And On A Thursday, She Created Sniglisms

Sniglisms. Don't bother to look it up, it doesn't exist.

Sniglisms is word I made up to create another category for the more acceptable sniglet. And yes, you can look that up.

snig·let

   /ˈsnɪglɪt/ Show Spelled[snig-lit] 

noun

any word coined for something that has no specific name

Or basically what the creator of the word, Rich Hall said "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should."

Since this is the internet and all that, there are thousands of stories each day which are, in my opinion, overrated. And equally, there are thousands which are overlooked. Usually those are the ones I enjoy the most.

Now, from time to time when a whole bunch of things clog up my head, I do a recurring feature called "Random Thoughts from a Scattered Brain." In that, I've been including crazy things I have observed or annoyed me (and we all know that doesn't take much), and my take on different stories I have read. Usually it's things I think should be mentioned, but there's not enough meat there to write a full blog.

Here's where we bring in sniglisms. 

This feature will offer my interpretation of stories I find fascinating, but may not have reached the masses. Full disclosure...in the past I have found quite a few male anatomy "slice and dice" stories...amusing. That's probably not the best word to use...

Anyway, tomorrow's post will be a learning experience...for you and me. I will try to offer some information which hopefully you will find interesting and/or humorous. And I will learn how quickly I can offend people.

Judging from past experience, it shouldn't be too long.

Tomorrow...snuggle up with a Sniglism Part 1.

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RUN..............

People from outside of the area think New Yorkers are rude, crude and uncaring. Well, some are...no doubt about it. But for every story of bad behavior there are ten stories of courtesy going unmentioned.

So here's just a short fun story, giving a shoutout to a security guard.

This past Friday, the 'uncle' left Queens to join us at the weekend house later in the day. Before starting the trip, he needed to drive into Manhattan to pick up a winter jacket he had ordered. He found a parking space on the street, fed the meter...allowing a half hour to run in, pay for the jacket and get back. That should have been more than enough time...except it's the 'uncle.'  Shopping for him is not exactly a quick in and out procedure.

Because clothes shopping for him is always a hit or miss thing, he tried on the jacket to be sure the fit was acceptable. hmm, maybe I should try the next size for comparison? Can you hear the minutes ticking? Yes, the next size was better, so he pays for it and realizes he is now 3 minutes over the time limit.

Now, ticket agents in NYC are like vultures smelling a dead carcass...they appear from out of nowhere and will swoop down and slap a ticket on your windshield at the exact moment the time expires. Fully aware of the looming $65 ticket which will be appearing at any time, the 'uncle' runs out of the store. As soon as he goes through the doors...beep, beep. The cashier forgot to take off the security tag.

No time for that, he keeps running...now with a security guard on his tail. As the guard yells to him to stop, the 'uncle' turns around and tells him he needs to feed the meter and laterals the shopping bag to the guard. After a complete catch by the store security, the 'uncle' continued to his car and the security guard went to check the package and have the tag removed.

As the 'uncle' returned to retrieve the jacket, he was met halfway by the security guard. Nice. He explained that he was only doing his job. That he was and it was done well. 

And no $65 ticket on the windshield.
Life in the big city...sometimes it just makes you smile.

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On The Soapbox: This Is Heath Care?

Well, I said on the Music blog that I wasn't going to rant about the Vice-Presidential debate and I'm not. I've got bigger fish to fry. My only comment on the debate is Martha Raddatz...that's how you do it son. Do you realize she has spent more time in war zones than all the candidates combined? Wouldn't you like to crawl into her head and find out what she thinks?

But anyway, today I need to write a few words about something I saw they other day. A quote from Romney about health care in this country. To be fair, I don't think any plan out there right now will work. The system is way too broken. Do I have an answer, I do not. What I do have is common sense and this ain't it.

“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’  ”

Well, yes that is true. If you pull up to the emergency room turning a whiter shade of pale and grabbing your chest...ding, ding, you go to the front of the line.

“No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.”

We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance? Have you never heard of the word Cancer? Or MS, ALS, Diabetes, Alzheimer's or a host of other diseases where you die a slow death. Yes, you are going to die, just not quick enough for a trip to the emergency room.

How many people cannot afford to buy their daily medications, never mind afford the long term care needed for a chronic or terminal disease?  No, apparently it is better to wait until things become critical, then dial 911.

When a self-employed individual in this country needs to spend nearly $1000 a month for decent...not great health coverage, obviously something needs to be done. I know, I've been there and it is not easy. But having a candidate who really believes that emergency room medicine is the way we should go, well that's just crazy and scary.

Anybody out there got any ideas that actually make sense?

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Baseball Playoffs: October Rules

So here's what I love about baseball...EVERYTHING.

Right after football winds down and you are in the middle of a god-awful winter, you start to hear little chirps. A trade, or your pitcher who had surgery is starting to toss the ball...just little peeps. Then you mark your calender for P's and C's (pitchers and catchers) reporting to camp. Little by little, you inch your way to Spring Training. YAY.

Years ago, there were never any televised Spring Training games. But now, where there is revenue to be made, there is media. Now Spring Training games are far from exciting. Maybe an inning or two of your veterans and the rest of the game is filled with guys wearing very high numbers on their backs, who haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of making the team. So you watch a few innings, because you are a junkie and you haven't had a fix since October.

Then, just when you and the players are sick of meaningless games...it's Opening Day. YAY. We now have 162 games to savor. Granted not all of them will be exciting, some will be downright painful to watch, but it's still baseball. The beauty of the field, the ballparks and let's not forget those hot guys in tight uniforms :) ...but I digress.

For those who say the game is boring, I say... learn the game. Not know the rules...learn the game. It is anything but. These days when most everything about the game is based on statistics and rating systems, once in a while you get a classic moment when a manager listens to his gut. Last night in the Yankees-Baltimore game, there was one of those moments.

Bottom of the ninth, one out. Perennial whipping boy Alex Rodriguez is due up at bat. Arod, not exactly lighting up the scoreboard as of late, is pulled by manager Joe Girardi, in favor of 40 year old Raul Ibanez. Two pitches later, the score is tied as Ibanez hit one out of the park. In a move that showed a good deal of class, Arod was the first teammate on the steps of the dugout congratulating Ibanez.

Fast forward to the 12th inning. And guess who comes out to bat again...Raul Ibanez. And yes, another home run to win the game. YAY. Are you kidding me...they make movies out of shit like this.

Tonight we play game four. Hopefully the Yanks will finish the O's and I pray the game will end before midnight.  Then we can on to the next series and keep playing baseball while the frost is forming on the pumpkins.

As Mr. Fogerty sang so sweetly...

"Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun

It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye"

...Play Ball.

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A Couch, A Rant and A Plea

Ok, I was going to start writing about the guy who got caught with his pants down. What's the big deal with that, you ask? Well, at the time he was having sex with an abandoned couch. Not on an abandoned couch...with it.

Yes, that was a fun topic and I was ready to give it a few paragraphs until the latest rantings from a GOP State Rep from Arkansas. Oh boy. Jon Hubbard has written a book titled "Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative," in which he confesses to basically being a racist. Let's just read a few snippets from his book:


“… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)

The blacks who could endure, would be rewarded...? Yeah sure, after they were whipped, raped, lynched and torn apart from their families, they most certainly would be thinking about their future generations living in the land of the free. But wait, it gets better. He talks about integration being not beneficial to either blacks or whites, sees blacks as lazy, and evidently they should consider themselves lucky for being enslaved. Because living in Africa...well, it basically sucked.


African Americans must “understand that even while in the throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa.”  
“Knowing what we know today about life on the African continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” (Pages 93 and 189)

And of course, this guy is running for re-election. People of Arkansas...do not let this man be re-elected. Speak out against intolerance, inequality and racism..

Then we can all go back to talking about a guy and a couch.


Book quotes are from an article on talkbusiness.net.

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