WHAT IS A DUMBASS?

For years I've wondered what it is exactly that make a person a dumbass. I admit that I don't know what small bit of DNA contributes to it. I don't even need to know. But I know one when I see one. To wit:

A. The woman who used to be my demonic neighbor

B. The kid who drives slowly waiting for me to pass, then does anything to prevent my passing, or even getting back into the right lane (two times, weeks apart)

C. The stopped driver who waits and waits for me so he can pull out, then pulls out in front of me just before I get to him

D. The high-school teenager who does what driver C. does as she coaxes her little 4-cylinder up the hill that I'd already sped up for, then flips me off because I only had choices to pass her or take the ditch

E. Drivers who roll through a 4-way stop....because I'm already stopped

F. Slow, inattentive drivers who wake up when I pass, then are hell bent to stay on my back bumper

G. The driver who's in such a hurry to pull out in front of me to do 35 in a 55

H. The ignorant driver suicidally pulling into 60 mph traffic and thinking they can get to 60 in 2 seconds, but it takes them a minute and a half

I. The cell phoner who knows they have to stop at the light - but it's green

J. The so very cautious driver who waits and waits and waits for the oncoming car to pass by, the oncoming car that is 3/4 of a mile away and obviously doing 30

K. The "look at me" driver who just installed illegal bright-as-the-sun, purple HD headlights......aimmed higher than everyone else's, then gets road raged because you flashed him

L. The "pet lover" who lets her cute Fifi drive while she's on her cell phone

M. The "empathetic" driver who wants to let someone out of the parking lot, but it's just us two in line

N. The person who puts out garbage on Monday for it to blow into my yard before Friday pickup

O. The rocker down the street who wants to entertain the entire neighborhood with his new stereo

P. The payables clerk who relies too much on her out of date 'database' that didn't post my payment

Q. The banker who want ME to pay for doing my banking with him

R. The grocery sacker who put my chips in the bottom of the bag, under the gallon of milk

S. The chump who panhandles for chump change, then drives home in his new Caddie (maybe this one's not a dumbass)

T. The cop who assumes everyone's got a bale of cannabis in their trunk

U. The Democratic Party

V. The Nobel prize panel that chose the Democrat's 'change' president

W. The University of Colorado's Ward Churchill

X. The "global warming" chickens

Y. Anyone who characterizes a person attending a "tea party" as a communist

Z. Anyone who voted for 'change'

I'm out of letters, but I'm not out of dumbasses. Please Comment with your own list.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: Getting the Black Eye it Deserves

This is neither my first post about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), nor is it likely to be the last. I have been lay researching anecdotal stories and information about HFCS for the past few years, especially since I discovered that I am the first in my non-diabetic family to be diagnosed with the disease. THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE BOTTLED CORN SYRUP YOU BOUGHT AT THE STORE TO MAKE YOUR PECAN PIE.

Something besides fast food is making people the planet over gain weight in great numbers, along with an unimaginable rise in diabetes. I'm not a food scientist or chemist, but many of those who are have been telling us that HFCS is the primary culprit, although the makers of HFCS disagree. Personally, I don't believe the latter group.

A recent article in the U.K.'s The Sunday Times even said that a study found that Fructose syrup (HFCS), a sweetener derived from corn, can cause dangerous growths of fat cells around vital organs and is able to trigger the early stages of diabetes and heart disease. It has increasingly been used as a substitute for more expensive types of sugar in sodas, yogurts, cakes, salad dressings, cereals, and, well, just about any food that was once sweetened with sugar. Even some fruit drinks that should be healthy contain fructose. Experts now believe that the sweetener HFCS — which is found naturally in small, benign amounts in fruits — could be a factor in the emergence of diabetes among children. HFCS is increasingly being used as a substitute for more expensive types of sugar - the real sugars like cane, beet, and maple sugar. The article went on to claim that volunteers on a strictly controlled diet, including high levels of fructose, produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar - table sugar - replacing fructose, did not have these problems. I don't think it takes a PhD to make the connection. The study said that people in both groups put on a similar amount of weight. However, researchers said the levels of weight gain among the fructose consumers would be greater over the long haul because of what HFCS does to the body. Look, the body recognizes and knows what to do with sugar. It is a simple metabolic process to convert sugar to energy and fat. Conversely, the body doesn't know what HFCS even is and doesn't know how to metabolize it, so it just beats up on the body. And the companies that make it know it. They've always known it. Don't think for one minute that food chemists are smart enough to bastardize our food, but not smart enough to know the effects of doing so. And the FDA just let 'em pollute our foods. Fructose bypasses the digestive process that breaks down other forms of sugar, the study said. It arrives intact in the liver where it causes a variety of abnormal reactions, including the disruption of mechanisms that instruct the body whether to burn or store fat. And HFCS manufacturers were allowed to assault the consuming public all for money. Asshats.

Now that HFCS is getting the black eye it deserves, how are HFCS makers going to get theirs?

Is It a Hat or a Cap?

I have been fascinated by headwear since childhood. Recollections of my dad seem to always have him wearing a brown or gray Fedora. That was during a time that most men, and women, wore hats. Although now most men wear caps. Another early memory is of the traditional headgear worn by firemen, and what little boy doesn't want to be a fireman with a cool head covering like this one?

Unless you really have been living in a cave you know that a hat or cap is a garment worn on the head. They, the hats, caps and heads, come in all shapes and sizes. Headwear is worn for protection against the elements, for religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory or statement. In the forces of the world's militaries they may denote the rank or position of the wearer. Headwear is seen in various cultures and is as varied as are cultures themselves.

Hat or Cap?

A hat consists of a CROWN; the portion of a hat that actually covers the top of the head. The VISOR; also called the bill, the visor is the stiff projection at the front to protect the eyes from the sun or rain. The BRIM; an important distinction from a cap, the brim is the projection of stiff material around the circumference of the hat; and the SWEATBAND inside the hat that touches the skin.

A cap also has a CROWN which usually fits very close to the head. A cap has no brim and may have a visor. Typically, the best style of cap in our country is the ubiquitous baseball cap. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of styles of caps and hats around the world.

One of my favorite styles is the newsboy cap or flat cap. The newsboy cap has a bit more fabric and could be described by some as being slouchy. My granddaughter, Kaydence, says that it looks silly. In this genre, a FLAT cap is also a favorite and it being worn more and more often by men and women of all ages.

Regardless of whether you call it a hat or a cap, it helps to have an outspoken granddaughter, who has probably only seen baseball caps, put in all in the proper perspective. Grandpa, one looks silly and the other looks funny.