Blue Lives Matter, Too

I've been thinking a lot about all of the police officers ambushed and murdered recently. It really makes me sick to think of all these men putting their lives on the line being killed for no other reason than their choice of vocation.

I'm sure there are racist white cops, and I'm also sure there are racist black cops, but I don't think they are the majority. I think most cops try to be fair to everyone. Unless you are evil to the core, no one can remain unaffected if they kill someone. Any normal person would feel remorse for taking a life, even when justified.

The sad fact is that almost twice as many whites are killed by police than are blacks. In the first five months of 2015, 385 people were killed by police, 365 men and 20 women. 180 were white, 105 were black, 57 were Hispanic, 6 were Asian, 3 were "other", and 34 were unknown. Whites make up almost half of the total killed by police ... 47% to be exact. But no one talks about that.

There was a documentary on OJ Simpson recently. They interviewed a large number of people involved in the case, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, and jurists. One of the jurists, a black woman, was asked if the recent acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King played a role in their decision to acquit OJ. She said yes, she was sure it did. When they asked her if it played a role in her decision to find OJ Simpson not guilty, she nodded in the affirmative. Someone else, I can't remember who, said, "This is for Rodney King."

I remember the Rodney King beating. The tape of his beating was played over and over and over on the news. I had to turn away when they showed it. It sickened me to watch it. And I remember being shocked that the police were found not guilty. I didn't sit in the trial, and I didn't hear all the evidence, but to me, it sure looked like the police continued to beat that man a lot longer than could be justified. I can understand the outrage in the King verdict. I, too, was outraged, but how does allowing a double-murderer to go free atone for Rodney King?

Obama just fans the flames. He said "What black man hasn't heard the car doors lock when they walk across the street?" I find that ludicrous. If a black man dressed in "normal" clothing is walking across the street towards me, I wouldn't feel in danger. But if anyone, regardless of color, is dressed like a gang-banger, holding up his britches to keep them from falling to his ankles, that makes me uncomfortable. It's not the color of someone's skin that scares people into locking their doors ... it's their demeanor.

In all my dealings with police (all for traffic violations), I have never once felt threatened ... and neither did police. I treated them with respect. I didn't smart-off. I was polite. I didn't try to make a run for it. Every time I was pulled over, I had done something wrong. Sometimes I didn't realize the speed limit had changed, and so I was going too fast. That was my fault, and they had every right to pull me over.

Cops want to go home to their families after their shift. They're not out looking for a fight, but they are trained to fight if they feel lives are threatened. Fighting when lives are threatened is their job! Challenging authority, especially when that authority is armed, is just plain stupid. If you try to intimidate a cop, it's not going to end well. If you want a cop to think you're a threat, he's going to treat you as such.

The Black Lives Matter movement is getting out of control. They are exactly what they accuse the cops of being, and worse. Of course black lives matter. ALL lives matter ... which means the lives of those who put their lives on the line to protect everyone else matter, too.

1.5 Million Dollars to Study How Infants Think About Food

As of September of 2015, The National Institutes of Health had spent nearly 1.5 million dollars on a study entitled "Infant's and Children's Reasoning About Foods." Shockingly, after spending that much money, they had only determined that young children would rather not eat food that someone has licked or sneezed on.

The researchers characterize infants as having "limited knowledge in the food domain". Children aged three to six years old are "more knowledgeable than infants and toddlers about foods" but are "notoriously picky eaters".

They spent 1.5 million dollars to discover what every mother or anyone who has ever been around an infant or young child already knows! Babies have no knowledge of food. Toddler don't know much about food, and preschoolers are picky eaters.

Infants have no reasoning about food! Infants don't think in terms of "A bottle of formula sounds really good about now", or "I wonder if they have any of those strained peas left".  Infants cry when they have an unmet need. When their belly is empty, they're uncomfortable, so they cry. When they have gas, they're uncomfortable, so they cry. If they don't feel good or if they're tired, they cry. It's up to the mother or caretaker has to figure out why they're crying.

What they should have used that money for was to study mother's, and why they cater to picky eaters. Growing up, if I had thought for one second that my mother would give me cookies if I didn't eat anything else, I can guarantee you I would have grown up eating only cookies. But, my mother fixed a big dinner every single night. She made a lot of sides. If you couldn't find anything you liked on the table, well, better luck next time! She didn't care if we ate or not! She knew that we would get hungry and eat whatever she fixed. Had she catered to all of us like she did my youngest sibling ... who only ate spaghetti and butter bread ... we would have all been picky eaters. As it was, we ate what was prepared or we went hungry ... except for my youngest sister. She only ate spaghetti and butter bread so the rest of us were forced to eat spaghetti and butter bread ... four or five times a week!

I remember asking my mom why we had spaghetti so often. She said it was the only thing Sister X would eat. The rest of us were so sick of spaghetti we couldn't force down another forkful, so we went hungry! There were eight of us kids, plus my parents. My mom was a really good cook and she prepared a variety of foods every night ... until Sister X decided she only liked spaghetti and butter bread ... and that became our staple. It's a wonder I can eat spaghetti now!

I was married to a picky eater, and it wasn't long before I discovered that if an adult is a picky eater, they are picky about other things, too ... and it's usually you ... because they don't do anything wrong! After eating nothing but spaghetti for years then marrying a picky eater, I have zero tolerance for picky eaters, and I made sure my kids weren't picky. I tried to fix 'kid friendly' dinners, but if they didn't like what I served, well, better luck next time!

They all learned to try foods they didn't think they'd like. Sometime they discovered they liked them, and sometimes they discovered they were right ... they didn't like that food. But what they mostly discovered was they liked a lot of foods they didn't think they would! If they didn't like what I fixed, they went to bed hungry. It doesn't take too many nights of an empty belly before a picky eater learns to actually enjoy eating a lot of food they once refused to eat.

Food was never used as a reward or punishment, when I was growing up or when I was raising kids of my own. My mother, and then me, treated food as nourishment. Eat what you want, as much as you want, but don't expect anyone to fix you anything else ... except for Sister X ... she always got spaghetti and butter bread.

Waiting List for Gummy Bears

A luxury candy maker introduced rosé flavored (non-alcoholic) gummy bears in the shape of hearts and bears. So many people rushed to buy them that they sold out in two hours and the traffic caused their website to crash.

I love a glass of wine, but I don't think I want wine flavored candy. I must be in the minority, though, because there is a long waiting list for those waiting their turn to buy it. Since it's a "luxury" candy maker, the price is expectantly high, but for the gourmet candy connoisseur, price is obviously no object.

For those of you who don't like rosé, they have other non-alcoholic, alcohol-flavored candies ... bourbon, ale, scotch, champagne, etc. I think they sound atrocious, but what do I know? I'm just a poor working-class schlep who prefers her candy taste like, well, candy! I guess my palette isn't sophisticated enough to enjoy these treats ... and neither is my wallet!

Poor Little Bird

When it started storming last week, I looked out the window and saw a little bird sitting on the arm of the swing in my front yard. (You'll have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the bird!) You can't tell, but it was raining pretty hard. That poor little bird sat on the arm of the swing throughout the whole storm, and for a while afterwards, so I have NO idea how this branch (below) ended up there, or when it blew there! It wasn't there before or for the first hour or so after the storm ... and I know that with 100% certainty because I kept looking out my office window to see if that little bird was still there.

 

 

You can tell from the picture below that the branch was ripped from a tree, but as far as I can tell, it didn't come from the tree it's laying by. At least it didn't land in the flowerbed and crush the newly-planted flowers.

 

 

 

Moon Frogs

When I walked outside yesterday morning, two frogs were sitting in the mud discussing world events. I didn't doctor the photo or apply a filter to make it black and white ... that's the actual color. I guess these frogs are aliens .... or perhaps they descend from pre-WWII frogs ... you know, back when the whole world was black and white!

Refrigerator Letter Magnets

The other day,  a vendor at a trade show offered me keys taken off keyboards from damaged computers, and I accepted. Thing 1 has Scrabble tiles with magnets on the back on her refrigerator, and Thing 2 regularly spells out messages when she visits her sister. I figured Thing 1 would love to have more letters. I started to walk away with my treasure, and then I thought of Thing 2 and could hear her saying, "I want some!", so I asked for another baggie. I didn't get a baggie for Thing 3. While he would have fun spelling things out on the fridge, I can't imagine him gluing magnets to the back of each tile ... and I'm sure not going to do it!

When I got home, I laid out the tiles in columns by letter, then divided them equally between my girls. It took a while, and it was pretty boring, but I didn't want someone to end up with mostly X, Q, V, Z, and no vowels. As a mother, I have to be fair. I told my girls about the letters and they were thrilled. Sometimes, my kids can be pretty easy to please!

This Just Might Be The Cutest Frog EVER!

The frogs at my daughter and son-in-law's house think the water that accumulates on top of the pool cover is a pond. My son-in-law was messing with the pool and found the cover was full of teeny, tiny, Barbie-sized frogs. Isn't it adorable?! They may be tiny, but they are loud!

Happy House

There's a pretty home on the North side of town that I've driven by countless times, but until yesterday, I never realized how happy it is!

A Small Rainbow This Morning

On the way to work this morning, I saw a partial rainbow. I didn't notice it at the time, but looking at the photo, it looks like it's emanating from the Taco Bell sign. Even though it wasn't a full or double rainbow, it made me smile. I don't know why, but rainbows make me happy!

Boys Will Be Boys

My little grandson always spends one day on the weekend with us. When he's over, my living room has toys scattered from one end to the other. Over the course of the day, he plays with all of his toys, but balls ... and an empty mint canister ... are his favorites. Thing 3, however, like the giant Lego's.

They played with the giant Lego's together for quite a while ... as Thing 3 puts them together, W tore them apart. W hasn't mastered putting the Lego's together, but he's quite adept at pulling them apart! I love watching him play and listening to him babble ... and I love the big smile on his face every time his eyes meet mine. He is one of the happiest, cuddliest babies I have ever seen, and an absolute joy to have around. I'll bet I tell him I love him many thousand times when he's over. He tells me he loves me in his own non-verbal way, but I'm anxiously awaiting the day he can actually say those words to me. And when he does, my heart will probably burst!