Welcome back!

Guess that you wonder who I am talking about.

Well, I am talking about my niece (when she was younger), and the operators of the 911 system here where we live. When she was younger, she had a fascination for the phone. Her mom got the bill for quite a few 911 calls that were not really that type of situation. They had an unlocked phone that anyone could pick up and use.

Now, my niece was only 7 at the time and didn’t quite understand that not being able to get to the candy jar was not a 911 affair. She learned finally. She is now in her 20’s and has a couple of kids to boot. I wonder if they will also like the phone?

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I am not talking gibberish here.

Finger speak is another name for the deaf alphabet. I know that American Sign Language is made of gestures that will create sentences. Using finger speak or Finger Spelling , there are only 26 gestures to learn. Each gesture represents a letter in the alphabet. This will work for many English speaking people, if you know how to spell the words in other languages like German, French, and so on, it can help there too.

I do not know any of the gestures in ASL, except for the one that says I love you. You use your hand - hold out your thumb, pointer finger, and your little finger. It almost looks like the gesture that is used by surfers.

If you are ever in a place where you do not understand what people are saying, you can understand how lonely that can be for someone who is deaf. You never know, it might come in handy someday.

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I remember doing science when I was in school (please do NOT ask me when that was). I always figured that the textbooks that we used did not mention enough about critters of any type.

The behavior of critters and the behavior of people are sometimes so similar that it makes me wonder which of us is smarter. Biology was okay, but I did not like cutting up critters. I would rather have seen them alive and studied their antics.

Not enough information, maybe too little time was spent investigating living things, rather than the insides of dead things. After all living things are what we happen to be.

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have you ever really thought about some of the things that people say, or the words that are used? Some of them have a long history. Here is a list of some things that I have found out about.

1. threshold - this came from the time when people put reeds and rushes on their floors because they did not have rugs or carpets. The reeds and rushes would be walked on and some times would go out the door with people coming and going. So, a piece of wood was put across the bottom of the doorway to keep the plant life from leaving thus the word threshold.

2. chess - this was a game taught to a you man to teach him how to strategize in war. The movement of the pieces was to copy the movement of soldiers on the battlefield. We have turned it into a game for entertainment. If I am remembering correctly, the young man taught this game was Alexander The Great. Guess it worked.

3. salute - where we live, we are near a military base. The television station that we watch the most has given a history on the salute and how it was started in the middle ages when 2 knights met. The younger one would lift the visor on his helmet as a sign of respect to the older and more experiences man. Our troups use this movement today to show respect for those who have a higher rank than they hold. It is also a recognition of respect other military men.

4. ring around the rosy - this started a a way to recognize the Black Plague in the middle ages. The kids would hear about the different signs and repeat them to each other to beware of anyone who could possible be sick. Ring around the rosy - a pimple with a ring around it, pocket full of posy - posies were thought to keep the Plague away from you, ashes ashes all fall down - that was really achews achews all fall down since people would also sneeze repeatedly and the fall down was actually people dying. It was a rather grim type of play that started as a way to avoid plagu ridden people.

There are other words and phrases and customs that originally started with other meanings. Lunacy, carrying the bride over the ‘threshold’ are only some of those.

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The allergies strike again.

My husband has a list of allergies that is as long as my arm. He is allergic to medicines, foods, seasonings, and on top of it all some pollens. OY VEY

I’ve heard of allergies to peanuts, milk (he’s one of them), wheat, etc. Blueberries is the newest one. Add to that also blackberries, and AZO. I have checked out some sites for Food Allergies.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodallergy.html

http://www.foodallergy.org/

http://www.faiusa.org/?&CFID=6046382&CFTOKEN=43193120

If you copy and paste these sites that I have listed, you can begin your own research on food allergies. Recognizing an allergic reaction in someone can save a life. It might even be your own. Please do not be afraid to do research.

In our 26 years of marriage, we have found that my husband is allergic to almost 30 different things so far.

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i just read a blog that makes me angry.

A principal at a high school is playing God with some student’s lives. The school get money for a lunch programs for needy students. The principal decided for her own reasons to deny them the lunch that was already paid for by tax payers.

At least one parent protested this thievery by the principal. My Single Mom Life is the name of the blog that contains the article. Her son is now getting the food that was already paid for by the tax payers. I wonder about the other students that were stolen from. It is upsetting.

This is not what I call education.

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What has happened to ordinary, plain spoken English?

Do you listen, really listen to the manner of English being spoken on TV these days? It makes me want to cringe, wail, and shudder. I remember how in school, the students would be corrected for any mistakes in grammar while speaking to the teacher, or to the class. The teacher considered it to be part of the job to make sure the students spoke correctly. Of course when turning in written assignments, grammar was also considered to be part of the grade that you would get on your assignment.

People in the public eye were held up as examples of proper speaking. No longer can that be done. Bad language (not cussing, although that is another thing), poor grammar, not speaking clearly, all of these things now show up everywhere.

The people in our country are starting to sound as if they have not been properly educated, or left school too soon. What has happened to actually trying to sound as if we might have brains in our heads, that we might have intelligence? Why did people decide that sounding uneducated was ‘cool’? Did they really decide this or has our education system fallen short? I wonder about that.

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The GL Wiley Middle School in Waco, Texas, has for five years gotten failing grades on state tests. For five years the students have been under sub-standard education efforts.

The Waco Independent School District wants to close that school down and send the students to other schools where they will be properly taught. The parents of the students are protesting.

If I was a parent, I would have protested the sub-standard education that my child had been receiving for five years, not the chance for them to go to a place where they will be properly taught.

I do not understand.

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I watched a TV report today that makes me think that the politicians have no brains even more than I have thought at other times.

There is a school in Waco, Texas, that has had failing grades for 5 years. They keep wanting to close it, so the children can go to another school that is getting passing grades. A couple of the people on the council are fighting this as they have done so for the past 5 years. I wonder how the children are doing? They after all, are the ones stuck in a school that is NOT teaching properly, the students are not passing the Texas Assessment tests, which means that they are not learning. Yet, these people on the council cannot see that the school needs to be closed. The teachers are not doing what they are being paid to do, which is teach. There is $8,000 per student being spent, while in a school with passing grades only $4,000 per student is being spent.

I wonder where the extra money is going, for it obviously is not going for the students to learn. One of the council members says he does not want the students to be bussed. At another school they would have a chance in life, a chance to be educated, not to pass time.

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