Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[westgrandboulevard]

Some people love 'a cause', and with great passion, with the unsurprising result they often don't think it through....

[Jerry Oz]

Perspective is reality. Is this a true statement?

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, but also fashioned to one's individuality by one's perception.

[144man]

Maybe all technological societies reach the point we've reached now and then destroy themselves. It would explain why astronomers have not been able to detect any evidence for other civilisations elsewhere in the universe.

[westgrandboulevard]

You've recently mentioned 'doomed' and now it's 'destroy'. Beginning to depress me...

Is it time for a joke or two around here - ?

[144man]

It's a sad day for the music industry. This morning Justin Bieber was found alive in his apartment.

[westgrandboulevard]

Ha! I could overlook the fact that he can't sing,if he would just behave himself.

[Jerry Oz]

Maybe it's time to invade Canada. Sending that kid into the world was clearly a provocative act.

[144man]

If "[[Everything I Do) I Do It for You" wasn't treated as a legitimate casus belli, maybe Biebermania should instead be treated as a communicable disease. However as the United States - Canada Border is the longest international border in the world, quarantine would be extremely difficult to enforce.

[westgrandboulevard]

Maybe there is still time for the entire population of the North American continent to come to their senses, unite and rise up against this abhorrent pestilence.

[Jerry Oz]

Yeah, somebody should put the money together to send him on a two-year European tour. That'll give us time to come up with effective countermeasures against Biebermania.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'd prefer it not to be a European tour. Too close.

Russia would be far more appropriate. Those Russian women aren't so easily fooled.

[Jerry Oz]

I don't know about that. He recently added his seventh hair on his upper lip. Once they see how manly he looks with that 'stache, they'll be butter in his hands.

[westgrandboulevard]

Other way 'round, I'd say. Many of those Russian women have a full beard.

[Jerry Oz]

Poor little Justin wouldn't last one winter in Russia. His first hit of vodka would put him out until Spring.

[westgrandboulevard]

We should immediately organise a collection for the air fare, and await a new release : "Justin Bieber : Live From The Kremlin".

[Jerry Oz]

I can see the headlines: "Justin Bieber Causes Stir In Red Square; Set To Start Five-Year Exclusive Engagement In Siberia Tomorrow".

[westgrandboulevard]

That would be nearly as bad for his artistic integrity as the same stint in Las Vegas...

[Jerry Oz]

I don't know about that... I think it would help the kid immensely. He might come back as the greatest bluesman of the 21st century in five years. You know how they say that you have to know the Blues in order to sing them.

[westgrandboulevard]

Greatest Bluesman of the 21st Century.....

Stranger things have happened, I suppose. Would be a good career move.

[Jerry Oz]

Would be a GREAT career move. For the rest of the world, that is. And the kid needn't worry about the cultural void that his absence would create because he is best described as a "cultural void" by many.

[westgrandboulevard]

I've not followed the career of JB. How did he get where he is today [[wherever that may be....) - ?

[Jerry Oz]

As I understand it, he was discovered singing on YouTube. Justin Timberlake and Usher Raymond both bid hard to be his mentor. Usher won. Although he was a teen savant himself, he didn't take his maturity as a youth into account and obviously thought that Bieber would be able to handle success as well as he did. He was obviously incorrect. Consequently, Junior was too successful too soon and hasn't exactly handled it well. In honesty, I think that he's mentally deficient, possibly autistic to an extent and his handlers have been able to cover for him.

[westgrandboulevard]

Difficult to assess if his career has liberated him from an uneventful life.. if he is the victim of exploitation...or both.

[Jerry Oz]

Both. He was poor and now wealthy beyond imagining and he's barely 20 years old. All he needed was an entourage [[check), drugs [[check), an opportunistic ne'er-do-well formerly absentee father to come back into his life [[check), a loving mom who wants him to learn through experience [[check), a legal system so over-burdained that it won't incarcerate wealthy non-violent offenders [[check), and a little less than half of a brain [[check), and you've created the perfect monster.

[westgrandboulevard]

Got it. And he sells recordings and performs to people of similar ilk?

[Jerry Oz]

I would call them "sheep", but we're all sheep for the right cause. So I'm certainly not special enough to put down idol-worshiping teens with no concept of what I presume to be good music. Oh, and I hope you'll forgive "burdained" in 1925... Brain cramped and I didn't get the little red squigglies under the word to remind me how stoopid I am.

[westgrandboulevard]

'Sheep' sounds a reasonable description. Many people simply wish to be told what is popular. There's a great difference between that, and many other people who know their own minds then finding they are in agreement with each other.

[Jerry Oz]

We're all susceptible to the sway of those whom we respect. If a jazz professor told me that a sour note in a live John Coltrane recording was intentionally done, I might believe it whereas I'd laugh to hear Kenny G make the same error because I love Trane. And I'd be ready to punch a Bieber fan in the neck for laughing at Coltrane's gaffe. In that regard, I'm a sheep as well. A violent jazz-loving sheep, but a sheep nonetheless.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm sure I must be a 'sheep' at times, although I generally try not to be...which means I often have to stand a l-o-n-g way back, and which also feels like looking at life aided by a pair of binoculars....

[Jerry Oz]

What's better: Viewing life through binoculars or a microscope?

[westgrandboulevard]

Interesting question!

For me, definitely binoculars...except for when I become really interested and absorbed in a subject, then 'microscope' does become attractive...but, really, I only have a short attention span for intense scrutiny of anything.

[Jerry Oz]

A microscope makes you seem subject to not moving forward thanks to paralysis by analysis. Binoculars would suggest that you are willing to go with the flow as opposed to controlling your life. I think binoculars would be better because you have two eyes open when using them.

[144man]

Don't do it through a monocle. Everybody hates people who wear monocles.

[westgrandboulevard]

Fanny Cradock didn't. And the fans of Sir Patrick Moore.

Myself, I keep one eye open for people wearing monocles....

[Jerry Oz]

Have you seen people using Google Glass over there? That's kind of monocolar. [[That is a cool word, BTW.)

[westgrandboulevard]

No. not yet. Presumably those who have had laser surgery on their eyes still need to use the frames..at least for the time being.....

[Jerry Oz]

If texting and driving is deadly, what do you think the result of Google Glass will be once drivers think they can multitask while behind the wheel?

[westgrandboulevard]

Hadn't thought about that. My first response is that it should be illegal, but nothing would surprise me.....

[Jerry Oz]

It's illegal to text in most states but that doesn't really curb it. Every week or so, more people are involved in deadly accidents attributed to distracted driving. The police know that's the reason because the culprits don't apply brakes before plowing into other vehicles [[and telephone poles and buildings and people standing on sidewalks). That's the height of selfishness, in my opinion. That's how I know there will be big problems with Google Glass.

[westgrandboulevard]

Is it illegal over there to smoke while driving? It's mooted to be made law here at some time. I would imagine it may not, as what is the real difference between texting, having a conversation on a mobile phone,smoking, eating something while at the wheel, or changing a CD, etc. - ? There will probably instead be increased penalties for driving without due care and attention - the penalties depending on the severity and consequences of the offence.

[Jerry Oz]

Texting not only requires your hands, but also your eyes to be done effectively. Studies have shown that talking on cell phones effectively reduces fields of vision by 50% and that's while the driver is actually looking at the road. The same studies reveal that texting is even more of a distraction. And I'm guilty of changing CDs and radio stations, although I tend to do them only when I'm stopped in traffic or alone on a straightaway path.

Prohibitions against distracted driving are secondary offenses, meaning the police won't cite you for them unless you are alleged to have done something else [[like roll through a red light or fail to signal a turn).

My only problem with smokers is the fact that new cars seldom have ash trays, so every so often, some inconsiderate jerk throws his cigarette butt out into the street. And the ones who have ashtrays seem to have little problems with emptying them onto the ground, even when there's a trash can a couple of meters away.

[westgrandboulevard]

Re: your last para, I believe there's a fine for people caught doing that here.

And those who empty their ashtrays on the ground are the sort who leave their trolley just anywhere in a supermarket car park, instead of returning it to the trolley park. They will of course say "well, it keeps someone in a job.." which does have a certain logic to it, I suppose....

[Jerry Oz]

That's like saying that you're fine with paying more for your groceries if it provides someone the opportunity to collect trolleys. If it saves me 2% of my bill, I'll collect them myself.

[westgrandboulevard]

I assume you have the same self-service machines in your supermarkets as we have here, and/or the same self-scan facilities.

It is true that using the machines for a small number of items can be quicker than standing in a queue..and they continually tell us they are doing it to keep costs down...but I often feel I might not mind paying extra for help.....

[Jerry Oz]

I agree. And the same people who don't mind checking out 30 items in the express lane [[for 15 or less) seem to think that the limited space in the self-serve is just fine for a full cart of merchandise. Consequently, ten people wind up waiting while this dim-wit takes a full 20 minutes to check out [[and more time if he/she has the inevitable price check). Grrr....

[westgrandboulevard]

I do our food shopping in either Tesco [[the market leader, which sometimes feels like I am negotiating my trolley across a very busy railway station concourse...) or Waitrose, [[one of the more upmarket alternatives, and which can feel like shopping in a well-regulated, laid-back office environment).

I have just returned from Tesco. For some time, the team leaders have used 'lollipop' signs showing the words 'Space Here', so customers can more easily find checkouts with less customers in the queue. Behind the scenes, Tesco runs a 'I don't queue' system, where every checkout is - at least in theory - supposed to have only one customer being checked out, and one further customer queuing.

There is a new idea this week. A young lady was also patrolling the store with another lollipop sign, saying 'Ask Me For Help'. It seemed to be working, even though the sweet thing had that look which indicated she really needed directions herself, to circumnavigate the store....LOL

[Jerry Oz]

I can't win in supermarket lines. If there are five own lanes and four have five customers waiting and the fifth has six, it won't matter which I take, it is always fated to be the slowest moving lane.

[westgrandboulevard]

I amuse myself looking at the customer in front, then what's going past the checkout operator, and coming to my own conclusions....

[Jerry Oz]

I amuse myself by trying to figure out which cashier will be bold enough to make eye contact our thank me for my patronage.