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Greetings, Quotaholics:
I’ve never lived in a large city. I grew up in Elyria,
a town to the west of Cleveland (not the best side). There were about
50,000 people in the area back then. It is part of the rust belt and
the population today is still in the 50,000 range. I linked to it so
you can see what a small town place it is.
I’ve lived outside Cincinnati, Ohio and Charleston, South Carolina as
well. I don’t like large crowds or noise or lots of hubbub. I’m just
a small town girl, as someone once sang about.
Reuters
reported on a survey from Mercer consulting group about the best places
in the world to live. Topping the list, according to the survey, was
Vienna, Austria. It was held in such high esteem because of the many
things available there such as beautiful architecture, wonderful public
parks, great transportation including extensive bike paths, and most
importantly a low crime rate.
There are about 1.7 million people there and they speak highly of their
city. However, with global economic woes, they are not guaranteed a
continual place in the sun.
Mercer evaluated 200 cities and came up with the best and worst places
to live. The second best place was Zurich, Switzerland followed by Auckland,
New Zealand; Munich, Germany; Dusseldorf, Germany; Vancouver, Canada;
Frankfurt, Germany; Geneva, Switzerland; Bern, Switzerland; and then
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Nothing there in the US.
Bottom of the heap was Baghdad. This is because it is a war zone chuck
full of political turmoil and low quality of life.
Much of the Middle East and Africa had lower scores this year due to
political and economic unrest, according to the article. Because of
this unrest, cities in the Far East may be on the rise.
Oslo’s status fell because of the mass murder which took place there
this past summer (the perpetrator was just declared criminally insane).
Germanic Europe and the Australian region seem to be the places best
suited for large cities at this time.
I guess this is all wonderful if you want to live in a large city. But
it would seem to me that the best places to live on the planet might
not be these large cities with a million-plus people crammed into a
small space. While Elyria doesn’t have much in the way of fancy architecture,
it was not a bad place to grow up. Cleveland, which was completely accessible,
has major sports teams and lots of theaters. Although the river caught
on fire there a few times.
My father grew up on a farm and going back to Apple
River, Illinois was always a treat. I felt so cosmopolitan there
and I linked to their Wikipedia page just to show you why that could
happen.
However, the farm was beautiful and life probably wasn’t seen as too
bad for them, either. I’m sure their crime rate was lower. Entertainment
might be hard to come by, but there is always cow tipping for the bored.
What’s it like where you live? Would you rate it as a good place to
be or a good place to be from? Do you think it is fair to rate
the world’s desirable living spots and only consider large cities?
Have you ever lived in a large city? What were the greatest advantages?
What were the worst aspects of city life? Would it have been feasible
or desirable to move to the suburbs and just partake of the advantages
without putting up with the disadvantages? The person who formats the
letters may hate me for this, but would you like to send in a link to
your home town or place of your current residence?
Geographically,
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| Today’s
Quotes |
He does not believe who does not live according to his belief. - Thomas
Fuller
Seagulls… slim yachts of the element. - Robinson Jeffers
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| Today’s
Chuckle |
Stockbroker
Dreams
[Thanks Bonnie]
Goodman
was a moderately successful stockbroker who dreamed of making the big
money someday. He took his friend out for a drive, and he chose the
route carefully in order to impress on him the possibilities of the
brokerage business.
“Look at that yacht,” he said as they drove slowly past a marina. “That
96′ beauty belongs to the senior partner at Merrill Lynch. That one
over there 104′ is owned by the head of Goldman, Sachs. And look at
that huge 210′ yacht out there. That’s the pride and joy of the top
seller at Prudential-Bache.”
His friend Morris was silent. Goodman turned to look at him and saw
a pained look on his face.
“What’s the matter?” Goodman asked.
“That economy rowboat rental down there beside the marina, ” Morris
said,. “is that for the people they have sold to?”
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| Life
Sentences |
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist,
not of the sitter.
I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.
- all from Oscar Wilde, Irish writer, who died on this day in 1900
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| Image’n
That! |
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I’ve
Heard The Name
Never Saw The Person!
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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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Oddities
We have all seen some strange things. I know I have. I went
to the zoo once and saw a platypus. That poor creature looked
like the result of a zoo-wide orgy.
Do a search on the Net and you can find pictures of all sorts of oddities
on the plant and animal world. I question whether some of them
are actual photos, or if they are enhanced by digital editing techniques.
Be careful though, you may see some pretty strange things, but they
won’t necessarily contain flora except as a background, and the animals
will be human acting in very animalistic activities. But I digress.
Email me privately if you want the URL.
Anyway, Mother Nature has had a lot of fun with her plant and animal
toys. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t celebrate finding
the mutant in the patch of clover. Should someone find a clover
that has more than the usual 3 leaves, there is celebration and the
prize is plucked from it’s stem as a pertpeual trophy. Some people
will purposely attempt to create a mutant plant. They are referred
to as hybrids, but it is a mutant nonetheless.
Some mutants will have a new feature that gives them a better chance
at survival than those of their ancestry. They go on to pass this
mutation on to their progeny and a permanent change in the species becomes
the new normal. We call this evolution. But not all the
mutations are beneficial. We’ve seen pictures of fish with 3 eyes.
We’ve seen pictures of people with 3 nipples. Again, if you want
that URL, just ask. Some mutations are handicapping rather than
beneficial.
What brought all this to mind was what I discovered on a recent geocaching
outing. I was returning from a significant hike where I had found
the shell of a turtle. For some reason, I carried that shell with
me from cache to cache. As I as nearing my vehicle, I saw another
turtle in the middle of the road ahead. Something seemed odd as
it’s head seemed quite large, but it could have been a trick of the
light. As I neared him, I could clearly see there was a second
head on him.
It wasn’t a fully developed head. The second head seemed to be
just a neck stalk as there was no skull, eyes nor mouth on it.
The only reason I considered it to be another head was when he stuck
it out all the way, it pointed a different direction than the fully
developed head.
When the turtle is only partially extended, the second head looks more
like a tumor until he extends his necks out fully. It was quite
a realization to me that I had found something in the wild of which
I had only seen pictures.
Of course, when I mentioned this to friends, they all wanted to see
pictures. Have you ever tried to get a picture of a turtle that
pulls it’s head back into it’s shell if you get within 10 feet of him?
It’s tricky at best. And, turtles can be quite patient.
They will wait for hours before they venture as much as a nostril from
within. I did get some half-assed pictures, either poorly focused,
or with only a portion of his second head showing. But, I have
him on my back porch as proof!
Here’s your quiz:
Have you ever seen some odd creature in real life?
If you could create a hybrid, what attribute would you add, and to what
would you add it?
If you could gain an attribute to your own body, what would it be?
Oddities - I’m Normal, Everybody Else Is Odd
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
Comment
on this article |
Kirsten’s
Krazy Kaleidoscope |
Email Kirsten
“A birthday is
just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy
the trip.”
~ Unknown ~
When I was in the hospital in the throes of agonizing labour almost
six years ago, I was not thinking of the implications of having a baby
on Christmas Day. I had other things on my mind, like the disparity
between the size of a baby’s head and the size of its escape route from
a birthing mother’s body. I was not even thinking of the fact that it
was Christmas Day and I was having to work extremely hard for this particular
gift.
The question of birthday parties did not really enter my head until
this time last year. Both of the kids’ parties have always been low-key
family events. George is a quiet, shy child with autism, and having
a big noisy party with lots of screaming kids would make him head for
the hills at the speed of light. And James is young. Until last year,
he didn’t really express any interest in birthday parties. And last
year, I was planning my wedding.
A few weeks ago, James asked me if he could have a birthday party this
year. Naturally, I said yes. Why wouldn’t I? Sometimes I feel bad for
James, and not just because he happens to share his birthday with the
most famous guy in history. We find ways to compensate for that, and
we always carve out a section of Christmas Day that is devoted to James’
birthday.
The thing that affects James more – and in fact changes the way his
entire life is lived – is his role as sibling to a child with autism.
James adores his brother. He would not change him for anything in the
world. But sometimes things happen that seem to James to be unfair.
George gets something that James doesn’t. James gets timeouts and George
doesn’t, because they are a completely ineffectual means of discipline
for George. On numerous occasions, family outings and activities have
had to be cut short or cancelled because of George’s autism.
As much as we try to give James as fulfilling a childhood as we can,
sometimes he misses out on “typical” kid stuff. And he notices it. He
doesn’t complain about it, and he has never once said a mean word against
George because of it, but through the things that he says and the way
that he sometimes looks at other kids and other families, we can tell
that he is aware that his life is a bit different.
Can he have a birthday party? Hell, yeah!
We booked a party venue close to our house – a giant indoor playground
that’s been a hit with both of the kids in the past. James proudly took
his invitations to school and handed them out. He picked out what cake
he wanted and I bought the supplies to make it. The party was coming
together nicely. And then, we hit a snag. Quite a large one.
The party venue has unexpectedly been shut down by the city due to zoning
regulations. Which means that we have a pile of kids showing up to a
place that no longer exists. Three days from now.
As soon as we got this rather inconvenient news, we got on the phone
and started calling this place and place, Googling stuff, trying to
find an alternate venue at short notice. No luck. The places we called
were either booked up or too expensive. In the end, we decided to just
have the party at home.
But now we need something to make the party special. A clown. A magician.
A talking frog. Something. James has been looking forward to his cool
party for weeks, and by hook or by crook, he’s getting his cool party.
My husband is phoning every kids’ party entertainer in Toronto to see
who’s available on short notice.
Somehow, this party will come together. I know it will. These things
have a way of working out.
It’s all so stressful, though.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
On This Article |
| Lucille’s
Lunacy |
There are members of my family who don’t approve of what is known in
the venacular as the "f-bomb". I am not one of those members,
but I can appreciate the need to insert it into conversation sparingly,
and not in church or open court. However, my brother-in-law-the-Islamic-terrorist
came up with a satisfactory way to imply the forbidden word without
actually saying it.
Every time the name of a certain polititian came to her lips, my sister,
Chicagoann would attach the "f-bomb to his name. Chicagoann isn’t
nearly as handy with that word as I can be when I am fighting my computer
or describing the nature of a judge who rules against me in court. As
a result, every time she used that particular descriptive, she would
embarrass herself. My b-i-l-t-I-t suggested that she just substitute
the polititian’s name for the "f-bomb", and she could have
the satisfaction of expressing her true feelings without offending the
people around her, or in my case, being held in contempt of court and
spending the night in jail.
I intend to take this new approach to swearing as far as I can, but
in no way plan to abandon the real thing. For me, it is rather like
the way I used to substitute nicotine gum for a cigarette when I flew,
or was otherwise prohibited from indulging in my nasty pleasure.
"I think you’re acting like a real Truman jerk"
"Okay, I’ll launder the Washington clothes."
"Well, stick it up your Roosevelt little –" Oops, I came
close to a "no, no" that time.
Chicagoann’s tendency is to be Bushed off. If she is just a little annoyed,
she can get her feelings out with a well placed "W". When
she is really snarked, she can use the whole name. I won’t do it here.
After all, we’re in public, sort of, and I don’t want to embarrass anyone.
I can see that any president from Washington through Obama could become
swear words in the right hands. My mitts would lend particular enthusiasm
to that endeavor, as I find swear words amusing, and well placed, quite
adequate to their task. I’ll have to Fordn’ think about it. Maybe it
can be a new trend. It even has international potential. "Would
you please move your Sadam — you know."
Comment
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| Poet-Tree |
Nothing nastier than squeaky bedsprings while visiting the in-laws.
Did
y’all get your shopping done?
My mother took me to the store…
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
My
bed springs had started to squeak…..
Gettin’ wet from a roof that did leak…..
They are rusty you see…..
And it brings me no glee…..
So I guess some new ones I’ll seek.
- Skeeter |
My bed
springs had started to squeak
Each time I got up to leak
At first I thought it a mouse
Or the boards in my house
Now I realize it’s the springs that speak!!
- Bonnie >^..^< |
My
bed springs had started to squeak…..
They were gettin’ kinda weak…..
From all the bouncin’ I’d done…..
When in a nightmare I’d run…..
‘Bout every night of last week.
- Skeeter |
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Reader Comments |
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Re: Sirhan
Well,
I tell you I have never believed the story that the government provided
to us for that happening, and I have read many books on the subject.
I also believe very strongly that mind control is used quite a bit,
and even yet to this day. If you don’t believe it just get out your
reading glasses and get to reading about it. There are a whole lot
of books out on that subject alone. If you really need help believing
it, just read the book Strangers by Dean Koontz. Now I know that’s
not a true happening that is written about there, but if that book
doesn’t make you ask questions of your government, well, you’re walking
around with your head up your… You cannot believe half of the things
we hear on the news, the government only tells us what they want us
to know. They literally make it up as they go. Now, should I disappear
for days, only to reappear and have no memory of where I’ve been,
we will know that the government read this and would very much like
to shut me up.
While we’re on the subject of things happening some other way than
what we were told, let’s take a look at 9-11. It did not happen like
they said it did, for sure. Yes the planes hit, but did they cause
that mass explosion? I think not, but that’s a story for another day.
- Tazz
Since you are collecting
opinions, I’ll add mine. I think a whole lot of wrongs and unknowns
were involved in both JFK and RFK’s shootings. Talk about missing
evidence - will we ever know where JFK’s brain went? Why was a second
autopsy held in a rushed manner in the middle of the night in DC?
What WAS Ruby doing in the middle of all this in Texas and why was
he allowed to be where he was with a gun so he could shoot and kill
Oswald? Obviously, "they" wanted him dead so there wouldn’t
be a trial. Actually, there really wasn’t a trial for any of the accused
in either case. At least as far as I know - Sirhan said almost nothing
and was quickly dispatched for life. After all these years, what does
HE say about a new trial? Oswald proclaimed his innocence loudly and
often. Toss in the fact that Jackie got a court order suppressing
ALL the evidence about JFK for 75 years, and all we have heard about
what SHE knew after her death was a pile of tapes she made, not the
stuff she got suppressed. There’s still a few years to go before 75
years is up. Maybe my grandchildren will get to know more of the truth
about both these deaths. - Nancy L in Ohio
I think that there should be a new trial for Sirhan Sirhan, with an
eye toward replacing him with the liars who put him in jail. John
David Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin, is another classic post-hypnotic
tool, used by someone else. The Warren report on JFK is an obvious
fable, played out on a field of general corruption. And let’s not
forget Leonard Peltier and now John Graham, rotting in jail while
innocent of murder in the American Indian Movement. The servants of
the 1% are deathly afraid of new trials. That’s why witnesses keep
showing up dead in high-level corruption cases of all kinds. We need
some of those SWAT team evidence raids all the way to the top, but
the orders obviously have to come from the bottom for that. Who will
be served and protected next year?
Your President has now acquired the legal right to have people summarily
executed, which is one of the main complaints you used to have about
Kings, and a favorite method of the dictators supported by "American
Interests" worldwide. When will the "Land of the Free"
quit blowing their wealth on jails and guns? There’s too many people
trying to get ahead, and not enough trying to get along. - Bob of
the North
As a practical matter, if
he shot at Kennedy, he is guilty of attempted murder, conspiracy to
commit murder, and whatever California law said a man who shoots at
another man would get. If it would make a difference in his sentencing,
the prosecutor should agree to let him out. Unfortunately, in our
anxiety to be safe, we have weighted our "justice" system
very much in the state’s favor. - Lucille
[It’s a bit difficult
to respond to your comment given that you’re an attorney and I’m a
layman, but I’m going to try anyway.
The
prosecutorial misconduct of introducing a known fraudulent bullet
as evidence, plus the collusion between the "defense" and
prosecution should have at least invalidated his conviction. There
is no doubt based on dozens of witness statements that he did fire
a gun, but the evidence of a hypnotically induced trance and other
things like the autopsy report should have given him at the worst
attempted murder. He’d surely be out after 43 years. - Bruce]
Wow.
I turned 12 years old the day Bobby Kennedy died. That was the day
I “got political.” And what a time in history to become politically
aware! Scared the s**t out of my Republican parents.
Sirhan deserves justice, if he didn’t receive it then. I haven’t read
enough about it lately to have more of an opinion than that.
As for JFK, both my husband and I belive his assissnation was a coup,
and a very successful one, seeing as how it set the stage for everything
that has happened since, and most people never even noticed. The US
went off the gold standard and degraded it’s coinage (less silver)
at around the same time period. And the military was just itching
to get cranking in VietNam. There is more, and it isn’t too difficult
to connect the dots, once you begin.
I really believe JFK’s death needs to be looked at in a larger context
than JUST his death. And it isn’t just about who killed him, it’s
more about WHY, and who was behind the people who did the actual deed.
And if that makes me sound like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, so
be it. I’ve been called worse. - OhioKat
I think this was a total
set-up.The law has done a good job of having extra guns when needed,
It is a shame as to what happens to people who happen to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time. - dEE
[Just to make a point,
there’s no way that Sirhan was just a victim of circumstance, "in
the wrong place at the wrong time". In my humble opinion, he
was placed there to be the patsy and take the fall for people who
meticulously planned and carried out the murder. - Bruce]
Re: Tucker
Oh
I love this. I really do. When my oldest grand daughter was about
2 years old she loved to watch a cartoon on TV called Franklin. It
was about a turtle. Well, she could not say Franklin, it came out,
well, Fucker. She would yell this out very loudly and excitedly in
the store, any where that she saw this cartoon. It was just absolutely
a hoot. We some how taught her to say it right, but not until we’d
had all the fun with it that we could possibly have. - Tazz
Art Linkletter made a name
for himself with a segment on his show where he interviewed kids.the
words kids used were often incorrect, but hilarious. It was
always funny, especially when he asked them what it was their parents
told them not to talk about. Even asking them their names was
sometimes side-splitting when they couldn’t pronounce their own name
correctly. That was the case with my daughter when she was just
learning to converse. Her name is Kelly Smith, however, when
asked, she would proudly announce her name was "Telly Piss".
- Cliff
Re: Ranina’s
Thanksgiving
What you
did was what I want to do ! I, too, have been the cook for a whole
lot of Thanksgiving dinners for a very long time, not because I think
I do it perfectly (this year I made a gelatin salad that got left
in the fridge because I forgot to serve it), but because nobody else
wants to do it. In fact, they mostly are eager to attend because they
can spend a day socializing with other family people they haven’t
seen all year, and eat whatever’s put on the table. Usually, I’ve
also done the lion’s share of clean-up, too. This year I announced
loudly that I needed help and got two lovely gals to do ALL the dish
washing. The house was reverberating with noise it never has otherwise.
Since the weather was wonderful, it even spilled out into the yard.
Fact: as you get farther away from raising your own kids, dealing
with kids gets harder. None of these kids were my own, none of their
kids were my responsibility (as in I had no say in how they behaved),
so of course I spent a week hiding breakables and don’t-play-with-that
items I treasure before the assault on this place. I had a few items
around about fine places to eat in this area and suggested they consider
going to one of them next year. I have one consolation - most of the
left-overs left with them. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Pro’s
The closest thing
we have to a paid sports player around here is a hunting guide. It
is a very seasonal job, and double-time plus, but relatively well-paid
if you don’t mind tips. The local Rodeo quit, and that was just for
prizes. However, we are busy building a new Amateur Hockey Arena where
people seem willing to endure dismal lighting to get even more ice
time than nature’s bounty provides.
I have never felt at all affected by the outcome of a team game, and
was barely aware of the "contract negotiations" recently.
A lot of things would probably get easier if there just wasn’t a possibility
of becoming personally wealthy. Talents enjoy expressing themselves,
given just enough money for equipment and the attention they earn.
Wealth Management can play by the same rules, instead of leaving so
many people on the street, while fortunes vanish on champagne. - Bob
of the North
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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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