Wealth redux

At one point in my life, I thought we would have significantly more discretionary income when we no longer had to buy Pampers, formula and baby food. That time came to pass, eventually, but our income never seemed to notice any difference.

Wealth

If I were rich, I would buy lots and lots of money.

Primitive Crossword Days

Long, long ago, when I was still in school, our English teacher told us about a crossword puzzle contest, sponsored by one of the literary publications, which student and teachers could enter. The prizes must have been fabulous because I remember working hard to try to find the answers. I think I may have been the only one in the class who took him up on the challenge. It's so hard to think of now, but back then, the only way you could find an answer to anything you didn't know was to look it up in BOOKS. And a big part of the whole process was to find the proper book. There was no real way to know whether the answer could be found in an Atlas, an encyclopedia, a Who's Who, a dictionary, either biographical or geographical, or any of the myriad of other research volumes. A big part of any English exam back then was focused on choosing the correct reference work to use to find any given piece of information. Guess wrong and you lost credit for the question. Anyway, I completed the puzzle except for the part depending on one word. The teacher also was missing the same word. I remember the word: it was sere. I remember feeling disappointed because I hadn't been able to find the word. Ironically enough, I suppose, I am now all too familiar with the meaning of it.

Stop murder

The relatives of the man who murdered 3 people in their sleep and set the house on fire say he was always crazy and violent, with a criminal mind, and he should be dead, and wish that he'd been somehow stopped before he killed someone. Reminiscent of the missing Rainwater youth......Anticipating calamitiy is not the same as predicting the future, but close enough?

Set-top Boxes

The basic set top boxes that Time Warner and Verizon install in order for you to be able to view their cable offerings are worth $500 each. When you disconnect from their service, you are reminded, rather gently, to return the set-top box. Verizon even sends you a package containing a box so you can return their set top box. They tell you that you can drop your cable box off at any UPS office for a free return, and that you don't even need to package it. They have a contract with UPS, they say, that allows you to do so. Only thing is, UPS doesn't see it that way, and say they will charge you if the box is not wrapped. No problem, they even give you a receipt, as does Time Warner when you drop their box off at the TW office. But just to be on the safe side, evidently, they bill you anyway. Presently, I have bills totaling $1500 for 3 boxes. Verizon robo-called me twice in 1 day; the robot doesn't believe me when I press "1" on my phone to say I've already returned the fool things. I wonder why they're so valuable and why they're so desperate to get them back. or at least get paid for them...

And another thing...

You fat parents out there, we don't mean to be too hard on you. There are other ways, besides not putting Doctor Pepper in your child's sippy cup, that will help your child to stay fit and that's by modeling good behavior yourself. Eat those leafy vegetables and GO TO THE GYM. Does anyone on the other side of wealth and privilege realize how that resonates with the poor fat people? Even if they could arrange transportation and pay the membership fees to get their fat a%@#es to the gym, who would take care of the obese little kiddies. Take them with you, you say, and pay the extra family membership, and how would the kids react when they're told to drink carrot juice instead of soda? I recall that somebody famous once said of the poor people,"Let them eat cake," and I'm sure cake has more calories than whole-wheat bread.

Take my kids, if you please.

Just when you think that people must be getting smarter, even if it's because everyone now is exposed to so much knowledge, an unbelievably stupid idea becomes an issue that everyone is seduced into taking seriously. "Do you think that overweight children should be taken away from their parents and put into foster homes?" Really? And what kind of foster parent should those children be placed with? Not anyone who looks like those overweight judges who make the child-seizing decisions, and how many slender judges are there? No foster parents who look anything like those tubby, out-of-condition police officers who may be called on to take the children from their homes. Social workers and teachers who serve as models for the displaced kids are known to have their own weight problems. I venture to say that most of the U.S. Presidents have been on the heavy side, much royalty has had a weight problem, and how many Popes could have stood to drop a few pounds. I've heard that many foster parents agree to the mission because they need the money stipend to supplement their incomes. Do you know how overweight poor people are? If you have any doubts, just hie yourself down to your local Social Services office and take a look around. So someone must bell the cat and eliminate all the folks who are too fat to raise kids. Not an easy task.