The Savvy Boomer

Lake Superior State University's 2009 list of banished words and phrases:

I agree with most of these but what's wrong with "monkey?"

-green

-carbon footprint or carbon offsetting

-maverick

-first dude

-bailout

-Wall Street/Main Street

-monkey

-icon or iconic

-game changer

-staycation

-desperate search

-not so much

-winner of five nominations

-it's that time of year again

The Motrin ad controversy

It's been a long time since I've had a small child to carry or push so I didn't think much about the controversy lately over the Motrin ad below.  But today I was in a small coffee shop and there were 3 moms in there with strollers the size of a small car.  They were so big that you could hardly see the babies inside.  I made what I thought was a joke saying to an associate that maybe those baby slings should be mandatory for use in confined spaces.  MISTAKE!!  I got a lecture about how they had as much right to be in there as I did blah blah blah.  Fine, but not taking up most of the free space with a 50 kg., $1,000 piece of steel to transport a tiny baby. 

Anyway, I remember when I was living in Asia I hardly ever saw these monstrosities because almost all babies are carried in slings.  It looks more natural to me and space is non-existent in most large cities there.  Sure, it may cause a few extra pains but that's what Motrin is for right?  By the way I don't see anything wrong with the ad but what do I know?

Another study reveals something that I knew over 40 years ago

And so does any other boomer or for that fact, basically anyone who has reached puberty. 

"A U.S. study says women who have more than five alcoholic drinks at one sitting are at increased risk of having unsafe sex and contracting sexually transmitted diseases." (Thanks for the revelation CBC)

And they paid some research firm to study this?  Did someone a few months ago suddenly wonder if there was a correlation between excess drinking and sex?  What's next?  A study to determine if there is a correlation between unprotected sex and women becoming pregnant?

US gas prices a bargain compared to most parts of the world

As a price of 1 US gallon of gasoline at the pump approaches $4, I thought it would be interesting to compare what that same gallon costs in other countries.  The prices below have a lot of conversion factors in them not only because of currency issues but also because the US has their own size gallon that no other country uses any more because most other countries are on the metric system(funny that the US still uses the Imperial system of measurement-I thought they got rid of the British at the Boston Tea Party.)  However, since the majority of readers here are from the U.S., these figures are in US$ for 1 US gallon of gas.   

If you are reading from another country not listed, please leave your cost per liter in the comments and I'll convert and add it here.

US-$4
Canada and Australia $5
South Africa $5.75
South Korea-$7.25
European Union and U.K.-$8-9
Venezuela .20

So unless you want to move to Venezuela or Saudi Arabia (I couldn't find any prices but I'm sure they must be low), stay put in the US because you have the lowest prices.

Conversation with a Chinese university student about Tibet

I still have contact with some of my University students I taught in Korea.  Last night I was online when a student from Beijing who is studying in  Korea popped up on Google chat.  After a couple of minutes, this short exchange took place.  I've enhanced the student's English and grammar but haven't changed the meaning.

Me:  How do you feel about what is happening in Tibet?
Student:  What do you mean?

Me:  Aren't you aware that there have been riots by Tibetan monks?
Student: Yes I did hear there was some trouble, but that is a Chinese problem so the Chinese authorities are handling it.

Me:  But there are reports of people being killed by the Chinese army.
Student:  That may not be true but if it is, that is unfortunate.  You know though that Chinese people are very happy with their lives so if it is for the common good of all Chinese people, then  we must accept it.  That is our culture.  We must all do what is best for everyone, not just a few.

Me:  Don't you think this will harm China's global position with other countries in the west?
Student:  But why?  This is China's concern, not other countries.  We accept how other countries are different from China.  In China, if you break our laws, you must be punished.  It does not always seem to be that way in America.  For example; if someone sells drugs in China, they are executed but not in America because of their court system but we do not interfere, so how can we allow other countries to interfere with our country?  We respect other cultures and ways so we hope everyone can do the same with us.

Sorry my American friends but just what the heck is going on down there?

For those of you who are not regular readers, I must re-state that in general I love Americans and the U.S.A. but as I posted a while ago, the U.S. primary process is a mystery to us foreigners.  It is however actually interesting for some of us to watch the process whereby your two parties choose a Presidential candidate.  I was a bit surprised McCain made it so easily, but what do I know? 

Now, Clinton and Obama do represent the same party right?  I mean if they are trying to kick the crap out of each other like this, poor McCain must wonder what the winner is going to have in store for him.  There really is something to be said for the Canadian method of selecting a leader.  The party bigwigs cloister themselves in a room somewhere in the nether regions of Canada, whack the crap out of one another and after a few days of god only knows what kind of deal making and debaucheries, emerge, all united behind the new leader with very little dirty laundry spilled over into the press.  It may not be great theater, but it's over quickly and the leaders spend all their time denouncing each other, not people within their own party.

Now, as I questioned in the previous post, the whole bit about Michigan and Florida which have a combined population of about 30 mil not having any say in the process just seems ludicrous.  How can the supposedly most democratic nation on earth disallow 10% of their population's vote not to count?  And I watch CNN to try and make some sense out of it all but they treat it as though it's a political right not to be questioned.  And now the 2 Democratic camps are fighting over the question of whether or not those votes should indeed be held.  DUH!!  This dumb Canuck could have told you the answer to that a few weeks ago.  Meanwhile, McCain must be loving this farce.

I just get confuseder and confuseder.   Can anyone explain this to me  in plain language?

My "Elvis" brother would have turned 16 today

How can a leading edge boomer have a 16 year old brother you ask?  Actually, he would have been 64 today but because he was born on Feb 29 1944, my parents used to tease him that he could only celebrate his birthday once every 4 years.  On his 16th birthday, his friends came over with a birthday cake that said "Happy 4th Birthday Elvis." 

Elvis was the man back then having just completed his army stint and my brother Karl looked like, dressed like, talked like, acted like and spent hours combing his hair like Elvis (he was blond but had his girlfriend dye it black, much to our mother's chagrin.)   Even though he couldn't sing, the girls all loved him and the guys who weren't his friend were scared to death of him because his reputation for fighting and never losing was quite legendary in our small town teenage community considering his young age.   

Star$ closes their coffee shops for retraining-WTF?

They should just keep these overpriced, condescending, slow service, bad coffee making joints closed forever.  I stopped patronizing Starbucks last July for reasons mentioned in this post.  I can understand why they think they should retrain all their java jocks or as they like to incorrectly call them, baristas-because their special coffees such as lattes are just this side of dishwater with hot milk mixed in.  Since I have stopped drinking their weak but yet still somehow burnt excuse for coffee, I have found dozens of great shops that make much better coffee and have people who don't look at you like you are from another planet if you don't know their cluster f$%k jargon they require you to understand before you can even order the sewer swill they brew.

Why they would need 3 1/2 hours to retrain people how to push a couple of buttons is beyond me.  But this promise from the WSJ article intrigues me:

"The Seattle coffee giant said that, starting Wednesday morning, it is promising customers that their drink should be made perfect every time. If not, the company is urging customers to let the barista know and they will remake it correctly."

I may have to capitulate and call a short truce on my boycott so that I can see just how many times they are willing to remake that drink (What? they can't even call it coffee now?) before they ask me to leave.  I'll be sure to take my video camera along on that visit.