Tuesday Tidbits...
I swear I only get the morning paper for TWO reasons:
1) I LOVE reading about how marvelously THIS world has become BIZARRO WORLD.
2) The cats need something to put on the floor around their litterpan.
With that said, let's proceed WITH caution today and observe the unposted speed limits, because we never know WHAT idiot is lurking around the next corner...fair enough?
*** Today is the SUMMER SOLSTICE (and the druids are happier than pigs in sh*t, I suppose)
It marks the point at which the days in our calendar year reach their LONGEST length.
From here, they only get shorter (again) folks...until the winter solstice
Now, there IS a high-falootin' explanation for all of this, and can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice
It's also one of FOUR of the EQUINOXES that occur every year (this one being the SUMMER one - how convenient)
Amazing how that works out...
*** Today is ALSO the anniversary of Wifey and myself...FOURTEEN YEARS ...and still going, kinda like that Timex watch - takes a lickin', and keeps on tickin'... (gee, it all seems a LOT longer...LOL)
Yeah, WAY back in 1997, Wifey decided to see how it would be to lasso herself to this old fart.
Tell 'ya one thing...it's NOT been all that boring!
We don't really "plan" anything...we just WING IT.
Traditionally-speaking (because I CAN speak "Traditional" as well as a little Chinese, Spanish, and German) I'm supposed to get something IVORY in nature.
Okay, so let's run down the "list"...
-- Getting a ELEPHANT is out of the question...no way to haul it home (I could ride it like my Dad did in India), and with the amount of FOOD needed to keep it alive, AND the amount of poop to shovel up, I'm gonna need some "extra hands", which all cost some serious MONEY.
Strike that one.
-- I COULD get her a 4-pack of IVORY SOAP...it's usually on sale at Walgreens and it STILL FLOATS!
-- Another gift is AGATE.
We have TWO gates, and not just A gate.
(oh, you mean the OTHER agate, like the gemstone, pronounced "aggit"...got it)
Pass on that.
-- Well, a trip to the IVORY COAST is definitely OUT of the question...don't take much to having either of us BEHEADED and/or involved with some lunatic fringe uprising in another 3rd world nation...I can get that on our own ghettohood STREET!
-- How about "vegetable" IVORY?
Also called the TAGUA PALM NUT (of South America).
Now, I dunno about THIS one...having the words NUT and PALM in the SAME sentence might get the missus in a rather hormonal state.
It IS considered a HARD NUT (again with the innuendos), which means cracking it will be problematic (sounds just like our GOVERNMENT in some perverted way, doesn't it?) at best.
Kinda on the fence on this one...don't think our local Botanical Conservatory will let me purloin a couple NUTS FROM THEIR PALM.
(that just does NOT sound right one damn bit)
Gonna take a pass on this one, for obvious reasons.
-- You're gonna love this one...GOLD is also considered a 14th anniversary gift.
We don't have to wait FIFTY years anymore (and I'd be lucky to MAKE it that far...how fortunate)
That doesn't seem right either...'ya gotta do a "50" with gold...like "25" with silver and "75" with diamonds.
But as a 14th year gift?
Nah...actually getting gold would be more of a NECESSITY these days, considering the devaluing of OUR currency (thanks George Soros...you bastage) Strike that one from the list.
I'm still liking the SOAP idea...
-- They DO have "resin-ivory" fountain pens...
Nah, that won't work...Wifey has trouble keeping the cheapy BIC pens she already has (and often borrows one from me at the store), so why get a nice pen she'll misplace. Now, if it came with a NECK LANYARD...that "might" work.
And then the police would find me strangled with said lanyard.
(at least I wouldn't be so confused about NEXT year's gift, right?)
Ahh...WTH. Let's just go ahead and "wing it" again...more spontaneous and "fun" that way.
(besides, Wifey has QVC, HSN, and the JEWELRY CHANNEL to watch...she might find something there...again...this week...for the 6th time)
Ahhh, the days of young love...were DID they go?
Meanwhile...back at the Fortress...
*** Seems the story I mentioned yesterday (nuclear plants aging and leakage) is in TODAY'S paper in a more detailed way.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110621/NEWS03/306219946
And that reactor in NJ that's mentioned is none other than...OYSTER CREEK.
It's a decent read and does mention the potential for problems that won;t soon go away.
*** This is a story that in some manner or fashion manages to show up EVERY year, and for the obvious reasons.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110621/LOCAL/306219967
Yepper..."fireworks season" seems to get EARLIER every damn year in this city.
I've heard them as EARLY as late MAY, thanks to stores that are open (apparently) ALL YEAR LONG.
Now, I come from Philly, where such things are BANNED, and rightly so.
At least back THERE, we don't have people burned or have parts blown off of them due to careless handling of such pyrotechnics.
We have sparklers and that's about it for the "neophytes" in the group.
In other words, they leave it TO THE PROS for demonstrations of pyrotechnic feats of display.
Here in Fort Wayne, the totally irresponsible folks take to shooting fireworks off whenever the mood strikes them (when they're not shooting off the guns they have in their possession).
If you live in a RURAL setting...no problem , here in a CITY, not all that smart, especially if a stray ember decides to burn a house down, or a short-burn fuse prematurely detonates a device and takes a child's face half off, right?
Some people simply DO...NOT...THINK...period.
Luckily for US, we have most of THEM living around us, so the police should KNOW where to find them (to date, with more than several nights of fireworks, none have been cited to my knowledge).
Well, you have to have cars PATROLLING in order to make that happen...(gee, what a feeling of DEJA VU when I said that)
A city-wide ban on aerials and large fireworks should be in place.
I'm not being a stick-in-the-mud...just a cautious person who wants everyone to ENJOY fireworks the way they should be presented.
*** Lastly today, yes indeed, the 4th of July IS beckoning, and will be here before we realize it.
And safety procedures need to be in place.
There will ALWAYS be people that need to be protected FROM THEMSELVES, and if that also means the REST of us are protected as a result...all the better. That does not take freedom from some...it gives more freedom to all.
You protect people from themselves by instituting LAWS to follow...not "suggestions"...or "guidelines", but LAWS.
Like "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL"...sounds easy enough, but try telling 50 flash-mob teens who raid a store and strip it's shelves that what they're doing is WRONG in a civilized society.
Some just won't get the hint...so you have to enact a LAW to inhibit such behavior, in the hope they WILL get THAT hint, and get with the rest of the civilized folks. Everyone enjoys the SAME freedoms in this nation, but that does NEVER include the freedom to be stupid or act in an irresponsible manner with themselves or to another person.
And when that is realized, and adhered to, we ALL breathe a bit more easily.
We don't need some government holding our hands, but we DO need to MAN (or woman) UP and get OUR own heads screwed on proper and take responsibility for OUR lives and OUR families and OUR children.
THAT is what makes this nation separate from others...that level of freedom.
And it should be something we not only cherish, but wish to emulate daily.
"Here endeth the lesson."
(Jimmy Malone/Eliot Ness - The Untouchables)
Enjoy your solstice.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.