Saturday, May 21, 2005
“SWEET PEA” We were just sitting around shooting the front porch breeze one sunny afternoon a week or so ago when one talker shifted his rocking chair a bit and lamented what he called the “fact” that our Commonwealth of Virginia - rich in so many ways - did “not have a well-known pro boxer.” ”Not even an uno - not a single one of 'em” And, encouraged by a lack of listings he started calling off all the others - Arthur Ashe in Tennis, someone else suggested Ralph Sampson and the mention of that name reminded some one of Alonzo Mourning, another basketball great from Chesapeake via Miami Heat. Several voices contributed the name Moses Malone, 76ers-Philly... born Petersburg, Va. Quickly, into football: Lawrence Taylor, Williamsburg, NY Giants, Hall of Famer 1999; Bruce Smith, Tech-Bills-Redskins. Before they could jump into Virginia's golf-bag owners, I inserted what was to be my total comment for the session. “How about remembering RING Magazine's 1989 “Boxer of the Year” for 1989? He used was “Sweet Pea” ....and others took over: “Right! “Sweet Pea”, out of my own home town of Norfolk, Virginia.They immediately went into some of the events of Whitaker career, and said he was now retired. Oddly enough my only knowledge about Pernell was the result of writing a story years ago and learning the difference between a WW which he was at times– a Welterweight - and also, when had been seven pounds lighter - a Junior Welterweight. I found there are twenty-three such categories of fisticuff fighters. Sweet Pea Whitaker stayed in the 140-147 pound area which caused him to be listed as WW and JWW. The twenty-three levels go from l05 pounds - called “Strawweight” or “SW.” It would be nice fall if the weights went up in some definite sequence such as five pounds a jump, but such is not the case. If a SW gains 8 pounds he become a SSW which is, the same as a Junior Lightweight Weight” or JLW. You can stay at that weight or gain to 108 pounds and become a LFW (Light Fly Weight”) if you wish ,or a fully fledged fly if your weight edges up to112-pounds. You then work your way up though the Bantams to about 130, 135 and 140 lbs. That's about where “Sweet Pea “ stayed - from JWW-Junior Welterweight which is the same as Super Lightweight at 140 pounds. Imagine! Eight more classes to go! Professional boxer Pernell Whitaker, born January 2, 1964 at Norfolk, Va, was one of the truly great of our time. He was our lightweight medalist at the 1984 Olympic games and held world championships in both Welterweight and Lightweight divisions in his pro-career. A.L.M. May 21, 2005 [c467wds]
Friday, May 20, 2005
MY MAMA'S SAYIN'S All mothers, in caring for their offspring, devise, pilfer, copy or just started saying terse reminders to let their charges know who the real boss was in the home. Such unofficial rules and regulations were, at least in our household, mixed with humor and good cheer. I think my mother sensed that such guidelines to more acceptable and proper conduct were more respected and most effective because they were almost always said with a background which showed we, as a family, had a sense of good humor My grandfather on my mother's side was something of an actor as well as being quite capable and qualified to be a decent carpenter as means of earning a living. He, I think, as a small kid and into teen-hood, wanted to become a jolly musical personage. He ofgen joked about his having gone wrong and allowed himself himself to become what he called "a wood butcher." I have a idea many of mother's sayin's came, a one time or another, from under or through Grandfather John Loeffert's generous mustache. "Never stick anything in you ear except your elbow!" The immediate reaction, of course, was to try what he intimated could not be done. It couldn't and we learned some practical, common sense rules about being careful from a grown man who had been a carpenter all his life and still had all of his fingers. Even if the witticism was not his originally. I've known others who grew up hearing that one, but once they had Grandaddy's stamp of approval they seem to have become his. Every time my older brother and I said anything about going either swimming or fishing - anything associated with water in quantity - mother would usually give her permission by warning: "...but, I don't want to see either one of you come home drown-ded!" If, on an occasion when things were not moving as fast or as well as we thought they could, we'd look dissappointed; frown a lot , make ugly faces to express our displeasure and Mom would comment: "Some day your face is gonna freeze like that!" I still get some verbal mileage out of one such sayin. It's best saved until the Fall of the year in November. Youngters still like it; older folks don't always think it is so funny. When you enter a room where others are present or when others enter a room where you are, issue a loud, friendly greeting announcing " Awright! Awright! You can take that funny face mask off now! Halloween is over!" A.L.M. May 20, 2005 [c441wds]
Thursday, May 19, 2005
DON'T MESS WITH 'EM! I have never actually seen an animal known as a "pangolin".And, from the nature of the talk which I keep hearing about this strange mammal, I think I'd just as soon maintain my distance from them. The feed all night and sleep all day, which is contrary to my liking, for example. And, while they are adequately prepared to defend themselves they have a habit of giving up - simply rolling themselves into a ball and lying still pretending danger is not really close by or even in the area. When threatened, they pull in their retractable legs - all four of them - and ,as their very name says in Malay - literally roll themselves into tight, scaly balls . The would appear to be like giant doodlebugs facing up to danger by pretending it isn't really there. Their very name means "to roll up" in the Malay language They have strong legs and simply retract all four of them when they feel they are threatened; roll up tightly. The sharp edges of their scales stick out a bit like razor-edged knives so finders who think they can be keepers have some second thoughts about taking possession thereof and they seldom kick the balls around a second time. Pangolins sleep that way all day in the crotch of a tree, a stump or a cliff side opening. They have a have a prehensile tail, scale-studded, which they can used to hang from a limb and which can be used defensively with amazing agility. They also have scent glands very much like those of the skunk and spray their foes in a like manner . Very few pangolins remain. It is partly due to their non-aggressive habits but their skins are very much in demand for the making of belts, straps and shoes and boots of all kinds. There is also a soup on the side menu at many native eating places, as well. There are eight species. None of them have teeth. Being primarily eaters of bugs they have little need for dentures, but they do have a tongue that merits special comment. The long-tailed type measures, perhaps, three feet in length; the giant model comes to about six feet in length and that one has a tongue that measures two feet in length. and the base of the tongue is anchored to the pangolin's hip bones which suggests the leverage they have at their command. It can run on two feet , too, in a chase. In have no particular plans to visit Central Africa or Southeastern Asia - the two termite-infested spots on Earth pangolins love best. I say leave 'em be ... right where they are. A.L.M. May 9, 2005 [c461wds]
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
STRAWS As far as I know, the meaning of the old saying that had to do with "grabbing at straws" has not been modified. It declared a feature or fact of life to have become obsolete or modernized to get rid of the old horse and buggy era term "straw". The old, established meaning, for me a least for me, has always been that when a person in distress feels all is about lost and that a deluge is overdue which may strip away all that their wealth - even their lives - such persons will reach out for any kind of support. They, in desperation, will grasp at straws. Recently, as successful series of television program have reached that point a when those in charge making them start thinking "this is enough" patterns. Unspoken reason behind such moves will prove to be money and the ability to make additional funds available from reruns and other uses of TV properties. "Raymond" was the last to go." And, production people - and writers in particular - very wisely avoided trying do a show that was supposed tool outdo everything they had done. Instead they used snippets, clips, whole chunks and routines from various "Raymond" shows to exhibit the breadth of talent the people possessed and used with such wisdom. Maybe you have a feeling, as I did , that they were parading more others than of Raymond himself ...which the show itself did when it was really rolling. His brother, his parents across the street, his co-workers, his wife - they were all featured. People like that in a hero to worship and Raymond has a loyal following of viewer's who see him always as a modest, unassuming , smart and and street-smart as well. Always humorous, too rather than comical; an individual somehow above just a comedian in their definitions and yet not a stuffy thespian, either. The best shows are dying off. That's not an elegant way to say it, but that's the way TV viewers are saying it. Count 'em, yourself - from "M A.S.H.", if you like. Your favorites - dropping off one by one like ripened fruit. It is to be expected. It is natural. That's the way the crumpet crumbles. Now, the grasping at straws... It is being done by TV production people all the way up and down the complicated chain in and out of agencies, individuals with their whims and wishes, groups, schools, labs, arty enclaves of experimental education, labs as well as slob-centered groups who feel they alone are aware of just what tomorrow's TV shows must be. The people now charged with replacements of the departing shows have had a dismal record. Each group feels it to be incumbent upon them that they must issue bulletins concerning fined show which will replace the departing favorite. Thus far, they seem to have trouble keeping viewers away from watching reruns on "those other channels." You may also have noticed that "those others" always mentioned the final Raymond show was in the offing. I am sure scores of viewers think they saw the final "Raymond" show. Seeing a worthy replacement is a long way down the TV production road. A.L.M . May 18, 2005 [c537wds]
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
EVERY MINUTE As I read the day's news I am often struck by the frequency of deceptions in the events of the day. How could people be so dumb? At the same time, I am aware that people may be looking at me and having identical thoughts about my actions, lack of them, odd decisions and, at times, some strange ways. I suppose we are all likely candidates for being victims of con schemes...expecially self-induced ones. We can all be conned in a wide variety of ways, I'm sure. A common area for such willingness to be scammed can been seen today in the medical and health products fields. Any figures you care to come up with will, in all likelihood, be away off base in estimating the amount of money spent on fake medications or diluted substances. Fraud and deceptions are running rampant in the medical field and just about all of us have fallen victim to them at one time or another....unwittingly or knowingly under the guise of curiosity and adventurous experimentation.. The weakness is evident many segments of our society. The victims of deception are to be found educated and affluent are a prime target for such deceptive practices as well. They are a costly target as well, because they have a marked tendency not to tell others how they have been "taken" . Less than legal business practices are, tempting to the newly rich, in particular. It's part of "Sudden Wealth Syndrome" which we are hearing about in this time of new millionaires being created faster than ever before. Health fads fool more people than we might imagine. Many such schemes operate -some legally (more or less) - for many years and build large followings. Thousands of people are "taken" daily by so-call vitamin products in pills and capsule form.... all colors, all sizes and shapes, shaped and styled to suit the imagined need of men, women and children. The edge of the medical field is also home to far too many charlatans practice pseudo-doctor careers at great profit - preying on the aged and infirm. "Man's gambling instincts often rule our lives far more than we admit. The readiness to be conned is evident in just about every field of man's varied occupational interests. No one is totally immune. Deception leads to intolerance, too. Racial and ethnic differences are turned from mole hills into mountains for monetary reasons and thousands of people "buy into" such tangential thinking, a great cost to all of us. Few of us escape the common enemy of fraud. "Charity" campaigns often play on our gullible nature to forward other ends. We all need to re-examine our thinking along these lines from time-to-time....especially concerning "self-deceptions." A.L.M. May 17, 2005 [c474wds]
Monday, May 16, 2005
BETTER In recent weeks we have all started to see more and more outline maps of Central American nations as well as those of nation of the lower half of this western hemisphere in our papers...from Mexico on down. This geographical switch is part of another round of Trade Agreements - this time with those nations to the south. I have a feeling it is the best suggestion we have heard thus far Remember the last time we did that? Ross Perot warned of a dreaded "sucking sound" of our economy oozing elsewhere.By this time we all know the "sound".It is very real.. It is very real and we a just beginning to realize here in the United States share of such profits have moved elsewhere and that the suggest plan has some redeeming qualities we might find to our advantage. We have No on can claim one system to be the "best", but it does seem this new plan found that the old marketing concept of supply and demands and in need of some changes.. We could determine quite accurately how profits from that exchange and it was, for the most part, a mutually interactive procedure. The present system, as it has evolved, dictates by scarcity what, when and whom one might buy a product or service locally. Profits go to foreign governments distant and also removed from our social structure in so many ways. We have, at last, come understand that our industrial capacity is a thing of the past. It no longer exists and we have become a dependent, recipient, consuming nation relying more and more on foreign ownership. Profits go there; not here. We are finding more reasons daily to be concerned about the products and services to which we have become accustomed; certain. products or services we deemed to be important for the survival of our selves and of our families of four or five individuals. We were not concerned so much with luxury items but with those much-needed things - clothing, housing, food, medical supplies and equipment gadgets to pride better better communications one with the other, and, in many cases, some support in funding various institutions we deemed to be of special value: churches, schools, hospitals, or worthy charity needs. The new suggested plan shifts some of the industrial manufacturing activities closer to home as a welcome mans of earning stability and building pride in accomplishment for our neighbors. I say - go for it. A.L.M. May 16, 2005 c426wds]
Sunday, May 15, 2005
THE RIGHT MOVES It happened during our last presidential election, I'd say, that voters were heard discussing quite openly and seriously, the possibilities of our electing a woman as President of the United Nations. The "some day" element was no longer a part of the suggestions. The word "maybe" was discarded. Two names kept coming to the forefront, and each with good reason. Hillary Clinton was, perhaps, the leader in most of the earlier suggestions and I remember Elizabeth Dole being suggested as a possible candidate. There were others but it was Hillary Rodham Clinton who, more or less led, the short parade in the earlier days. Then, with the Bush administration the name Condoleezza Rice took hold, wavered a bit, perhaps, but steadied as she moved into prominence - first as wartime advisor to our President then as Secretary of State following a man who will long be remembered for his generous endorsment of her. As such she became something more than advisor in any limited sense. She became an active participant in actual events which become our history. Since that time, many voters have been watching and listening as each can be plainly seen making prepreparations of such runs. One is a dedicated Democrat who has, in her Senatorial capacities, been rapidly back-paddling to take on a somewhat more conservative or middle-ground aspect prior to election time. The other, a Republicana would face and opponent who has had full-term, first-hand experience serving as the nation's First Lady and owner of valuable inside-the-beltway living know-how. Our purpose is not to conduct a plebesite in which the relatived popularity of the two personalities is judged but rather one to deal with government problems. Such an election would be a glittering one, no doubt. but with the actual citizens voting ...but rather the political ideas they stand for and espouse in the public forums. To many people -primarily non-voters - the election will be "Hillary" or "Conde". We will have many such feminine trappings too our election but, basically it will be much of what it has been. Underneath all such interest in such an election there are two facts, we don't about which can kill all interest in any such contest. Hillary must show she is not Bill. And, Condaleeza must deal with being black. A.L.M. May 14, 2005 [402wds]
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