Ahhh, yes!

"The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists in the circulation of the blood."
-- Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)

Hmm... might be something to this...

The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
--Pascal

Simple Acts

Despite my father’s courageous efforts to care for my mother at home, he was finally unable to do so and placed her in an Alzheimer’s unit of a nursing village. There, surrounded by the other residents similarly stricken, she passed the last few months of her life in caring surroundings with support from my father and two of my sisters and their families who lived in the area. On one of my visits, I had a chance to be with my mother during lunch, which was served restaurant style with four residents to a nicely set table. One of the women eating with my mother had lost all but her faintest memories and like most of her friends at the home struggled with her speech. She had been served her meal first and her companions’ food seemed to be a long time in coming. Her food was getting cold. After a few minutes, she looked down at her lunch and then catching the eyes of her friends, said, “If I may.” Then, and only then, did she begin eating . This simple act of politeness, summoned from her failing mind, seemed to me an act of fortitude. How easy it would have been to forgo such social niceties under the circumstances. Who, amid the crinkling of waterproof undergarments, the shuffling feet, and the often vacant stares, would have been expected to recall and abide by a rule of etiquette that is, for the most part, now abandoned in general society? She followed the rule because she did not wish to show disrespect to her friends no matter their status or condition, and in doing so bestowed grace to her companions, dignity to herself, and humility to me.

Worst Songs Ever Written?

A posting from another blog prompts me to write this:

At the risk of offending lots of people, t's time to say that "Annie's Song," by John Denver is, perhaps, the worst song ever written (before I go further I should add that I do like some of John Denver's music, OK? so there). Anyway, I wonder why you never see this on any of the "worst song" lists. It consists of a list of hackneyed similes sung against a "nothing" melody. It's as if he was making up the song as he went along and..failing badly. ...well, you be the judge:
******
You fill up my senses, like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime,
Like a walk in the rain,
Like a storm on the desert,
Like a sleepy blue ocean,
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
**********
Come fill me again? COME FILL ME AGAIN? How bad is that? And the second verse is even worse.
John Lennon's "Imagine" might be worse but not much.

Well, here's something interesting

Wednesday, January 4, 2006
By Stefanie Kranjec
TORONTO (Reuters) - Giving homeless alcoholics a regular supply of booze may improve their health and their behavior, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Tuesday.
Seventeen homeless adults, all with long and chronic histories of alcohol abuse, were allowed up to 15 glasses of wine or sherry a day -- a glass an hour from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. -- in the Ottawa-based program, which started in 2002 and is continuing.
After an average of 16 months, the number of times participants got in trouble with the law had fallen 51 percent from the three years before they joined the program, and hospital emergency room visits were down 36 percent.
"Once we give a ''small amount'' of alcohol and stabilize the addiction, we are able to provide health services that lead to a reduction in the unnecessary health services they were getting before," said Dr. Jeff Turnbull, one of the authors of the report.
"The alcohol gets them in, builds the trust and then we have the opportunity to treat other medical diseases... It''s about improving the quality of life."
Three of the 17 participants died during the program, succumbing to alcohol-related illnesses that might have killed them anyway, the study found.
The report showed that participants in the program drank less than they did before signing up, and their sleep, hygiene, nutrition and health levels all improved.
The per capita cost of around C$771 ($660) a month was partially offset by monthly savings of C$96 a month in emergency services, C$150 in hospital care and C$201 in police services per person.
Turnbull said some of the people enrolled in the program had stopped drinking altogether, although that was not an option for many of the participants.
"We agree 100 percent that abstinence is the most appropriate route," he said. "But in this subset of people where abstinence has failed, there is still a need to provide care."

Museum of Yo-Yo History

I suppose that of the few people who frequent this blog, I'm the only one old enough to remember when yo-yo's were an everyday fun toy. For a year or so, I remember bringing one to school nearly every day where I would match my yo-yo prowess against the "other fellers." I do believe that I had an almost exact replica of the Duncan yo-yo shown here (complete with jewels). Anyway, it's a fun site to browse.
http://www.theyoyomuseum.com/