Sad News...

nooshinjohn

OBITUARY: Common Sense Died 24/7/365 in North America's Heart, USA

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense who had been with us for many years.
No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).
His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned, but overbearing, regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; however they could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and arranged to have an abortion.

Finally, Common sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, spilled a bit in her lap, claimed McDonalds did not warn her and was awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived, however, by three stepchildrem; 'U.A. Victim', 'You Got More Than Me', and 'I’m a Whiner'.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.


(found this posted on another site...)

dromunds

Take a listen to Bob Dylan's "Dignity." Not sure if it preceded Common Sense in death....

nooshinjohn

I think Dignity was kidnapped, her whereabouts unknown.

dromunds

"I ask the cops wherever I go, have you seen Dignity?"

cnh

Frankly, there are a lot of people with various Freudian complexes on both of the extremes (Right and Left). People who can't bend, fold or you know! When you live in a diverse society of others you must always know when to shut your trap and let the other guy, gal have their say.

And I do level some blame on my side, the neurotic "left", I see enough of them at faculty meetings. Those spineless liberals who can't even discipline their child of two for throwing a tantrum in public because that might scar them for life or be seen as not treating a toddler like an adult, etc. Those who worry about the "intentions" of minors in what seem like innocuous incidents are merely PROJECTING the adult world (and what a horrid one it is, full of suspicion and mistrust, religious zealots and bigots, ethnocentrism and disguised hate and animosity, etc., etc.) into that of children. Really, don't children have enough to deal with without "us" adding OUR nonsense to them? Or are we so narcissistic that we wish EVERYONE to be "just like us"? (Or what I would call the politics of America, "be just like us" or "else")!

And again, that describes BOTH sides, friends! Both!

cnh

tonyb

True CNH, extreme's everywhere you look actually. For me anyway, I believe the anchor should be our constitution, not 20 different opinions on the meaning of it either or twisting it to meet an agenda. I'm all for stupidity, people have a right to be as dumb or clueless as they like, just don't ask my wallet to support your stupidity. That's where personal responsibility comes in....another death. But in the end none of this matters much because the finger of blame lays squarely on ourselves. We have allowed the death of common sense, personal responsibility, accountability, and others. Until we get our collective sh$t together, none of this will change.

cnh

“In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Pretty much sums it up. No chance we'll see that here, Constitution or no Constitution. "Everything always changes!" But humans refuse that reality.

cnh

Msabot1

Been dead and gone a long time now....sadly!

oldrocker

My daughter got home from school earlier, was a bad day, a 9yo old student shouted F'''you and threw the classroom laptop at her which almost hit another 9yo student. He threw it because he was asked to return to his seat. Parents were called in and they ask "what did you do, to set him off".

txcoastal1

When I was young. I had no sense stuck my bic in an electric fence.

Pede on my hair, burned my dalls

and $hiitted in my overalls

Polkie2009

oldrocker wrote: »

My daughter got home from school earlier, was a bad day, a 9yo old student shouted F'''you and threw the classroom laptop at her which almost hit another 9yo student. He threw it because he was asked to return to his seat. Parents were called in and they ask "what did you do, to set him off".

This is what we get when society turns it's back on God. Keep it up and see how bad things really get, and you ask what has happened?

oldrocker

Yes Sir, you are correct!

Polkie2009 wrote: »

This is what we get when society turns it's back on God. Keep it up and see how bad things really get, and you ask what has happened?

mantis

Polkie2009 wrote: »

This is what we get when society turns it's back on God. Keep it up and see how bad things really get, and you ask what has happened?

This is what happens when you don't whip that ****. I say bring back the **** whipping

oldrocker

Laffs, yes, daughter brought that up a few times....

mantis wrote: »

This is what happens when you don't whip that ****. I say bring back the **** whipping

DMara

The extreme, both left and right, are still the minority in this society. Therefore I don't worry much.
What worries me is the fact that we Americans are whining too much while Europe and China are focusing all their energy on trying to beat us.
Just do something instead of whining. Elect whoever you want to be your leader. Raise your kids with integrity. Be friendly to your neighbor. Kiss your wife every night. Just do it. Being mad and complaining day after day will not fix any issue.

Phasewolf

I am 38 and my **** still hurts from some of the hits I have taken but trust me I got what I have coming.

tonyb

DMara wrote: »

The extreme, both left and right, are still the minority in this society. Therefore I don't worry much.
What worries me is the fact that we Americans are whining too much while Europe and China are focusing all their energy on trying to beat us.
Just do something instead of whining. Elect whoever you want to be your leader. Raise your kids with integrity. Be friendly to your neighbor. Kiss your wife every night. Just do it. Being mad and complaining day after day will not fix any issue.

There's a fine line between being happy, tuning out the negative's in life, and participating in the outcomes of your country of which you must live that life. Kissing your wife every night won't change anything either, nor will teaching integrity to your kids. Once the public indoctrination classes take hold, it's a crap shoot if they retain anything a parent teaches them. But....you hope for the best as they grow up, because like it or not the influences on a child are beyond your control after a certain age.

Still, the question remains as it always does, what do you do ? Sit back....take up the shorts and be happy about it ? If our founding fathers did that, we wouldn't have a country today. Complacency imho is a huge problem. It's easy to whistle along and not pay attention as everything around you deteriorates, but sooner or later your world too will fall and then....and only then, do people stand up and say WTF ? As usual however, as history too teaches us, by that time it's too late and blood must be spilled to reset things. So as I see it, yeah....you can wait, not care about anything aside from your little box, but it will cost blood in the end. Or you can care now, before it gets to that point and use words to change things. Organize...so one small voice becomes louder. Personally, I'd rather use words than blood to change things, which do you prefer ?

DMara

Blood will spill no matter if you worry or not. It's just human nature. When you're on top, a lot of others will try to climb up, jump over you to try to replace you. It's tough to be #1. Our Founding Fathers were the underdogs, not the leaders of this world, so I doubt how they would act nowadays. Looking back at the past in nostalgia won't help, I'll tell ya.
And stand up for what? I remembered when gas hit $3, we cried foul like we were about to die. Guess what, the whole world suffered, too, and gas wasn't as cheap for them as for us. Did we hear them cry or were we too busy to whine? **** like that happened all the times, and I felt so blessed that I'm living here instead of THERE at this moment. The world population is increasing exponentially day after day, which means there will be more competitions day after day. Life will be harder, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying it while it lasts. Complaining won't help a bit.
For what it's worth, my parents might have felt their past was more glorious, but then again my grand parents must have done the same thing about theirs. It's a whining cycle, I guess.

tonyb

Whining is human nature, everything could be 100% hunky dory and people will still find something to complain about. That's not what I'm talking about anyway. The squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say. To say nothing means you accept everything as is. That's not me, and I know that's not a lot of others either. Opening your mouth is no guarantee of change, but better to lose a few battles and win the war than to never fight at all. Seems to me anyway, that's a good lesson for the youngsters. To fight for what your passionate about, believe in, win or lose. There is at least dignity in fighting for something and losing, rather than never fighting and cowering in a corner. Know what I'm sayin' ?

DMara

The problem in your statement is that: you ask for fighting, but you didn't get into the specific. Fighting for what? You might fight for something, and I might fight another battle, it's not the same. Therefore ridiculing others that they are "cowering in a corner" is just an extreme view.
To me, fighting the battle means doing the little things first. If I can't have peace in my household, then how can I expect such in my neighborhood or my country? We get fat from richness, we feel so superior that we ignore the micro and only look at the macro. We want big things, we're #1. If my home is a mess, it won't matter to my country because it's just one home. Well, guess what, if more and more people think like that, we sink together, because it's now the majority. Take care of our home, take care of our neighborhood, only then let's talk about our country, our world. That's my fight.
Your dad might have thought you were a knuckle head. My dad certainly thought so about me. Sometimes I think so about the younger generation, but then I remembered how I promised myself that I wouldn't do so after getting frustrated at being looked at that way by my dad. It's just a generation gap that I want to keep an open heart to embrace it. To claim that only we owned Common Sense while the young guns lost it is just too extreme, in my opinion.

oldrocker

I was just sad my daughter had a bad day in the classroom today

stretchl

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, spilled a bit in her lap, claimed McDonalds did not warn her and was awarded a huge settlement.

Interesting commentary, John. And one that begs the question:

After taking a look at Stella Liebeck (pictured), the 79 year old widow who suffered 3rd degree burns (also pictured), would you enlighten us as to how you’d have voted had you been on the jury?

Extra credit:

How would you have reacted if that had been your mother, or wife, in that second set of images?

nooshinjohn

Please read the last sentence of my original post... I clearly stated that I got this commentary from another source.

That said, I would NEVER put anything hot anywhere near my junk... common sense.

Perhaps she should have sued her vehicle manufacturer for not installing a cup holder as well...

stretchl

^^^ what we in da bidness call a non-answer

Polk&Beans

stretchl wrote: »

^^^ what we in da bidness call a non-answer

That said, I would NEVER put anything hot anywhere near my junk... common sense.

Perhaps she should have sued her vehicle manufacturer for not installing a cup holder as well...

I think he answered your question clearly, and my 83 yr old mother, nor I, would put ANY sort of cup between our legs either , btw.

F1nut

If I was on that jury all she would have gotten is another cup of piping hot coffee and a "I'm a dumba$$" t-shirt.

Face

Ahem... www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?60950-Obituary-of-the-Late-Mr.-Common-Sense

Polk&Beans

^-Ditto, ditto and double ditto

nooshinjohn

Sorry Face... did not have any way of knowing, but as they say, great minds think alike.

mrbigbluelight

Thanks, stretchl, for posting that picture to illustrate why the grandmother sued to recover medical expenses.

Should she have known that "hot coffee" is hot ? Sure, and I expect she did know this fact.

HOWEVER, she also had the right to expect her "hot coffee" to be just that: "hot".

NOT "scalding".

Little blurb from the Internet:

"Carl Borchgrevink is a Professor at Michigan State University, who conducted 2 studies on hot liquids being served thru quick service windows after the landmark McDonald’s case of a woman who burned herself with hot coffee. “The serving at 150 I'm okay with," he said, "but the serving at 180 or higher is dangerous. I'm a little surprised people are still serving at that temperature given we've established that's risky from a customer's point of view."

Borchgrevink also put together a study asking consumers what temperature they actually considered hot but safe and satisfying. “We came away with a preferred temperature of 144 to 155, with most coming close to the upper end of that range."

If those consumers like coffee at 155 degrees, why would restaurants brew the beverage at higher temps?

In Carl’s opinion, “195 to 205, which is often the recommended temperature to get the maximum extraction of coffee, if they wish to brew it at a slightly lower temperature you need to use more coffee. So there is, in fact, an economic argument."

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/how-hot-is-too-hot-for-your-morning-cup-of-joe%3F-we-put-your-favorites-to-the-test.#ixzz2iRLGjyrv

So, although it may decrease McDonald's profit margin by 0.000000000000000000000001 %, they could serve their coffee at a safer 150-160 degrees in slightly thicker styrofoam coffee cups. Miniscule thickness increase in insulation would retain the lowered temperature longer.

I've experienced the "lid pop off" at a McDonalds' drive-through before. We were going squirrel hunting and I had a pair of Carhartt pants over a set of work pants. As we pulled away from the window, the lid popped off, and my lap was greeted with warm, soothing coffee.
Actually, I estimate it was about 200 degrees. Luckily I was wearing insulated pants, not coveralls, so I was able to drop them fast enough to save "the boys".
No non-economic excuse for serving coffee that hot.
If I spill a coffee or soda in my lap, then that's on me. I'm the one who has to hear, "Hey, did you piss in your pants again ?" when I show at work with a wet crotch. : ' )
If I spill a coffee in my lap and it's 200 degrees and I get 3d degree burns, then standby for you to pay my medical expenses (unless I can drop my pants quickly enough).

The economic factor shouldn't override safety and common sense. : ' )

Phasewolf

To me hot means will burn you badly this is how I see things. If I was on the jury I would of said too bad if your are not careful bad things happen to you that is how the world is and if you can't handle such it is not the job of everyone else to protect you from your self or your lack of common sense.

Now if they tossed it at her and she was burned then sure she would of had a case.

Should tables have warning sings saying danger sharp corners? Should paper be taken off the market sense it can give you a nasty paper cut? How far do you have to go to be safe from being sued?