KNOWWARE
What do you do at a stage in life
When memory disappears,
When recollections of times gone by
Are replaced by blanks and fears?
Yes, diaries and photographs
Ring out like a sometime bugle,
But what helps most to recapture the past?
Knowledge's helpmate, Google.
6
One of the many hypocrisies about this president's government shutdown is the fact that TSA agents, who are basically on the frontline when it comes to screening incoming passengers at our airports, are the very ones who are taking the brunt of it all by being asked to work without getting paid, or in some cases even being "furloughed".
Try as I might, it's hard to see the logic in this.
7
@N. Smith, I guess it depends on the job at the TSA. I wonder if they rotate. The people checking your passport seem very businesslike and careful, yet it seems the folks who walk us through the machine and make us take the hands-up position seem to be enjoying their job. And to be honest, I wouldn't want to have the job of the people patting down folks like pushing-60 sweaty me (like the jovial 30-something in Fort Lauderdale in July; my bag must have flagged something or rang a bell, but god knows what he might have been looking for right there in view of everyone), but they often seem so nice and seem happy to be doing their job. Based on the search, I took his "Enjoy the flight!" as code for "Don't they have gyms where you live in New York?" but maybe that was just in my mind as he moved on to the next pat-down subject.
An old tribute to possible fun work in the TSA - "Fly Me in the Nude"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMJvlkzntBg
3
@Freddie
Thanks for the laugh and the vivid imagery -- but as I said the sheer hypocrisy of this president touting safe borders while forcing folks to work without pay is lamentable -- especially since now many of them are starting to call out sick...Better stay here in New York for the time being!
4
Enjoy your flight airline passengers.
Air traffic controllers should not have to worry about receiving their pay but The Con Man in Chief would rather pay for a wall that we do not need.
Air traffic controllers must focus on their duties not worry about paying bills.
And lets not forget about the TSA agents who probably have minimum savings to start with.
8
“Open, because of state funding: Ellis island (where Governor Cuomo had his inauguration) and the Statue of Liberty.”
Tune of “Swearin’ to God”
Swearing me in
There’s nowhere else that this event should be
Swearing me in
I’m glad the funding concept came to me
The Prez was closing the place
But since I’m resourceful
I sent down some math from above
I found some spare cash
And so this great bash
Can start my third term as Gov
(dance break, then)
Yes, national office may call me
But now we’re all here to install me
Start swearing me in
The Island’s open
For swearing me in.
Inside I’m hopin’
That swearing me in
May happen soon in D.C.
7
RE: Metropolitan Diary:
The writer did do something wrong, and acknowledged it.
It is rude and inconsiderate to sit in the middle of a 3-row. Either you're guaranteeing a stranger will sit directly next to you unnecessarily, or you are implicitly telling all riders that you want the whole row to yourself.
10
@adeez I totally agree. I don't understand why Metropolitan Diary chose this anecdote. Anyone who takes MetroNorth regularly knows that the middle seats are the last to fill up. Anyone who chooses to sit in one when the window and aisle are empty is definitely telling all riders that they want the row to themselves. That is probably why the other rider was irritated, and was correct to speak up about it.
7
Along those lines re seat etiquette: One of the lessons ideas "learned" from watching people on the bus has been that as ling as there are plenty of other seats someone can choose, if you'd rather keep the seat next to you open, its an OK idea to make yourself as space-consuming as possible, sniffle and cough really loudly, and scratch like something from your dog got in your hair. But - this is Ok only if there are other seats, not if the seat next to you is the last or next to last; that it's not rude to guide people boarding to another available seat, but it is rude to make them stand.
PS Has anyone noticed spellcheck really seem to want to change the word idea to Idina? (or does this only happen on computers that have referenced "Wicked" or "Let It Go" a bit?)
6
@Laura, the Diary writers over the years have more often than I'd expect told stories that they know don't put themselves in a positive light, but they found they wanted to share the story anyway.
A comment on the main Diary page from Esposito from Rome (I assume that's Rome, Italy, not Rome, New York) mentioned that the "middle seat most often has the best, least worn cushion. It's more comfortable and better for your back" -mas a reason the middle seat could be better, presumably if not inconveniencing others.
4