A Moment in Political History

 

 

July 27, 2015

You will not find politics on this page very often.  Heaven knows that there is enough chatter about Republicans and Democrats to fill annals of cyberspace many times over without adding another voice to the babble.  Setting party politics aside, there are a few moments in political history that bear a mention. 

 

Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the 12^th Amendment.  So it is appropriate to think for a moment about how our history would have changed without the 12^th Amendment.  Don’t know what the 12^th Amendment is?  Shame on you.  Prior to the ratification of the 12^th amendment on July 27, 1804, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes for president. (Google the EC if you don’t know what it is.) The candidate with the highest number of votes was president; the one with the second highest votes was vice president.  Understandably, this created a few issues between the POTUS and the VEEP.  The 12^th Amendment changed all that.  Now each elector must cast one vote for president and one vote for vice-president.  That concludes the history lesson for today.  Now back to the question posed.  Imagine if you will, how different the landscape of history would be if--

Nixon had been the VP while Kennedy was the president.

 

 

 

 

 

Or Kerry had been VP while Bush was president. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or Obama and McCain.

 



Is your head pounding at the thought of the upheaval our nation would have endured?  All of this speculation begs another question: Do you think today’s candidates would refrain from slinging mud if they knew they would have to work closely with their rival?  Might, but in today’s society where blame is the name of the game, it is more likely the American public would just be treated to four years of continuous squabbling.  Alas, this speculation will be filed with all of the other what ifs--in a file marked Speculative Fiction.  As the presidential race heats up over the next year, it will be fun to imagine how Hillary and the Donald would function as a team.  Yikes!  In this case, like so many others in our recent history, we can be thankful for the foresight of our forefathers. 

 

 

May God bless America!

Mistakes for Sale

July 20, 2015

 Today, we’re talking about mistakes.  Everyone makes them at one time or another.  Mrs. Hooley, who is an institution in Miller, always said, “Mistakes teach you valuable lessons.”  Turns out she knew what she was talking about, who knew, right?  After making a rather costly mistake, this intrepid blogger (TIB) googled mistakes in an attempt to feel less like an idiot.  It is mind-boggling to see how many industrious men and women refused to be stymied by something as inconsequential as a mistake. So rather than expound on what an idiot TIB is, let’s just focus on the more interesting mistakes that turned out to be major money makers.

Some of the strangest are corn flakes (the Kellogg brothers intended to make a healthy food that would decrease sexual urges!!!), Coca Cola (Pemberton attempted to create a remedy for headache—does anyone else find it ironic that once you are addicted to Coca Cola if you don’t drink it you get a headache?), Post-It Notes (Silver hoped to create a stronger adhesive but created a weaker adhesive that he found useful for sticking notes on pages of books), saccharine (discovered because Falhberg a chemist working on coal tar derivatives did not wash his hands before eating—can you say EEEWWWW!). 

The seemingly endless list includes pace makers and Viagra (yes, the little blue pill—it was supposed to be a medicine that would oxygenate the heart—seems like their experiment went a little south). 

Also making the list are White-out, Scotchgard, chocolate chip cookies, microwave ovens, potato chips, and vulcanized rubber (a mistake Goodyear has never tired of). 

Oh, no, we’re not done yet.  A few more items on the list are Vaseline, Velcro, penicillin, super glue, silly putty, Play-doh (which began its life as a wall paper cleaner that teachers used for art project in their classes), ink jet printers, x-rays, Frisbees, and the ever popular Slinky.  

 It makes you wonder if anything was invented on purpose.  All of these unintentional success certainly give new meaning to Edison’s words, “You learn more from mistakes and failures than you do from success.”  Maybe he should have said earn instead of learn?  Just a thought. 


 

Got the Monday Blues?

July 13, 2015

 
Got the Monday blues?  Well, then you are right there with a million or so others who hate Mondays for no other reason than Monday is the day that follows Sunday.  Experts say that people who suffer from the blues on Monday, or any day that follows your day off, should think about their career path.  They suggest that the root of the blues is your job.  If you loved your job, then you would wake up every Monday energized and ready to go to work.  Since Mondays leave you wishing you could pull the covers over your head and stay in bed, then…you’ve got it--you must not love your job.  That is probably true in many cases, but not everyone who suffers from the Monday blues hates their job.  In this bloggers humble opinion, this feeling comes from the idea perpetuated by the media.  Without even really trying I can name a dozen songs that sell the idea that we are living for the weekend.  Too many Americans spend the hours between Monday morning and Friday afternoon wishing their lives away, focused on the fun they are going to have once Friday rolls around—even if that fun is something as tame as not setting the alarm and sleeping in on Saturday.  If you suffer from the Monday blues, the fix is simple.  You need to reprogram your brain.  No, you don’t need to spend your hard earned money on a reprogrammer of brains, assuming you could find such a person in the yellow pages.  To reprogram your brain you need to find something that you love to do and schedule it for Mondays.  Then write a note to yourself and post it where you will see it often (I love Mondays.  On Mondays I get to___________.).  When you set your alarm on Sunday night, say, “Oh good.  Tomorrow is Monday and I get to ___________.  

 

 Soon you will find that you are looking forward to Mondays with the same intensity that you used to save for Fridays.  Monday might even become your favorite day.  After you fix Monday, then you can work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If you still wish you didn’t have to go to work after you’ve reprogrammed your thinking, then you might consider finding a job that excites you.  Just a thought.  Speaking of thoughts, here is one that helps this blogger when the blues knock at the door. 

   It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. ~ Harry S. Truman

The Buck Stops Here--Harry S. Truman the 33rd President of the United States.



For this blogger, feeling like something worthwhile has been accomplished goes a long way towards warding off the blues any day of the week.  Let me know how you beat the blues.



Image of Toddler courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image of  Truman from whitehouse.gov

Fire in the Skies

July 4, 2015

Smoke on the water, fire in the skies.  This line from the chorus of a song made famous by the 1980s heavy metal band Deep Purple seems appropriate in light of the river of smoke that is whipping into the United States from Canada.  It seems that the forests in the Northwestern regions of Canada are burning.  So instead of sending the usual blast of cold air into the jet stream that fuel our cold fronts, Canada is sending us smoke.   This stream of smoke is in the higher altitudes which makes the sky hazy instead of bright blue as is normal in the summer.  Will this smoke reach East Texas?  Doubtful.  Why mention this at all if we aren’t affected?  You know the saying, it’s an ill wind that blows no good?  Well, photographers, both amateur and professional, are capturing some amazing pictures of the blood red midday sun and the pumpkin orange midnight moon.   If you remember your science lessons from way back, then the change in color from white to red and orange won’t be a mystery to you. 

But if you are like most of us, and your memory of the light spectrum and how it affects nature is so hazy that it can’t cloud up your awe, these rare pictures will blow you away like…smoke on the water.  Remember that ill wind that blows no good?  Well, it is still an ill wind.  NASA warns that it is not wise to linger outside to view the vibrant sunsets that result from the smoke stream.  Those small particles of smoke that filter out the blues, purples, and greens and make the pinks, reds, and oranges more vivid contain carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and soot. All of these air pollutants are hazardous to your health.  Also, wildfires can’t be left to burn out on their own.  They are greedy and will consume whatever is in their path.  Luckily there are no people in the path of the Canadian wildfires, yet, but fighting fires requires firefighters.  These brave men and women are at risk every day the fire continues.  Let’s pray that the fires are contained swiftly and that all the firefighters return home to their loved ones safely. Oh yeah, before I forget there is another fire in the sky worth mentioning…

Happy 239^th 4th of July

 

 

Picture of moon  by Bob King click to read more
Image of USA flag with fireworks courtesy of nirots at freedigitalphotos.net
Image of Sun Rays...courtesy of stuart miles at freedigitalphotos.net