Friday's Odds and Ends

Here we are at day 3 of the Arctic Blast that is affecting much of the United States. The way the media is going crazy with reports you would think we never had winter before. Granted, winter does not usually come this early. I can't remember freezing temperatures before December here in Texas, but then my memory is not what it used to be.

I was worried about that - my memory not the snow - until my sister sent the following to me:

Brains of older people are slow because they know so much.  People do not decline mentally with age, it just takes them longer to recall facts because they have more information stored in their brains, scientists believe. 

Researchers say this slowing down is not the same as cognitive decline.  The human brain works slower in old age, said Dr.Michael Ramscar, but only because we have stored more information over time.The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more, but just may not be able to access the information.

Also, older people often go to another room to get something and when they get there, they stand there wondering what they came for.  It is NOT a memory problem, it is nature's way of making older people do more exercise.  SO THERE!!

Whew! I feel so much better now.

Did you know that Medicare fraud adds as much as 10% to health care costs? Peggy Sposato is a data analyst for the Justice Department, and she pioneered a program that uses Medicare billing data to target suspected fraud. It is estimated that she has saved the taxpayers billions of dollars since the mid 1990s when she assumed her current position. As much as $20 billion a year is lost to Medicare fraud, and AARP has some helpful links that you can use to help spot and report fraud.  

An interesting commentary by Ruben Navarrette carried this headline: Life isn't far and never will be, so get over it.

Ruben went on to say that Americans need to stop listening to populist rhetoric and accept the many injustices of our system. He then quotes JFK, "There is always inequity in life...It's very hard...to assure complete equality. Life is unfair."

One point that Ruben made in his commentary is that sometimes dealing with the unfairness in life is what makes us stronger

He also seemed to be saying that instead of jumping on every claim of "unfairness" we should work on just accepting the reality and figuring out how to live within that reality.

One of the most absurd news items I read this past week was about Arnold Abbot, a 90-year-old man who was arrested in Fort Lauderdale for violating an ordinance that restricts public feeding of the homeless. 

Really? The police couldn't just tell him to pack up the food and go away?

Now I'll leave you with a bit of humor from One Big Happy by Rick Detorie. Ruthie is sitting at the table with her father, Frank, who is helping her with her math homework. He says, "You have 22 carrot sticks on you plate. If your friend Sam takes six sticks and your Friend Tessa takes four sticks... But Tessa returns two sticks... How many carrot sticks are on your plate?"

Ruthie thinks for a few moments and her father asks, "Shouldn't you be writing down some numbers, Ruthie?"

"First of all... I don't know who these people are. Secondly, if I did know them, I would never eat with them. Thirdly, it's a stupid question. Who wants to steal carrots?

"Now, if they were French fries? Maybe."

Brother Joe pipes up with, "She makes a good point, Dad."

I knew there was a reason I relate so much to Ruthie. I hated those word problems in school, too. What about you?

Have a great weekend everyone.
 

Friday's Odds and Ends

After checking the national weather and seeing the temperatures on the East Coast: -16 in Boston, I will not complain about the 20 degrees here in East Texas, although my animals were complaining big time, especially the goat and the sheep. Both were shivering like mad when I went out to give them some hay and bust out the ice on their water pans.

This is a strong storm that has brought all the freezing temperatures and hit the Midwest and East Coast with such an impact, but I am a bit surprised, and amused, that the media has named it. I guess simply calling it a winter storm isn't enough for the folks who bring us the news. Naming it Winter Storm Hercules makes it sound much more significant, although I'm sure the people who are experiencing the blizzard conditions and extreme cold are finding the storm significant enough without having to give it a name.

Remember when only hurricanes were named? I wonder if we will now start naming tornadoes and those really horrific thunderstorms that sweep across the country. That might justify the hours and hours spent on reporting the weather. Last night's newscasts, both local and national, led with the weather, and maybe there could have been a better balance between that and other news. Just a thought.

A reminder that spring will come again.

Fun From the Funny Papers - First from Heart of the City by Mark Tatulli

Heart is walking down the street with her side-kick, Dean. She says, "Someday when I'm rich and famous, I'll have somebody to do all my cleaning. I'll have somebody to do my shopping, pay my bills, wash my clothes, drive my car, AND feed my cat."

"So what will you do?"

"Apparently walking around L.A. with a water bottle and complaining about the paparazzi is THE job to have today."

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this one from Doonesbury. A football player walks into B.D's office at Walden and asks, "Coach, you got a moment?"

"Sure, Anthony, what's up?"

"Coach, I was wondering if I could take time off to go to a few classes."

"Classes?! Are you nuts? Check your contract, son. You're not here to study. You're part of the first cohort of paid Walden athletes. That's athletes, not student-athletes. No more distractions from what's important. I need you to be thinking football every minute of the day. I can't have you wasting time in class."

"How about a library card? Can I at least get a library card?"

"Then all the guys would want one. Think, Anthony. Think."

That's all folks. Bundle up and stay warm this weekend, and I'm sending some virtual hot chocolate to family and friends on the East Coast. 

Image courtesy of My Recipes.com - You can make this with or without brandy, but brandy does keep you warm.

Do you have plans for the weekend that will take you outside? I'm hoping to stay indoors as much as possible. This is a good time to find a good book and curl up under a Snuggie. 

Friday's Odds and Ends

It was a bit scary to watch the national news last night and see how many tornadoes formed over the last 24 hours across the country. I think the total number was 150. I don't know if we are seeing more tornado activity than in the past, or we are simply getting more news of storms because people can use their cell phones to capture images and send them to news sources.

This is the kind of wall cloud that often spawns tornadoes.

Some areas of Oklahoma were hit again last night, although not as severely as Moore, OK. That is one bit of good news. Tornadoes also touched down in Arkansas, but so far there are no reports of deaths or critical injuries from any of the storms last night. But we are not out of the woods yet, as the old cliche goes. The weather service's Storm Prediction Center is forecasting a moderate chance of severe weather in parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas and Missouri today. 

Also a bit scary is the extremist who is protecting his right to bear arms by sending poisoned threats to New York Mayer Bloomberg and President Obama. Right. You want people to seriously consider leaving you alone with your weapons when you don't seem to have any control over your reactions? Right after Mayor Bloomberg went public with a call for more gun control following the school shooting in Connecticut last December, people started protesting his stance, and the protests have been anything but civil. Some of the comments made were personal attacks, calling the mayor a “nanny statist fascist” and another person dared him to “come and personally take my guns.”

Wordage in the letters sent to the mayor and to a gun-control advocacy group is equally combative. “You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns,” the letters said. “What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what I’ve got planned for you.”

I support gun rights and do believe that law-abiding people in the U.S. should be able to have weapons if they so choose. What I don't support are these fringe elements that don't seem to know the right way to ensure those rights. It is not by threats and violent stand-offs.

Now for a bit of fun. A recent B.C. cartoon featured a new spring flower that pops up in the first panel saying, "I have spring action roots."

In the next panel a bee approaches with a weapon and says, "Hand over the nectar, Springie."

Then a woman pulls up the flower and starts taking off petals while saying, "He loves me, he loves me not. He Loves me."

She tosses what is left of the flower and a dinosaur comes along, sniffs the plants, then stomps on it. The flower is left thinking, "Spring is a whirlwind of emotion."

Okay, maybe it was a lot cuter when you could see the dinosaur stomping, the bee threatening, and the lady pulling off petals.

Life Lesson from the character Grady Service in Ice Hunter by Joseph Heywood, "Relationships are either going forward or backward."