Random Thoughts - April 2026

Ted Reads Random Thoughts

15:15

I heard someone say "HOLY SH*T". What does that mean? I was wondering how and when does/did s**t become holy? How about Cows, and Toledo as additional “Holy’s”?

And “Pray tell?”  What’s that all about?

And where did the term, “I’ll take a gander (look) at that” come from?

“He doesn’t have a lick of sense,” she said. I knew what she was saying but wondered how much a lick is, and if one wanted more, where might they go to get it. Wondered also where that phrase came from. I’m guessing a cow. As a result of being familiar with a cow’s unique lick. And how much qualifies for enough of a lick? Can there be too much of a lick? If so, what’s that called?

There’s a delicious looking pastry at one of those airport stores. Is it cherry, or strawberry? One I love, the other I’ll tolerate. There is no clerk to ask. So, I buy it. I bite into it. Which was it? I couldn’t tell. It was a taste I’d never experienced. Whatever it was, it was awful. 

The Uber driver says to me well, “Have a good day.”  Though well intended I am sure, it was a bit odd because she was dropping me off at night at a mortuary, located in the middle of a cemetery. We had been discussing death related issues for the twenty minutes that it took us to get there.

On the way back, another Uber’er asked, “How ya doin?”  I said, “I’m feeling grateful to be one of the ones who were able to walk out of the place tonight.” He had nothing to say after that. A case of TMI I’m thinking.

The other night as I was preparing dinner, the nursery rhyme, “A tisket, a tasket a red and yellow basket…,” came to me like one of those ear worm songs that comes and won’t go away. That got me to wondering, what a Tisket might be. It seems as if it is related to a Tasket. If so, what is the difference?

If the Tasket (instead of the Tisket) went first in the rhyme, would that change the whole story? Maybe something to do with freshly baked biscuit?

And where was the girl on her way to when she dropped the love letter? Was she riding a bike, a horse, walking, jogging? Did the letter fall out of the basket or her pocket? When did she realize she lost it? Was the little boy some random little boy or did she know him? Since she saw him pick it up, did she go to him and ask for it back? If not, why not? Did the little boy read it, or maybe he was too young to be able to read. What did he do with it? And was the red and yellow basket central to the story? Could it have been another color and the story be the same? If the letter was in the basket was there anything else in the basket? Did the basket have a ribbon on it. Why do nursery rhymes not give us more information? And why do they come back into my consciousness. Where had all that wondering been parked? Speaking of parking….

I’m thinking that there might be room in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (the bible of the psychology field) for some Geriatric behaviors/syndromes I’ve noticed in myself since becoming a card-carrying member of the group.

How about GPS (Geriatric Parking Syndrome).  Symptom being an inability to pull into a parking space and park straight.

Another one might be GGGS (Geriatric Gift Giving Syndrome).  The symptom being that I give the same gift to the same person two or more times within two weeks.

While on the subject of Geriatrics, I think we should acknowledge that there is the Geriatric version of tattoo parlors. They are actually called dermatologist offices with the temporary tattoo being the telltale Band-Aid or bandage that covers the spot where the patient has left a donation of skin after having it been burned, frozen or cut off. Donating a piece of one’s body if you will.

Since I believe that belonging is one of our major needs, I propose that we who have been serviced by such a process should create a group and acknowledge our membership by a salute (Little Finger Pointed to the Middle of Our Forehead maybe?) when we see each other. Signaling our unique status as I found Porsche 911 owners/drivers do as they drive down a city street or motorcyclists waving to each other.

There is currently a commercial on TV where a skydiving man and an emu fly into the side of a camper trailer. They then head towards a stadium they were obviously supposed to fly into.

I don’t know if that commercial was based on this story, but a college baseball coach I knew (Ron Fraser from the University of Miami) had engaged a skydiver to land inside the baseball stadium to kick off the start of a game.

The skydiver failed to land within the stadium. He had to walk into the stadium. He got to the ticket booth and told the ticket seller who he was and that the coach was expecting him.

The seller said that he knew that and the jumper would have to buy a ticket to get in. That made the national news.

Just another way to publicize and thus support his program. He promoted his program by being outrageous. Pulling all kinds of publicity stunts. One was painting used baseballs with powdered milk to save money. Florida’s notorious humidity combined with the doctored baseballs garnered national coverage.

One of my baseball players and I once went to visit him on a recruiting visit. We went to his office. The receptionist had us take a seat and said that he had just returned from baseball practice. Shortly, he opened his office and welcomed us in. I was a bit shocked because the only article of clothing he was wearing was his jock strap.

I am getting over a bout of COVID. My experience reminds me of my gratitude for research that created vaccines, testing, and drugs to lessen the effects and duration of the experience. Reminded me of a time when my fear of getting it was high. I remember having a tear fall from my eye as a soldier from the National Guard administered the vaccine.  And as I turned to thank him there was a tear in his eye also.

POLITICAL COMENTARY FOLLOWS

I believe in science in the form of inoculations.  I am wondering if those who don’t have any second thoughts or secret doubts when their children lie sick and suffering from measles and chicken pox here in Boulder.  Probably not.  Polio is making a comeback. I know from personal experience that it is difficult to admit, out loud, that “I was wrong.”

I live out west. One can see a forest or range fire from a good distance. I see a fire burning, consuming the essence of the fabric of what America, at least was pretending to strive for.  While others just see smoke coming, as if out of a chimney.  And others who are turned in a completely different direction and see nothing at all or see it as a comforting bonfire.

True politics are not ideologies to discuss, but an attitude to your relationship with the world which is enacted in your daily life. Your politics are not what you tell yourself you believe. They are not the set of ideas that you identify with or look to for personal validation of your goodness as a human being. Your politics are expressed in the choices that you make, the way you treat other people, and the actions you perform. -Wiliam Blake

For the most part Germany’s concentration camps were located outside of Germany. For the most part German citizens did not really know the details of what happened to the people deported, so they didn’t have to worry about it. For the most part Americans have no idea what happens to those deported thus don’t have to worry about it.

Why take the little ones? Why focus on the young? Germans did it to destroy the next generation before they could reproduce.

So wind farms are kaput. Venezuela taken over. Iran throttled. Hmmm, I wonder what industry benefits from that? Reminds me of the person who took on the anti-rapid transit cause who also just happened to be one of the largest automobile dealers in Nashville. If you’ve been in Nashville lately, you understand the impact of his cause winning that battle. Good for his automobile business. Bad for those who have to drive them.

Did you know that the only Nazi leader ex-communicated from the Catholic church was not because he did horrific things to millions of people but was because he married a Jewish woman.  And that in the Bible of Nazism Hitler suggested the ideas and practices he later put into practice was God’s will?