The Slice: The Slice: It’s not the heat, it’s the fluidity

I have a theory about why some people don’t seem all that bright at this time of year.

It’s all that slamming palms against the side of the head in an effort to knock water out of the opposite ear.

“Another made-in-China patriotic banner: Ed Clark has one that says “HAPPY 4th UF JULY.”

“We still use it every year and we’re still laughing,” he wrote.

Actually, that almost sounds Norwegian.

“Not running with the herd: Diana Churchill shared a list of locally popular recreational pursuits that don’t interest her. It included hiking, biking, camping, cooking outdoors, gardening and spending time at the lake. “I’m sure there’s more, but I don’t want to go out and find out,” she wrote.

Churchill, who noted that she does not drive a “rig,” acknowledged that all of this makes her seem strange in the eyes of many around here. She’s OK with that. “Long live the great indoors!”

Longtime Slice correspondent Maggie Fritz had this to say: “The easy answer is that if you don’t do outdoor stuff, you don’t belong. But it is really more about a certain kind of person, who thinks that everyone should do what they do.”

Her theory is that requiring recreation conformity is a sign of insecurity.

“I think it is about self-confidence,” she wrote. “If you are OK with yourself, you do what you like no matter what. And if you lack self-confidence, you find people not doing what you like to be threatening.”

“More Slice answers: The surest way to tell if a person knows anything about selecting fruits and vegetables is to watch how he or she picks something up, wrote Velta Ashbrook of Sandpoint. “If the person squeezes the item in question you can bet your boots that person doesn’t know beans about selecting fresh produce.

“That’s why I never shop at the end of the day. All the produce is bruised by then because of being squeezed by so many people who don’t know what they are doing.”

And several readers nominated P.M. Jacoy’s as Spokane’s all-time best newsstand. I’ve heard that before and have always assumed the place was already a mere shadow of its former self by the time I first encountered it 20 years ago.

“Just when you have concluded that everyone in the world must know those bank-draft e-mails are a scam: The number arriving every day triples.

“There’s a signpost up ahead: It says a Sci-Fi Channel “Twilight Zone” marathon starts Thursday morning.

“Today’s Slice question: Where around here do residents have the most experience distinguishing firecrackers from gun shots?