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Greetings, Quotaholics:
I have made a concerted effort to stay out of jail. So far, I’ve been
successful. I’ve gotten a ticket once that was dismissed and a warning
once that was stupid (in my opinion). Since I’ve heard that jail isn’t
a nice place to be, I’ve opted to remain outside the jail system.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is part of the rust belt. As a steel town,
they have felt the pinch of the economic downturn to a greater degree
than some other places. Pittsburgh is the county seat for Allegheny
County and is the second largest city in Pennsylvania.
The Allegheny County jail is making life just a little easier for the
prison population there. According to
CBS Pittsburgh, they have just bought some televisions for the inmates.
In fact, they just bought 40 new Sony Bravia sets for the 2,000+ inmates
at the institution. The 42-inch flat screen sets are out of reach for
many of the citizens of Pittsburgh.
The jail got a great deal on them as they paid, according to the article,
only $16,000 for the 40 sets or about $400 each. I looked at Sony’s
site and they go for much higher, so it must have been a bulk discount.
The purchase was approved by the County Jail Oversight Board and the
money for the purchase came from the “Inmate Welfare Fund”. This is
funded by proceeds from the jail commissary and officials wanted all
of us to know that tax money was not used for this purchase.
The sets were purchased to replace many of the old or broken sets already
at the jail.
There is nothing in the article to state what the Fund itself was designed
for or where it was thought accumulated monies would be spent. The officials
at the jail would not allow interviews nor would they permit the TVs
to be photographed.
The decision to purchase the Sony sets was reached by a committee made
up of jail personnel and inmate advocates. “The point of being in jail
is not to mistreat people or make them feel worse and resentful,” Marion
Damick, a committee member, said.
So, what is the purpose of jail? Are we punishing people who did bad
things outside of jail? Are we rehabilitating prisoners to return them
to a normal life on the outside? What’s supposed to be happening inside
a jail? Does what happens inside a jail help to keep people out, just
as a deterrent?
What in the world is that commissary selling? How long did it take to
get that much money stored up? What sorts of things should the money
be spent on? Is one TV per 50+ prisoners coddling them? As the article
mentions, the TVs showed up just in time to watch the Steelers. Is this
good or bad?
Justly,
Comment
On This Article |
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| Today’s
Quotes |
I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to
live than other things do. ~Willa Cather
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with
their shirt sleeves. ~Garth Henrichs
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| Today’s
Chuckle |
Inventions
[Thanks Bonnie]
A
guy goes to the Patents Office with some designs. He tells the clerk.
“I’d like to register my new invention, a folding bottle.”
“Oh sure says the clerk, “what do you call it?”
“A fottle,” says the inventor
“That’s a silly name., can you think of anything else?”
“I’ll think about it,” says the inventor. I’ve got something else here
a folding carton
“And what do you call that?”, asks the clerk.
“A farton.”
“Thats rude….You can’t possibly use that name!”
“Gee” says Inventor, “then you’re going to HATE the name of my folding
bucket!”
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| Life
Sentences |
In the house in Beverly Hills where our four children grew up, living
conditions were a few thousand times improved over the old tenement
on New York’s East 93rd Street we Marx Brothers called home.
Susan, an only child who never had any roots, and I, a lone wolf who
got married 20 years too late, were adopted by the kids as much as they
were by us.
I was the same kind of father as I was a harpist - I played by ear.
– all from Harpo Marx, American comedian and actor, died on this day
in 1964
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| Image’n
That! |
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This
Explains The Current State Of Education
[Thanks Tesser]
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| My
Most Embarrassing Moment
My Scariest Moment |
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Speak right up!
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| Cliff’s
Notes
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Nostalgia
Sometimes, it is comforting to sit back and ponder our past. Usually
it will be pleasant thoughts about something we did, someone we were
with, or something that happened to someone we care about.
Comfort foods come into play. We often like certain foods. What we had
prepared for us as children often play on our subconscious. We associate
them with “mom”, or a certain period of our lives, such as a first date,
when we met a certain someone, or some similar emotional moment. Simply
eating a portion of that food (mine’s cookies - chocolate chip) makes
you feel better. The subconscious memories of those times will still
create an emotional response and make us feel better.
People collect antiques for similar reasons. Auntie Sadie used to have
a house full of kerosene lamps, lace doilies, flowered wallpaper, and
a nice wood burning stove in the corner of the living room. Having similar
items in a room of your own home can make you feel better. The close
interpersonal relationships were demonstrated in the laughter and story
telling often taking place within. Simply entering a similarly decorated
room can ease stress and lower blood pressure almost as quickly as passing
through the threshold.
Old friends are similarly as precious. Reminiscing about ‘old times’
is quite a perker-upper. Just remembering something pleasant that was
shared with a good friend can turn about a day full of grumpiness and
fatigue.
I have had just a situation, but much better. When I started geocaching,
I had nobody with whom to share the experience. I sought out some caching
partners. Another cacher that lived nearby took me under his wing. We
began to go out caching together and we enjoyed the challenge and the
competitive camaraderie. We enjoyed many outings until some things came
up that made free time a premium for him. For about 6 months we cached
together, then he was gone. No, not that “gone”. He just wasn’t caching
any more due to his professional and family commitments.
I am fast approaching my 10,000th geocache find. I’m currently at 9,766,
with only a mere 234 caches to reach this special milestone. I chose
an earthcache nearby as my target for this milestone and posted that
I wanted as many caching friends to join me as possible on that moment.
Many of my close caching friends have indicated they would accompany
me.
Then something wonderful happened. This accomplishment came at a time
where this original caching partner was now more available and wanted
to get back into the game. In the meantime, we made plans to get together
and go caching together earlier today. It was just like old times. I
had one of those comfortable moments that lasted an entire morning.
It was a terrific day and a wonderful time. And we capped it off with
a “first to find” on a new cache that came out the night before, and
finding some caches that I had previously failed to find on previous
visits. It was almost perfect.
Here’s your quiz:
What are your comfort foods?
What mementos do you keep?
What was your “almost perfect day”?
Nostalgia - Reliving The Past In A Good Way
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
Comment
on this article |
Kirsten’s
Krazy Kaleidoscope |
Email Kirsten
“Never
look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.”
~ Jesse Jackson ~
A few weeks ago, I read an article in one of my running magazines that
gave me renewed faith in the inherent goodness of human nature. The
article told the story of two elite athletes who were vying for first
place in a marathon. Throughout the race, the women were pretty much
neck-and-neck, alternating between first and second place. With less
than a kilometre to go, one of the women had pulled far enough ahead
of the other for victory to be a foregone conclusion. But then, in the
last one hundred metres, the first-place runner twisted her ankle and
fell to the ground. Now victory was up for grabs by the second-place
runner. But instead of running straight on to the finish line to claim
the win, the woman stopped by the side of the injured runner. She helped
her get to her feet, and with the stronger runner supporting the weaker
one, the two women crossed the finish line together and shared first
place.
Although I have never seen anything quite so spectacular on any of my
races, I have witnessed – and in some cases been a part of – this community
spirit that many runners seem to have. It’s a peculiar mix of characteristics
that seems contradictory. On the one hand, runners are very competitive
by nature and want to win at all costs – whether it’s beating their
competitors or a previous best time. But on the other hand, most runners
are considerate and selfless when it comes to helping out a fellow runner
in trouble.
As with every rule, there are exceptions, but in general, running is
a very honourable sport. No-one wants to achieve victory on the back
of someone else’s pain or discomfort. Whenever I am out on a race, I
see runners helping each other in ways that can make the world of difference.
Last year, I ran a ten-miler in the middle of summer. It was a gruelling
race: it was hot, I was not feeling on top form, and the course was
mentally challenging. By the time I got to the last two kilometres,
I had absolutely nothing left in the tank. I kept telling myself that
even if I ran slowly, I had no more than twelve or thirteen minutes
left, but my body refused to cooperate. As I slowed to a very slow jog,
a man running close to me tried to encourage me.
“C’mon!” he called out cheerfully. “You’re on the home stretch.”
I smiled gamely at him to thank him for the encouragement, but he must
have sensed just how desperate I was feeling. To my astonishment, he
matched my pace – or should I say, lack of pace – and asked if I was
OK. I assured him that I was fine but just out of energy.
As he jogged beside me, he started chatting to me, asking me questions
about myself. How long have I been running? What races do I like? How
do I balance running with parenting young kids? What do I think of this
elite athlete or that doping scandal?
What I completely failed to notice right up until the last four hundred
metres or so was that as he was talking to me, this man was oh-so-slowly
increasing our pace. I was so engrossed in the conversation that I did
not even think about the fact that I had progressed from a sad jog into
a full-out run. By the time I saw the finish line ahead of me, we were
going at a fair clip.
About thirty seconds after I realized all of this, when the finish line
was clearly in my sights, the man suddenly said, “Last one to the finish
line is a rotten egg!” And he took off at a sprint.
No way was I letting anyone call me a rotten egg, so I took off
after him. Neck and neck, we sprinted for the finish, crossing the line
with him maybe four seconds ahead of me.
So he got to call me a rotten egg. I didn’t mind. He had well and truly
earned the right, not only by beating me to the finish, but by helping
me get there. In slowing down to help me, he probably added three minutes
to his time. He had absolutely nothing to gain by helping me.
Have you ever been a recipient of a random act of kindness? Have you
ever had the opportunity to perform one?
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
On This Article |
| Lucille’s
Lunacy |
Another amazing artifact of human stupidity is the Guinness book of world
records. When I was in high school, my science teacher felt that if we
wanted to learn science, we would read the assignments. So, he kept us
entertained by reading from the Guinness book. If he had tested us on
its contents, I would have gotten an "A". However, he tested
us on the text book, which I didn’t find the least bit entertaining, and
so my science grade was barely passing, despite the fact that it was the
only class in which I actually paid attention.
Mr. Storm used to wow us with stories about people who sneezed every 5
seconds for years on end. "I bet she didn’t eat a lot of graham crackers,"
he would enthuse. The tallest man or woman in the world, and their short
counterparts were also featured in our scientific wanderings.
Nowadays, Guinness seems to focus on less edifying fare. Subjects such
as the world’s biggest ball of string, or longest chewing gum wrapper
chain have replaced such educational offering as conjoined twins connected
at the chest — "I bet they didn’t eat a lot of garlic," and
two headed live stock that could sing "Row, Row, Row your boat"
in syncopated harmony.
Yes, Americans, it is sad how our educational goals have decayed. I’d
say more about that, but I have to see if I can balance another kibble
on my 50 foot dog food pyramid before it crumbles or TJ eats it. I hope
I can find someone to pick the Guinness rep up at the air port. After
all, I have to stay here and protect my work.
Comment
On This Article |
| Poet-Tree |
Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population.
But
did you know that Scotland has the highest at 13%. (Wiki)
Here’s the next one -
I once knew a man with big feet…
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
The
girl of my dreams has red hair
Also green eyes, if you care
She is kind and is sweet
Qualities I find very neat
And also runs around with breasts bare.
- Bonnie >^..^< |
The
girl of my dreams has red hair—
and on her legs has used some Nair—
so that the men would
care for her and they could
love her like a great big teddy bear.
- Cassandra in New York |
The
girl of my dreams has red hair…
and sports a really bodacious pair
she’s quick with a wink
and loves a good drink
if only I could lure her to my lair.
- MO in Vancouver |
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Reader Comments |
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Re: Labels
It
took me most of my life to find my own label, and it turns out to
be practically meaningless to non-professionals. I don’t know how
much I’ve been labeled over the years, but I don’t think any of it
got up to a half-truth overall. Mostly, I’ve eventually left situations
where I felt most misunderstood. Until this year, I’d assumed that
people could at least tell if they were confused, but I should not
have given them the benefit of the doubt as a way to be polite. I
pay more attention to posture and face action than the luck of genetics
or clothing choice. Usually, work clothes are the norm. I was kind
of impressed with one guy I wound up carrying tables with recently.
He was wearing full denims, fancy boots and a big Stetson, but he
wasn’t with the show; that was just the kind of thing that works on
a ranch. However, someone out of Vogue magazine does not quite register
as "human" in much of my brain. - Bob of the North, where
the Indians are having an absolutely fabulous summer, just as hot
as the white folks’ one was
I
am frequently asked if I am of Native American heritage because I
guess people think I look like I am, tho I don’t think so. I just
smile and say no and then tell the story about how when I lived on
the Fort Hall rez in southeast Idaho, the tribal members, the rez
cops actually, thought I was one of them who just had an attitude
problem or something and never went to any of the council meetings
or social events. The funniest thing is I am mostly Irish, with just
a tiny bit of Spanish…(not Mexican, Spanish.) Maybe it sounds racist
but there is a big difference between the two and some people just
don’t seem to realize it.
Maybe I am a bit racist though, because one time I had to work with
a temp at my job. We got to talking and come to find he liked country
music. Dummy me thought just cos he was black he would prefer hip
hop or rap, even though one of my favorite country singers is Charley
Pride. Felt really foolish on that one.
I don’t base my assessment about people I first meet on any one factor.
I usually look at the eyes first, then take general appearance and
body language into consideration. Are they well groomed, do they look
like they have given a thought or two about their appearance? Also,
body language speaks volumes. Actually, body language probably ranks
as first thing I notice after I make eye contact. Non-verbal communication
is more reliable than what words a person says. - GrammieSammie
The
most valuable lesson I ever learned was from a six year old child,
who asked me what she should call me ( a name), and I replied that
it was up to her. She said, "well, every Mama is my Mama in God’s
own way." And she called me Mama. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Animal
Treatment
Good points about
the guide dogs. It prompted me to think about people in wheel chairs.
People should remember that for a person in a wheelchair, the chair
should be viewed as if it were an extension of the occupants body.
Please don’t touch it first without asking. If a person in a chair
is in your way and unaware of that, mention it to them first (politely
of course.) Just pushing them out of the way without so much as a
by-your-leave is as rude and hostile a gesture as just shoving and
pushing the average ambulatory person. Even if they look like they
really need help getting up a steep hill or over a door jamb, ask
first. They really may need help but it may be a matter of personal
pride for them to at least try to do it themselves first.
I once went out for cocktails with 2 male friends, one in a wheelchair,
one not. We finished our evening out and headed to the car which belonged
to the guy in the chair. The vehicle was an SUV and rather high off
the ground, so I asked Cary, the driver. if he needed any help and
he said no. He then proceeded to get himself into the drivers seat,
and then collapsed his chair and pulled it into the car and stowed
it behind his seat. My other friend, Steve, then chastised me for
not helping the Cary. Well, I said, the guy told me he didn’t need
help when I asked him. Just saying, stop and think first…and second,
dang but Cary had amazing upper body strength.Saw him later without
his shirt…whew! What a hottie. - GrammieSammie
Re: Chat
Rooms
Lucille
- No idea what/where the Chat room you found was found - But I would
avoid it. There are however wonderful Moderated chat rooms (meaning
there are ppl there making sure it stays user friendly) - and I suggest
you seek one of those.
You need to think of a topic that interests you and seach for chats
that way. For instance, I watch Raptor cams. I watch a Bald eagle
nest in Hornby BC Canada (offseason now), and I watch a White Bellied
Sea Eagle nest in Sydney AUS (with a 6 week old Seaglet in the nest).
Both of these Cams also provide chat rooms where watchers can discuss
what they are seeing and share info about the species, etc. Ustream
has several such cams covering many species all over the world and
I believe all their chats are moderated.- I find these types of places
very satisfying, time consuming, and a bit additive.
Of course, wildlife may not be your thing - but there are 1000s of
great chat rooms that are not just cyber sex predation. I hope you
go to the effoort to find one of those. Chatting can be very rewarding
- it should never make you uncomfortable - Faith McGregor, Baltimore
Maryland
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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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called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you
which pieces impacted you the most.
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