Today is July 23 and there are only 155 days until Christmas, so start shopping and forgetting where you put everything.  Today we remember the birthdays of Haile Selassie, Calvert De Forest and Pee Wee Reese.  On this day in 1852 the first interment was held in US National Cemetery in the Presidio, in 1904 the ice cream cone was created by Charles Menches and in 1958 the first four women were named to the peerage in the House of Lords.  In Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia and Oman it is  National Day and in the US it is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day.

I have noticed something on a number of occasions that has me puzzled.  I haven’t mentioned it before (at least not that I remember), but it has been a constant question of mine.  Why do people who work in doctors’ offices and hospitals wear their scrubs out in public?  It was always my understanding that the purpose of scrubs was to give medical personnel something to wear at work that was clean and not contaminated by being outside of the hospital or office.  It also allowed them to change out of the scrubs into street clothes so they did not bring “work” home with them or expose the public to whatever they had been exposed to during the day.

Apparently, somewhere along the line, it occurred to hospitals and medical offices that if they let people wear scrubs to and from work, they would not have to provide a place for them to change and lockers for their clothing.  Further, the people would then be responsible for having to clean their own scrubs.  It is interesting that the safety and welfare of the public are not important if they cause an inconvenience for business.  Personally, I try to stay clear of people in scrubs out in public.  Chances are they are not contagious, but why take a chance and then wake up one morning with weird skin lesions and your hair falling out.

Recently, we were in a large store where you can usually see some unusual sights.  I don’t want to mention any names, but I am sure you know where I mean.  As we were walking around, shopping, I noticed a young man who seemed to have some kind of affliction that made it hard for him to walk.  I noticed him several times, but could not see him well enough to be able to determine what his issue was.  Finally, as we were checking out, I got a chance to see and then no longer had any sympathy for him.  His problem was caused by wearing flip flops and socks.  At least now I know his problem was not physical.

Barbara’s granddaughters are nearing the end of their visit and as part of their experience, we went to the Statue of Liberty.  We had a good visit, but I am amazed at the number of people who do not have the vaguest idea of how to function in public.  When I am out and in a large crowd of people, I always move to the side of the path if I need to stop for any reason.  I cannot believe the number of people who have not mastered that concept.  There were literally thousands of people there and then there was a man who wanted to get pictures of his family with the statue in the background.  Most of the people there simply lined up the shot, took it and moved on so that they wouldn’t block the path.  Not this guy!  First he got them into the grouping that he  wanted and then he moved  back and lay down on the path to take the shot.  This created some interesting reactions.  I think at least one person thought he had fallen.  Because he was lying down a few people did not see him and almost walked on him.  Still others,
again because they did not see him, walked through the shot and he had to try again and again.  There are a number of reasons why I would not lie down on that path.  Taking a picture is just one of them.

You may have noticed that I used the word literally earlier.  Having my two grandsons around and having Barbara’s granddaughters visiting, I have noticed that the word “literally” is used all the time.  For example, my earlier sentence could have been stated as “there were thousand …” but I felt it necessary to add the word literally.  I can not really explain why I did, but I imagine part of it is because I hear it used so often by everyone that I have succumbed to the trend.  I am going to try not to add the word when it is not really needed from now on.  I am going to watch what I write and say and try to avoid using superfluous language.  I will not be influenced by trends and I will be careful how I speak, literally.

This week our fact tells us that if you put a bee in a film canister for two hours, it will go blind and leave behind its weight in honey.  Let’s address this in order.  First, why would you put a bee in a film canister in the first place?  More importantly, in this day of digital cameras, how many people even have a film canister?  Next, how do you know the bee is blind?  When I was a kid I was told certain things would make me blind.  I have to wear glasses, but I am not blind.  I would like to see the eye chart used to test the sight of a bee.  As to leaving behind its weight in honey, one would have to assume you knew how much the bee weighed going into the canister so you could verify that part.

Frankly, I would just as soon go have some vanilla ice cream and leave the bees alone.