Wednesday, October 29, 2003
And so the princess and the prince lived happily ever after....
The childhood dream of every little girl. The primal dream that gets shattered by the unhappy end of relationships. I don't advocate that we reprogram our children's dreams, but two parent homes, even with a bit of dischord, is a better place for kids than a one parent home. More discussion has been lent to my ear about the potential for single parent homes to generate disfunctional kids because of gender issues. Last night at FW, C talked about a study, done many times, that showed that in a single parent family headed by a mom, that girls in the family will grow up more likely to engage in sexual activities at an earlier age. The reason; maturing girls need a safe male role model, which is a dad in a (typical) family. (I put 'typical' in parentheses because the average family is no longer typical.) The male in a little girl's life gives her balance and largely contributes to her view of males and what is expected of them. In a like manner, boys were studied with the opposite gender parent, and it is not surprising that boys need a male figure to emulate as they grow older. Otherwise, they will emulate whoever is popular and current in their lives. There is much more to these stories, do a Google search and you'll be overwhelmed.
End of rant.
Well, ok, another rant.
Mike S. Adams, in his blog today, describes the environment at the college that he works at to be hard at work destroying the rights of their students by introducing "diversity" and "tolerance" into groups that are together for their share religious beliefs. He writes to let donors to the university send 0 dollar checks in protest. This is not something you'll hear on the news, so stay tuned. As Mike says, a continuation of this policy would permit "Apparently, all in the name of "tolerance" and "inclusion," the College Republicans will now have to admit Democrats, the Young Democrats will have to admit Republicans, and the Jewish Student Group will have to admit Nazis. But at least there will be no more "exclusion" on the basis of political affiliation. " Read and weep for religious freedom.
If you are a typical parent, your refrigerator was home to alphabet magnets at some point in the past. This guy has a site where you can display your verbal handiwork on his fridge. Caution, some of the past posts are not for a family audience (sad.) Thanks to Busy Mom for the link.
Tonight, I'm going to the first meeting of our high school's reunion committee. Did I mention this before? Well, the chat didn't work out, as you had to be paying members of that classmates site, so I created a site for my high school class with a message board and chat that is open to the reunion committee and classmates (sorry, it is off the net to everyone else!) I am really excited at the possibilities and probably will be dismayed at the realities of planning a 30 year reunion. Got any stories to share? Email them to me.
This weekend, its the annual Fall Singles Conference at Word of Life. I'm looking forward to the getaway and spiritual renewal. I'll be back soon!
Au revoir,
|
The childhood dream of every little girl. The primal dream that gets shattered by the unhappy end of relationships. I don't advocate that we reprogram our children's dreams, but two parent homes, even with a bit of dischord, is a better place for kids than a one parent home. More discussion has been lent to my ear about the potential for single parent homes to generate disfunctional kids because of gender issues. Last night at FW, C talked about a study, done many times, that showed that in a single parent family headed by a mom, that girls in the family will grow up more likely to engage in sexual activities at an earlier age. The reason; maturing girls need a safe male role model, which is a dad in a (typical) family. (I put 'typical' in parentheses because the average family is no longer typical.) The male in a little girl's life gives her balance and largely contributes to her view of males and what is expected of them. In a like manner, boys were studied with the opposite gender parent, and it is not surprising that boys need a male figure to emulate as they grow older. Otherwise, they will emulate whoever is popular and current in their lives. There is much more to these stories, do a Google search and you'll be overwhelmed.
End of rant.
Well, ok, another rant.
Mike S. Adams, in his blog today, describes the environment at the college that he works at to be hard at work destroying the rights of their students by introducing "diversity" and "tolerance" into groups that are together for their share religious beliefs. He writes to let donors to the university send 0 dollar checks in protest. This is not something you'll hear on the news, so stay tuned. As Mike says, a continuation of this policy would permit "Apparently, all in the name of "tolerance" and "inclusion," the College Republicans will now have to admit Democrats, the Young Democrats will have to admit Republicans, and the Jewish Student Group will have to admit Nazis. But at least there will be no more "exclusion" on the basis of political affiliation. " Read and weep for religious freedom.
If you are a typical parent, your refrigerator was home to alphabet magnets at some point in the past. This guy has a site where you can display your verbal handiwork on his fridge. Caution, some of the past posts are not for a family audience (sad.) Thanks to Busy Mom for the link.
Tonight, I'm going to the first meeting of our high school's reunion committee. Did I mention this before? Well, the chat didn't work out, as you had to be paying members of that classmates site, so I created a site for my high school class with a message board and chat that is open to the reunion committee and classmates (sorry, it is off the net to everyone else!) I am really excited at the possibilities and probably will be dismayed at the realities of planning a 30 year reunion. Got any stories to share? Email them to me.
This weekend, its the annual Fall Singles Conference at Word of Life. I'm looking forward to the getaway and spiritual renewal. I'll be back soon!
Au revoir,
|
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
You can't win for losing, isn't that true in everything? No? Maybe I'm just feeling a bit cynical today. I made a lasagna yesterday, and was proud of it as it looked good (presentation is everything, right?) My son, who generally eats everything, devoured his portion last night and told me it was good. What's not to like, tomato sauce (my homemade brew), ricotta, meat and pasta. Come to think of it, I could have made American chop suey and given him that same thing without all the bother.
Reading Mike S. Adams column last night heightened the cynicalness. He wrote from his job on the North Carolina campus about the student feminists removing flyers from the bulletin boards because they alledgely were offensive to women. The "Thought Police," he called them. Mike writes from a conservative Christian viewpoint, which I admire, and the story (with a dab of satire thrown in) is interesting.
Am I the only one, or is there not enough people concerned about Valerie (Plame) Wilson? She's the wife of Joseph Wilson, and you'll remember that besides being a wife and mother of twins, she was a CIA agent that somebody unmasked. This story kind of died, which in one way is good, another is that we don't know who leaked the information and why. The reason I'm bringing it up again is that Sunday, my local newspaper, the Providence Journal reprinted the Washington Post story I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
And finally, how many of you received an email like this recently:
A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:
"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. we had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help."
The story continues that Mr. Matthews' father rescued a pregnant woman from the debris and lost his own life. A heartbreaking story, and a lie.
As is my perogative, I check the web sites of those who puncture the balloons of email stories with the truth. And snopes.com, the bellweather site for debunking urban legends weighed in on this one:
"The story quoted above contains all of these elements, but — like so many other September 11-related tales — it appears to be a work of fiction." "On the available evidence we have to conclude that this account, touching as many may find it, is purely the product of someone's imagination and not a true story. "
I've said this before, the Internet is leading so many people astray, and judging from the number of people this was forwarded from, this is the "lemmings to the sea" argument. No one takes responsibility for sending out these patently false stories as true. Think about how email could be used to throw a bone to the whole country, and the world with misleading information! I shudder at the thought. The moral of the story is, when you get a piece of mail that seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. Check the web for links to the urban legend sites, and let the sender know that you found that it was fabricated and your source.
Your humble, cynical servant.
|
Reading Mike S. Adams column last night heightened the cynicalness. He wrote from his job on the North Carolina campus about the student feminists removing flyers from the bulletin boards because they alledgely were offensive to women. The "Thought Police," he called them. Mike writes from a conservative Christian viewpoint, which I admire, and the story (with a dab of satire thrown in) is interesting.
Am I the only one, or is there not enough people concerned about Valerie (Plame) Wilson? She's the wife of Joseph Wilson, and you'll remember that besides being a wife and mother of twins, she was a CIA agent that somebody unmasked. This story kind of died, which in one way is good, another is that we don't know who leaked the information and why. The reason I'm bringing it up again is that Sunday, my local newspaper, the Providence Journal reprinted the Washington Post story I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
And finally, how many of you received an email like this recently:
A man from Norfolk, VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003. His Name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:
"A few weeks before Sept 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. we had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset, we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired FDNY. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help."
The story continues that Mr. Matthews' father rescued a pregnant woman from the debris and lost his own life. A heartbreaking story, and a lie.
As is my perogative, I check the web sites of those who puncture the balloons of email stories with the truth. And snopes.com, the bellweather site for debunking urban legends weighed in on this one:
"The story quoted above contains all of these elements, but — like so many other September 11-related tales — it appears to be a work of fiction." "On the available evidence we have to conclude that this account, touching as many may find it, is purely the product of someone's imagination and not a true story. "
I've said this before, the Internet is leading so many people astray, and judging from the number of people this was forwarded from, this is the "lemmings to the sea" argument. No one takes responsibility for sending out these patently false stories as true. Think about how email could be used to throw a bone to the whole country, and the world with misleading information! I shudder at the thought. The moral of the story is, when you get a piece of mail that seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. Check the web for links to the urban legend sites, and let the sender know that you found that it was fabricated and your source.
Your humble, cynical servant.
|
Sunday, October 19, 2003
"Doctor, I just don't know what's wrong."
"Tell me about it, just sit down on the couch."
"Well, I know that I've been feeling out of sorts for a few days now. I wake up during the night with nightmares of someone with a baseball bat chasing me, and for some reason, I have a red baseball hat on my head."
"Interesting. Tell me more."
"Well, it always looks like I am going to survive, then at the last minute, this guy comes in with the baseball bat."
"Hmmm."
"Oh, and something I noticed last night, there is a lot of ear-splitting noise throughout my dream."
"Really?"
"Yes, and the ground is grassy, with some dirt paths."
"Oh?"
"And the guy with the bat had a baseball hat too, a blue one."
"Aha!"
"Doctor, do you know what is wrong? I can't believe you solved this so fast!"
"It is not something you get over quickly, and may take years."
"What is it, Doc?"
"We call it, in the profession, PTSD, or Post Traumatic Sox Disorder."
|
"Tell me about it, just sit down on the couch."
"Well, I know that I've been feeling out of sorts for a few days now. I wake up during the night with nightmares of someone with a baseball bat chasing me, and for some reason, I have a red baseball hat on my head."
"Interesting. Tell me more."
"Well, it always looks like I am going to survive, then at the last minute, this guy comes in with the baseball bat."
"Hmmm."
"Oh, and something I noticed last night, there is a lot of ear-splitting noise throughout my dream."
"Really?"
"Yes, and the ground is grassy, with some dirt paths."
"Oh?"
"And the guy with the bat had a baseball hat too, a blue one."
"Aha!"
"Doctor, do you know what is wrong? I can't believe you solved this so fast!"
"It is not something you get over quickly, and may take years."
"What is it, Doc?"
"We call it, in the profession, PTSD, or Post Traumatic Sox Disorder."
|
Friday, October 17, 2003
The boys of summer, well, the Boston boys of summer, can go home now, to Newton, to Guatemala, to Fort Myers, wherever home is. The Red Sox, in the thundering noise at Yankee Stadium, lost in 11 innings on an Aaron Boone home run, the final score 6-5. It was a valient fight, and Pedro showed his mettle by pitching over 115 times and allowing only 3 runs in 7 innings. The Rocket, I'm afraid, left with travel brochures in his back pocket, his major league career finished.
In Boston, Bob Nelson passed along this story:
Continuing the tradition started by the late Ken Coleman, Joe Castiglione of the Red Sox Radio Network finished the season's broadcasts tonight by quoting the late A. Bartlett Giamatti, baseball commissioner:
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your
heart. The game begins in the spring when everything
else begins again and it blossoms in summer, filling
the afternoons and evenings and then as soon as the
chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the
fall alone. You count on it. Rely on it to buffer the
passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and
high skies alive and then just when the days are all
twilight, when you need it most, it stops."
For the record, Mr. Giamatti was...
a Red Sox Fan.
|
In Boston, Bob Nelson passed along this story:
Continuing the tradition started by the late Ken Coleman, Joe Castiglione of the Red Sox Radio Network finished the season's broadcasts tonight by quoting the late A. Bartlett Giamatti, baseball commissioner:
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your
heart. The game begins in the spring when everything
else begins again and it blossoms in summer, filling
the afternoons and evenings and then as soon as the
chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the
fall alone. You count on it. Rely on it to buffer the
passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and
high skies alive and then just when the days are all
twilight, when you need it most, it stops."
For the record, Mr. Giamatti was...
a Red Sox Fan.
|
Thursday, October 16, 2003
The question: does baseball get any better than this? The Rocket vs. Pedro? Who woulda thunk it?
The answer to the question will be answered beginning at 8 pm EDT tonight as the Red Sox made it, not so miraculously, into the American League Championship Series, the ALCS as it is referred to. Last night's game was one for the fan record books, as after the sixth inning, Yankee Stadium went very quiet, while siesmometers registered thousands of small earthquakes as the Boston fans revved up, step by step, in the bars, homes, workplaces and even automobiles on 128.
It is widely thought that this will be Roger Clemens' swan song if he loses, while Pedro will just be known as the losing pitcher. Roger, after all, was the presumed savior of the Red Sox, but never brought the crown home, and now is working for the "competition." It is safe to say that both teams have something to prove tonight. And what of the fans reaction to all of this? Well, MSNBC in a live poll tonight, thought that 76 percent of the internet readers who were taking this poll thought the Red Sox will win. And then, the Fox Network last night took several sidebar shots of the statue of the Bambino, the most famous Red Sox to Yankees trade Herman 'Babe' Ruth, as if to remind the Boston crowd (not apparent in Yankee Stadium, that's for sure) about the 'curse of the Bambino.' I think its about time the curse be revealed as a hoax that will be unmasked tonight.
A final word:
|
The answer to the question will be answered beginning at 8 pm EDT tonight as the Red Sox made it, not so miraculously, into the American League Championship Series, the ALCS as it is referred to. Last night's game was one for the fan record books, as after the sixth inning, Yankee Stadium went very quiet, while siesmometers registered thousands of small earthquakes as the Boston fans revved up, step by step, in the bars, homes, workplaces and even automobiles on 128.
It is widely thought that this will be Roger Clemens' swan song if he loses, while Pedro will just be known as the losing pitcher. Roger, after all, was the presumed savior of the Red Sox, but never brought the crown home, and now is working for the "competition." It is safe to say that both teams have something to prove tonight. And what of the fans reaction to all of this? Well, MSNBC in a live poll tonight, thought that 76 percent of the internet readers who were taking this poll thought the Red Sox will win. And then, the Fox Network last night took several sidebar shots of the statue of the Bambino, the most famous Red Sox to Yankees trade Herman 'Babe' Ruth, as if to remind the Boston crowd (not apparent in Yankee Stadium, that's for sure) about the 'curse of the Bambino.' I think its about time the curse be revealed as a hoax that will be unmasked tonight.
A final word:
GO RED SOX!
|
Monday, October 13, 2003
Hello and welcome to Southstation.org's new game show, "Sear Factor!" We're taking our seven contestants to a far-away island to see who burns their skin in the longest time! Brought to you by New Shimmer: is it a floor wax, a dessert topping, or a suntan lotion? Hey, New Shimmer is all of that, a floor wax, a dessert topping and a suntan lotion! (Cue Chevy Chase.)
Well, are you one of those who are sickened, not entertained by those reality TV shows? I mean really, how many men covered in cockroaches, people skidding along a race track on their heads after tipping over, or a man in a tub with a hundred snakes can you take? It's getting so bad that I activated the V-Chip on my TV and blocked every channel.
I know the networks won't rush to replace these shows with "The Life Of Emily Dickinson," but a trip back into the vault could be fruitful with the comedy shows of old. We laughed, sometimes uncontrollably, and sometimes with the milk coming out of our noses (whoops, that bit of reality flashback snuck in there,) its too bad this generation is getting used to the re-tread stuff that used to be in clubs that allowed adults only.
Anyway, here in New England (not new England, as in the British Isles) we are in the midst of the changing of the colors, the autumn leaves in all their crimson and gold grandeur. For me, I've found that each state in New England has a bureau that keeps tabs on the color changes, and my favorite is Yankee Magazine's site. Vermont has their site also, and each of the other states keep their eye on the progress of the changes too. Check out Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island's on-line offerings. There's also a great regional site here.
The other New England news is that of the Boston Red Sox and their quest for the American League East title over the arch-rivals, the New York Yankees. Saturday, there was a hiccup in the proceedings as a bench-clearing brawl erupted, prompting one commentator to compare it to an NHL game. Hopefully, everyone's made up now and the business of winning the game can continue.
Two blogs of note: for daily entertainment, the BusyMom's blog is a hoot, and the Biomes blog is cool for all ages (and it's right here in Rhode Island!)
A Happy October 13th to all (and you know who you all are!)
Bien des choses à tous! (best wishes to all)
|
Well, are you one of those who are sickened, not entertained by those reality TV shows? I mean really, how many men covered in cockroaches, people skidding along a race track on their heads after tipping over, or a man in a tub with a hundred snakes can you take? It's getting so bad that I activated the V-Chip on my TV and blocked every channel.
I know the networks won't rush to replace these shows with "The Life Of Emily Dickinson," but a trip back into the vault could be fruitful with the comedy shows of old. We laughed, sometimes uncontrollably, and sometimes with the milk coming out of our noses (whoops, that bit of reality flashback snuck in there,) its too bad this generation is getting used to the re-tread stuff that used to be in clubs that allowed adults only.
Anyway, here in New England (not new England, as in the British Isles) we are in the midst of the changing of the colors, the autumn leaves in all their crimson and gold grandeur. For me, I've found that each state in New England has a bureau that keeps tabs on the color changes, and my favorite is Yankee Magazine's site. Vermont has their site also, and each of the other states keep their eye on the progress of the changes too. Check out Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island's on-line offerings. There's also a great regional site here.
The other New England news is that of the Boston Red Sox and their quest for the American League East title over the arch-rivals, the New York Yankees. Saturday, there was a hiccup in the proceedings as a bench-clearing brawl erupted, prompting one commentator to compare it to an NHL game. Hopefully, everyone's made up now and the business of winning the game can continue.
Two blogs of note: for daily entertainment, the BusyMom's blog is a hoot, and the Biomes blog is cool for all ages (and it's right here in Rhode Island!)
A Happy October 13th to all (and you know who you all are!)
Bien des choses à tous! (best wishes to all)
|
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Thursday, and its me, back with you gentle readers. Music on the turntable (yes, I do have one, for all those albums) is Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, with the song that made Gil a politimusician, 'Johannesburg."
Things haven't been moving very fast around the blog-house, so I decided to make an eight hour day doing things on schedule. It's reduced the clutter, kept the floors clean and the house dusted, and makes me appreciate the things my wife did to keep the house looking nice.
Fallout continues with this CIA-outing incident, and I wonder how much more damaging this will be not only to our intelligence officers but to foreign intelligence, both friend and foe. The Washington Post has another article on this, amusingly entitled "The Spy Next Door," and reading it sounds like the plot of a Robert Rodriguez movie (you'll remember that a couple of his latest movies are the 'Spy Kids' franchise.) Busy mom with twins crushes foreign governments, that sort of thing.
And Ahnold is governator of Califohnia. Does this portend for the future? Our next generation is the one who'll be taking care of us in our old age. Eminem for president? Got a island I can retire to?
It looks like our high school class will have a 30th reunion (you do the math to see when I graduated.) Stay tuned.
I've also been busy getting ready for the upcoming new program through my internet radio station, The Hits of Yesterday. It's called Mainstream, and its an update of the program I had while on radio in the 70s. That was very much influenced by New York's WRVR, probably the best contemp jazz station in the seventies, and was a force in jazz and folk in the sixties. Mainstream will be broadcast on Sunday evenings at 5 pm EDT, 9 PM EDT and 12 AM EDT. That's nine o'clock in the Greenwich Mean Time, Eastern Daylight and Pacific Daylight time zones.
What I'm doing in preparation for this program, each 90 minutes long, is digitizing and cleaning up hundreds of album tracks, drawn from my collections, and ripping CD tracks of some albums that were reissued on CD. The span of music is from the 40s through the 70s, with artists such as Stan Kenton, Miles Davis, Bob James, Charlie Parker, Chuck Mangione and Thelonious Monk. I'm having a blast listening to all this great music, and I hope you do too.
Interesting web site of the week: make sure you leave it on the screen to see what it does.
A la prochaine!
|
Things haven't been moving very fast around the blog-house, so I decided to make an eight hour day doing things on schedule. It's reduced the clutter, kept the floors clean and the house dusted, and makes me appreciate the things my wife did to keep the house looking nice.
Fallout continues with this CIA-outing incident, and I wonder how much more damaging this will be not only to our intelligence officers but to foreign intelligence, both friend and foe. The Washington Post has another article on this, amusingly entitled "The Spy Next Door," and reading it sounds like the plot of a Robert Rodriguez movie (you'll remember that a couple of his latest movies are the 'Spy Kids' franchise.) Busy mom with twins crushes foreign governments, that sort of thing.
And Ahnold is governator of Califohnia. Does this portend for the future? Our next generation is the one who'll be taking care of us in our old age. Eminem for president? Got a island I can retire to?
It looks like our high school class will have a 30th reunion (you do the math to see when I graduated.) Stay tuned.
I've also been busy getting ready for the upcoming new program through my internet radio station, The Hits of Yesterday. It's called Mainstream, and its an update of the program I had while on radio in the 70s. That was very much influenced by New York's WRVR, probably the best contemp jazz station in the seventies, and was a force in jazz and folk in the sixties. Mainstream will be broadcast on Sunday evenings at 5 pm EDT, 9 PM EDT and 12 AM EDT. That's nine o'clock in the Greenwich Mean Time, Eastern Daylight and Pacific Daylight time zones.
What I'm doing in preparation for this program, each 90 minutes long, is digitizing and cleaning up hundreds of album tracks, drawn from my collections, and ripping CD tracks of some albums that were reissued on CD. The span of music is from the 40s through the 70s, with artists such as Stan Kenton, Miles Davis, Bob James, Charlie Parker, Chuck Mangione and Thelonious Monk. I'm having a blast listening to all this great music, and I hope you do too.
Interesting web site of the week: make sure you leave it on the screen to see what it does.
A la prochaine!
|
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Well, is this a compliment or.... the next tropical storm/hurricane name in the NHC's roster is Larry! And tropical storm Larry is brushing the Gulf coast of Mexico at this moment. I hope they retire this name, as they did with Andrew (also my son's name!).
Saturday morning, and raining here at the blog-house. We've talked in the past about some of the morning TV show hosts like Miss Jean and Captain Kangaroo. I realized this morning that besides Looney Tunes ("this is the Bugs Bunny Shooooooooow!") Beany & Cecil, The Alvin Show and some others that I didn't watch TV very much on Saturday mornings. Let me know if you have some rememberances of Saturday mornings long gone bye.
Have a great weekend!
|
Saturday morning, and raining here at the blog-house. We've talked in the past about some of the morning TV show hosts like Miss Jean and Captain Kangaroo. I realized this morning that besides Looney Tunes ("this is the Bugs Bunny Shooooooooow!") Beany & Cecil, The Alvin Show and some others that I didn't watch TV very much on Saturday mornings. Let me know if you have some rememberances of Saturday mornings long gone bye.
Have a great weekend!
|
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Hello, fellow cyber-travelers. I thought I'd check in with praise and cynicalness (is that a word?) today, so fasten your seatbelts for some interesting prose.
First the praise for a wonderful evening last Saturday, with four of my closest friends (and two happen to be married to each other.) Who could forsee how strong friendships last in the absence of physical or communicative touch; it is demonstrated in the hearts of my dearest friends. We had a lot of fun, and it wasn't all remembering how dumb we looked (with that shoulder-length 70s hair,) or things which some of us remembered and no one else did. For those who couldn't attend, you are in my heart too, for how much you meant to me thirty years ago, and for those who came, the core of our friends, I pledge that not a fraction of time will go by without seeing each other as the new milestones come into our lives. I regretted not being there for the marriages and the celebration of children, but we have a new connection. And, incidentially, boy did we look good for our ages!
Over on Classmates.com, a thread about 'sharing memories" has brought back a flood to me, and it is interesting talking to others who may have graduated earlier or later but share the same thoughts. Thank you, Michael for starting the thread, and Jim, Ellen, Barbara, Caroljean, David and Carolyn for furthering the memory jogger.
Now, the cynical. Remember how science discovered that Kansas is indeed, flatter than a pancake? Well now some researchers in England have devoted time and money to discovering why some cookies break after they are baked. So, in effect, they know why the cookie crumbles.
In the "we need this guy" department, an unidentified man in London, dressed in a cape, superhero costume and armed with a metal cutting circular saw would send himself out to cut the "wheel-clamps" of cars immobilized by police (the term here in the states is commonly "Denver-boot.") Mr. "Angle Grinder Man" has a web site and a phone number when you need the services he offers, and he says he has freed twelve cars so immobilized. Oh, he says he doesn't mind breaking the law, and "he likes wearing the costume." Maybe we don't need this guy. (News from CNN-Reuters, 9-18-2003)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald of the 3rd of September, Derrick and Patricia Cogan of Devon, England, still managed to enjoy a scheduled September holiday in their mobile home, despite the fact that just days before, it sustained about US$3,400 in damage after being hit by a flying cow that fell off of a 30-foot cliff. No further comment, please.
Is this sexist? The Washington Post online leads with an article called "Puzzling Out The Logic Of A Leak," which, if you've had your head in a bucket for the past week refers to the "outing" of a CIA operative who happens to be the wife of former Envoy Joseph Wilson, who is embarrasing the Administration of the lack of WMD in Iraq. The regrettable quote: "NOW THE Justice Department has a criminal investigation going into allegations that Bush administration officials leaked the fact that Wilson’s wife is a covert CIA operative. Is it a bad thing to have a wife who works? A wife who works for the CIA? A wife who works undercover, instead of at a Hecht’s makeup counter selling cover-up? " C'mon now, women work at far more than makeup counters. But come to think of it, when is the last time you saw a man selling cosmetics? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.
And finally, the reason I haven't looked for work in California; according to a forecast by the California Board of Realtors, fewer than one in five Californians will be able to buy a house there this year. Housing costs are expected to rise 14% in 2004. What does this say about the Californians; and how do they calculate who will be able to afford? Are the illegal aliens and migrant farmworkers included in the estimate of annual income? Just curious.
Thanks for reading! Good evening, everybody.
|
First the praise for a wonderful evening last Saturday, with four of my closest friends (and two happen to be married to each other.) Who could forsee how strong friendships last in the absence of physical or communicative touch; it is demonstrated in the hearts of my dearest friends. We had a lot of fun, and it wasn't all remembering how dumb we looked (with that shoulder-length 70s hair,) or things which some of us remembered and no one else did. For those who couldn't attend, you are in my heart too, for how much you meant to me thirty years ago, and for those who came, the core of our friends, I pledge that not a fraction of time will go by without seeing each other as the new milestones come into our lives. I regretted not being there for the marriages and the celebration of children, but we have a new connection. And, incidentially, boy did we look good for our ages!
Over on Classmates.com, a thread about 'sharing memories" has brought back a flood to me, and it is interesting talking to others who may have graduated earlier or later but share the same thoughts. Thank you, Michael for starting the thread, and Jim, Ellen, Barbara, Caroljean, David and Carolyn for furthering the memory jogger.
Now, the cynical. Remember how science discovered that Kansas is indeed, flatter than a pancake? Well now some researchers in England have devoted time and money to discovering why some cookies break after they are baked. So, in effect, they know why the cookie crumbles.
In the "we need this guy" department, an unidentified man in London, dressed in a cape, superhero costume and armed with a metal cutting circular saw would send himself out to cut the "wheel-clamps" of cars immobilized by police (the term here in the states is commonly "Denver-boot.") Mr. "Angle Grinder Man" has a web site and a phone number when you need the services he offers, and he says he has freed twelve cars so immobilized. Oh, he says he doesn't mind breaking the law, and "he likes wearing the costume." Maybe we don't need this guy. (News from CNN-Reuters, 9-18-2003)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald of the 3rd of September, Derrick and Patricia Cogan of Devon, England, still managed to enjoy a scheduled September holiday in their mobile home, despite the fact that just days before, it sustained about US$3,400 in damage after being hit by a flying cow that fell off of a 30-foot cliff. No further comment, please.
Is this sexist? The Washington Post online leads with an article called "Puzzling Out The Logic Of A Leak," which, if you've had your head in a bucket for the past week refers to the "outing" of a CIA operative who happens to be the wife of former Envoy Joseph Wilson, who is embarrasing the Administration of the lack of WMD in Iraq. The regrettable quote: "NOW THE Justice Department has a criminal investigation going into allegations that Bush administration officials leaked the fact that Wilson’s wife is a covert CIA operative. Is it a bad thing to have a wife who works? A wife who works for the CIA? A wife who works undercover, instead of at a Hecht’s makeup counter selling cover-up? " C'mon now, women work at far more than makeup counters. But come to think of it, when is the last time you saw a man selling cosmetics? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.
And finally, the reason I haven't looked for work in California; according to a forecast by the California Board of Realtors, fewer than one in five Californians will be able to buy a house there this year. Housing costs are expected to rise 14% in 2004. What does this say about the Californians; and how do they calculate who will be able to afford? Are the illegal aliens and migrant farmworkers included in the estimate of annual income? Just curious.
Thanks for reading! Good evening, everybody.
|
