Rites of passage.

For teenagers, that often means partying with their friends, consuming alcohol and, sometimes things get out of hand.

In Steubenville, Ohio, just such a party took a tragic turn when several boys took advantage of a drunken girl, filmed her in a compromising position and bragged about it on social media.

In today's world, social media, means the whole world can find out.

After days of testimony, the judge found both boys guilty and sentenced them to a juvenile facility for a year.  The young girl just wants her life back.  I'm pretty sure those boys would like to have that night back as well.

So what happened here?

Teenagers have always opportunities to party.  Spaces seem to always open up for parties.  Adults find a way to get the alcohol to the kids.  It almost seems inevitable.  So too, do the tragedies which follow.

We all know that alcohol is a depressant-not so much of mood, but of inhibition.  Have a certain amount of it, and anyone can lose their sense of what is right or wrong, good and decent.

Hindsight is 20/20.  Parents have been quoted in this instance as saying, "Be their parent, not their friend."

Indeed.  Being the parent means setting guidelines and rules.  That's not always fun and, during the teenage years, can mean that, as a parent, the battle lines are drawn.

But being an adolescent means that the brain is not mature enough to make good decisions and to see the potential for trouble down the road.

Somebody needs to be the adult in families.  And it's not the kids.  We adults need to step up not step away from our responsibilities.

I've been away packing a library.  It's time consuming and tiring.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

But I have been reading the news and, as usual, a lot of it has me shaking my head.  Things are just so strange sometimes.....

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Judge Judy vs the demonic divorcee (or take your stinking plates and shove 'em!).  Judy Judy found herself in the middle of a messy divorce case.  She had apparently purchased some flatware and dishes from one of her producers who sold them, even though he was in the middle of a divorce and they were community property.  Judge Judy at first wanted to go to court, but in the end, gave the plates back to the producer.  It ended up costing her $50 grand.  Seeing as how she makes $47 million a year, this is chump change. 

Which makes me wonder....what kind of plates were these that she just didn't go buy/commission her own set?

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CPAC #1

During one of the meetings held at the conservative political action convention, a discussion was held about how to bring wavering members back to the conservative fold.

As the discussion unfolded, Scott Terry (age 30) stood up to speak about how the Republican Party's drive to be more inclusive and reach out to more minorities, particularly blacks,  was disenfranchising "young, white, Southern males such as myself."  The moderator of the discussion, who was black, explained in a story about how Frederick Douglass wrote a letter to his former slave-owner forgiving the slave-owner.

Terry's response?  "For giving him food and shelter?"

The scene can be viewed on YouTube.

When questioned, Terry admitted that he believes in segregation and would be perfectly comfortable in a society where blacks are subservient to whites.  He also stated that the Tea Party supports his positions as well.

How far we have to go.

I almost hurt myself shaking my head at that one.

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CPAC #2

Ann Coulter.

Stop gagging.  I know she's caustic and divisive.  But even this surprised me.

Coulter made the comments that indicated that she is truly fringe material.

Comment 1:  I used to believe that women just should not be able to vote.

(Don't hurt yourself shaking your head at this one.)

Comment 2:  Now I think at least Liberal women should not be able to hold office.

Her comments were made in response to the sharp discussion between Sen. Diane Feinstein and Sen. Ted Cruz about gun control legislation where Feinstein told Cruz that he did not need to lecture her on the Constitution.

Coulter went on to say that Liberal women are essentially crybabies who drag out pictures of dead children when they want to make a point.

My head shaking on this one went into the level of disgusting snorting.  Coulter snipes to sell her books and fools buy them.  But Feinstein made a good point about the Constitution-the Tea Partiers drag it out and wave it around (in part now and then) when it suits them.  Far be it for them to actually read and understand the whole thing.

Gun Control is a hot button these days.  The hyperbole about this is not likely to end soon.  But to tie this to denying half the population the right to vote or hold office? 

I have to wonder if Coulter even understands which gender she is.....

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CPAC #3

Chris Christie should have been invited.

He may well be the Republican's best chance at the White House next time around.  Rubio and Cruz may not be able to pull in those conservative votes if many think like Scott Terry--hey, they just aren't white!

As for Rand Paul?  The Republican party votes with the old folks.  Slashing Medicaid and Social Security will not gain you votes, mister.  (Not to mention your fuzzy math....)

Makes me wonder....do the Republicans even want to try????

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Naked guy chases down a car.  Thinks it is following him.  Admits that maybe it's the bath salts talking.

Bath salts.  This odious drug makes people do crazy stuff.

What could possibly be the attraction?

 

 

 

One of the things I try to do is to see all types of viewpoints.  I do not necessarily subscribe to some of them, but it is interesting to see the direction some people's thinking takes.

One of the places I go to hit a wide variety of.....um....unconventional viewpoints is the website Before Its News  http://beforeitsnews.com.

This is a website where anyone can upload whatever is currently ringing their bell.  It's rather eclectic but it is extensive.

Some of the subjects are recurring such is Obama was not born in the USA, HARP is being used to manipulate the weather (ie every storm is a government plot), Planet X or Niburu is going to crash into planet Earth ending life as we know it, proof of aliens has been covered up by the US government, Rand Paul will save us all, the Russian army is in America and about to launch a coup, various wild/mythical/giant creatures have been definitively proven to exist, FEMA is stockpiling guns, ammo and caskets for the coming revolution in America which will be sparked when the President creates a "false flag event" (created event in order to declare martial law).  Oh, and the Newtown shooting did not actually occur; those were actors.

This site is quite busy with new articles abounding every day. 

I enjoy reading the articles, although I will say that the "actors in Newtown" thread angered me.

The part I really enjoy is when individuals take the authors/creators of these articles, videos, maps, etc to task for the brainlessness of their entries.  It's rather amusing.

What's really amusing is when the conspiracy folks go after each other.  Even Jesse Ventura took after some of the folks uploading their material.

Interestingly enough, when people try to point out the errors in these articles, the authors/creators see that as signs that their articles must be correct.  If they were not, who would challenge them?

It's nice to know that the First Amendment provides for types of websites such as these. 

The public needs a clearinghouse for crazies.

 

 

I'm casually reading along and I come upon a slide show entitled, "25 Simple ways to get more steps in your day".  I'll be the first to admit that I could use more steps in my day, so I started the slide show to pick up some tips.  I found myself writing rebuttals in my head.

Here goes.

Tip 1:  While waiting in the doctor's office, pace around the waiting room until your name is called.

  Are you NUTS???? The other people in the waiting room would kill you!

Tip 2: While grocery shopping, take an extra trip around the perimeter of the store.

  Heck, I do that already because I've either forgotten my list or missed something on my list. 

Tip 3:  Use the restroom one floor up or down at your work.

  Yep, that will work when I have approximately 1.2 minutes to get that accomplished!

Tip 4:  See Tip 3 only with coffee.

  I have not mastered the fine art of walking with a cup of coffee.  You can track me like a deer in the snow.

Tip 5: Hide the remote so you have to get up to change the channel.  Better yet, turn the TV off!

  Tv is my guilty pleasure.  Heck, it's the only pleasure I can afford anymore!

Tip 6: Park the car a mile from the front door of where ever you are going.

  Yep, running like mad for your car in the rain/storm or while being chased by a mugger will help you exercise for sure!

Tip 7: Walk around the block while waiting for your kid or spouse.

  That presumes that there are actually "blocks" where you are waiting.  Rest stops are not marked out in blocks.

Tip 8:  Get off the bus or subway one stop early.

  Yep that would work for sure.  The nearest bus stop is 4 miles away and the nearest subway is over 200 miles away.

Tip 9:  March in place while brushing your teeth.

  Sigh. That takes more coordination than I possess.

Tip 10:  Walk around your house on your way to the mailbox.

   Then you can run from the guys in white coats that will come when the neighbors call to report you.

Tip 11:  Walk to the store.

   The store is 10 miles from me.  I'd have the food eaten before I got it home!

Tip 12:  Walk to your coworker rather than emailing or texting.

   That way your boss can think you are slacking.  Then you can walk to the employment office.

Tip 13:  Take an after dinner stroll.

   Works wonderfully if you actually live somewhere where you can safely walk after dark!

Tip 14:  If you are waiting for an appointment, walk around the block to kill time.

   That way, someone else can be called before you.

Tip 15:  Take an afternoon brainstorming walk.

   This supposes that you can walk and talk at the same time.  Some of us can't.

Tip 16:  Wander around the room while chatting on the phone.

   If really talented, you can walk and dust at the same time!

Tip 17:  Walk your kid to school instead of carpooling them.

  Added bonus?  You can mortify them at the same time!

Tip 18:  Make your next meeting a walking one.

  The last meeting I attended had over 50 people in it.  I'm sure we'd all be able to keep pace.

Tip 19:  Go Shopping!

   Finally!  One I can relate to!

Tip 20:  Put an alarm clock beside your computer and set it to go off every hour.  Then take a ten minute walk when it goes off.

  And, if you get a really annoying alarm, you can drive your co-workers crazy too!

Tip 21:  Run errands.

  Um, doesn't this already add steps?????

Tip 22:  Leave your expensive shoes at home and take a midnight stroll with your lover.

  I can think of better things to do with my lover.  Just sayin'

Tip 23:  Take the stairs rather than the escalator.

  For those of us with escalator management problems, this may be wise.

Tip 24:  Get your girlfriends together and meet to window shop rather than for lunch.

  I think lunch might end up being cheaper!

Tip 25:  Always take the scenic route.

  And if you are in a comfortable, air conditioned car, it's even better!

I'm not sure if these thing amuse me or bemuse me.  Whatever.

*  Casey Anthony came out of hiding.  Nothing like being dragged around by the neck by your lawyer to help you make a classy entrance back into the world.

*  Space stuff is coming!  Comets and meteors and oh my!  Really?  It's a wonder our little ole planet doesn't get whacked by more things.

*  Sinkholes eating the bottom out of homes.  Just when you thought the things under the bed were merely monsters, along comes "The HOLE".

*  Naming winter storms.  What?  Calling them names your mother would have washed your mouth out for wasn't enough?

*  Horsemeat.  It's what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner ....sometimes.  In the US, we used to eat horsemeat.  Maybe we will again someday.

*  Sequester.  Just another word for the US government not doing its job.  Like that's news.

 

Just a little Tuesday levity.  Be amused or bemused or....whatever.

I have to think that the symbols of our two political parties are well chosen.

First we have the Democrats:

The Donkey....chosen for stubborn actions, particularly when prodded.  Not always the brightest bulb in the pack but seen as a worker.  Carrys the burdens of others but can be hard to work with at times.

 

Then the Republicans:

The Elephant...seen as strong, deliberate, slow moving, usually keeps to a path but can be trained easily.  Simply tie them to a stake and they will not leave that place unless moved by their master or trainer.  Carrys burdens but sometimes goes rogue and causes great harm.

And we wonder why this government cannot get anything done.

Maybe they need new symbols to motivate them.

Any ideas?

 

My injury is causing me to take so much longer to do everything that I find it hard to get on here.

But, it's time for another information dump from this over zealous mind of mind....prepare for the randomness!

Dreams.

 

I'm one of those people who dreams all night and remembers many of them right down to the colors, sound and smells.  For instance, in the early morning hours of today, I was dreaming that I had been invited to a party.  It was a beautiful sunlit, warm day and the party was out of doors, filled with happy people and great music.  Suddenly I was told (by person unseen) to look up.  Above us was a sleek airplane with a windowed compartment hanging from the bottom of it.  I could see into the compartment and realized that it was a laboratory.  I then left the party and proceeded to a nearby barn where there was an angry bull trying to get out of his stall.  The boards on the stall were barely containing him, and I kept petting his nose.  This calmed him somewhat but I knew that he really wanted out to stomp me.  Cue the alarm and the end of the dream.  Weird, huh?

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Congressional hearings.......

Today the Congress held a hearing on what to do about gun violence.  Gabby Gifford spoke eloquently about how it's past time to do something.  Wayne LaPierre spoke about how it's not the fault of guns.  Legislators on both sides lined up along predictable lines.  Cameras snapped, reporters jostled for space and it looked good.  The possibilities of anything being done?  Slim to none.  Posturing doesn't always happen on runways.  It happens in the Congress as well.  (Personal note:  Wayne LaPierre gives me a massive pain in the posterior.  The man is simply odious.)

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Mother Nature has PMS.

It's January.  The best we should hope for is a thaw, you know, around 35 degrees or so.  Instead we have temperatures in the 60s and wild swings in weather, some violent to the extreme.  Lives will be lost. It's time to give this old girl some serious chocolate!

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The Super Bowl.

Yawn.  The sun will come out on the 4th no matter who wins.  Enjoy the party but keep in mind that there are more important things in life.  Like....pitchers and catchers report!

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Survival stories....

 

A man in Central Pennsylvania had been missing since Saturday.  He had headed out on his snowmobile and never returned.  They found him today, dehydrated and tired, but safe.  Sometimes miracles do occur.  He had crashed his machine into a frozen pond and crawled out and stayed under the shelter of some trees. Despite being soaked and the night temperatures in the 40s, he appears to have survived this and will be ok.  Good feelings all around, since many times these types of stories have not so happy endings.

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Prognosticating rodents and PETA..

It's time for the groundhog to do his thing again.  And the regularly scheduled PETA protest will occur.  That's about as exciting as it gets in February in Punxy, Pa.

Alrighty then, I feel better.  Time to clog the cerebral spaces with more stuff.  Think of it as cognitive over-eating. 

 

I've taken a rather nasty tumble on the ice and I'm sore and cranky.  Consider yourself warned as I go on to vent and rant....

1. Congressional hearings about Benghazi.  Go Hillary!  For crying out loud, this hearing should be about solving this as a security problem, not settling blame.  How ironic that the Republicans in the Congress are suddenly out for blood over this, asking question after question, but NOT asking the question that should be asked...ie:  What effect did the 312 million dollar reduction in funding for protecting the embassies and their outlying posts have on whether or not security was compromised at this outpost? That's a question that won't be asked.  And as for Sen. Rand Paul, who firmly and smugly stated that if he were President that Hillary would be asked for her resignation, did he suddenly have an attack of amnesia?  HIS name is all over the legislation that cut the money!  Faux News gives me a pain as well, beat that drum, tell some halftruths and make up a crisis....

2. I'm also on Facebook.  Over and over I see the following post:

Again smug is written all over this.  We drug test individuals who drive commercial trucks, guide airplanes safely into the airport and a host of other dangerous jobs.  The writer and reposters of this presume that every person on welfare is there because they are a cheat.  Not so.....many of them are the unemployed who have exhausted their benefits (which is also something that these folks find offensive-that a worker dare try to get back something when they have worked for it.)What these folks do not understand is that such testing makes it difficult for people with constant pain to continue to get their medications.  If someone shows up in a drug test for opiates does NOT mean that they are a junkie necessarilary.  I can only hope that life goes swimmingly along for these smug twits.  Because we all know that when things get tough for them, they will whine and moan the loudest!

 

3. Shingles commercials.  Especially the one where the guy says that it feels "like someone put a bag of hot charcoal on his neck."  Really?  Hyperbole much?  Or, maybe more frighteningly ....do you put bags of coals on your neck regularly?

4.  This darn cold weather.  And the fact that 2400 people washed out during Storm Sandy are STILL living in tents?  Really America?  Is this the best we can do?  Shame on us!

Harumpf!

 

I am finding it nearly impossible to write here as much as I would like.  The disastrous work project is sucking the life out of me but progress is being made.

But.....not having the time to write has not stopped me from having time to think!  So, here's an unload of the things rattling around my brain this week.....

1. Flu vaccine.  Lately, I have been asked for my mature (more on THAT later!) opinion on whether or not children should get vaccinated.  Let's see......I lived through three types of measles, chickenpox and scarlet fever.  I lived through them but others did not. Some children were left blind, some deaf and others with debilitating heart disease.   Missing out on having the mumps was kind of nice, but when the vaccine came out for it, I got the vaccine.  For those  who have lived through being vaccinated and not having to go through those "childhood diseases", there may be some doubt about whether or not the shots are worth it.  My advice?  Ask someone who had those diseases.  I recall spending a considerable amount of time at age 4 on the couch with various relatives wandering in and out as I lay there with scarlet fever.  Only later did I find out that they were coming in case I died.  For me, getting the vaccine is a no brainer.  Which leads to item number 2.......

2. Vaccines cause autism!!!!  No. They do not.  There is a lot of hysteria out there about how there is proof that they do!  Shun the vaccines!  They may cause your child to catch autism!  The problem with this "evidence" is that the basic person out there may see tidbits of research (carefully packaged by the anti-vaccination people!) which indicate a correlation between the shots and the onset of autism.  Unfortunately, there is a correlation but not a causation-and the causation is the key here.  Autism is often detected at the age when children are receiving a plethora of vaccinations (correlation ).  However, this is not causation-which means, there is no evidence that it causes autism.  If vaccinations caused autism (causation) then every child would become autistic.  And as we know, that simply is not true. I'm sure that there are those out there who disagree with me.  Spare me your venom.  I am not convinced by "evidence" shown by a former porn star (Jenny McCarthy) or by a natural herb shill (Mike Adams).  I think that Ms. McCarthy may well believe that the vaccines caused autism in her child.  When she gets her MD or her PhD, I'll be more inclined to listen to what she says.  Mr. Adams is simply trying to sell a lot of herbs and "natural" medicines.  He figures prominently on conspiracy sites (along with Aliens, Mayan prophecies, Atlantis, UFOs and the coming collapse of every economy known to man-Save the guns!!!).  Before the Internet, he would have travelled with carnivals selling snake oil.  Now, he's a world-wide nuisance to thinking people.

3. Since when does grey hair equal senility?  I've written in the past about how I have left my hair go naturally grey.  This is partly because I happen to love grey/white hair and partly because I'm just too lazy to color it. Lately, I have noticed the tendency of people to repeat things to me s-l-o-w-l-y as though I am either deaf or senile or stupid.  The other day, I needed to get an insert for my shoes to alleviate some foot pain I was experiencing.  The young lady (as in mid-20s) who waited on me explained to me that although it was the size that I needed, I may have to trim the insert.  She took care to explain this to me three times.  Apparently, me nodding my head and saying yes, I understood, did not convince her that at my advanced age (mid 50s!) that I was capable of handling this monumental task all by myself.  I've noticed this several times lately.  Everyone who is repeating things to me is much younger.  Do they not have older relatives?  We aren't all senile!  The best one was the young teacher who carefully explained to me how to find things on the Internet.  He was probably in diapers when I trained an ENTIRE school district on how to use the Internet.  I did not embarass him by explaining that I did, indeed, know how to use the Internet.  I left his fellow teachers straighten him out later.  He came back to apologize and I kidded with him that some of us are not exactly in our fading years and do, in fact, happen to love and use technology.  Now, he and I stick to talking about fishing......

Oh well, time marches on.....but don't count me out yet!!!

Ever have a half & half day?  You know the kind...half of the day is ok/great and the other half falls apart so badly that you need a crying towel.

Case in point-today.

The morning went well, got a lot of work done, some issues settled and was making great progress.  Even the school lunch was great.

The after lunch?  Not so much.

We use computer programs in our library that handle our catalog of materials and our circulation.  Most of what's in that catalog is pretty well done, but there are always changes in subject headings and sometimes missing information that would help our patrons find things easier.  To make the catalog work better, we use another program that "fixes" a lot of issues without us having to look at them individually.

Today I was attempting to check and fix lexiles (reading levels) in our geography and history section.  I exported the files, sent them to the program, which "packages" them and sends them on to a company with nifty super computers who compare and fix the records. Then the records come back, we "unload" them and upload them back into our program where they fix things and complete missing information.

Usually this works like a charm.

Usually.

Today, during the re-upload, there was a glitch.  The upload stopped, then restarted.  This sometimes happens and is not usually a big problem. 

Usually.

Today, when we printed out the upload report of the records, we discovered to our dismay, that it had not only done the fixes, it had also duplicated every copy of every book in that section.  This meant we had about 5800 duplicate records.  They were easy to spot since they had seven digit numbers instead of the four, five or six digit numbers the books should have.

Another easy fix, I thought.  I set the program to delete the duplicate records in the range of seven digit numbers.  This should not have deleted anything else.

But it did.

Each and every book record in the 900's is gone.  Every one of them......

I did not swear.  I tried to keep a cheerful attitude and told my aide that I was just glad she hadn't done this and I had, because I would have felt terrible for her.

So we had to tape off the entire 56 shelves of books to keep the kids from trying to sign them out and driving us nuts.  Then I began shelf by shelf to fix.

The lemonade part of this major lemon is that we really needed to weed the shelves anyway.  This gave us a perfect excuse and the "disaster" actually helped in the weeding because now we didn't have to hunt down every record and delete them individually.  Ok, it was a tankerful of lemonade, but we'll take it.

So, we have a heck of a job ahead of us.  Ironically, this section was the last one to have the lexiles updated.  If it had happened at first?  I wouldn't have bothered.....

If this were the only incident it would have been bad enough.  But it wasn't....before the day had ended, I had smashed my finger in a door, spilled a Dunkin coffee in my car and then discovered that, when I tried to drink what was left of it, that the dingbat who made my caramel cappuccino had put in the coffee and the foam, but nothing else.  No wonder it felt lighter than I thought it should have!

Ok, I'm home now and I intend to attempt nothing at all this evening.  Hopefully, I can manage to not fall off the couch!