\u2022 Scenic is a picnic with see in it.<\/p>\n
\u2022 When one is young, there are not enough hours in the day.\u00a0 When one gets older, there are not enough days in the year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Over one thousand people a year<\/a> complete the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail in one hike (known as thru-hiking<\/em>).\u00a0 Compare this to the 50,000 runners who complete the 26-mile New York Marathon every year.\u00a0 So I wonder: how many would attempt these feats if they were longer or shorter?\u00a0 There must be an optimum<\/em> difficulty level for such endeavors that is hard enough to be considered a challenge but attainable enough to get people to try.<\/p>\n \u2022 We just bought a new mattress at Ethan Allen.\u00a0 I was not that happy with the experience, because Ethan Allen wanted to charge us a $125 delivery and set-up fee along with a $95 disposal fee for our old mattress.\u00a0 None of the other stores we shopped had a delivery or disposal charge.\u00a0 When we questioned the Ethan Allen salesperson about this discrepancy, her response was, well we have no idea what they<\/em> do with old mattresses but we<\/em> have to send them to the landfill.\u00a0 As if JCPenney drives a truck into the mountains and dumps their old mattresses in the river.<\/p>\n We negotiated the $220 delivery-and-disposal charge down to $75 but I still feel like much of what we paid for this item was to compensate the entitled salespersons at Ethan Allen.\u00a0 That said, the mattress feels great.\u00a0 Maybe if I sleep better, I will write a less resentful blog.<\/p>\n \u2022 I was in a spelling bee in sixth grade.\u00a0 I dropped out seven or eight people from the top.\u00a0 The word I choked on: mattress.<\/em>\u00a0 It was the last time (until now) I cried over a mattress.<\/p>\n \u2022 Here in the Bible Belt, the Christian code-word for being well-off financially is blessed<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u00a0wonder what the Bible Belt euphemism is for fellow-believers addicted to painkillers.<\/p>\n \u2022 It is tempting to allow time to have its say and let Donald Trump be judged by history as the injurious incompetent he is.\u00a0 But the long perspective is small comfort: my history is this morning, my history is ten minutes ago, my history is the period ending this sentence.\u00a0 I\u00a0don’t have time for historians to decide whether Trump is comedy, tragedy or chaos.<\/p>\n \u2022 If I ever wanted to create a video to promote my art, the persons I would ask to narrate would be David Attenborough, Morgan Freeman, and Laura Linney.\u00a0 For the lighter bits, Tom Hanks.\u00a0 For my dammit-who-cares-what-you<\/em>-like items, Samantha Bee.<\/p>\n \u2022 Are we the Pretender States of America?\u00a0 Our leaders say we believe in x<\/em>, y<\/em> and z <\/em>but their actions so often demonstrate the opposite.\u00a0 The United States loves to pat itself on the back, as if we were the New England Patriots of Humankind, but where is the evidence that Americans are any less hateful or prejudicial to those who are unlike us than the people of any other developed nation?\u00a0 We recite our myth of plain-spoken provincialism, we toss some of the bounty of our ill-gotten lands to the nations who marvel at our lavish parade, then we proclaim ourselves to be exceptional.\u00a0 We are great — marketers.<\/p>\n \u2022 You have just read the otherwise unexceptional 500th post on\u00a0The 100 Billionth Person<\/em> (D is the Roman symbol for 500).\u00a0 I made special bits for my 300th<\/a> and 400th<\/a> posts but was uninspired to make something special of it this time, as I am not sure who (if anyone) I am talking to anymore.\u00a0 It’s not that I wouldn’t like an audience, it’s more that having an audience has not led to more connections, the two-way conversations I desire.<\/p>\n \u2022 So on we go to No. 501.\u00a0 As Ringo says, Peace and Love.\u00a0 You’re invited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 Scenic is a picnic with see in it. \u2022 When one is young, there are not enough hours in the day.\u00a0 When one gets older, there are not enough days in the year. \u2022 Over one thousand people a … Continue reading