Blergh

By virtually all accounts, Stephen King appears to be a very nice, amiable person but I'm rather puzzled as to why he writes such disturbing stuff. I know he can write whatever he wants and there's a market for it but, really, was there truly a need to revisit a tale about an evil clown who terrifies children on a horrific scale in an otherwise nostalgic small town? What's most unsettling here is that, like the "Star Wars" novelizations, this seems to be reveling in evil and sadism rather than focusing on having good triumph over evil.

OK, here's one for the Royals: during World War II the future Queen Elizabeth II learned to take apart and fully put together again a truck engine and, whenever possible on her estates, would drive herself in her own car past her 90th Birthday!

I agree! We had that happen in my city when they decided to finally sell wine in regular stores so that meant there was suddenly every store got a huge section to put in wines and moved everything else around to hither and yon! Not a bad point re easily finding stuff online but at least one can still inspect and smell produce up close in the stores BEFORE buying -unlike online.

True that- to say nothing of having 20 and 30 somethings look at you with completely blank stares when one talks of anyone who did anything worthwhile before 1990! To keep ontopic, it's been nearly 30 years but I STILL miss Lucy as though she was a member of my family! I hope I don't have to spell out WHICH Lucy I'm talking about.

OK, here's one about the Cheddar Man and his possible hundreds-times great-grandson. It seems around 1900, some folks in Cheddar, England (yes, the home of that variety of cheese), discovered the skeleton of this prehistoric inhabitant in a cave. Anyway in 1997, for laughs and giggles, they tested about 20 folks living in the area and discovered that a 40 something male history teacher had the same mitochondrial DNA as the Cheddar Man's tooth and the history teacher lived just about a mile and a half from the cave! Yep, not only would that mean that the teacher's family somehow was able to stick around despite invasions/ occupations by Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings, etc., but that likely there were several hundred generations of women who said the same thing to their mates/husbands :' You never take me ANYwhere!'.

Thanks for clarifying that, Haleth! OK, to bring this back on topic, here's one I can't stand despite the fact that I admire her valiant fight against cancer, Sharon Osbourne. While I seriously believe that her longtime union with Ozzy contributed to her less likable personality traits, I'm sorry I but she just come across as someone best admired from a distance -if that.

I believe it! And don't folks realize how unprofessional and indifferent they look while chewing it on the job? Of course, I haven't attempted gum in decades mainly because I got tired of trying to find trash cans to throw away the ABC variety (and even as a tiny child, I knew there was no 'gum fairy' to collect it from beneath chairs and tables). Thankfully, I see FAR less ABC gum beneath chairs and tables nowadays than in my youth!

Spunkygal, I imagine the best way to get a ballpark deal is to think back what it meant for those survivors of the 2005 Tsunami and dial it back a little re factoring in better access to food, medicine and treatments than folks in Sri Lanka and coastal Thailand would have in the best of times. Yes, all the accounts of the youths, elderly and those with physical challenges having to contend with all those issues are rather heartbreaking. However; I'm also wondering if this could herald more outbreaks of Zika Virus with all the standing water and mosquitos!

Wait! You can't stand the late Natalie Wood? To each their own but yeesh (if that's the case)! Moreover, I don't recall her ever being on TV except for the occasional interview!

OK, since this is the landmark anniversary, I'll say this: while I do believe that the BULK of the failure of the Waleses' union was with Prince Charles, I can't help but think that Diana contributed to it by the fact that ,despite having known the Royals her entire life due to her own family's close ties with them, she went into the union with somewhat naive ideas about what it meant becoming one. Moreover, I think she was enthralled with the idea of becoming a Princess and was hoping to eventually learn to love Charles for himself (and that he'd do the same for her) in the process but to say it didn't work that way is an understatement. However; it did give her two sons she adored and she was able to help so many folks as well as bring to light so many desperate causes that had been hithero ignored or derided. Oh, and as far back as George III, royals had been active participants in charities and outreaches so what Diana did was not new in itself but her example helped them rediscover a good part of their positive purposes.

And to think, I actually liked Fergie more than Diana when I first heard of her. Well, at least this frenzied 'landmark anniversary' coverage has little if anything to do with Fergie.

Oddly enough, I like the new Orbit gum one in which this teen girl's parents come home early and are about to walk into her room- at which point her swain insists she hand him his jeans. The swain sees the gum in his jeans's pocket then puts a piece in his mouth. Next thing we see he introduces himself to the parents as Tom- shirtless but wearing his underwear OVER his jeans but her parents oddly smile at him! How (or why) he'd have put on his underwear over the jeans in the moments it took for her father to open the door is a bit puzzling, though. LOL

You know what my biggest stress is re caring for my 80-something mother? The fact that she still wants to care for ME with the very same attention to detail she did when I was a child and refuses to consider that she can't do everything she used to do as quickly, efficiently or even safely that she once did. Seriously, I'm VERY grateful that she loves me, wants the best for me and KNOWS who I am( since I know many folks her age have even forgotten who they were much less who their offspring were). However; I have this fear she'll overdo it and wind up in serious trouble despite the fact that we're connected even when I'm at work 24/seven thanks to New Millennial technology. I also start get worried if she doesn't pick up the phone in under three rings when I call her. I'm also thankful that she has a great many friends and family she keeps close touch with and is very keen on staying on top of what's going on (though, considering how upset news can get her, I do try to encourage her not to do more than necessary).

Anyone else see this in their locale yet? HALLOWEEN store displays over two months before the actual event! ARGH!! Come on. I know summer's over, the kids are back-to-school but can't they just let folks have normal non-holiday downtime for even a few weeks in the stores before having to hype displays and costumes that'll likely be ignored/forgotten about by those few folks' kids who successfully pester their folks to buy? Sadly, I'm already anticipating the hours-long 'downtime' between Halloween and Christmas Day that'll happen in the wee hours of November 1st. Boo.

I liked Mr. Thomas on "Cheers" but, alas he shot himself in the foot re dissing Miss Perlman's looks on a radio show, which [surprise] Miss Perlman heard about and that's why Eddie Le Bec suddenly bit the big one and his character was postmortemly trashed. RIP, Mr. Thomas.

I'm not naive to the possibility of someone else having tried on said shoes or salespersons not being completely vigilant re customer hygiene but I think it would be less likely a scenario via a shoe store where the shoes are in storage until customers try them out than in a no frills-have-at-it cheapo shoe spot. And even a little supervision re footwear beats zero supervision any day!

And let's not forget that Erin had married Paul Northridge in one movie and the closing narration more or less said they'd lived happily ever after but in a later TV movie, they were divorced over his adultery and family snobbery . Oh, and who was working as the Northridge family nanny (the one fetching Erin's kids to their unseen father) Cousin Rose who'd last been seen having married Stanley Perkins (William Shallert) on the show in its last gasps but no mention what might have happened to him OR her grandkids despite all three performers at that point still living and active in the industry. Oh, and not that they were the best characters (and obviously brought in to try to save the show from the impending cliff via 'cute kids') but I always hated that after a year of Cousin Rose lamenting that she'd had to take them from their alcoholic father (her own son) for their safety, the next season they were gone with the only explanation that their alcoholic father had remarried so that's why they weren't there (as if a new wife would be more successful in keeping a violent drunk from going back on the sauce and protecting children than his own mother had been). I mean, even if this had happened with Cousin Rose being powerless to stop it but trying to make the best of it, one would think a protective grandmother would have at least moved back to the same city to at least be within easy reach just in case this union went kablooey and the kids needed her help. But she stayed on Walton's Mountain right up to her marriage to Stanley and never once mentioned them again.

I got what you're saying, Quof! This brings to mind another pet peeve. I'd also like to say that I've seen too many folks there (as well as some other chain stores) trying on loafers, sneakers and sandals without attempting to put on socks or hose. Nope! I'd rather pay a little extra and get shoes some salesperson has to retrieve from a back room than worry about catching Athlete's foot and or another fungus or skin disease merely because others didn't bother to encase their feet for a few seconds in socks or hose while deciding whether to buy the footwear. And I DO wear socks/hose when trying on the footwear before buying a so I don't have to depend on whether the store's hosiery is actually clean.

OK, since I mentioned it in the Pet Peeve thread, it's only apt I bring it up here: I GOT TO SEE THE ECLIPSE WITH MY MOTHER!!!! Neither of us had ever seen a total eclipse before in our lives (and our locale hadn't had one in centuries and won't get another one for a few more centuries). Yay! It was quite amazing to see not only the sun itself look like charcoal but also for the first time in person- the Corona! Also, it was interesting to hear the neighbors cheering and see fireflies come out when day turned into night during that brief time. But most of all, I'm grateful that I WAS able to experience with my 80-something mother and that she got to have that experience.

Actually, I DID see (and live within TOTALITY ) it but my pet peeve is that I wish it had lasted longer and today seems a bit anticlimactic- especially having to return to work. At least I'll get to share that experience with my colleagues there. I know, it's a first world problem and I have to deal with it on my own. But it's STILL a pet peeve until I've done so.

How could I have overlooked it but today's Uno Wutt seems to have brought light to my abiding dislike: Geraldo Rivera. NEVER could stand him but what was especially revolting was the way he'd try to ape being Phil Donahue re crying crocodile mawkish tears for victims of horrific abuse that he had no qualms exploiting all over again on his show . Meanwhile, it was public record that not only did he treat marriage as a joking revolving door but also was alleged to have been just about as bad to other women as his victims excuse me, talk show guests had happened to them. I mean, at least Phil Donahue was sincere in his empathy for the guests on his show and had no accusations of being less than honorable to the women in his life! Just UGH!

How did he manage to get those past your mom? Just curious. OK, in honor of tomorrow's Uno Wutt, it should be noted that the Ancient Chinese were about the first to be able to predict solar eclipses . However; even though they knew WHEN these were supposed to happen, they believed that this meant that a Celestial Dragon would be trying to EAT the sun . Hence; it was imperative that they'd knew in advance so everyone would be at the ready with drums and gongs to beat to distract said dragon from swallowing the big yellow ball. It seems in 2134 BC, two astronomers failed to do this and all the Chinese up to the Emperor were furious at how close they'd dodged the bullet with the dragon so when they found the astronomers had been drunk, the emperor had them beheaded for their negligence nearly causing the world to end.

So will France fly its flags at half-mast with this news of Mr. Lewis? I wonder if the upcoming Labor Day Telethon will attempt any kind of tribute despite the not entirely-friendly parting of ways. Considering ALL he survived, it's a bit of a shocker! RIP, Mr. Lewis.

Fairly good article re Dansk Cookie boxes, Giselle (though I'd have preferred reading a small summary here rather than just click to the link but that's just MO). Anyway, that's gotten me to think about the fact that for over a half century, my mother's kept my sibs' and my own baby teeth in her jewelry box. I wonder how many other folks' mothers have done the same- and has anyone actually gone to the trouble of doing a survey to find out if what percentage of women have kept their descendants' and/or other relatives' baby teeth in jewelry boxes.

Thank you- and, of course, it ALSO seems to mean that everyone who doesn't fit in the lockstep conformist mold needs to be nagged,pressured, etc. to take bunches of pills they may not need (never mind that nonconformists managed to survive and even thrive for millenia without medications others now seem to think are as vital as air)! I know our POVs aren't the most trendy or popular but I thank you for saying this!