I've had a Toast since February 2012. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the generous profilers contributing to and sharing their hard work, creativity, skill, and wondrous amps on the Exchange. Of course special thanks to CK, Berkhard, and the rest of Kemper to constantly improve, add new features, fix bugs, implement suggestions, and answer the infinite number of questions posted here. AND FINALLY AN EDITOR!!!!!!! Plus KONE is pretty cool - love mine, although I haven't had an opportunity to "it might get loud volume" because I have a step-daughter and her boyfriend in their first yearmof medical school,living here, so I'm relegated to headphone or lower than bedroom levels (and it is Tanulizing frustrating).
In this time of paradigm shift in our way of life, existential threat to humanity, loss of loved one and people you don't even know personally, the sacrifice of our health care worker who risk and even lose their lives and family members, music still soothes the melancholy and gives hope for a better, United world.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
And don't let our leaders take advantage of the pandemic to implement totalitarianism, a surveillance state, 1984. Now is our chance to take back our society from the corrupt, greedy, selfish oligarchs who control our planet. I'm not a conspiracy believer, but it is pretty obvious that to these people, there is never enough money or wealth to satisfy them.
Apple, Nike, most American consumer product companies use slave labor in the far East to satisfy our consumerism. OK, I do have gear acquisition syndrome but I would rather pay more than rely on my fellow humans slaving over an assembly line and a few committing suicude by jumping off buildings.
We live in a mutually mostly beneficial society. Humans are social creatures (how else to survive during the ice age 10,000 years ago?) who have always depended on each for survival and prosperity. It is not "socialism" no matter how many conservatives call it, to provide all humans their basic human needs (food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, decent wages, equality, respect). That makes a more stable society, reduces crime, homelessness, and improves mental health. I honestly don't understand that we bail out banks, Wall Street, investors who are the ones risky/betting, then losing their bets, given money by Central Banks who loan currency made out thin air, to not want to provide for the people they exploit. It is actually in their best interest to do so. There is no capitalism, only crony capitalism that maintains our social strata. We provide welfare capitalism, but call people incapable of work, "welfare moms." Most on welfare, food stamps would prefer supporting themselves. No one has a baby to get more welfare. In the US, we can blame the Puritans for dumping the "Protestant Work Ethic" on our society.
We are one species on the only planet we know of that sustains life. This is all we have and we better treat our world, our people, our ecosystem, with the utmost care and love.
We need to balance the "me" and the "us" or we are ephemeral and doomed. This is not conservative v liberal, dem v republican, labor v conservative, social Democrat v whatever.
I will leave this TLDR, Rant, Plea, Hopefully thought provoking statement with this:
During the 2016 US election, 3 female voting age college students were asked a simple question about the purpose of govetnment. - a liberal, conservatuve, and independent.
One said - "what's in it for me."
Another said - "what's in it for us."
The Third said "depends on the issue."
Which one are you?
Moderators - if you are going to delete, banish, nuke, or bury this, please at least leave the First Paragraph in this Section.
Adinfinitum