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The Slice: Saluting those born on Feb. 29
He was afraid of dogs. So naturally, when he was a young man near the end of World War II, the military assigned him to guard airplanes with a German shepherd in tow.
Wish I could have gotten to know him better.
Happy birthday to all the 29’ers.
The great banana ripeness debate: It’s fine that people disagree about this. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.
But when those in your household have wildly divergent views on this subject, do you find that the bananas are always gone before those who prefer them well-aged ever get any?
What’s the solution? Do Post-It notes saying “These are Monica’s – hands off!” work?
Word games: “When I played Scrabble with the kids I always let them use the Scrabble dictionary to check their words ahead of time,” wrote Hank Greer. “It made the game more fun for them.
“One day my daughter, who was about 11 at the time, puts down ‘biota’ without checking the dictionary. I had never heard of the word and I knew she couldn’t have known it so I immediately challenged it. She insisted it was a word. I checked the dictionary and it was there.
“Turned out she was using her iPod to go to a website where she could enter her letters and it would list the possible words she could make.
“From then on electronic devices were banned from the Scrabble game.”
Remembering the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980: “I was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army stationed in Berlin, Germany, and watched the game in a pub,” wrote Steven Stuart. “To say we were excited is an understatement. At 3 a.m., when it ended, the city lit up, people were out on the streets yelling, cars were honking horns. It is still the only sporting event that I get tears about, even now. Kinda hard to be closer to the ‘Bear’ than living in Berlin, seeing the wall every day.”
Warm-up question: Have online communications allowed your organization to take breathtakingly petty squabbles to an all-new level?
Today’s Slice question: How would your neighbors characterize you to news reporters if you were accused of a sensational crime?
(I have asked that before. And I suspect I will ask it again. I just don’t get tired of it.)
Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. “I think ‘Stems & Seeds’ would be a good name for a vegetarian eatery in our fair city,” wrote Sandy Tarbox.