3-D..."the latest rage?"

The movie people would like you to believe that 3-D is the newest, latest rage when it comes to  projecting a film on the big screen. TV manufacturers also betting that you'll want the very latest electronic out there, and even though youu may have spent the bank to get that big, flat screen, plasma TV, you'll chuck it for 3-D.  And of course there's been a study saying that 3-D can be hazardous to your eyesight.  So the medical professionals are rubbing their hands!

Ho hum...lest we forget that not everyone is under the age of 50, we DID have 3-D movies in the 50s!  The 1950s!  We had those interesting little cardboard glasses with a green lens and a red lens.  If you looked at the screen without the glasses you could not make out what was going on.  Today's 3-D is not as confusing.  But it's NOT NEW!!!  And it didn't take off then, so why should it now?  Maybe because in the 50s, not every household had a TV, and today many, many households have a separate TV for every adult and child in the house. 

I'm not against 3-D, but in this economy, and age of disposible high ticket items, do we really need  it?  Why can't we be satisfied with what we have, until it goes belly up?  I am, with my 20 year old TV, and when it finally gives up the ghost, I sincerely doubt I'll buy into 3-D.  Although those flat screen TVs intrigue me, on Day 99!

Andy beat me to it!!!

He talked last night (Sunday, March 5th) about e-books!  The latest "rage" in this ever-changing electronic world.  Unlike Andy, I do own an e-reader.  I cannot say which one as I own stock in one company, but  bought the competitor's model.  No particular reason.

Now, the "why" I bought it was for the ease of reading a book while I'm on the road.  When we take vacations, I usually take long three or four books to read while the other half is driving, or to put myself to sleep at night when we cannot agree on a TV program to watch.  It will be so much easier to take one e-reader rather than an armful of books.  I prefer to travel light, and even paperbacks take up room and  weight.

At home, however, I prefer to have pages to manually turn.   I love all my quirky bookmarks, including the slip from the library that tells me when my books are due back. 

I wonder if the fiuture will all be written in electronic messages, and the book will totally disappear from the horizon.  I cannot think that at the blink of an eye, a best seller, or a monumental book on some sort of philosophy, or scientific work, will be lost forever with a power outtage.   I cannot fathom that books will go away forever.  We will always need the proverbial "hard copy," I would think.

After I finish this, I think I'll curl up with a hard back book I got from the library, on Day 98!

How soon we forget...

It's hard to believe, in 2011, that a local high school student was suspended for his haircut!  It was a military style, with the top slightly longer than the shaved sides.  I believe the school thought it looked too much like a mohawk.  But even if it did look like a mohawk, what's the difference?  Oh yeah, the school thought it was a distracting haircut!

There was a girl, I believe last year, can't remember it exactly, who was expelled because her hair was pink!   Again, so what???!!! It'll grow out, or it can be recolored, but good grief...it's only hair!!!

I guess everyone forgot about when the Beatles came "across the pond" as they say, and their hairstyles became the rage.  And long, I mean really long, hair became the fashion for boys.  Girls wore their long too, but that was the norm.  Personally, I always wore my short because it was naturally curly, and I hated the way it looked long!   And that was in the 60s, the 1960s!  Instead of moving forward, we're retreating!

But I digress...the kid wasn't wearing a t-shirt with profanity on it.  He didn't have a questionable  tattoo.  He had a haircut!  I mean, look at all the people who are shaving their heads these days.  Again, what's the difference????  Who cares???  And, more importantly, isn't this a case of freedom of expression (like freedom of speech) ???

Where's the ACLU when you really need them, on Day 97?

Out-of-date...commie plot???

Relax, I'm talking about "out-of-date" merchandise, generally speaking  food, that you may or may not find on a shelf in any given grocery or convenience store.  I guess the only other non-consumable item that could go out of date would be batteries.

But food in general, is so well packaged, and so well processed, does it really "go out of date"?   There is a store in town that sells "out-of-date", vacuum-packed beef jerky.  OMIGOD...but think about it.  It's vacuum-packed!   And it's jerky!  If there's no air getting to it, and it's not gonna get "freezer burn", what's it gonna do?  Not a darn thing!  Worst case scenario is that some of the nutrition is lost.  But is there any nutrition in jerky?

Ther are so many people who absolutely won't buy anything that might have a close "sell-by" date on it.  A really big example would be milk.  Nowadays milk is ultrapasteurized, so it lasts even longer than it used to when I was a kid, and the cream still separated!  I've seen people who would not buy milk if it was within 4 or 5 days of the expiration date.  Folks with an houseful of kids.  Heck, the milk's probably gone in a day or two, at the most.   And I'll tell you a secret, I've kept milk a week past the expiration date!  And even drank it!  When I was a child, the way to tell if the milk was no good, was to smell it.  Sour milk is stinky.  Another secret... I've kept sour cream even longer...

If you read the fine print on the packages that have "sell-by" dates, you'll read that it says "some nutrition may be lost," or "best if used by..."  Does not say the package will self-destruct and send you to the doctor immediately, for a long hospital stay!

You want a good tip on how to spot really spoiled, packaged food?  Throw away the cans with the bulging tops!  Now those are probably, truly tainted.  That's my motherly advice on Day 96!

Libya vs The Oscars...hmmm

Which would be more fun to talk about?  Well, since I'm not an expert in world affairs, and I think I know a bit more about women's clothing, I'll take the Oscars!  Maybe it's a cop out, but we cannot do more than we are doing in Libya.  We can and do have the opportunity to "dis" people at the Oscars, and there's no retribution! 

This year it seemed that everyone pretty much knew the outcome of who would win what.  I'd bet the odds makers in Vegas were having a bad day, or not.  Don't really know how good or bad odds affect their earnings.    So let's go after something there is almost just as much talk about...the clothes!  And primarily the clothes the women are wearing!

I thought the majority of the gowns were stunning.  I would not wear most of them, as I'm a bit more modest, and not as slim as most of the folks there, but I saw alot of extremely pretty dresses.  The two glaring mistakes (to me anyway) were Scarlett Johannsen & Madonna.  Madonna's daughter looked fine, but the old lady...not so much.  Ms. Johannsen...just not my cup of tea, plus the fact that her underwear did show through and it did not match!

Depending upon who you listened to, the fashion gurus disagreed almost to the dress, as to which one was great or not so great.  One would think a dress was out of this world; the other would absolutely hate it.  The fashionistas tried to talk about the guys' tuxedos, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all, pretty much!

One comment that made me think, was the fact that there was not a lot of "bling" on the stars.  No jewelry worth millions of dollars on each and every star.   You know, this would mean that they needed less security, as there are people there just to watch to make sure the diamonds don't disappear.  That would mean fewer jobs!  You don't think those out-of-work bodyguards went to Libya to help out Quaddafi, now do ya...on Day 95?

Got gas???

Or are you like me, and getting a headache, watching the price go up on a daily, nay, almost hourly basis!!!  Of course the Middle East is to blame.  Heck, we can blame them for our economic downturn also, can't we?  If we weren't spending all that money on a no-win war, where would we be today?

Well I can't speak for Andy because he's got a solid job, has had for years, and probably has a heck of a retirement, and if he were smart, his blue chip investments have recouped most of their loss over the past year.  I can speak for the majority of us, though.

When I bought my car, a fill-up of gas cost me $16.00.  Yesterday that same tankful, in that same car, cost me over $40.00.  I only wish my income went up as much.  Unfortunately it hasn't, as I'm one of the millons of unemployed!  I've been unemployed for a year.  Should I take a "cut in pay", and drive further than I had been, with the price of gas going up substantially? 

Granted I made my own choices, and probably have not made the best choices when it comes to employment, but there are myriads of those who didn't have the choices I did, and they are in the same boat.  I'm just trying to be their voice.  I'm SOOOOOOOOOO glad to hear that bank big wigs are getting record bonuses.  The reason being "the only way to keep good help is to pay them"  Oh yeah?  I thought I was a good employee.  Six years, and not one sick day!  Before that almost 13 years, and only 2 days off due to a car accident that was not my fault.    And I wasn't bitching about jumping ship because my pay was not "adequate to my capabilities."

I got gas today, for $3.12, but everywhere else its runnning closer to $3.17, so its just a matter of time before that station hikes their prices too...on Day 94!

Penny candy...

Remember it? 

YES Virginia, we did have penny candy at one time.

This all came back to me when I bought a piece of paper with candy dots on it.  Remember those?  The small dots, in pastel colors, arranged in rows on a sheet of paper?   I bought one of those recently.  It cost me a dollar.  Of course this was not the usual candy store (it was in, of all places, JoAnn Fabrics) so the price may have been a bit inflated.  It was also wrapped in plastic.

Penny candy was just that, a penny a piece.  You could get licorice sticks, a piece of Double Bubble gum, a paper with those dots on it, a wax bottle with juice in it, a pair of red wax lips that you chewed for the flavor, and on and on.  And some of the candy was even TWO for a penny, such as banana splits. 

Most of this candy did not have wrappers on it either.  We were subject to, omigosh, GERMS.  And we LIVED in spite of it!  But then the candy was made in the U.S., not imported from wherever, and potentially tainted with whatever.  

Think we'd sell more candy, if we dropped the price a bit, sold it individually, and made more of it in the USA?  There's a job I'd take, on Day 93!