Reflections on Moderation in Our Lives

Good Day World!

In my life experience, young people seldom seem to practice moderation. Politicians pull the concept apart like hyenas over a fresh kill.

I look at the stunts I pulled as a teenager – especially when it came to alcohol – and I have to shake my head in wonderment.

As the years slipped by like a thief in the night, I became more aware of the wisdom in moderation for all things.

Quick disclaimer; any age can go overboard on something, but experience usually teaches us our limits. I’m not talking about addictions right now. Obviously that’s a side-bar to consider. I’m talking about ordinary people who get carried away with issues or personal challenges. 

According to 1 Timothy 5:23, it's ok to drink a little wine. One of the reasons wine was so popular in his time was good drinking water was hard to find.(Source: New International Version “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.”)

“Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl-chain of all virtues” Thomas Fuller wrote in “The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), Book III. Of Moderation.”

My favorite reflection on moderation comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson  who said, “Moderation in all things, especially moderation.” You can’t have too much fun!

Here’s a deadly case of no moderation: A teenager in Georgia consumed two gallons of water and two gallons of Gatorade after football practice, and was so over-hydrated that his body's electrolytes were thrown off-balance, causing massive swelling in his brain. Five days later, on Sunday night, he was taken off the ventilator.

True happiness springs from moderation Johann Wolfgang von Goethe claimed.

I’m not sure I would go that far, but moderation does makes sense to me. After comparing my drinking habits in my  youth (where I’d pound the booze down until I either got sick or passed out) to now, I feel like I learned something about moderation. 

When it comes to social issues, moderation is a political football kicked around the public arena. Age plays no part in how extreme people can be. In this context, moderation is not always looked upon as a good thing.

We live in an age of extremism. There seems to be no limit to what people will do to get attention. Examples abound throughout our society. One quick example:

Take TV shows on cooking. Julia Child has given away to “Kitchen Wars” and other reality shows that manage to take a serene activity like cooking and turn it into a violent experience where chef’s scream at their helpers.

I believe moderation has it’s place in our lives, depending upon the circumstances.

Throw some common sense into the mix, add a dash of experience, a tablespoon of good advise, and I think you have the map to a happy and safe life.

Time for me to walk on down the road….  

 

 

‘What Were They thinking?’ A Short Montage of Head-Shakers

Good Day World!

We’ve all seen stories where people pull stupid pranks or just do stupid things. Things that make you want to scratch your head and ask, why?

For example, did you hear the story about the Mom accused of helping record her teenage son set himself on fire after he doused his body with fingernail polish as part of a social media stunt?

When I read the story my first thought was, “What was that woman thinking?”

From stupid to sad, here’s another story that will make you ask “what were they thinking?” A couple 'taking a selfie' at a cliff edge at Cabo da Roca, a popular spot for tourists in Portugal, fell hundreds of feet to their death.

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Photo right: What was this family thinking???

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I had two questions about the following story; what was the guy thinking, and two, how did he get into that cop car?

A Connecticut man charged with stealing a taxi cab stepped out of a Boston Police Department station house and into an empty patrol car for a nap, police said.

Shortly after being arrested on charges of stealing a car and released on bail, 33-year-old Nicholas Cunliffe of Stratford, Connecticut, was found asleep in the front seat of an empty police car outside the police station where he had been booked.

This next story asks the question, “Why would a criminal get into a public contest/event with police officers when he’d been avoiding them for 9 months? What was he thinking?”

The sweet victory for a North Carolina man who beat police officers in a doughnut-eating contest this week soured after a newspaper story about the win led to his arrest on breaking and entering charges.

Finally, I’ve got a real head-shaker for you. There’s no mention of the intruder in the following story being drunk. So what was he thinking?

A New Mexico man faces charges after authorities say a couple found him naked and sleeping in their bed. He told officers he thought he was at his girlfriend's house.

Time for me to walk on down the road….

 

 

Wow! A Million Views and the Years Not Over!

                                                     News Flash!

This blog has officially gone over a million views since January 1st, 2014, at 9:36 PST Today.

I can’t thank you all enough for visiting. I’m thrilled to say there’s been over 4 million views since this blog’s inception in July 2008. That’s great! I never guessed how popular this blog would become.

There’s ton’s of other blogs that get millions of views – some daily. I realize my blog is just a small fish in a sea of social media, but I have such a good time doing it that it doesn’t bother me. You don’t see ads here, nor will you ever.

I’m blogging out of a desire to share with other people, like I did in my newspaper days before retirement.

This blog is also my therapy. I have PTSD and it helps me stay connected to people – if only virtually.

So, thank you all for stopping by, and I sure hope you continue to do so. As always, I’ll do my best to entertain, and to provoke thought on issues in our society.

Dave Stancliff

How looting hurts legitimate social protests for justice

Good Day World!

It seems like every time there’s a beef with police in inner city neighborhoods people resort to looting in response.

How does a complaint turn into an illegal shopping trip by protesters victimizing innocent businesses? 

This last weekend an unarmed black teen was fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Mo. Riots and looting erupting almost immediately. The FBI stepped in and is also investigating the shooting death of Mike Brown (who was unarmed at the time).

About 32 people were arrested in connection with looting at 12 stores - including one which was nearly burned to the ground.

Why did people turn on the local businesses who had no part in the teens shooting? The incident triggered protests featuring chants of “kill the police.”  I understand the anger. Young African-Americans are all too often victims of trigger happy authorities.

Peaceful protests, like the march being put together by the Rev Al Sharpton, is the best way to redress a wrong. People will pay attention to that and will get the message.

When people mindlessly loot in retaliation for every grievance it takes away from the incident they’re protesting.

All people see on TV is the destruction and thievery. It becomes the main focus for the public which is usually appalled by the violence and senseless crimes.

The injustice/protest message gets lost in the chaos. Television viewers see people of color walking out of stores with whatever they can lay their hands on, and they get a bad impression. How could they not?

The looters are exploiting an opportunity to act unlawfully in a group in an attempt to avoid responsibility for their actions. They wait for an opportunity to loot stores and will exploit any social protest. Others just get caught up in the insanity of the moment and the opportunity to get something free.

If you think I’m being biased against people of color, consider history. From the Watts riots in the 60s, to the recent St. Louis riots, looting has been a component in the protests.

Not that blacks don’t have reasons to protest. They do. Unequal criminal justice for starters.

But that’s not a reason to victimize someone else. Stealing from others is a moral and physical crime. I don’t care how poor a person is, theft is wrong.

When the rest of the country looks on and sees wanton destruction by a mob of African-Americans, they quickly develop a bad stereotype.

Racism rears it’s ugly head at moments like this – feeding upon the negativity. I wish those looters could understand that.

How they’re hurting the majority of their race in the school of popular opinion, with such senseless destruction and thievery.

Was that free TV really worth it?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Become a Professional Line-Sitter – It Beats Baby-Sitting!

Good Day World!

Military veterans hate standing in line.

That’s because they’ve experienced the “hurry up and wait” lines all the services are known for.

Civilians don’t like lines because they’re always on the go. Society is too fast-paced to slow down and get in a line.

But what if you could make a living – or, at the very least extra money - by just standing around in lines? Would you do it?

No kidding.

Robert Samuel does.

The New York-based founder of Same Ole Line Dudes (SOLD Inc.), will wait for you because he’s a "professional line sitter."

He waits for anything, from sample sales to Saturday Night Live tickets. Samuel charges $25 for the first hour and $10 for each additional half hour.

In one week, he can make up to $1,000. That’s no joke.

Let’s face it, the Great Recession is only over for some folks – but the rest are still scrabbling about looking for jobs and making ends meet.

This could be better than standing in unemployment lines. At least you’ll get paid for your time in line.

If you’d like to know more about this unusual way to make money go to AOL Jobs

This method of generating money comes with the caveat that you have to promote the heck out of yourself if you go it alone. You can also see if there’s any openings at SOLD .Good luck!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Doc pulls tooth from odd spot, Study says ants could save world, & a Pokémon-playing fish

Good Day World!

In my ongoing search for interesting stories I’ve selected a trio today that might make your day.

You may even want to tweet these articles to start a conversation about odd news.

We live in an interesting world where mysteries abound and things strange things happen on a daily basis.

TODAY’S OFFERINGS: 

After suffering from nosebleeds once or twice a month for three years, the 22-year-old man in Saudi Arabia consulted a doctor, who found an ivory-white, bony mass, about half an inch (1 centimeter) long in the man's nose.

 The doctors then consulted with dentist colleagues, who concluded that the mass was actually an extra tooth that had somehow ended up growing in his nose, according to the report.

The doctors pulled out the extra tooth after putting the man under general anesthesia, and the patient completely healed, and had no more nosebleeds three months later, according to the report, published in July in the American Journal of Case Reports.

Can Ants Save the World from Climate Change?

Ants may be some of Earth's most powerful biological climate brokers, a provocative new study claims.

The average ant lives and dies in less than a year, but a long-term experiment tracking the insects' effects on soil suggests they cooled Earth's climate as their numbers grew.

(Photo: Some plants supply nectar to ants in return for protection from herbivores. Here a Dolichoderus ant feeds from nectar)

Related: Image Gallery: Ants of the World

Live-stream Shows Nothing But a Fish Playing Pokémon, and It's a Huge Hit

Behold, "Fish Plays Pokémon."

It pretty much works as the title advertises: A Siamese fighting fish named Grayson swims around in a tank, and its up, down, right, and left movements trigger commands for the main character in the first iteration of the Nintendo game, Pokémon Blue.

Two students, Catherine Moresco and Patrick Facheris, at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, respectively, put together the setup as part of the hackNY 2014 fellowship program.

The live-stream has a massive audience on Twitch, and it routinely has an audience of 20,000 or more viewers online. It's not the first time Twitch has been used in an innovative way. 'Twitch Plays Pokemon' is a collaborative stream that allows participants to enter commands into a chat box. (Full story here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Playing with Butterflies, Bombing Children, and a Weiner Turned Restaurateur

Good Day World!

What a crazy world it is.

One moment the media is talking about little Prince George playing with butterflies on his first birthday, and the next we see thousands of innocent children dying in Gaza during that dirty little war.

In the latest news, The World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency Friday over the Ebola outbreak in western Africa. Meanwhile, a girl thought to have died in the Indian Ocean tsunami has been reunited with her family after being found alive nearly a decade late.

Yin Yang. Positive and negative news.

What story interests you the most:

U.S. Navy Planes Drop Bombs on ISIS Forces

or

Clowning around: Airlines expand in-fight entertainment for kids

 

Photo: A clown is part of the cabin crew on select El Al flights from Tel Aviv to New York and other cities this summer. Courtesy El Al Airlines

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ON THE WRY SIDE:

WEINER TO TAKE HANDS-ON APPROACH TO RESTAURANT

Remember Anthony Weiner who resigned his seat in Congress in 2011 after admitting to sending explicit photos of his weiner to women who were not his wife?

He’s decided politics aren’t going that well (He ran for mayor last year and led the field before more sexting allegations sank his bid) and has decided to open a restaurant in Queens.

The eatery, which Weiner wants to open in the Rockaways, will be named The Rockaway Restoration Kitchen and will offer locally sourced food.

No word yet if they’ll be offering weiners. Stay tuned.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

How to Become an Instant Vegetarian

Good Day World!

I’ve been thinking about becoming a vegetarian for several years now.

One of the reasons is the high price of meat. There’s other reasons of course, but I can’t seem to summon the strength to eliminate meat from my diet.

Then I ran across the story below. I was astounded to find out that there’s a bug that can make a person a sudden vegetarian!

After reading this story however, I think I’ll just live with my meat-eating habit. Bugs creep me out.

HERE”S WHAT’S HAPPENING

Doctors across the nation are seeing a surge of sudden meat allergies in people bitten by a certain kind of tick.

This bizarre problem was only discovered a few years ago but is growing as the ticks spread from the Southwest and the East to more parts of the United States. In some cases, eating a burger or a steak has landed people in the hospital with severe allergic reactions.

Few patients seem aware of the risk, and even doctors are slow to recognize it. As one allergist who has seen 200 cases on New York's Long Island said, "Why would someone think they're allergic to meat when they've been eating it their whole life?"

The culprit is the Lone Star tick, named for Texas, a state famous for meaty barbecues. The tick is now found throughout the South and the eastern half of the United States.

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENS 

The bugs harbor a sugar that humans don't have, called alpha-gal. The sugar is also is found in red meat — beef, pork, venison, rabbit — and even some dairy products. It's usually fine when people encounter it through food that gets digested.

But a tick bite triggers an immune system response, and in that high-alert state, the body perceives the sugar the tick transmitted to the victim's bloodstream and skin as a foreign substance, and makes antibodies to it. That sets the stage for an allergic reaction the next time the person eats red meat and encounters the sugar. (Read full story here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

From a Roar to a Hum: The New Electric Harley-Davidson Will Take Time to Embrace

                                             Good Day World!

Have you ever ridden on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle?

I’ve only had an opportunity to do so twice in my life. A big and brawny Harley-Davidson Electric Glide was my first time on a Harley. It was a great experience. The Softail I later rode on was fun to cruise around town in. It’s loud guttural grumbling enthralled me.

But Harley-Davidson has decided it’s time for a change. A Big Quiet one that I’m not sure Harley  enthusiasts are going to embrace.

The new model sounds like an airplane starting up!

It’s a far cry from Harley’s classics, like the 1952 Harley-Davidson FL Hydra-Glide. (photo right) with it’s loud and proud purr!

Nevertheless, history was made when Harley-Davidson unveiled its first electric motorcycle on June 4th, 2014.

Harley showed handmade demonstration models at an invitation-only event in New York. The company took several dozen riders on a 30-city tour to test drive the bikes and provide feedback.

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Here’s a link to every motorcycle Harley has produced.

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Harley will use the information gathered to refine the bike, which might not hit the market for several more years.

Predictions are they’ll sell based on performance, not environmental awareness.

With no need to shift gears, the slim, sporty bike can go from 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds. The engine is silent, but the meshing of gears emits a hum like a jet airplane taking off.

One hurdle the company has yet to address is the limited range offered by electric motorcycles. The batteries must be recharged after about 130 miles, and that can take 30 minutes to an hour. That kinda puts a crimp on hitting the open rode like in Easy Rider.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

An argument for neutrality: ‘Will America ever stop waging wars?’

 Good Day World!

Do you think it’s possible America could withdraw from all the dirty wars it’s involved in across the globe and embrace an isolationist policy?

It’s a possibility – perhaps even a long shot – but if things keep going the way they are anything could happen.

It’s helpful to remember that during the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism.

In essence, isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics. That was then. This is now:

A December Pew Research poll “determined that more than half of Americans now think the United States should mind its own business and let other countries ‘get along the best they can on their own.”

History reminds us that President George Washington once advocated non-involvement in European wars and politics. The “father of our country” knew no good would come from meddling in other countries wars and affairs.

President Woodrow Wilson made a case for U.S. intervention in WWI. He argued that it was in the America’s interest to maintaining a peaceful world order.

All that happened was the American experience in that war served to bolster the arguments of isolationists; they argued that marginal U.S. interests in that conflict did not justify the number of U.S. casualties.

As a combat Vietnam veteran, I can tell you that wars don’t solve anything.

The earth’s map constantly gets rearranged by the emersion of new governments seeking power periodically. Like addicts, the American hawks keep us mainlined into the global war machine …which in turn feeds the international (and U.S.) weapon and ammunition manufacturers.

It’s no secret that these corporations have no conscience.

Even though I’m encouraged that more Americans are waking up to the fact that we need to mind our own business, I know it’s going to take a much higher percentage (like 90%) to even bring our government to the negotiating table.

Our gun culture, the NRA, weapons and ammunition manufacturers, and hawks in Congress are responsible for waging war worldwide. It’s profitable. How can that be changed?

Will the day come that the majority of Americans say “no more wars?”

Sadly, I don’t think so. 

Time for me to walk on down the road…    

Wine for the dying, prayer discounts, and smoking human remains

Good Day World!

I’ve got a few interesting stories for you on this terrific Tuesday.

From a hospital that serves wine to terminally ill patients; a restaurant that gives discounts for praying; and a case where a burglar smoked human ashes; you’ll find these off-beat stories either fascinating or weird. Maybe both:

“A hospital in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand is to open a wine bar where terminally ill patients will be able to enjoy a "medically-supervised" glass or two with their families.

"Why should we refuse the charms of the soil to those at the end of their lives? Nothing justifies such an prohibition," the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center said in statement. (the rest of the story)

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Diners get discount for praying at restaurant

The owner of a diner in North Carolina said she and her servers will often give customers a 15 percent discount for publicly praying before eating their meal.

Mary Haglund, owner of Mary's Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, said she's been giving the discount for four years, but the tradition made headlines last week after one customer posted her receipt on Facebook. (the rest of the story)

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Alleged Alabama burglar smoked dead woman's ashes thinking they were drugs

Vietnam War veteran Phillip McMullen likely saw some bad things during his time in the service, but what he saw when returned to his Alabama home ranks right up there.

McMullen came back to his Citronelle residence after visiting some friends out of town and discovered that his home had been burglarized.

The gun safe at McMullen's house had been damaged, but it wasn't broken into. The same could not be said for the plastic box which held his deceased wife's ashes.

"They even took my wife's ashes off my headboard, strewed them around, looked like they tried to smoke some of them or something," McMullen told FOX10 News.

"I bet that was a nasty taste when they (did) that."
McMullen and his wife were married for 22 years and he says the violation makes him "want to fight again."

If the Mobile County Sheriff's Office is able to catch the crook, it's possible they will be charged with desecration of a grave.

"It's hard to put in words, it makes me want to fight again, and I don't like to fight," McMullen said. "I don't know if God will forgive them for what they've done or not." (source of article)

Time for me to walk on down the road…