Opinion

Item:  My grandson, Rex, stopped by with all his gear after baseball the other day and we played Wicket Pong, previously known as Cricket Ping Pong.  After he beat me two owls to two thimbles, basically 8-2 in ten twelve-tile games, I found something on the table that I thought was an elbow guard.  I asked him about it, wondering aloud as I fitted it to the bend of my arm if he had two of them.  As a catcher he had lately been hit on the arm by ball and bat, and I had suggested he get some extra protection.  He informed me he only had one, and that the thing was his cup.  I washed my hands,

  It’s old news that I don’t like fragranced things.  No perfumed soaps, sprays, cones, plugins, or sheets for the dryer would ever be in my house if I had complete say so.  But lately I’ve discovered a practical use for scented candles.

Many government organizations have started to add marketing professionals to their staff. In some ways it is understandable that these organizations have a desire to make sure that they can highlight the successes that the organization has achieved. They want to control the narrative to make sure that small issues do not get blown out of proportion. 

"A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader."

- Golda Meir Former Prime Minister of Israel

Is Hernando County Open for Business; Maybe

Beginning with the year I Dream of Jennie premiered, and for about three years after, when my sister took over the job for a while, I was a walking, talking TV guide.  I had poor grades in math and science, passable grades in most other subjects, and was flunking history, but whenever Dad handed me that thin, stapled magazine I memorized, with one glance through its pages, every show, movie, and special on every channel for the entire week.  Of course, at that time there were only the three networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

It seems that many journalists struggle with the balance between reporting on what is happening and attempting to affect change. Often the choice of stories seems to coincide with legislative agendas. If congress is discussing prison sentencing reform there are many articles on individual cases where the outcome seems unfair. 

In the television culture of my family, power failures and technical difficulties were dreaded enemies.  I remember well my moments of anguish, when I was young in ‘68, sitting in the dark, unable to believe or even comprehend the sudden unplugging of my brain from the TV and the plunging of my senses into the eerie darkness and silence of a dead house.  Or, when it was a glitch in the broadcast, angrily whispering “Come on! Come on!

What I use to play "Two Points Wicket," a cross between cricket and ping pong

At first my wife called her new cats Lavern and Shirley.  But then our granddaughter, Sneaks, identified one as a male, so my wife decided on Agatha and Holmes.  I told her that didn’t make sense. If one is named after Agatha Christie, the other should be named after Arthur Conan Doyle: Christie and Doyle.  Or even better, Marple and Holmes; just don’t mix authors and characters! But my wife is confusedly insistent.