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Greetings,
Quotaholics:
One
of my pet peeves is the high cost of conventional funerals. According
to an article I found on the Los
Angeles Times website, a spokesman for the national Funeral Directors
Association trade group said the average cost of a traditional funeral
is $7,500 (6,065 Euro).
I figure that when I die, I’m not going to care much what happens to my
body. But I do know that I would rather my money go to my wife and/or
children instead of a funeral home. I’ve always said I wanted to be put
in a hole in the ground with nothing more than a cardboard box.
My wishes have more to do with being cheap rather than being "green",
although I think that decaying naturally is better than wasting resources
on a coffin and vault. It’s also got to be better than putting embalming
chemicals in the ground.
But now, according to the article (which is undoubtedly the worst proofread
article I’ve ever seen), the funeral business is trying to start using
a new process called alkaline hydrolysis or bio-cremation.
"’All we’re doing is accelerating the natural decomposition,’ he
(BioSafe’s Bradley D. Crain) said. ‘We’re returning the body to the ecological
system just as nature intended.’"
The machines needed for the process range in price from $200,000 to $400,000
(161,750 to 323,500 Euro) and the process would cost the family about
$2,500, (2,022 Euro) similar to prices charged for cremation by fire.
"Bio-cremation, Crain predicted, could become widespread once it
is understood by funeral directors and their clients."
"’If you give a consumer a choice of water versus fire, they will
pick water nine 9 (sic) times out of 10,’ said Crain said (sic). ‘It’s
perceived as a more sympathetic process than being burned. It’s more dignified.’"
I know that when someone is cremated there are ashes left over that can
be buried, scattered, or kept by the family. But this sounds like a liquid
process. What’s left? A bottle of goop? I can’t imagine that whatever
liquid is left is very pleasant. So wouldn’t this be a pollution danger
if not properly disposed of? Maybe they will bury it. Maybe if they just
buried the body to begin with, and let nature take it’s course, there
wouldn’t be a need for an expensive machine or chemical process!
Has anyone heard of this? Does it sound like something you might be interested
in? Do you want to be buried with a traditional coffin and vault? Will
you be cremated? Do you think the funeral industry has taken advantage
of family grief and convinced us that expensive funerals are necessary?
Decaying away,
Comment
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“People commonly educate their children as they build their houses,
according to some plan they think beautiful, without considering whether
it is suited to the purposes for which they are designed.” - Mary Wortley
Montagu
“Be curious, not judgmental.” - Walt Whitman
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A Real Man
[Thanks Tesser]
A real man is a
woman’s best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her
down.
He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after
a bad day.
He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to
live without fear and forget regret. He will enable her to express
her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires. He
will make sure she always feels as though she’s the most beautiful
woman in the room and will enable her to be the most confident, sexy,
seductive, and invincible…..
No wait… sorry… I’m thinking of wine. Never mind.
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“Humor is just another defense against the universe.”
“If presidents can’t do it to their wives, they do it to their country.”
“If Shaw and Einstein couldn’t beat death, what chance have I got? Practically
none.” - All from American filmmaker Mel Brooks born on this day in
1926
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Speak right up!
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Fests
I can understand the draw that participating in a marathon has on Kirsten.
Friday, I was making some phone calls. I didn’t want to spend
my Saturday sitting around eating bonbons and watching cartoons.
So I was checking who may be available for a day out doing something.
It’s graduation, wedding, and vacation time. In general, it’s
summer, and it offers a wide variety of distractions and demands on
our precious time. There’s street fairs, all sorts of festivals,
and family reunions. If you can think it, I’m sure someone has
it planned somewhere.
Activities such as these had most of my friends tied up. However,
another activity had another friend enamored. It’s simply called
"Paddlefest".
Thousands of people pay $30 per person for the privilege of getting
in a canoe or kayak and paddle down the Ohio River for a little over
8 miles.
The schedule was:
7:35 AM Races begin - Mountain Khaki‘s 9 Mile Amateur Race & the
Paddlefest 14 Mile Pro Race
8:15 to 9:15 AM Paddler put in - 8.2 Mile Float Trip & Poker Run
10:30 to 2:30 PM Gold Star Chili Finish Line Festival at Yeatman’s Cove
11 AM Award ceremony for racers
11:30 AM Dragon Boat Races on the Ohio River
Noon Boat raffle drawing & Poker Run prizes
2:45 PM Last shuttle bus leaves Public Landing for Coney Island
Being the cheapskates we were, we put in from the Kentucky side and
joined the crowd. That meant we had to have a car at each end
so we could get back to the put-in. No problem. We had all
that complete in no time. And we join the flotilla. Sort
of.
As most put in from the Ohio side and hugged the Ohio bank, we were
on the opposite side and hugging the other river bank. Few of
the others, comparatively speaking, ventured across the width of the
river. There were over 3,000 paddlers out there That meant
there were over 1,500 boats dotting the surface of the river.
I am not known as a crowds type person. I prefer sitting at home
and watching events on TV rather than braving the traffic and bumping
elbows with others in close proximity. However, this seemed interesting,
especially since we would be away from the bulk of the crowds.
Of all the paddlers on the river, I’m betting we had more fun as we
took time to swim, take some breaks on the riverbank, stopped for lunch
at a floating restaurant, and a couple pauses to add to the pollution
in the river.
It’s a good thing we planned the way we did. We took our sweet
time paddling and completed the distance in 8 hours. We would
have been almost 2 hours late for the last shuttle bus back to our cars
had we joined the crowd. Although they had closed the river to
barge traffic for the event, half way through it was reopened and we
got to "surf" the wakes of large boats.
Here’s your quiz:
Do large events attract you?
Have you ever paddled a large river for any appreciable distance?
Have you ever been officially declared the last place in a race?
Fests - Any Activity With A Lot Of People
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Last I heard from Kristen she was lost in the wilds of the northern
United States. Here’s an article from last year.
Email
Kirsten
"For many people a job is more than an income - it’s an important
part of who we are. So a career transition of any sort is one of the
most unsettling experiences you can face in your life."
~ Paul Clitheroe ~
There are all sorts of lists on the Internet about what stresses people
out the most. The usual suspects top most lists - loss of a child,
loss of a spouse through death or divorce, job loss or financial crisis,
serious illness or accident. Even events that are generally regarded
as positive make it onto these lists. Going on vacation. Getting married
or having a baby. Graduating. Christmas.
Of course, these lists are generalizations. We all have our own list
of what stresses us out personally, and they don’t necessarily correspond
with what is on the Internet lists. Christmas, for instance, is right
near the bottom of the standard lists, ranking about 50th. In my own
personal list, Christmas is far closer to the top of the list. I don’t
have a problem with Christmas Day itself - especially since that is
also the birthday of one of my sons - but the lead-up to it is pure
hell. I married into a family of drama queens - for the most part,
they are all lovely people, but every single year someone blows up
over nothing right around Christmas time. I have a degree in psychology
and a good intuitive sense about what makes people tick, but for the
life of me I cannot figure out what it is about holidays that brings
out the worst in family relationships.
Something else that has a high stress ranking on my personal list
is changing jobs. In the sixteen years or so since I started my career
as a computer programmer, I have not changed jobs a lot. The first
time was when I had been in my first job for about three years. The
wife of a co-worker told me about an opportunity that had arisen in
the company she worked at. The prospect had the dual advantage of
being good for professional development and being close to home, so
I jumped at it. I worked there for two years, until the company got
bought out. While the restructuring was going on, I jumped ship and
went to work somewhere else, where I stayed until I came to Canada.
Since my arrival here I haven’t really changed jobs, unless you count
quitting a job in order to be a stay-at-home mother.
Things are in a state of flux for me now, though. I started working
in my current job more than two years ago, as a contractor. I love
my job. The work - project management - is far better suited to me
than programming ever was (I’m not a techno-geek like Tim). I also
love the company I’ve been contracted to. The people are nice, it’s
a positive environment to be in, and I’ve always had the flexibility
I’ve needed to take my son to his assessments and medical appointments.
Occasionally I gripe about the commute, but if that’s the only thing
wrong with my job - well, that and the perpetually broken elevator,
I think I’m doing pretty well.
About a month ago, I saw a job posting on the Intranet site where
I work. It’s the same job I’m doing now, but it’s in a different area
of I.T. The really big difference between that job and the one I’m
currently doing is that it is a permanent full-time position. Some
people like being contractors. I am not one of those people. My husband
is self-employed in the manufacturing industry in the middle of a
recession - this is not a good equation. Neither of us has benefits,
and any vacation time we take involves a severe financial hit.
So I applied for the job, first seeking and obtaining the support
of my current manager. I went through a couple of fairly harrowing
interviews, and then the agonizing period of waiting to hear or not
hear about the outcome. During a day that was fraught with stress
(the same day my younger son was in the Emergency room), I got word
that the job was mine. I have been presented with a formal offer,
and I have given my formal acceptance. As of the week after next,
I will be joining the ranks of permanent employees, complete with
benefits, paid vacation time, and stock options in a company that
has a history of being robust in troubled economic times.
Things have worked out well for me. But the stress of the process
has taken its toll. I have lost sleep, I have been a bag of nerves,
and the healthy eating habits that I had worked so hard to cultivate
went straight out of the window. To make things worse, I caught a
cold - a bad one that knocked me flat and that is still lingering
even now - so I was unable to run off the stress.
I don’t know how compulsive job-hoppers keep their sanity. The idea
of voluntarily going through the rigmarole of changing jobs once every
eight to twelve months makes my head spin. I suppose there are people
who thrive on that kind of stress. It is so foreign to my character
that I just cannot identify with it.
As job changes go, though, this one will be less stressful than others.
I am staying within the same company, doing a job I am already very
familiar with. I have had the support of my current manager from Day
One, so I have not had to do this in a shroud of secrecy. And when
the time comes to make the change, I will be able to gradually transition
from one role into the next. I will not have to go through the anguish
of being the new person who doesn’t know where the restrooms are.
Still, change is change, and human beings are creatures of habit.
I still have a little bit of stress ahead of me, but I’m OK with that.
It’s "good stress". From here on out, I can embrace it and
look forward to things to come.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
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Siovaughn Wade dumped by lawyer
Even the best lawyer in the world gets fired occasionally. Yes, even
I have had a couple of unreasonable, stupid, jerks who thought I wasn’t
G-d’s gift to the legal profession. It happens to all of us, and we
usually sigh with relief when it happens. Believe me, you are rarely
canned by someone you like.
The above case is rather interesting. It represents the other side of
the coin. Sometimes, lawyers withdraw from a case. The reasons very.
If the client is given to falsehood, we have to be a little tolerant.
People often get creative with the facts when the truth might make them
look less than perfect. In fact, I would go so far as to say business
would be miserably slow if only honest, upstanding citizens hired attorneys.
However, the lawyer / client relationship can be strained to the breaking
point. A client who doesn’t pay fees can be a problem. Attorneys have
to eat, too, and we can’t live on promises to pay. They rarely are kept,
especially if the job is done before money is offered. There is a saying
in this profession. If you lose a case, you’re a lousy lawyer, if you
won, a monkey could have done as well.
Some people go through several attorneys during a case. Sometimes, it
is because the first one they hired is incompetent. Too often, it is
because the lawyer lacks good "bedside manner", and makes
the client feel stupid or unimportant. However, if there have been 3
or 4 lawyers in the case, you can be sure the client is just unrealistic,
and that no human can give them the representation that will make them
happy.
The link today is about one of those clients. She is divorcing a famous
athlete, and there is probably a lot at stake. However, when 9 attorneys
can’t make you happy, the judge may have good reason not to blame the
husband for wanting out of the marriage. I wonder if one of my colleagues
will put his head in the noose and become number 10. I’ll bet you she’ll
have to pay all of his fees up front.
Comment
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Miscellaneous Tips
Use margarine instead of butter to pan fry or saute. Butter burns
quickly.
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Pretty slim pickens today! Put your rhyming
caps on a little tighter and try this one.
Next opening line…
There was a young farmer named Max…
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
was a young girl who would make—
any body part into a cake—
She made lots of money
from many a ‘honey
and espeically the "old rakes". - Cassandra in New York |
There
was a young girl who would make
Everyone do a double-take
As she came in the room
Riding upon her broom
And munching on a piece of sponge cake. - Bonnie |
There
was a young girl who would make
Advances
to snake after snake.
She said, "I’m not vicious,
But so superstitious!
I do it for grandmother’s sake." - Author Unknown |
There was
a young lady named Mabel
Who did everything she was able
To keep spending in check
And stay out of debt
But she had a weakness for sable. — Rae of Sunshine |
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Re: Kids Meals
THE kids health is what
counts if the parent aren’t prepared to/ make that choice please someone
help them. Government or someone before this child grows up with a
deadly disease or illness. - dEE
Toys in meals?
Oh deliver me. She is the one placing the order, right? Tell them
to leave the toys out.The issue is entirely about parenting. And take
it back to the parents of the folks who thought this up in the first
place. Marketing to children. Avarice gone amuck. - Carol T
I see you read the tagline,
but not the article I wrote. Because I, too, read about this other
study. They said that putting a cartoon picture on a bag of carrots
made the carrots also taste better, but not by much. What they didn’t
try was putting the cartoon character on unsweetened cereal and have
an unadorned box with presweetened cereal. Then letting the kids decide
between plain oats (without sugar added at the table) and presweetened
drowning in sugar oats. I’m going to bet even Dora couldn’t get kids
to explore the healthier cereal because sugar actually tastes good.
I also noted in my blog write up, I actually HAD authority and no
advertising company could undermine it with a simple picture. Saying
NO has to mean NO, not whine until I change my mind. My kids and even
the neighbor kids all knew my NO meant no. I have absolutely no idea
why the cereal aisle is so difficult. They used to even put toys in
the boxes and it didn’t make me buy anything for my kids I didn’t
want them to have.
If you don’t want your kid eating lots of McDonald’s Happy Meals or
other fast food children’s meals, there is a really easy and non-whine
inducing way to do this. Don’t take them there. Cook yourself, at
home. You say parents would rather cave than spend their limited time
fighting. If you don’t ever cave, the fights lessen, then disappear.
You are actually then the parent, rather than the chauffer. If you
find parenting too difficult, perhaps you need to re-examine your
choices and realize no one said it would be easy but you are all your
children have. Try harder. The world is not going to give into their
every whim. Teach them this early in life and everyone will be happier.
- Patti
Of course parents
need to be educated more about children’s nutrition - and about how
to counter such marketing! If I were shopping for a houseful of kids
today, (been there, done that), I would leave the kids home when I
shop (they’re often a pain in the cart to other shoppers anyway).
A stop at a dollar store first would find me picking up packages of
cartoon stickers. Then I would buy what they should be eating and
tape a package of stickers to the cereal box and bring it home. They
would have a bunch of stickers to stick on anything they want while
eating a better food product.
What I actually did was take one child with me each week, the rest
stayed home with Dad. The kid that got to go picked out one box of
cereal, I picked out the rest. I rotated down the line by age, so
each kid got to go to the store with me every six weeks. That day,
whatever that particular kid needed, like shoes or clothes etc., was
also bought. While heading for a fast food place with six kids never
happened, Special Occasion outings for ice cream did. And when my
husband had to go out of town for his company, I’d ask what do you
want for dessert?, and the chorus proclaimed, "chocolate cake".
Daddy didn’t like chocolate cake.
If parents would make the not-good-for-you food a special treat once
in awhile instead of supper five times a week, nutrition would outweigh
junk food. But this practice has been going on so long that many of
today’s parents were also kids raised on wrong eating. So the next
puzzle is how to effectively re-raise mom and dad. Obviously, TV ads
don’t work, and glitzy magazine ads don’t either. I think tying it
into a couple’s birthing routines - parenting class along with preparing
to have a kid - might be helpful. The instructors apparently have
their full attention at that point. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Abuse
You need to find pedal pushers,
or make some by cutting the pants legs off some well worn britches
you usually wear for gardening), and some lightweight woven cotton
shirts in light colors, Cliff! Start with any frayed-collared dress
shirts hanging in the closet. Just plop it on unbuttoned and fold
back the cuffs (or cut them off). Wear a sleeveless vest-type undershirt
under it. Many women use men’s shirts as yard work clothing, so why
not men? A woven cloth breathes better than a knit fabric, and light
colors, plus white repel sun rays better. Summer weight fabrics abound
and lots of clothes are out there that cover the arms at least to
the elbows. My gardening wear includes a couple pairs of loose, light
weight knit running pants, thin t-shirts or sleeveless T’s, plus a
loose smock with 3/4 length sleeves. Plus a wide brim hat. I find
spraying the hat and smock with Deet laden bug spray works better
than spraying it on my body to distract flying insects. On my feet
I have a pair of shoes intended to be worn when swimming. The tops
are mesh, the bottoms a plastic that is rubber-like and thick enough
that I can apply a shovel to the dirt and push down with my foot without
flinching. Since I am not ten miles from home when sweat pours down
my face, I simply walk directly to the shower, which has the side
benefit of washing off any contact with rash causing stuff quickly.
I don’t climb trees or walk around in much underbrush ( except behind
the shed - which will get dealt with this morning). Now I’m off to
pick peas. Nice crop this year! - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Metrics
Sorry about misreading
your piece. I thought you were the one slamming metrics.
Actually, a gram is a unit of weight, not volume. The metric system
has standardized the weight of water and then based its volumetric
measurement on that. So if you’re talking about a teaspoon of water
(which holds 5 cc), then yes, it weighs 5 g. But a teaspoon of sugar
is lighter than a teaspoon of water, so it would take more than a
teaspoon to weigh 5 g. Make sense?
I didn’t think so!
On the other hand, even if we ignore my previous ridiculous extremes
with the decimal point, I can’t really envision .01 pound or .18 oz,
either. - Bruce
Reader Comments
Well, Tazz here, and today
I would like to write what may be a continuing story. Sense we’ve
a lawyer writing now, maybe she can give me some advice.
I live in a two bed room apartment with my 15 year old Beagle, and
an 11 year old cat. They both are included in my lease as emotional
support animals, and I did pay pet deposits for them. There hasn’t
ever been a problem.
Now, I am applying for a guide dog, and have let the management know.
The apartment manager said there would be no problem with this, and
then he let the property owner know, and she does have a problem with
it. She says that I can under no circumstances have a guide dog here.
She says I would first have to get rid of both pets. I contacted the
ADA and they said this was not so, and so I let the management know
that I had done this. However, the owner still says she will evict
me if I bring a guide dog into the apartment.
My question is, can she really do this, or is the ADA right?
I will write again of this when something develops.
Hope to get some comments.
PS… The Beagle is dying of congestive heart failure. - Tazz
A suggestion. It
might become a bit more lively if it were made available to comment
upon everything/anything posted in the RGQ. I’d like to be able to
comment on the quotes or other areas you post. I have no idea about
the work involved for you, obviously. Just a thought. - Carol T
[We welcome comments on anything and everything.
Just send your comments to reallygoodquotes@gmail.com.
Be sure to reference the quote or whatever you’re commenting on so
I know how to post it or reply to it.]
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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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