Propeller Dog

This excellent ceramic sculpture was done by Cleveland artist S. Judson Wilcox. It is both artistic and humorous. I will look for more of his ceramics, as this one is remarkable.

Much Ado About Nothing: The Boobs of Haboob

I "borrowed" a title from Bill Shakespeare as it seriously seems to frame this to-do covered by the old fussbudget newspaper, the Washington Post.

Here are the facts: Lately The Weather Channel has been using a term haboob to refer to events in Texas and the Great Plains that most people call a sandstorm. Some people in Texas got a little riled that good old-fashioned sandstorms are now called haboobs, instead of referring to a part of a specific woman's anatomy. And the WaPo raised her eyebrows with disbelief and disapproval for these base Texans' impudence! 

From my perspective, there's a lot of fail going around, forsooth!

First of all, The Weather Channel unnecessarily used an obscure word to its audience when a simple word would lead to more clarity. Or, as the old saying goes, don't use a $10 word when a two-bit word would suffice.

Then there is the unofficial word posse that criticized the use of that word. There's an absence of a sense of humor going around; because, dammit, haboob is a funny word. The usual response is to grin.

Then The Washington Post leapt to the opportunity to disapprove of some cranks out there and demonstrate that they were a different kind of crank as well. A P.C. crank.

The only possible reason I can think of for this present-day intolerance for the vagaries of others is the upcoming election. The general rules for tolerance and "live and let live" have been jettisoned for cheap shots. People need to behave themselves better.