Today's Tids Issue 2,772
Opening Stuff

I really like the guy, so I can't get this morning mess going without taking time out to say, Happy Birthday to George Washington. Oh, HB to Abe too, but George is my man. Maybe this admiration infatuation began back in those first days in First Grade. But, now, today, this February morning it is more intense than ever. The more learn about the first Prez, the more I wish we had more people like him. Not just in the highest offices, but walking the streets around us. His aspirations were not of a man a step above, but of what very person alive should strive to attain. To raise the standard one level beyond what you think you can attain. And to achieve each step with integrity. "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."

While not minimizing the hardships of the over 3,000 Carnival cruise Line passengers, the media by it's nature often goes to those most apt to complain -- the first-in-line-to-sue crowd. But, I suspect that here, like in most American tragedies or inconveniences, the real story is, as we always discover, human beings finding a way to pull together for the benefit of each other and all. Let's hear it for the unsung heroes!

Classes for beginner eReader people is called KindleGarten.

I'm going to take less time writing the Tids and more time looking for typos. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who react to the big picture and those who find disgust with blatant, continuous typos. I even have contempt for typos myself as I try to decipher my own notes taken about thoughts and observations for future Tids. Maybe I should have had more pre-school, after all.

The Question:
Mark Rubio wants to know who are the leading makers of bottled water?

The Headlines:
--Americans hail Savings Safty Day As Stock Markets Remain Idle.
--After148 Years, Mississippi Ratifies 13th Amendment.
--Hugo Surprises All With Return To Venezuela.
--Maker's Mark Decides To Keep Proof At 90.
--Mindy McCreedy Kills Self.
--1,000's of Global Warmer Protestors Shivering At National Mall Rally.
--UN Creates List Of Syrian War Crimes.
--Dasani, Aquafina Compete For Rubio As Spokesperson; Spigot On, Flooding War-chest.

Conspicuous consumption is continuing nicely in the US of A. Statistics show that there are about $9 Billion worth of perfectly good cell phones sitting idle. In addition the numbers show that Americans trade in $35 Billion very workable phones each year for the latest innovation whether needed or not.
The Republican House is the only thing that America has going for it right now. It would be death by a million White House cuts without a questioning Congress. What better day to celebrate separation of branches than today. A day that honors two great presidents and in particular George who was very aware of the dangers of a run-away executive branch or unfettered sovereign. There is really only one big problem...the White House is far better at smearing the Repubs, than the Repubs are at making a case for their stance. 

The students of the retiring Masseuse asked her to keep in touch.

Tell your children and grandchildren to grow up to be Engineers. I'm hearing from my knowledgeable source deep within the bowels of the inner-workings of the Manufacturing industries that College engineer BS graduates are practically naming their own salary. The other big problem in US manufacturing the lack of people qualified to fill 300,000 available jobs. The need for non-college bound students to be trained in their own special talents is greater than ever. The manufacturing middle class will never be a large as it was, but it will be better, and better paid.

When the various Cultural Hall 0f Fame's are remembered in the future, which one will honor the Kardashians --- their own?

The good news is that my Spell-Check still doesn't recognize Kardashian as a name. The bad news is that it doesn't recognize Marco Rubio either.

The true level playing field is one where all people are people of integrity.

I have found that the Tids readership is loaded with experts from many fields from the Military to Finance and Industry, Education to Religion, Sports to Popular Music. And unfortunately, too many who are very good at spelling.

Headlines which are written containing the words "Could be", should never be published.

Duh, Department:
Finally a study that proves what most people with half a brain already knew -- TV has an effect on the behavior of kids. A study in Seattle determined that it would next to impossible to turn off TV for children, but guidence on program selection could affects personality traits. For instance, boys who watched Dora the Explorer instead of Power Rangers were less agressive.

Why does Tiger Woods think that playing golf with Barack Obama would help rebuild his squeaky clean image?

The Conscience: Chapter 15.
   "Yo, Milton, have you heard from Eliot today." 
   "Not, yet, but I think all is good. You gotta stop sayin' 'Yo!, boss."
   " And you gotta stop sayin' "Gotta stop sayin'."
   The two men laughed til their sides hurt. They were friends who truly liked one another, and more important relied upon each other's individual talents. Between them they shared a trust, a trust often hard to find in the cold paranoid world of ridiculous money in which they lived. Milton Washington was the number two men at the largest black business nobody knows about except those deep into the global finance    He was only number two because the "Boss", James Smith had an idea and asked his friend Milton to throw away his life and join him. Milton was Mr. Outside, a lawyer with a Phd in Finance from MIT's Sloan school. He was tall, good looking and when he decided to walk upon the public stage, people stared. People can see natural leadership.
  The boss was James Smith, raised as Jimbo in a dirt poor black ghetto of Mobile Alabama. Jim Smith was a tough street fighter, with the presence of a Mayflower decedent. He was shorter than his friend, and tended to dressed a little more casually. His confidence was so secure that he didn't rely on suits and fashion. The two had fun but were deadly serious businessmen who controlled business people on all continents.
  The two were friends from the fifties, and they knew bad. They were young and learning at that time when things were changing. A time when the young people didn't lie down in the gutter with the old people for the marauding whites. They had watched and learned. They rose from the black predestination., and never forgot. Even as kids, they were tough, clever and very smart. They had watched the white men, had seen dirty hearts, felt the evil, the humiliation. They never forgot. Even though they play in the same pen now, their business playmates don't only see them as a couple of black guys who made it, probably hand picked for some government program. People say those days are over, but not to Milton and James.

Memo to President Obama: I don't remember anything about my pre-school days except, perhaps, walking that half mile to Mamaroneck Avenue school each day on very short legs. Oh yeah, and that clay impression of my hand I made for Mother's Day.

The first Die Hard movie was really good.

The Answer:
Pepsico's Aquafina and Coke's Dasani are among the leaders. Around here it is Poland Spring. Others are Evian, Perrier, Deer Park, Chrystal Geyser, Pure Life, Ice Mountain and Arrowhead Mountain.

I don't know whether or not GW ever cut down that Cherry Tree and told his dad the truth, but it is a simple little lesson for life I have never forgotten.