U.S. are Doomed

Check THIS out.

09/15/2011 | Author: The Minister of Disdain

Well, the dumbing down of America continues. Look closely at this sign, hanging over the express lane check-out: “15 item limit. 15 is THIS many.” Nice. Simple math for those who still use their fingers to count. Shouldn’t the sign really have 2 hands and one foot? I guess they assume I’m travelling with a friend who is equally incompetent when it comes to addition. I’ve spent my share of time waiting in line at check-out lanes fuming over what I was seeing and hearing and this just pushed me over the edge, so instead of lashing out at my fellow-shoppers trying to boost the economy with their own deficit spending, I’m writing this post.

Check-out aisles are a gauntlet. You are tempted with impulse-buys like high sugar snacks and drinks, bombarded with headlines about dire predictions and bizarre stories that are splashed across newspapers that nobody buys but still seem to earn enough money to stay afloat. (Have you ever actually seen someone purchase a National Inquirer??) And heaven forbid you are with your kids. You’ll likely have to explain some of the “teasers” on the covers of Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health.

I might be able to deal with that better if cell phones automatically went into sleep mode the second you stepped into the checkout aisle. I hate listening to other people’s conversations, especially when they’ve got their head bent over, pressing the phone between their ear and shoulder, while they fumble for credit cards and coupons. It never fails that these people will try to carry on two conversations at once: one with the person on the other end of the phone and one with the cashier. And 99 out of 100 times you’ll hear them say, “No, I wasn’t talking to you.” Next time, just hang up the phone until you get to your car. Stop torturing me, the cashier AND your friend on the phone.

And, oh, it’s not over yet. Now it’s my turn to lay down my hard-earned cash for some over-priced item. The transaction is complete and the cashier says, “Here ya’ go.” HERE YA’ GO!?!?! Are you kidding me?!? I just made the conscious choice to come into YOUR establishment and give you MY money and you can’t say “Thank you” ?!?!? I can’t imagine that at some point, (like on DAY 1 of the cashier’s employment!), the store manager didn’t say, “Be sure you thank the customer for shopping here.”

Maybe the answer is shopping for everything online: there’s no limit to the amount of things I can take to the checkout, I can avoid buying the unhealthy foods and if I want to read about Brangelina, the End of the World and the little secrets that every guy needs to know, Google will point me in the right direction.

I’m going to check it out…

One Swell Foop

09/14/2011 | Author: Purveyor

Long before I was around, there was a popular saying in my family: “One Fell Swoop.” It meant that multiple tasks had been completed all at once, such as “Congress, by cutting back on spending, was able to erase the National Debt in one fell swoop.” (HA! I digress) My aunt tried to use the phrase when she was very young. Unfortunately she didn’t really know any of those words, but did know the word “Swell”. Hence she declared proudly that she was able to complete her homework and chores all in “One Swell Foop.” Naturally this led to excessive laughter and the birth of a new term. From this day forth I shall use this as my “catch-all” category, where I have too many topics to cover with a single, complete article; or the subject matter just doesn’t lend to a full post.

And so – in “One Swell Foop”….

My Civic Duty

Back in May I wrote about “My Civic Duty,” and how I would save enough $ on gas by driving a Hybrid that the car would pay for itself. I’m happy to say that plan is working out splendidly. Averaging 46-49 mpg, depending on my driving habits, I’m easily saving $200 a month on gas, which pays my car payment. More money invested in me; less in foreign oil. You want to save some too? Try this: Coast more than you brake. When you approach a stop sign, don’t “accelerate until you hit the brakes”. Ease off and coast a few hundred feet. You’ll be surprised the difference just doing that actually makes. Save $ on gas; less wear and tear on your car and brakes.

National Debt surpasses $15 trillion

Did you hear that? I missed it, but when I turned around the debt clock had struck 15. $15,000,000,000,000. That’s our debt now. In February we passed $14 trillion. In may we started hearing about raising the debt ceiling. Just in August we did raise it, going above $14.3 trillion. Less than 2 months later, we’re another $700 billion in debt. When will we stop spending what we can’t afford? Will this new jobs bill really do anything to fix our debt? Not likely – it’s just election speak for “I’m doing all I can.” Which, really, is nothing. I don’t think we get out of this by spending more.

Where were you on 9/11 ?

Plenty of other sites are featuring stories on 9/11, but I preferred to stray from the crowd. I’d rather provide some unique content and perspective; “value added” if you will. Where were you on 9/11/01? I remember it quite clearly too. My wife and I had a meeting with a lawyer to close on a construction loan at 10 am that day. I had already heard about the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and was not too sure what to make of it all. While sitting in the car, waiting to walk in, we heard about the plane outside Pittsburgh. It was at that point that we truly wondered if we were going to war, and whether or not we should actually go through with the closing. I figured if bad times were coming, then having a house to build (provided we could still afford it) would help some people have stable jobs and do our part to “stimulate” the economy. Not the most exciting story to be sure – but the image of sitting in the car, in the parking garage, listening to the radio and hearing the latest will forever live with me.

Back to School

08/29/2011 | Author: Purveyor

Kids around the country are heading back to school now; heading back to hopefully learn something useful so they can make a positive impact on our country. Thinking about that reminded me of the genesis for the name of this website. As stated on the “About” page, it was a story about our country’s debt and over extension of armies and lack of morals that got me fired up. But I still needed a name. Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places; in this case from a 7th grade reading blog.

My kid was to post his homework to this blog, a worthy exercise to teach students how to post information on the web for all to see. The day after he submitted I went to the teacher’s blog to confirm he had completed his assignment and was shocked at what I thereafter read. Some of the most atrocious spelling and grammar ever – from 7th graders on a reading blog. Kids in this grade should get how words are used and how sentences in proper English should flow. This was NOT the case. I thought to myself – THESE are the future leaders of our country. THESE are the people I will be relying on to run the country and take care of me in old age. We are doomed.

And that’s when it hit me. How could I make the grammar in that sentence match my thoughts. Easy – “Us are doomed.” Capitalize that second S and you’ve got it. US are doomed.

The assignment for the blog was pretty simple. Read some pages from a book, record the book, author, and pages read. List a word you LEARNED (aka previously did not know the meaning of); list synonyms and antonyms. Then answer a few questions. Simple enough; and SO revealing.

Word:popular
Definition of word:having the most attention
Sentence Using the Word:the cheerleader was very popular.
Synonym( word meaning the same):person who is loved
Antonym (word meaning the opposite):dork

So a 7th grader didn’t know what the work popular meant. Wow. Does being popular REALLY mean you are loved? Dork as an antonym is funny, but not much more than that.

Word:Fence
Definition of word:An encloser.
Sentence Using the Word:People have fences arounds there house.
Synonym( word meaning the same):Wall
Antonym (word meaning the opposite):Gate

Again – don’t know what FENCE means? “An encloser” – sounds like a good movie title; “An enclosure” would not be a good movie title. I don’t know what they’re teaching “arounds there”, but that ain’t no good grammer ’rounds here. Gate as an antonym is puzzling. In truth, not all words have an antonym, so it’s an ill conceived exercise from the teacher. There should have been clarity given about when antonyms are even valid.

Word:school
Definition of word: Were kids go to a building to learn.
Sentence Using the Word: At school Mrs.(teacher name changed) gives us hard reading logs.
Synonym( word meaning the same): Collge
Antonym (word meaning the opposite): Walmart

I believe this kid does not know what school is. “Were kids to go to a building to learn?” – I don’t know, were they? Apparently you didn’t. Yes – college was spelled incorrectly (though Bluto got it right on his sweatshirt). You likely can’t even work at WalMart if you don’t finish school.

Word:abdomen
Definition of word:Stomach Belly, the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis
Sentence Using the Word:Grasshopers have the hearing-organs in the sides of the abdomen
Synonym( word meaning the same): belly
Antonym (word meaning the opposite):ankle

At least we know this kid can copy / paste. Your ankle is definitely NOT your belly.

Word:Forward thinking
Definition of word: planning fo or anticipating the future
Sentence Using the Word:I forward think all of the time about what I what to be when I grow up.
Synonym( word meaning the same): ahead future forward looking
Antonym (word meaning the opposite): back thinging past behind

Taking two words you know and putting them together does not make a WORD you didn’t know.

Word:crep
Definition of word:a weird person
Sentence Using the Word:that guy gives me the creeps
Synonym( word meaning the same):wierd
Antonym (word meaning the opposite):cool

If you’re defining a word, please spell it correctly. If you’re using a word as a definition or as a synonym, spell it correctly each time.

The other part I will cover today: Write a summary about what you have read.

the story Deadly Offer is about a girl named Althea who is not the most popular girl at school. she live in an old house and guess what a vampire lives there too. he makes her one dream come true which is to be popular and she in offer feeds him his victims.
This book was very passionate about the girls feelings and the vampires also. it was a very exciting book. i think that she will be caught up in wishes and will also become one of the vampires victims. a lot of were the setting was placed was confusing because it was a place like i have never heard of. well the book was on a selfish girl and her vampire it was attention grabbing !!

Capitalization is apparently not required when blogging. Sentences are allowed to run on and on. I should point out at this time that, to my knowledge, NO FEEDBACK was ever given to any of these posts. It was simply in exercise in blogging, not an exercise in blogging with good grammar while properly answering questions. If you did the assignment, that was good enough.

well this story as you kinda know is a mystery which is the kind of books i like along with drama…so to me its very interesting…i think next ali will keep finding more clues that lead up to the mystery and i almost sure a ghost will be involved…the only thing that confused me was why her mom and aunt “didnt remember”….everything grabbed my attention from the first chapter i was ready to finish the book!!

I see a trend now – using “!!” must be some new punctuation mark I don’t know about. Ditto for “….”

No nothing was confuseing it is really simple.Yes alot of thing and i mean alot of things

Nothing was confusing, except how to spell or use a double space after a period. And as Sister Mary Ellen used to say: Alot is not a word. A lot is where you park your car.

In this chatpers greg is the worst kid in the world. The bully is brother and his little brother is crazy to him. His mother thinks he is crazy and his farther belevies in him. Pasting through the worst days of school. Hanging with his friend and trying to be cool.

I think I’m saving the best for last:

mite see a moveing truck and go and checkss it out and met a boy in a wheel chair the boy is trying to get something out the tree and the boy holers at him and mite run home.

Thank goodness for spell check, huh?

My fellow Americans – I give you today’s youth and their teachers and our school system. What say ye? Should we send them all back to school?

Citizen Lame?

08/18/2011 | Author: Purveyor

My parents are very patriotic. The holidays they seemed to enjoy most were those that celebrated our country – in particular, of course, Independence Day. Each would always don their red, white, and blue clothing, often buying a new shirt for the day. Anything with those colors or our flag were their favorites.

I remember growing up, we had a nice flag pole in our front yard. 15 feet high maybe? I used to enjoy going out with my Dad or Mom and hanging the flag to boldly declare our patriotism. Many on the block did the same. Not all, but many.

I also enjoyed the tradition of the proper way to fold the flag for storage. Half, then half, then make triangles so the stars end up on the outside. Great technique; great tradition. Pretty cool how it’s something you CAN’T do alone. You have to have a friend to fold it up with. Even when storing the flag, you enjoy the company of a fellow citizen.

I bought my first house about 15 years ago. I’m not sure why, but it never occured to me to put out a flag. The house we live in now, which we built about 10 years ago, had also never donned the US flag to greet its visitors. Pretty lame, huh? I’ve now taken care of that problem. I asked my wife for a flag for Father’s Day. The flag holder has now been mounted in the brick, and I can proudly display my country’s flag to all visitors. It sure felt good to finally do that.

In this day and age, as less and less tradition is passed on (and more and more time spent watching TV or playing with gadgets), we need to take every opportunity to educate our children about our country and its traditions. An EASY one is learning when and how to display our flag. Teaching our children how to handle our country’s flag may give them a greater sense of appreciation for their country and our place in the world. If nothing else, it will allow a few moments of family bonding each time the flag is put away. That’s got to be worth something.

I remember a few years back being at my wife’s grandfather’s house in Florida. To my knowledge they did not previously have a flag pole or holder. That all changed when their daughter bought (and had installed) a gorgeous flag pole. Raising the flag for the first time became a family event; and raising it each day thereafter as well. A new tradition was born.

Look around your neighborhood next time you go for a walk or ride. How many people have flag poles or flag holders? How many actually display the flag on holidays? How many display it ever? Bring it up with your neighbors if they don’t display the flag. It’s a neighborly thing to do.

My fellow Americans – proudly display your flag! Get your friends and neighbors to join you. Let the red, white, and blue highlight your house. Don’t be THAT guy – don’t be the lame citizen.

An Educational Opportunity – Lost?

08/09/2011 | Author: Purveyor

This past weekend my family set out to buy supplies for the upcoming school year. North Carolina had its tax free weekend, allowing any school related items to be purchased tax free. It seems like a pretty good idea – let people save some money on things they need for education. Unfortunately some politicians are against it - apparently the $12,000,000 they’ll lose in taxes will have a significant impact on the state’s $19,700,000,000 budget. Morons.

I like the concept, but the execution (or rather selection) of the weekend was terrible. You can go to your school’s website and see the generic list of supplies for your child’s grade, but you can’t get the teacher specific list for a few weeks, since the state won’t release class lists until the week before school. Colleges haven’t started yet either, hence you don’t know what computer you’re supposed to be. So you can buy supplies, you just might not need them all, and you don’t know all of the supplies you need. Once again – morons.

So what can we learn from this, aside from the fact that many politicians are morons?

While sitting at the dining room table looking at the supplies, I couldn’t help but wonder where the items were made. How “American” was the ensuing school year to be? I certainly could have taken the time to go through each item type and find solely those “Made in U.S.A.”, but I decided we’d let fate make the choices and see where the cards fell. Honestly, I was somewhat surprised by the results.

Supply list for 3 students, two in middle school; one in elementary. All purchases made at Target, listed (mostly) alphabetically by country:

Canada

Kleenex tissues

China

Westcott rules
Up&Up erasers
Advantus 3 ring binder folder
Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus (over-priced) calculator
Elmer’s glue stick
Embark bookbag
DGI 2 pocket folders

India

Papermate Eagle ball point pens

Indonesia

RoseArt colored pencils
Wood Case No. 2 pencils

Mexico

Bic pencils

Vietnam

Mead marble notebooks

Made in USA

Pilot ball point pens
Sharpie highlighters (pretty sure – packaging was gone, pen indicated USA)
Norcom filler paper (for 3 ring binder)
Oxford Essentials index cards
Up&Up index cards
Post-it Notes Cube
Crayola crayons
Expo dry erase markers

Some items of note or import:

About 1/3 of the items came from the USA, which surprised me some. I expected most to be from China.
Would this list have been any different had we shopped at WalMart?
Indonesia is a hotbed for pencils
Some companies (Up&Up) manufacture in multiple countries, so you can’t just buy by company.
I had no idea how many companies we’d be buying school supplies from. 20 on this list.
That calculator is STILL to damned expensive!
Do you say Target with a “hard g” or the fancy French rolling “jay”?
Crayola crayons are made in USA, but their markers (not on this list) are not.
China only produced about 1/3 of this list, with the rest coming from all over the place.

And what should all of this mean to you? What can we learn? We CAN buy American, if we try, for many items; even day to day items. We have to plan ahead and take the time to consciously choose the American products. We have to allow the extra time when shopping to find the “Made in” labels, some of which seem to be well hidden. We (may) have to be willing to spend a little more to get the American product.

We CAN make our childrens’ education American. And we should. Otherwise an opportunity may be lost.

Is there an App for this?

08/09/2011 | Author: Purveyor

It’s back to school time in much of the country. In my neck of the woods it’s back to school shopping time. Time to buy some things that will never get used; and others that SHOULDN’T get used and/or are grossly overpriced.

Case in point – the calculator my kid needs for 8th grade. It’s a Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus. Cost on a random website: $159.99. Cost at Target – $129. Cost at Target on sale – $99. Here is the description:

Texas Instruments TI-84PLUS programmable graphing calculator. Preloaded with software, including Cabri Jr. interactive geometry software. Up to ten graphing functions defined, saved, graphed and analyzed at one time. Advanced functions accessed through pull-down display menus. Horizontal and vertical split screen options. I/O port for communication with other TI products.

I’ve got many problems with this item, first and foremost is having a calculator in the classroom. Kids need to learn to do math on their own. A child should be able to add a few items in their head, and use paper for more complicated items. An 8th grader does not need a calculator to draw graphs and do geometric computations. They have brains to do that. When you’ve learned it and understand it, THEN you can use a calculator to perform the now trivial task and allow you to move on to more complicated matters. Once you’re in college and taking physics and the use of the equations matters more than the simple math, calculators are fine also. But until you’ve mastered that which you’ll use the calculator for, you should do it on your own.

My other issue with this is the cost. We are in a recession and bordering on a depression (anybody watch the stock market yesterday), yet you’re asking people to drop $130 on a calculator (Made in China) that they’ll use for just one year? The median household income for 2009 in my county was $46,305. That’s a significant percentage of a family’s income to spend on one item; about 4% of their monthly take-home pay.

So – $130 for a calculator? It REALLY makes me wonder – is there an App for this? Yes, I am typically anti-gadget, but if the cost and usage can be justified, then I’m more in favor of it. I could stomach dropping $300 on an older model iPod / iPhone, and then maybe another $10 on a “smart calculator” app if I knew part of the cost took care of the fancy calculator. If so, you satisfy your child’s craving for a gadget and the school requirement for the calculator. It ends up being win-win.

Hey you tech savvy people – is there already an app out there for this? I’ve got to believe the graphing capabilities of an iPod are far superior to the grey screen capabilities afforded by the TI-84+. If there is an App for this, please share the information. If not, maybe you can write one and “make some sweet moolah with Uncle Rico.”

Is there an entrepeneur for that?

SPAM

08/05/2011 | Author: Purveyor

I’m not at all big into forwarding E-Mails around and around. In fact, I RARELY forward such, unless I think one individual might enjoy it. A friend of mine sent me the E-Mail below, and while I can’t support any of the facts in it, the principle is sound. Buy American.

My favorite parts:

Mention of the company Dole – kind of ironic
The person was shocked that Mandarin Oranges were canned in China
70% of you want trading privileges revoked from China (I didn’t get that memo)
200 million people times $20 = $1 billion. That must be the new math.
The Chinese export dangerous and toxic products (for American companies)
Would spending an extra $64 each on American products really create 200 mil jobs?

So – absurdities and unconfirmable facts aside, it’s a decent read:

—————————————–

I think this is worth sharing !!! It is time we all take our country back.

AUGUST 1st to Sept. 1st

Well over 50 yrs ago I knew a lady who would not buy Christmas gifts if they were made in China. Her daughter will recognize her in the following.

Did y’all see Diane Sawyer’s special report? They removed ALL items from a typical, middle class family’s home that were not made in the USA .

There was hardly anything left besides the kitchen sink. Literally. During the special they showed truckloads of items – USA made – being brought in to replace everything and talked about how to find these items and the difference in price etc..

It was interesting that Diane said if every American spent just $64 more than normal on USA made items this year, it would create something like
200,000 new jobs!

I WAS BUYING FOOD THE OTHER DAY AT WALMART and ON THE LABEL OF SOME PRODUCTS IT SAID ‘FROM CHINA ‘

FOR EXAMPLE THE “OUR FAMILY” BRAND OF THE MANDARIN ORANGES SAYS RIGHT ON THE CAN ‘FROM CHINA ‘

I WAS SHOCKED SO FOR A FEW MORE CENTS I BOUGHT THE LIBERTY GOLD BRAND OR THE DOLE SINCE IT’S FROM CALIF.

Are we Americans as dumb as we appear — or — is it that we just do not think. The Chinese, knowingly and intentionally, export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets.

70% of Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.

Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? DO IT YOURSELF, AMERICA !!

Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says ‘Made in China ‘ or ‘PRC’ (and that now includes Hong Kong ), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without.

Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer. Easter is just an example. The point is do not wait for the government to act. Just go ahead and assume control on your own.

THINK ABOUT THIS: If 200 million Americans each refuse to buy just $20 of Chinese goods, that’s a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor…fast!!

Most of the people who have been reading about this matter are planning on implementing this on Aug. 1st and continue it until Sept. 1st. That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12th of the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they might have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance andlawlessness were worth it.

Remember, August 1st to Sept. 1st !!!!!! START NOW.

Send this to everybody you know. Let’s show them that we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted.

If we can’t live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!

Pass it on, America …..
Well instead of doing it
for just 1 month why not try to do it all the time.

———————————————-

And now that I think about it, is SPAM American?

Debt 101

08/01/2011 | Author: Purveyor

With all the current talk about raising the debt ceiling and the US defaulting on loans and losing its AAA credit rating, I wanted to try to gain a better understanding about what it all means. I didn’t have to look very long, as CNBC had a great article on debt. It’s worth the read – absolutely.

Not only does it do a solid job explaining how our debt works, it also shows an interesting graph depicting our debt over the last 2 decades. Since the current administration took over in the beginning of 2009, our national debt has soared over $4,000,000,000,000. That’s a 40% increase in only 2+ years.

Plus it had this great National Debt Widget. I had to have it!

Make the Move to Apple

07/29/2011 | Author: Purveyor

If you’ve been reading this blog very long you know this is one of the last things I’d normally recommend. However, given the circumstances, it is most certainly time to make the move to Apple. Why?

Perhaps it’s not so much a “why” as a “where.” According to this article Apple now has more cash than the United States of America. Crazy huh? Apple’s $76 billion savings account exceeds our ENTIRE COUNTRY’S $74 billion.

So if a company has more cash than a country, maybe we should consider moving to that ~~company~~ country. Do they have citizenship requirements? Can you buy any land in Apple? I suspect the immigration process would be something like this:

1 – Remove your right mouse button and forget it ever existed.

2 – Pull out your iPod and speak into the voice recognition App “I pledge allegiance to the Mighty Apple Corporation.”

3 – Attack some Birds. Make them Angry. Now start tossing around the Angry Birds until all pigs have been eradicated. (Note – there is no bacon in Apple)

4 – Get out your wallet – you’ll need to purchase one each of: iPod; iPhone; iPad; Mac Book (optional). You don’t talk to each other in Apple – you text.

5 – You will renounce Bill Gates and any allegiance to him or his software. In Apple he is the devil.

6 – Finally, you will don a black long sleeve turtle neck and jeans. That’s what everyone in Apple wears – just like their almighty deity, Steve Jobs.

Does anyone see the ultimate irony in this? It is the influence of many of Apple’s “toys” that has led us to be a dumber nation now on the brink of bankruptcy. We can play games or make purchases or post tweets without leaving our couches. We are lemmings who happily spend wherever we can (on credit of course).

Apple now has more cash than our country. The country of Apple has become a reality.

It’s your move.

Hey Sonny – Can you Lend a Hand?

07/19/2011 | Author: Purveyor

While driving to work this morning I turned onto a side street with woods on the right, houses on the left. Standing on the woods side of the road, looking AWAY from me and preparing to cross the street was a woman. Judging from her dress and hair I surmised she was a bit elderly. To me it seemed she was about to walk into the street without looking back my way, so I slowed and passed with caution. Fortunately there was a car coming the other way (whose driver was staring at her cell phone, NOT the road) so she chose not to cross then. She did cross after our cars passed; quite slowly and at her “senior” pace.

That got me thinking about old school courteseys, one of which is “helping an old lady across the street.” Would it have been at all appropriate for me to stop my car in my lane, exit my car and motion the oncoming vehicle to stop? Would I have been run over? Would I have frightened the old lady, thinking I was going to rob her? Would the cars lining up behind me have started honking?

SHOULD I have helped her cross the street? I’m thinking in this case I needed to proceed, as stopping would actually have disrupted the “system”. It could have been gallant to help her; but in this day and age, quite impractical. Even if you were in an urban setting and encountered an elderly lady, I’d bet that your offer to help her would be interpretted inappropriately, her thinking you a thief or molester.

Is that what our society has become? So worried about offending that we can no longer offer the simplest of assistance without perceived criminal intent?

Think about another old school courtesy – tipping your hat to a lady. Once upon a time that was the correct thing to do. But if you did it in today’s society you might be thought of as gawking at her. In Minnesota it’s against the law to ogle at women – which tipping one’s hat could be taken as.

Then there was the mannerism requesting men remove their hats when going indoors. I’m not sure the reason behind it, but it CLEARLY is a thing of the past. You can’t go to any restaurant without seeing many men wearing their baseball hats. Of course women have always been exempt from this rule, since their hat is normally part of their attire, rather than something slapped on the top to avoid any combing.

But there is one old school mannerism that is still polite and accepted: Opening a door for a lady (or anyone for that matter). It’s 100% legal and kind. It shows awareness of those around you and respect for their needs. It certainly shows courtesy. And even more than that, it will often lead to a brief exchange (thank you, you’re welcome) and a smile. I will often hold the door for someone – and it’s amazing how often they TRULY appreciate it.

So America – a small challenge for you. Nay; a request. Since we are no longer allowed to offer up many of the common courteseys of the past, I ask that you not entirely let such tradition die. Today, tomorrow, and for every day ahead of you, I ask you to open the door for someone whenever the opportunity presents. It allows a friendly exchange to occur among strangers, and can often brighten a person’s day enough to make a difference. It’s easy and rewarding.

Next time your grandmother goes to the pharmacy, maybe someone will open the door for her. You’d want that, right? And you know she’d love it.

“Thanks Sonny”

Check THIS out.

One Swell Foop

Back to School

Citizen Lame?

An Educational Opportunity – Lost?

Is there an App for this?

SPAM

Debt 101

Make the Move to Apple

Hey Sonny – Can you Lend a Hand?

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