Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Monthly Archives: March 2010

• The Veep and the “F” Word

  Posted at 11:58 pm by kayewer, on March 28, 2010

  I always feel a bit disappointed when somebody drops the “F bomb” over the public airwaves.   The use of foul language is not necessary in 99 percent of conversations, and the other one percent is questionable.

  So our second in charge Mr. Biden let fly the wretched colorful metaphor (nods to Star Trek) during an appearance with President Obama, and it hasn’t been the first time.  The word is obviously firmly entrenched in his vocabulary somewhere in the gap between his foot and mouth.

  What ever happened to the scandal associated with Rhett Butler’s not giving a damn in Gone With the Wind?  What became of sentences in general, without the added baggage of excess obscene filler?  With all the communication devices around this world today, can’t we speak in full sentences without adding a shocking punch to the sensibilities?

  I think we should each try a one-day ban on using such language.  Some of us will fail within seconds (right now somebody might be reading and saying, “#@&, I couldn’t go for one #$&! second without saying —-!” and they lasted less than one second).

  If JFK, Martin Luther King and Mae West could all speak fluently in public without using a naughty word, so can our public figures, and so can we.

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• The Half-Dead Clock Radio

  Posted at 1:01 am by kayewer, on March 21, 2010

  After about 20 years, my old GE clock radio died.  Well, half of it died:  the clock part.  The LED readout went on the fritz except for one segment which would disappear whenever the time ended in a 2 or 4.

  We had another clock radio in the house, but it had the same problem (and had been relegated to serving as just a radio), so I couldn’t even switch out gadgets to see me through the week.  Mine, fortunately, still knew what time it was, even though it was technically blind.  The alarm went off for three mornings in a row on schedule while I relied on a travel clock with a malfunctioning alarm switch to actually tell me the time.

  I just didn’t have time to shop for a replacement until the weekend, so Old Paint hung in there the last day of Daylight Standard Time.  It would’ve made it through the entire Saturday, except that we were hit with a torrential rain event that caused the power to go out.  Once that happened, there was no way to restore life to the old faithful guy, so I was forced to endure gale force winds to traverse a surprisingly crowded Best Buy to shop for a new clock radio.

  It amazed me to find so many people shopping for electronics on such a dismal, wet day.  The parking lot was packed, and everybody ran across the lot to the store without umbrellas (what’s up with that?), while I broke out my trusty wind-proof bumbershoot and managed to only wet my feet.

  The selection of clock radios has changed a bit in 20 years.  Fortunately I managed to find a small unit that actually sets itself, recognizes Daylight Saving Time and has a backup battery in case of power outages.  Delighted with my purchase–which only came to about $20–I broke it in that night and was happy to see that it met expectations by setting its own time when I plugged it in, and turning itself ahead one hour overnight with no complicated programming needed.

  What I will do with the radio half of a dead clock radio is still uncertain.

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• HFCS: Another Look

  Posted at 1:58 am by kayewer, on March 14, 2010

  Awhile ago I wrote about the study linking high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to obesity.  The information in the study–apparently regarded enough to be publicized on the public airwaves–has now been toned down because it may have been slightly overblown, according to the latest news sources, particulary evening newscasts.

  In 1980, the United States started using HFCS instead of sugar because it comes from corn, a highly subsidized farm food in this country.  That makes it cheaper because sugar, on the other hand, is imported under tight restrictions, making it cost more.

  The graphic presented on the newscast indicated that HFCS contains a slightly higher percentage of fructose than sugar, thus the “high” designation.   HFCS is used in various foods to make them taste better, including ketchup and salad dressings.

  No matter what type of sugar you eat in your foods, however, it all ends up being processed in the liver.  Too much sugar of any type is not good for anybody’s health, and as Americans we consume more than anybody else.

  Some sign-toters (mostly mothers) have managed to ban sugary sodas from public schools, and in some cities like Philadelphia, there has been talk of a per-ounce tax on such drinks to discourage their over-consumption.

  Will I avoid products with HFCS?  Yes, but now in the same way in which I avoid sugar altogether.  Anything in moderation is fine, but by cutting some of the unneeded sugar from the diet, I hope to avoid health problems in the future.

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• Spring Break on a Budget

  Posted at 3:57 am by kayewer, on March 7, 2010

  I admit to being a low-income student, and I know that being an adult in college will have its unusual situations, but when the students around me started talking about their plans for spring break, I was stunned.  They go to the Caribbean; they go west to California; they go to Mexico.

  I thought it was a bad economy, and that any time spent in an airport–with the body scans and shoe checks–was akin to waiting in a proctologist’s office for a high colonic appointment.  Every vacation for me has been a staycation for years, because it doesn’t seem like a good time to travel at all.  Who wants to stay in a hotel that has free bedbugs with every bed?  Who wants to play tourist when every place you visit has people who don’t like Americans in general and will only smile at you when you flash money destined for their hands?

  Besides, I don’t have a figure for a swimsuit.  If the resorts only want 98 pound visitors, three-fourths of Americans are obese according to the statistics, so we might as well stay home.

  Spring break for me will be a week in which I won’t take only a half hour lunch  half the week to make up for the 90 minutes I need on my school night to leave early and get from work to college.  I’ll spend the school night working on the next week’s assignment, and I’ll have time to re-read the assigned reading.  It’ll be a recharging session, but not fun in the sun.

  Unless I work in the back yard and it isn’t cloudy.

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