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Another National Civility Month is Done

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

I’d like to take this moment and note the rapidly passing recurrence of National Civility Month and play true confessions with the fact that my civility has taken a trouncing this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly claim to be ever-scrappy and oh so willing and able to go into confrontational mode at the drop of a hat … but do so at the expense of that kinder, gentler Dave I also try to cultivate.

So although that profane aspect I don’t share with many raises it’s ugly head in the midst of my formal or perfunctory politeness the sad fact is that my tolerance took a beating at the hands of the likes of Adobe, various idiot drivers I encounter, the lying, cheating, thief, crook, tyrant Fred … and of course that ever-present dullard in my disdain, Susan.

Hopefully, I will do better over the coming months and attain that lofty nirvana known as a “courteous manner” that respects accepted social usage and cease being that slug who has to mindlessly swear merely as a valve from which that excess hot air contained within his carcass may escape.

So excuse me whilst I loose that impending flatulence called frustration and endeavor to be better — something oh so much more superior in quality, condition, and effect … tomorrow.

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Bedbugs … back on the Rise

Friday, August 20th, 2010

There is an epidemic of bedbug infestations across the country. Municipalities all over the United States are reporting new issues with the blood sucking critters from coast to coast.

They are being found in hotels, offices, restaurants, movie theaters, and elsewhere.

These bugs run the size of an apple seed and have the rust coloration of a cockroach.

Their only food is human blood. This means that they want to come to dinner … and you’re the main course.

They are resistant to insecticides, travel easily, hide readily in cracks and crevices, and can live for 18 months between feedings.

Eradication requires professional intervention which typically involves multiple treatments — and may cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Over the counter chemicals may be purchased but are historically ineffective.

Characteristics of bed bug bites:

  • Bites are often red in color with a central dark spot
  • They usually itch and have a linear or clustered arrangement
  • Most bites will be found on the face, neck, arms, and hands

Bedbugs are not a new phenomenon. They’re making a comeback. Though infuriating and uncomfortable they do not transmit any known disease and are more of a nuisance than a menace.

When I was a child I even heard nursery rhymes which referenced them. Though I was usually only able to remember the first two lines; it went something like this:

Good night, sleep tight,
Don’t let the bedbugs bite.
Wake up bright
In the morning light
To do what’s right
With all your might.

Good night, sleep tight,
Don’t let the bedbugs bite.
And if they do
Then take your shoe
And knock ‘em ‘til
They’re black and blue!

Nursery Rhyme
Traditional

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Dead Zones: “All Show and No Go”

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

When I was in the Navy I had a friend named Jon Collette. He was a friendly fellow who said what he thought and got along well with everyone all the time.

He used to get a little annoyed when situations had the appearance of one thing but in actuality presented another reality:

“All show and no go.”

I believe it was a reference to hypocrisy in action. There was a little of that going around every now and then — double standards and too many people calling too many of the shots; but such is the political nature of anything.

Researchers in the news are cautioning that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a much larger problem than the government claims due to an abundance of crude oil remaining deep beneath the surface.

  • The research is described as “preliminary” and has not been subject to peer review and testing to confirm the origin of the oil they’re finding.
  • They indicate that there is evidence for oil mixing into the undersea soil of an area off the Florida panhandle.
  • They are finding poisoned plant plankton which is fundamental to the marine food chain which they blame on the combination of oil and dispersant. A specific chemical mentioned is benzene; a potent carcinogen.
  • It is believed that some 80 percent of the oil from the spill remains in the gulf.

Who do we believe? Whose representation is most accurate? Given the track record for situational reporting by the government in the past I can only remain skeptical regarding the present state of oceanic oiliness. One thing is certain, scrutiny will surely be brought to bear … but in the meantime:

  • Could this really be the superficial nature of the governmental handling of the BP Deep Water Horizon debacle?
  • Is this how our affairs are to be handled from now on?
  • If the government is unable to “properly” handle disaster how can it adequately protect the taxpayer?
  • Is it really okay to be “stupid” as long as you “look” good?
  • Is it okay to treat your constituency as though they’re all totally ignorant?

The vast depths of the gulf may appear clear of oil … but is that reality or something we simply choose to believe. It is that which we cannot see beneath those depths that I find most worrisome. Those mechanisms used to make the surface appear clear likewise are troubling. I personally don’t feel that pollutants should be used to clear pollution.

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I Love the Rain

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

We have had a wet summer this year. Compared to recent history extreme moisture. I love the rain.

The rain is a refreshing change from the parched dry summers we have been having heretofore.

We have had episodes of severe drought and in general all the weeds in the yard are much greener and more robust than I recall in recent years.

We’re replenishing the aquifers, diminishing the fire hazard, and in general giving the area more in the way that which we all need: water.

So when it clouds up and threatens precipitation just look up and enjoy the benefit of water — we need it and it’s been showing in recent years in this area. I don’t even grab my umbrella much anymore. I just get out there and revel in it !

It reminds me of a song we sang at Irving School in Blackfoot Idaho when I was in Mrs. Stalker’s second grade class …

Pitter-Pat

Pitter-pat, pitter-pat
It’s a rainy day!
I’ll dress up snug and warm and go outside to play.
I’ll get my coat and bumbershoot,
On each foot I’ll pull a boot,
Get my coat and grab my hat,
and go out in the pitter-pat!

I don’t recall the author of this little ditty. It was one of many in one of those song books she passed out to us for the session. She would assemble us on the stage of the auditorium behind the heavy red drapes, play the piano, and we would sing such songs every now and then. It’s just something that I’ve had tucked away in this noggin since … forever.

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The Scourge of T M I …

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

There is a dark plague casting a pall over the country. People everywhere are experiencing information overload. My gosh, it’s:

TOO MUCH INFORMATION !

Okay, Carey and Sylvia and all the rest of you — let me clue you in. My business is information. I initially thought I would become a physician and pursued that broken dream for a number of years before opting for ‘plan b‘.

Plan B was informatics:

information science: the sciences concerned with gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and classifying recorded information

wordnetweb.princeton.edu

Anyhoo, when one deals in the number of facts, figures, and general presentation of data such as someone like me there is this natural propensity to place a lot of information in circulation.

Less is more. Achieving that balance with supplying the germane background required without every subtle variation on myriad themes is a feat … however;

I am cursed when I hold information back. I am cursed when I let it fly. Suffice it to say I’m happy and satisfied with all that passes through this hyperactive noggin so you who are overwhelmed need not get bent out of shape over any semblance of intellectual disarray.

It is I who have the problem, not you!

In the meantime if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.

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The Unua Libro

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Back in the 70s I used to read a magazine called ‘National Lampoon’ because it invariably parodied anything and everything poking fun at people, places, and things. One of the magazines was a spoof on high school yearbooks and it had a lot of surrealistic high school annual pages presented in a fashion that could only be described as … pretty much how I view my high school years: not a serious endeavor and totally tongue in cheek.

One of the sections in the “year book” was the Esperanto Club … Esperanto being a contrived language aimed at international communication between those in countries speaking different languages. A ‘linguistic common denominator” if you will.

Needless to say, it was just as hilarious as the rest of the book with it’s staged black and white photography and realistic appearing paragraphs of text accompaniment.

The Unua Libro

The first book about the international language Esperanto aka Lingvo Internacia, “international language”.

It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, who created the language known as Esperanto.

Subsequent editions were published in English, Hebrew, French, German, Polish, and Russian and included the Lord’s Prayer, some Bible verses, a letter, poetry, the sixteen rules of grammar and 900 roots of vocabulary.

Zamenhof published the sixteen rules of grammar along with a “universal dictionary” and various exercises in another work called Fundamento de Esperanto (Foundation of Esperanto) in 1905.

I don’t think that Esperanto has taken off quite as well as originally envisioned; although it does have a following.

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The Comet Hale-Bopp & Heaven’s Gate Cult

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

I remember Hale-Bopp. I remember the very distinctive shape it had hanging low in the sky over South Carolina. I remember feeling fortunate that I was getting to see this astronomical event and how I may never have the opportunity to see another.

Dulling the experience was that tragedy of those who would grasp the ideology of a would be seer. In all my need to understand I still fail to see the efficacy of falling under the spell of someone so obviously deranged as this man who was on National television no less touting a sequence of events equal to any Rod Serling plot ever concocted for the Twilight Zone.

Comet Hale-Bopp
aka C/1995 O1
aka The Great Comet of 1997

Widely viewed comet of the twentieth century being one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a year and a half, twice as long the previous visibility record held by the Great Comet of 1811.

Hale-Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995. At that time it was still a great distance from the sun. It was predicted to be a very bright astronomical body and indeed surpassed those predictions by a wide margin.

The comet that heralded a panic in the form of an alleged alien space craft supposedly following it — which although unfounded and quite the far fetched supposition did result in the suicides of the Heaven’s Gate cult under the leadership of crackpot prophet Marshall Applewhite.

A few months later, in March 1997, the Heaven’s Gate cult chose the appearance of the comet as a signal for their mass cult suicide. They claimed they were leaving their earthly bodies to travel to the spaceship following the comet.

I continue to try and understand why there seems to be some inherent need for tragedy among people with the advent of spectacular happenings in the universe. The wonder of the universe sullied by the wonder of behaviors.

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