April 25 2022 - Where are they - the working classes?

 

What a question I have.  Who are the working classes? That's the headline from the National Post - The working classes are a volcano waiting to erupt.  Joel Kotkin is the author.   It must be an opinion piece, because the first sentence goes like this: "Whatever the final outcome, the recent French elections have already revealed the comparative irrelevance of many elite concerns, from genderfluidity and racial injustice to the ever-present ‘climate catastrophe’. Instead, most voters in France and elsewhere are more concerned about soaring energy, food and housing costs." It is a "harsh reality" opinion piece about the declining state of wealth of the middle class.  We would rather look at lucky numbers rather than try to solve the declining opportunity and wealth of the middle class, where college graduates still fail to find decent employment and the service sector has been devastated by the Pandemic.  How silly can lucky numbers be?  Did you know about Jennifer Lopez' lucky number?  It is highlighted in the bottom of the MSN news feed with all those click bait articles.   "She was born on Thursday July 24th 1969, in Bronx, New York, United States. With a Personal Lucky Number 9 Jennifer Lopez has been blessed with a Personal Lucky Number that may be every bit as inherently full of good fortune as a 3. Indeed, it has been argued by some that the 9, being 3 squared is even more powerful than the 3." Why are there subsequent numbers then? Number 8 and Number 2.  And the different numbers come from the same source. Her Personality Number is 8, and Her Life Path Number is 2.  I guess there's some distinction.  There are lots of  articles on her and various lucky numbers.    "The most critical number in Lopez's numerology chart is based on the date of her birth - the moment when the curtain went up in Jennifer Lopez's life." That isn't actually the latest news on J Lo, though.  It is her abs. "Abs are Killer as she rocks a velvet crop top at the iHeart radio music awards." Makes for silly stuff in comparison to the social unrest of the working classes about to explode like a volcano because of their sinking status and wages.  What a mixing of metaphors.  Our picture today? Pretty reflections at Pearl Morissette Restaurant.

Better photo 2nd Place Winner - Dezi!

One of the most intriguing, yet easy to accomplish adventures from yesterday's top 100 was to: Send a message in a bottle So I found the 10 most famous floating note discoveries and here's what the article says: "People have been putting messages in bottles for much longer than a century: in 310 BC, Greek philosopher Theophrastus put sealed bottles into the sea as part of an experiment to prove the Mediterranean Sea was formed by the inflowing Atlantic Ocean. Oceanography is a common reason drift bottles are thrown overboard, but there are also some romantic and surprising stories of sending messages across the sea throughout history.  I've copied the top 3 most famous floating note discoveries: 1. FOUND BY: Konrad Fischer in the Baltic Sea, 2014 SENT FROM: Richard Platz in the Baltic Sea, 1913 TIME AT SEA: 101 years A message in a bottle tossed in the sea in Germany 101 years ago, believed to be the world's oldest, was presented to the sender's granddaughter, a Hamburg museum has said. A fisherman pulled the beer bottle with the scribbled message out of the Baltic Sea off the northern city of Kiel in March, Holger von Neuhoff of the International Maritime Museum in the northern port city of Hamburg said. Mr Von Neuhoff said researchers were able to determine, based on the address, that it was 20-year-old baker's son Richard Platz who threw the bottle in the Baltic while on a hike with a nature appreciation group in 1913. 2, FOUND BY: Scottish skipper Andrew Leaper near the Shetland Isles, 2012 SENT FROM: Captain C. Hunter Brown near the Shetland Isles, 1914 TIME AT SEA: 97 years and 309 days A drift bottle released out to sea on June 10, 1914 by Captain C. Hunter Brown was recovered by UK fisherman Andrew Leaper almost 98 years later, on April 12, 2012. Brown was a scientist at the Glasgow School of Navigation studying the currents of the North Sea, and the bottle was one of 1,890 released on June 10, 1914. It is the current Guinness World Record holder for oldest message in a bottle. The message inside read: "Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea." The bottle was discovered 9.38 nautical miles from the position it was originally deployed. 3. FOUND BY: Matea Medak Rezic in Croatia, 2013 SENT BY: Jonathon (identity unknown) from Nova Scotia, Canada, 1985 TIME AT SEA: 28 years A 23-year-old kite surfer, Matea Medak Rezic, stumbled across a half-broken bottle while clearing debris from a Croatian beach at the mouth of the Neretva river in the southern Adriatic. Inside the bottle was a message from Jonathan, from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, who had written it 28 years earlier, honouring his promise to write to a woman named Mary. The message reads: "Mary, you really are a great person. I hope we can keep in correspondence. I said I would write. Your friend always, Jonathon, Nova Scotia, 1985." The bottle would have had to have travelled approximately 6,000 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean, entered the Mediterranean Sea, and then drifted into the Adriatic Sea. Jonathan and Mary's identity, and how the two knew each other, is unknown. Looking across the Twelve Mile Creek bridge towards Port Dalhousie, our 2nd place winner in the BetterPhoto contest.