The Trailing Edge

  I spent July 4th with my son, his wife, her mom, and my grandkids, who are 2-1/2 and almost 5. In the typical scramble that always occurs when attempting even the most minor activity with very young kids, I found myself transferring the contents of my wallet to my pockets, in the event cash was needed for treats at the fairgrounds. I came up with a couple of dollars' worth of change, but included in that were a half-dozen pennies. Who needs pennies? Who uses them? Who even likes them? The obvious answer: Kids! Very young children still have no true concept of money or what it's for. To them, it's shiny, sparkly, jingly stuff, or interesting pictures of old men wearing funny clothes. They somehow know that it's important, but haven't quite wrapped their little heads around the concept of why. I remember my son, at a very young age, coming into possession of a handful of coins.  "Monies!" he cried, delightedly throwing the coins into the air, just to hear ...

Lately, I've had cause to ponder the way people handle money. My teen years include my father sneering at me: "You spent money on THAT?" Interestingly, when I was young, he was happy to shell out money for nearly anything and everything I asked for. My tastes weren't extravagant -- I just wanted the "double-header" ice cream cone, which was about twice as much as the single. It was only when I started earning my own money that Dad began picking at me. I guess he worried that I would never learn how to save. He needn't have concerned himself. My tastes have always been simple and basic, and I know the rudiments of investing as well as saving.   I can't necessarily say the same for my parents. They are no longer available to ask about this, but back in the late 1980s, they sold their 40-year-old home for many times the price they bought it for; they then moved to Florida, bought a comparatively cheap house and piece of land ... and then took out a 30-y...

In my teenage years I discovered the cure to the They don't love me back dilemma: Horoscopes.  In my pre-teen days, I suffered from love sickness. The adults around me called it puppy love. It's only now that i realized that they were not referring to the young girls as puppies but to me as puppy. That how boys are trained into men are dogs.  I remember my first love, Laura. Actually there were two Lauras. I remember Laura the First as very pretty and I remember lots of wonderful baby fat. She was the class queen.  Since I was not the class king, she did not love me back. A dilemma that haunted me deep into my teenage years. I might add that I do not remember Laura the Second other than her name. The horoscopes was on the same page of the newspaper as the comics, although I had not noticed the horoscopes before. My horoscope that day said auspicious day for love . One thought led to another and I ended up in the library borrowing Linda Goodman's Love Signs . ...

                            The best way to explain how the different astrological elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) operate is to imagine a school playground at recess. Two kids get into a physical fight. Four teachers come running to the scene; here’s how they respond to the situation. The teacher born under Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius ) may never admit it, but they’re kind of excited by the fight. They will want to observe the “technique” of each kid and gauge the mood of the “spectators.” They might even imagine placing a bet on the outcome. But then, they will also be the first to wade in and break it up, regardless of personal risk. The kids might be somewhat intimidated by the teacher's energetic approach, but that won't necessarily calm everybody down. The teacher born under Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) will be very disapproving. Fighting is against the rules – i...

  It's a funny thing, I have spent my life accumulating knowledge. It started after I left school. While in school, I did what was needed to get good grades. That is because everyone -- parents, teachers, the world -- measured me that way. I did not need to know anything, just remember enough in the moment to pass the tests. I of course did not realize what I was doing as a young student, but I am sure that my teachers knew. Not sure if it mattered to them as long as I got good grades. See, that's how the teachers are measured too: On my good grades. But, let's not rehash this critique of the educational system. After I was done with school, that is, done with college too, I started to read the books I should have read in school. I mean I did read these books in school but I did not really read them. I did not learn what there was to learn in them. The first book, oddly enough, was a book from one of my English Literature classes, The Scarlet Letter . I say oddly enough be...

My 11th-grade English teacher, Mr. Joseph, was brilliant. That year, we studied American Literature, and he walked us through the gamut of novelists, storytellers and poets from the Colonial era through the early 1960s. Yes, of course we started with The Scarlet Letter, but we headed into spring with Death of a Salesman. Mr. Joseph wasn't just brilliant, he was also quite funny. Looking back, I'm quite sure he had Tourette's Syndrome. He would sometimes pause in the middle of reading a story, form his hand into a gun and yell "Pow-pow-pow!" Or he would be taking attendance and split someone's last name into syllables separated by "Duh-uh-uh!" Always with a completely straight face. He wasn't ridiculing or threatening anyone -- these bizarre lapses didn't seem to be directed at anyone. They happened randomly and then he went right back to what he was doing.  But at the time, it appeared to be just another facet of Mr. Joseph's exceedingly ...

[The answers are way down at the bottom.] In the mid-1960s, TV viewers could be “haunted” by two sitcoms that portrayed morbid monsters as the satiric versions of wholesome families seen on such shows as “Father Knows Best,” “Leave it to Beaver,” and several others. While the shows ran on rival networks, they had many things remarkably in common. Test your knowledge of these two classic comedies. Which of the two shows debuted first? a. The Munsters b. The Addams Family Which of these combinations is correct? a. The Addams Family, on ABC, Friday nights b. The Munsters, on NBC, Tuesday nights c. The Munsters, on ABC, Sunday nights d. The Addams Family, on CBS, Monday nights Which of the two shows began as a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine? a. The Munsters b. The Addams Family 4. Which of the two series experienced a change in its cast midway through the first season? a. The Munsters b. The Addams Family 5. ...