

[Craig Lamson]

Cool car, nice setup - looks like a real garage    Those clamshell fenders are bad news at speed.  Yikes.

But those fenders are so cool.

[Craig Lamson]

I just don't understand the obsession some have with cars.

My wife is the same way, and has a very special place in her heart for BMWs. I dont dare ask which place is more special, that or the place for me.

I need To meet your wife. 😊.  I got hooked on bmws back about the time I shot that Super Seven.  The studio I worked for did a lot of work for International Harvester,...big trucks.  They were located in our town and we did lots for work for styling and design.  I got to know lots of them and they were big time car guys.  One, Larry Shinoda, ran the place and in an earlier life did design work on Corvette and later, Mustangs.  Anyways they all had cool cars, Porsche’s, Alfa’s, Bimmers, Lotus, Corvettes etc.  one guy even had a Ferrari 275 GTB that was amazing. 

The guy with the Lotus also had a BMW 2002tii.  Man I loved that car, and I bought my first of 12 BMW’s, a somewhat ratty 1971 BMW 2002.  I learned how to work on BMW,s with that car and it was perhaps the quintessential BMW.  Great road feel and handling in a very unassuming package.  I drove it until the rear shock towers rusted out in the trunk.  If you are a car guy, there are cars you have owned that you would give your left one to still have.  This and my 66 Mustang both fit that bill.  I still have the left one...not the cars 😎

[faberryman]

Trump's approval rate has fallen six points to 43% in the latest Gallup poll as reported at Fox News.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-approval-rating-slides-poll-coronavirus

[JoeKitchen]

Trump's approval rate has fallen six points to 43% in the latest Gallup poll as reported at Fox News.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-approval-rating-slides-poll-coronavirus

Brought on economic downturn has an eventual effect.