Terrorism Again

Here I was playing with my grandson, watching episode after episode of Toddler TV.  When he took his nap I turned on CNN to see if there was anything interesting happening in the adult world - just in time to watch a Yemeni airplane landing at JFK. 

Only two days ago several of our allies were saying that the US was going too far with travel security measures.  Are we?  Apparently cargo isn't subject to the scrutiny that passengers are given- not abroad and from what I am hearing not in the US either.

Not enough details have been released yet to make it anything but (informed)speculation to rail at specific people or their twisted reasoning.  But we do know enough to see what unreasoning hate does - not that we needed this most recent incident - to both  the intended target and other "collaterals." 

Even without actual damage or injury another blow has been struck at feelings of safety and freedom.  Freedom: does anyone still remember FDR's Four  Freedoms? We surely have lost at least the Freedom from  Fear.

I'm not the first to say it, but They will win if we give in to total fear- let's rather say let's be aware and cautious. Maybe sort of not being afraid to use the freeway,, but not being willing to walk down  the middle of the freeway.

Teachers and Every Day Skills

  Back in "my day" teachers could spell, properly pronounce words, do math without electronic help, knew that Jews didn't believe in Jesus (yes readers, that did happen in the school system of a major US city), and were allowed to discipline students (OK I didn't think they should have been able to hit them, but there was not any doubt who was in charge.)   Teachers and other people in the public eye almost always could and did use decent grammar.  Has every day common sense teaching fallen by the wayside? Are teachers without that skill or do the curricula not allow it?  Or do the students just ignore the teaching?  Probably a combination of all three.  Look at all the fuss about teaching to the test: never mind teaching what the students will need for the rest of their lives.  Do the second and the first automatically follows.

Does anyone still  know when to use "me" and when to use "I"  - when to use "he" or  "she" and when to use "him" or her"?  And which to use first and which second?  Who can still pronounce height not as if it were spelled heigth?  I hear  all of these atrocities repeatedly used and not just in casual conversation.   Listen carefully and you will hear it from educated people, people in the media and elected officials.  As for sports figures: well it's noticeable when they don't make these errors.

Have you ever given a cashier a five dollar bill and a dime for a $4.09 purchase?  Did they just look at you as if you were crazy? Could they count out your change or did they have to have the register compute the amount and then just dump it into your hand?  Yes, I know many employers insist that workers use the change compute method, but they should still count back to you- either from the sale to amount given, or the amount of the change - they could have picked up the wrong amount after all.

Are reading skills still taught?  Exposure to good books? Even college educated people often have no knowledge of "the classics" in literature, music or art.  History?  Look at how many cannot name the current Vice President, or even who the first President of the U. S. was.  World War II is only a vague concept to too many who have no idea of how that war changed the world.  Will we be doomed to repeat history.   I don't want my grandkids to have to suffer through something like that.

On the positive side, today there is more teaching of and knowledge of science and medicine than ever before.  Although sometimes I think some areas have gone too far.  Another subject for a later rant. I think I will also leave common courtesy for another time.  That's more a responsibility of the home and family, with teachers just backing it up.

Men About the House: Honey DON'T!

Recently I spent several weeks off my feet - so I had to depend on my husband for cooking and cleaning.  He's a decent cook, and a better cleaner than I am. But he is a terror at the laundry.  Years ago I carefully labelled two bins: Dark and Light.  Is that so hard to understand?  Well, except maybe a few in between shades like light grey and some tans. When I was feeling too miserable to do anything about it I just let him do the laundry without any input.  Then I started to feel a bit better and I reminded him about the sorting.  Now I am OK for all chores except heavy duty things like swabbing the tile floors.  So what did I find (again) a few minutes ago?  The dryer dinged the end of it's cycle.  This morning I checked and there wasn't enough of either dark or light for a load. Hubby had struck again! I went to hang and fold the clean laundry.  Of course I found one of my favorite light colored tops in the same load as jeans!  He had again washed everything together (except for the "tidy whities" which he ignored).  Should I hide the laundry soap from him? Should I just wear the tan slacks tinged with a slight pink blush? Should I go shopping and replace the damaged clothes with full priced designer labels?

What about when he stops the dishwasher because it's not overloaded yet and the dishes will still get clean?  And when I am stir-frying and he is using spray cleaner on the stove at the same time lest a spot of oil get on the surface?  I have had to re-wash glasses by hand, use a fingernail to scrape off the last bit of food from plates, put ointment on his hand when hot oil splattered on the hand.  I have tried to just leave dishes ignored, smacked his hand with a wooden spoon and just plain lost my temper.

PLEASE HONEY DON'T!

Why Always Arizona?

I live in Arizona.  This is a beautiful state.  You can go from nearly sea level to over 8000 feet in altitude between breakfast and lunch. At the right time of the year you can water ski in the morning and snow ski in the afternoon. This is the only state in the U.S. where saguaro cacti are indigenous. There are deserts and pine forests. We have the Grand Canyon, sweeps of almost endless vistas, the oldest continuously inhabited town in the U.S., more golf courses are in Maricopa County than in the whole of Germany.  You can swim in unheated outdoor pools at least 10 months a year in much of the state. Arizona is home to more than 20 Native American Tribes, many of whom produce works of incredible beauty (Did you know that apparently no Native American tribal language has a word for art?  The traditional products were utilitarian and decorated to give the users pleasure.)

So please tell me why almost all the news that leaves the state is embarrassing?  Our politicians seem intent on showing how not to run a government.  Whether it's a pol you support or one you oppose, the chances are that they will appear on CNN or the national nightly news with pie on their face. Some get caught, some eagerly seek out exposure.  All contribute to people outside Arizona wondering if the heat has fried everyone's brain.

Perhaps those of us who are long time residents should be grateful.  The state has grown so fast that many of us who moved out to the boonies are now in suburbia.  Maybe some of the bad publicity keeps a few potential residents away even if they weren't scared by 115 temperatures in July.  Every state has it's pie in the face people- we just seem to have more!  We are currently in national focus of the immigration debate, which is one of the most divisive issues in years.  There are so many ways to look at that issue. I don't know what to believe about it.  Especially about the children brought here when very small: many of them don't even know they are illegal residents.  Then again, what part of the word illegal isn't clear?  Still you have to admire the people who go to such lengths to seek a better life for their families.  Is there a solution, never mind an easy one?

Coupons

OK I understand that manufacturers and others who offer coupons want you to either use them promptly or not bother with them at all.  Once upon a time coupons didn't expire or if they did it was, maybe, in a year.  Now what do they do? I have seen coupons with 14 days validity (and I don't mean ones issued by a store in conjuntion with a sale). Some of the coupons have the expiration date so slyly hidden that I think the issuer is hoping that if you get to the cashier with an expired coupon you will go ahead with the purchase anyway.  Have you ever seen a coupon for only the size that costs more per unit than other sizes of the same product?  Even with the coupon, you end up paying more per unit - take your calculator or math savy brain to the store with you. Even better check other brands of the product unless you only want the brand on the coupon. 

Probably the hardest thing about  using coupons is remembering you have them and can actually find them.  I have used more methods of organizing than I can recall.  Just the other day I decided to file my latest batch of cut out coupons in my current file. First I went through the ones already in the folder and discarded all of them since they had expired.  Then when I started to file the "new" ones I found that about half of those were expired.  Now I know I have more time now-a-days to spend as I wish, but what a waste of time that I could have used quilting, reading or napping!

I could go on and on but I still haven't cut out the coupons from Sunday's paper and it's Thursday already.  Time to find the scissors!

Watching The Chilean Mine Rescue and Other Random Doings

Like many around the world I am sitting watching the rescue of the miners- so far (11:19 PM PDT) four are up and the capsule is on it's way down for number five. It's just not a night to rail but to hail!  Let's all hope that the futures of the men are good ones.  They will be confronted with all sorts of issues now.  Selling their stories, PTSD, changes in family dynamics (Do you remember that the two wives of one of them met at the camp where the families have been living?) and who knows what else.

While sitting here waiting for the next rescue I have been wandering through the information that Blogger offers to the novice.  Guess I' m even more of a novice that I realized.  I thought I was fairly computer literate but..... 

What does it mean that if I make my blog private and it is limited to 100 readers? If I don't make it private is it open to anyone who can discover it? How do people discover it? What is a label in a blog? Why was I born 30 or so years too late to really feel comfortable with computers?  Even my not quite two year old grandson loves to bang away at the keyboard and send me IMs! (Isn't "vneoptbv eogrhg3-0n v" just the most loving message ever?) It took me five years of using a computer before I dared try to IM or chat.  I am still deathly afraid of letting too much personal information out there- of course I don't think that is fear but smart thinking.

Why Am I Starting This?

Why am I starting a blog at 2 AM instead of sleeping the well earned rest of retirement? It's one of those nights when petty grievances have been gnawing at my vitals as if they were the weight of the world's problems. Maybe I should concentrate on just one to start with, and it is one of the most petty and annoying of them all.  Who knows, I might just become the female Andy Rooney!

I am a reader.  Always have been, as far back as I can remember.  When I was about ten, I spent the summer reading all the Perry Mason mysteries in the order they were published.  I'm not usually that compulsive, but when there is a series of books that follows a time line, it makes sense doesn't it?  In high school I met and fell madly in love with Jane Austen's people and stories. 

Those were certainly superbly crafted pieces; vignettes of their time, 1930's Los Angeles and the late 18th and early 19th century England.  Those and so many more books have served me for over 60 years now.  Mysteries, romances, history, comedy, just about anything was my joy.

What has happened to writing today? So many formula plots that I wonder if it's just that there are no new ones to be discovered.  Just like it was once thought that the Heavens contained no new surprises. I suppose I could live with that - each re-use of a plot or story has it's own tiny differences.  What does REALLY bother me though, is careless writing.  Not only grammar (and isn't that really the fault of badly educated teachers, more on that some time!) but the lack of basic research and editing that you find.  If you are spending almost $10 on a paperback that you will read in a day or two at the most, should you have to edit the thing for the author? 

Take the current crop of "Historical Romance Fiction."  While the writers have finally and thankfully gotten past the heroine who isn't even kissed until the wedding night, they have totally failed to do basic research on what, where, how and when of the times they write of.  I recently read one book where they talked of blueprints in 1812.  I just had to Google "blueprints" and found that they first were used, and the word coined, in the late 1840's.  And how hard is it to look up the proper usage of the titles  of the English nobility?  Debretts has a wonderful web site that lists the correct dates of the Kings (and Queens) of England, proper titles (a knight or baronet is Sir John Smith not Sir Smith) and forms of address. They will even answer questions on useage and if notes are taken and kept, it only has to be done once.

I told you this was going to be a petty rant on a petty subject, but I do feel so much better!  Maybe I can sleep now.