Ukraine and Hiroshima

 In today's news, wannabe Russian czar Vladimir Putin has objected to a Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory calling it a provocation. To what exactly?  He calls his intrusion into Ukraine a military operation  The war of words continues.

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On  the 79th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many still seem unsure why it was necessary.  At that time, there was talk of  Operation Coronet -- the invasion of Japan in March 1946.  In his memoirs U.S. President Harry Truman refused to answer why he approved the bombing.  Here's my theory, likely copied from some other source. 

Everyone knew World War Two was virtually won.  In Europe, the repatriation of  Allied troops had already begun.  Meanwhile, the U.S.S.R. maintained  its military numbering tens of millions, a force strong enough to resume its western march to occupy all Europe.

Truman's decision was a message to Russia not to budge from the Europe they already occupied. Had they not heeded the message, it is not difficult to imagine the next nuclear target.  

Grocery store revisited

 Time was that when you entered a grocery store you walked up to a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, said clerk went about the store gathering your needed items. He totaled your purchases, placed your money in a cash register and gave you the change and a receipt. The clerk placed your purchases in the required number of paper bags.

You then headed for the meat counter where various types of meat where displayed. If you wanted a half a pound of hamburger, that's the exact  amount the clerk gave you. If you wanted a roast of a certain weight, and none that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately the required size, And after all this the grocer made a profit.

When the supermarket arrived, you did the gathering of your groceries using a basket. Then came the cart. Meat came pre-packaged. If only pounds of hamburger were on display, or none at all, pity. Take it or leave whatever an anonymous person has put on display.  On the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices tell you to return to the prepackaged section. 

You placed your purchases in the basket or cart and joined the line at the check-out counter.  The cashier rang up the cost while an assistant placed your purchases in paper, later in plastic, bags, and still later,  imitation cloth bags. And you must ask for a receipt. The grocer made a still greater profit.

The cashier's assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package you own purchases not with bags supplied by the grocer, but your own. Or the cashier will sell you a bag for which the grocer makes an indecently high profit. 

The system will next require you to register by inserting your credit card in a device at the entrance.  There will be an entrance charge.  The need be no cashiers or clerks. The grocer's profit will be immoral.

Eating, Tattoos, Noise

Eating contests exist while others in the community barely survive on minimal rations.  In the U.S. people gain notoriety for downing hot dogs by the dozen  while Toronto has a pasta eating contest.  

And my city recently hosted a get-together for skin doodlers self-styled "tattoo artists".  Beautiful bodies submit to questionable art. Once age takes hold, all that colourful "art" will hang on flabby flesh and bony limbs.  It's the only "art show" that requires the approval of Public Health officials ensuring the health and safety of the misguided who pay big money for the mutilation of their bodies.

And there has been a get-together of motorcyclists. What have we missed in our lives other that the noise of mufflers and the smell of exhaust fumes? Should I ever encounter such a enthusiast, I would ask a question: If someone should market a machine identical to your bike other then it was totally silent, would you buy it?

 Some people revel in noise.  Years ago the battlefield weapon of choice was the lumbering mussel-loading cannon. In time, the breach-loading gun with its rifled barrel appeared. Old-timers appreciated the lighter weight and the improved accuracy. Their complaint was that it was not as loud its predecessor.  That's how the noiseless motorcycle would be received.