Archive for May, 2008
But it -comes- in a bag.
I just bought a 3oz bag of potato chips (and nothing else). The cashiers asked, “Do you want a little bag?” I’m looking at the bag. I always say, “No thanks. It comes in a bag.” Some laugh, and some hrmph. I’m ok with either response.
But honestly, who is so dainty that they need to cover up every little thing they’re buying with a paper shopping bag? It’s not porn.
I’ve seen big strong men who can’t carry a soda. A bottle of detergent with a built-in handle. They have to have a little bag. We’re not running the Iditarod – it’s going on a plush seat supported by shock absorbers, surrounded by steel frame and bumpers, and sheltered by windows and a roof. If I had a car accident, my head would probably crack before that bag of potato chips would break.
Well, I don’t understand, so I’ll keep doing what I do until someone shows me why I need to put a bag into a bag just to get my potato chips to the car.
My Hero
He calls men Susie and Barbara. He always has a comeback. He tells it like it is, and doesn’t stick around for the chips. He’s Dr. Cox from Scrubs, and he is magnificent.
TV’s closest ally to the Book
I’m a fan of roughly a half dozen TV programs (only three of which are still on), and top of my list would have to be BookTV on C-Span2. It’s one of the rare places of intelligent speech in a medium that epitomizes free speech.
Tonight is Jim Hightower, “Swim Against the Current“. Of course, the title either sells itself or causes disinterest, depending upon your inclinations, so I like that about it up front. Of course, you also get dill weeds like David Horowitz, who rant and seem to have no scruples about passing off as reasonable ideas that are merely popular.
So at any given moment, BookTV is a crap shoot. But odds are better at any moment than the other channels, where it’s 90% “murder TV”, “police/soldier TV”, and “reality TV” punctuated by so-called ‘news’.
When the floods come…
…be their Ark. The Oxfam Emergency Fund: Donate to help victims of the Myanmar Cyclone. Those who are least like us, who are not our people, who are most distant from our daily cares, are our strangers. Love is tested not by it’s application to those who are most like us, but to those most estranged.
What’s the difference between a week and a year?
If this week 40 people would give $25 each to New Futures Orphanage, instead of that same amount spread out over a year’s time, the children could buy chickens, fish, plants, and other sustainable food sources that would last over a long time, and wouldn’t have to eat the small increments of money coming in, while they’re waiting, so that they have no future. If 20 of us could give $50 this week, instead of spread out over a year, they could eat all year, instead of just on the weeks that someone gives.
Choose a child from the orphanage photo below, hold him or her in your mind, and picture what eating all year long might do for his mind, his health, and his opportunities. Now picture him wondering every day if there will be rice today. It’s easy to do the right thing: give directly, so 100% of the funds go to the orphanage, which is run by volunteers, take it as a tax deduction (they email you a receipt automatically), and you break even, but their lives are changed. Christ reward you according to you charity. — Daniel
