I clearly remember going into gales of laughter as a child when seeing anyone talk while up-side-down. Chin talking is what they call it now. I don’t think we had a name for it then. And I don’t remember anyone … Read more...
Bad Luck Cadet #2: Jumping Hurdles
This is the 2nd installment in my Bad Luck Cadet Series.
The week dragged by as I waited for the next stage in my police academy entrance tests.
My husband could do nothing right. My kids were driving me nuts, … Read more...
Seeing Things In A New Light: Police Dogs
If someone said Police dog, odds are you would picture a powerful and highly trained German Sheppard. If someone said Search dog, you are likely to picture a long-eared, big nosed Bloodhound. And if someone said Rescue dog… Read more...
Bad Luck Cadet #1 – Accidents Happen
This is the first in a series of post on my misadventures in becoming a police cadet.
I became a police officer while suffering a midlife crisis in my forties. I became a detective a few years later. Crime in … Read more...
Our Human Potential — It Boggles the Mind
Seeing people perform fearsome, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, magnificent physical feats seems standard fare these days, but when you see so many strung together in one video it is impossible not to come away impressed.
Beyond the breathtaking visual of the individual … Read more...
Some Days Are Just Special
We all have bad days on the job.
My most recent bad day started with a fender bender on a muddy road. Well, actually, it started when I said I would work patrol for another officer so he could take … Read more...
Who Was Driving That Car-Van-Truck Thing?
As a police officer/detective, I am constantly made aware of differing perceptions when a critical incident happens.
If a robbery takes place in front of five eye witnesses, all five witnesses will have a slightly different version of what happened. … Read more...
Seeing Things In A New Light: Gangs And Little Old Ladies
Words have a way of changing over time.
A generation or so ago, the word ‘gang’ referred to an informal group of friends with whom you regularly socialized. Emphasis on friends and social.
Back then, your ‘gang’ or ‘the gang’, … Read more...
Pondering The Possibilities: Electric Hybrid Cannabis-mobiles
Everyone wants a smoke’n car, but would a toke’n car be a good thing?
A consortium of Canadian firms under the group name Project Eve is hoping the Kestrel, which may be the world’s first electric hybrid hemp car, … Read more...
Seeing Things In A New Light: Dancing
Musical expression comes in an infinite variety of forms –
from professional musicians … to air guitar players,
from formally trained Opera singers … to Karaoke performers,
from orchestra conductors … to head bangers,
from ballet dancers to …
Irish
… Read more...Dear Eleanor, I’m Still Learning
Dear Eleanor,
I recently reread YOU LEARN BY LIVING and was amazed by its wealth of inspirational quotes and its relevance for todays political environment.
You wrote it back in the late 1950’s near the end of your life and … Read more...
Seeing Things In A New Light: Sport Fishing Shows
Sport fishing shows have always seemed an oddity to me.
Where is the entertainment in watching a couple of guys on a boat — their voices hushed. Their motions languid. The roll of the boat gentle and soothing. The background … Read more...
Serving a Corporate Criminal Culture
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has released a devastating ad against President Obama’s handling of the BP oil spill vs Obama’s political words as a candidate via LATimes
“Never again” is easy political talk. Too easy. And while that ad … Read more...
Bring in the Criminologists
In May of 2009, Simon Johnson wrote in The Quiet Coup:
… Read more...If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break
Presidential Quotes
A few of my favorite presidential quotes in honor of President’s day:
… Read more..."On this view of the import of the term republic, instead of saying, as has been said, "that it may mean anything or nothing," we may say with
Savvy Bankers? Free-Markets? Populist President?
Here is what Americans in 1933 heard from their populist President during FDR’s Fireside Chat on the Banking System:
Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment…
Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted … Read more... How Deep is Your Love?
Dear Humans:
This may seem like a strange question to ask, but we really need to know…
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE?
You see, we’ve been reading and hearing a lot of scary news lately about people losing their homes … Read more...
On FDR’s New Deal: The American People Sound Off
Back in 2008 & 2009 there were headlines, numbers, and analysis being thrown at FDR’s New Deal almost daily. Obama Gives Us the Same Old New Deal. And, How Government Prolonged the Depression. Or, Stimulus: Can it work … Read more...
Have We Forgotten How To Be True Patriots?
I took THE TRUE PATRIOT by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer on a four-hour cross-country flight and as it turned out, played right into the authors hands. The book is small (literally, only 5”x7”) and only 130 pages. The authors … Read more...
Enjoying Will Rogers
I have always been a huge Will Rogers fan. So when I spotted THE WIT AND WISDOM OF WILL ROGERS at a used book fundraiser for our local Humane Society last summer, I snatched it up, took it home and … Read more...
Move Over Rover, It’s Hamster Time
We humans tend to have a giant soft spot in our hearts for animals. And since advertising is all about finding the soft spots of humans and then exploit them, what could be more natural than companion animals in advertisements?… Read more...
Ground Rules for Pets and Humans
As all who share their home with pets know, they rule. In an effort to reclaim your domain and walk in harmony together, these ground rules might help. (This was emailed to me. Author unknown. Hattip to BGD.)
… Read more...Post low
Susan Boyle and Adapting to Change
All of nature and humanity is an evolutionary history of creating and adapting to change. Adapting is how we not only survive, but thrive.
The American people, in particular, have always excelled at adapting and thriving. At our core, we … Read more...
When is Slavery No Longer a Crime, a Sin and a Moral Outrage?
When is slavery no longer a crime, a sin and a moral outrage?
When it is invisible.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, … Read more...
Celebrating a Nurturing Nature
Okay. When I think about it, it makes sense. They share the same habitat, so it why not be companionable about it. Still, I’ve never heard of a duck that feeds one fish, let alone multiple hungry, bigger than the … Read more...