I can't resist reporting on this again. Political
correctness in
Portland, Oregon has gone absolutely stark raving mad. It seems that
the portland school system has decided that Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood
and Lynch View elementary schools will no longer be allowed to have
"Lynch" in their names before the upcoming school year in response to
what the school system claims (falsely) is "growing concern about the
word's racial connotations". Huh?
The schools, part of the Centennial School District, were named for the
Lynch family, which donated land over a century ago to build the first
of the schools. That's it! But Centennial Superintendent Paul Coakley
says many newer families coming into the district associate the name
with what he bizarrely calls America's violent racial history. Coakley
is black and an advocate of political correctness. The upcoming change
is a new step in a movement that, in Oregon, has focused primarily on
names "insensitive" to American Indian descendants....err...let me be
politically correct here.... descendants of Native Americans.
"There were an increasing amount of questions and some complaints from
families of color around the name," Coakley said. But this is news to
most people in Portland. No proof was given by Coakley of these many
complaints. There is no connection between the Lynch family and the
practice associated with the term lynching, he said, but it's still
been "a disruption for some students." In case Coakley is not educated
as to how the term lynching got it's use as a verb, let me explain. The
term "lynch" originated because
of the activities of Colonel Charles Lynch, a Revolutionary War
colonist in the late 18th century. Lynch was a Colonel during
the Revolutionary War who tried and punished the "Tories" (people who
sided with England in America during the war between American
colonists and England) after the was
with no legal jurisdiction. Her sought to have them hanged, thereby
coining the verb lynch.
This PC stupidity is out of control. There is nothing wrong with the
names of those schools. The name in itself has historical value showing
the generosity of a local family, the Lynch family, who obviously
valued education by donating the land on which the schools with their
name, Lynch, were built. Changing the name is a slap in the Lynch
family's face as well as their gift. The school district should not
change the name, but rather educate the students and their families
(and Coakley) about the history of the name (noun not a verb).
Not all of history is warm and fuzzy. During the time after the Civil
War (post 1865) blacks, Hispanics and poor whites were sometimes
"lynched' without a trial in remotes areas not served by police. In the
late 19th century American west, lynching were not uncommon for
criminals. Most of those lynched were white. In Oregon, between
1882-1067 when lynching happened 21 people were lynched. Of those 20
were white and only one black. Yet, Coakley says blacks in the district
are "offended' by the schools name having Lynch (the noun) in it. It's
bizarre, but then all PC nonsense is. This is yet another example of a
huge the problem with the American education system, in that it is as
much focused on bigoted PC social engineering as it is on educating
students in reality.
Instead of being PC and changing the name the Portland schools should
teach those children historical fact as well as the difference between
verbs and nouns. Shame on Portland. When you choose to revise
rather than teach the context, and you allow others to continue in
their own ignorance, then you fail to be educators. Coakley and his ilk
are good examples of such failure. Thank PC Portland for
impugning the good name of generous family with your bigoted
imagination of racism.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
That's Hot
The obsession with the climate change theory seems to never
stop.
Everything that is warm or hot gets blamed on humans, who the climate
change crowd say can control climate. I am not sure mother nature would
agree on that theory, but the rhetoric, hyperbolic or real, is
interesting because it gets us talking about the weather. Is there any
more spoken subject than that. I think most of us use the line, "It
sure is hot/cold today." That or some variation is a good conversation
started for casual talk.
We never can be satisfied with our climate. Mark Twain once wrote that , "Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it." Clever of Mark to say it so simply. Because no one, especially those climate change proponents, really understands climate. Scientists have some grasp on, short term weather tends and can make predictions about the weather, as to temperature, rain, sun etc. but that understanding is limited as to accuracy to a few weeks ahead of time. So we just try to make the best of the weather we currently experience. The poet John Ruskin said it best, "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
Well John! have you ever spent a summer in my former home of New Orleans? It's extremely hot and humid there. If John were still alive he might edit the "there is no such thing as bad weather" part of that quote. I compare the uncomfortable heat and humidity of New Orleans to most if not all Se Asian cities I have visited in summer. If you have been to Bangkok, for instance, you would understand. The climate in summer in both places is almost identically miserable. But wait! does a place have to be near the equator to have an extremely hot period of climate? Not according to Honeywell Fans and Environmental Health & Engineering. That company makes a list of the top ten sweatiest cities in the U.S. New Orleans made number ten, an insult to those sweating there right now. And number one is a shock. It's a northern city most would not tie to sweating, New York City.
Honeywell analyzed a number of factors unrelated to weather that might make a city sweat, such as population density. "We looked at data in a number of national records to determine the percentage of homes without central air conditioning, the popularity of public transportation and citywide bike sharing programs, as well as the cities with the 'hottest' professions," he said in a statement. New York won the top spot partly because it is home to some of the “hottest” professions per capita, thai is those high stress jobs that might make you sweat, including air traffic controller and personal financial adviser.
This leads us back to the impossibility of defining weather. It seems we can't even agree what hot weather is. I think I'll forget this climate thing and instead have a glass of ice tea and dream of the first cold front of fall.
We never can be satisfied with our climate. Mark Twain once wrote that , "Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it." Clever of Mark to say it so simply. Because no one, especially those climate change proponents, really understands climate. Scientists have some grasp on, short term weather tends and can make predictions about the weather, as to temperature, rain, sun etc. but that understanding is limited as to accuracy to a few weeks ahead of time. So we just try to make the best of the weather we currently experience. The poet John Ruskin said it best, "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
Well John! have you ever spent a summer in my former home of New Orleans? It's extremely hot and humid there. If John were still alive he might edit the "there is no such thing as bad weather" part of that quote. I compare the uncomfortable heat and humidity of New Orleans to most if not all Se Asian cities I have visited in summer. If you have been to Bangkok, for instance, you would understand. The climate in summer in both places is almost identically miserable. But wait! does a place have to be near the equator to have an extremely hot period of climate? Not according to Honeywell Fans and Environmental Health & Engineering. That company makes a list of the top ten sweatiest cities in the U.S. New Orleans made number ten, an insult to those sweating there right now. And number one is a shock. It's a northern city most would not tie to sweating, New York City.
Honeywell analyzed a number of factors unrelated to weather that might make a city sweat, such as population density. "We looked at data in a number of national records to determine the percentage of homes without central air conditioning, the popularity of public transportation and citywide bike sharing programs, as well as the cities with the 'hottest' professions," he said in a statement. New York won the top spot partly because it is home to some of the “hottest” professions per capita, thai is those high stress jobs that might make you sweat, including air traffic controller and personal financial adviser.
This leads us back to the impossibility of defining weather. It seems we can't even agree what hot weather is. I think I'll forget this climate thing and instead have a glass of ice tea and dream of the first cold front of fall.
Friday, July 21, 2017
I Can't Believe She Did It
Since I moved to Oregon six years ago I have
solidified my first
impressions of the people of the state,. Some of them are nuts! They
sometimes embrace the most odd positions of believe and behave in even
more odd ways. Most of the time it's because the state has an
exceedingly high rate of pot and other users. They are the kind of
people who would not only believe the leftist fantasies about President
Trump having devious ties to Russian but also think Trump is Russian.
Sometimes I shake my head at what I see here.
And here is a typical example of that. An Oregon woman from Springfield named Alana Donaghue, 27, has been charged with two counts of reckless endangerment of her three children after multiple drivers reported seeing Alana driving her car as it towed her three children,- her 2-year-old daughter, 4-year-old son and 8-year-old nephew in a small, plastic red wagon going around a busy roundabout multiple times during rush hour. She was towing children behind her white Ford Taurus in a wagon attached with a rope, according to Lt. Scott McKee, a spokesperson for Springfield Police Department.
I am not kidding! There are humans as brain addled as Alana out there, and their children are learning from them. Police said clue less Alana told them that she was "showing the kids a good time," and only driving 5 miles per hour. Maybe the family gun was out of reach that day and Alana couldn't let the kiddies play Russian Roulette. Anyway, it' more fun to kill the kids with a car, a guess.
According to Lt. McKee, "I talked to a witness today that said she saw them go by her house in their neighborhood and they were going like 30 miles an hour," Lt. McKee said. A witness reported the youngest child begin to cry after the wagon went up on two wheels during the trip. "That same witness reported observing Alana pull over and move the toddler from the wagon to the car and then continue driving with the 4-year-old and the 8-year-old still in the wagon," police said. Other witnesses told officials that Alana was holding up very heavy traffic (stupid people do stupid things at the worst time...it was rush hour when she towed the kids) and then yelling at motorists, telling them to get out of her way and mind their own business.
Once apprehended police evaluated Alana at the scene and arrested. She did not appear to be under the influence of intoxicants. What? I can't believe they said that. In drug infused Oregon drugs are most often the excuse of bizarre behavior. There are manyyyyyyyy drug altered people here. But this leads to a simple observation about the, "She did not appear to be under the influence of intoxicants." That is, she must be just plain stupid.
Fortunately, the Oregon Department of Human Services placed Alana's children with another more competent person. As you might expect, there is no dad in the lives of the kids because even we men are not stupid enough to live with an person like Alana. And the good news is that Alana was "towed' to the Springfield Municipal Jail. After she is tired and convicted, I think the judge should take a way Alana's car and make her transport herself on a horse for the next few years.
And here is a typical example of that. An Oregon woman from Springfield named Alana Donaghue, 27, has been charged with two counts of reckless endangerment of her three children after multiple drivers reported seeing Alana driving her car as it towed her three children,- her 2-year-old daughter, 4-year-old son and 8-year-old nephew in a small, plastic red wagon going around a busy roundabout multiple times during rush hour. She was towing children behind her white Ford Taurus in a wagon attached with a rope, according to Lt. Scott McKee, a spokesperson for Springfield Police Department.
I am not kidding! There are humans as brain addled as Alana out there, and their children are learning from them. Police said clue less Alana told them that she was "showing the kids a good time," and only driving 5 miles per hour. Maybe the family gun was out of reach that day and Alana couldn't let the kiddies play Russian Roulette. Anyway, it' more fun to kill the kids with a car, a guess.
According to Lt. McKee, "I talked to a witness today that said she saw them go by her house in their neighborhood and they were going like 30 miles an hour," Lt. McKee said. A witness reported the youngest child begin to cry after the wagon went up on two wheels during the trip. "That same witness reported observing Alana pull over and move the toddler from the wagon to the car and then continue driving with the 4-year-old and the 8-year-old still in the wagon," police said. Other witnesses told officials that Alana was holding up very heavy traffic (stupid people do stupid things at the worst time...it was rush hour when she towed the kids) and then yelling at motorists, telling them to get out of her way and mind their own business.
Once apprehended police evaluated Alana at the scene and arrested. She did not appear to be under the influence of intoxicants. What? I can't believe they said that. In drug infused Oregon drugs are most often the excuse of bizarre behavior. There are manyyyyyyyy drug altered people here. But this leads to a simple observation about the, "She did not appear to be under the influence of intoxicants." That is, she must be just plain stupid.
Fortunately, the Oregon Department of Human Services placed Alana's children with another more competent person. As you might expect, there is no dad in the lives of the kids because even we men are not stupid enough to live with an person like Alana. And the good news is that Alana was "towed' to the Springfield Municipal Jail. After she is tired and convicted, I think the judge should take a way Alana's car and make her transport herself on a horse for the next few years.
Monday, July 17, 2017
I'll Have Coffee
Finally! Some good news about a so-called "bad
food". That would be
coffee, the much maligned drink that so many Americans prefer but have
been told by the media is the cause of a variety of behavioral
disorders of sort, the "He's nervous
and jittery because he drinks too much coffee" routine. Green tea has
been the darling of reports for a number of years, but it has little
taste and appeal for me. I almost always have one cup of coffee
(chicory coffee is my favorite) each morning. It gives me a
psychological, if not physical boost and I doubt the small amount of
caffeine in a cup causes any problems.
The Annals of Internal Medicine has just published two new studies on the effects of coffee, saying that drinking coffee could be connected to a reduced risk of dying from a slew of disease including heart disease and stroke. I sure hope they published a similar health effect of my favorite coffee accompaniment, the donut. The health benefits and limitations of coffee have been long studied, and this isn't the first time we coffee drinkers have seen headlines claiming it may help lead to a longer life. One of the two studies examined a little over 185,000 Americans, and found that whether people drank caffeinated or decaffeinated, coffee was associated with a lower risk of death due to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease in African Americans, Japanese Americans, Asians, Latinos and Caucasians.
The study indicated that those who reported that they drank two or three cups of coffee a day had an 18% decrease chance of death compared to those who did not drink coffee over the 16 year test period, according to the study. Four cups a day is the maximum recommended usage. After that amount short term negative effects can result. But studies in the past show different people have different comfort levels of amounts of coffee they can drink.
The second of the two studies was conducted in Europe. It surveyed more than 520,000 people across 10 countries, and also found that those who drank several cups of coffee a day had a lower risk of death than those who did not drink coffee. Both studies separated smokers from nonsmokers and other factors that could have played a part in the results.
It's great news and I can add another cogent point to this study of coffee. That is, try all you want but you can't dunk a donut in green tea. Bring on the coffee and donuts!
The Annals of Internal Medicine has just published two new studies on the effects of coffee, saying that drinking coffee could be connected to a reduced risk of dying from a slew of disease including heart disease and stroke. I sure hope they published a similar health effect of my favorite coffee accompaniment, the donut. The health benefits and limitations of coffee have been long studied, and this isn't the first time we coffee drinkers have seen headlines claiming it may help lead to a longer life. One of the two studies examined a little over 185,000 Americans, and found that whether people drank caffeinated or decaffeinated, coffee was associated with a lower risk of death due to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease in African Americans, Japanese Americans, Asians, Latinos and Caucasians.
The study indicated that those who reported that they drank two or three cups of coffee a day had an 18% decrease chance of death compared to those who did not drink coffee over the 16 year test period, according to the study. Four cups a day is the maximum recommended usage. After that amount short term negative effects can result. But studies in the past show different people have different comfort levels of amounts of coffee they can drink.
The second of the two studies was conducted in Europe. It surveyed more than 520,000 people across 10 countries, and also found that those who drank several cups of coffee a day had a lower risk of death than those who did not drink coffee. Both studies separated smokers from nonsmokers and other factors that could have played a part in the results.
It's great news and I can add another cogent point to this study of coffee. That is, try all you want but you can't dunk a donut in green tea. Bring on the coffee and donuts!
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Living Virtually
Are people moving more and more away from reality and the
serious while living more and more in a new reality they create to
please themselves? I think it is so, and the reasons is our
communication technology. As one who doesn't use that technology much
at all, I am able to better notice the alternate universe that more
and more people create about the world and people in it. Black is
white, day is night and the sky is green to more and more of us. Don't
you dare tell them any of that is not true. Sadly, I think that those
of us who have run and hide in their phones and other devices find a
growing comfort zone there.
Why see things as they are if the upset, they reason. The prism where this can be seen most easily is in our political policies. The demonization of President Trump amazes me, with charges made against Trump that are so far from real that one must conclude there is a deluded anti Trump group that believes what they hear, copy and retell. There is plenty of real matters to criticize Trump, but many find solace in bizarre assertions about him instead. No matter that fact is absent in the critique, the idea is that comfort is found in creating and living in an alternative world to soothe the pain of the dislike (Trump). The right did somewhat the same to Barrack Obama, creating an image unsupported by reality but one which allow them to feel "relief" with the reality of his Presidency, even when, as with Trump there were many real reasons that could have been but were not used in criticims of him.
Besides politics our social relations are another way we can see humans are running from reality. Many people today do not want to relate to other humans on a face to face basis. The Tweet, chat, cell message and virtual world seem less threatening than personal relationships. So they wallow in those dark recesses instad. Maybe that's why so many employers report that their workers seem socially inept in even the simplest of human relations. But then, one who lives less in the real world and more in a world they instead create and control will lose social skills like communicating directly with others.
Hmmmm Are we becoming more robotlike and less thinking and feeling humans? Is communication technology taking over our minds and crushing our emotional range? Maybe we are moving toward replacing reality with virtual reality. If so, we lose more than we should want to give away.
Why see things as they are if the upset, they reason. The prism where this can be seen most easily is in our political policies. The demonization of President Trump amazes me, with charges made against Trump that are so far from real that one must conclude there is a deluded anti Trump group that believes what they hear, copy and retell. There is plenty of real matters to criticize Trump, but many find solace in bizarre assertions about him instead. No matter that fact is absent in the critique, the idea is that comfort is found in creating and living in an alternative world to soothe the pain of the dislike (Trump). The right did somewhat the same to Barrack Obama, creating an image unsupported by reality but one which allow them to feel "relief" with the reality of his Presidency, even when, as with Trump there were many real reasons that could have been but were not used in criticims of him.
Besides politics our social relations are another way we can see humans are running from reality. Many people today do not want to relate to other humans on a face to face basis. The Tweet, chat, cell message and virtual world seem less threatening than personal relationships. So they wallow in those dark recesses instad. Maybe that's why so many employers report that their workers seem socially inept in even the simplest of human relations. But then, one who lives less in the real world and more in a world they instead create and control will lose social skills like communicating directly with others.
Hmmmm Are we becoming more robotlike and less thinking and feeling humans? Is communication technology taking over our minds and crushing our emotional range? Maybe we are moving toward replacing reality with virtual reality. If so, we lose more than we should want to give away.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Fried Chicken Day
National Fried Chicken Day was held on July 6th. You say you
didn't
know that, that you were busy eating fried chicken that day? Well,
fried chicken may be the international food favorite. It's done many
ways with many seasonings and with many people claiming there fried
chicken favorite is the best. Fried chicken was an expensive delicacy
up until World War II, but thanks to mass production techniques that
made chicken the people's affordable meat, we're now able to indulge
ourselves on the cheap in almost any city in the world.
Fried chicken is the cook's favorite experimental food. I've seen Ramen covered fried chicken, fried chicken marinated in tea, fried chicken corn dogs, kosher fried chicken, coconut fried chicken, even chicken and waffle cupcakes. You can have them all. What I like is the simple flour battered, slat and pepper seasoned and fried in oil chicken. It makes me an extremist because today fried chicken is hard to define.
In Gainesville, Georgia, a woman was nearly arrested for trying to eat fried chicken with a fork. Apparently because of a very old law still on the books, it is only legal to eat fried chicken with your bare hands there. Any other method is illegal. I think I agree with the old law. People who eat fried chicken with a fork are the same ones who put ketchup in eggs. They should be shot. Oddly enough, that Georgia law is enforced from time to time. The law describes fried chicken as “a culinary delicacy sacred to this municipality, this county, this state, the Southland, and this republic.” Well, donuts are sacred, but chicken is almost that.
I once say in a grocery store that it was selling a canned vegetarian fried chicken. There should be law against that! Yuk! I can't write any more about noble fried chicken after remembering that. I wonder if KFC is still open....
Fried chicken is the cook's favorite experimental food. I've seen Ramen covered fried chicken, fried chicken marinated in tea, fried chicken corn dogs, kosher fried chicken, coconut fried chicken, even chicken and waffle cupcakes. You can have them all. What I like is the simple flour battered, slat and pepper seasoned and fried in oil chicken. It makes me an extremist because today fried chicken is hard to define.
In Gainesville, Georgia, a woman was nearly arrested for trying to eat fried chicken with a fork. Apparently because of a very old law still on the books, it is only legal to eat fried chicken with your bare hands there. Any other method is illegal. I think I agree with the old law. People who eat fried chicken with a fork are the same ones who put ketchup in eggs. They should be shot. Oddly enough, that Georgia law is enforced from time to time. The law describes fried chicken as “a culinary delicacy sacred to this municipality, this county, this state, the Southland, and this republic.” Well, donuts are sacred, but chicken is almost that.
I once say in a grocery store that it was selling a canned vegetarian fried chicken. There should be law against that! Yuk! I can't write any more about noble fried chicken after remembering that. I wonder if KFC is still open....
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Fireworks
Independence Day here is a fireworks shoot day for many.
Most people
who shoot fireworks are kids and normal people who like the the old
style way to celebrate. They shoot them with caution and have fun. But
then there are the mental midgets out there who make simple fireworks
weapons of destruction or death. I have a story of one such overzealous
fireworks bug who reeked havoc on July 4th. Mike Tingley a Michigan
homeowner attempted to use fireworks to remove a bees' nest from his
garage. Maybe he is turned in to ISIS videos too much.
After lighting fireworks shot into the sky from the burning garage and fire trucks raced in futility to save the garage from immolation. "The homeowner was doing something with a smoke bomb trying to get a bees nest out of the garage," said Grand Blanc Fire Chief, Bob Burdette. No one was injured and the fire was contained to the garage and a neighboring fence, sparing the home on the property but not the embarrassment that the homeowner can be destructively stupid. Said firebug Mike, "We really weren't going to celebrate the Fourth of July so much as we just have fun in our backyard, we like to have barbecues, we had a patio back there. It is depressing losing a place where we had a lot of fun, but everyone is safe and that's the main thing."
I think Mike won't have to worry about that bee nest anymore, but building a new garage will keep his mind off the subject. Maybe Hollywood can make a movie about this and Mike can pay for the new garage that way. Anyway, this reminds me of the danger of fireworks and about my many witnesses to it as a kid. Shooting fireworks was a common thing for kids when I was a little brat (as opposed to my big brat status today). From about age 8 onward we kids in my neighborhood shot them recklessly, unsupervised, and survived the ordeal. In that era kids were not so "protected" by adults. It was a better time for kids, I think.
I remember the night I set off a handful of bottle rockets in my left hand by inadvertently lighting them with the lit "punk' firecracker lighter held in in my right. I was burned quite badly, but ran inside rinsed my hand with cold water and never mentioned it to my parents. In fact after treating the burn, I returned to be with my friends and continued shooting my fireworks. Since we sometimes dared each other to hold the firecrackers until the last second before tossing them, I also had a few discharge in my hand, usually leaving a cut but no scar. I remember one kid in another neighborhood next to mine who lost two fingers when a cherry bomb exploded in his hand. Since we often fired bottle rockets at each other it was amazing no one lost and eye in that game.
Age makes one more inclined to regard shooting fireworks as an act of stupidity. Even fools like me believe that. Since fireworks are not as popular in this country anymore, often being illegal to discharge in many cities and towns, and since many kids live in an electronic world there seems to be fewer fireworks idiots like Mike the garage guy. We no longer have the tradition of kids immolating themselves with fireworks. It is a good thing. those spectacular fireworks shows have taken the place of much of the dangerous individual fireworks activity of the past.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that on average in the U.S during the month of July 250 people go a hospital emergency room every day with fireworks injuries. The hands, fingers, head, ears and face are the areas of the body most impacted. An estimated 12,000 Americans will seek medical treatment after being injured from fireworks this month. Hmm I think I'll just watch the shows from a distance.
After lighting fireworks shot into the sky from the burning garage and fire trucks raced in futility to save the garage from immolation. "The homeowner was doing something with a smoke bomb trying to get a bees nest out of the garage," said Grand Blanc Fire Chief, Bob Burdette. No one was injured and the fire was contained to the garage and a neighboring fence, sparing the home on the property but not the embarrassment that the homeowner can be destructively stupid. Said firebug Mike, "We really weren't going to celebrate the Fourth of July so much as we just have fun in our backyard, we like to have barbecues, we had a patio back there. It is depressing losing a place where we had a lot of fun, but everyone is safe and that's the main thing."
I think Mike won't have to worry about that bee nest anymore, but building a new garage will keep his mind off the subject. Maybe Hollywood can make a movie about this and Mike can pay for the new garage that way. Anyway, this reminds me of the danger of fireworks and about my many witnesses to it as a kid. Shooting fireworks was a common thing for kids when I was a little brat (as opposed to my big brat status today). From about age 8 onward we kids in my neighborhood shot them recklessly, unsupervised, and survived the ordeal. In that era kids were not so "protected" by adults. It was a better time for kids, I think.
I remember the night I set off a handful of bottle rockets in my left hand by inadvertently lighting them with the lit "punk' firecracker lighter held in in my right. I was burned quite badly, but ran inside rinsed my hand with cold water and never mentioned it to my parents. In fact after treating the burn, I returned to be with my friends and continued shooting my fireworks. Since we sometimes dared each other to hold the firecrackers until the last second before tossing them, I also had a few discharge in my hand, usually leaving a cut but no scar. I remember one kid in another neighborhood next to mine who lost two fingers when a cherry bomb exploded in his hand. Since we often fired bottle rockets at each other it was amazing no one lost and eye in that game.
Age makes one more inclined to regard shooting fireworks as an act of stupidity. Even fools like me believe that. Since fireworks are not as popular in this country anymore, often being illegal to discharge in many cities and towns, and since many kids live in an electronic world there seems to be fewer fireworks idiots like Mike the garage guy. We no longer have the tradition of kids immolating themselves with fireworks. It is a good thing. those spectacular fireworks shows have taken the place of much of the dangerous individual fireworks activity of the past.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that on average in the U.S during the month of July 250 people go a hospital emergency room every day with fireworks injuries. The hands, fingers, head, ears and face are the areas of the body most impacted. An estimated 12,000 Americans will seek medical treatment after being injured from fireworks this month. Hmm I think I'll just watch the shows from a distance.
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
July Is The Worst Month
July 4th was Independence Day in the United States.
Therefore I will write about July today. July is my
least favorite month. I endure July, tolerate it and feel my
head has been smacked by a heavyweight boxer when I meet with those
people who love the hot sticky days of the month. I am not alone
though. There is a term called the "July Effect" that describes how
there is an increase by 10 % in medical mistakes because so many
medical students begin their residence practice in July. In England
the July effect is called 'The Killing Season'. I wonder if there is
more to it than that. Nothing ever good happens in July.
My biggest gripe about July is the heat. Even here in temperate climate Portland July and August is often oppressively hot. I hate the heat. maybe I should lock myself in my house for the whole month. I would survive July and society would be safer and more sane at the same time. In my former home, New Orleans, July is so hot and oppressive that it is the off tourist season in one of the most popular tourist cities in the world. Local New Orleanians shut down and the city becomes a sort of boring mini Omaha, Nebraska or something. I that there is little to do in July there.
What I do in July is watch the calendar, smiling with each day crossed out, even elevating not so nice August to celebrity status. At least in August there is hope for the cool fronts that come in September. Those that like July say it is sun and vacation time. But July is also the month when it is most expensive to travel. And what mom in July doesn't pray for the end of summer to send her children back to prison (school)?
July is the worst month for jellyfish bites, lightning strikes, the worst month to buy or sell stock, when your mother in law visits (for the whole month), you have to celebrate Benito Mussolini's birthday, for blowing up oneself with fireworks while celebrating Independence Day (July 4th), supposedly yo act civilly with that cell phone because July is 'National Courtesy Cell phone Month'. Those are just a few reason to hate July. July also is the month for these "celebrations" : National Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk Day, Yellow Pig Day, National Flitch Day, Talk on an Elevator Day, World Hepatitis Day, Bioterrorism/Disaster Education & Awareness Month, National Horseradish Month, Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month, and National Wheelchair Beautification Month.
Are you excited about July? I think I''ll go take a nap now, hopefully lasting about a month.
My biggest gripe about July is the heat. Even here in temperate climate Portland July and August is often oppressively hot. I hate the heat. maybe I should lock myself in my house for the whole month. I would survive July and society would be safer and more sane at the same time. In my former home, New Orleans, July is so hot and oppressive that it is the off tourist season in one of the most popular tourist cities in the world. Local New Orleanians shut down and the city becomes a sort of boring mini Omaha, Nebraska or something. I that there is little to do in July there.
What I do in July is watch the calendar, smiling with each day crossed out, even elevating not so nice August to celebrity status. At least in August there is hope for the cool fronts that come in September. Those that like July say it is sun and vacation time. But July is also the month when it is most expensive to travel. And what mom in July doesn't pray for the end of summer to send her children back to prison (school)?
July is the worst month for jellyfish bites, lightning strikes, the worst month to buy or sell stock, when your mother in law visits (for the whole month), you have to celebrate Benito Mussolini's birthday, for blowing up oneself with fireworks while celebrating Independence Day (July 4th), supposedly yo act civilly with that cell phone because July is 'National Courtesy Cell phone Month'. Those are just a few reason to hate July. July also is the month for these "celebrations" : National Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk Day, Yellow Pig Day, National Flitch Day, Talk on an Elevator Day, World Hepatitis Day, Bioterrorism/Disaster Education & Awareness Month, National Horseradish Month, Hemochromatosis Screening Awareness Month, and National Wheelchair Beautification Month.
Are you excited about July? I think I''ll go take a nap now, hopefully lasting about a month.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
World's Best Airlines
What's the world's best airline, according to World Airline
Awards,
which is published by Skytrax? It's certainly not any U.S. airlines.
They traded quality for cheap price and have achieved the lowest fares,
but at the expense of comfort. In these days only state financed, not
private, airlines can afford the garish extravagance demanded by fliers
who can afford the higher priced fares. And the winner and runner ups
are No. 2 Singapore Airlines and No. 3 All Nippon Airways (ANA), last
year's winner Emirate Air, with Cathay
Pacific rounded out the top five of the ratings. All are loss leader
airlines that are government owned with profit secondary to promoting
their country's tourism.
Qatar Air is terrorism affected by a U.S. ban on large carry-on electronics that was put into effect after the latest rash of terrorist murders. This puts it at a passenger experience disadvantage against competitors unaffected by the ban, but the government a can add more luxury perks on board to make up for some of the loss due to the ban. Still, Qatar and nearby Middle East nations are feuding over terrorism. This has forced Qatar Air to no longer offer flights to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others. Also those other Mid East nations have closed off their air spaces to flights from Qatar.
Air Canada took the title for “Best Airline in North America.” That's great for a privately owned airline, but don't cheer for Canada. Overall, Air Canada finished 29th in the ratings. Delta was the top ranked U.S. carrier in the World Airline Awards, placing three spots behind Air Canada at 32nd overall. The Skytrax awards are one of several annual consumer rated rankings for air travel. Travel + Leisure magazine's ratings, perhaps even more valued by the airline industry released it's ratings late in the summer. Singapore Airlines was last year's world's top carrier in that list. Emirates was the runner-up in those ratings while Qatar Airways place third.
But the question that has to be asked is whether those winners are really the favorites. More people fly the low fare airlines than any other, and those who answered the surveys rating the world's best tend to be full fare, high fare fliers. That is a subjective question with now correct answer. Still, I am sure those of us who love the cheap fares and hate the lousy service on those airlines, would like to see improvement in the latter, even if it meat a modest fare increase.
Skytrax's annual airline passenger satisfaction survey produced 19.87 million eligible survey entries for this year's results. The survey period stretched from August 2016 through May 2017 and included participation from travelers of 105 nationalities. More than 325 airlines were included in the survey. So it was a survey that included many fliers. The top 25 of the Skytrax rankings were:
1. Qatar Airways
2. Singapore Airlines
3. All Nippon Airways
4. Emirates
5. Cathay Pacific
6. Eva Air
7. Lufthansa
8, Eitihad Airways
9. Hainan Airlines
10. Garuda Indonesia
11. Thai Airways
12. Turkish Airlines
13. Virgin Australia
14. Swiss International Air Lines
15. Qantas Airways
16. Japan Airlines (JAL)
17. Austrian Airlines
18. Air France
19. Air New Zealand
20. Asiana Airlines
21. Bangkok Airways
22. KLM
23. China Southern
24. Hong Kong Airlines
25. Finnair
Qatar Air is terrorism affected by a U.S. ban on large carry-on electronics that was put into effect after the latest rash of terrorist murders. This puts it at a passenger experience disadvantage against competitors unaffected by the ban, but the government a can add more luxury perks on board to make up for some of the loss due to the ban. Still, Qatar and nearby Middle East nations are feuding over terrorism. This has forced Qatar Air to no longer offer flights to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others. Also those other Mid East nations have closed off their air spaces to flights from Qatar.
Air Canada took the title for “Best Airline in North America.” That's great for a privately owned airline, but don't cheer for Canada. Overall, Air Canada finished 29th in the ratings. Delta was the top ranked U.S. carrier in the World Airline Awards, placing three spots behind Air Canada at 32nd overall. The Skytrax awards are one of several annual consumer rated rankings for air travel. Travel + Leisure magazine's ratings, perhaps even more valued by the airline industry released it's ratings late in the summer. Singapore Airlines was last year's world's top carrier in that list. Emirates was the runner-up in those ratings while Qatar Airways place third.
But the question that has to be asked is whether those winners are really the favorites. More people fly the low fare airlines than any other, and those who answered the surveys rating the world's best tend to be full fare, high fare fliers. That is a subjective question with now correct answer. Still, I am sure those of us who love the cheap fares and hate the lousy service on those airlines, would like to see improvement in the latter, even if it meat a modest fare increase.
Skytrax's annual airline passenger satisfaction survey produced 19.87 million eligible survey entries for this year's results. The survey period stretched from August 2016 through May 2017 and included participation from travelers of 105 nationalities. More than 325 airlines were included in the survey. So it was a survey that included many fliers. The top 25 of the Skytrax rankings were:
1. Qatar Airways
2. Singapore Airlines
3. All Nippon Airways
4. Emirates
5. Cathay Pacific
6. Eva Air
7. Lufthansa
8, Eitihad Airways
9. Hainan Airlines
10. Garuda Indonesia
11. Thai Airways
12. Turkish Airlines
13. Virgin Australia
14. Swiss International Air Lines
15. Qantas Airways
16. Japan Airlines (JAL)
17. Austrian Airlines
18. Air France
19. Air New Zealand
20. Asiana Airlines
21. Bangkok Airways
22. KLM
23. China Southern
24. Hong Kong Airlines
25. Finnair
Saturday, July 1, 2017
He Loves The Uneducated
One funny moment from the most recent presidential election
was when,
in response to a poll of voters that showed Donald Trump was the
favorite of the least educated among them, Trump declared in a
campaign, "I love the uneducated.". Yes, who wouldn't if running for
office, because most Americans seem to fall in that category. They not
only know very little, they seem almost pleased to be that way. Their
world is an insulated one, usually centered around their cell phones
and TV shows. What's outside of that seems to matter little to them.
A problem with an uneducated voter is that he or she is unlikely to ever be educated about reality. You can't change their minds on an issue because they have the uneducated smugness that they already have found truth in their position. A politicians merely re enforces that voters ignorance and he will win the vote every time. Trump is a master of it, but all politicians love uneducated voters. Hillary Clinton, for example, won over quite a few with her "War on Women" narrative that told the uneducated that women are virtual slaves to males. And Obama, for example, pushed the uneducated narrative that police were hunting black citizens. Voters who are uneducated about an issue need to be told their lack of education is a blessing. Hence, Trump's "I love the uneducated" remark.
I suspect the uneducated voter is also the uneducated citizen, in general. The man or woman who pays no income taxes but swears he or she is overtaxed, the doomsday global warming advocate who hasn't the slightest idea about climate beyond what Leonardo Di Caprio says about it, the uneducated who declares that birth control is murder and on and on. We have such views today because the society rewards the fringe, even the uneducated fringe, by tolerating the ignorance rather than trying to change it with facts.
This is not just a phenomenon in the United States. The uneducated are loved just about everywhere. Western Europe, in particular, is a basket case of misinformation and misconception because of it. I suspect the triviality of culture today contributes ot the uneducated boom. Why know things, for instance, when one can live in a bubble on a cell phone? Society does not reward knowledge anymore as it used to. Our lives are so lived in insignificance that knowledge becomes secondary to amusement. Few read the classics anymore. Actually, few even red newspapers anymore. Better, they feel to get information form a social media post.
Maybe schools today should push aside all the technological educational aids and instead issue those old textbooks. Then it should require reading of them and discussion of content, followed by written analysis. Maybe calculators should be banned in schools for all but higher order math, in which they are supplements, not primary sources to solutions. Maybe schools should require proper usage of the language, the old "I deducted 5 points from your test score because you made an error in usage" standard.
Sigh....or maybe I am also one of the uneducated for even suggesting such a possibility today.
A problem with an uneducated voter is that he or she is unlikely to ever be educated about reality. You can't change their minds on an issue because they have the uneducated smugness that they already have found truth in their position. A politicians merely re enforces that voters ignorance and he will win the vote every time. Trump is a master of it, but all politicians love uneducated voters. Hillary Clinton, for example, won over quite a few with her "War on Women" narrative that told the uneducated that women are virtual slaves to males. And Obama, for example, pushed the uneducated narrative that police were hunting black citizens. Voters who are uneducated about an issue need to be told their lack of education is a blessing. Hence, Trump's "I love the uneducated" remark.
I suspect the uneducated voter is also the uneducated citizen, in general. The man or woman who pays no income taxes but swears he or she is overtaxed, the doomsday global warming advocate who hasn't the slightest idea about climate beyond what Leonardo Di Caprio says about it, the uneducated who declares that birth control is murder and on and on. We have such views today because the society rewards the fringe, even the uneducated fringe, by tolerating the ignorance rather than trying to change it with facts.
This is not just a phenomenon in the United States. The uneducated are loved just about everywhere. Western Europe, in particular, is a basket case of misinformation and misconception because of it. I suspect the triviality of culture today contributes ot the uneducated boom. Why know things, for instance, when one can live in a bubble on a cell phone? Society does not reward knowledge anymore as it used to. Our lives are so lived in insignificance that knowledge becomes secondary to amusement. Few read the classics anymore. Actually, few even red newspapers anymore. Better, they feel to get information form a social media post.
Maybe schools today should push aside all the technological educational aids and instead issue those old textbooks. Then it should require reading of them and discussion of content, followed by written analysis. Maybe calculators should be banned in schools for all but higher order math, in which they are supplements, not primary sources to solutions. Maybe schools should require proper usage of the language, the old "I deducted 5 points from your test score because you made an error in usage" standard.
Sigh....or maybe I am also one of the uneducated for even suggesting such a possibility today.
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