May 182014
 
Fireworks on the Fourth of July, 2009; Happy B...

Image via Wikipedia

Happy Birthday USA

OK, our country is 235 years old tomorrow and maybe the old girl is starting to show her age. Too much good living is beginning to take it’s toll. Still it’s the best place on earth and I’m glad to call her my country. What we too often forget is that our neighbor to the north celebrates her birthday just three days earlier. It is such a blessing to have that thin red line of Canadians protecting that border. These days no thinking Canadian would want to storm that border looking for a better life. They’ve been doing better than us for years now.  The most they might want is to cut a few years off the wait for medical treatment. No, it’s a great blessing to have Canada to the north and populated with people wiling  to stay there.  The Coots want to wish our Canadian neighbors a very happy birthday.

Canada Day draws crowds from coast to coast

Here in the states, the fourth of July means eating- mostly stuff you cook on the grill in your backyard or at the park. In case you don’t have enough family favorites – or maybe you are looking for something new, check our these recipes.

Great Summer Cooking Ideas

Outdoor dining 101 – plus some hotline help

All the odd weather (and global warming is wrecking havoc this year because there is so much snow that people are still skiing on the fourth. It’s the best ski season in years. IF it keeps up maybe we can ski all year long.

Wacky West weather means snow on the 4th of July

Not only is this a happy birthday weekend for Yanks and Canadians, it seems that there is actually some good news this week. Let’s start with a lucky Brit who survived a nasty accident during a trip to Germany. I got Google to translate this headline but it didn’t come out so well. Anyway, the lucky kid is 17 and is planning to spend the rest of his life avoiding archery ranges.

crossbow arrow in the head: British (17) survived

These is good economic news too. The business of building bespoke accordions is booming, attracting accordion aficionados to Italy. If you missed this breaking trend, wake up and place your order. Each one is made to order and takes months. You don”t want to let that guy down the street be the first in your neighborhood.

An Accordion Epicenter Shrinks and Thrives

But the piece de resistance this week is a stunner. You know how everybody says that the reason that the schools are so bad is that we aren’t spending enough money? Well it turns out to be a lie. When California curt school spending, test scores went up. Maybe with a few more cuts California could get back to number one again instead of being at the bottom. I makes you wonder what else might improve if we cut spending? Got any ideas?

Public schools see paradox of lower funding, higher test scores

Happy Fourth of July and Canada Day to all. Eat big and stay out of range of the fireworks

 

 

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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May 062012
 

Sense about cents! 

Finally!

Large amount of pennies

Large amount of pennies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s another bad week for news. I don’t mean that there isn’t any. There are plenty of news stories but nothing you really need to know. If you wait ‘tll the end of the post, I’ll share Bob’s stories. You don’t need to know them either but, they may provide some diversion.

This week only one story has news you can use. It’s another example of why Canada is eating our lunch these days. Quietly and in small increments, our neighbor to the north is making tweaks that improve their economy. Today’s tweak is the elimination of the penny. It’s a small thing but imagine the many ways this will simplify life for Canadians (and save money to boot).

Do you love pennies? 

In the US, pennies have been nothing but a nuisance for years. People throw them away or stick them in big jars at home because they are such a nuisance. Sixty years ago, we had mills (plastic coins representing one half a cent and one tenth of a cent). Those disappeared after the War as irrelevant. With sixty years of inflation, the cent is worth less than the mill when it disappeard and yet we still are stuck with it. How long before our leaders in Washington show the sense of the powers in Ottowa?

Don’t hold your breath.

Canada penniless as it marks coin’s end

And now for your titillation, Bob’s story of the week.

And what do you think about the penny?  Should we follow the example set by Canada or should we keep it?

 

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Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Jun 262011
 
Sunflowers in Fargo, North Dakota.

Image via Wikipedia

Continuing the quest for good news!

Mixed results today as the Coots News Service searched for signs of good news in the media. With school out and people taking vacations, you would expect a more carefree mood even among the gloom promoters in the media. It’s too early in the political season, for the government to start bombarding us with what a wonderful job they have done in restoring the country to economic vitality.  That won’t start coming until later.

So looking further we find that the Japanese are workikng to repair the radioactivity from their damaged nuclear power plants by growing sunflowers. I always associate sunflowers with Kansas– the sunflower state, where my parents were born. What could be more cheerfull than fields of sunflowers all over Japan just soaking up all that errant radioactivity. If’s even better because all around the world, people can help by growing sunflowers and sending the seeds to Japan. No explanation about what to do with all the radioactive sunflower seeds however.

Sunflowers to clean radioactive soil in Japan

In Russia, another example of botched news reporting. Miraculously, a woman pronounced dead in a local hospital wakes up at her funeral. It’s good news if you stop there, unfortnately the reporters just can’t let well enough alone. They have to give your the whole story.

Russian woman, Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, dies at her own funeral after being mistaken for dead

Closer to home, tbe state of Nevad has taken a stand on increasing road safety by approving legislation that eliminates the biggest threat to safety on the roads today, the drivers. In Nevada, from now on you can let your car do the driving. I don’t have a clue what Google has to do with this but maybe the video can tell us.

Google good news: Nevada’s yes to driverless cars

Canada, our neighbor to the north, provides the US with many things- Comedians come to mind. Someone should do a study about why Canadian comedians flee to the US. Still Canada provides us with inspiration for social issues. It all started with socialized medicine, a specialty in the great white north and moving south but there is another social trend in Canada as well- sexless children.

SORT OF A TREND: RAISE YOUR KID TOTALLY ‘GENDER NEUTRAL’

Talk about an important issue for today. With all the issues caused by sex and the trouble that kids get into because of it, what could be better than getting rid of sex altogether. Heck, if you don’t know that sex exists and can’t tell a man from a woman, how could you get into trouble? Those Canadians are brilliant.

Finally for good news we fall back on our old standby- Justin Bieber. The plucky lad just launched his frangrance line at Macy’s and despite all the crowds and mayhem, our hero is doing just fine.

Justin Bieber gets tackled during fragrance unveiling in New York

Good news is still hard to find but I’m encouraged by today’s stories suggest that reporters may be responding to our program. Support the good news cause by ignoring bad news and spreading the good.  Got some good news you want to share.  Add it in a comment.

 


Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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