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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

According to USA Today the safest place in the world is Iceland, which ranks number one on the 2022 Global Peace Index. Iceland, with a score of 1.107, has held this position on the GPI for over a decade.

[The United States is ranked 129th.]

The top 10 safest places in the world to live are:

1.   Iceland
2.   New Zealand
3.   Ireland
4.   Denmark
5.   Austria
6.   Portugal
7.   Slovenia
8.   Czech Republic
9.   Singapore
10. Japan

The top 10 safest places to live in the United States are:

1 Vermont

2 Maine

3 New Hampshire

4 Utah

5 Hawaii

6 Massachusetts

7 Connecticut

8 Minnesota

9 Washington

10 Rhode Island

The top 10 happiest places to live in the world are:

1.  Finland
2.  Denmark
3.  Iceland
4.  Switzerland
5.  Netherlands
6.  Luxembourg
7.  Sweden
8.  Norway
9.  Israel
10 New Zealand

For the fifth year in a row, Finland is the world’s happiest country, according to World Happiness Report rankings based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll.

The Nordic country and its neighbors Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland all score very well on the measures the report uses to explain its findings: healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support in times of trouble, low corruption and high social trust, generosity in a community where people look after each other and freedom to make key life decisions.

Denmark comes in at No. 2 in this year’s rankings, followed by Iceland at No. 3. Sweden and Norway are seventh and eighth, respectively.

Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg take places 4 through 6, with Israel coming in at No. 9 and New Zealand rounding out the top 10.

Canada (No. 15), the United States (No. 16) and the United Kingdom (No. 17) all made it into the top 20.

[I'm seeing a trend here between cold weather and happiness! OH NO!]

Top 10 smartest countries in the world by IQ:

1.   Japan

2.   Taiwan 

3.   Singapore

4.   Hong Kong

5.   China

6.   South Korea 

7.   Belarus

8.   Finland 

9.   Liechtenstein

10. Germany

[The United States ranks 28th]

Top 20 higher education systems in the world:

1 Finland

2 Japan

3 South Korea

4 Denmark

5 Russia

6 Norway

7 United Kingdom

8 Israel

9 Sweden

10 Hong Kong

11 Netherlands

12 Belgium 

13 Germany

14 China

15 Singapore 

16 Portugal

17 Hungary

18 Estonia

19 France

20 United States

Top  20 countries in health care: 

1.   Denmark

2.   Norway 

3.   Switzerland  

4.   Sweden  

5.   Finland 

6.   Netherlands 

7.   New Zealand  

8.   Germany   

9    Luxembourg  

10. Austria  

11. Iceland  

12. Ireland

13. United Kingdom  

14. Canada  

15. Singapore  

16. Australia  

17. Hong Kong  

18. United States  

19. Japan  

20. Taiwan

[Please note that the United States spends more on Health Care than any other country yet ranks 18th.]  

[Please note that although the United States spends more than any other country on health care its life expectancy is lower than all others.]

Top 10 countries based on disposable income per capita: (identifying how much money a person has available to spend on goods and services after paying their taxes)

1.   United States

2.   Luxembourg

3.   Switzerland

4.   Germany

5.   Australia

6.   Norway

7.   Austria

8.   Belgium

9.   Netherlands

10. Canada

Top 10 wealthiest countries:

1.   United States - $18.62 Tn
2.   China - $11.22 Tn
3.   Japan - $4.94 Tn
4.   Germany - $3.48 Tn
5.   United Kingdom - $2.65 Tn
6.   France - $2.47 Tn
7.   India - $2.26 Tn
8.   Italy - $1.86 Tn
9.   Brazil - $1.80 Tn
10. Canada - $1.53 Tn

Top 10 countries in fire arm-related deaths:

1.  Brazil

2.  United States

3.  Mexico

4.  India

5.  Columbia

6.  Philippines

7.  Guatemala

8.  Nigeria

9.  Iraq

10. Ethiopia

Top 10 countries in drug abuse related deaths:

1.   United States

2.   Canada

3.   Australia

4.   Libya

5.   Nigeria

6.   Estonia

7.   Russia

8.   Cameroon

9.   Arab Emirates

10. Finland

Top 10 countries in alcohol related deaths:

1.   Belarus

2.   Mongolia

3.   Russia

4.   Guatemala

5.   Slovenia

6.   El Salvador

7.   Ukraine

8.   Poland

9.   Latvia

10. Estonia

(The United States ranks 28th in alcohol related deaths)

I think if anyone takes some time to scrutinize these numbers one might come to some alarming conclusions about where they live and how our government spends our tax dollars. This downslide didn't happen overnight. It's been happening for decades. It happened on BOTH sides of the aisles! There was a time when the United States ranked on top of everything including education and healthcare. Now our claim to fame seems to be that we are a military superpower. Yes, that's important, but so are other things. What about poverty and the homeless? We still have starving people in this country. Once our country was a much safer place to live and if I remember correctly people seemed happier and less proned to violence. Children played outside and didn't have to fear for things like school shootings. Now the world is such a fractured place to live. We can't all move to the Nordic countries to find peace and happiness, can we? So what are they doing that we aren't doing? What's the solution? We can't turn back the hands of time, but what we can do is hold the people we vote in office accountable for the state of our union. They are voted there to represent us, the people of this country and it's time they start doing their job and stop fucking around. GET THE JOB DONE!

PLEASE GIVE ME CHOCOLATES AND ROSES

Every time I go stumbling around the blogosphere I always come home scratching my head.  I guess that's better than coming home black and blue, toothless or pregnant!  Today, I discovered the 7 Deadly Sins To Ensure People Won't Follow Your Blog.  After leaving a brief comment for Carol Graham, blog author of Battered Hope,  I immediately came rushing home to see how guilty I am of these 7 deadly sins.  According to Carol, the following are 7 common blogging mistakes many of us make:

 

Sin #7  -- Make sure your blog is very busy.  Put as many 'cool' things on your side bar as you can fit.  Put all your awards and badges there as well.  Lots of ads work too.  The busier it is, the less people will see the 'meat' of your post.

[My meat is always easy to spot. Some days it may just be a hotdog with meat by-product and as for cool stuff like badges...everyone must hate me because no one has ever sent me a badge. Maybe I need a booby prize badge for my blog! lol Personally, I'd rather have chocolates and roses from all my admirers, well wishers and readers. Wait! I asked for roses from a secret admirer once and it got me in a world of shit so scratch that idea...just send me a truckload of chocolates instead!]

Sin #6 -- Don't put your name anywhere on the blog.  Make people search for it. Sometimes, I will go to Facebook or Twitter or an About Me page and still not find an actual NAME.

[I've been called many names in my life, but the one my mother bestowed upon me is Karen (no middle name really and truly and I actually wrote a blog post about it).  Mildred Ratched is the horrible nurse from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.  Mildred and the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz are my all-time favorite female villians.] 

Sin #5 -- Use small fonts.  This will help eliminate anyone past the age of accountability to read it without having to squint.

 

[REALLY??? I'd only use small fonts if I was whispering behind someone's back or writing out a contract to sell someone shares in my blog.  Does anyone want to buy a few?  I can make you a deal you can't refuse!]

Sin #4 -- Center your entire blog post. This makes it almost impossible to read consistently. Your eyes are always trying to find where the next line begins and the last one ended.

[I never tried this one, but it sounds like a great way to annoy people or to keep them confused.] 

Sin #3 -- Use stark white lettering on black (or any very dark) background. This may look great but very difficult to read without getting a headache.

[I've done this in the past, but it did give me a headache so I switched to a white background. Call me a conformist!] 

Sin #2 -- Make your paragraphs as long as possible. Or write a multitude of paragraphs without any captions or photos to break up a long post.

[Okay, I know I get a little long-winded at times, but I do post cute pictures or memes amongst my ramblings, don't I?]

And the best for last .................

Sin #1 -- Don't respond to comments left. Ignore the people that actually took the time to read your post and comment on it.

[uh oh! I guess I need to be more attentive! No really, I think I do interact with my readers who leave comments, but I'm guilty of not visiting other people's blogs as much as I'd like. Time seems to be the culprit that gets in my way. I truly am sorry for that.]

 

So after close scrutiny, I think I should get maybe a D or possibly a C for an overall grade based on these 7 deadly sins and I promise to strive to do better in the future.  I'll aim for that elusive "A" and all of you can let me know when I get there, okay?  

And I promise to keep my Maine sarcasm from oozing out all over your computer screen in the future!  I know how messy it is and how hard it is to wipe clean.  All joking aside, our blogs are a reflection of who we are.  Yes, we have complete control over their content, but I think most serious bloggers/writers/authors are mindful of the first impression they give their readers and potential readers.  After all, isn't it the goal of any writer to have other people read what they write?  That is, unless your name is Mildred and then your goal is seeking out people to send you chocolates, but never roses!🤣

*Repost from July 24, 2014

UPDATE: I just visited the link to the 7 Deadly Sins only to find that the comment I had left years ago is gone and that you now have to be a member of her blog to leave a comment. Oh well...

DAY OF RECKONING

After I get my MRI results (hopefully today), I'm going out of town in a few days on sort of a "spa retreat" (spiritual journey) for about a week or so.  While I'm gone, I'll be off the grid so to speak so I won't be posting anything (no internet access).  Isn't that fabulous to be somewhere these days that claims to be a technological dead zone? I'm actually excited to rough it for a few days.  Anyway, I have some soul-searching I need to do and this all came exactly at the right time when I needed it most. There are things in my life that are out of alignment and since a chiropractor can't help me with these problem I'm left to my own devices. These things that are "out of alignment" I feel them constantly and I can't seem to shove them back into place no matter how hard I try. I know that probably sounds goofy as hell, but trust me on this one that it's not goofy at all. It causes me much mental distress so I'm going to get mentally lubed by people who do this for a living and shove everything back into place and let the rest go into the ozone or wherever negative energy goes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023!

THANK-YOU!

Some people do this sort of thing on Facebook where things like food and family photos and political propaganda go, but I felt this was worthy of a blog post because it's special to me because of who sent it to me. I call him my "adopted son" and if I did that on Facebook it would cause mass hysteria of mega proportions so I'll do it here where people take things in stride. Early this morning I had a package delivered to me...you know how packages are still being delivered for Christmas. Our delivery services are certainly highly overwhelmed during the holiday season! When my son, Matthew came to check on me because I was pretty sick last night, he brought me in a huge box that had just been delivered and left by the front door.  I knew it couldn't be a man because the box wasn't big enough and there weren't any air holes in the box. When I opened it, all my dogs immediately started sniffing it so the containts got their approval. Inside was a beautiful Queen-size Alpaca blanket to go on my bed to keep me and my furbabies toasty warm.

Thor wants to know what's the hold up with putting the blanket on the bed? He's ready to break it in!

💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

UPDATE: My adopted son sent me an update regarding my gift since it arrived after Christmas (like that mattered to me...I don't paddle asses for minor offenses like that) lol  But he felt he needed to explain why my gift had been delayed. The blanket wasn't his first choice. He had ordered up a MAN (actual flesh and blood) for me, kind of a John Travolta looking-fellow with the dancing skills to back it up. That's what he paid for anyway. Sadly, the idiots at FedEx got the delivery instructions wrong when he said to poke some holes in the box so the hunk of burning love could breathe. Instead, they poked holes in the man. What a mess! Needless to say, he didn't survive shipping. The blanket was just a last minute attempt to save face. I felt it was only right that I update my blog entry with my adopted son's first intentions for my gift so everyone would know what a truly thoughtful person he is. What is it they say about good intentions? Isn't the road to Hell paved with them? hahaha!

I love my blanket...it's much, much better than any John Travolta doppelganger.