Fairs
& Carnivals
One of the most common summer activities not being based on a body of
water are fairs & carnivals. Where I live, every county hosts a
"county fair". They have staggered the dates throughout the
summer so ride & food vendors can move from fair to fair. With 88
counties, there is still plenty of overlap. There aren’t enough weeks
in the whole year to prevent one county from having their fair at the
same time as another county, much less limiting it to the warmer part
of summer.
In addition, the state itself hosts a "state fair". A sizable
hunk of real estate is dedicated to this one event that spans only 2
of the 52 weeks of the year. 98% of the time, the entire facility is
closed, except for private events. The same applies to county fairgrounds.
Except for 4-H, FFA, and other organizations having animal shows and
activities, the properties are vacant.
Fair vendors don’t go without income, however. It seems every sizable
church in the area hosts a carnival on their grounds at least once every
summer. It became a summer goal to attend several of these corner festivals
to support worthy organizations and to take my young granddaughter to
"ride rides". It was practically the only phrase she could
say at the time.
It has become a summer tradition. The first granddaughter has become
a teenager and rides everything now. I am still relegated to accompany
my younger grandchildren on their first ride on the roller coaster,
ferris wheel, and other more challenging rides as they grow to acceptable
height to be able to participate. One phenomenon I find interesting
is how the same rides that once had no effect on me, now create a mild
nausea from the spinning and turning. How people enjoy that feeling
is a mystery to me.
Also, with age, some of the more demanding rides are no longer comfortable.
The roller coaster I used to enjoy now is too turbulent for my comfort.
I know the ride hasn’t changed, so it has to be me. For a long time
I would not even attempt the more energetic rides because of an injury
I sustained. After surgery and recovery, I am better and tried to resume
participation. But I find them much too much and I don’t enjoy them
any more.
There are redeeming factors though. It is commonly known by all in my
extended family that I enjoy my "elephant ears". No, it is
not a physical deformity. A pastry type of dough is fried in hot oil,
then sprinkled generously in cinnamon and sugar. It is big and roughly
shaped like an elephant’s ear, thus the name. Don’t ask me why I like
them so much. I think it is an enhancement to the taste that it has
become a goal and "treasure hunt" to find the vendor selling
them. My grandkids giggle in delight to discover the vendor.
Here’s your quiz:
Do you go to fairs and festivals in your area?
What is the attraction of these events that draws you to them?
Are there any aspects within that you avoid? If so, why?
Cliff (the High-Tech
Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’) 
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Kirsten is on vacation. Here’s an article from the archive.
Email
Kirsten
"Your lifestyle
- how you live, eat, emote, and think - determines your health. To
prevent disease, you may have to change how you live."
~ Brian Carter ~
I don’t
have a problem with lawyers the way some people do. There are, of
course, lawyers who lie, cheat and exploit people, but there are also
doctors, accountants, retailers and dog-walkers who lie, cheat and
exploit people. Lawyers who do bad things do them because they’re
bad people, not because they’re lawyers. I have far more disdain for
people who launch lawsuits at the drop of a hat when they’re clearly
not warranted.
Several
years ago, for instance, there was a Hepatitis B "scare"
at my local grocery store – an outlet of Loblaws, a large Canadian
chain. The "scare" involved one of the store employees who
tested positive for Hepatitis B after a vacation to some weird place.
The person in question was immediately sent home and all other employees
were immediately tested. All fresh produce in the store was discarded,
even though there was never any question that health and safety standards
had been strictly adhered to. Store management advised customers to
throw out any produce they had purchased at the store during the previous
two weeks (when the employee had returned from vacation), and everyone
was given a voucher for free groceries. I don’t remember the value
of the vouchers, but they were certainly worth more than the produce
we had had to get rid of. As an added measure, the store set up vaccination
clinics. They footed the bill for the Hepatitis B vaccines and the
medical staff to administer them. Everyone in the city was eligible,
even if they had not purchased food at that particular grocery store.
The store itself was closed to the public for however long it took
to thoroughly clean it and make sure everything was safe and hygienic.
Now, to
my mind, the grocery store took every reasonable action to ensure
the safety of the public. It’s worth stressing at this point that
testing of the food showed that NONE of it was contaminated. The grocery
store did not do all of this to contain an outbreak. It did it as
a precaution, to PREVENT an outbreak that in all likelihood would
not have happened anyway. And yet within days of the final Hepatitis
B vaccine being given, someone launched a class-action lawsuit against
the grocery store. No-one had been hurt, no-one was sick, everyone
had received free vaccines, and the grocery store had shown a high
degree of corporate responsibility. It made no sense to me that someone
would try to sue them just because one person had come back from vacation
with an illness. The legal powers that be were clearly of the same
mindset, because the case was dismissed before anyone even saw the
inside of a courtroom.
There are
times, of course, when class-action lawsuits are quite justified.
When we buy deli meat, for example, we expect that meat to be free
of food poisoning agents. That’s a reasonable expectation. Health
and safety standards are in place for a reason, and when those standards
are violated and people get sick and die as a result, it’s only right
that whoever is responsible be brought to task.
Last week
I wrote about a national listeria outbreak in Canada, which was traced
to product coming from one of the Maple Leaf Foods processing plants.
The recall initially included only the product lines affected, and
was gradually expanded as more products made more people sick. After
a while, the decision was made to simply recall all product lines
coming out of the processing plant, whether there were reports of
illness linked to the product or not. The plant itself was closed
down, and remains closed to this day. It has undergone at least three
major chemical washdowns, and it is pretty clear that all traces of
listeria in the plant itself are gone. There will probably be a couple
more cleanup operations before the plant reopens, and every scrap
of meat that leaves the plant will undergo thorough testing for about
six weeks. In the meantime, at least four class-action suits have
been filed in this disaster which has claimed the lives of fifteen
people and made at least 29 others sick. These numbers are expected
to rise, because listeriosis can incubate for up to three months before
the victim starts to feel symptoms.
I have a
feeling that this news story is not over. Hopefully we will not see
many more illnesses. Hopefully we will not see any more fatalities.
Whatever happens, for some time to come, I will be keeping Maple Leaf
Foods out of my house.
Kaleidoscopically
yours,
Kirsten
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Re:
Prisons
I’d go for option set "A"
from your list, but the basic problem is the atrocious examples of our
leaders, and the corresponding lack of opportunities for the majority
of people. Where I grew up, rich people had 18′ boats, and poor people
had 14′ boats. There really wasn’t much need for a jail. - Bob
of the North
I have, for the last few years or so, been very disappointed in this
system. I do think that the laws need to be changed, and I do think
that it has all turned into a money making racket. It is sad to think
that we could rehabilitate some of these people, and we don’t even try.
I think that violent offenders should get tougher time, and I think
that heavy drug dealers should too, but these little punks that get
caught with a joint rolled up in their pants pockets are just clogging
up the works, and I think the politicians are loving it all. - Tazz
Mike, I think you did a wonderful
job talking about prisons. I worked in our state system for 10 years,
first in the chemical dependency treatment program and then in the education
program. It has been proven that the only thing that helps recidivision
is education and that can take several forms. We offered from basic
ed (reading and writing) to 2 year AA degrees and tech certificates.
By the time I retired, the lawmakers and voters had dropped the AA degrees.
Many voters claimed they couldn’t afford to send their children to college,
so they didn’t want to pay for an offender to have an education. I was
able to witness two of our graduates leave prison and go on to wonderful
careers with extremely low chance of their ever returning. One actually
ended up teaching for our community college. Thanks for getting the
truth out there, Mike. - Trish in Everett, WA
Mike asked: Isn’t it time for a change?
Yes! Each
crumbling, over crowded prison should be replaced – each (replacement
and new) prison build should be utilized to house certain types of offenders.
For example: first time offenders, ‘white/blue’ collar crimes, for crimes
against property, for crimes against people (resulting in injury or
death), for repeat offenders and life imprisonment facilities (three
strikes), anyone who is sitting on ‘death row’ should be in the life
imprisonment facilities.
NOT just ‘low’ security, ‘minimum’ security, ‘maximum’ security and
‘hotels’. And in my opinion; the ‘hotels’ for ‘celebrities/politicians’
should be abolished!
Should we get rid of laws like the "three strikes" law?
In my opinion,
it should be modified to be used with career hard crime repeat offenders
only.
I think
that because of the way our prison system is run and the way inmates
are treated in prison - and by society by and large, once they are released
back to society, many may feel unable to re-establish themselves as
upstanding citizens and crave the ‘safety’ of prison life. Even with
obtaining a better education in prison, many, many parolees find it
difficult to re-assimilate into society because employment opportunities
for ‘ex-cons’ is sketchy at best!
It’s much
easier ‘inside’ in many ways, than on the streets, people! – A prisoner
knows exactly what is expected of him from the guards, the warden, the
kitchen, etc. Their time is micro managed for them 24/7 – and the longer
they are in prison the more disconnected from normal society they become…
prison provides 3 square meals a day, a free bed, basic clothing and
personal hygiene: soap, shampoo, towels, toothbrushes etc.
Should we concentrate more on rehabilitation than incarceration?
I think
there should be separations of prisons – hard core crime repeat offenders
in one (there for life-no possibility of parole or are on death row
awaiting execution), moderate offenders in another and the ‘soft’ offenders
in a third – the moderate ‘and soft’ offender prisons would be equipped
for educational as well as drug rehabilitation programs (and I think
that tattoo removal should be available to inmates also).
Prison (IMH)
is a separating of lawbreakers from society for the safety of society;
the containment of a criminal to prevent the repeating of the crime.
To NOT TEACH
them right from wrong, to not treat them with adequate medical, dental,
mental health care and to not teach them how they can become a profiting
responsible member of our society is a crime in and of it self; that
we as a healthy, responsible society should abhor.
Each prison
should also have separate adequate (modern) medical, dental and mental
health facilities build ON THE GROUNDS of the prison – NOT INSIDE the
prison (a few {I’ve been told} have only assigned ‘hospital wards’ with
5 or 15 beds at most, staffed with inmates maintaining them). No prisoner
should have to be transported to a civilian location for anything other
than emergency - specialized surgeries.
They should also work – train dogs, build houses (habitat for humanity?),
repair/maintain local roads, pick up garbage along local roads and highways
– if prisons continue to be a ‘free ride’ with no responsibilities put
on their shoulders – how are they to learn from it, or improve their
lot in life? There is one prison that is doing all this already – I
just don’t have the name of the warden or the location (southwest –
Arizona?) at my finger tips at the moment….
Should we invest more in drug prevention and less in locking up
drug users?
History
has proven time and again that if people want something bad enough they
find a way to obtain it, whether that ‘something’ is legal or not. Whether
that ‘something’ is good or bad for their health is irrelevant to the
addict. If (IMO) the illegal drug industry (and that is what it is,
just an illegal one) were to be legalized, regulated and taxed – it
would resolve a lot of the problems of prison overcrowding!
Should we build more treatment centers and fewer prisons?
There should be treatment centers attached to the prisons as well as
many more in our communities.
Educating
the public (especially our children), treating those who want to stop,
legalizing most of the illegal drugs for adults 21yrs and older (they
are adults and KNOW what those substances do to their bodies) would
eliminate the over crowding in our current (and future) prisons.
Or do you think the growing numbers of prisons and inmates is a
symptom of an ever more dangerous society?
Our society
is not any more dangerous than any other country’s. We do however have
many laws against drugs that are not illegal in other countries; as
I have not seen recent statistics of prison populations in those countries
to compare to the USA; so I cannot categorically say that theirs are
less full of HARD CRIME prisoners compared to ours… (I am deducing that
since they have legalized some drugs their prisons don’t have those
offenders in them)…
Should we build as many prisons as it takes to lock them all up?
As I stated
above, there should be new prisons built to replace the ones that are
way too old and no longer safe. And the prisons should be separated
into categories according the type of offenses of the prisoners held
there.
Should we attempt to educate them? Train them? Or do you think they
have it too easy in prison already?
Yes, yes
and yes! – Those that are not repeat offenders should have the most
opportunity for additional education, drug treatment and job training.
Remedial skills such as reading, spelling, writing (or even just printing!)
and basic arithmetic are crucial to being able to getting and keeping
a job! Being able to type effectively, use the ten key system, etc is
even more marketable in our technology based society.
Many employers
need to also change their attitudes regarding hiring probationers, parolees,
pardoned ex-convicts (I wish there were a different word to use than
that, the word CONVICT – it has such a deeply steeped approbation –
stigma - to it that I truly hate using it – when does a person stop
being an ex-convict and return to being an upstanding responsible law
abiding citizen again?).
Those that
become repeat offenders (depending on degree of the crime they are incarcerated
for) should also be re-evaluated upon return to the penal system and
see if additional training/education would be of benefit. Remember,
returning them to society capable of being responsible citizens should
be the goal. NOT just letting them ‘stew’ in prison to be released and
possibly wreak more havoc on society! - Dora in Denver
I worked with a volunteer group called "One-To-One". It was
a "Big Brothers/Big Sisters" concept for young people on probation.
I got to meet a variety of people who got into circumstances they couldn’t
handle. Some wanted to do better. Some were comfortable with the status
quo. Some wanted to use the system to their benefit as best they could.
I also got to see the same on the probation office side. Most of the
probation officers were so overloaded, they didn’t have time to consider
any individualized plans. If a probationer reported as they were supposed
to and were not arrested for a subsequent offense, when the review by
the court was due, they were recommended for release. It was a check-mark
assessment, not a true in-depth evaluation. The probation officers and
the courts were happy to have volunteers to help out. They surely didn’t
have the time to do it.
What came from all this was a still high recidivism rate. As volunteers,
we tried to help the probationers get a decent job, a decent place to
live, and help them help themselves. I would get calls at all hours
with cries for help when they were kicked out of their apartment for
playing loud music. Or, the pleas would come when the employer fired
them for coming in late 3 out of the 4 days since they were hired. Whether
it was drug induced lethargy or not, it doesn’t matter. The result was
the same. Only one of my probationers went on to successfully get off
probation with a job and a place to live, the basis for fitting into
society. Most didn’t want to have a volunteer telling them what they
should do. One simply wanted the program to come to his aid when he
was arrested twice after being placed on probation. My statistics weren’t
unique.
I wasn’t a volunteer for long. After having to spend a lot of money
to get rid of roaches from storing someone’s stuff, having to pay for
a new windshield when another put his fist through it after I bailed
him out of jail, and simply being taken from my wife & baby at a
time I needed to be with them, and they needed me, I had enough in the
one year I committed to complete. I honored my word, but I didn’t renew.
I was overwhelmed just like the rest of the system. - Cliff (The High
Tech Redneck)
Re: Cliff and Rain
As a kid, or a bathing-suited
adult, my reaction to rain depends mostly on its temperature. I spent
3 decades on the wet coast and soon stopped altering my behaviour for
rain, using a bicycle most days. Here, I wait a few minutes for a heavy
downpour to pass if I’m heading out, or enjoy an umbrella. - Bob of
the North
Definitely played in the rain as a kid–nothing like a warm Oklahoma
downpour and some magnificently muddy puddles to splash in! When our
oldest children were babies we would dress up in plastic trash bags
and go for walks until our feet were just too soaked. Waded through
a lot of water doing that over the years.
Can’t play
in the rain much now, and not because I’m too old! Rain up here is a
lot colder, even in the summer. I don’t bother running for shelter most
of the time either–the rain in the Pacific Northwest is usually just
a heavy mist so most people just go on with what they were doing. I’ve
even seen people out mowing in the rain, which is just a little strange
if you ask me! - Ruth in WA
We absolutely LOVED playing
in the rain as children–as long as it was not storming we played in
it every chance we got. The bonus was not taking a bath at night!! -
Bonnie >^,,^<
Yes to all 3 questions! I played in summer showers as a kid, play now
at various times if it’s not an electrical storm, and seek shelter always
if the sky rumbles and lightening flashes. It is never advisable to
fly a kite in the rain (Ben Franklin notwithstanding), but there was
one day at Put-In-Bay on Memorial Day when a steady downpour with no
thunder or lightening kept coming and a gang of guys had a large dual
line sport kite up. Brisk, steady wind! The grass was slick with rain,
and the kite’s pull would let the flier slide clear across the field,
ending when he pulled the flying beast out of the wind window. [a wind
window is the arc of sky space in which one can keep the kite aloft
and under control, usually about 90 to 100 degrees in width] The line
of eager-to-try-it folks formed and this went on for a couple hours.
I watched. But I was also flying a single line kite called a French
Military or Conyne Kite. The rain would load up the wings, the kite
would tip a bit and the water spilled out, it would right itself, and
do it again and again. It was as much fun as sailing paper boats down
the edge of the street when we were kids and splashing barefoot behind
them so we could scoop them out before they hit a drain. I always wondered
why Mom made us take a bath when we came in after an outing like that.
- Nancy L in Ohio
YEA it a coincident or what
I just got through talking about the same thing .I told my husband I
love rain Mw/O thunder. I played in it as a child .I love it and will
go out Mw/O an umbrella. - dEE
Re: Cliff and Cellulose
Bob of the North said: … I also have a gorgeous wall decoration
made of grass in the Ukrainian tradition, framing three prize ears of
grain.
I would
love to see a photo of that Bob! - Dora in Denver
Re: Ways to Waste Time
If you play Freecell on anything
previous to Windows Vista, if you get to a point that you can’t win
the game, if you hit “control/shift” – “f10” it will ask you a question
about the game (I forget which answer does it) but after you answer
correctly, you can click on a card and it will finish the game automatically
and give you a win. - Bruce in CO
Re:
Tim The Tech Guy
Just want
to give Tim a great big public thank you. For some reason I couldn’t
install the CloudAV program that he recommends on my computer. He stuck
with me through several e-mails and I just got it installed! I’ve paid
big $$$ for tech support, but never gotten better help.
Thanks again, Tim
Charlis
[Wow
Tim, if you keep getting compliments like this I’ll have to give you
a raise! Good job.]
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