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Random Thoughts or Whatever

kirk57 said:
Interesting. I know somebody who moved there from Chicago to run a charitable organization that she and her husband started.

We here in the US are constantly being told that the US is the best in the world at, well, everything. But international travel more often than not shows that this is simply not true.
I still want to live here and all, but I am under no delusions that it's perfect. Acknowledging that is the first step towards making it better.
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I still have homes (two) in USA and one in France, but I've contracted for an apartment in Nairobi into which I will begin residence in early June through ???? I think once established in Kenya, I will divide my time between (mostly) Kenya, Alexandria (VA), and place out on the Mediterranean in Bulgaria, with my friend from Alexandria (VA). I'll lease out the property in France until I sell it, but it's most unlikely I will reside in the EU after the close of 2024. But, we'll see.
 
kirk57 said:
Interesting. I know somebody who moved there from Chicago to run a charitable organization that she and her husband started.
Click to expand...
I would be interested in knowing the name of their organization and maybe meeting them. Can you send this information to me in a PM, after checking with them if they'd be up for a "visit" from a fellow Chicago native?

PS - Are they operating an NGO in Nairobi? Mutual navigation might benefit all of us.
 
Mystic said:
So...

- Friendly and caring atmosphere ... a genuine spirit of brotherhood.
- Strong adherence to traditional values -- not all "great" -- but mostly to my liking.
- A generally low regard for the so-called "neoliberal" values of Global North.
- Generally, financial institutions that are much more "free" in making deals.
- A cashless funds transfer system called M-PESA that beats the hell outta debit/credit cards & cash.
- An ocean, one of the world's largest/coolest lakes, abundant nature, mountains, Rift Valley, the very origins of "man".
- Such intriguing and sincere tribal communities as Kamba, Kalejin, Kissi, Kikuyu, Maasai and Luo. I enjoy especially close ties with Maasai and Luo people.
- As long as I avoid certain west-side environs of Nairobi, especially the vicinity of Karen, I do not have to endure the antics/presence of Continental European or India Subcontinent expats.
- Best Uber services in the world.
- Best "street food" vendors and farmers markets in the world.
- I can go to south Nairobi, cross from Tulara into the Wildlife Reserve via The Maasai Trail, and visit with the most magnificent wildlife on the planet, on foot. And there are a couple of other factors that decorum prohibits mention.
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"Traditional values" is a big red flag for me, given ambiguity as a code phrase for my "freedom, your populist tyranny".
 
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Pio1980 said:
"Traditional values" is a big red flag for me, given ambiguosity as a code phrase for my freedom, your populist tyranny.
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What I admire and appreciate are their tribal traditions, not the so-called Western conservative values/traditions that some do exhibit, same as I do not support all such conservative thinking in the USA ... I support a modicum of liberal Western thought, but I draw the line @ not pushing these values on others. Ever. Live and let live. There is nothing ambiguous in my openly co-owning property with gay men in Alexandria, Virginia. Friends are friends, including my oldest friends, regardless of their sexuality. It does not matter to me.
 
TIK TOK BAN.jpg

On Wednesday 13 March 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the popular social media platform in order to cut any ties between TikTok, its current parent company and the Chinese government. The bill, officially called “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”, alleges that TikTok is at least indirectly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, allowing the latter to “surveil and influence the American public” and thus poses “an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” In recent years, TikTok has surged in popularity in the U.S. and across the globe, captivating users with easily consumable, algorithm-driven content.
 
Mystic said:
View attachment 3147591

On Wednesday 13 March 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the popular social media platform in order to cut any ties between TikTok, its current parent company and the Chinese government. The bill, officially called “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”, alleges that TikTok is at least indirectly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, allowing the latter to “surveil and influence the American public” and thus poses “an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” In recent years, TikTok has surged in popularity in the U.S. and across the globe, captivating users with easily consumable, algorithm-driven content.
Click to expand...
This one is giving me pause for further thought/discussion...for the record...I'm neither a user nor an American...
 
DeadRock said:
Percentage increase since 2018 in the portion of American fifteen-year-olds who are not proficient in math : 25

Harper's Index, March 2024
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That's scary! Especially when it comes to finances. How does one budget without being able to do math? What if a calculator is not handy? Worse still, it seems that a lot of young people don't even know how to use a calculator. I say that because I have had conversations with millennials who couldn't do math. When I say "Your smartphone has a great calculator on it." the obvious look of embarrassment surfaces. "You don't even know how to use it?" More often than not, the person can't even learn how to do the basics. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Between that and the fact that children's jackets now come with warning tags that say "Remove child before washing", the human race is doomed.
 
DeadRock said:
Percentage increase since 2018 in the portion of American fifteen-year-olds who are not proficient in math : 25

Harper's Index, March 2024
Click to expand...
And that's the percentage increase ... the 25% more, added to the already roughly 40-50% innumeracy level pertaining to anything much beyond "the simple maths" that has plagued American youths since circa 1980. I saw glimpses of it starting @ the late Seventies, while finishing university (BA), then after a decade of being surrounded by "smart" kids who'd been allowed into the Rangers and 1st SFG as LRRP /LRS operators, got a new look @ America, Inc's "math troubled youth" when I returned to the academies in 1988, a picture that did not change until I was again embedded with unusual kids, this time doctoral aspirants in the social sciences division @ UChicago.
 
DeadRock said:
This one is giving me pause for further thought/discussion...for the record...I'm neither a user nor an American...
Click to expand...
I am an American -- through I don't live in America -- who has never used Tik Tok.

What I have gathered, mainly through conversation and "sensational" presentations w/in the context of sitcoms, etc., is that Tik Tok is where naughty (mostly gilr" "tweens" go to "twerk". (sp?)
 
Mystic said:
Yeah, but I still inhabit an American client state that is called The EU, lol. I'd have said Global North, but Russia has been dropped from the roster, so GN is no longer fully intact.
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I could make a case that Canada is also a "client state"...having grown up and spent the majority of my life (excepting 10 years in Germany) just north of the border, I can say with a great degree of certainty that I've masticated, digested, and otherwise consumed, as much or more "American Content" as the "average" American....and that's not a complaint.
 
DeadRock said:
....and that's not a complaint.
Click to expand...
Even if it was, who could blame you? You're not wrong. I effin' complain about it and I was raised in the belly of The Beast ... Chicago from the dawn of radio through the dawn and early maturation of television broadcasting was one of the world's TWO main sources of America, Inc advertisement development, the other (of course) being New York City.

Hell, three of my cousins had careers, of varying durations, @ Leo Burnett.


FIVE EIGHT EIGHT, TWO THREE HUNDRED ... EMPIRE.
 
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