Today is Sunday,  October  16 and there are only 40 days until Black Friday, so get those shin guards and elbow pads cleaned up and ready to go.  Today we remember the birthdays of Noah Webster, Oscar Wilde and Paul Strand.  On this day in 1848 the first homeopathic medical college opened in Pennsylvania, in 1925 the Texas School Board prohibited the teaching of evolution and in 1984 Desmond Tutu, black Anglican Bishop, won the Nobel Peace Prize.  In Jamaica it is National Heroes Day, worldwide it is World Food Day and in the US it is National Liqueur Day and National Dictionary Day.

I am sure that, when you read that it was World Food Day you thought, “Damn, here comes the holiday trivia folder again.”  Since I hate to disappoint you, let me give some information on World Food Day (WFD).  WFD is celebrated around the world every year in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.  WFD was established at the organization’s General Conference in November 1979.  The day has adopted a different theme each year in order to highlight areas needed for action and to provide a common focus.  This year’s theme is – Climate Change: “Climate is changing.  Food and agriculture must too.”

That’s all for WFD.  I know you are all wondering why it took so long for World Food Day to be created.  So am I, but I have not been able to find an explanation for that.  I will let you know if I do.

I try very hard to not be political and it is difficult, sometimes, to stay above the fray, but I do.  I do not want my weekly diatribes to be tainted by politics.  Having said that, I saw a posting of a sign that I feel pretty much says it all.  The sign reads – Can we just admit that we may have taken this “Anyone can grow up to be president” thing just a bit too far?  I really think that says it all.

I want to revisit the ongoing issues women seem to be having with their bladders.  I continue to see the commercials for all the different products that women can use so they can safely laugh, cough, sneeze, be startled, etc.  I saw a commercial for a product recently that made me wonder.  In the commercial, a woman was lamenting the fact that some products were bulky and obvious.  She was telling us this as she was preparing to go out on a date.  She was getting dressed and was saying how pleased she was to have found a product she could wear and still get dressed up.  The commercial ends with her walking off saucily on the arm of her man.

My thoughts then continued on.  They go out for dinner, have a couple glasses of wine, get chummy and then their thoughts turn romantic.  He invites her back to his place. And one thing leads to another and now how does she explain her special garment to him?  If she says that it is because she has a slight bladder issue, does he now have to be concerned that she might wet his bed?  Or does she do like they used to do in the movies, where she goes into the bathroom and comes out wearing a bathrobe that fits her and was conveniently left in there for her to use.  I wonder if Victoria’s Secret is working on a new product line for this dilemma?

This past week I had an interesting experience.  I went mattress shopping.  We had a king sized bed and now that there is only me, I felt that a bed that size was a little more than I really needed, so I decided to get a replacement that was a little smaller.  I went to a chain store that specializes in mattresses.  The lovely Elaine and I had used this chain before and were satisfied with our purchase.  I was not really sure what type of mattress I was looking for, but was pretty sure that, whatever I decided I wanted, I would find it there.  People find this type of shopping to be a chore, but I feel that anytime I can spend most of my shopping time lying down, I am good.

In the past, I have always felt that the mattress I had did not do much to support me after the first year or so.  With that in mind, I started looking at the various memory foam mattresses.  There are a number of different types.  There are strictly foam, foam top with coil springs that are individually wrapped in foam, not wrapped in foam, tied together, doubled and on and on.  I was leaning toward the foam ones, but was having a hard time with a couple different things.  One issue was the price of the ones put out by the company best known for their memory foam products.

This company actually has one mattress that cost over $12,000!  I know, that’s what I said, too!  For that price it should make itself and come with someone who carries you to it at night.  Needless to say, I did not get that one.  I didn’t even look at it to see what made it worth that much.  I didn’t think it was worth looking at something I was not even going to consider.  The other problem was deciding what level of firmness I wanted.  There were several different levels of firmness that were another issue.  They had from very firm to firm but soft.  They had a middle level and then a soft level.  It was mind-boggling.  Anyway, after talking to the salesperson, she took me to a line of mattresses that she felt would do the job for me.  I got lucky.  I found one that I liked and it was on sale, in stock and came with a free blanket, pillows and a duvet cover.  I do not know what a duvet is or why I have to cover it, but I am ready when I figure that out.

This week our fact tells us that in Vermont it is illegal to paint landscapes in times of war.  I can’t help but wonder what happened to cause this.  I wish I could have been there when this was debated to hear the reasoning behind it.  “Put down that brush Mr Ross.  No more happy little trees.  Don’t you know there is a war going on?”

Drink up, look up a word and have a nice week.  And remember another thing I saw recently.  According to Josh Stern a human pyramid looks awfully much like a food chart to a cannibal.