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Greetings,
Quotaholics:
I
read a lot of articles and save a lot of links in looking for things
to write about. Whenever I read something I think I could write about
I save the link, then when it comes time to write I look through my
links trying to decide which one strikes my fancy.
Sometimes though I see a connection, a common thread, that I hadn’t
seen before.
For instance, I read an article from the New York Times that was posted
on the MSNBC
site. The article is titled “When is it OK for kids to run around
naked?”
It seems that some parents allow their children to run around naked
even when guests are visiting. Or they never teach them that certain
bodily functions are better kept in private.
“For many parents, allowing a child to run around naked at home
is perfectly natural, an expression of physical freedom that represents
the essence of childhood, especially in the summer. But for others,
unclad bodies are an affront to civility, a source of discomfort and
a potentially dangerous attraction for pedophiles. These clashing sensibilities
can create conflict, even when the nudity in question takes place at
home.”
“Psychologists seem to agree that parents are wise to teach their
children that different situations call for different behaviors, and
that taking guests’ feelings into account is a thoughtful thing
to do.”
The other article that caught my attention is from the U.K. newspaper
The
Telegraph. The headline read, “Pupils start school still in
nappies”. For those of us in the U.S. nappies are diapers.
According to the article a growing problem in the U.K. is the fact that
more and more children are showing up for the first day of school still
not potty trained.
“A growing number of parents are failing to potty train their
children before sending them to primary school. Some parents have made
it a low priority because they are too busy, while others have a more
relaxed attitude and are happy to ‘wait until the child is ready’,
according to teachers.”
“Some schools and nurseries refuse to take children who are still
in nappies but councils now advise that they could be contravening the
Disability Discrimination Act by doing so.”
“Local authorities are drawing up ‘nappy changing policies’
to establish new procedures while staff in schools are being trained
to deal with the problem.”
What could I possibly see as a common thread in these two articles you
ask? Well to me they both indicate a problem with parents not being
willing or able to raise their children properly.
My two daughters were complete opposites when they were young. The oldest
crawled early, walked early, talked early, and shocked me by telling
me, at a very early age, that she wanted a potty chair.
The younger one didn’t seem to be in any hurry to do any of these
things, being content to stay wherever we put her, and to let us change
her diapers. It took some effort to convince her that she really needed
to start using the potty, but we convinced her. Well before she started
school.
It seems to me that many parents are so busy with work and other activities
that they don’t want what little time they have with their children
to be the least bit unpleasant. This means they don’t discipline
the children or train them the way they should.
As the article in the Telegraph put it, “Margaret Morrissey, of
the family lobby group Parents Outloud, said: ‘The fact is that
we are changing our society and the nature of child rearing is changing
because of it. If we insist that mothers go out to work when their children
are still young - out of the house by 7.30am, dropping off a baby at
nursery, then the two kids at school, working a full day and getting
back at 6pm - things are going to give.’”
“‘If you want mums to devote every waking day to their children
and their development, we have to make it possible for them to survive
financially while staying at home.’”
And there’s the real problem isn’t it? As a society we’ve
created a financial system that requires both parents to work. Average
salaries have stayed relatively flat while the cost of necessities have
continued to go up. And yet we expect people to marry, buy a house,
drive new cars, raise children and still have time to devote to volunteer
or charitable work!
And more often than not when things don’t work out, hubby is not
getting the “attention” he needs, the children are poorly
trained, the home isn’t clean, society sees that as a reflection
on the wife/mother.
Shouldn’t we, as citizens, expect society to make it possible
for women to work if they choose or stay home and raise children if
they choose? Is it fair to judge women on their ability to “do
everything”? To expect them to be successful wives, mothers, and
business women all at the same time?
I’m glad my wife chose to be a full time mom. I think our daughters
grew up happier and healthier because of it. It was difficult financially,
but worth it in the long run. How much nicer it would have been had
I made a enough money to make life more comfortable for them or if other
women didn’t make her feel worthless because she was a stay at
home mom.
Fatherly,
Comment
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“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how
much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do
know and what you don’t.” - Anatole France
“You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward.”
- James Thurber
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Redneck Vacation
Billy Bob and Luther
were talking one afternoon when Billy Bob tells Luther, “Ya know,
I reckon I’m ’bout ready for a vacation. Only this year I’m gonna
do it a little different”.
“The last few years, I took your advice about where to go. Three years
ago you said to go to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii and Earline got pregnant.
Then two years ago, you told me to go to the Bahamas, and Earline
got pregnant again. Last year you suggested Tahiti and darned if Earline
didn’t get pregnant again.”
Luther asks Billy Bob, “So, what you gonna do this year that’s different?”
Billy Bob says, “This year I’m taking Earline with me.”
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“An apology? Bah! Disgusting! Cowardly! Beneath the dignity of any gentleman,
however wrong he might be.”
“Hosting the Oscars is much like making love to a woman. It’s something
I only get to do when Billy Crystal is out of town.”
“I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things
that money can buy.” - all from Steve Martin, born on this day in 1945
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Speak
right up!
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Underbrush
Some trees do a terrific job of keeping their neighborhood clean. Others,
not so much.
As I am out traipsing through the undergrowth of parks and woodlands,
I see some patterns of what grows, but it isn’t an exact science. In
an area where honeysuckle runs rampant, some wooded areas have almost
none on the forest floor, whereas others have it so thick that if a
tree had to evacuate quickly in case of a fire, it wouldn’t be able
to.
What brought this to mind recently was an excursion that took me to
opposite sides of a fairly sizable city. Without apparent rhyme or reason,
it caught my eye that some areas had an over-abundance of undergrowth,
and some didn’t. Some areas had scrubby looking trees, and some had
majestic canopies where light played in reflections and rarely touched
the ground.
Of course, if a seedling doesn’t get light, it is less liable to germinate.,
or at least less likely to mature. Mighty forests with a canopies that
seem like a protective blanket, sometimes will, and sometimes won’t
have a lot of undergrowth. Obviously, in this light (pun intended),
a heavily overgrown forest floor will have it’s soil shaded by the trees
and the undergrowth.
Pine forests are amazingly clean. All those pine needles have beaten
down whatever tried to grow, and provides a protective carpet. Don’t
get me wrong, I’ve seen pine forests with all sorts of shrubbery on
the ground. As a child, I had pants & shirts with little tears in
them attesting to pine forest undergrowth. But, in general, I’ve found
pine forests, and other evergreen forest types to be some of the cleanest.
When we bought our house a few years back, we had to clear an area which
would become our back yard and garden. We found more differing types
of things growing as underbrush than we could shake a stick at, and,
believe me, I shook a mighty mean stick! Honeysuckle, wild grapevine,
poison ivy, poison oak, and some lower growing things that seemed to
be a hybrid of a succulent and an evergreen. And, I believe there were
several varieties of things that came from another planet, or at least
seems so.
Here’s your quiz:
If you were to hike through the woods near you, what might you find?
Are your forest floors so thick Br’er Rabbit would have a hard time
getting through?
What different kinds of undergrowth have you seen in forests you have
been in?
Underbrush - What My Wife Sometimes Calls My Mustache
Cliff (the High-Tech
Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’) 
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Our grandson, Jacob, is now four years old. He’s proud to be in preschool.
His father (my son) is sometimes baffled as where he "gets stuff."
I must say, it’s nice to see my son shaken! Get-backs may be a b*tch,
but they sure are fun!
But I digress… today, a beautiful day when hubby and I and son
and grandson had the day off of work, we planned to get together for
a nice lunch at a local restaurant.
After ordering and while waiting for our food to arrive, Jake (grandson)
and my hubby/his granddad ("Dandy") were bonding while seated
next to each other. Jake was wearing shorts and showed his Dandy how
he could pinch together the skin and flesh on his cute little knees,
making a couple mounds with a line down the middle. He proudly announced
that he had made a "knee butt."
Everyone laughed along with Jake, which, of course, resulted in him
wanting to take it a step further! He made another "knee butt"
on his knee and told his Dandy, in all seriousness, that "It doesn’t
have a penis, so it’s a girl." - Carol in California
P.S. Hope I didn’t offend anyone. Just as my son is baffled as to where
he "got this stuff," so I am… but I sure relish the laughter!
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Email Kirsten
“So
long, and thanks for all the fish.”
~ Douglas Adams ~
Dear readers (whoops, there goes my Jane Eyre persona again),
I am writing to tell you that I will not be writing tonight. It has
been an eventful day. For a start, today is my Dad’s birthday. If
he was still alive, he would be 72 years old. This is a day that will,
I suspect, always be marked by a combination of sadness for what has
been lost and celebration of what we had.
There was an actual event today as well - not in any way connected
with my Dad. The event was that I fed the fish. That in itself is
not exactly earth-shattering. In fact, it’s downright dull. The most
imaginative person in the world would not be able to make a big deal
of sprinkling a bit of flaky stuff into some water. What I saw while
feeding the fish was eventful, though. In addition to the usual aquarium
population (a pair of guppies and a little catfish thing), I saw some
extra fish, and that surprised me somewhat. I had somehow failed to
notice that the female guppy was in the family way, and sometime during
the night, she “dropped her fry”. This is an expression I always find
weird and amusing, but it is apparently the proper lingo.
I had to go to work, but for the whole day I was wondering whether
guppies eat their young. When I got home, I peered into the aquarium,
fully expecting for the larger fish to have eaten the babies. To my
surprise, though, there were two ridiculously miniature fish swimming
around. I rescued them and put them into a fish bowl, and knowing
that they were safe from the big wide - um, aquarium, I called a fish
breeding company and asked for their advice. I was in a bit of a flap,
to be honest. I’m not used to my fish unexpectedly sprouting new fish.
By the time the kids went to bed, the aquarium had been cleaned and
rearranged. A mesh breeding trap had been installed, and Amos ‘n’
Andy (lame names, I know) had been safely transferred into it. So
the adult fish are free to swim around their domain, and the baby
fish get to do their thing without becoming someone’s dinner. The
adult fish are a sulking a little because they’re not used to this
rectangular mesh box in their habitat. But they’ll get over it, I’m
sure.
Postscript to the story: Daddy Guppy is already hounding Mommy Guppy
for some action. Seems like horniness isn’t restricted to humans.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
On This Article
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Dear Tim, Tazz here, and I’ve an unusual problem for sure.
I am using Vista, and Windows Mail. I have two e-mails from two different
people and addresses, that won’t go away. I have tried to read them,
and I get a message that says an unknown problem has occurred, and
when I try and delete them the message just repeats itself. I have
tried to have someone work on this, and they couldn’t get the e-mails
to go away either. What do you think? Any suggestions?
Get Tapped In Tuned Up, And Turned On!
From,
The, Tazz!
Dear Tazz,
Of course I have suggestions. Try Thunderbird
instead of Windows Mail.
I don’t use Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express), but I do remember
people that have had problems with it. The mailboxes can become corrupted
and cause all sorts of problems. There was a utility for Outlook Express
that repaired them, so I went about looking for one for Vista’s Windows
Mail. I came upon an interesting page that tells you things
to try to fix Mail problems, including your specific one.
They first suggest you turn off the e-mail scanner in your antivirus
solution. If you still can’t delete the messages, they recommend you
download update
KB941090, but that comes with Service Pack 1, and you should be
on Service Pack 2 by now. The third thing they suggest you try is
the repair utility
for Vista. I think I’d try that first, though.
There are a few other things they suggest, so if you’re still having
problems, try those and let me know how it goes.
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Vista
E-mail Dear
Tim
Comment
on this article
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Barbecue Tips
Whenever barbecuing, use tongs to turn the meat. A fork should never
be used. For it will punch holes in the flesh and allow the natural
juices to escape and loose flavor and become chewy.
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Good ones everybody. More, more!!
Next opening line…
There was a young man from Cape Horn…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
There
once a couple named Kelly
Who suffered from feet so smelly
That you couldn’t draw breath
You’d choke right to death
It smelled like the streets of New Dehli. - Bonnie |
There
once was a couple named Kelly
Who loved to call each other honey
Then do a PDA
Each and every day
That’s how a babe got in her belly. - Anne Onimous |
There once
was a couple named Kelly
Who’d order sandwiches from their deli.
But if not in a hurry
They’d top it with curry
From the deli in New Delhi. - Anne Onimous |
There once
was a couple named Kelly
Who had a daughter named Shelly
She was a great kid
‘Cept for one thing she did:
In the DVR she poured jelly. - Anne Onimous |
There once
was a couple named Kelly
Who hated their local deli
So they searched the planet
And to their credit
Found their new deli in New Delhi. - E. Cole Aye |
There once
was a couple named Kelly……
Who once tried to read Shelly…..
It began to bore…….
They wound up on the floor……..
Now she has a big belly. - Skeeter |
There once
was a couple named Kelly…..
As I said, she had a big belly…….
From a long night of fun………
Now they have a new son…..
They shoulda kept watching the "telly". - Skeeter |
There once
was a couple named Kelly…..
She had a big hole in her "welly"……….
She waded it water……..
She shouldn’t oughter……..
Now her feet are quite smelly. - Skeeter |
There once
was a couple named Kelly……
They both worked at the deli…….
She was quite bold……….
But never had sold…………
A sandwich of PB and jelly. - Skeeter |
There once
was a couple named Kelly
who walked around belly to belly
because in their haste
they used library paste
instead of petroleum jelly - Author Unknown |
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Re: Pay for off hours phone calls
For hourly employees, company cell phones should be left at work I think.
However, many people like to use their "company" cell phone
for their own personal use. So, if one uses the company cell phone for
personal use, then they should answer it for "work" questions.
If the "call" involves them actually going to the office,
then they can punch in and be paid. If it involves research via the
‘net, then they should keep track of their time and turn it in on their
time cards. I once worked for a company that expected me to stay until
whatever I was working was done (answering the phone, finish filing,
whatever). Once I waited ’till I was actually done to clock out (causing
overtime) - after that, I was encouraged to leave at the end of my work
schedule. They didn’t want to pay the overtime - no matter how small
it was.
Obviously "salaried" employees’ circumstances are different.
- Noella
[Some calls can take more
than a half hour to resolve. Should they hang up and drive to the office?
Should they just turn the cell phone off as they leave the building?
If there is a company policy that phones MUST be answered and the employee
is on the phone while driving and has an accident, is the company liable?]
When I was the system’s manager
at the local blood institute, I was on call 7 X 24, 365 days a year
for 12 and 1/2 years. I received no extra money for being on call. When
I went on vacation, I got a pager, a satellite phone, a laptop to take
with me and believe me I was paged, called everywhere. So I started
taking trips to the desert and mountains where I was unreachable. Finally
when my wife passed on from cancer I re-evaluated my life and took a
programming job, no on call, more pay, less stress, more freedom. Even
the night before my wife died, I had a phone call from work wanting
assistance, but I refused for the first time, it was a liberating experience.
Now I have learned that NO is the most powerful word in the English
language and there is a balance to life… work is just that, but peace,
love and life is far more important than work. Oh and my three dogs.
- BJ in Guthrie
Re: Cliff and Terrain
Terrain is a word I’m very familiar with. I’m an Okie, and that’s one
of the oddest states in the 50. We have everything from some pretty
good size mountains (they are old ones so they aren’t as tall as some,
though), the tallest hill in the world is there (Cavanal) and yes, they
measured it! We have beautiful pine forests and swamps like Louisiana,
plains to rival Kansas and dry and dusty like Texas. Yes I do miss it
at times!
Where
we live now in Washington state is in Puget Sound between some ferociously
big mountains, the Cascades on one side and the Olympics on the other.
It’s a gorgeous view just about anywhere you go here.
Been
out camping and going through "the wild" if that counts–it
sucks, frankly. I prefer electricity and indoor plumbing any day of
the week. Just try doing without because you have to and see how much
you miss them!
The
most breath-taking view, can’t really say–seen too many to count since
my dad made us travel a lot when we were kids and I’ve done quite a
bit since then. Maybe the best is my own front yard when I’ve been away,
that’s probably my favorite too. - Ruth in WA
I grew up in Ohio, just north
of the continental divide, just south east of Youngstown. Flat land
to the north and hill country to the south. I remember those roads you
spoke about as well, my dear Aunt was a Brown Franciscan nun, (Sister
Angeline) we would go to Charleston WVa. to take her back in to the
hills to play the organ at several different High Masses on the Sunday
when we went to visit (down and back in one day). I’ll never know how
my dad did it!!
Presently I live on the coastal plane, the LA basin to be specific,
it is beautiful a few days a year, when it is clear and the surrounding
mountains are snow capped.
The most beautiful place I have ever been has to be Niagara Falls, and
the surrounding area, mostly on the Canadian side, to stand on the corner
of Goat Island and pear over the precipice at the rushing water as it
falls over the edge is one of the most intense feelings I ever felt
in my youth.
Exploring the hill country near "home" as a youth is the closest
I have ever experienced the "in the wild", spelunking, and
following creeks back for civilization was a summer Saturday adventure
for us as teenagers.
I love the desert, although the heat is a challenge, one must learn
to slow down and pace yourself, as well as take some time to "get
used to" the heat.
I would retire to the high desert, build an adobe house, and become
a desert rat if my better half would allow it. - G from the left coast.
I live in northeastern Ohio in rolling hills terrain. Some refer to
it as just east of the Appalachian Escarpment.
The most breathtaking terrain I’ve ever seen was White Sands, New Mexico.
Been in several wild terrains - south coast of Alaska was most "wild"
- when you are warned to carry a gun for protection against a wolf or
bear, when moose come running along right in front of you and seals
cavort on the sand on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, when a Golden Eagle
takes off from a stump and his talons click against an open car door
you’ve ducked behind when you saw him lift off, you KNOW it’s not your
average woodland walk! These things happened on different occasions.
Usually we walked, once we went with friends in a jeep (thus, the car
door- we stopped to take a picture of the Eagle).
Most exciting - same place, early spring on the beach, watching a lot
of whales heading north together.
And there’s Most Serene - snow capped mountains ! The expansiveness
of them gives Time a different perspective. - Nancy L in Ohio
Right now I live in a city
so the terrain is urban sprawl, tho technically we are in the foothills
of the local mountain range. However I was raised on the coast of San
Diego and was such a beach person that I firmly believed there was no
life east of I-5. I know, so provincial. I never thought I could bear
to exist anywhere away from the ocean.
Much later, I lived in the backcountry of San Diego county in what was
called high desert. That’s a cross between desert and mountain. Sometimes
during the winter we would get snow, but not very much and it didn’t
stick around for long. During the summers it would get beastly hot,
100 + was common, but at least it was not humid. LIved there for 16
years and was glad to leave. High Desert is NOT my favorite terrain.
The most breath taking terrain I have ever seen would be a toss up between
the Grand Canyon and a beautiful waterfall I happened upon in Yellowstone.
The Grand Canyon had me so stunned I had to sit down for about 30 minutes
and just take it all in. It actually brought tears to my eyes. When
I finally found words, well…it was really just one word for the longest
time…Wow.
The waterfall in Yellowstone I found…or it found me… by accident.
My husband and I were on the Harley and were looking for a place to
camp and we took a trail off a dirt road and found a place and threw
our sleeping bags down. I went looking for a place to empty my bladder
and heard the waterfall before I saw it. It wasn’t on any of our maps.
You couldn’t really see it until you got right next to it. I sat down
on a little rock ledge right next to the top of the falls and got lost
in the beauty. I was so close that I could feel the spray on my face.
Eventually my husband found me. He had gotten worried when I didn’t
come back. I don’t know how long I was there. Funny, but I was so thunderstruck
by the beauty I forgot all about my need to pee until my husband came
for me and I stood up. I really liked living in Pocatello Idaho because
Yellowstone (west) was about a 2 1/2 hour ride and we went there frequently.
I also love the Ozark National Forest where my sister lives. I even
lived in a tiny log cabin in the middle of the woods on the south end
of Whidbey Island for about a year, just me and my dog and no neighbors,
so I guess I would have to say my favorite terrain is mountainous, dense
forest country. (Lots of tall tall trees, and no people!)
Oh, I almost forgot…a view of the harbor of Rio de Janiero from the
plane window, also very stunning, as were the mountains going up to
Serra Negra. - GrammieSammie
Re: Banning Bruno
I think, that the rating system is there for a reason, and I do not
think, that things ought to be banned just because some people find
them offensive. I think, that there is such a thing as not reading or
watching something that would offend me, and I think, that I know what
those things are. My feeling is, that if we start drawing too many lines
in the sand, that we’re going to find ourselves in a society of not
being able to read or watch anything without asking big brother first,
and to put it mildly, they’ve already gotten their little fingers in
too many pies as it is. That’s just my opinion, and we all know bout
those. - Signed a Free thinking Tazz, in Tennessee.
Sasha Baron Cohen has no talent
and these movies are proof. Funny? Dave Chappel, George Lopez, Robin
Williams. They are funny. Cohen does nothing but set up situations to
humiliate people and that is not humor. He does a good imitation of
a jerk…oh wait, that is his real personality. - Samwise of the Beeze
Re: Consumer lawsuits
Now, I’m tellen you. That is the truth all the way through if I ever
read an article here. I like this. We do have to be responsible for
our own actions, and it starts with making choices, and sometimes just
sometimes, if we think about it, it aint nobody’s fault but our own.
Love your article Kirsten. - Signed, The Choice Making Tazz!
Re:
Bells
My friend Matt on Whidbey Island lived right across the street from
a church that would ring its bells and start a very loud service at
7:30 in the morning. He asked them nicely a couple of times if they
could cool it so he could get some peaceful sleep. (He was a night person)
They ignored him. So one morning he composed a symphony for chain saw,
gas powered lawn mower, GTO and heavy metal music. They got the message.
From then on they waited till much later in the morning to ring the
bells and started keeping their doors and windows closed during services.
Me, I love bells. For me it is very "old world" which I like.
I prefer real bells, but recorded ones are okay too. - Kathy Jo - Ocean
Beach, CA
I deliberately go to the Library
a few minutes before they open at noon on Friday so I can hear the carillon
in a church opposite the Library. A real organist plays old hymns each
day for about five minutes. The town is old, so is the church, and the
music is nice. I see folks in other cars at the stop light smile as
the sound spreads down from the belfry across the area. A pause that
refreshes!
Nancy L in Ohio
Reader submission
From ArcaMax Science and Technology: Scientists
to examine floating dump
I
read about something like this in a science fiction book when I was
in junior high school… I thought it was just something the author had
concocted for his storyline!
I wonder why we haven’t read anything about it in the media before this??
Does anyone in RGQ land know anymore about this? - Wondering-ly, Dora
in Denver
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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If you run across something really outstanding when perusing the archives,
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and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book
called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you
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