TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

We wonder why cows aren't used more

ADVERTISEMENT

By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: August 27, 2009

Kurt Rittner, a Lake Placid friend, seems to frequently find almost true articles that have a bit of irony and humor and passes them to me.

Finding Cows
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington?

And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country and provide free welfare to them.

Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

Following the constitution
They worked forever trying to draft a workable constitution for Iraq.

Why didn't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

Obeying the 10 Commandments
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse or Congress is this; You cannot post Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, and Thou Shalt Not Lie, in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

Exercise for people over 40
Another friend, Dan Tabor, who lives over in Bradenton and is doing his best to control his weight and knows that I am also fighting that battle, sends me the following suggestion.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a five-pound potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-pound potato bags.

Then try 50-pound potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-pound potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.

Dan says he is now at this level.

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.

E-mail, Facebook, and Twittering
These three items and many, many more computer-related subjects are the result of our space age technology and the need to make very compact communication devices.

The first two above are fairly good ideas and have for me increased communication between me and my family much to all of our pleasure and satisfaction.

I do not Twitter and consider it an immature means of getting messages and information sent between two or more people. It is also the most dangerous thing to attempt while driving. I cannot even answer a call on my cell phone while driving without diverting my attention away from driving safely. Even hands free cell phone use is a distraction and it is irresponsible of the phone companies to not make their phone useless while inside a vehicle.

This is an idea for someone to develop a simple device that would be installed in the vehicle by the manufacturer and the phone company which would prevent the phone's use.

Even truckers would likely tell us that use of a CB while driving especially in traffic is dangerous. Their main use was to warn other truckers of "Bears" locations. If you do not remember or know, "Bears" are the law enforcement folks.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT