Attack!

I've found three spiders over the past week here...one in the bathroom and two in the kitchen.  I know it is time for them to come in, and I know the older home is prone to this.. but it is still NOT a happy time for me; I started a cobweb eradication program (of which there were none) and tomorrow I will spray the corners where they lurk...to be followed by a trip to the grocery store for those sticky traps.  I know it is paranoia, but...

Finished up Paine's book; quite good; one thing he stressed at the end was that not only was more and more of our trade being carried by ship, but the rise of container shipping and developments in marine architecture mean that fewer and fewer people are directly, or even indirectly, involved in the carrying trade.  Season two of The Wire demonstrated this on land, but at sea, it is equally, if not more pronounced, as ships have between 12 or 20 crews, few of whom actually deal with the cargo.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-13/why-private-donations-arent-helping-americas-poor#r=hp-lst

I think this is partially true; one way in which private charity has been...supplanted is that before, Church-based groups (the Red Hats, for instance) played an active role in getting people on their feet.  Mind you, this was not only with a job and other assistance, but the spiritual/moral side as well, the theory being that a sense of calling and purpose were also needed to get people on the right path. Now, of course, those days are gone -- legally proscribed, even -- and while I see it, I suspect that for some segment of the populace, that sort of treatment, if you will, was exactly what the MD ordered.  Now, with the soulless (literally) welfare state, people just don't see a reason to give, which in turn creates the generational poverty that is perniciously difficult to eradicate.