Y2K

WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN? Well, not all of us, but a lot of us. How many of you remember back just a few years, to the turn of the century. And the Y2K flop, uh flap. Do you remember all the predictions. I'm sure I don't. Remember all of them. But it was predicted that because the world is ruled, I mean run, by computers, and when we went from 1999 to 2000, all the computers would crash. So panic set in. Computer programmers set about creating programs to fix the problem. It was predicted that when the change from 1999 to 2000 happened, airplanes would crash, ships would wonder about the ocean and crash, stores wouldn't be able to sell you any thing, cause their computerized cash registers would crash, and computers would just crash. So people went on a buying frenzy, buying food, clothing, water, electric generators, and all manner of survival gear. Then, well, then we changed from 1999 to 2000 and airplanes flew to their destination and landed at the airports and didn't crash, ships made it safely to harbor and didn't crash, and computers, well they crashed, but then that's what computers do best. Even without the Y2K bug. So, people ate their food, drank their water, sold their survival gear, and went back to normal living. Then, along came a preacher, preaching that the world would end on May 21, 2011. And people, well some people, gave him their money, some sold their houses and cars, and got ready to be rapturized, or something. And May 22 came along and no one was rapturized. And then they had no money, no house, no car. And some even had no belief in the preacher any more. And the preacher. Well, he was made fun of, in the media, on face book and twitter. Oh! did people twitter, even when they weren't on twitter. Now the preacher has made a statement or three. One, he made a mistake on the date. Now it will happen on October 21, 2011. Then he said it happened, but it was invisible, and will go on for the next five months, then the world will be completely destroyed. And the money. He will give it back to the people. Not. They survived the bank failures, so they can survive his taking of their money. And send him more. How many people will get ready for the end to come on October 21. How many people will get ready for the end in December 2012. How many people will do stupid things, based on these "predictions". Will the world end. Yes it will. Do I know when? No I don't. Who does? Read the Bible. Matthew 24:39. Then live accordingly. And be ready if it should happen in your life time. And don't panic, just cause some one said something will happen. Common sense and thinking things through in a sensible manner is always best. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

TV Must See

Is there such a thing? As something on TV that is a must see. I think not. My wife and I watch some TV. We are not really fans of most of what is on TV these days. To me it should be MWTV. Standing for Most Worthless T V. We do watch NCIS, and we like most of the Hall Mark movies. We watch the news, but don't understand why some of the news casters are so hung up on all things Holly Wood.
We watch The Biggest Loser. Does that make us Big losers, watching people on TV losing fat. Many shows are having their season finals. Some won't be back, some will. There will be many new ones. Will they be any good. For the most part, probably not. My wife and I are old enough to remember when TV came into existence. At least in the form as we now know it. Back when comedy actually was, and variety shows were actually fun to watch. Now, comedy seems to have taken on a potty mouth. And that's the clean stuff. It gets worse. I tried to watch a comedy show a while back. Lasted about 90 seconds. Me, not the show. Guess I'll just have to turn off the TV and curl up with a good book. If I can find one. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank

The Rules Of The Road

I'm reminded of a story of an older couple from many decades back, when automobiles had taken over, but this farm couple still traveled by horse and buggy. One day, as they came in to town, there was a sign that said, "Speed Limit, 25 MPH" The old farmer handed the reins to his wife and said, "Here, you take the reins, and I'll get the whip, and we will see if we can get the horse to get us up that fast."

I am sure the two or three of you that actually read my drivel, already know the rules of the road, and obey them. So, I will just talk to those who don't know or don't have time to read. How many people driving an automobile know the rule about cross walks. You know, the place where people walk across the road. There is the cross walk, but before you get to it, there is another line, where you are supposed to stop your vehicle, thus providing a measure of safety to the pedestrian. How many people stop at the actual cross walk, even with their vehicle intruding into the cross walk, and inching forward, hoping the red light will change faster, or something. Or those who come up to a red sign that says "STOP" but they don't, they actually see this sign as a triangle, with the word "YIELD" on it. And when they see a yield sign it's just get out of the way, here I come. OK, Ok there is a point to this story. There is one other safety rule that you won't see a sign for. It is, Keep 1 car length between you and the car in front of you, for every 10 MPH you are traveling. Thus, if you are traveling 60 MPH, you should have 6 car lengths between you and the car in front of you.

MLWFAE, ( for any new comers, that refers to my wife. Refer to a previous post to see the actual meaning ) and I recently traveled to a distant city. Since the speed limit on the freeway is 75 MPH, and since we had more time that gas, we drove 70 MPH, thus is was easy to keep 7 car lengths between me and the car in front of us. Oh! the car in front had just passed, at 80 MPH usually, and was soon out of sight. But as we came to the city, the traffic increased, and the speed limit reduced to 65 MPH. So, keeping 6 1/2 car lengths between me and the car in front, caused 6 1/2 cars to squeeze in between us. OK, so it was only 6 cars, but I backed off and another 6 cars came in. I soon realized we were back at the city limits and losing ground fast. At this rate, we would soon be back home, without ever getting to where we were going. So, I bit the bullet, or would have, had I had a bullet, and ignoring the rules, I closed up behind the car in front and finally made it into the city, and to the motel where we were staying. No wonder it takes us longer to get where we are going, than it does every one else. We had the same problem while traveling about the city, so I had to bite another bullet, ( the previous one had been chewed up and spit out ) and travel the same crazy way the rest of the people were. Boy, sure was good to get out of the city a few days later and get back to the small city where we live, where the people are just as crazy as the big city folks, just not as many of them. Maybe some day we will all get where we are going, then we can park our cars, ( bumper to bumper, if we want to, as they will not be moving ) and just enjoy life in the slow, Uh!, parked and stopped lane. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.