Pawprints From Space

Okay, I am confused. As we all know whenever the "n" word is used to refer to a person of African American persuasion all hell breaks loose. There is outrage, general pandemonium in the press and assorted brawling. And frankly I do not blame anyone for getting upset. The word long ago (say around the early 1800s) lost any claim to its original dictionary definition of any lazy person and became the premiere derogatory term for the African American population. So why is it that while Christmas shopping while standing in the shoe department I heard someone on the phone use the word? Not just anyone mind you but a tall, good-looking African American man all decked out in expensive faux ghetto wear (you know the over priced leather jacket with major brand logos on it, the $200 sneakers, jeans that were impeccable, a microseude shirt and a leather ballcap turned backwards of course). He was speaking into a high-tech cell phone and was apparently discussing his Christmas shopping m...

Recently our local paper had a funny bit on new business terms. Apparently the writer had spent some time online and came across some great new words. Of course he had the time to spend online while at work because he is also the paper's editor. Be that as it may - and it does conjure up some interesting arguments over why the boss gets to surf while at work and the staff doesn't these are pretty darned good. To whit: Blamestorming - a meeting to discuss failures and find a scapegoat Assmosia - the apparent absorption of success that comes from sucking up (aka kissing a**) Deja moo - (my personal favorite) the feeling that you've heard this bunch of bull before Mouse potato - a close cousin to the coach potato this is a person who spends hours and hours in front of a computer Percussive maintenance - the common practice of 'fixing' something by banging on it repeatedly Photox - improving the look of one's face in a photo through the use of graphic software Dope-...

Ah ha! I thought so. Your local government could be the cause of your high cable bill. Cities control the rights of cable franchises within their communities. They determine if a company can have a franchise there and charge customers fees etc and the company has to go to the city for permission to increase their fees. This is all old news to anyone who was in class with me in grad school in the communications department at Illinois State in the 1980s. Today though I see that the FCC is finally realizing that some communities are actually blocking competition in the cable arena. For example, in my community there is no competition unless you get satellite service for which you need a city permit to even put a mini Dish Network dish on your house. The "other" cable company only supplies service to those outside the city limits and then only if you don't live near a copse of trees which can block the signal. But if you live in a town a more 20 minutes down the highway where...

As of the end of business on Monday I will be on vacation. For two weeks. Until next year (January 2nd to be exact). I have no clue what to do. I haven't had two weeks together for about 10 years (at least as best I can recall). This is going to be weird. Of course there is plenty that can be done from cleaning (ick), to getting a jump on the next semester (yuk), from painting the bedroom (smelly) to getting a root canal - oh wait that I have to do. Could catch up on CNN. Could catch up on sleep. Could do both at the same time if Wolf Blitzer didn't yell so much. Well the holiday baking won't be so rushed at least. Stay tuned, two weeks without structure in my life could get very strange indeed. I sense a Monty Python marathon coming on...

It is December. We are in that limbo between the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas (or whatever winter festival your particular belief system recognizes) where people are expected to be cheerful and generous. They are neither. Traffic is awful and people have no patience when trying to navigate it. The rudeness is something to behold. A traffic cop could make a fortune in one afternoon. In the stores the holiday music is mostly ignored and rather serves to irritate rather than inspire goodwill. Patrons are shoved, pushed out of the way at sale racks, salesclerks are subject to all sorts of verbal abuse - the list is endless. Even shoplifting increases this time of year, as do home break-ins, car break-ins and purse snatching. One assumes the folks engaging in these latter activities are doing so to provide a nice holiday for their own loved ones which warps the whole spirit of the season even more. It becomes clear when you witness this behavior that the reason for the season has ...