The Retail Apocalypse

Stores are closing as more shopping moves online, and people don't want to lose all of them. 

Shoppers won't get a choice, though.  Stores aren't there to make you happy.  Their purpose is to make money.  If they don't, they'll close, no matter how many people want or need them.  You can just do without being able to try on clothes before you buy them or having a hardware clerk who actually knows what the products do.  The only way stores will survive is if people shop in them, and that's happening less and less.  Worse, it's the specialty stores that get hit the hardest -- and those are the products that benefit most from personal interaction.  Some generic stores may survive, but they're not great.  Imagine a world with nothing left but WalMart and a few shoe stores.  >_<

Rated Health Strategies

While doing research, I found this website that rates the reliability of health strategies.  Here's an example for trauma-informed care.  On the left, you can see a colored bar for the evidence rating; hover over that and it gives you definitions for the ranks.  The bottom of the entry offers citations for further research. 

:D 3q3q3q!!!  While it's difficult to pin down exactly what works and how, research is made much easier when the information is organized and summarized effectively.  This is one of the best examples I have ever seen.  It facilitates the process of finding things that work, or looking up a thing to see how good it is.  I'm loving that evidence bar.  It's not black-and-white, it shows a progression from unreliable to reliable data.  My mind actually works a lot like that.

This is typical of official sources in Terramagne, by the way.  They focus a lot more on evidence-based practices, so they like to show what has been proved effective, in testing phase, or disproven.  They usually include a rank for new developments, though.  Some folks are early adopters, and others have issues for which they've already tried the old stuff and need to watch for something else.

Monday Update 7-15-19

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Sunday Yardening
Poem: "The Smallest Decisions"
Poem: "Total Control of Your Body"
Poem: "Dignity, Respect, and Absolute Care"
Poem: "A Needful Thing"
Saturday Yardening
Community Building Tip: Networking
Illinois Prairie Video
Emotional Intimacy Question: Sharing Your Perspective
Hard Things


There will be a bonus Poetry Fishbowl with a theme of "anything goes" on Tuesday, July 16.  I hope to see you then.


Poetry in Microfunding:

There are two open epics.

"Everyone Can Dance" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Shiv. Shiv realizes a possible catch in the plan.

"Until Someone Lives in Them" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Fortressa. Penny moves in with the Pit Group and they help refine her fashion designs.


We got a little rain today. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a small flock of mourning doves, several house finches, several grackles, a pair of cardinals, and a squirrel. Currently blooming: violas, petunias, pinks, marigolds, alliums, lantana, torenia, million bells, moss rose, firecracker plant, salvia, nasturtiums, phlox, gaillardia, clover, daylilies, cleome, morning glories, butterfly weed, blackberry lilies, cup plant, yellow coneflower, bergamot, shasta daisy, gladioli, partridge pea, and a bunch of other things. There are a few mulberries left. Blackberries are turning dark. Crabapples and apples have green fruit.