Tuesday, June 27, 2000

Sun sense for adults

Your Lifebeat section today warns parents: " Childhood

    burns can kill years later ".   I guess it is just human

    nature to worship the gods that will kill you. How benign

    sunlight can feel on the human body. Unlike cigarette smoke,

    a little of it , IS good for you.

               I have noticed that little league ball players

    spend hours on a scorching afternoon exposed to the intense

    radiation of a merciless sun . No evidence of sun screen

    lotion on their arms or faces !    I guess their coaches

    are well-rounded idiots .

               On a blazing hot summer day, it makes me sick

    to see  grown ups emerge from those horrid tanning salons :

    30 Days for $30 !

              Isn't that hole in the ozone layer perilous enough ?

        Why do adults pay good money for  a prune face and a

    " Look Ma I've got hepatitis " complexion ?

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Again on bad manners

I ordered breakfast today at a small restaurant on the campus

    of the University of Rhode Island. The restaurant employs mostly

    students -judging from their topics of conversations and their

    bad manners .

         Just as I was handed my breakfast, I heard the 20 something

    counter girl say loud enough for every customer to hear : " In

    just two months, I'll never have to serve food to anybody again ! "

         Well EXCUSE ME -a paying customer - for making your present

    life so unpleasant !

            Her rudeness was followed by inane babble about getting

    married someday in a rose garden in Scotland,  the unattractiveness

    of a male customer who had his hair too long or too short, a

    young post man -lacking ambition - who was too fond of older women...

    etc.

          The girl will be attending Emerson College in Boston. A

    future obnoxious thespian, perhaps ? Or the dear wife of some

    infatuated fool ?

          Am I still idealistic in believing that people ultimately

    get what they deserve in life ?

        What does Miss Manners think ?

Lovecraft correction

Yes, " Swan Point Cemetery is home to anyone who was

    anyone in the Ocean State . "  But your excellent article on

    this " sylvan refuge for repose and recreation " ( June 15. Metro )

    incorrectly identifies our world famous author H.P. Lovecraft as

    a " science fiction " writer.  In fact - I'll quote the Encyclopedia

    American here - he was an " American writer of horror -fantasy

    fiction ". And indeed hailed by critics as  the " inventor of

    modern horror. "

           Writes one Robert Jon Wheeler : " Science fiction is

    separated from fantasy by the believability of the ideas presented. "

         As a philosophical materialist, H.P. Lovecraft could not possibly

    have believed his own very weird tales.

         For an insight into his strange personality, I recommend

     S.T. Joshi's recent biography ( reviewed in the Projo ).

Saturday, June 17, 2000

73 year old on BAD MANNERS

There is a little bit of Old China in me,  I guess . So I

    listen when an old man speaks :

           " Unfortunately rudeness is becoming an increasing propensity

    in the United States. I know full well that I am 73+ but in my

    mind the people under 30 years of age in this wonderful country

    are the rudest, most impolite, arrogant, inconsiderate Americans I

    have ever known ! Not only are they rude in almost everything

    they do; they do not give a damm ! "

            What went wrong ? With the world becoming more and

    more crowded, are not MANNERS  even more important than

    laws in making everyday life bearable ?

             The 73 old gentleman reported that he called a

    store customer to tell her that he had found $250 of

    her money on the floor. She did not even say THANK YOU !

           I would have thanked him AND kissed his ass !