Prior Experience Not Desirable

December 27, 2019

Missouri has just awarded licenses for companies to sell medical marijuana. Since medical marijuana has barely become legal, I wondered what kinds of qualifications people were listing on their applications.

I have extensive experience in selling marijuana

Presumably, “I have extensive experience in selling marijuana, and have all the equipment and the business framework in place,” wouldn’t go over very well.

Circular Logic?

December 27, 2019

They say that people who are lost tend to wander in circles.

I’m so directionally challenged that I would probably wander in a straight line.

The Sound and the Fury

December 24, 2019

I saw “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” last night. I actually like it better in retrospect than I did at the time.

Part of the reason for that is that I was assaulted by sound—even wearing though I was wearing earplugs. I really couldn’t concentrate on anything. And I don’t see how other people could stand it, especially young kids.

We’ve got laws about putting kids in car seats, but whatever laws there are about protecting them from damaging sound levels aren’t working. I think we need better ones.

If I want to get lawmakers interested, maybe I should figure out a way to tie the issue to sports.*

*See “Give Your Legislation a Sporting Chance”, Dec. 18, 2019

What's Old Is New

December 23, 2019

Some of us were reminiscing about the old Wish Books, catalogs that had everything you could dream of in the way of toys for Christmas. We’d circle what we wanted, and maybe get some of it. But now everything’s done by website, and it’s not as much fun.

Well, apparently, younger people are seeing the advantages of catalogs: Catalogs, they say, are easier to look at than scrolling through websites, and you don’t have to keep clicking on items to get the info you want. So catalogs may make a bit of a comeback.

Nice to know that some of our old-style ways are being appreciated.

This May Be My Chance

December 19, 2019

The lack of huge lottery jackpots is apparently affecting sales of lottery tickets in Missouri. It seems that people got used to seeing really huge payoffs, and they got spoiled. According to Lottery chief May Scheve, “Nobody wants to win $40 million anymore.”

Hey, I wouldn’t mind. And if nobody else is buying tickets—maybe now's my chance.

Not Your Typical Christmas Heirloom

December 18, 2019

If you suspect that that fruitcake your neighbor gave you has been around for a while, take comfort in knowing that there’s an older one kicking around.

A fruitcake baked by Fidelia Ford in 1878 is still in her family. She died before the cake could be eaten at Christmas; her family considered it her legacy, and has taken care of it ever since.

According to one of her descendants, who took a bite of it in 2003, it tastes like “thrashed wheat”. But at this stage of the game, that’s sort of beside the point.

That’s quite an heirloom.

Give Your Legislative Proposal a Sporting Chance

December 18, 2019

From “Government Inaction”, Sept. 15, 2019:

The [Missouri] senate president has convened a working group to investigate whether they should form a special committee on gun violence.

However: Now that the NCAA has messed up the U of Missouri’s football agenda, no fewer than three proposals to defy NCAA regulations, by allowing college athletes to get paid, have been introduced by state legislators.

If you want legislative action, tie your proposal to the good of sports. You have a much better chance of getting a hearing.

Saving Water

December 15, 2019

Now that low-flush toilets have improved to the point where they actually work, I’d like to talk about another device that could save water: The pull-out, push-in shower faucet. With most faucets, you have to turn the water all the way down to Cold in order to turn off the shower, which is a pain when you shampoo your hair. Some people may not even bother to turn off the water, which is wasteful.

With the pull-out knob, when you turn off the water to shampoo your hair, you just push in the knob, then pull it back out when you’re ready to rinse. Saves time and water.

Unfortunately, if your shower is built with the turn-to-cold knob, it requires a pretty substantial remodel of the fixture, involving going into the wall where the pipes are, and replacing a valve.

It would be swell if contractors put in the pull-out, push-in fixture right from the get-go.

January 10, 2020

A quick search of the internet revealed that there are valves that you can install on your showerhead to turn the water off, so that you can keep your ideal mix of hot and cold once it’s set.

So now I know. 

Art or Idol?

December 15, 2019

Now that the refurbishment of the Missouri state capitol building is complete, a legislator is objecting to replacing the statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, that adorns the top. He claims that it isn’t Christian, and is therefore a false god.

Rep. Moon, if we catch anybody praying to the statue, we’ll let you know.

Another Reason to Pay Cash

December 16, 2019

If you don’t want to shop with cash merely because it’s good for your budget (although that’s a very good reason), here’s something else to think about:

When you shop at certain stores, Macy’s and Home Depot among them, they give Facebook your info so that Facebook can send you targeted ads.

The ads aren’t the problem—you can change your Facebook settings so that you don’t get them. But if the stores are giving Facebook your private information, to whom else are they giving it?

Another reason to pay cash, and to skip the rewards cards. (See “Dis-Loyalty Cards” March 31, 2017).

Arguing the Merits of Bickering

December 15, 2019

There is evidence to show that constant bickering with your partner is stressful, and therefore a health hazard.

Another school of thought is that bickering can actually make couples healthier.

One take on this is that the bickering relieves stress; today I heard a snippet on the radio that said that the body’s immune system reacts to bickering the way it would to a threat, and ramps up.

If that’s the case, I know couples who should never have been sick a day in their lives.

(My take is that some bickering is inevitable unless your partner is a clone of you. But constant bickering is indeed stressful, and you should get outside help if that’s what you’re doing.)

Flight Plan

December 15, 2019

I was watching an episode of “Law & Order” from 1994, and a character says, “He calls me to [take him to the airport] 45 minutes before his flight.”

Can you imagine? Oh, the good old days.

A True Hero

December 11, 2019

I don’t like to gush, but the 5-year-old girl in Alaska, clad only in socks and light clothing, who carried her 18-month-old sister a half-mile when it was 31 degrees below zero leaves me awestruck. If she had just walked unencumbered, I would have been amazed; but she was carrying her sister. You try that.

The girls were home alone when the power went out, and the 5-year-old got scared, and decided to go to a neighbor’s house. Again—that presence of mind in a 5-year-old leaves me stunned.

The girls made it to a neighbor’s house. They had cold-related injuries, but are expected to make a full recovery.

Young lady, you are truly a hero.

Every Business Needs an Eeyore

December 6, 2019

Another country-wide business is closing stores. They blame the economy, but I think that there’s more to it than that. I think that many companies just never build market saturation into their business plans.

You start a business. It takes off. Then people get tired of waiting for the product, so they go elsewhere. If you don’t want to fail, you have two choices: Price the product high, and market it as an elite brand; or expand your operation. You may choose to open locations in different parts of the same city, or in other cities. Then you build more. And for a while, all is well.

Then the copycats come. Or the novelty of your brand wears off. Or you cut corners to save costs, quality suffers, and business slows. Or the economy tanks. Or you don’t pay enough to keep motivated employees who care about keeping the customers happy. Anything can happen. And you find yourself looking at fewer profits.

But how many companies build that reality into their business plans?

From what I’m seeing, not enough.

Major businesses have a handle on the basics: The minute a copycat competitor opens, they roll out a new product, or hype their superior customer service, or buy out the other guy and get his product. But for some reason, businesses are still taken by surprise when their market shares drop. Why?

Because enthusiasm overpowers reality when they’re making their expansion plans.

Once a product has proved that it can sell, the focus is all on expansion. But you have to be realistic: Nothing lasts forever. You need a cushion in your business plan, one that says, “At some point, a regional market will be saturated. We need an exit strategy, with funds available so that when that market isn’t producing, we can afford to move elsewhere.” Or, “This product will wear out its welcome. If we can’t find something else to keep customer interest, we’ll need to decrease production and fall back on exclusivity for a while, until interest returns.” Or, “We need to move the company in a completely different direction, and pursue a completely different type of product.” It’s a natural course of events, but one that MUST be accounted for in the budget.

You need an Eeyore in your company: Somebody who says, “Sure, it looks good now, but just wait…”. Somebody who can see the weak spots in your business strategy, and who can figure out how to adjust for them.

Don’t just look at how well you’re doing. Look around at the stores who only concentrated on expansion, and didn’t factor reality into the business plan, and remind yourself of how that worked out for them.

Don’t be a cockeyed optimist. Pay attention to Eeyore.

Seeing Dress Code Discrimination Clearly

November 30, 2019

In 2017, I wrote about lawmakers in Britain debating making it illegal to require women to wear heels to work, and marveled at how this sort of discrimination can still exist.

Not to be outdone in the Sexual Discrimination in the Workplace Department, Japanese companies not only require women to wear high heels to work, but some companies have forbidden women to wear eyeglasses at work. Various reasons were given for the ban, but according to a sociology professor at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, it’s about women having a feminine appearance; and that apparently doesn’t mesh with wearing glasses, which the bosses perceive as making women look “too cold” or “too intelligent”.

A petition and social media discussions are ongoing right now. I hope they stop this nonsense in its tracks.

Even Ordinary-Looking People Can Be Great Performers

November 28, 2019

                                     

I was watching the Macy’s Parade, and saw a group called the 610 Stompers. They were a bunch of ordinary-looking guys doing dance moves. They were not young, they were not lithe and slender; but they could dance!

I was tickled to see them demonstrate that people can dance without having Hollywood or Broadway’s version of the Perfect Body. Go, guys!!!

Jingle All the Way

Back by popular demand: My reminder that you don’t owe every organization a Christmas donation. Enjoy a guilt-free month.

December 15, 2016


Do you ever feel guilty during the holidays? You give a Toy to a Tot; you put change in the Salvation Army bucket every time you come across one; you take a tag from the tree at church to provide a gift for the needy; and there are still tons of people asking for donations, until you’re just tapped out.


Then my church takes up a special collection for something or other, on top of the Nut and Candy Sale, and the Giving Tree. I thought, “Seriously? Because people aren’t already giving enough this season?”

To sum it all up I composed this ditty (with a very bad rhyme scheme):



The holidays are here,
I’m supposed to spread some cheer

All they need’s a small donation
All I want is a vacation

Salvation Army gets my vote,
The ringer’s cold, even wearing a coat

To Toys for Tots,
I’ve already given lots

The paper prints cases
With lots of sad faces

The church wants some extry;
the Giving Tree’s in the vestry

The food bank needs bread
To come out ahead

They all need my dough,
How can I say No?

I’m sorry, St. Jude,
I don’t mean to be rude

But my wallet’s multi-tasking,
So Please—stop asking!

My Christmas Wish for Everyone

November 20, 2019

I hope that you enjoy the fun aspects of the season: Warm coffee shops with great smells and pretty decorations; Christmas lights making the winter gloom more cheery; singalongs; Christmas cookies and fudge; outdoor activities; the pervasive feeling of excitement that makes people a little happier, before the stress kicks in.

I hope you settle for giving and receiving small tokens of affection instead of stressing yourself out trying to find the Perfect Gift for everyone; I hope you don’t go broke trying to give your kids a Perfect Christmas.

I hope you accept the good wishes of strangers for what they are, instead of nitpicking about what words they used.

I HOPE that you open yourself up to the good feelings of the season, and leave the stress behind.

They Don't Want It to Count Against Them

November 24, 2019

Texas could gain up to 3 congressional seats from the 2020 Census; but the legislature won’t set up a “complete count committee”,

Because it’s afraid that the awareness campaign would find population surges favoring Democrats.

I guess too little representation is better than the “wrong” representation, huh?

Because the Church and the Boy Scouts Weren't Enough of a Warning

November 24, 2019

What’s new on the roulette wheel of leaving your kids alone with “responsible” adults?

Hiring a ride-hailing service to ferry your kids to their after-school activities. Some services will pick up kids as young as 5.

Although some drivers have left kids waiting up to 30 minutes, or canceled entirely, so far no molestations have been reported. 

I guess that should relieve our minds, huh?

The Dirt on Wild Honeysuckle

November 21, 2019

When I was helping chop invasive Wild Honeysuckle I learned that, in addition to it choking out native plants, the bright berries tempt the birds, who fill up on them. Unfortunately, the berries don’t have the nutrition that the native birds need to survive their long migrations. “The equivalent of junk food,” the guide told us. So it’s endangering the wild bird population, as well as native plants.

I thought it sounded like a good book title: Wild Honeysuckle: A Story of Beauty and Betrayal.

Then I looked on Amazon to see if there were any similar titles. Turns out that looking up books concerning honeysuckle leads to a lot of pornography.

Who knew?

How Fresh Is It?

November 22, 2019

A chain of stores that bills itself as a farmer’s market and says that it offers the freshest ingredients close to home,

Has had a recall of berries sold in stores in eleven states.

How fresh and close to home are we talking?

Who Could’ve Seen That Coming?

November 19, 2019

Well, well, well. After the Missouri legislature gave $50 million in tax breaks to keep General Motors in the area,

General Motors pledged to keep less than half of the current number of jobs here.

Governing bodies just never seem to learn.

(See “Sign Me Up”, May 15, 2019)

The Characterization was Spot On

November 18, 2019

From the TV show “Sunnyside”:

My time in city council taught me that most “work” is actually just the appearance of doing work.

For instance, if you walked by my office, you would have seen me typing away. What you would not have seen is that my keyboard was unplugged, and that I was busy watching “GI Joe” reruns.

It’s amazing how similar that quotation was to real life. Substitute “playing video games” for “watching ‘GI Joe’ reruns”, and you’ve got the actions of Steve Stenger, former County Executive of St. Louis County. 

Maybe he can get his own TV show someday.

Not a Perfect Ad

November 17, 2019

Another ad that caught my eye this morning:

It displayed some gifts, with the wording, “A Prefect Gift for Any Holiday!”

The Wording Could Use Some Work

November 17, 2019

I just saw a sale flyer that reads:

Mon, Nov. 18 – Wed, Nov. 20

PRE-THANKSGIVING

ONE

DAY

SALE

I wonder which day it is.

A Non-Catholic Pastor's Take on Marriage

October 27, 2019

A married Lutheran pastor said to me years ago that there were times when he thought that maybe pastors should be single. He often felt that he wasn’t giving his family the attention they deserved, because of the demands of being a pastor; he either had to shortchange one aspect of his life or the other.

From what I’ve seen on TV, doctors, policemen and firemen, among others, feel the same way. Maybe everybody with a demanding profession should stay single; or maybe they could get together and swap stories of how they make things work; or, if they don’t make things work, maybe they can figure out how to. (Throw some marriage counselors into the mix, for guidance.)

The Church might realize that they’ve been right all along, that married priests can’t serve both God and their families effectively; or they might find out that forcing priests to remain single is no longer necessary.

In any case, they owe it to the priests to at least try to find out.

You Had Your Chance to Get Priests

October 27, 2019

The Catholic Church is considering allowing married men in the Amazon to be ordained as priests because of a shortage of available priests in the area. Of course, conservatives in the Church are worried that it could set a bad precedent, and that pretty soon the rest of the world will want to jump on board. Turmoil could ensue!

I really don’t feel sorry for any religion that doesn’t allow women to become priests, pastors, or whatever they call their chief religious person. Any arguments that women are less worthy or less spiritual are hokum; so if you’re short on priests, it’s your own fault. Let the turmoil begin.

Photo Philosophy

November 15, 2019

I’ve taken lots of pictures that didn’t look nearly as pretty or impressive as the subject I was trying to get. The camera recorded flaws that I didn’t even know were there, until I saw the 2D version of the scene.

Lately, though, I’ve had just the opposite experience. I’ve taken pictures of things that seemed drab: a tree that had gorgeous colors last year, and was a sort of indifferent yellow this year; or a landscape that seemed brown and ugly after the first snowfall.

When I looked at the “drab” photos, though, it seemed like the light was better in them than it had been in real life, and things actually looked brighter and less dreary thanks to the camera lens.

I’m not sure if the moral of the story is, “Things often aren’t as bleak as they seem,” or if it’s, “Pictures never turn out the way you want them to.”

I’ll let you work it out.

A New Way to Gerrymander

November 11, 2019

For the first time, you can respond to the U.S. Census online.

Because we need more proof that our systems are vulnerable to hacking…

They Reject Big Government—Until It’s Time to Clean Up the Mess

November 10, 2019

There’s an article in the paper about how the plucky people of Paradise, CA are rebuilding their town after the wildfire destroyed it in 2018.

First, several government agencies were called in to help with the cleanup. Who’s paying for the billions of dollars it costs? Not the plucky citizens of Paradise, that’s for sure.

But they are rebuilding. Unfortunately, they don’t want to adopt all the stringent restrictions that other fire-prone cities have adopted, so their chances of remaining unscathed by the next fire are slim.

So when the city council won’t ban combustible plants within 5 feet of homes, because they don’t want big government telling them what to do…

Big Government should say, “Then next time, clean up your own damned mess, Plucky Citizens of Paradise.”

Not-Smart Recruiting

November 10, 2019

A man who was at St. Louis headquarters to retrieve items taken from him in a police raid tried to recruit a female sergeant to work as a prostitute for him.

She declined.

What's It Worth to You?

October 28, 2019

How do you decide how much your pain and suffering is worth?

An Arizona couple is suing police for using excessive force in a shoplifting arrest.

An immigration agent in Connecticut threatened a Honduran woman with deportation if she didn’t have sex with him, then raped her for seven years, impregnating her three times.

A police officer in St. Louis was passed over for promotion 23 times after he came out as being gay.

The Arizona couple wants $10 million.

The Honduran woman wants $10 million.

The St. Louis office was awarded $19 million in actual and punitive damages.

Maybe I’m out of touch here, but I think that, in most cases, after you pay for missed wages, medical costs, legal costs, and counseling for the entire family,  a cool million in punitive damages should cover pain and suffering. Even today, a million isn’t chump change for the average citizen. In the case of the woman who was raped over the course of years, I’d go higher, but I’m not sure how I’d calculate how much higher. 

I think we need to stop throwing numbers around, seemingly at random, and should address the serious imbalance in choosing how much we think our pain and suffering is worth.

It’s Quiet Here in the Cave

November 3, 2019

I remember a Star Trek episode* that used a subsonic frequency to make people irritable in order to overcome the effects of an alien plant that was making everyone too mellow. If you’ve ever dealt with a continuously buzzing fluorescent light, you know that the idea is not so far-fetched.

And if you live within a few miles of a highway, you know that traffic sounds can carry pretty far, too. Ever tried listening to birdsong in the morning? Good luck.

Well, guess what? Now we may be able to add drones to the list of things that will interrupt your quiet meditation on the deck. The idea of drone delivery is becoming more prevalent, and I doubt that they will be completely silent. (Some people may even insist that drones not be silent, to make spying on households more difficult.) I’m getting worried that pretty soon there will be so much continuous sound that our entire society will be cranky, just like the people in the Star Trek episode.

Not looking forward to it.

*This Side of Paradise

They Could at Least Have Sent Him a Memo

November 3, 2019

If you want to have a good laugh, while simultaneously raising your blood pressure, check out Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s contention that he didn’t have a hand in settling a case that could have regained millions in tax credits for the state of Missouri.

Instead of recouping $2.6 million in one case, the state settled for $324,000; and it also waived future claims against the same developer, who had been granted $43 million in tax credits for properties it never developed.

Schmitt said that his office handles thousands of matters at any given time. The implication is that he can’t know everything that is going on in his office.

Perhaps they should have weekly meetings to keep him abreast.

Put Those “You Oughtas” to Good Use

October 30, 2019

Still hung up on this volunteering thing.

Remember how I talked about how annoying it is to hear, “You oughta…”?

Well, I might have a good use for those “You oughtas”.

We all like to give advice, right? So,

If you don’t really want to sit on a committee, but still want to Get Things Done…

Go to one meeting. Write down your suggestions about what YOU think they should be doing, or how to move meetings along more efficiently. In a day or two—NOT during the meeting—make your suggestions. Who knows—you may have some ideas that will actually make the committee members’ lives easier.

You may get interested enough to go back and help them follow through.

But even if you don’t—a helpful suggestion can—well—help.

So, you can get all that good advice that you’re dying to give somebody out of your system.

And you can count that as your Volunteer Specialty.  

If Everybody Left, Maybe It Would Speed Up the Process

October 30, 2019

OK, so I did go sit in on the church committee meeting the other night. (See “Wearing Out Your Welcome…” October 30, 2019)

The committee members all have good brains, which is nice; but it was still a slow process. And even though the other members have better manners than I do, I could see that some of them wanted to make “let’s move this thing along” motions.

I left after an hour and 15 minutes, and they were still going. Another woman had said she had to go, too; but again, better manners prevailed.

People with good manners must lead very frustrating lives.

Wearing Out Your Welcome—and Your Volunteers

October 30, 2019

The pastor asked if I’d be interested in sitting on a church committee. He made the mistake of telling me that he knew I volunteered for stuff, which was why he’d thought of me. That’s pastor-speak for, “We’re desperate for volunteers.”

When I was at another church, they also used to hit up the same few people for volunteer work—and the membership of that church was about 3,500!

I was discussing this with another church member while we were doing some volunteer work a couple of months ago. He was trying to talk me into volunteering for something else. I said that it was a shame that the young people with energy had kids and no time; and the people my age felt like they’d done their stint already. (In other words—no dice.)

I get it. It’s tough to work all day, then come home and go to a committee meeting, especially if you have kids. And if you have kids signed up for extracurricular activities, you’ve got even less time and mental energy. But I think that there are things that people can do. And my feeling is, if you can’t get people to volunteer for it, don’t do it.

My next volunteer stint will be to get up in front of the church and say, “Get off your butts and do something. It’s not the church’s fault you’re worn out from hauling your kids to soccer practice. Take some responsibility if you want the church to flourish. And bring the kids—it’s never too early to get them started.”

At the very least, I’ll probably never get asked to volunteer for anything again.

Mysteries of the e-Verse

October 25, 2019

If I have my blog and my e-mail open at the same time, and I sign out of one, they both sign out. It’s kind of annoying.

Yet I can have e-mail open on different devices; and if I sign out on one, the other one will keep it open. What’s that all about?

A park district, a bookstore, a clothing store, and other places send me updates via e-mail; yet when I get on their sites to use my account, they claim that they’ve never heard of me, and that my e-mail address is not in their system.

That is very mysterious.

And also annoying.

Cowabunga!

October 23, 2019

Scientists in Japan have discovered that painting cows with zebra-type stripes helps reduce attacks from biting flies. Sound crazy? Read on.

Until I read the article, I had no idea that flies biting cattle were so dangerous. But if cows bunch together for protection, they can get heat stroke, or injuries from the head tossing and stamping they do to repel the flies. Fly bites are estimated to cost the cattle industry billions every year. Who knew?

When the cows are painted black and white, though, the flies are less likely to land on them, due to the polarization of light. The painted cattle were 50% less likely to get bitten.

It’s an eco-friendly alternative to using pesticides, which makes lots of people happy.

Now for the billion-dollar question: Who’s going to volunteer to paint all those cows?

Bad Business

October 23, 2019

Whoever thinks government should be run like a business 

has never dealt with the delivery division of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Going in Style

October 21, 2019

There was a picture in the paper last week of a woman leading a dance at her retirement home. She was celebrating her 107^th birthday. 

I don’t particularly want to live that long, but if I do, I hope I can do it with style, like she does.

Social Drinking

October 21, 2019

There’s a growing trend of people now going to bars to get fancy drinks without the alcohol.

They can still get the benefits of the evening out, and the camaraderie, but without the impairment. I’m impressed.

The Telltale Tattoos

October 20, 2019

Cardinal Ritter College Prep School had a problem. The football player wearing jersey No. 4, an outstanding member of the team, was not eligible to play in the season opener, because he had been ejected from a game the previous season. Even so, the team played the opener and won.

Having served his suspension, No. 4 was eligible to play in subsequent games, and the school won its first seven games.

However: An astute observer noticed that tattoos on No. 4’s arms matched the tattoos of the player who wore jersey No. 24 in the season opener.

Technically, since No. 4 never served the suspension, all the games he played in are forfeit. So the school’s 7-0 (so far) season is in the toilet.

Furthermore, the entire football program has been suspended for the year, meaning that the other members of the team are losing their opportunity to play this year.

Is the moral of the story, “Make your players take responsibility for their own actions.”?

Or is it, “Hide the evidence better.”?

Either way, the coach has been fired.

Unrealized Earnings of the Opioid Crisis

October 16, 2019

According to an Associated Press article, the opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $631 billion from 2015 through 2018. The article states that the biggest cost is unrealized lifetime earnings of those who died.

Apart from my automatic reduction by 1/3 of any numbers floated by experts, I have some questions about the assertion. (These are real questions, by the way, not just me being snarky.)

The deaths cost their families the earnings; but wasn’t somebody else in the country earning those wages and putting them to work in the economy?

And even if employers pulled the trick of making fewer employees do more work for the same pay and keeping the unpaid wages and benefits, the executives or shareholders would benefit. (Would you call that Trickle-Up Economics?) So the money isn’t really lost, it’s just being spent by other people.

And would the fact that early deaths meant that people were consuming less food, fuel and other resources, or were creating less pollution through decreased transportation usage, reduce the negative impact on the environment somewhat? And if so, could that lessen the negative effects of the overall impact to the economy? (Everything in interconnected, after all.)

I didn’t want to reveal the depths of my economic ignorance to you all, so I consulted my friendly neighborhood Economics major, Mary DiLiberti.

Mary pointed out that, in addition to my wages assumption being correct, some people would likely have dropped out of the workforce before retirement age due to death from car accidents, health issues unrelated to addiction, or other problems. So the numbers were probably off-base for that reason, too.

If they had said that the hit came from addicts consuming less, and therefore slowing economic growth, I could understand it. But if that’s what the actuaries meant, they should have said so. The numbers would still be wrong, because they’d still be assuming that everyone would have lived until retirement age or beyond, and would have never gotten more thrifty through lifestyle changes. But it would make more sense (to me, anyway).

So, what’s the actual story?

A Slap in the Face

October 16, 2019

Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. now has 14 women waiting to testify against him for sexually inappropriate behavior, with incidents going back several years.

I wish people were conditioned to react automatically—a slap in the face, a punch to the groin—when others physically harassed them. (I’m not specifying women, because men get harassed, too.) Then maybe, just maybe, the harassers might get the idea that their behavior isn’t acceptable.

At the very least, it wouldn’t be a free ride for them.

And we might be able to avoid some trials.

You Say Potato...

October 15, 2019

A few years ago, the stylist who was cutting my hair asked what I used on it, and I told her.

“You still use mousse?” she asked, as if I’d just admitted to putting new batteries in my AM transistor radio.

But it was still on the store shelves, so I figured I couldn’t be the only one using it.

I just saw a can of styling product. It’s not called mousse. It’s called “sculpting foam.”

I wonder if the stylist uses that?

Correction on "Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me"

October 16, 2019

In “Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me” (October 15, 2019), I said that Stan Kroenke and his associates had gotten a deal where sales taxes on businesses would help pay for one of his new development projects. I indicated that the Kroenke properties were exempt from the tax.

That was not true. The businesses on Kroenke-owned property are also subject to the sales tax.

My apologies.

Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

October 15, 2019

Developer Paul McKee, who got millions in tax credits to develop properties and save their areas from urban blight, but who never followed through, is asking for another deal to do the same thing.

Aldermen are considering it.

Stan Kroenke, who stiffed the St. Louis region by demanding a new football stadium and then taking the Rams elsewhere, has persuaded the leaders of Wentzville to let him build a shopping center and TO RAISE THE SALES TAX AT OTHER BUSINESSES—not his—to pay for his tax incentives.

  

If you look up the word “gullible” in the dictionary, will you see their pictures?


October 16,2019

Correction: Many of the properties in the taxing zone are owned by Kroenke and his associates; only some of the properties are not owned by them. The Kroenke properties will also have the tax levied on their sales.

Fool Me Once, Shame on You...

October 15, 2019

The operators of the Loop Trolley are asking for $700,000 more dollars in order to get the third car operational; after which, they assure us, they will make all the revenue that they claimed they would. (See “THAT Explains It,” August 16, 2019)

The county is not jumping at the chance to bail them out. I see that as progress.

He Had Nothing to Do With It

October 12, 2019

The next time your kid says, “I don’t know how that vase got broken. It must have fallen off the shelf,” don’t hold it against him too hard.

Consider the prophet Aaron. In Exodus 32:2-4, we read how Aaron told the people to bring him their gold, and he fashioned the golden calf with a tool.

Later, when Moses came down from the mountain and found the golden calf being worshipped by the Israelites, Aaron told him, “Do not be angry…they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

See? Sometimes stuff just happens.

There’s Good News and Bad News

October 3, 2019

Three men survived a shipwreck in shark-infested waters by using bales of cocaine to stay afloat.

 After several hours in the water, they were rescued by a Colombian coast guard vessel.

Then they were arrested on charges of drug trafficking.

A Fruitful Endeavor

September 30, 2019

In my ongoing quest to get the health benefits of eating fruit without actually tasting it, I put blueberries in the bottom of my cereal bowl. I ran into a snag last year when blueberry season ended, but luckily I found out this year that blueberries are easy to freeze—you don’t even have to wash them first. (You do have to wash them before you eat them, though.)

So this year I froze a bunch of them, and now I shake out a few every week into a container and put that into the fridge.


Works like a charm.

The Dilemna Dilemma

September 29, 2019

At last, there’s one thing I can cross off my “Am I Crazy?” list!

See, the first time I saw the word “Dilemma”, several years ago, I thought it was a misprint, because I remembered spelling it “Dilemna.” I even remember pronouncing it “dilem-na” the first time I saw it. But ever since I saw that first “Dilemma”, that’s ALL I’ve been able to find. I even looked it up online, and only saw it with two “m”s.

BUT: Yesterday, I looked it up again. And danged if I didn’t find other people who say the same thing. Apparently, when we were growing up, we learned it with an “n” instead of the second “m”.

Seriously, it’s a huge relief. Much easier to believe than my theory that somehow I was in an alternate universe when I learned to spell it.

Get ’Em While You Can

September 12, 2019

You know how people go “Blizzard Buying” when they hear there’s a snowstorm on the way? They mob the stores for water, toilet paper and other necessities.

I wonder if anybody is “Tariff Buying” right now.

Taxing My Patience

September 15, 2019

Although reluctant to take on the issue of gun violence, Missouri Governor Mike Parson was so perturbed that citizens trading in their cars and boats might not be getting full credit for their sales tax that he called a Special Session of the legislature to deal with the issue.

Nice to know he’s got his priorities straight.

Government Inaction

September 15, 2019

Concerned citizens are hoping that the Missouri legislature will try to find ways to deal with the high number of homicides, including a record number of children’s deaths this year, due to gun violence.

In response,

The senate president has convened a working group to investigate whether they should form a special committee on gun violence.

Wondering how many more steps they can create in order to avoid dealing with the problem just boggles my mind.