Real survivor skills

I'm not real sure why this story out of the Stillwater (Okla.) NewsPress caught my eye, but I'm glad it did. It's refreshing to know people -- young and old -- still work at preserving some of the old arts.

Making my own bow and arrows isn't quite up my alley, but I'm glad others keep the art alive instead of relying on imports from Asia.

Dancing With Idols

At the considerable risk of ticking off a number of you, I must ask, what's the big deal with these misnamed "reality" shows?

Scrolling through headlines just about any day, one finds stories about wars, disasters, political moves and who's winning or getting thrown out of "American Idol," "Dancing with the Stars," a bachelor competition or some other far-fetched idea of entertainment.

First of all, it's hard to believe these things are successful, but I cannot fathom why news agencies give them such play.

The answer must be the same reasons television airs the shows. They are cheap to produce and viewers get caught up in them.

It's time we all got a bigger dose of reality by leaving pablum such as "reality TV" to play itself out before an empty viewership.

Saint Patrick's controversy?

Change Saint Patrick's Day to Shamrock Day?

Have you heard anything about this? This article says some are easing into the new name for the March 17 observation of Irish heritage in order to not offend.

NOT OFFEND?

What about the offense to the Irish, particularly Irish Catholics, for whom this is an actual holy day, honoring the patron saint of the country?

I could go on about how ridiculous this is, but the idea is so lame that I choose to believe nobody is taking it seriously.

One thought though ... Don't proponents realize the shamrock was utilized by Saint Patrick to demonstrate the idea of the Holy Trinity? Whoa, they might want to choose a less offensive name.

Godly pursuit

Here's a story with tremendous fill-in-the-blank potential ...

The Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville tells us police pursued this vehicle for 10 minutes before abandoning the chase, presumably for safety reasons. They later found it in a church parking lot and made an arrest.

My version of how this story ends is that the culprit sought divine forgiveness in hopes it would ward off the cops. (OK, it's weak ... what's yours?)

I take thee ... or your money

When did this happen?

This story out of Minnesota says a judge ordered a woman to pay her ex-fiance for the engagement ring he gave her.

We've made it incredibly easy to break up a marriage, giving couples little pause before entering an "until death do we part" union. Now, a guy doesn't even have to think too seriously about giving an engagement ring; if they break up, he'll get the ring back.

Safely tucked in

Here's a great story out of The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Tony Hernandez had twice seen his detached garage burgled, so he created a low-cost alarm. He placed a baby monitor in the garage with the speaker near his bed. Yep, the third burglar was apprehended.

You've got to love it when the good guy outsmarts the bad guy.

Just disappear

OK, so this wannabe magician said he shipped himself from New York to Las Vegas. The FBI and the Transportation Safety Administration investigated and revealed it to be a hoax, but there will be no charges, they say, because he broke no law.

What?

So, why was there an investigation?

If they investigated because it's illegal to ship people (is it?), then there should be some charge, something similar to pulling a fire alarm when there is no fire.

Lost?

There's no new "Lost" episode this week.

Oh, my.

I shall be off course ... disoriented ... adrift ... astray ... misplaced ... mislaid ... missing ... gone ... vanished ... nowhere to be found ... ... ... lost.

What 100 days?

Interesting listening to some of the mainstream media questioning whether President Obama is trying to accomplish too much ...

Maybe it's because he's heard them questioning whether President Bush was accomplishing enough.

Too many in the press got too much joy out of tearing down Bush to back off from Obama for long. Fortunately, I think Obama may be as adept at ignoring them as was Bush.

By any other name

Because state legislators felt Iowa's older residents did not like the term "elder," lawmakers voted to change the name of the Department of Elder Affairs to the Department on Aging.

That's the Department on Aging...

That's the DOA.

OK, folks in the department said they will use the acronym DA, but I doubt the DOA reference will die hard.

Gov. Chet Culver has yet to sign the change into law.

Student tie-down

Middle school students across the country may be incensed, as may be a fair percentage of their parents, by a story out of a Houston suburb. However, you can bet a vast majority of teachers sympathize with the former member of their ranks and will tell you they've come close to doing it themselves.

The story has apparently been kept pretty well tied up by Fort Bend ISD, but the district did confirm a middle school teacher resigned after taping a student to a chair.

The official district line is the teacher used "inappropriate disciplinary action" by utilizing packing tape to keep a boy from turning around in his seat.

I know a lot of teachers and spent a bit of time as a teacher's aide and as a substitute. Their job of controlling students has become more and more difficult with children who care less about authority, with parents who rely on schools to "fix" their kids without discipline, and with legal systems that tie the teachers' hands together.

Part of the blame, of course, must go to the small number of teachers who abuse their authority. As is the habit of our legislators and judges, unreasonable restraints are routinely placed on general populations due to the offenses of particular members.

Who's the big loser in the story above? Not the district and not even the teacher. No, the big loser is likely the student and some who witnessed it. Maybe they will fight the urge to see how much further they can push other teachers, but I doubt it.

Special delivery

CNN has this story about the U.S. Postal Service spending $1.2 million to buy an employee's home so he could transfer to a new job. The story goes on to tell about how often the USPS does this and how much it loses.

However, my thought is, what kind of postal employee has a $1.2 million, 8,400-square-foot home with an indoor swimming pool?

He was postmaster in Lexington, S.C., which recorded 9,793 residents in the 2000 census. It is a rapidly growing suburb of Columbia, but still ...

The employee is now customer service manager in Carrollton, Texas. In other words, we're not talking about someone at the top of the postal hierarchy.

I'm beginning to see why the USPS is having trouble staying afloat.

You wanna touch it?

OK, I just don't understand. Either I'm way too paranoid or these guys aren't too bright.

Sure, they're excited about winning $216 million, but the last thing I would do is notify the media ... and I'm a journalist!

Should I hold a winning ticket, I would maybe tell my closest family, would talk to an attorney and/or financial advisor about how to best handle the sticky details and would get the ticket turned in before something happened to it. Any publicity would be the minimum required by law; I would just as soon nobody knew about it.

Like I said, however, I'm paranoid.

Goodbye, Paul Harvey

For the argument that there's nothing but bad news from the mass media, we had Paul Harvey.

He dug out interesting tidbits not often considered newsworthy. He latched onto scientific discoveries and embraced their promises. He celebrated triumphs of the human experience.

Paul Harvey died Saturday at the age of 90.

I remember an old journalism professor criticizing Harvey for mixing advertising with news, something Harvey said he did only for products he trusted. It always made me uncomfortable, too, but today we're seeing newspapers blur those lines themselves.

Listening to Paul Harvey's radio commentaries was always an uplifting experience, underscored by his vocal styling.

His son, Paul Harvey Jr., had taken over much of the work the past few years and has shown an effort to match his dad's enthusiasm for the news we won't likely hear anywhere else. He even has done a good job copying his style.

Thank you, Paul Harvey. It's been quite a ride.