Archive for the ‘Bob Lust’ Category
Tell me this: Is there really any such thing as a secret? There are a lot of books out there claiming to reveal secrets. “Seven Secrets to Success in ‘Anything’,” “Secrets your wife does not want you to know,” the list goes on. The truth is, there’s no such thing as a secret. Suppose you thought you knew something no one else in the whole world knew, as if that would be possible. As soon as you wrote the book or published the alleged “secret,” it would not be a secret any longer. If you wanna drive a gossip crazy, approach them and say, “Can you keep a secret?” They’ll reply “Yes,” at which point you simply say, “So can I,” and walk away.
Bob Lust
Okay, that was all to set this up. It was reported in the big-city newspaper that there was a lawsuit in the U. S. sixth district Circuit Court of Appeals, in which Columbus-based Victoria’s Secret, the ladies undies giant, was suing a man named Victor Mosely, who was using the trade names “Victor’s Secret” and “Victor’s Little Secret” in his adult novelty and lingerie shop in Kentucky. According to the court ruling, this use of the names “diluted by tarnishment” the name Victoria’s Secret. Diluted by tarnishment? How would you do that to Victoria’s Secret?
Further explaining, this appeals court ruling was the most recent blow in a lawsuit originating in 1998. In that year, the Federal court ruled against Mosely in the same matter, and it was reversed by the U. S. Supreme Court. Think of it, for 12 years federal jurists have been weighing in on the matter. When the courts originally enjoined Mosely from using the name, it was changed to “Cathy’s Secret.” Mosely’s wife is named Cathy. This use was also prohibited by the courts. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was a small child and the family went for a ride in the country, we kids would call out for who got to sit in the front between Mom and Dad. The first to say “front,” got to ride in that most-desired position. If we were going somewhere and just one parent was involved, the call would be “shotgun.” I suppose this went back to the stagecoach days when one man drove the horses and the other looked out for Indians, shotgun ready. We had no Indians prowling the city streets of Columbus in my childhood days, and our “coach” was a black Packard. I think all the cars were black in those days.
Bob Lust
Looking back, I now think that riding in the front between Mom and Dad was really not such a thrill. In my youth, Mom was a large woman, and being between her and Dad, who did most of the driving, did not leave much wiggle room. The hazard of being in the backseat was having to share it with two other brothers, and having to duck when riding with the windows down when Dad leaned out the window and spit. He was a tobacco chewer, and this spitting could make for a real mess in the backseat when the wind caught it. You had to be there to fully understand.
Life is just not as much fun for little kids anymore. When riding in the family car, the front seat is off limits. The wee one has to be strapped into a child safety seat parked on the backseat of the car. Even that seat has to face backwards. Think of it this way…the child’s infant and formative years are spent traveling looking not where he is going, but where he has been. Read the rest of this entry »
Just when I think there are no more topics for me to write about, I pick up the Columbus Dispatch and read something worth commentary. This one’s a gem.
Bob Lust
The Columbus Public Health Department has prepared legislation requiring permits for a resident of the city to own and house certain animals. These are categorized as not being typical house pets, which is an understatement.
Here are some of the animals included in the list: Alligators, alpaca, beaver, bison and boa, with the potential of growing longer than 12 feet. Stop it! Why 12 feet? I would be equally concerned about a 10-foot-long boa if it decided to give me an affectionate hug. Going on with the list: Camel, caribou, cattle, coyote, crocodile, deer, donkey and domestic fowl, including chickens. Hold the fort …. chickens?! What are we supposed to eat for Sunday dinner, road kill?
The list goes on: Elk, fox, goat, horse, jackal (I see a lot of those running loose), llama, moose, mule, opossum, ox, pig, pony, porcupine, raccoon, reindeer, sheep, skunk, wallaby, water buffalo (I mean, water buffalo??!!) and, finally, wolf. The list was alphabetical, probably to avoid discrimination against any particular breed or variety of wildlife.
Wait, there’s more! Here are the exempted animals, the ones you can have as a pet: House cat, chinchilla, cockatoo, dog, fish, gerbil, hamster, hedgehog, mouse and parrot. These animals apparently are never carriers of disease. There are some animals specifically prohibited, including (returning to the non-discriminatory alphabetical order) bear, cougar, elephant, giraffe, hyena, kangaroo, komodo dragon, leopard, lion, monkey and, finally, tiger. Read the rest of this entry »
I am looking at the massive advertising in the big-city newspaper and wondering how it can possibly be that this paper can be in financial distress. I have it on good authority…well, one of my morning coffee house buddies…that the paper recently out-sourced its classified advertising department to a company in India. Up until learning this, it had been my opinion that when I called someplace here in the US of A for information and was connected to someone with an Indian accent, I was talking to some nice Indian boy who came to America looking for opportunity and found it. Not so. I am talking to a nice Indian boy for sure, but he is, in fact, still in India. I don’t know how many Rupees this nice Indian boy is being paid for pretending he’s in America, but it surely cannot be that much.
Bob Lust
I used to buy a newspaper out of the coin-operated dispensing box in front of the Waffle House. However, when the price went from 50 cents to 75 cents, I started borrowing someone else’s paper when they were done with it. Then the price went to a dollar, and fewer people are buying it, and those who do are reluctant to share. Nobody ever leaves one behind anymore. It’s getting harder and harder to be a free-loader these days where the newspaper’s concerned. Thus, I have become news deprived.
Our Sunday paper, delivered haphazardly to somewhere in or near our driveway, weighs about five pounds. When we go through it and toss aside all of the glossy, full-colored advertising circulars and classified sections, including home and car sales listings, there’s not too much left. I have some experience with the cost of advertising in the newspapers, and have concluded that I’m throwing away several thousand dollars worth of advertising; not to mention the hundreds of pounds of paper I’m dispatching to the landfill. My wife has started to recycle these papers to save a few trees.
Now before me is a portion of the Sunday paper. I see that some jewelry store is going out of business. They do this about three times a year. This time it’s because the bank has “called our loan.” It’s not like this came as a surprise, I’m sure. I know how much I owe the bank every month and am not surprised by the monthly billing. To meet this “surprise” obligation, they’re selling a 1 carat pendant worth $1,599, for only $289. I can’t help but wonder how much this item is really worth. But wait, there’s more! A chocolate pearl bracelet/necklace set is selling for $69, a savings of $160 from its original price of $229. I figure this item is there to entice the cheaper buyers who can’t afford to save the $1,310 off the pendant. But wait, there’s still more! A ½ carat pendant, sold originally for $699, can be yours for only $139. And, if they sell out before you get there for your savings, not to worry — they have more on order, I’m sure, and will issue you a rain check. Read the rest of this entry »
I understand the game of football better than I used to. My theory at one time was this: The only part of a game worth watching is the last five minutes, and only then if it’s close. Noting that the last five minutes can take a half hour, this because of the need to sell more beer and cell phones and Geico insurance and other things the commercial advertisers have paid for, explains the fact of the time differential. I don’t mind, the commercials are entertaining.
Bob Lust
The greater reasons for the lengthy delays are more frustrating and far less entertaining. It’s the penalties that cause the most time loss. Football is a violent and aggressive sport, I don’t care what anybody says. It’s the reason the players wear so much padding and hard hats. Why, then, the penalties? Why is it okay to ram your full body weight against a guy running down the field, tossing him headlong into the air to come crash-landing on his noggin, but you can’t grab his shirt and hold on — “Holding, number 99, defense, 10-yard penalty, repeat third down.” Nonsense. It oughta be legal to grab a jersey and hold on. Read the rest of this entry »
George W. Bush was a good president. He was a bad president. Who knows for sure? Everybody measures the performance of the president in different ways. Without a doubt, he will be blamed for the endless war in which we find ourselves enmeshed these days. It may also be said that it was his administration that started the events that became the economic crisis we face today. You be the judge.
Bob Lust
He did one thing, however, that has to be cause for admiration.
When “W” completed his elected term, he went back to Texas, his cows and endless acreage, and he shut up and has never come back to meddle in the business of the new guy in the top office. This is the way “ex” anythings should be. They had their day. When that day ends, they move aside and let the future be built by others. Sometimes the new guy will screw it up, but that’s not the old guy’s problem; he will not be blamed nor held accountable for it.
In the military, one lesson above all is learned by those who are paying attention. Chain of command recognition is drilled into the soldier from Day One. The soldier is taught how to salute and who deserves a salute. For the uninitiated, there are two tiers of leadership in the military: officers and enlisted persons. Officers get salutes and are called “Sir,” while enlisted persons of any rank are not saluted and pretend to be offended when called “sir.” My Army career was short, but these things were instilled in me and linger to this day. Read the rest of this entry »
I feel like I was cheated in my childhood. One could say that I was simply born too soon, but that doesn’t make me feel better about the things I missed out on that are available to kids today. Let me cite an example or two.
Bob Lust
The cellular phone has changed the life of kids. I had no phone of my own. If I had wanted to take a phone to school with me, it would have required a very long cord. Kids today all have their own phone. They take them to school. They text their friends on the way to and from school. They text in class, although I’m sure this is not permitted, it’s being done. On the one hand, it’s good that kids have their own phones. With the cellular phone, they can call home from anywhere and pretend to be where they are not. When Mom or Dad calls back to see where the kids are, they have no idea if the kids are where they say they are.
Remember the little kiddie toe game? “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none and this little piggy cried wee wee all the way home.” I guess I must have learned it from my folks; I know I passed it along to my kids and it had to come from somewhere. Those little rascals giggled every time I wiggled first one toe and then the other, reciting the poem every time. It never did make sense to me.
Bob Lust
First of all, who goes to market? Have you noticed in TV scripts they will use the term market where you and I and most other common folk just say “went to the store”? Who says, “I’m going to the market”? These days, we’re likely to name the one we’re going to, like, “going to Giant Eagle” or “Krogers” or “Walmart” or “Meijers,” but nobody says “market.”
Piggies do not frequent markets. It’s in these types of places that little piggies could become bacon, ham or sausage. It’s like the “M” in the M&M commercial who discovers he is not on the guest list, but on the menu. The piggie that went to market didn’t accomplish anything, unless, of course, he was the source of the roast beef that the third piggie is said to have enjoyed. Would that constitute “animal cannibalism” if a pig consumed the meat of a cow?
The environmental and personal tragedy played out in the Gulf of Mexico region as a result of that tragic explosion on a BP oil rig is of a magnitude that is almost beyond imagination. Millions of barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf, preceded by the deaths of 11 men in the initial explosion has dominated the news for the past three months plus.
Bob Lust
BP has done a good job of stalling the killing of this oil well. My theory is simple; they have been discussing in the big board room how to make it look like they were killing the well, while at the same time finding a way to save the remaining oil in what has proven to be a very productive well. Why waste all that good oil? I could be, and likely am, wrong about that, but my opinion is still my opinion.
When I was quite young, a trip to the Columbus Zoo was a special thrill, largely because of an area called “Monkey Island.” This was a piece of the real estate surrounded by a watery moat and high fence. It was filled with monkeys, chimps, apes, gorillas and these fascinating beasts entertained the crowds. I recall one ape peeling a banana to eat and throwing the peeling at the people outside watching his mealtime. The assorted primates would swing on vines and climb their jungle gyms to the pleasure of the crowd. They also did disgusting things that cannot be mentioned here.
Bob Lust
I just read of a new primate at the Columbus Zoo whose name is Oliver. He’s a gorilla — do your own research on the difference — and he’s deaf. He is pictured walking around in a glass enclosed cage looking out at a mother and her daughter who have come to see him. He has been at the zoo only a few months, and is still being “socialized” to eventually join the general primate population in group surroundings.
There’s little doubt that Oliver’s deafness is a challenge to the socialization process. Doubtless these huge creatures have ways of communicating audibly with one another, and Oliver’s inability to do so presents an obstacle. He is DIS-abled, as we would say. Let’s consider that for a moment.
