Friday's Odds and Ends

First I want to announce a sale for Mother's Day and the rest of  May - One Small Victory  is only 99cents on Kindle. This is part of a special program sponsored by Daily Cheap Reads - a great site for finding good books at bargain prices. Check the link starting May 8th. to find a list of other books for this great price.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that after I saw a woman walking down the street in spike heels that I came home and read a recent column by Steve Blow in The Dallas Morning News about women and their love affair with shoes.  This woman was trying to keep up with her friend, who was wearing walking shoes, and it looked like every step was an effort in maintaining balance while trying to pick up some speed.

I thought of that woman when I read the newspaper column and noted comments made by a podiatrist. She said that a heel that is 3 inches high creates seven times more pressure on the foot that a one-inch heel. 

She also had a lot to say about the pointy toes that barely have room for one toe, let alone five.

I think Steve summed it up well when he wrote, "We're horrified by the thought of barbaric old customs like Chinese foot binding, but that shoe (a 6-inch stiletto) looked like modern-day torture to me."

The main news coverage this week centered on the death of bin Laden, and reactions were varied. Some people took to the streets in celebration, and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson referred to that as a show of "unmitigated patriotism".

Did he mean to imply that those of us who did not party in the streets, waving our flag, are not patriotic? I sure hope not, because there are plenty of folks who find such celebrations a bit distasteful. I am glad that bin Laden is no longer a threat. I am proud of the military and intelligence personnel who were responsible for the mission. But I cannot say I am glad he is dead. Glad and dead just don't go together for me.

If you choose to celebrate the death of bin Laden, that is your right. Have a party. But don't assume that those of us who decline the invitation to join you are not patriotic.

On a final note, columnist Steve Chapman wrote a recent column defending online porn sites, stating they cause no visible, provable, collateral damage. He wrote, "Given the evolution of sexual standards in America, there's not a lot that clearly qualifies as obscene anymore."

I had to read that twice to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting it. First, sexual standards have not evolved. They have devolved, if that is such a word. There are no standards anymore. And there are a lot of things that qualify as obscene if we would just start calling it that again instead of embracing it and propagating it.


What rattled your chain this week in the news?

Monday Morning Musings

Yesterday I decided to start the third book in the Seasons Mystery Series. In some respects it feels a little strange to be working on that one when the second book won't be out until November 2012, but I figured if it really is going to be a series, there should be more than two books. Open Season has been well-received since it came out in December, so I'm thinking that maybe readers will enjoy more stories about Sarah and Angel. The third book is tentatively titled Out of Season.

I read an interesting column by Leonard Pitts last week titled "Why WIlliam and Kate's Nuptials Matter".  He wrote, "To get married is to make a bet on always and forever."

He went on to point out how the always and forever isn't as common as it once was. "We marry less, we marry later, we make marriage a reality show, we see out cynicism validated by Hollywood marriages that pop like soap bubbles. A wedding then, is not just an act of faith, but also one of defiance."

And his final point was that given the tragedy of his mother's death and all the scandal surrounding it, it would have been understood if William decided to forgo the whole marriage bit, but he didn't. In defiance of the odds and the history, William decided to stand in public and declare his love and loyalty to Kate. Pitts wrote, "There is something in it to gladden the cynical eye and hearten the pessimistic heart."

After reading the column, I had a different perspective on the whole Royal Wedding issue, although I still believe there was just a bit too much made of it in the media.

On another note, I was stunned last night when the announcement was made that Osama bin Laden has been killed. US forces killed him in the military town of Abbottabad, 75 miles north of the capital. If you would like to read a full story about the military operation that brought him down, here is a link to The Christian Science Monitor While it is hard for me to celebrate someone's death, a part of me is saying, "Yes, finally."