Friday Night Miscellany

Bonjour darlings! That's about the extent of the French I remember being force-fed as a school girl. I was hopeless, never did learn to "roll" my "r"s, lol! Another work week is over, thank Goddess! Free at last! Now I have to try and squeeze into two days of forecasted crappy weather a week's worth of chores, including yard work (the backyard is still an awful mess, and with each storm it gets worse). I always lose that battle... There is so much depressing news these days - the situation in Burma with the Junta depriving thirsty, starving, homeless hundreds of thousands of people of much needed supplies because "they want to distribute it themselves" - yeah, right - right into the mouths of the army and forget the rest of the people. What's it to them if a couple hundred thousand people die as a result of a cyclone, heh? Less voters to deal with. And then, of course, there's every prospect of a new civil war breaking out in Lebanon because the Shiites just don't know how to get along with everyone else. Sorry guys - but you are one religion that should be wiped off the face of the earth - along with all adherents of Jerry Farwell. No difference as far as I can see. Not to be forgotten are our ever-rising gasoline prices, natural gas prices, the cost of food at the super-market, mass lay-offs, the sinking dollar - all blamed on China's voracious appetite for EVERYTHING - well, if the shoe fits. Speaking of China, how many children now have died from a "common ailment" called foot and mouth disease? Say what? I thought that was something cows and sheep caught, for Goddess' sake! The last thing I read, it was something like 223 children dead, and nearly 20,000 more infected. Oh - I know - they'll blame it on the USA - we force-fed tainted Coca-Cola to the babies as a way to kill a few hundred thousand and cut demand for scarce natural resources. What do they call the Politburo in China? Neo-Putinists? Whatever they're called, they'll order that the heads of a few not good-Communist medium level managers (everyone knows they're all corrupt, darlings) are chopped off accidentally in prison where they would otherwise be sentenced for the next 240 years. And the Glorious Leaders and their obedient munchkins in the Chinese press will tell their citizens (and the west) that the problem of fraudulently under-reporting (or not reporting at all) such outbreaks to the World Health Organization (not to mention the Chinese big wigs in Peking) has been solved. Chop chop... All is just fine for Summer Olympics and much propaganda making, tankee bery much. Makes me want to puke. So, tonight, I'm trying to find uplifting, happy news. Well, let's see - there's this report that the Sahara dried out "gradually" over a couple thousand of years rather than "all at once" - well, who the heck thought it dried out all at once, anyway? Duh! So, all you folks afraid of dying within my lifetime from global warming-caused climatic changes - relax! It won't happen until your great-grandchildren are grandparents! Oh, here's good news! The wave of the future - getting rid of the dead with jazzed-up lye! Oh - wait a minute - that's what they used to do thousands of years and, come to think of it, not so long ago - throw people and dead animals into lime pits, or something like that. Then - didn't they fish out the bones and suck out the marrow? Eeeeeeuuuuuuwwwwww! Okay, okay, I'm not doing so well in the "happy news" department. What about this - cue spooky music from classic Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds:" Crows are taking over Japan - they're rummaging for yummies in the garbage bags piled up on city streets (ooooh, yech), they're nesting in electric power poles and causing continual power outages across the country, and - CUE THAT SPOOKY MUSIC - hungry crows have bloodied the faces of children while trying to steal candy from their hands. Crows have even carried away baby prairie dogs and ducklings from Tokyo zoos, city officials said... Flocks of ravens on killing sprees in the United Kingdom. Calves, lambs, and sheep pecked to death. Animals not killed have been left in agony as the birds eat their eyes, tongues and the soft flesh of their underbelly. Ohmygoddess! It's a sign of the end, I tell you, a sign of the end!!! EEEEEEEEEEKKKK! Everyone - learn how to use slingshots - QUICK! Maybe if you can pick out the buggers' eyes with a couple of stones you can save yourselves and your children - not to mention your cattle... Ha ha ha, we can laugh, right, because bird attacks aren't happening here on our home turf (USA) - wrongo! Check this out: An unusual kind of bird-watching is underway in Downtown Austin (Texas, USA) these days. Several mockingbirds are attacking people as they pass by the Stephen F. Austin building. On a happier note (yes, I found one, yippee!), tomorrow morning is our monthly meeting of the ladies' investment club. We are now five strong, having added our fifth member formally in March. We are doing great. Our share value, which started out at $10 back in January, 2005, is now close to $20. Our goal is to double our money every five years (to do that we need to make an annual return of 14.9% a year), and we've nearly done that with about 1.5 years to spare before our next 5-year cycle starts. We're not sitting on a ton of cash, either. We're nearly fully invested. Just a day ago we made our latest purchase and now we've only got about $350 in cash left, so we'll accumulate a kitty and pull the trigger again, when we find a suitable investment opportunity. My investing partners are some smart women! By pooling our resources we accumulate cash in a relatively short period of time and invest by consensus after doing work-ups on likely companies and publicly-traded partnerships within which to invest, following the precepts of the National Association of Investors Corporation. Email makes communication so easy, we can pull the trigger on an investment at the drop of a hat if we wish; but we love getting together once a month for breakfast, gossip, planning our next ladies' outing (we've done Chicago shopping, two spa visits, and Christmas shopping with the carolers at Bayshore Mall), doing portfolio reviews and making and studying investment suggestions. Making money is fun! One last note for tonight. Spare money is hard to come by these days, but please consider contributing goods and whatever cash you can to your local food pantries. On May 10th locally the U.S. Postal Workers are having a collection here tomorrow for the Hunger Task Force, and I've been busy lugging canned goods home all week (a mile on foot, since you know I don't drive) from the supermarket. Our local food pantries, which depend on the Hunger Task Force, are in trouble because so many more families are visiting each month now. There are severe shortages of goods and cash. There are hungry children here, in Milwaukee, and in nearly every community in the United States. The federal government's in-kind contributions to food pantries across the land has greatly decreased under George Bush's administration. Hunger Task Force sent the word out that they would run out of food and money long before the end of the year. The Postal Workers' pick-up of food contributions right from your front porch and your mail boxes (like mine, which is at the curb) is only a few years old here, but it's a great idea. It makes in-kind contributions easy - all you have to do is buy the stuff, the postal workers pick it up and deliver it. It's amazing what you can buy on sale in canned goods with just $20 (and a few coupons) - and I'm not just talking about string beans! I purchased canned tuna in water, sliced peaches, sliced pears (these are treats for food pantries), canned stews, hearty-eating soups with meat and spaghetti sauce with meat in addition to the standard fare of Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Tomato soups. I'll send a cash contribution for those things that shouldn't be put into a food drive - such as packaged pastas and "Hamburger Helper," cereals, etc. etc. Hunger Task Force can pool all cash contributions and buy these items in bulk, along with other bulk goods such as dried milk that the federal government no longer contributes in amounts it used to, despite the growing need. Tomorrow morning on my way to breakfast with the ladies, I'm stopping by Walgreens, which this week is having a sale on "Taster's Choice" freeze-dried instant coffee (regular and de-caf), and I'll fork over some cash to buy some coffee for the food drive. People don't think about it, but food pantries don't have the cash, usually, to buy coffee to stock their shelves (same for canned fruit), and this isn't something that people ordinarily think to contribute. My driving thought always is - if I have to go to a food pantry, what would I ask for, and what would I want to be able to receive? I've been so richly blessed by the Goddess - oh, not cash wise - I'm not a six figure a year person (through my own choice0. My blessings are my family, my friends, my loved ones, the knowledge I've been able to acquire about so many different subjects, my "voice." And I've got some $$$ to contribute to those who are in need. Tell me, what more do I need? It really is true that if you share what you have with others, you will receive so much more back in return. Good night, darlings.