The Ant and the Grasshopper – 2009

My youngest brother sent this to me this morning.   As with most fables, it’s best if you draw your own conclusions!   (I thought it was fabulous, myself, but … )

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

 Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant ’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.  Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in (which just happens to be the ant’s old house) crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

How To Really Relax!

I just got back from the best weekend I’ve had in a long time!!  I went to visit some friends that I had, heretofore, only “met” online, and it was just like meeting long-lost family!  I suspect that Heaven is going to be something like that:  you meet people you have only wondered about, and it’s like you’ve known each other all your lives. 

First of all, DM and his wife were such kind and gracious hosts!  They live in a beautiful farm house that is very warm and welcoming, and when I arrived – much later than I had anticipated, due as much to my poor choice of routes as to the traffic in/around Chicago on Friday afternoon/evening – they met me with open arms.  We had a nice visit Friday evening, during which DM asked if the rooster might bother me in the morning (and gallantly offered to put the chickens in the basement), and then Saturday morning, I got up to see the sun rise from the porch!  (I did take pictures, but I will have to upload them later, since my camera cord is not here…..). 

Second, their farm is VERY cool!!  If you check out DM’s other blog, you will see what I saw.  I got to meet Winston!  And Oscar (who is my new buddy)!  I also saw a very sweet-looking cat named Ben, whom I did not take time to pet because there was so much else to see.  Mrs. DM showed me around the farm, including the barn where they had their AppleJam concerts, and … I baked a pie.  An apple pie.  For the first time in about 20 years.  And, it turned out!  

But most important, I had the greatest time just hanging out with them and enjoying the time we had talking and visiting.  They showed me around, took me to lunch, and just generally let me hang out with them while they got things ready for the concert last night – a fundraiser for Camp Courageous.   The singer/songwriter who performed also stayed with them, so after the concert we all sat up and talked some more (I, the party-pooper, went to bed early – 10:30-ish).  We got to talk some more this morning before I had to head back to Michigan, and (thanks to the wise advice of the song-writer) my trip home took me less time, so I am home! 

There are pictures … DM has, probably, better pictures than I do, but I will let him tell his side the stories about those.    In any event, I feel refreshed, re-juvenated, and while I am a little sad that I had to leave after only a short visit, I take with me the sheer joy and exuberance of the weekend, along with great memories of some wonderful friends.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

VERY interesting article in the “American Thinker” today.  Interesting because it points out something I hadn’t realized was so before – but I’d wondered why “Roots” had sort of dropped off the face of the earth.  It was also interesting because of the comparison between the reaction to “Roots” when it was first published and to “Dreams of My Father.” 

I’d say, “You lie,” but that would be plagiarizing.

The Swine

This guy has a point.  I have to admit, when I saw the “national emergency” thing, I was a little skeptical – I mean, come on.  How often do people get the actual “normal” flu, and it doesn’t turn into a national emergency!! 

According to the CDC (as reported here), an estimated 20,000 people die each year from the seasonal flu (non-pork variety).  However, this current “national emergency” has a confirmed death toll of fewer than 100 people so far.  The Wall Street Journal’s report from May 2009 notes,

“According to the CDC’s own numbers, influenza was listed as the underlying cause on just 849 death certificates in 2006, the most recent year available — half as many as hernias and a quarter the number killed by peptic ulcers. This number has been flat in recent decades even as the CDC’s much larger estimates of annual flu deaths have been increasing.”

So, a) the CDC’s numbers are inaccurate, b) the swine flu is less deadly than other varieties of the flu (let alone other medical conditions), and c) we’re calling this a “national emergency.”  Hm.  Okaaayyyyy. 

What to do?  Another report notes, “90 percent of the fatalities he looked at had some condition that would predispose them to serious disease. … Nearly half — 46 percent — were obese, many had fatty liver disease, 27 percent had heart disease and 22 percent had asthma…”  So, for those patient populations, definitely take extra precautions.  For the rest of us, a “return” to good hand-washing and hygiene (in case we’ve become a little lax), but I’m sorry, this is not a “national emergency.” 

Dr Marc Lipsitch, infectious disease expert at Harvard University, says that the swine flu outbreak is comparable to a “moderate year of seasonal influenza.”  He has characterized this flu outbreak as “very mild.” 

So, what does the administration have to gain by promoting this as a “national emergency” and, essentially, spreading panic? 

Think about that……

Off-Topic Monday

This is kind of off-topic from previous posts, but I found the coolest instrumental CD at … Hobby Lobby, of all places!  We have a new store in our community, and I wandered in to browse.  They play pretty music – not canned Muzac – and you can buy it!!  Here’s the link telling you what they have, but it doesn’t look like you can order online.  You have to go into the store to get it.  But, it was only $9.99 for the CD.  Very nice music – very soothing.    (I like soothing stuff right now…..)

What Do I Do Now?

I just realized: my 6-year anniversary with my firm was a week ago this past Tuesday. Six years. I’ve been here six years, and I feel as if I’ve spent most of it just scrabbling from outcrop to outcrop, with occasional time spent hiding under an overhang, just to keep from falling off the face of a mountain.

I don’t know what’s at the top – I’m not even sure I care – but I started it, so I feel like I have to stay there and keep climbing until I either get to the top or find a way to make a lateral move to another mountain, knowing that if I choose to move, I will slide a bit and have to make up ground that is inevitably lost in the transition.

And, I’m training somebody to do what I do – so, other than what the partner I’m doing more of my work for does, where is there for me to go? Right now, the ”team” plan is to ride this wave as long as we can, and then see where we end up when it passes. From a legal career standpoint, why do that? From a personal development standpoint, why do that?

Too Funny Not to Share

Some old friends of mine have … let’s call it an “interesting” sense of humor!!    Enjoy!

The punishment for an unfunny pun should be the punitentiary.  CREATIVE PUNS FOR “EDUCATED MINDS”  1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.  2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.  3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.  4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was weapon of math disruption.  5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.  6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.  7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.  8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.  9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.  10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.  11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.  12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.  13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’  14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.  15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ’Keep off the Grass.’  16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’  17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.  18. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large. 19. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.  20. A backward poet writes inverse.  21. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.  22. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.  23. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

Today’s Quote: Samuel Adams (the man, not the beer)

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

Thematic Changes

OK, I did something I shouldn’t have done …. I thought I would change the  theme of my blog to something different, only the one I was using before is no longer available….. 

This is bad.  Very bad.

At least I was able to save the photo.

Whew!  Found it!! 

[Can you tell I am not comfortable with change?]

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way

Just FYI for those of you who use PayPal.

My parents just got their bank account cleaned out by someone who got their banking information through PayPal. Their bank, a local bank they’ve been using for years, has been very good about working with them, but the bank representative said that they have had seven similar incidents in the last month, all involving people who linked PayPal accounts to their bank. I know that PayPal represents their system as being very secure, etc., and I’m not saying that everyone is at risk, but I thought I would at least let you all know that it happened so that you can take whatever precautions you think best.

 How it worked was a nominal charge was run through the PayPal account, using the account-holder’s information. Once the charge was paid and the money received, the thief(ves) cleaned out the account within a matter of about 24 hours. I’m not saying that PayPal was at fault – I don’t know, and I don’t know if anyone else knows, other than whoever took the money. I’m just saying that the common link identified by the bank personnel was that all of the thefts involved people whose bank accounts were linked to PayPal. 

His (the bank person’s) suggestion on how to avoid a similar fate was to have a separate account set up that has a debit card that is only linked to that account and no others.  Have a limit on that account, so that the most anyone could withdraw or charge at any time is $XX.  Then, if you have to do so, use that account and that one only, and only transfer or deposit money into it when you are going to make a purchase. 

My thought was, well of course the bank would say that; they get to charge a fee for each account.  In my parents’ case, they don’t get charged a fee because of the type of account they have and because they are senior citizens, so I don’t want to disparage the bank person!  The bank my parents bank with has been wonderful to them, and I am so grateful for that. 

I’m just not sure that the rest of us would be able to get such a deal, so check around to see what your bank recommends.  Maybe you get a pay-as-you-go credit card with a $500 limit that you only use for making online purchases.  Or, maybe you find some other way that works for you.  Maybe none of this even applies to you – I don’t know.  I just wanted to do my little bit to warn people that there were some bad guys out there looking to clean out bank accounts, and that in this one instance, the common factor seemed to be a PayPal connection. 

Forewarned is forearmed.