“Do you like good gossip, Mabel?” Mrs. McBride asked? “Oh I TRULY do love it so” answered Mabel. “Well”, said McBride, as Mabel leaned in good and close, “Word on the street is, you packed on a good 10 pounds this winter, got so drunk at the church social last Sunday you made a fool of yourself batting your eyelashes at the Minister, and kept Mr. Flintlock’s change when you ran to the store for him because he’s laid up with the gout…” , Mabel exclaimed, “ why those are horrible things to say!” “But you said you love gossip Mabel?” said McBride. “Not when it’s about ME!” said Mabel! “Well, dear,” said McBride, “how do you think the rest of us feel every time your lips are seen moving!” Gossip has 6 letters, but it’s a 4 letter word. Will Rogers said it best; “Live that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”

Thomas Jefferson said “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” My Grandmother said “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it”. And now I read that while the private sector is slashing jobs in an effort to survive this recession, the government in Washington, DC grew by 15% in the last year. So now I’m wondering, did things get better, or worse?

Pennsylvanian in the news; 19 year old Jerome Blanchett while out on bail awaiting trial for four robberies allegedly followed a man into the restroom at a hotel in Harrisburg, PA. Jerome pulled a gun on him, and robbed him of $138. The robbed man was a retired police chief, who pulled his own gun and pursued. He was aided in Jerome’s arrest by a dozen other men from the convention the convention? It was for undercover police officers.

We alluded to Will Rogers above. The man was a large dose of wisdom & intelligence rolled up in country common sense. If the 21st century doesn’t have its own Will Rogers identified yet, it sure needs one. Here are a few Will Rogers thoughts to tide us over while we await our own showing up; “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” “I wonder if it isn’t just cowardice instead of generosity that makes us give tips.” “Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow is too lazy to form an opinion.” “An ignorant person is one who doesn’t know what you have just found out.” “Everyone is ignorant, only in different subjects.” “Nothing you can’t spell will ever work.” “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” “Always drink upstream from the herd.” “Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier ‘n puttin’ it back in.” “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”

Google, that great internet search engine tool, that practically everyone uses because it works so well, it seems really looking for. That’s “algorithm” to track data. But it seems they are suffering from what they fear is “brain drain”, too many of their 20,000 employees are leaving or planning to leave. So how do they combat this? They wrote another algorithm to monitor their employees and identify those most likely to leave...Hey, hold on a darn minute! That great tool that helps us find the best Yankee batting averages of the last decade shouldn’t be used to snoop what we’re thinking! Just goes to show you, every possible use of the computer, has a dark side as well. It’s a tool, folks, no different than a hammer. As soon as it becomes dangerously more than that, it’s time to take a hammer to the darn things.

And you think your visits to the dentist are painful? 2,500 years ago in Southwest America and Mexico witch doctors dug out cavities and filled them. But since this was 24 centuries before fillings were invented they had to be creative. Cavities a obsidian tipped bone hand drill. And since this was millennium before Novocaine the most you received was some coca leaves to chew on. Then they cemented into the drilled hole a jade gemstone. Jade was both hard enough to stand up to wear and dense enough to protect the inner tooth below. Wow, and you thought your dental plan had some holes in it!

Remember 65 years ago the boys stormed the Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944. Most of them are gone now; even the 17 year olds are 82 this June 6th. But if they hadn’t had the grit to do the hard work, our world today would be a whole lot different. Chat with you in July! The monthly chatter box is written by Donald Conyngham

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