CommenTerry

Let's Fix Those Keyboards

Something needs to be done about the placement of the "Caps Lock" keys on computer keyboards. They are too close to the "Shift" keys. When typing mixed case, case sensitive passwords, I'm constantly hitting the "Caps Lock" key by mistake, resulting in an incorrect entry. My suggested solution is to flip-flop the positions of the "Caps Lock" keys and the "Alt" keys. That would move the "Caps Locks" keys further away from "Shift" keys. Hitting the "Alt" keys by mistake would not produce a problem.

Forced Good Is No Good

Alexis de Tocqueville once said, "America is great is because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Some people who would like to legislate morality on everyone else will point to the aforementioned quote as support for their position. I say it's irrelevant. For "good" to mean anything, it has to be voluntary. Keeping the letter of the law because one is forced to do so does not make a person or nation good. That's why God gave us all a free will to choose good or evil.

Some Have to Play a Lifetime of "Small Ball"

Some baseball teams have to play "small ball." Those teams don't have all the talent that some others do and cannot rely on three-run homers and big innings to win games. Instead, they must do the little things like limiting their errors, moving runners over, taking the extra base, stealing bases, and utilizing sacrifice bunts and flies when the opportunities present themselves.

Even those who are not sports fans can learn a valuable lesson from these teams. Many of us are not among the smartest, richest, strongest, fastest, most attractive, most talented, or most athletic. However, by the doing all the little things right, we can still come out ahead in the game of life, sometimes even ahead of those who have been the most blessed!

Classic Rants and Raves #18

In my book, censorship ranks just behind murder, theft, and child molestation in terms of despicability.

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One inch of water in a three foot high bucket will find a way to splash out at the slightest stirring!

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It's funny how the human brain works. Here's one example - I can still remember every negative thing anyone's ever said about me, although I've probably forgotten much of the good.

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Scorched earth policies have garnered  much-undeserved bad reputations.

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Each time I leave the dentist's office after having my teeth cleaned, I briefly feel a bit of sympathy for fish that have gotten hooks caught in their mouths!   

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True love can be found, but it's not something that can be successfully sought.

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A Nectarine is merely a peach without the fuzz.

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The new judge on the The People's Court looks like That Girl (Marlo Thomas) with red hair.

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Most internet addicts have very little interest in TV anymore.

Classic Rants and Raves #17

An unsolicited letter or email labeled "urgent" usually isn't!

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A person who dies with dignity is just as dead as one who dies without any.

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Things done in desperation almost never succeed.

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Deborah Norville used to be a serious reporter. Now she's the anchor for Inside Edition.

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It seems rather weird to be talking about the 20th century in the past tense.

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The Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all need to do their fans a favor by returning to their old uniforms. If both New York teams could do it, they should too.

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It seems that single men are only demographic group not targeted by politicians.

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Have you noticed how all the switchboard operators in the 1960's sitcoms are named Sarah?

Politicians Take the Easy Way Out

During Virginia's statewide elections a couple of years ago, all of the major candidates spent their advertisement time telling voters how tough they were going to be on child molesters and drug dealers and how much they were going to do to help out schools and keep taxes low. Of course, who's in favor of child molesters and drug dealers? Who's against schools and low taxes?

Like most politicians, those guys were content to stick with what's universally popular, attack the easy target, and take the easy way out. They dared not risk stating a position that may have been unpopular with a sizable portion of the population. For example, the word "abortion" was not mentioned in a single ad. I wish one, just one of them would have demonstrated a little bit of moral courage. He would have automatically gotten my vote.

2008 Presidential Campaign Update #11

We're now almost through the third quarter of 2007 -- but still nearly four months from the first caucuses and primaries -- and we have 17 official entries, nine Republicans and eight Democrats, in the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.

The Republicans are Representative Duncan Hunter of California, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.

The Democrats are former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee John Edwards, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Today, I also offer my updated presidential power ratings for both parties, in which I rank the current and prospective candidates in order of their likelihood to receive their respective party's presidential nomination. Of course, these rankings will fluctuate with time, as the fortunes of the candidates change, some drop out, and new ones emerge. Here's my latest installment:

Democrats:

1. Hillary Clinton

2. Barack Obama

3. John Edwards

4. Bill Richardson

5. Joe Biden

6. Chris Dodd

7. Dennis Kucinich

8. Mike Gravel

Republicans:

1. Rudy Giuliani

2. Fred Thompson

3. Mitt Romney

4. John McCain

5. Newt Gingrich

6. Mike Huckabee

7. Sam Brownback

8. Ron Paul

9. Tom Tancredo

10. Duncan Hunter

Stay tuned for regular updates, with the next one coming around the second week in October.

The Email Tips Keep Coming

Yet another email tip from yours truly. After you've typed the body of an email (the actual message), highlight it and then click "edit" and then "copy." That way, if there's some kind of failure when you try to send it and everything is lost, you don't have to retype it all. All you would have to do then is paste (click "edit" and then "paste") the message into a new email. Server failures and other problems occur quite often, especially when using web mail.

Terry's Classic Trivia #5

In the 1976 Iowa Democratic Caucuses, "Uncommitted" received the most votes. Jimmy Carter came in second.

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In 1974, N.C. State went through the entire NCAA basketball tournament and won the title without having to leave its home state of North Carolina.

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Last year (2004) the first year that all four former ABA teams (Indiana, New Jersey, San Antonio, and Denver) made the playoffs in the same season. These teams joined the league in 1976.

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Here's a tip on how to the spell the word "sacrilegious." Add the letters "sac" to the front of the word "religious" and flip-flop the "e" and the first "i."

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The Tennessee Titans and the Houston Texans are both using names previously discarded by other NFL teams. The New York Jets were formerly known as the New York Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs were formerly known as the Dallas Texans.

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The majority of movies with the word "naked" in the title do not contain any nudity.

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One of the many uses of beta blockers is to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). However, scientists and doctors are not really sure exactly how they lower blood pressure.

Classic Rants and Raves #16

The life insurance industry has come up with a new ad campaign that goes something like this: "Dying is unimaginable; dying without life insurance is unthinkable."  However, here's the way I think about this subject: "Dying without life insurance is unthinkable; dying with life insurance is unthinkable."

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In many cases, a sports team, whether college or pro, must hit rock bottom before it can start moving up toward becoming a contender. 

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I've found that almost every time I try to escape a bad situation, I eventually find myself in one that is worse.

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Have you noticed that most network TV movies are targeted at women? I guess the networks are trying to balance out the fact that most of their sports programs are aimed at men.

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The more specific a law, rule, instruction, etc. is, the easier it is for someone to find a loophole in it!

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Whenever you drop something small like a screw or a peanut and you can't find it and you didn't hear it hit the floor, look in your shirt pocket.

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When I was kid, we had some neighbors who had a cat named Claude. After it started scratching up the furniture, they soon changed its name to "Dee-Claude."

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I think those "Family Table" public service announcements are more than a little patronizing.

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Chili that is not hot enough to burn my mouth a little is too wimpy for me!