You Don't Say

News worthy?

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:04:24 +0000

I am a big fan of good news and of positive outlooks. I think that one of the nicest things about The Times Dispatch is that we don’t just focus on the gloom and doom of today’s society. There is always a positive bent to the paper overall.

Most of us suffer from news overload. Our ears and eyes are assaulted with sensationalized headlines from the time we wake up until we go to sleep. The news channels on television are in such a hurry to report the latest scoop that they don’t stop to get all the facts anymore, but rely mostly on shocking us with a barrage of images and staccato sentences to emphasize the enormity of the event no matter how trivial it might be.

Sensational journalism is not new. I suppose the forerunner of this type of journalism was gossip. Gossip takes some truths and some speculations and presents it as fact. This is not sound reporting, but for many it’s the only type they are exposed to.

If every news media tried to find something positive to report along with the bad, perhaps there would be more hope in the world. Something we all desperately need.

Good news is rapidly disappearing from our broadcasts and from our newspapers. Thankfully The TD still manages to find space for it.

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Close but no cigar

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:24:28 +0000

I have always been interested in words and phrases. We have a lot of peculiar phrases in our language and sometimes I wonder how they came about. Phrases often were derived from a specific use. One of these phrases has come my way lately — close but no cigar.

I never really thought about what the words meant but generally accepted that the phrase meant one hadn’t actually hit the nail on the head. That’s one cliché for another.

After a little investigation I found that the phrase originated in the 1930s as carnival lingo to tell a patron who had fallen just short of winning the prize of a cigar that he was a loser.

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A good report

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:49:25 +0000

Eight months ago I started insulin therapy for treatment of my diabetes. I really hated the thought of sticking myself with a needle every day for the rest of my life. Now, with the addition of yet another drug to my daily medications, I am up to three shots a day.

I often feel like a pincushion and look like I came out the looser in a boxing match. Sometimes I get down in the dumps about the whole thing and feel as if nothing is ever going to be right again.

Then there are those moments when things seem to take a turn for the better. I had one of those last week when I went for my regular checkup.

My doctor came in carrying my chart and asked me what in the world I had been doing. My heart plummeted and I was expecting the worse.

He waved the papers he was carrying at me and finished his query with, “because your glucose levels have really dropped. These results are half of what they were last time.”

Then he grinned and said, “I think I get bragging rights for this!”

My sigh of relief was probably audible clear out in the waiting room.

With the upcoming holidays temptation will be everywhere. My next checkup is in January, and I hope that my doctor will still have bragging rights.

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To clone or not to clone

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:01:55 +0000

I had a brief moment of nostalgia recently when I ran across a website devoted to obsolete computers.

We still have an original IBM PC, which only has two floppy disks (the 5-1/4 inch variety), no hard drive and basically runs on 16 KB of RAM.

Next we had an IBM XT (extended technology) system. When the XT arrived on the scene with a five-megabyte hard drive, this was the ultimate in computer technology. It ran on PC-DOS and BASIC. No more swapping out floppy disks or running out of room to store information. Five megabytes was an impossibly large amount of room and no one could possibly fill it up. Unfortunately we found a way.

Then the IBM AT (Advanced Technology) was developed and was it ever a hotrod computer. It could hold up to 16 megabytes of RAM and support a 20-megabyte hard disk. I ran AT systems for years and years.

These systems were for the most part stable. Occasionally a floppy disk would bite the dust, especially if your mother pinned it to the fridge with a magnet. They ran day in and day out and seemed to be virtually indestructible.

We had other computers as well, Commodore 64, Atari 400 and 800 and Apple II. It wasn’t until the “Clone” became available that computers hit the mainstream. Everyone was learning computer technology. Even I could change cards and mount hard drives. Now I want a cross and holy water to approach a computer.

Anyway, if you have one of the old “boat anchor” computers hanging around and you would like to get it rolling again or you just want to reminisce here’s the website, obsoletecomputermuseum.org.

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Getting the blues

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:26:06 +0000

My husband and I have been going to the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival, FKA The King Biscuit, for many years now. I know folks who have been to all 22 of them.

The King Biscuit is not the granddaddy of blues festivals but it is the largest. Each year there is doubt as to whether it will be happening and somehow each year it does.

This year they brought Pinetop Perkins to the stage. He is the last of the old Helena blues men. He played with Sonny Boy (Rice Miller) Williamson on the old King Biscuit Time radio show.

Also on stage was Sam Carr. Sam is the son of Robert Nighthawk another legendary Helena musician. Sam also played music with Sonny Boy and was a member of his last band.

Sam is ailing and was wheeled on stage in a wheelchair to play one song on the drums. He came straight from the hospital and was taken back there as soon as he finished his performance.

Both of these men have paid their dues over and over again. It will be a shame when we lose them.

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Chain disdain

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:05:16 +0000

Chain letters have always made me crazy. But at least in the good old days of snail mail the things came less often because the sender had to pay for postage and then get them in the mail. Now they just zip through my e-mail at all hours of the day and night.

Threats of retribution and bad luck often accompany them or they whine about friendship. If I’m a real friend I’ll pass them on to all the people I know and continue the chain.

I always break the chain. I do not want to receive it, and I do not want to send it. So far the only bad thing that’s happened to me is that the stuff keeps showing up in my inbox. I guess that’s bad enough.

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Family Time

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:37:54 +0000

Our family just returned from my husband’s family reunion. It’s always the weekend following Father’s Day, but the location changes on a yearly basis.

We gather each year to renew our family ties and meet the newest additions. It is also a time to remember those who are no longer with us.

Our reunions include not only Heyls, but also the blended families of remarried siblings. We all have a great time, and we have become one big family.

If I have had doubts about the need for these once-a-year gatherings, they were laid to rest when Matt, the child of my husband’s brother’s second wife said, “Aunt Viv, let’s not wait so long to get-together again.”

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Is your PC virus free?

Fri, 25 May 2007 13:36:06 +0000

I was surfing the Internet news feeds the other day when I came across an article about a website set up to test the stupidity of computer users.

The website offered a free virus to those who didn’t have one. “Is your PC virus free? Get it infected here!” the site asked and there was a clickable link to get the virus. In the six-month campaign over 400 people chose to get a free virus.

There was no actual virus. The whole setup was an experiment to see whether advertising with an overtly malicious intent would work. It appears it will.

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Ever changing grammar

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:07:40 +0000

As a proofreader I constantly struggle with current usage questions. The English language is a living language and as such it constantly changes and reinvents itself.

The grammar that I learned as a student is still basically sound, but not all of it is still correct. Many of the taboos of a half-century ago no longer pertain and now there is a new list.

In addition to desk references we constantly browse the Internet looking for those sites that provide sound writing advice. As a college student I found myself dreading those long research papers I had to write each year. The Internet would have been a great blessing to me then.

A couple of sites I have found to be particularly helpful are dictionary.com and askoxford.com. Both of these sites deal with current usage and both have several reference tools. They are a wonderful resource for students at any level of study.

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Christmas wishes

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:49:06 +0000

The Christmas season has begun. Some of us look forward to it with real anticipation while some of us dread it.

I love Christmas. It is a time when the people you meet have a smile on their face and they speak to total strangers wishing them a “Merry Christmas.”

My house is already showing signs of the season. A Christmas tree (only one so far), the teddy bear, snowmen and Santa Claus collections are in place. This weekend we will set up the crèche and our old time village. For me Christmas is a time of anticipation and excitement and a time when I can once more look at the world, if only for a moment, with a child’s sense of wonder.

But I can also sympathize with those who dread the day. I often believe I must shoulder all of responsibility for our family’s Christmas experience. I am slowly learning to let go, but still for one month out of the year I try to don a red cape and blue spandex (not attractive, believe me) and create a perfect moment in time.

This year I intend to stop and realize Christmas is not about me. It is about hope, love and compassion. After all the angels sang about peace on earth and good will not about figgy pudding demands.

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