Random Soapbox for Saturday 2/28/15

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... I want to keep my pooh on this side of the pond.

Fear not ... this won't be a post about the plumbing issues at ye olde Florida homestead (currently being replaced by ye *new* olde Florida homestead -- which is, in itself another post for another day).

Instead ... it's about taking a stand regarding the attempted repatriation of Pooh (as in Winnie The), who currently is on display in the basement of a library in New York.  How did he get there?  Christopher Robin (as in A.A. Milne's son, not the part of me and mine otherwise known as (c) ) *gave* it to his NY publisher way back in the day ... who, in turn, donated it to the New York Power Authority (whatever *that* is) ... which, in turn, donated it to the public library.  And why did Chris do so in the first place?  Because he grew up and didn't need his childhood toys any more (which, admittedly, is a bit of a concept I may not quite completely understand).

Now I will be the first to admit that it can't be denied that the 100 Acre Wood is indeed a place in England.  However, it also can't be denied that these toys are ancient, and, according to the current custodians, might actually fall apart to nothing if moved.

One other question to answer ... why do I care?  It's not just the worldly lessons made famous a la the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, or the fact that I can still choke up a little *every* time Kenny and Amy sing "I swear that old bear whispered, 'boy, welcome home'".  My strongest personal connection is that "the wonderful thing about tiggers is tiggers are wonderful things" was the mantra of my childhood, given to me by my biological mother and embraced in such a way that I came to love everything about myself that makes me different and special.  (By the way, rabbit's attempt to inhibit and suppress all that makes tigger tigger in that classic story may also explain my slight anti-authoritarian streak.)

Which means ... if I have to choose between a world where Pooh and friends might get destroyed or a world that includes a place where they are looked after in a safe environment -- *regardless* of specific country of location -- I will choose the status quo without a hesitation.

Keep Pooh safe (and here in America)!

THE POOH BATTLE (WINNIE THE POOH THAT IS):
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/12/26/251263/for-some-in-britain-reclaiming.html

LIFE HACKS (COURTESY OF WtheP):
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tabathaleggett/28-lessons-winnie-the-pooh-can-teach-you-about-lif-a0kl#.hq1RRK1VV

KEEP POOH WHERE HE IS (BUT MAYBE RETURN THESE ITEMS?):
http://mic.com/articles/76321/9-priceless-artifacts-museums-should-return-to-their-home-countries

Random Flashback for Friday 2/27/15

(As continued from last week ... )

Ah yes.  All good things must come to an end.

Ironically, that works for how this is the last flashback to that trip we all took to DC in January twenty years ago ... and it also pretty much summarizes the thoughts of the person who I think actually took this photo.  When the group of us was out and about, he pulled back from the others and was walking behind, taking it all in.  I checked in with him, and he said something to the effect of how "... this ... *this* would never happen again".

True enough, all of us went on to our adult lives ... and now, with the exception of the Facebook, not everyone is in regular contact with everyone else.  But for that weekend ... the culmination of our coming of age ... we were all the bestest of buddies.  Once and for all, here's how I explained our activities in my annual holiday letter in 1995:

"The group descended on Washington DC in January for an overnight stay on the same night Pearl Jam was in town.  Even though we didn't have a private fortune to scalp tickets, we did hang out in front of the music center and we bought some balloons [note:  you had to be there]  Then we struck out for our own little nighttime tour of the monuments, got our feet wet in the wading pool like Forrest Gump, and took the picture of the ten of us touching the Washington Monument [note:  too dark to include in this series] ..."

One last note:  the picture I *really * regret somehow losing along the way ... five of us that shared a van on the way home stopped by the side of a road, urinating in a corn field, backs turned to the camera.  Had we ever formed a band (not that we were really musically inclined that way or anything), it would have been our album cover *for sure*.  Now, that photo, which was one of those fancy panoramic shots back in the day when that was new to cameras, is lost to the ages ... but at least we have our memories!

Random Thought for Thursday 2/26/15

I don't know what we did before the interwebs.

For instance, it struck me the other day that, although I know Jon has Garfield and Odie and Charlie has Snoopy and Phil has Marmaduke ... I could no longer remember who owned Tom and Jerry.  (By the way ... Tom and Jerry and I go waaaay back ... to my elementary school morning "babysitter" [aka Tom S' mom], where I used to watch Jane Pauley on the TODAY show AND catch the latest [reruns] of the Tom and Jerry toons before walking over to Southeast.)

Luckily, there are specific wikis JUST for Tom and Jerry ... although I might be more confused instead of less after tracking down the full history.

It looks like Mammy the maid (whom I do remember) may have turned into Mammy the owner (at least until she got retired when it was deemed that the character was too racist) and then it was George and Joan, except for when it was The Detective or even Clint the Cobbler (who was an animal abuser of sorts) or at least until the latest iteration, where it's apparently Rick and Ginger.

So now I know ... and now I know I need to set aside another evening of interwebbing to figure out how Butch and Spike and Tyke fit into this history.

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT TOM AND JERRY:
http://tomandjerry.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_%26_Jerry_Wiki

INCLUDING ABOUT WHY IT WAS SLAPPED WITH A RACIST WARNING:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/02/is-tom-and-jerry-really-racist.html

BUT IT DID NOT MAKE THE 10 MOST CONTROVERSIAL OF ALL TIME:
http://entertainment.time.com/2010/04/27/top-10-controversial-cartoons/slide/all/

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 2/25/15

60 and better.

Used in a sentence:  "Maybe it's because I'm slowly ageing (and starting to feel it), but probably because I'm now domiciled in southern Florida (which is demographically predominantly in that older age bracket) ... regardless, I thought it clever recently when I saw the grouping of those who were over the age of 59 as '60 and better' (instead of 60 and older)."

It will be interesting to see if the baby boomer group successfully changes our country's general view of the old folks that seems to run opposite of those foreign places that tend to revere and respect the elderly, but I'd like to think that, as I get closer and closer to that magic number (in about a decade-and-a-half), I'll be a better version of what I am today.

Here's hoping!

HERE'S HOW THE AUSSIES DO IT:
https://www.qld.gov.au/seniors/recreation-staying-connected/60-and-better-program/

AND A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT IN MASS:
http://www.meetup.com/60-and-Better-Social-Group/

AND THE HOLLYWOOD VERSION:
http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/entertainment-60andsassy/

Random Tune for Tuesday 2/24/15

You decide for yourself ... is track 32 of 39 from this mixed tape I've been featuring sad or inspirational?

[Checking the liner notes, the mixmaster who found all of the selections way back in the early nineties argued for the latter ...]

Regardless of your decision, it's true that Kathy Mattea's 'Seeds' is one of those songs that makes you think.  Is where we start where we have to end?  Or for those of us who find ourselves in "sandy" situations, can we grow toward the "fertile soil"?

Here's hoping this particular tune gives you some kind of comfort if you "find yourself at a crossroad once again" ...

DREAM COME TRUE OR DREAMING OF THINGS YOU WON'T DO?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61D5AU3SG7A

Random Memorial for Monday 2/23/15

Gone but not forgotten:  Pussycat.

Don't recognize Catwoman's assistant from the classic Batman television show (on which I was raised)?

Maybe you know the singer from her being involved in politics a few years back during the last presidential election, re-purposing 'You Don't Own Me' as she did to respond to the government's involvement in female reproductive rights ...

If neither of those ring a bell, then for sure you've at least once entertained the idea of crying at your own party without shame ... seeing as how she's the one who gave the world permission to do so.

In other words ... Lesley Gore (who passed away a week ago) ... you will be missed.

THE CURRENT TRIBUTE SITE:
http://www.lesleygore.com/

LESLEY AS PUSSYCAT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XoNF-fzYMw

LESLEY AS POLITICAL CAT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/10/22/1960s-teen-idol-lesley-gore-leads-charge-in-you-dont-own-me-video/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 2/22/15

What southern Florida is talking about this week:

How wonderful Uber is* ...

*Unfortunately, it seems that much of the local opinion praising Uber comes at the cost of the local Haitian cab community.  Yellow Cab, which handles half of the county's cab traffic, has a workforce that is composed of 82-85% Haitians.  (Another statistic to help put this in perspective ... nearly half of all Haitian immigrants in the country live in this state.)

And, as per the article linked to this post, about 10% of all the comments collected by a local politician investigating the phenomenon had undertones about how Uber is better because Uber drivers speak English and present a more polished presence (code phrasing for "aren't Haitian", if you haven't deciphered them).

I did a little digging on the interwebs, and it turns out that Uber is under attack all across the country (and not just locally) for many of the same reasons -- that the whole business model relies on the class structure as it currently exists in society -- "wealthy" folks with smart phones arrange for rides from others like them ... leaving the poor people to take the poor way home.

Of course, from a personal perspective, I'm rarely in a taxi and I've never Uberd anywhere ... so I'm only observing the scandal from a distance without too strong an opinion ...

SOME COMMENTS ARE LESS THAN SUBTLE:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-uber-taxi-haitian-20150207-story.html

ANTI-UBER:
https://umarlee.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/uber-and-airbnb-elitist-possibly-racist-and-designed-to-circumvent-the-law/

PRO-UBER:
http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-has-changed-my-life-and-as-god-is-my-witness-i-will-never-take-a-taxi-again-where-available-2014-1