Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

COCA-COLA ADVERTISEMENTS

These historical advertisements should warn us to be a tad skeptical about contemporary ads (of whatever sort...)

And not this from the "Cola Industry!"

 

MARK STEYN ON "THE FORGOTTEN AMERICA"

I found Mark's 21 minute reflection on what he calls The White Death well worth listening/watching.  We don't hear much about the dying small towns of America and most of us aren't aware that more die from heroin than from guns.  Watch

Update:  Some days after posting the above, I came across a Wall Street Journal article, "New England's Country Stores Go Dark" with the subtitle, "More general stores close as owners age, and online shopping, dollar outlets compete."  (The digital and hard copy articles have slightly altered titles).

QUICK TAKES

 

   ** New York Times:  "An Earthling's Guide to Black Holes"

   ** Rod Dreher links to major article - "How the Fight Over Transgender Kids Got a Leading Sex Researcher Fired."     Gender dysphoria clinic head gets canned because he is not politically correct enough and because of intellectual and moral cowardice of his superiors.  

   ** Caroline Glick - Israel's defenses in dire straits over Russian deployment of the S-400 and the projected purchase of the fatally flawed F-35.   Israeli air superiority now ended.

   ** Charles Murray - Explaining Trumpism: the white working class has legitimate reasons to be angry at the ruling class.  

   ** David French - Stop Using Israel's Example to Justify the Barbaric Practice of Drafting Women into Combat

SOUTH KOREANS ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET - (AND SO ARE WE)

Eric Metaxas writes for "Breakpoint": (my emphases)

By most estimates, South Korea is the most-wired society in the world. South Koreans “enjoy” virtually universal internet access at speeds and prices that Americans can only dream about.

But that access comes at a high price: By official government estimates, nearly two million South Koreans can be described as “internet addicts.”

Now, the words “addict” and “addiction” get thrown around a lot in contemporary culture, but what would you call the following: a Korean couple repeatedly leaves their apartment and goes to an internet café where they spend all night playing an internet game. One night they return to find their three-month-old daughter dead from malnutrition and dehydration.

This actually happened in Seoul. While it’s the most extreme case, the difference is one of degree, not kind. An episode of PBS’ “Frontline” showed South Korean kids at government-sponsored rehab centers trying, mostly in vain, to wean themselves from their dependence on the internet.