Things I Know

For a long while now, the pop-up flash on my camera wouldn’t pop up.  I finally figured out why and fixed it.  I noticed that there appeared to be something in the crack between the camera body and the flash.  I cleaned it out with an Exacto knife and a little alcohol on a swab.  Then, the flash did open, and fire.  What was keeping the flash stuck closed?  Best guess is a drip from a chocolate ice cream cone.  New rule:  don’t eat a chocolate ice cream cone while your camera is hanging around your neck.

It’s larynx, not larnyx.  For some strange reason, the name of an organ we use to produce speech is among the most mispronounced words in the English language.

When the Colgate toothpaste TV commercial says, “80% of bacteria aren’t even on teeth,” it’s trying to make the point that bacteria lodge elsewhere in your mouth too.  But all I can think is that’s true.  A lot of the bacteria are in sewage treatment plants.

City fathers in Seaside Heights NJ have banned smoking on the beach.  Good.  I don’t smoke.  Second-hand smoke bothers me, but for me that’s not the real problem at the beach because the beach is outdoors, and it is a breezy place.  What bugs me is too many beaches look like the butt-filled cans of sand which serve as ashtrays outside many elevators.  Cigarette butts are litter.

I’ve seen this word misused so many times, most recently earlier this month on the website of a major newspaper.  Your kids are your descendants.  They are not your ancestors.  Relatives who came before you are ancestors, not the ones who came afterwards.

If you’ve seen the current TV commercial for Pennington grass seed, you may wonder what the music behind the spot is.  It’s a song called “Tall Cool One,” by a group called the Wailers.  Not the Robert Plant song and not the Bob Marley Wailers either.  It was popular, but not a huge hit.  It reached #36 in the Billboard top 100 way back in 1959.  Whenever someone makes a TV commercial using a song that’s too old to play on the radio, I wonder why.  Are they trying to sell to people old enough to remember the song?  If that’s the case, it didn’t work for me.  I recognized “Tall Cool One” immediately, but instead of deciding to buy some grass seed, I went to my reference books to find out if it was whalers, or Wailers.  It was the second.

Things I Want (or Need) to Know

It’s a boy!  April, the internet giraffe, finally gave birth at the Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville NY.  Owners of the animal park announced they’re going to have a naming contest for the newborn baby giraffe.  Can Spotty McSpotface be far behind?

I recently watched a rerun of the PBS special, “50 Years with Peter, Paul and Mary.”  In all the years I’ve watched and listened to them, I only just noticed that the three of them sang into two microphones.  Peter had his own, but Mary and Paul shared one.  Why?  They could easily have afforded a third.

Have you ever seen the TV show “Expedition Unknown?”  Do you think Josh, the host, will ever find what he’s looking for at the start of an episode?

I like pepperoni, either on pizza, on Triscuits, or with scrambled eggs, but to me it tastes more like salt than pepper.  I know saltaroni sounds stupid.  Still, whenever I have it, I do wonder why they call it pepperoni since it doesn’t taste much like pepper.

BTW, if you like pepperoni, but aren’t fond of salami, don’t order pepperoni pizza in Pernik Bulgaria.  The pizza was good, better than I expected, but what they think of as pepperoni tasted like salami to me.

Have you seen the TV ad for gradsoflife.org?  Big deal.  I got through high school without a car, phone or computer too.  In fact, I also got through college without a phone or a computer.  Just to be clear, I think the cause is a good one, but I’m not impressed with the TV ad.

The supermarket tabloid, “US Weekly” said recently that Donald Trump and his wife don’t sleep in the same bed.  Whether that’s true or not, whose business is it?

Things I Know

It’s Palm Sunday, and I know what that means. I have one week to clear away all the stuff I have stored on the dining room table, and put the Christmas tablecloth away.

My friend, Richard (not Feder) and no longer of New Jersey, let alone Fort Lee has resumed blogging.  His blog is recommended by my blog.  You’ll find a link to the Riklblog below and to the right. I’m happy to see he has resumed writing it. 

I’ve complained previously that the audiologist I visit has no regard for punctuality.  Six days after my last visit, I received a post card telling me it was time for me to come in for a checkup.  Why did it come six days after my visit?  Because it was mailed three days after my visit.

I had two teeth pulled on Monday.  If I think of something that having teeth pulled is better than, I’ll let you know.  The oral surgeon gave me antibiotics to stave off infection.  But the pills are the biggest I’ve ever had.  I think they kill germs by crushing them to death.

If my daughter was right that the tooth fairy brings people my age dentures instead of money when we lose teeth, then she is late—very late.

The new principal at Harrisburg HS in Harrisburg PA reportedly suspended almost half the student body recently because those suspended had at least five unexcused absences in a nine-week period.  She has a point.  Going to school is important for learning.  It’s also an important discipline to learn because only showing up for a job when you feel like it will get you fired in the real world.  Public schools don’t have a lot of options for disciplining students either.  Still, if I understand correctly, the punishment for not going to school is not being allowed to go to school.  A lot of those kids are probably thinking, “Great!”

Too Much Is Too Much

I don’t have anything for the truck Big Brother and Big Sister is sending around, on Tuesday. I didn’t ask for a call back about a back brace. No, Diane, I don’t want my chimney cleaned, and if I did I wouldn’t use a company that violates federal law to try to sell me its services. I don’t need the interest lowered on my credit cards. What CVS/Caremark considers a courtesy call, I consider harassment, especially when I get two of them in half an hour. I can’t recall the last time I used the word plethora in a sentence, but there is a plethora of robocalls afoot today. Be careful, folks.

Time to Leave

Just after Nassau County NY Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican, delivered his state of the county address on Monday, Republican members of the Nassau County Legislature called on him to resign.  Mangano was arrested last October 20th on federal corruption charges.

Mangano said that his party’s members of the County Legislature have supported him from the day of his arrest until today and that their change of heart is motivated by political posturing.

He’s right.  But they’re right too, finally.  I would have liked it better if they were right before last November 1st.  Republican members of the Nassau County Legislature, what took you so long?

Perhaps the GOP legislators revised position came about because last week, Hempstead Town Councilman and Deputy Town Supervisor Edward Ambrosino was arrested and charged with evading something like 250 thousand dollars in income taxes on legal fees he received.  I’m guessing here that with two prominent officials facing federal charges GOP officials are concerned that it will impact this November’s election.  

Ambrosino should step down too. Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino did replace Ambrosino as Deputy Supervisor promptly, and also called for his resignation from the town council.  Ambrosino should listen to Santino.

Sadly, accusations of political corruption, and non-political corruption tied to politicians in New York State are neither isolated nor restricted to one party.  There’s a long list of public officials, on Long Island, in Albany, and in both parties, who have been convicted or have federal charges pending against them.

To be sure, unless and until these people are convicted or enter a guilty plea, they have a constitutional right to be presumed innocent.  Still, if a U.S. Attorney formally accuses you of a crime, your chances of getting acquitted are very small—much less than ten percent.

Someone elected to public office is said to occupy a “position of trust.”  It’s hard to trust someone who’s charged with a felony.  It’s also hard to be a leader when your followers stop following you.  So, I think elected officials should be a special case.  Yes, you’re presumed innocent until proven guilty, but if you are an elected official who is charged with a crime, I believe the honorable thing is to resign and concentrate on preparing your defense.