Living In the World, Not on It

Let's bring the stakes up to something just a wee bit more personal that almost anyone anywhere can have an opinion. This should be quite a bit easier, since many people do have kids and really would do anything to see them protected and raised right. So this new poll, for the next fourteen days, is: "Do you think people like Kate Gosselin and the Duggars should parade their children on television to make a buck?" (That sounds like I'm skewed in my opinion, but those of you who read my blog already know that.) Answers: Yes, they are just living the American dream. No, I think it is wrong and potentially damaging to the kids. I'd do it in a minute if I thought I could get rich! I don't know. (I figured there should be one token answer that was not so tongue-in-cheek.) So there you go. Hopefully everyone will come out to vote and give their opinion, too!

There are some things that Blogger lets one do that is fun, and one of them is to create a voting poll for people to throw in their opinion. For the last two weeks or so I had one up. The question was, "Who do you think will be left for the Primaries?" This might be a loaded question, especially since I have the feeling that most of my 26 regulars are from other countries and the primaries are getting into a specific kind of voting - and I hate to admit it, but most of the voting structure is confusing to me... The answers I had were: President Obama Sarah Palin Mitt Romney Mike Huckabee Rudy Guiliani Donald Trump I don't think The Donald has plans to run any longer, and I have long since changed my mind about him, but one of the four voters did select him. Two selected the current President and one selected Mitt Romney. I personally still have no idea. I don't care for any of the Republican runners. This will sound terrible, but the idea of having "President Huc...

Summer telly hits are tough to find, but the channels are slowly coming around to the fact that life in the twenty-first century doesn't involving being out of doors during the off-school weeks. Now those few are realising the cash cow in primo-advertising all year-round. Where Franklin & Bash was a total failure, the new show Suits , on USA, is a hit. It has humour but it is serious, too. Instead of immersing itself in the gutter, it is witty without being crass. Quite frankly, how Franklin & Bash made it on the air is a mystery. As usual, Drop Dead Diva is as great as its last two seasons and promises to get better. I'm looking forward to Eureka although with mixed feelings - last season was not its finest, going too far with one plot line and changing everything moving forward. A show in its third or fourth season should not need to resort to that - it's usually a bad sign when they do. One show that I am enjoying thoroughly, however, is Through the Wo...

How are drivers in your community? If there anything like the drivers where I live, you have this secret wish to be a cop for a day so that you can pull over all of the bad drivers and really make them pay! If that’s how you feel, this week’s topic is for you. I found a list of the top 10 moving violations . You can use it to help you come up with ideas if you need them. Thanks for playing! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! THIS WEEK’S QUESTION : Na...

I can't or won't speak about a lot of what happened this week. I lost a lot of things over this week, but it seems that between my making concessions to issues and talking to only the very closest to friends about it, I've managed to hold onto what was most important. Luis has his needs and I have to be more cognizant. I tend to harp on things I need not, bitch and gripe about things that I shouldn't. So I have that to work on as well as bud... budg... budgeting. (See that - I have trouble just saying that word! I hate that word. I hate money and dealing with it - mostly because I don't know how to deal with it. I'm Houdini - I only know how to make it disappear! And let's not get into my riding. I take a lot of solace in this and I will miss it. But I will be an associate member, so I can do parades, events, run for administration-type E-board positions, committees (I'm on the New Rig Committee, which will be very educational for me), etc. The cats pro...

This week’s topic is suggested by the random quiz that appears in one of the questions: fairy tales. Most of us had parents or siblings who either read or told us stories growing up. So I hope this set of questions won’t be too difficult for you to answer! Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. Which childhood fairy tale or story was your favorite when you were little? That's a tough one. I'd have to say the Arabian nights tales wer...

"I got this email from a colleague the Tuesday after Memorial Day: “Can’t come in today. Stomach bug.” I’m no detective but—with barbeque season officially starting the day before—a prime suspect immediately jumped to mind: the norovirus, the most common cause of food poisoning in the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 200,000 Americans contract food poisoning every day. But Philip Tierno, Ph.D., a microbiologist at New York University medical center and author of The Secret Life of Germs, believes the actual number is closer to 800,000. And in 4 of 5 of food poisoning cases, the attack happens at home—right (on the plate) under your nose. "Everyone in this country will have at least one incident of sickness this year attributable to a foodborne virus, bacteria, or toxin," Tierno told Men’s Health. Except that most of us won't know what hit us. Like my colleague, we'll chalk up the usually mild symptoms—nausea, diarrhea, cram...

Since it’s Fath er’s Day, I figured a father-themed question would be in order. If you didn’t grow up with a dad in your life, you can substitute your mom in the question. Thanks for playing! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! THIS WEEK’S QUESTION : Name seven cool or interesting things you’d tell people about your dad. There are far more than seven interesting things about my father, but here are the top seven! 1. He's bald, but doesn't care. W...

Welcome to the 375th edition of the Saturday Six ! This week, the topic is about the news. Do you still have a newspaper subscription? Do you watch network news these days? Whether you love it or hate it, I suspect you’ll be able to handle these questions with little difficulty! Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! 1. Where do you get the majority of your news: from the newspaper, the radio, the television or online? From friends and online -...

I'm watchi ng WarGames , which was made in 1983. I was fifteen when this came out. I saw it in the movies with my parents. When they were watching the video of Dr. Stephen Falken, Jennifer (Ally Sheedy) asked if David (Matthew Broderick) could just write to the doctor. He said he couldn't because the doctor was dead. She said he was young, and David said no, he was old. When Jennifer asked how old he was, David said, "Forty-one." Good gods. I'm forty-three. How did that get to be old?! I always find it incensing when people say, "So-and-so was 72? He was young!" Now, let's not get carried away. The average life span of the male human is still 70. The average life span of the human female is still 77. This is NOT young. And it seems that rather than rising, the number is now beginning to drop. Unsurprisingly, a life of drinking alcohol and soda and eating processed foods is taking its toll on the human race. I'm not saying one has to suddenly thro...

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - A NASA astronomer from Huntsville will split $1 million as one of this year's two winners of what has been called "Asia's Nobel Prize." Dr. Gerald "Jerry" Fishman shares the 2011 Shaw Prize with Italian astronomer Enrico Costa for their discoveries about gamma ray bursts. The three annual Shaw prizes are named for Hong Kong media mogul Sir Run Run Shaw. They have been given since 2004 to living scientists for accomplishments in astronomy, life sciences and medicine. "I was completely shocked," Fishman said Wednesday. "I didn't know I was nominated." Gamma ray bursts were unknown until the 1960s, when they were first detected by satellites launched to search for evidence of nuclear test ban violations. Gamma rays are one signature product of a nuclear blast. It was "a complete mystery" where they came from, Fishman said, and it was "their unknown nature" that interested him. Fishman...

On Patrick's Place I found the following post: "A friend and former colleague of mine recently asked his Facebook friends if they thought it was right for a reporter or anchor to use a different name on air when the new name is designed to make them sound like they’re part of an ethnic group they’re not really part of or to appeal to viewers in that ethnic group. For example, anchor Jim Smith moves to a market with a large Hispanic population, and decides to change his name to Jim Sanchez. My friend, incidentally, uses his real name. I checked. But what about renaming yourself on-air to sound more ethnic than you are, or at least more ethnic than your name makes it sound like you are? Is there anything wrong with that? I’ll give my thoughts soon, but I wanted to get yours first." My response: "I'd have to say it is wrong to change one's name to appeal to a demographic. This only encourages the prejudice that colours Americans and other groups, in...

Sadly, all of this year's eclipses are taking place in areas that are not visible to me. That's right. Not one single 2011 lunar eclipse is visible in the Northeastern United States this year. This makes me very sad. However, thanks to technology and the incredible cameras now available to the average Joe, the quality of pictures taken the world over (or I should say, over the world who could view the eclipse of last night) shared their images. Just to make me happy! (That sounds nice, doesn't it?) Here is my favourite: A partial lunar eclipse is seen over the skies of Belgrade June 15, 2011.

JUST when you thought it was safe: "The Duggar family continues to grow! Josh Duggar, 23, –- the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle –- and wife Anna, 22, welcomed their second child, Michael James, on Wednesday, TLC announced. The couple is sticking with their "M" theme, for their children's names. Little Michael James will join big sister MacKynzie, 20 months, at home. The couple's new son weighed 8 lbs., 5 oz., and arrived at 5:55 PM Tontitown, Ark., according to People, who was first to report the news. The newest Duggar is very close in age to his Aunt Josie (Jim Bob and Michelle's youngest child, who was born premature, but is now healthy), who is only 17 months old. "I think of Josie being born at only 25 weeks," Josh told the mag prior to the birth of his son, "and it makes us think about how precious life is and what a blessing each child is." The Duggars are back on TLC." And once again, the ball rolls downhill. Th...

Now, this is just disgusting: "The item is part of a new Women Who Rock exhibit at the Cleveland museum. Gaga went from rocking a rack of meat to having it preserved for the ages. Literally. The hand-sewn meat dress is now more of a beef jerky dress. Let us explain. The Argentinean slabs of tartare may have been barbeque-ready when Gaga put them on last September . The singer modeled the dress when she accepted the Best Video of the Year, "Bad Romance," wearing it to proclaim, as she put it , "I am not a piece of meat." But let's face it: The freshness date of the frock -- and matching meat boots -- have long since passed. A post on NPR explains the process for preserving the meat dress: The edible fashion statement "was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals and then dried out by taxidermists in California before being transported to the museum." Just one problem. It looked like a bunch of beef jerky -- which doesn't ...

Two decades ago Jon Bon Jovi sat with the members of his eponymous band in a basement in New Jersey. Hoping to rekindle the group's desire to make music after two grueling years on the road, he'd hung vintage posters on the wall, illuminated only by candles and blacklights. But instead of feeling inspired, Bon Jovi found himself becoming cranky and short of breath. "I'm thinking maybe this is an issue, maybe I just don't like them," Bon Jovi said in a recent interview for the FORBES Celeb 100 issue . "Until I realized that all the oxygen was sucked out of the room by the candles ... So I blew out the candles, cranked up the amplifiers, and said, 'We're going to be a rock band. If you believe in what I'm telling you, we can be the Rolling Stones.'" Sure enough, Bon Jovi is still rocking. The group earned $125 million over the past 12 months, enough to claim the No. 2 spot on FORBES' annual list of the world's hi...

...I wanted a day in the hammock and I got it... But it wasn't as satisfying as it normally is. Had I done it yesterday it would have been much more worthwhile. Yesterday was a little cooler, with nice breezes and blue skies all along. That would have been ideal. Instead I traded that for today, which was sullenly hot (and far worse when the sun managed to shine on me), with non-moving air, hazy skies, humidity to some degree and in the rare event of a soft breeze it was a cold, wet zephyr. What the hell...? Now it looks overcast and unfriendly just like it has last several days (excepting yesterday). Groan. Upcoming weather: it figures. A whole weekend of overcast, showers, possible thunderstorms (I know I love thunderstorms but not so much that I want them getting in the way of my hammock-bonding time. Unless we had non-stop thunderstorms - that would be pretty amusing. I meant to say "amazing" but amusing works as well. Hmmm... for some reason I am suddenly terribly ov...

When I first left work, I had this puzzle I was working on. At the time I left, I barely had Spring completed. It was creeping along... Notice my blog has been creeping along and suddenly this month I've posted a month's worth in a mere 14 days? That is a LOT of free time. I've actually had a lot of free time over the last three months, but I haven't really felt good about it. I figured with enough time I would reach the "I feel better about this point" and while I might still kinda get down about it, in general, I would start to feel better. (Wow. What a poorly structured sentence that is...!) Well, I have reached that point. Not that I didn't think I would. I just did not know how long it would take. It feels so much better to be more my sunny self again. Like I said, I may get down about it again, but at least it will be temporary. I suspect I'll feel it more in the winter. I thrive on sunlight. We have the longer days now, so I'm thriving. An...

It's not as good as seeing him live - and should he return to New Jersey I will want tickets to that - but I have several discs of his: Now That's Awesome Here's Your Sign Dorkfish 15 Degrees off Cool Cheap Drunk: An Autobiography What's great about Bill Engvall? You can play these CDs anywhere and it is no problem. Not only is he funny as hell, but he is clean - no cursing, no violent topics, just normal life. George Carlin pulled that off in 1972 - the double CD I have that time period had three tracks I couldn't play at work - but it had 20 tracks that were just fine. That's George Carlin - someone who comes across as angry and used the most execrable language ever. But in this case, where he kept it clean and just spoke of his childhood and growing up in Morningside Heights, NYC, it was a riot! It was great stuff! I don't know why he got so angry. He wasn't the same for it. How about Eddy Murphy? Ye gods. His show aired on HBO back a million years a...

A friend of mine celebrated 20 years of working in television by posting "5 Things I Learned From 20 Years in TV" - he has five parts to this. I can list five items that I learned and any Human Resources Manager will understand this. The rest of what I learned is really too much to post on a forum as easily accessible as this is. Even I recognise what NOT to say about my 15 years in the trenches... most of it is too private and too case-by-case to keep it generic. So here are the five things that I learned: 1. All employees are innocent. It doesn't matter that I had several different infractions on video; paperwork statements from six managers and 25 coworkers; it makes no difference if the offending party's hands are covered with dye that traces the missing items. They all look me in the eye and say with great confidence, " I didn't do it." Hence, they are all innocent. 2. No one has been overpaid. Now, you know that if I don't find the error, s...

Want to see someone wig out? Contact your stockbroker of XX years and tell him you're taking the whole wad and transferring it all to some other fund(s). Tick... tick... tick... tick... BOOM! That's right. Two Tuesdays ago my father and I met with a gentleman about putting together living trusts for Ray and my mother. I'm sure you can guess where I come into this whole thing as the only heir to either of them. This is a whole new thing for Ray - I have some working knowledge of wills and trusts, but not nearly enough to give any kind of advice - other than "you need to have this". So Ray, making yet another foray into the whole new world of making big decisions, has hired this gentleman to set up all these different things. And one of them was to take the money out of Smith Barney, who has been managing it for (I don't know how many) years. Apparently the contact at Smith Barney had a bit of a hard time with this. He told Ray to call him later when John left....

Ah-ha, are you thinking PETA, the crazy terrorist group that throws paint on people wearing fur coats? No. I am not a supporter of that. I love my cats and they live in the lap of luxury, as cats do. However, I eat meat and have no intention of stopping. And since all life lives at the expense of other life... No, I'm talking about People Eating Tasty Animals. That's the PETA to which I belong. I don't care for beef particularly - I just don't like the taste and I don't feel it is healthy. But I love chicken, shrimp and veal. And I hate to tell you vegans who will eat plants without giving it a second thought, don't you think that if a plant could scream when you yank it from the ground or pull off its fruit or leaves, that it wouldn't yell? Do you think it would just sit there if it were like the apples trees in The Wizard of Oz ? No. It would pelt you with its loose apples and branches and tell you to get lost. Now, eating vegetarian for strictly health re...

Q1 - Stop and Count : How many cosmetics or personal care products do you use over the course of an average day? Zero. None. I don't wear cosmetics. I have a couple of things left over from when I was a teenager in the early 80s, and that is it. I'll never buy any cosmetics. Q2 - Deeds : What percentage of good deeds do you feel you do out of generosity versus the ones you do out of the avoidance of guilt? Neither. I am an EMT to give something back to the township and because I'm an excitement junkie - I love the rush. So I have mostly personal reasons to do it. I certainly don't feel guilty about anything. Q3 - Find Me : Facebook launched a location-based check-in tool this week called Places. Similar to Foursquare, Facebook Places allows you to share where you are, find out where your friends are and discover new places. Would you want your friends and others on Facebook to know where you are? No, not really. But then, I don't have a cell phone that has t...

What do you think of your home state? I’m sure there are plenty of pros and cons about any of the 50 states in our union. Some states seem to stand out, though, for the good or the bad. This week, we’ll focus on the good. Can you come up with seven things you like about your home state? That’s the challenge for this week! Thanks for playing! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy! THIS WEEK’S QUESTION : Name seven things you like about your home state. W...

I found an older post on Patrick's Place: "On this date in 1986, the complacency that is so commonplace in our society had almost completely engulfed the space shuttle. The only thing getting Challenger a good bit of attention was the fact that a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was on board and would be beaming back lessons for a worldwide classroom. But this bit of notoriety wasn’t enough to prompt the major networks to interrupt programming, as had been done in the earlier days of the space shuttle program, for the shuttle’s launch. CNN, as I recall, was live on the air with the launch. I was a 10th grader at the time, and even inside a school, with a teacher aboard what was one of the greatest technical achievements of our age, televisions were not set up in every classroom. All of that was about to change. Five years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the disaster, I talked about that day in school , and how I’d happened to make a joke shortly before the Chal...