…why can’t everyone else?
See, this is the thing when people start making daft, unilateral decisions without considering any of the potential consequences. It suddenly gives carte blanche to everyone else to do the same thing.
Still, that said, not all of the ideas that comes out of these things are necessarily bad ideas…
This, for example, seems like a perfectly reasonable name change.
Technology is the key to our advancement as a species.
We invent things using technology.
We improve them using technology.
We simplify processes using technology.
We overcome society’s problems using technology.
There’s a lot of work, a lot of brains and a lot of money that goes into developing these technologies so that they can benefit humankind.
And yet, sometimes all of that seems so very unappreciated.
And it does seem that parents are particularly unappreciative of the things that could literally save their child’s life.
Like the mother driving her squabbling kids home from school yesterday: both of them 8 or 9 years old and climbing around the footwell and passenger seat of her car – not a seatbelt in sight.
To the parents in Gaines County in Texas,
It seems that in this case, religious beliefs may have been a strong reason behind many of the (now 24) cases: all of whom *shock* are unvaccinated. Gaines Country has a high population of Mennonites, and all of the cases in Gaines can be linked to Mennonite schools. Traditionally, Mennonites reject “modern” technology (which would likely include vaccinations), which is all well and good until it backfires and a wholly preventable measles outbreak maims or kills their children.
According to this from MennoniteUSA.org:
Mennonites believe in simple living but express that simplicity in a spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others rather than completely separating from society
But if I was the parent of a baby in Texas right now (the first MMR vaccination is at 12-15 months), I would be very worried. I certainly wouldn’t be thinking very kindly about the Mennonites and their alleged “spirit of stewardship and awareness of the needs of others” BS.
Look, religious or not, as parents we deserve to give our kids the best chance in life. And that should start with the right to health and life. Willfully ignoring or rejecting the proven technologies that we have developed to keep our children safe and well is tantamount to child abuse. As one commenter points out:
It’s difficult to have sympathy for an adult who refuses a vaccine and then gets the disease.
The children didn’t have a choice.
Yep. The children deserve better.
And everything they need is right there. It’s readily available.
They’re just not being used.
And that does raise the question: Why should we bother?
I’m not a corporate person. I know a lot of people who are corporate persons, but I am not one of them.
Really, if being a corporate person is the goal in life – and many corporate persons do seem to think that it genuinely is – then I have failed.
But I’m happy to have failed.
To be fair, a lot (but certainly not all) of the corporate persons that I know, don’t tend to throw around corporate speak. Or if they do, then (I hope, at least) it is tongue-in-cheek: poking fun at those office characters who can’t help but “circle back”, “touch base” or “unpack” something rather than just use normal words like “repeat”, “meet” or “explain”.
And it’s precisely because I will never use this corporate lingo, that I will never be a corporate success.
Oh well.
Step forward comedy duo Wankernomics: James and Charles.
James is the Chief Disruptor and Strategy Optimisation Evangelist, brand builder and thought leadership Ninja. Charles is Customer Engagement Jedi; passionate about creating bespoke consulting solutions and growth strategies for clients across all sectors.
Of course he is. Of course they are.
And their stuff – which I spotted on Instagram – is so good!
I actually use this one in this way in my life, which is why I laughed at it.
“Waterboard them!” still means the same thing though, right?
Brilliant footnote usage.
There’s so much on there – including some great videos – and on their website, their shop (the tote bag!!!!), and news about their tour.
Navigate through their digital platforms to optimise your online experience and leverage the full spectrum of available content.
Erm, I mean… Go and enjoy!
Turns out it was called the Gulf of Mexico over 100 years before the USA even existed as an entity.
(Those must have been halcyon days.)
This is from 1650. (No, not ten to five.)
Interestingly, to everyone outside the USA, it will still always be called the Gulf of Mexico.
Like no-one calls Facebook “Meta”, and everyone calls Twitter “that horrific Nazi cesspit”.
London blogger Diamond Geezer (see 6000 miles… passim) located London’s Most Central Sheep in this post. And the rules were pretty simple:
I’m only interested in live sheep, so not a cuddly toy in Hamleys nor lamb cutlets at The Ritz. I’m not interested in temporary sheep like those that get driven over Southwark Bridge in September or shorn at the Lambeth Country Show in June. Also by ‘most central’ I mean closest to the centre of London which is generally agreed to be Trafalgar Square, specifically the statue of Charles I at the top of Whitehall. Hopefully that’s clear.
And using some traditional foot-based detective work and some internet sleuthing, he found London’s Most Central Sheep:
Here she is. She’s in the sheep enclosure at Vauxhall City Farm, lapping away at a bowl of water resting on a spare tyre.
And all was well with the world.
Except…
That isn’t London’s Most Central Sheep. In fact, it seems likely that it might only be London’s Third Most Central Sheep. DG had overlooked Oasis Farm Waterloo, less than a mile from Trafalgar Square.
And so he has revisited the question. And he found two sheep there. So those would be London’s Most Central Sheep.
Except…
There may be an additional issue.
…they might have been goats. Their heads were hidden so it was hard to be 100% sure what kind of cloven animal they were. The Oasis Farm Instagram feed has a number of photos of sheep but also some of goats so it is possible I saw the wrong animal.
Their website also says “our farm animals rotate from Jamie’s Farm in Wiltshire”, suggesting they’re not always here, and also that “we usually have a ewe with her lambs”, which before lambing season may mean they currently don’t. Alas this isn’t cut and dried.
At the end of the day, it’s reasonable to say that he has accomplished what he set out to do.
He has found London’s Most Central Sheep. It’s just that it is either 0.8 miles or 1.4 miles from Charles I statue in Trafalgar Square. And if it turns out that he was correct in the first post, and it is 1.4 miles, then he’s also managed to find London’s Most Central Goat.
Bonus points right there.
I’m sorry?
You’re saying that no-one would ever need to know where to find London’s Most Central Sheep?
Well, that just sounds like a ewe problem.