Small Things Count

Consider movie rating-descriptions: “Adult Language” and “Adult Content.”  The first one means that most of the language will be made up of words that can’t be used at work, among social groups, or within your family.  The word-choice indicates not a reasonably educated adult but a person who stopped learning when he left the locker room or the sixth-grade playground.

The second means the movie will contain wild sex that occurs only in the dreams of men.  Plus nudity that shows off bodies that appear only on film-sets and the dreams of women.  People will hurt each other with objects they find handy but aren’t lying around my home.  They don’t worry about the just-finished car payments on the vehicles they blow up.  Overall, the more blood and violence, the better.

Is this the definition of “adult” that we want our kids to adopt?  Why do we accept it”?  There has to be a better term.  Maybe ratings like “LLL” (Locker Room Language) and DDD (Deluded Demo-man Daydreams).  Please, anything but “Adult.”

Yes, a cell phone is convenient—when I want to use it.  But I have so many reasons to hate it.  For example, if I want to make a point to a caller, I can’t slam it down in a huff, because I have to turn it off first and find a surface soft enough not to break the expensive item.  (I’ve cooled off by then, ruining my mad.)  Then there’s the dial tone that isn’t there.  How am I supposed to know the gizmo is ready to use?  I guess I add that to my long list of things I take on faith.  Plus the caller I.D. that I got used to on my land-line—my cell gives me numbers for the most part rather than names, and I don’t have everyone’s number memorized so I’ll recognize it.  How can I avoid Great Aunt Maud’s 15^th call of the day if I don’t know it’s her?  (Okay, I’ll start memorizing or putting the entire phone book into Contacts.) Because the cell is always with me, I can’t say I was away from the phone—I’ve lost my excuse not to answer.

What’s worse, my cell has a demon living inside it, one that likes to jump out of my pocket, phone attached, and go for a swim in the toilet or bury himself and the phone deep in my purse just before “Ode to Joy” signals an incoming call.

Then there’s the issue of having it always with me—a practice that society demands—meaning that I’m never, ever alone (hands in dishwater or filled with mail to sort, when the main character is about to try to escape, getting romantic, relaxing on the toilet…).

I really DO hate my cell phone.  I just wish I could live without it.

Spending some of that stimulus money on a treat for yourself. You deserve something special, considering what the pandemic is putting you through. Even so, you want to take advantage of any bargains that are available.

As you walk along the street, you my find, for example, quite a bargain: a high-fashion, big-name handbag that normally costs $5,000 but is only $600.  And it’s not cheesy looking like the $40 fakes.  In fact, because even the experts have trouble telling these excellent copies from the real thing, they’re called “Super Fakes.”

Before you give in to temptation, be aware that the profits from these handbags go to some people you may not want to finance.  That money funds child labor, organized crime, and terrorism.

Maybe they aren’t so “Super” after all.

******NOTE: As of April 1, this site will disappear. I’m combining it with my other site — https://smthingscount.com/ . You’ll find my blogs there. Click on “Blog” in the main menu. I hope to see you there!******

Need a new computer?  Buy one of the energy-efficient models now available.  The fan doesn’t blow constantly, and it’s more efficient.  If just a moderate number of us did this, we’d cut computer energy use in half and shave dollars off of our household energy bill.

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. For a description of the book go to My Free Books).

Today’s Thursday Thought is a lesson I’ve learned time and time again when I’ve jumped to conclusions based on what I heard or read about a person. I should have waited to get to know them, and, as for people/groups I read about on social media, wait until I’ve checked out the sources of quotes and claims, including their context. So often I’ve discovered that my original conclusion was far from correct.

Why are women seeing red today?  Because it’s National Equal Pay Day—a symbol of how far into 2021 women must work in order to earn as much as men earned in 2020.  There are many misconceptions about the pay gap, including the belief that it either doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.  Here are five common MYTHS (yes, untrue beliefs) about the wage gap:

1. The size of the pay gap depends on how you measure it. The most common estimate is based on differences in annual earnings. NO!
2. There is no such thing as the gender pay gap – legitimate differences between men and women cause the gap in pay, not discrimination. NO!
3. But the pay gap is not my problem. Once you account for the jobs that require specialized skills or education it goes away. NO!
4. Women are responsible for the pay gap because they seek out flexible jobs or choose to work fewer hours. Putting family above work is why women earn less. NO!
5. We don’t need to do anything; the gender pay gap will eventually go away by itself. NO!

If you want to know the TRUTH, read the Forbes article Dispelling Myths About The Gender Pay Gap.

And wear red today, in solidarity with the efforts of achieving equal pay for equal work for women and minorities.

We abhor animal cruelty.  Still, we ignore it in our entertainment.  For example, rodeos are fun, but they put animals in stressful situations and shock them or twist their tails to make them run faster and buck harder.  Circus animals perform fabulous tricks, learned through harsh training. (Every big circus has been cited for violations of minimum animal-care standards.)  We enjoy playing with our exotic pet—probably captured from its native habitat. Some people enjoy their animals so much that, although they can’t properly care for them, they acquire more and more (900-2000 new cases each year in the U.S. of animal hoarding). Then there’s dog fighting, which happens throughout the U.S. in urban, suburban, and rural areas. We can’t stop all of this cruelty overnight.  What we can do is to be aware of what’s happening, speak out against it, support animal-protection laws, and, above all, teach our children that torturing animals for our entertainment is NOT right. 

The pandemic didn’t cause this, but here’s our life: No more quiet, romantic meals in fancy restaurants or lively conversations around the family dinner table.  No more hiding from your ex, getting totally away from work, or avoiding that bothersome friend who wants to borrow money.  No more visiting the restroom alone.  No longer can husbands “forget” the tofu at the market because he left the grocery list home and tried his best to remember what was on it.  Or wives waiting at a cafe for a lunch date, wondering why her husband is an hour late.  All this is in the past.  

Why all these changes? Because in 1917 a Finnish inventor, Eric Tigerstedt, filed for a patent for a “pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone.” And the cell phone was born, changing our lives forever.

Use the garbage disposal less. Between faucets washing scraps down the drain while they’re being ground up and the water used to process sewage in treatment plants, some 500,000 gallons of water are wasted daily.  Choose and cook foods which produce little waste, be creative with leftovers, and turn what remains into compost to nourish your plants without a trip to the nursery for plant food.

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. For a description of the book go to My Free Books).

It’s Spring!  Time to start planning for a healthier, more beautiful home for your family and for the little creatures living close to you.  In fact, your yard (or even apartment balcony) can be certified by the National Wildlife Foundation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program.  It takes five steps: 1) provide a food source for your little visitors in the form of native plants, which take less water and produce nectar, berries, or seeds; 2) supply clean water for drinking and bathing—like a birdbath or pond; 3) put in logs, rocks, or a birdhouse to give cover, for both protection and a place to raise young; 4) practice environmentally friendly gardening, using less lawn, mulching, and rain barrels or other water conservation methods; 5) go to https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/Certify and certify your new habitat (this is optional but fun).  For details, go to that website or call the NWF at (800)822-9919.  Creating your habitat will bring sunshine to your family and life to your little corner of the world.