Welcome back.  I hope you had a good week.  Today is Sunday, June 23 and there are only 185 days until Christmas.  M-m-m-m.  I can almost taste the preservatives in the Swiss Colony Beef Log.  Today is the birthday of George Sax, Bob Fosse and Filbert Bayi.  On this day in 1860 the US Secret Service was created, in 1949 the first 12 women graduated from Harvard Medical School and in 1975 rocker Alice Cooper fell off the stage in Vancouver and broke six ribs.  In Denmark it is Midsummer Eve.  In Luxembourg it is the official birthday of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.  Tomorrow is Discovery Day in Newfoundland.

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the youth of our country.  From what I have seen, they are becoming stupider all the time.  You constantly read and hear about car accidents caused by people texting when they are driving.  I am aware that not all of those accidents are caused by young people, but the young ones cannot use the excuse that they forgot they were driving.  That is an exclusive dodge for us “old folks.”

As I have said in the past, I have the opportunity to watch TV late at night and I see a lot of those Top 20 Most Shocking types of shows.  I watch them because I am constantly amazed at how many really crazy people there are out there.  I see people who are stopped by the police for erratic driving.  They get out of the car and cannot even stand without leaning against the vehicle.  Then they claim they have not been drinking.  When the officer asks them to recite the alphabet, starting at G, they get lost around N.  Then to correct it, they go to A and start … but I digress.

I wanted to talk about the stupidity of youth.  Watching those shows I have seen all types of dumb.  There was one kid who decided to jump off the top of a two-flight cement staircase with his skateboard.  Everything was going well until it was time for the landing.  I am not an engineer, but I could see by looking at the staircase that this was not going to end well.  First of all, he did not have enough speed to carry him all the way over the stairs.  Second problem was that he did not allow for gravity.  The third issue was he did not feel the need for a helmet.  The final issue was the stupidity of his friends.

Here is how it went.  He came along the sidewalk, got to the top of the stairs and went airborne.  Because he did not have enough speed, he started to come down too soon.  He hit the second flight about 2/3 of the way down.  The tip of his board hit a step and he flipped forward, going down the last few steps face first and stopped when his head hit the railing pole at the bottom.  Yes that entire stunt was ill-fated and stupid, but here is where it gets even worse.  He is lying on the bottom of the stairs after face planting and sliding down three cement stairs.  He hits the pole with the top of his head and rolls over on his back.  His face, chest, stomach and legs (oh yeah, he was wearing shorts) are all scraped and bloody and he is crying out in pain.  A couple of his friends are actually laughing and one says, “Dude, are you okay?”

I watch these shows and marvel at how these people intentionally put themselves in situations that will cause harm to themselves or damage to property.  When it happens, they laugh!  As if crashing into things, gashing open body parts and breaking bones is funny.  I think it was Homer Simpson who said, “It’s funny ‘cause it’s not happening to me.”

There was one event where two guys were sitting on one of those merry-go-round type things in a playground.  They take a motorcycle, lay it on its side and put the rear wheel against the thing.  They rev the motorcycle and the wheel starts to spin the merry-go-round.  It goes faster and faster until one of the guys is flipped off and smacks into a tree.  Everybody laughs and one says, “I sure hope you got that on camera.”  Meanwhile, their friend is lying on the ground in a heap and no one seems too concerned about him.

This type of thing does not bode well for the future.  Can you see the news story now?  “President Jones was injured today when he tried to jump the White House Rose Garden with a skate board from the second floor of the White House.  Apparently he did not get enough speed up to properly clear the railing on the balcony.  Secret Service agents rushed to his side and one agent was heard to say, “Don’t worry I got it on camera.”  As they were carrying him to the infirmary, the White House staff physician said, “Dude, are you okay?”

This week’s fact tells us that the women of Iceland earn two-thirds of their nation’s university degrees.  The men are too busy trying to skateboard down flights of stairs.