The Slice: Oh, how we miss those days when we had missiles

Spokane hasn’t been the same since … A) The Air Force removed the local ICBMs. B) The Crescent closed. C) Tom Foley lost. D) Washington Water Power became Avista. E) Eastern’s teams stopped being called the Savages. F) Mary Nam left. G) Other.

Sunburning memory: During the summer before her senior year in high school, Ritzville’s Kathy Schafer got one on an overcast day at a beach in Southern California. It was so bad she even wound up with blisters on her lips.

Deptartment of Mothers Reminding Kids to Do Things They Already Do: When Joan Matlack’s son became a railroad engineer, she would tell him to be sure to wave to little kids who were looking up at the passing train.

He assured her that he was on top of it.

Today’s reader-written joke: This comes from Walt Lindgren.

“What’s the difference between a woman in a bikini and someone from Spokane Valley? Valley-ites don’t have anything to show off and wouldn’t know how to flaunt it if they found something.”

For the record: Last week’s admittedly screwball question about shaving cream in the shower was not quite so prurient as a few readers imagined. I had in mind bathing sequences and lather recycling, not a Louis C.K. routine.

In another matter, if you requested that I join your LinkedIn network and never heard back from me, do not take offense. I used to accept all such invitations. Then LinkedIn started requiring that I enter a password. So I walked away.

And finally, I just have to note that there’s something delightful about getting a brief online lecture on sensitivity from someone who goes by the name “joefaceplant.”

If you are an older reader who didn’t understand a single one of the previous half-dozen sentences, don’t worry. Just remember a phrase I once proposed as The Slice’s unofficial slogan: It’s not important.

Today’s Slice question: Does the fact that there once was a Bohemian brewery in Spokane make you wonder if this city used to be a hotbed of unconventional lifestyles or do you simply assume that brand names don’t necessarily reflect local reality?