Pet peeves and other things that are the burr under the saddle of life…..

CONSERVATION CONUNDRUM

It seemed like it took years to get the kids to to flush the toilet each time they used the bathroom.. . I can’t count the numbers of times I found the toilets unflushed in the house… After what seemed like a dozen years of ranting—I finally got them to flush each time they used the facilities.

SUCCESS !

NOW comes the drought—and I’m still screaming at them.. This time—it’s to get them NOT to flush the toilet UNLESS it’s necessary. I can’t tell if it’s just habit that’s making them flush every time now—or that they’re at the age where they just want to be contrary.

In any case—my new age parenting friends say I’m probably setting up a severe sets of conflicts in their minds—and years from now—they’ll be sitting in a psychiatrists’ office trying work out the angst resulting from the FLUSH–NO-DON’T FLUSH messages they received as kids…

OH NO, YOU DIDN’T…

Here’s another one of those things that frosts my cupcakes…People citing the 1st Annual this or the 1st Annual that! It’s especially prevalent among my fellow broadcasters—many of whom OUGHT to know better !It can’t be annual UNTIL it’s happened more than once… the first time is the INAUGURAL !!

This is my 37th annual complaint about that particular mis-use of our language!

HEY, USE A KLEENEX, I DON’T WANNA CATCH YOUR FATNESS…

I always thought my middle-aged spread was my fault because I was eating too much and not exercising enough. Now—come to find out—I have no responsibility in this whatsoever. I have a DISEASE ! This study linked here cites research that indicates you can catch being fat!

Yep—the same virus that gives us pink-eye, diarrhea, and the common cold can make us uncommonly chubby they say..

So, if being fat is a disease—I’m ready to start treating it like one. I’ll begin by taking a sick day… “Hello Boss—I’m not coming in today. I’m felling a little fat.”

Of course—this fat virus creates a few new problems too.

How fat do you have to be to be considered sick? A pound overweight? Ten? And what if they come up with a vaccine? Do they not give you sick days if you come down with “fat-itis” after you’ve refused to get the anti-fat shot?

As the scientists say—this requires more research.

Let me get back to you after I’ve had a cup of coffee and a couple of slices of cake.

—Steve

Link here to the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

Almost every day—scientists are redefining the criteria for life.

They’re finding it can exist in microbes exposed to the intense heat of a geothermal environment like ones that occur at Yellowstone National Park….

They’ve found it in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean—down in the marine trenches where life exists by using chemical synthesis…

They’ve found microbes in the vacuum of space living on the international space station where its survived intense radiation.

And they’ve found it miles below the earth’s surface in rocks that contain gold ore—in the deepest mines on the planet…

As Jeff Goldblum’s character so aptly put it in the movie Jurassic Park— “life finds a way.”

And we human species have found a way too… Whether it was Cro-Magnon man, Neanderthal–or the current Homo Sapiens—we’ve found a way…

Sometimes we’ve found a way to mess things up with wars, pollution and the like—but that’s no reason to give up on we humans.

…Except if you’re Toni Vernelli…

She calls herself an Eco-warrior—but she’s given up on humans—the whole darn species…

As you can read this link she’s terminated one pregnancy and has since had herself sterilized to prevent having any children because she says she “wants to protect the planet.”

And she’s not alone. There’s group of people who are doing the same thing because they say humans will destroy the planet and they refuse to put any more humans on earth.

They say putting people on the planet is selfish.

It sounds more like stupid to me because life will find a way.

Instead of letting the species die out—why not have children and BE A TRUE PARENT. Teach them how to be stewards of the planet. Teach them how to work to protect this ball of rock we call home by using its resources wisely and treating each other in the right way..

Teach them respect, love and and how to follow the golden rule. Teach them. Teach them well.

No Toni—you and your kind are the selfish ones… You are thinking only of yourselves while you’re here on this planet.

And I’ve got news for you. This little outpost in the backwaters of the universe has been around about 4 and a half BILLION years, give or take a millennium or two…

And as Frank Sinatra said in that old song, That’s Life, “this fine ol’ world—it just keeps spinning around…”

And it’s probably gonna do that for another 4 and a half billion years—humans—or no humans.

—Steve

For some reason—the NBC-17 Peacock

looks a little different today!

Enjoy your holiday!

Meanwhile—feeling FAT not FIT after the feast?

Link Here to find out how much exercise it will take to keep that holiday spread from spreading your waistline in this story Steve covered Friday for NBC-17

–Steve