I've been seeing the "lowest unemployment rate since 1969" blurb thrown around a lot this week. It got me to thinking (brace yourself or keep scrolling)...

When Uber's IPO launched earlier this year, their filing to the SEC stated:

"There were 3.9 million Drivers on our platform for the quarter ended December 31, 2018."

The most recent US figure I could find was 750,000 in 2017 so we're certainly much higher than that now, certainly over a million.

Fourteen years ago, I was living in a cabin and came home one afternoon to a “surprise”. My sister wanted to get me a cat since I was living alone, but was conned into taking the last two cats of a litter. My first reaction, “I can’t have cats!” - I traveled too much, was never home, and it just seemed like a horrible idea. That night, these two tiny kittens struggled to get onto the couch with me, so I helped them up and there they slept. I was doomed.

I feel like this whole Shaun White disrespecting the flag business is ridiculous. Next time any one of us wins our third Gold Medal in the Olympics after decades of training and has a flag unexpectedly thrown on us, I think we'll be able to accurately judge how to compose ourselves for a few seconds immediately after.

I'm annoyed partially because of the actual backlash and partially because of how much it really shows Twitter to be what it truly is:

The notice also said the card would have the capability to "restrict the types of products and services" the money could be used for. It would come with a text messaging service to warn students about the long-term "ramification" of spending their money.

Wow. So not only will loan refund checks disappear, everything will be tracked by the government AND they can tell you what you can and can't spend it on?

In November 2016, many were protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Those protesters had concerns the pollution of their environment, their water, and their land which many Native Americans deemed sacred. There were overwhelming concerns for the safety measures that needed to be taken and that regulations for such a large-scale and possibly hazardous project.

"Killing more elephants to help save the species is one counterintuitive strategy for preserving them. Here’s the thinking: Invite hunters from rich countries to pay generous fees to shoot specified numbers of elephants, and use that money for conservation and to help give local communities a boost. Do that, the theory goes, and poor villagers won’t need to poach elephants to feed their families." (Source)

I think "recreational outrage" is my new favorite term since it so aptly describes the keyboard warriors that emerge every time something remotely controversial happens.

"If you lined up the killers in the deadliest major shooters in America in a row, you'd have a poster for ethnic diversity. If you lined up all of the victims, you'd have the same."

Timothy McVeigh, Oklahoma City 1995, 168 Killed, Agnostic retaliation to FBI history...

Wade Page, Wisconsin Sikh Temple 2012, 6 Killed, Neo-Nazi racial hatred...

Welcome to the fresh start for CMarcera.org! More to come so stay tuned...