Orts #967

Antarctic architecture -- an interesting story with spectacular photos
https://nyti.ms/2N7ajBU
___________________________________
 

"The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now the highest level in human history and probably has not been seen on this planet for 3 million years"

     -- Washington Post, https://wapo.st/39U0UXQ
___________________________________
 

- a heartbreaking story -

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opinion/sunday/deaths-despair-poverty.html
 

"Suicides are at their highest rate since World War II;
one child in seven is living with a parent suffering from substance abuse;
a baby is born every 15 minutes after prenatal exposure to opioids."

"If the [US] federal minimum wage in 1968 had kept up with inflation and productivity, it would now be $22 an hour. Instead, it’s $7.25."

"[S]everal counties in the United States have life expectancies shorter than those in Cambodia or Bangladesh."

___________________________________

People say cares never depart
a saying I thought was untrue
but yesterday what I drove off
entangles me today once more
the months depart but cares remain
and a new year means new cares
who would guess beneath the big hat
is someone plagued by old cares

-- The Poems of Cold Mountain (Han-shan), 37