The Slice Is It Possible Jun Ecleaver Still Vacuums?

There’s this commercial for some sort of vacuum cleaner/mop that features a woman demonstrating it while wearing a pearl necklace.

Frankly, we thought that went out with June Cleaver. But perhaps we’re wrong. Maybe it happens every day.

So as soon as we can secure a grant to fund the research, we plan to conduct a door-to-door survey designed to find local residents vacuuming while wearing pearls.

Kidspeak: When the situation called for it, Bernice Vaughan used to check her little girl’s temperature by gently pressing her lips against the child’s forehead. And for quite some time, the little girl thought her forehead was called a “fever.”

More geography experts: Lucille Hinch took an overweight letter to a contract post office in Spokane. The woman behind the counter looked at the destination (Captain Cook, HI 96704) and, in a puzzled voice, asked where on earth that was. Hinch informed her it was in Hawaii.

Another local woman recently called a package delivery company’s Spokane office about sending something to Hong Kong. “What state is that in?” she was asked.

And a guy who had spent time in Asia told us about talking to a woman who volunteered that her brother was in Japan. “Oh, where?” he asked.

“Manila,” she said.

Movie recommendation: “Kolya.”

Skip a meeting that afternoon: This summer’s lone weekday Spokane Indians day game is Aug. 20, against the Yakima Sugar Bears.

Or better yet, encourage your team leader/boss/quality control facilitator to hold the meeting at the ballpark.

There’s nothing like a few cold beers to liven up the brainstorming, even if some of the feedback might be cause for civil litigation.

True or false: You can assume a man and woman are having a fight if both slam the doors when getting in the car and the driver turns the ignition, puts it in gear and hits the accelerator within .000001 seconds.

But of course, it’s not aimed at kids: A reader called to suggest that the beer billboard on the Cheney-Four Lakes road, a stretch frequented by students, isn’t freedom of expression’s finest moment.

Warm-up question: Which of your co-workers has killed off the most indoor plants?

Today’s Slice question: If you flip off a jerk who flashed you a totally unwarranted dirty look in traffic, does that make you a jerk, too?

, DataTimes MEMO: The Slice appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098. Has a kid ever flunked out of News 4 Weather School after reporting that his family watches KREM and KHQ?