Comments on: Something’s gotta give.

By: basset

basset — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:50:44 +0000

I was at IU when the flu shots were happening in 1976, don’t remember getting one. although I do recall lining up for four hours to give blood in the fall of ’73, the donors filled Alumni Hall and the surrounding passageways. something about a contest with Purdue, I think.

By: Connie

Connie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:50:13 +0000

When I graduated from Zeeland HS in 1973 each graduate was handed a diploma and a bible with name enbossed on front.

I am not much of a bible reader anymore, though I own a dozen or so. On the rare time I need read it I turn to the KJV, King James version, for the sheer poetry. And the childhood familiarity. I do occasionally attend church with friends at Christmas, and the Christmas story sounds so wrong to me read from a version other than King James.

As to H1N1, I had a long chat yesterday with the communicable diseases expert at the County Health Dept. Here is what I learned:

If you were born in 1957 or earlier you probably have developed immunity due to other exposures over the years.

Bosses do not need to be concerned about employees with family members who have been so diagnosed. (My current employee with a diagnosed kid says his wife has been sent home for the duration, she does work for one of the big med equip companies in Warsaw).

Employees with flu symptoms should be sent home from work whether or not they have been diagnosed.

Customer with obvious flu systems who are spraying all over the building: security should have a chat, and the person may be asked to leave.

We are considering a policy that would provide short term additional leave time if needed in order to convince employees to stay home. We are putting hand sanitizer every where for both employee and customer use, putting stickers on all the bathroom mirrors that say wash your hands for 20 seconds, and stocking up on masks for the optional use of employees.

I remember lining up at Michigan State for that flu shot in 1976.

By: alex

alex — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:49:13 +0000

I didn’t comment on Letterman on the Letterman thread a few days ago because I’m actually more disappointed that his reputation is being scandalized than in his behavior. In addition to what Nance said about cold-eyed opportunism on the part of certain “harassment victims,” this morning’s MoDo probably sums up my feelings about it better than anything else I’ve read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/opinion/07dowd.html?_r=1&hp

By: ROgirl

ROgirl — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:47:12 +0000

Whenever I hear about people who can’t control their drinking I realize that my problems could be a lot worse, and that I’m lucky that alcohol isn’t one of them. A friend married a man who was a recovering alcoholic, but he started drinking again and ended up spending several months in jail, continued to drink on and off (mostly on), and died this summer at the age of 62 after a binge.

By: Dexter

Dexter — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:01 +0000

I hope this fucking wind doesn’t blow the last tree onto my roof.
I took the dog for a little drive and a walk around the well-lighted court square here just now. I was just too wound-up after watching what I am sure many sports pundits will call the greatest game of the decade. The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers in the championship game for the Central Division of baseball. I have not been so tense and into every pitch of a game since a couple Yankees-Red Sox games years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A friend called and was shaken…he’s old, and he just got released from ten days in jail for drunk driving. He lives in Illinois and got busted in Indiana. Indiana yanked his license and he served his 90 days suspension-of-license. When he applied for his license back in Illinois, he was told Illinois never suspended his license, the Indiana judge had no right to yank his license, and now Illinois is revoking his license for a year, during which time he must be evaluated for alcohol abuse and must complete a course in alcohol education.
Over here, I have known plenty of folks who have had to attend these state-sponsored schools for alcohol education.
They also take hours per day for months to complete, and you have to participate and please your instructors or they simply won’t release you and you have to keep taking the courses until you can show them you care.
I never had to take these courses but it is not a joke to have to take them, and it is expensive as hell.
Why do long-time alcoholics resume drinking and driving when they are way past 60 and know better? It’s because they think they do actually know better, and are smarter than common AA people, and they can handle it. And they go off to jail with the younger criminals . Well, if John Barleycorn kick your ass once and you don’t totally surrender to him, and try to beat him again…he’ll kick your ass even harder, and he’ll kill you the next time.
But some people don’t believe in metaphors and stories and they go back to the bar and take another swing at fate….

By: Dexter

Dexter — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:31:16 +0000

sorry–double post correction—

By: basset

basset — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:33:45 +0000

well, having worked as a “corrector,” I can surely relate to that.

By: Jeff (the mild-mannered one)

Jeff (the mild-mannered one) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:10:57 +0000

Basset, if you have one of these, it’s worth plenty — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adulterous_Bible

By: basset

basset — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:44:12 +0000

When I graduated from high school in southwestern Indiana in 1973, the non-denominational church in the little town where I was raised gave all of the graduates – I think there were three of us, school was at the other end of the county – individual Bibles. I have never been a churchgoer, and put it away without reading. A few years later, I wanted to look something up and finally opened it. The sections had been bound out of order. I figured that was a sign.

By: beb

beb — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:38:28 +0000

I quite enjoyed reading “Misquoting Jesus” which discussed the limits of biblical inerrency, by discussing the known versions of different books of the new testament. Really interesting stuff, even for someone who gave up on church years ago.

For that matter, will I wouldn’t change the name “Pharisis” to anything else, least of all to “Intellectuals” I would footnote that they were conspicuously religious people – like televangelists