Sunday Morning Coming Down

Last night might have been fascinating video or lack of video.  A sit down in the House of Representatives is the way it was described.  The House isn't a lunch counter at Mc Crory's in downtown Miami.  Mc Crory's is gone as are most lunch counters from yesteryear.  John Lewis of Georgia sat at those lunch counters back in the 1960's to get the right to eat a lunch counter in a public place. What happened in the House was a political protest.  No vote, no break, singing we shall pass a bill some day.  The House and the Senate are public places and the folks elected to represent us should do legislating when called upon. If you are to believe polls, most people of voting age believe that the current laws regarding guns should be amended to bring the no fly list for terrorism and legal gun ownership into some kind of congruity.  No guns for suspected terrorists.  At least in the Senate there was a vote.  Senators went on record.  5...

This may be trivial but there are no family names in Iceland.  You are almost 100% sure to be somebodies son or dottir.  If my parents were in Iceland and I was born there, I would be legally known as John Paulsson or John Gladisson and my children were I to have any would be Johnssons or Johnsdottirs. Iceland is a small country and there are currently laws about what you can name your children.  There are 1712 approved names for males and 1853 approved given names for females.  There is a governmental agency that can approve additional names for the approved list. The times they are changing.  There is a proposal to allow family names and scrap the list of approved male/female names. Currently there are no boys named "Sue" because it could be a nuisance for the child. The French who guard the French language are strict about what is proper French.  Icelandic language freaks worry  that this is the beginning of the end of the Icelandic as practic...

Ted Cruz is reported to have called the Senate filibuster of Chris Murphy a political distraction and political gamesmanship. Common sense would have me believe that certain regulations might lessen the number of mass shootings and make them deadly to fewer people. The result of the filibuster will be to force a vote on gun control amendments, maybe, probably, hopefully. Isn't that what legislators are supposed to do?

Another one bites the dust, and so it goes in Miami.  Allen's Drug Store was the site of a Sunday Morning Meltdown after a very raucous Saturday night which was preceded by a University of Miami football game, tailgate party and bookended by beers bien fria. 6:30 AM stumbling in Allen's for some breakfast, the waitress poured me some coffee.  I ordered two scrambled with wholewheat toast.  Before the order could be served a quick survey of the lunch counter said I had one famous breakfast mate.  Howard Schnellenberger, UM's head football coach. I might have congratulated him on our latest home victory, but I really needed to focus.  It had been a long day followed by a short night. Sunday Morning Coming Down Another close friend saw me at Allen's that morning.  He thought I needed some peace and quiet or maybe another cold one.  At least that's what he told me on Wednesday when I saw him. Thanks all for listening generously.

One of Uber's biggest investors is Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia doesn't like its women to drive automobiles. Technology and money have merged to provide a quick fix to keep Saudi women off the road.  U.S. News And World Report wrote an article the impact of the Saudi investment in Uber. One of the interesting sidelights of the article was Saudi Arabia's efforts to get more women into the labor force.  Currently about 16% of Saudi women are in the labor force and the government would like to get 30% of the women jobs in the paying economy. In contrast the United States about 57% of the women in the country are in the paying economy. Different systems different results.  I wonder what the United States would be like if only 16% of its women worked outside of the house and had paying jobs?

Cuban bakeries sell Cuban pastries, Cuban bread, and Cuban coffee.  That's what they do and that's what they are in Miami.  I can hardly imagine what your blood pressure would be if you drank Cuban coffee like some folks drink American coffee. Pinecrest Bakeries got into a jam with the Starbucks on the other side of the strip mall because they expresso coffee and cafe con leche which was in violation of their lease agreement with the strip mall owner that gave Starbuck's an "exclusive", in serving expresso and expressoes mixed with milk. The judge told Pinecrest to ditch their expresso machine because they were only allowed to serve "American" coffee at their bakery, according to their lease agreement. If I had been the owner of a Cuban bakery like Pinecrest I would never have signed such a lease. If I was Starbuck's I would never have tried to enforce such a condition on a Cuban bakery. Yes the Cuban bakery ditched the expresso machine but t...

An awful,lot of folks are 62 + in age and they may be signing up for Social Security and dropping out of the labor market.  This may be a temporary situation as it becomes necessary to go back to work to pay bills.  Underemployment may become preferable to cut  back. And being a little more active these days is a good thing. I'm wondering when the studies will be published about how much folks are cutting back their consumption of stuff and or continuing to put stuff on their cards or use the equity in their houses to maintain that which is becoming increasingly difficult to pay for . I'm wondering when someone is going to point out the difficulty of maintaining a lifestyle that assumes a level of growth that is shrinking at the same time things appear to be getting better(for who and by how much). Improvements in processes can make more from less and employ fewer people.  I know older workers that would like to hang on to what they've got for a little longer, ...

There are probably more than nine indications you might not be hearing as well as you think you are. 1) Conversations might take more effort to understand. 2) The volume control on the TV is a lot higher than you remember. 3) Talking to people on the phone is difficult. 4) Your ears ring constantly. 5) You just give it up and don't participate in conversations. 6) You miss things in conversations. 7) You think people mumble, speak too softly, or high pitched sounds are difficult to understand. 8) You ask folks to repeat what they said often. I had my hearing checked more than once because the first one said I had some hearing loss but didn't give it much thought because I live alone, rarely talk on the phone, and my Dominican girl friend talks loud enough for both of us.  Or so I thought.  I started a refresher Spanish class and it became crystal clear.  I was missing words in Spanish conversation that were no problem when reading the same words.  Race tra...

There once was a golf tournament in a place they now call Doral, Florida.  The PGA is moving what was a golf tournament/community institution dating back to the sponsorship of Eastern Airlines.  Ironically it is being reported that the tournament will be moving to Mexico. Could be that the PGA was worried about playing golf at a property owned by someone who might be the President?  I'm not so sure that's the reason the move was made.