Urban, Rural, Urban Sprawl & Rural Whatever…in this U.S. of A.

This posting will concentrate on interesting things going on in our country.

• Doctors who are mentally ill do not admit it, because they could lose their license to practice. Me? I’m walking in with a Rorschach Ink Blot test for my doctor to be graded on before I let him lay a finger on me.
• When I was in school a teacher walked into the room and said there were 150,000,000 million Americans.  And now we have over 350,000,000, give or take. What does this mean?

1. I have lived too long.
2. The Church’s/Bible’s message of ‘Go forth and Multiply’ was misunderstood and taken literally; but the translation was in error and it should have read “Go forth and do the Math.” – not Multiply.
3. New, fresh water is going to be harder to come by.
4. Whatever it means does not matter because there is nothing we can do about it now – and besides, we need more people, young people to do the work so the rest of us will be able to ‘collect’.

• I read where a study says we Americans are most scared of: Corruption, then Cyberterrorism, then Corporate Data taking, then Terrorist Attacks. #17 on the list is reptiles. #21 is Global warming. #37 overpopulation.

1. What about heights? People used to be scared of heights. And ‘speaking in public’. People used to be scared out of their wits to have to speak in public. And Sharks. What happened here? Did we suddenly get brave with Sharks? Have the newer generations not seen the movie? Something is wrong with this list. It is hard to tell what is the truth nowadays and what is false. I’m scared of what I just thought.
2. #11 was Gun Control. Gun control? People being scared of The Guns didn’t even get on the list.
3. What about ‘Open Defecation’? I hear that is the new bad in large cities these days. I’m scared of that and all that that means.

• In the 1950’s 70% of Americans watching TV watched ‘I Love Lucy’. Today, 1% of Americans watch the most watched cable channel show.

1. This goes to show we are fractured – and that is a good thing.
2. Lucy had too much power.
3. We have too many entertainment options today.
4. Entertainment today is watching shows – and that is easier than “having people over”, which is exhausting and not necessarily entertaining.
5. Most Americans would think all of the above are correct, with the possible exception of ‘c’.

• Studies show: Obesity may foreshadow Alzheimers.
• More and more of us, over 80%, have moved to, or are moving to Urban areas. This is good for Economic numbers, because Urban areas make us want more.  34% are obese in the Rural areas. Only 28% of are obese in the Urban areas. Apparently, back in the day if you lived in the Rural, you walked to the outhouse, you walked to the pump to fetch the water, you walked and worked in the fields – and you were given to lean-ness. Today, if you are a Rural, you have an inside toilet, you have indoor plumbing, and some sit on a tractor. You have no doctors to take care of you, no matter whether they are sane or otherwise, because they have all gone Urban. Rurals are more susceptible to death from smoking, obesity, heart diseases, cancers, lack of seat belt usage – than are the Urbans.(The studies I have seen do not tell me what the Urbans die of.)  In the Urban, apparently, you walk more – even though you do have indoor plumbing and running water; but the stats are conclusive – even though they can be confusing.
• A recent study shows the average 19 year old is as sedentary as the average 60 year old. (I have no idea what this means; but it is very interesting, nonetheless. My guess: This is either bad news for the 19 year old, or good news for the 60 year old.  Is 19 the new 60? or 60 the new 19?  More studies are needed.)
• A study reveals more Americans are working out in gyms (24% – up from 21% a few years ago).  But more people are getting obese – even though they are working out (31% of worker-outers gain weight despite their gym activities – up slightly in the past few years). This means: 1) You should stay away from gyms, because you know what gaining weight can foreshadow 2) Or, it does not really matter whether you move to the rural or to the urban, the weight problem is going to follow you wherever you go, even in the gym.
• Here is a good one: A study shows 20% of people cheat at self-check out counters.

1. But does the cheating cost more than if the store paid a person to check you out? By the way, another study says richer people tend to cheat more at check out counters than the poorer.(Another study says the rich tend to cheat in traffic more than us poor, also).

• I read the average adult American laughs 18 times a day.

1. What is so funny?
2. Mr. Stephens, my 7th grade Algebra teacher, said there is too much laughter in this world. He said laughter is caused by: Surprise. (You open the door and you see someone you did not expect to see and you give a short laugh). Or by a bit of Sadism. (You see someone fall on a banana peel and you laugh). Or, out of Ignorance.(Someone tells you something you did not know and you laugh – not at it, but because of your lack of knowledge.) Mr. Stephens went on to say we should smile more, however. I did not learn much about algebra from him; but he taught me a lot.

• One more study for this posting: People (A study of 800,000 0f them) it turns out would rather watch a group of people explode a watermelon than read a news article. 1) Is this the ‘End of Civilization as we know it? 2) Which articles? From which section of the news are they talking about here? 3) All the above studies in this posting show me ‘People’ should be way up on that list of things most Americans are scared about.

That is all I can shell out for now. You have a good day.

C. E. Metzger

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