Metric System Vs. Imperial (British) System

One of the age-old arguments a majority of the world has with the United States is why the country insists on staying with the imperial system of measurement. Aside from Liberia and Myanmar, the rest of the world, as you can see by the gray masses, use the metric system.

In America’s defense, they can actually blame the British on the unit of measurement. Hundreds of years ago, when the British colonized America, they brought with them the imperial system. Ever since, Americans have used that system. Great Britain developed that Imperial system of measurement. A formal UK government policy to support metrication was agreed by 1965.

But change is slowly happening in the United States.

Some U.S. consumer products come in rounded metric sizes. This appears to be increasing because of the international nature of manufacturing, distribution, and sales. Many items are produced in rounded metric quantities and some manufacturers opt to display the metric quantity first or more prominently (e.g., Oral-B Glide dental floss is available in 35-, 40-, and 50-meter packages).

Perhaps the most common metric item sold is the two-liter bottle. Some supermarket chains also make their store brand soft drinks available in 3-liter sizes. Soft drink containers of 1 and 0.5 liters (and more recently 1.25 liter bottles) are increasingly sold alongside 12 fl oz, 16 fl oz, 20 fl oz, and 24 fl oz (355, 473, 591 and 710 mL) sizes.

The half-liter water bottle (16.9 fl oz) has nearly replaced the 16 ounce size. 700 mL (23.6 fl oz) and one-liter sizes are also common, though 20 fl oz, and 24 fl oz sizes remain popular, particularly in vending machines.

People are stubborn. 30% of the world’s population drives on the left side of the road with steering wheels on the right side of their cars. They are not likely to change their cars and Americans are not likely to give up the Imperial measurement system.

Vaccine Concerns

First let me say I am not an anti-vaxxer.

We are anxious to be vaccinated against COVID-19. My question is how safe is a vaccine that has been rushed to be approved? Today’s LA Times brings up some of my issues about taking the vaccine.

The Covid-19 vaccines have not been tested in the frail elderly, many of whom are residents of long-term care facilities.

Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, is supporting frontline workers who will administer Covid-19 vaccinations to be first in line for a vaccination. Moore said, “There’s a question about the direct benefit of the vaccine, if given to people who live in those facilities, because we haven’t studied how well it works in that group yet.” That concern led Dr. Helen “Keipp” Talbot, of Vanderbilt University to vote against giving them a priority to obtain a vaccination.

That concern leads me (I am not an epidemiologist) to ask what groups of people were included in the phase 3 testing of the vaccines? What were the side effects and how many of the vaccine’s recipients experienced those effects?

Until I get the answers to those questions go ahead and push your way in front of me as we stand waiting for an injection. Call me in a week or two and tell me how you feel. Thank you.

Match.com making fun of the year 2020

A new advertisement for Match.com making fun of the year 2020 has gone viral online.

The ad opens with a scene of Satan in hell, sitting on his fiery throne apparently depressed at a lack of success finding love.

In the next scene, Satan encounters a young woman who tells him her name is “2020.”

The couple hits it off, with supplemental scenes showing the two stealing toilet paper from bathrooms and taking a selfie in front of a dumpster fire.

“I just don’t want this year to end,” Satan says to the woman at one point.

“Who would?” she replies.

Actor Ryan Reynolds shared the video, made by his advertising company, with his more than 16 million Twitter followers on Wednesday in a tweet that racked up 21,000 retweets and more than 203,000 likes.

“A match made in hell is still a match,” Reynolds said.

A match made in hell is still a @match. Latest work from @MaximumEffort #2020LoveStory pic.twitter.com/kGL02PIqin

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) December 2, 2020

West San Fernando Valley Isn’t a Suburb Anymore

The Promenade 2035 project will include a new sports arena, two hotels, a 28-story office tower and more than 1,400 new apartments. This development, that will take 15 years to complete, will impact the West San Fernando Valley bringing more residents, businesses, and traffic. The idea of the suburban life style will be gone. It is the price citizens of this city will pay for having an area that so many want to enjoy. L.A. approves $1B ‘mini-city’ in west San Fernando Valley with sports arena, hotels, office and apartment units | KTLA

L.A. approves $1B ‘mini-city’ in west San Fernando Valley with sports arena, hotels, office and apartment units

Same Coastcontact with a new image

OK maybe it was a mistake but this is the same author with a new ocean view. I thought I would try something new. I cannot recover the old format. I may be trying a few alternate layouts. Thanks for reading my opinions.

Biden talks to NYT’s Thomas Friedman

I am calling Joe Biden’s approach to his job as president, Bidenism. His will likely be a slow but well thought out leadership.

As reported on Politico Playbook the cautious JOE BIDEN spoke to TOM FRIEDMAN of the NYT: “Biden: ‘We’re Going to Fight Like Hell by Investing in America First’”: “Biden’s top priority, he said, is getting a generous stimulus package through Congress, even before he takes office. … But the big question is whether he can get it past McConnell today or tomorrow if the Republicans continue to hold the Senate. A significant number of Republican senators could decide that they want to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden, after four years of uncontrolled spending under Trump that has brought the national debt to record highs.

“Biden was careful about how he talked about McConnell, who has been careful not to call Biden ‘president-elect.’ Biden obviously wants to keep the prospects of cooperation open — but also make clear that he may have more leverage with the American people than the G.O.P. realizes if Senate Republicans opt for full-on obstruction.

“‘Let me put it this way,’ he said, ‘There are a number of things that when McConnell controlled the Senate that people said couldn’t get done, and I was able to get them done with [him]. I was able to get them to, you know, raise taxes on the wealthy.’ ‘I think there are trade-offs, that not all compromise is walking away from principle,’ Biden added. ‘He knows me. I know him. I don’t ask him to embarrass himself to make a deal.’ …

“On China, he said he would not act immediately to remove the 25 percent tariffs that Trump imposed on about half of China’s exports to the United States — or the Phase 1 agreement Trump inked with China that requires Beijing to purchase some $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services during the period 2020 and 2021 — which China has fallen significantly behind on. ‘I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to prejudice my options.’”

Your Neighborhood Mall May Be Closing

The 2020 edition of Black Friday did not offer the usual scenes of bustling stores and shoppers lined up outside discount chains and electronics retailers. Instead, most people bought online, if they bought at all.

American malls are dying out. Retail complexes all over the US are being clobbered by store closures sweeping the country. Retailers announced more than 8,600 closings in 2019 and according to a report done by Credit Suisse, between 20% to 25% of malls will close by 2022.

One of the biggest reasons that so many stores are failing is that people aren’t shopping the same way they used to. Rather than spending whole afternoons walking around the mall, many people prefer to shop in their pajamas at home. Shopping isn’t a pastime like it used to be — it’s more transactional.

The Covid-19 pandemic is putting another nail in the mall coffin. “It’s not Black Friday. It’s not people waiting in line the way we’re used to,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at The NPD Group. Cohen said in hours of driving around retail centers, he saw lines only outside Macy’s flagship New York City store and a suburban Best Buy. “All the other stores, you would have thought it was like any other Friday in November,” he said.

I drove around my nearby Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park California. The traffic cones were in place to guide the cars but there were no cars to guide. Visitors had no problem driving into the parking structure.

Mall giant Simon Property Group’s pursuit of Brooks Brothers, Lucky Brand and J.C. Penney illustrates how deeply the pandemic has reshaped the retail sector. Simon Property Group operates 175 U.S. malls and outlets, including the King of Prussia mall outside Philadelphia.

The Famed Mall of America in a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota has three anchor stores and one is vacant. It’s behind on its mortgage payments, but has entered into a forbearance agreement with the special servicer on its loan that could help the megamall avoid foreclosure, even as it wrestles with lower customer traffic during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It all seems like a fool’s errand. Growing numbers of Americans have decided there are better ways to spend an afternoon than walking through a mall. The virus only reinforces that decision.

The Sad Case of Denial

Donald Trump is in denial.

A simple and clear refutation of the president came Friday from a Trump appointee, when Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit wrote a unanimous opinion rejecting the president’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results.

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Bibas wrote. “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

Donald Trump says the courts don’t understand what is going on. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like “Mad King George, muttering, ‘I won. I won. I won.’ ”

Trump Claims FBI And Justice Department May Have Helped Rig Election. “This is total fraud,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo during the interview on Fox Business’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” adding: “And how the FBI and Department of Justice—I don’t know—maybe they’re involved, but how people are getting away with this stuff—it’s unbelievable.”

Wait there is at least one other possibility. The U.S. election was manipulated by scheming from a dead Venezuelan strongman, by a computer system capable of flipping Trump votes to Joe Biden ones across the country, and by something weird happening in Germany. If that’s not enough, the communists are coming as reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Donald Trump is president until January 20, 2021. He has already damaged our democracy by claiming elections are fraudulent. What more can he do? This really is a frightening time for the United States.

Twenty-fifth Amendment here we come or will there be a Coup?

Recognizing Commercial Art

This piece of art caught my eye on the Washington Post web site.

Jiaqi (Jackie) Wang is an illustrator and animator originally from China, currently based in Los Angeles. Jiaqi graduated with a MA Animation At London College Of Art. She specializes in 2D moving images and motion graphics. Her work revolves imagination about daily life, full of colors, visual design, and character design.

This link will enable you to admire her talent. It is worth your time. jiaqiwang