Barbara, my spouse person, grew up in Rhode Island and got a lot of her education in Boston. She is self made to a large extent, but she is also full of kindness. Because of this, she has friends all over, but she is relatively innocent of how things are done in the South.
It has been a treat to see the Texans and Alabamians get hold of her. The PC world is out there, but here in the South things aren't so anal as in other areas of the USA. The first time a salesperson called her "Honey", I thought, "O'Boy Katie bar the door". Thankfully, she didn't tell the lady that she wasn't her honey nor did she react badly to the term "Sweetheart". I think shock played a role in this lack of response. After being helped to pick out some frames for her new glasses, she told me that the girl was sweet but needed some grammar lessons.
I can't help but wonder how many teeth I would be missing if I called a saleslady "Honey or Sweetheart" in Boston. Her husband or boyfriend would have been on my tail in a minute. A snarl and maybe an obscene gesture will get you recognized in Boston as one of "us". In those years of my life spent in Albany, Georgia, I never heard my lady banker call me anything but "Honey", Sweetheart", or Darlin". It never hurt my feelings a bit.
Slowly, Barbara is realizing that things in the South are done a bit differently, and some of us wear the badge of "Redneck" with pride. In all fairness, I must say that RI citizens have always treated me with kindness, and I am addicted to my sister in law's brogue.
30 December 2005
29 December 2005
Gigli in USA-TEXAS
A great six days for me and longer for Barbara in Dallas. Christmas day was warm, but we had a wonderful day in spite of me having the malignant distemper of a bad cold. The warmth of the combined families, a new granddaughter (3 mos. old), beautiful gifts, delicious food, and beautiful weather made it a time not to be forgotten. One of the nicest things was the guest house that we lived in, and I could cocoon myself in while I hoped not to die. Can't bitch because these malidies come only every 2-3 three years.
With sadness, we flew to Atlanta and then to Huntsville, AL. In Atlanta, the plane had a bad pressure switch on a valve in #2 engine. We sat around for about 90 minutes with a third full plane while the crew did a great job of keeping us happy (no bar service on this 32 minute flight). The switch was changed(AS WAS THE VALVE), and we got to HSV well in advance of my houseape, her husband, and the two grandapes coming from EWR. The best thing was when the departure was ready, the captain (who had done a great job of walking us through the whole process from start to finish)came on the speaker and said, "I have great news, I saved a bunch on my car insurance." The he told us also, that we could get home for the evening. Say what you wish, but the "remaining few" of Delta are some good folks! So, we flew out of Dallas in sadness and arrived to the joy of another wonderful family.
With sadness, we flew to Atlanta and then to Huntsville, AL. In Atlanta, the plane had a bad pressure switch on a valve in #2 engine. We sat around for about 90 minutes with a third full plane while the crew did a great job of keeping us happy (no bar service on this 32 minute flight). The switch was changed(AS WAS THE VALVE), and we got to HSV well in advance of my houseape, her husband, and the two grandapes coming from EWR. The best thing was when the departure was ready, the captain (who had done a great job of walking us through the whole process from start to finish)came on the speaker and said, "I have great news, I saved a bunch on my car insurance." The he told us also, that we could get home for the evening. Say what you wish, but the "remaining few" of Delta are some good folks! So, we flew out of Dallas in sadness and arrived to the joy of another wonderful family.
19 December 2005
Out of here plus
Time to go to the USA for a grandpa fix. Getting the house buttoned up now but watched Meet the Press last night. I came to the conclusion that all these politicians and media people are on a single mission. To keep things stirred up, so the audience numbers will stay high. Some of this is so transparent that it is silly.
They scream and yell at each other, and then pat each other on the butt. Some of them think with their butts too.
A camel jockey becomming a US citizen doesn't count for squat as far as I am concerned. If he or she is talking terrorism on the phone, in the snail mail, or in email, then they ought to get the big squeeze. Some of these moles may have been in the USA twenty years. If they are terrorists under cover, they need to see the daylight on the business side of a gun, and their "rights" don't exist.
Has everyone forgotten those twin towers crumbling downward? That was another Pearl Harbor. Some of the liberal ding dongs need to remember that.
Hope all have a nice Christmas or whatever you wish to celebrate. See you the first week in 2006.
They scream and yell at each other, and then pat each other on the butt. Some of them think with their butts too.
A camel jockey becomming a US citizen doesn't count for squat as far as I am concerned. If he or she is talking terrorism on the phone, in the snail mail, or in email, then they ought to get the big squeeze. Some of these moles may have been in the USA twenty years. If they are terrorists under cover, they need to see the daylight on the business side of a gun, and their "rights" don't exist.
Has everyone forgotten those twin towers crumbling downward? That was another Pearl Harbor. Some of the liberal ding dongs need to remember that.
Hope all have a nice Christmas or whatever you wish to celebrate. See you the first week in 2006.
14 December 2005
"Kidnapped POWs?????
I read today that a Swiss Senator, who I think is a little short of a full load, says that the CIA "kidnapped" POWs in Afghanistan and took them to places in Romania and Poland. This involved overflights of CIA planes of countries in the EU. Well, too bad, too bad. These prisoners were suspected terrorists. Poland and Romania deny knowing anything about this. Anyone surprised yet? Later they were supposedly transferred to Morocco, which is also clueless. Oh yes, the Moroccans would love the idiot camel jockeys to know that they are Alcatraz East. Can you imagine what would happen to them? We have the Washington Post to thank for spilling the beans in this treasonous way.
When I was a kid, I remember a POW camp in West Tennessee of all places. It was out at the local airport, and I remember seeing the "POW" on the backs of the Germans shirts (guess the US was too soft for the tattooed numbers like at Dachau). They worked in vegetable gardens, had a warm place to sleep, and decent food. Now, these German POWs didn't get to the USA by osmosis. They were brought by ship or plane. I didn't hear the Swiss who were boxed in the middle of the Axis complaining then, Senator Marty is too young to remember when the Germans were just across the Rhine. Do you? The "EU" countries were still trying to figure out if their rear ends had been blown off. There surely were no complaints then!
My point is what is the difference if you move an enemy combatant or POW from one place to another? Can a person under those headings be kidnapped? If one is in custody of an opposing power, that is redundant. Let someone prove that there was torture involved. I just wish they had shipped them all to New York City. I hear the NYPD does a fair job of interrogation.
When I was a kid, I remember a POW camp in West Tennessee of all places. It was out at the local airport, and I remember seeing the "POW" on the backs of the Germans shirts (guess the US was too soft for the tattooed numbers like at Dachau). They worked in vegetable gardens, had a warm place to sleep, and decent food. Now, these German POWs didn't get to the USA by osmosis. They were brought by ship or plane. I didn't hear the Swiss who were boxed in the middle of the Axis complaining then, Senator Marty is too young to remember when the Germans were just across the Rhine. Do you? The "EU" countries were still trying to figure out if their rear ends had been blown off. There surely were no complaints then!
My point is what is the difference if you move an enemy combatant or POW from one place to another? Can a person under those headings be kidnapped? If one is in custody of an opposing power, that is redundant. Let someone prove that there was torture involved. I just wish they had shipped them all to New York City. I hear the NYPD does a fair job of interrogation.
13 December 2005
Paris in Trouble
I may be accused of France bashing about this, but this is not the case. I know of a fair number of independent travelers, some of whom are real Francophiles. These folks tend to cruise out on their own. There are spots named in the article above in the link that are (or should be) off limits to tourists. It is worth a read.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/051114/story.html
The French like the Germans and Dutch (and the USA in past centuries) have brought this on themselves. The Algerians, Turks, and the black Africans were brought into these countries to do work that the natives did not want to do. The Swiss did this with the Italians after WW II just like the Germans with the Turks. Integration has worked better in some countries than others, and it seems that the French has muddled it up pretty well. Time will tell how the others do. In Switzerland, the Italians are well integrated, but now, there are the folks from the Balkan countries who are new. This will be a new challenge. Don't be surprised if there is more trouble in France and perhaps, other countries as well.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/051114/story.html
The French like the Germans and Dutch (and the USA in past centuries) have brought this on themselves. The Algerians, Turks, and the black Africans were brought into these countries to do work that the natives did not want to do. The Swiss did this with the Italians after WW II just like the Germans with the Turks. Integration has worked better in some countries than others, and it seems that the French has muddled it up pretty well. Time will tell how the others do. In Switzerland, the Italians are well integrated, but now, there are the folks from the Balkan countries who are new. This will be a new challenge. Don't be surprised if there is more trouble in France and perhaps, other countries as well.
10 December 2005
Lobotomy and Pappy
Someone recently told me about a program on PBS concerning lobotomies. Apparently the PBS website crashed because so many folks logged on to check this out. The word lobotomy brings to my mind one of my neurosurgical mentors of the 1960s. His name was Raphael Eustace Semmes. He was a descendent of the admiral in the Confederate States of America Navy whose portrait hangs in the hotel bearing his name in Mobile, Alabama. There will be more on Dr. Semmes as this blog rolls onward.
To all out of earshot, Dr. Semmes was known as "Pappy". Pappy was a storehouse of practical knowledge, and he made sure that all who trained with him learned the practical side on neurosurgery. He relished simplicity in a complex specialty.
One of the simple things that I learned from him is what I call the Semmes lobotomy. It is a wonderful operation for very special types of pain. I rarely (maybe four times in twenty-five years) performed this operation, but it is so simple that I could do it again after twelve years of retirement. The "real" lobotomy as done by its proponents was a drastic severing of the frontal lobes. I saw one done in all my years. The lady was schizophrenic and did not speak for weeks after the operation.
Pappy's operation was done through two nickel sized holes near the hairline under simple Novacaine local anesthesia. A brain needle is passed downward a swung in a short arc back and forth. The skin is closed, and that is it. My introduction to this surgery was with a female patient of Pappy's who had suffered for years with constant vaginal pain. As his resident, I interviewed and examined this patient who sat in bed rocking back and forth while holding her lower abdomen. She had had many operations on her nerves, spinal cord and other areas to try to cure her pain. Nothing had helped.
We took her to surgery one morning, did the Semmes lobotomy, and she had lunch back in her room. I could hardly wait until the next morning to visit her and see how she was. Early the next day I went to her room and asked about how she was doing. She said everything was fine and was relaxing in her bed. Finally, I said "How is your pain"? She smiled at me and said, "Oh, its still there, but we don't worry about that anymore". That was that. I asked Pappy how he knew how much to do with the brain needle. He said that it was important to do less than you thought needed, because you can always go back and do more if it was not enough. You could not go back and fix what you had done if it was too much.
Some years later, I did my first Semmes lobotomy on a lady with cancer of the pancreas. She responded well, and I later asked her daughter if she had noted any difference in her mother. She told me that the only thing that she could see was that her mother's dresser was always in order, and now her cosmetics were in disarray all over it. Her pain was gone.
Sometimes simplicity is a good thing!
To all out of earshot, Dr. Semmes was known as "Pappy". Pappy was a storehouse of practical knowledge, and he made sure that all who trained with him learned the practical side on neurosurgery. He relished simplicity in a complex specialty.
One of the simple things that I learned from him is what I call the Semmes lobotomy. It is a wonderful operation for very special types of pain. I rarely (maybe four times in twenty-five years) performed this operation, but it is so simple that I could do it again after twelve years of retirement. The "real" lobotomy as done by its proponents was a drastic severing of the frontal lobes. I saw one done in all my years. The lady was schizophrenic and did not speak for weeks after the operation.
Pappy's operation was done through two nickel sized holes near the hairline under simple Novacaine local anesthesia. A brain needle is passed downward a swung in a short arc back and forth. The skin is closed, and that is it. My introduction to this surgery was with a female patient of Pappy's who had suffered for years with constant vaginal pain. As his resident, I interviewed and examined this patient who sat in bed rocking back and forth while holding her lower abdomen. She had had many operations on her nerves, spinal cord and other areas to try to cure her pain. Nothing had helped.
We took her to surgery one morning, did the Semmes lobotomy, and she had lunch back in her room. I could hardly wait until the next morning to visit her and see how she was. Early the next day I went to her room and asked about how she was doing. She said everything was fine and was relaxing in her bed. Finally, I said "How is your pain"? She smiled at me and said, "Oh, its still there, but we don't worry about that anymore". That was that. I asked Pappy how he knew how much to do with the brain needle. He said that it was important to do less than you thought needed, because you can always go back and do more if it was not enough. You could not go back and fix what you had done if it was too much.
Some years later, I did my first Semmes lobotomy on a lady with cancer of the pancreas. She responded well, and I later asked her daughter if she had noted any difference in her mother. She told me that the only thing that she could see was that her mother's dresser was always in order, and now her cosmetics were in disarray all over it. Her pain was gone.
Sometimes simplicity is a good thing!
07 December 2005
"The Holidays"
Never mind that we used to call it Christmas, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, or Kawanzaa, it is no longer PC to call it by any name for fear of injuring someone's feelings. Well, blow it out your ear (or any other orifice that you choose). You can call it whatever you wish, even "The Holidays". It is all so superficial now. A contest of parental egos, a battle between bottom lines, and a lesson of gluttony for the smallest of us.
The Swiss have a saying that both good and bad things come from the USA. Christmas and its counterparts have become more and more banal here. The real Swiss deride this and Halloween also, with some good reason. They are both religious festivals that have become perverted by the moneychangers. Believe me, it isn't going to change.
Now for gifts. Someone sent me an internet address yesterday that takes you to Dave Barry's site at the Miami Herald. You want gifts? It has his list of unusual gifts for those who have it all. My favorite is a set of artificial nipples that ladies can wear over their own nipples. Makes them look like they have bullets under that sweater. They aren't cheap, so if any of you girls get a set as a gift, be appreciative. Googlize "Bodyperks" and see. Boy! Wouldn't be a disaster if one of those jewels slipped? Maybe it would look like she had an "outie" at her umbilicus. Wouldn't this gift be a great ice breaker for you to meet that interesting looking girl/ (whoops--not PC) woman in your building, office, etc.?
This year, "The Holidays" will be spent in Texas and Alabama for me. It will likely be warm--gag and retch. I will get to see some real college football for a change. My team didn't get off the bus this year, but I can find someone to cheer. Can't have everything, I suppose.
The Swiss have a saying that both good and bad things come from the USA. Christmas and its counterparts have become more and more banal here. The real Swiss deride this and Halloween also, with some good reason. They are both religious festivals that have become perverted by the moneychangers. Believe me, it isn't going to change.
Now for gifts. Someone sent me an internet address yesterday that takes you to Dave Barry's site at the Miami Herald. You want gifts? It has his list of unusual gifts for those who have it all. My favorite is a set of artificial nipples that ladies can wear over their own nipples. Makes them look like they have bullets under that sweater. They aren't cheap, so if any of you girls get a set as a gift, be appreciative. Googlize "Bodyperks" and see. Boy! Wouldn't be a disaster if one of those jewels slipped? Maybe it would look like she had an "outie" at her umbilicus. Wouldn't this gift be a great ice breaker for you to meet that interesting looking girl/ (whoops--not PC) woman in your building, office, etc.?
This year, "The Holidays" will be spent in Texas and Alabama for me. It will likely be warm--gag and retch. I will get to see some real college football for a change. My team didn't get off the bus this year, but I can find someone to cheer. Can't have everything, I suppose.
28 November 2005
A New Fred
Fred's New Fred
I found an article that I can recommend to anyone that is considering paying for a college education.
http://www.amconmag.com/2004_09_27/article1.html This Fred Reed was an unknown to me, but his name caught my eye because I grew up with a guy whose name was the same (This isn't him).
A whole lot of what he says rings a bell for me. Being more than a few years out of higher education, I was enlightened by how much seems to have changed. Evidently, this Fred Reed has written some books. The first one that I plan to read is "Nekkid in Austin".
I found an article that I can recommend to anyone that is considering paying for a college education.
http://www.amconmag.com/2004_09_27/article1.html This Fred Reed was an unknown to me, but his name caught my eye because I grew up with a guy whose name was the same (This isn't him).
A whole lot of what he says rings a bell for me. Being more than a few years out of higher education, I was enlightened by how much seems to have changed. Evidently, this Fred Reed has written some books. The first one that I plan to read is "Nekkid in Austin".
24 November 2005
Thanksgiving and other things
So gluttony reigns today. Let us hope we can also remember the things for which we can and should be thankful.
In CH (Switzerland), there is no holiday today. Not that the Swiss are not thankful, but it is a USA holiday. Since Advent and Christmas are near at hand, there are turkeys in the stores. It is snowing outside my window, and I am grateful for that (until the shovel has to come out).
Another classmate from kindergarden onward dropped yesterday. She was my age and died a miserable death. Guess that's REALLY something for which to be grateful.
I am amazed and thankful for what the internet has done for humor. In what used to take weeks and months, jokes now are spread in an instant. Frequently, as I sit here at this machine, I wonder what my parents and grandparents would think if they looked over my shoulder. Talk about a time warp!
In CH (Switzerland), there is no holiday today. Not that the Swiss are not thankful, but it is a USA holiday. Since Advent and Christmas are near at hand, there are turkeys in the stores. It is snowing outside my window, and I am grateful for that (until the shovel has to come out).
Another classmate from kindergarden onward dropped yesterday. She was my age and died a miserable death. Guess that's REALLY something for which to be grateful.
I am amazed and thankful for what the internet has done for humor. In what used to take weeks and months, jokes now are spread in an instant. Frequently, as I sit here at this machine, I wonder what my parents and grandparents would think if they looked over my shoulder. Talk about a time warp!
21 November 2005
Opening Salvo
Today, I join the rest of the cyberworld in blogmania. Why anyone would care about what I have to say is beyond me, but I can promise you only intellectual honesty, hopefully some weird humor, and God knows what else.
Since I am retired from sucking brains for a living, I am a lot more content with my life. I really have no basis upon which to bitch. That doesn't mean that I won't bitch though. Just consider it baseless for the most part.
My thoughts today are on "political correctness". I really have to wonder what sort of idiot came up with this concept. It seems that everything and everybody has an alternate name. Not to jump right on the race issue, but I first became aware of this when "people of color" became the substitute for blacks, Indians, Orientals, etc. Of course this spilled right into terms that are acceptable for women and men. They became non-gender "persons". Such as "chairperson", "spokesperson", etc. I am really surprised that we can still utter the word "child" rather than some ding-dong word as "progeny" or "gene pool mixture". This social habit grates on me so much that I have developed several even more derogatory terms, such as "Rice Burner", "one brick short of a load" (for "mentally challenged"), and many more.
I think most, if not all, of this stupidity comes from the fact that all people have the need to artificially inflate their egos. It is no longer appropriate for the garbage man to be called just that. No-no, he has to be a "professional" and be called a "sanitary engineer". Forget the fact that he never really wanted the job; he just had to have it to eat. Why? Likely because he was too misguided to educate himself when he had the chance. Eons ago, a "professional" was only a person who had the education, drive, and whatever to work for himself and be his own boss.
OK, if this sounds too harsh, so be it. The world and society needs all kinds, (horrors politically incorrect) a spade is a spade.
If you agree or disagree, let me know.
Since I am retired from sucking brains for a living, I am a lot more content with my life. I really have no basis upon which to bitch. That doesn't mean that I won't bitch though. Just consider it baseless for the most part.
My thoughts today are on "political correctness". I really have to wonder what sort of idiot came up with this concept. It seems that everything and everybody has an alternate name. Not to jump right on the race issue, but I first became aware of this when "people of color" became the substitute for blacks, Indians, Orientals, etc. Of course this spilled right into terms that are acceptable for women and men. They became non-gender "persons". Such as "chairperson", "spokesperson", etc. I am really surprised that we can still utter the word "child" rather than some ding-dong word as "progeny" or "gene pool mixture". This social habit grates on me so much that I have developed several even more derogatory terms, such as "Rice Burner", "one brick short of a load" (for "mentally challenged"), and many more.
I think most, if not all, of this stupidity comes from the fact that all people have the need to artificially inflate their egos. It is no longer appropriate for the garbage man to be called just that. No-no, he has to be a "professional" and be called a "sanitary engineer". Forget the fact that he never really wanted the job; he just had to have it to eat. Why? Likely because he was too misguided to educate himself when he had the chance. Eons ago, a "professional" was only a person who had the education, drive, and whatever to work for himself and be his own boss.
OK, if this sounds too harsh, so be it. The world and society needs all kinds, (horrors politically incorrect) a spade is a spade.
If you agree or disagree, let me know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)