Challenge of the Week

You know what's hard to do? Cry and floss your teeth at the same time.

Don't lose the comma!

Please, don't let ignorance of its correct implementation let comma use fall by the wayside. A direct address is the perfect place to use one. I'm talking to you, Blog Readers! (See what I did there?)

Just use it after the greeting, before the person you are talking to, and we'll be good. Ya feel me? Thanks. I feel better.

Maybe this will help

I don't blame Hillary Clinton for avoiding the question of whether she's running for president. Every day she delays saves her money for a campaign. I don't even know whether I would vote for her.

Then the other day I was at an event for women, waiting in line in the ladies' room. In this day and age, this is ridiculous. Then it occurred to me that if the U.S. had a woman president, I'll bet they'd be building more ladies' rooms before inauguration day.

Notice the increase in minorities now represented on tv and billboards since Barack Obama was elected? That's no coincidence, my friends.

So, if electing a woman president will finally improve the separate and very unequal restroom situation, I'm willing to do it on principle.

As long as it's not Sarah Palin.

Ribbon MisRepresentation

Warning: Half baked theorizing ahead.

I heard a very old song the other day during aqua aerobics..."Tie A Yellow Ribbon." Remember it? It's about a guy coming home to his sweetheart after a long time away, having written a letter hoping that she will be waiting for him. And she is. Awww.

And as a result of this song, we have ribbons and, subsequently, car magnets and lapel pins that help us express our feelings for those causes and people we feel so strongly about, like soldiers, diseases and death. All good, right?

Until you listen closely to the lyrics, it could be reasonably assumed that the man is returning from fighting a war. But not so fast. The guy was actually in prison. And he was returning from serving time, not his country. [See/hear the lyrics here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/franksinatra/tieayellowribbonaroundtheoleoaktree.html]


We don't know what this guy did wrong but he could have dodged the draft, given someone a disease or even killed a person. And now there's a ribbon for it. How's that for irony?! (Pretty good, actually.)

Whose Beeswax is it Anyway?

First: Robin Williams, RIP. At least I hope he does.

It is now universally known that Robin Williams committed suicide. And how he did it. And what room he did it in.

When did our society decide that we are entitled to know everything we want to know, no matter how personal or whose business it really is, and when did the media agree to supply us?

Just vile.

UPDATE: Apparently, California law considers such details public information, but that doesn't justify announcing it at a press conference (or at all).
http://pagesix.com/2014/08/14/why-sheriff-released-robin-williams-death-details/

Soda: To Tax or Not to Tax

So, San Francisco is proposing a new tax on soda. The issue has the usual supporters and opponents:
http://time.com/3020544/soda-tax-san-francisco-vote/

We all get it. Those (of us) who don't drink much soda, and some of those who think we drink too much, are okay with the idea. Industry officials and Libertarians in general are, of course, against it.

According to this report, the deep-pocketed American Beverage Association is willing to spend big bucks to defeat such a measure. Enormous bucks, actually. In other words, $10 million.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-soda-tax-would-drop-consumption-31-percent-5636558.php

But I have a brilliant solution: City by the Bay, implement the tax and reap the rewards. As for the ABA, why not instead spend that $10 million dollars, or less, lowering the price of soda so no one feels the pinch?

Win/win, I say.

Dear Media

Attention news people: Be more specific! Telling me there was a natural disaster or man-made tragedy in Florida or California isn't telling me enough. These are big states! Give me a city or at least a county. Just because it didn't happen in my state doesn't mean I don't care about the rest of them. (I notice this never happens when you're talking about New York. I always get the details if something happens there.)

How else do you expect me to learn/or care?