“Sixty thousand people are killed by snakes every year.”
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Factfulness Quote of the Week
Pot Holes
We have food in abundance, clean water to drink, remarkably good healthcare, we can venture out at night without fear and we complain about potholes in the roads. It is not the roads that are a problem it is our perspective.
Photo is from the Chiricahua Mountains in Southern AZ
What has that got to do with the Price of Eggs?
I saw this sign in the window of an antique store in Orange County.
However before you wax nostalgic for the good old days, 14 cents a dozen for eggs calls for a little perspective. I’m guessing that the sign came from the 1930’s or 40’s when the minimum wage was about $0.50 an hour. So a low wage worker would have had to work about 15 minutes to buy a dozen eggs. Today a dozen eggs cost about $1.20 and the minimum wage is about $8.00. So now-a-days the same low wage worker would have to work only about 10 minutes to buy a dozen eggs.
The sign is for sale for about $100.00
Lakes and Oceans Some Perspective
An excellent graphic sent to me by Rebecca B. that compares the depths of various bodies of water.
Click on it to make it large enough to read.
No Staring into the Abyss
Wind Storm
On the last day of November we had a giant wind storm in Southern California. It was particularly bad in the San Gabriel Valley where we live. We had some roof tiles blow off our house and some very large and unstable eucalyptus trees just down the hill from us blew over.
Many people were without power for days. We only lost power for one day. For me It was a reminder of how privileged we are, how much convenience we take for granted and how easily a disruption of our routine can upset us.
Perspective: At least a billion people in the world never lose electricity or water because they have never had electricity or running water.