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jawallac

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Posts posted by jawallac

  1. Posted · Report reply

    I've been watching the local papers for something interesting to post...and other than ridiculously cold weather and snow on the way, this is it:

    Libraries capture our best, and our worst (by Dick Bolton)

    That some jokers who visit the public library in Mt. Pleasant evidently view pornography on Internet connected computers there has created something of a stir among Sun readers.

    Frankly, I don’t know if this really is a problem, or not.

    My perspective comes of having become a frequent visitor to local public libraries here and there while on summer vacation trips.

    In recent years the visits have been to take advantage of wireless Internet connections for my own laptop computer. For several years before that it was to use library computer setups.

    Anyway, I never have observed anybody viewing pornography online in a library.

    As a matter of fact, I’ve never observed what anybody else was looking at on a library computer screen, unless invited to do so. Yes, it’s entirely possible to walk through a room full of computers in use, and not look at – or pay attention to –what is on their screens. It is a matter of mindset and, I suppose, a touch of self discipline.

    That comes of my traditional upbringing. “Mind your own business” was an important theme. “Keep your prying eyes under control,” was part of a thematic lesson. That meant, and still means, not looking over anyone’s shoulder to see what he is reading, she is looking at, or the person is drawing, doodling, nodding off with or drooling over.

    And we were taught that if our prying eyes did happen to pick up something “off color,” we ought not take offense. After all, we ourselves were committing a social offense by peeping. It wasn’t any of our business, anyhow.

    Voyeurism definitely was frowned upon.

    Yes, one could argue that viewing pornographic material is a form of voyeurism. Then the advice sticks. Frown on that behavior in general if you wish, but resist the temptation to participate by looking over some else’s shoulder.

    Of course, I know it’s not all as simple as my nattering above makes it out to be. Public libraries are peculiar and complex places in our society.

    Nowhere else do we find such diversity in a single place, often literally rubbing elbows. Interests of all kinds are served, from the youngest juvenile to the advanced geriatric, from the sweetly innocent to the hardened and bitterly cynical, from the perfectly righteous to the profoundly heretical, from the clean of mind and heart to the tawdry and perverse. And everything in between.

    A library is our society in a nutshell, all crammed into a shared space.

    So we hardly can be surprised that conflicts occasionally arise. The real surprise, perhaps, is that conflicts don’t erupt more frequently. Libraries, it turns out, are amazingly civilized and civilizing places.

    They also are true freedom shrines.

    Of course we don’t as a rule want innocent young children exposed to material that appeals to worldly adults. And so, we separate them.

    Less segregation of material generally is found in the grown-up section. This assumes that people who use those facilities are capable of making choices to suit their own needs or interests. It is a proper assumption in a land that celebrates personal independence and freedom as essential and basic natural human rights.

    Internet connections complicate things a mite. They greatly expand the universe of material available to library visitors.

    On the one hand the benefit is so obvious no reasonable person would refuse to applaud it with full bore enthusiasm. But on the other, we find a darker side where the hugely expanded reach dredges up what some-many-most of us regard as very unpleasant stuff. Our thresholds for personal tolerance of the latter vary, and therein lies the rub.

    And at one time or another shouts arise to ban this, or ban that, or ban some other thing from the library that offends … somebody.

    Here, perhaps it is worthwhile to reflect on the idea that “freedom is not free,” as we are told on many a national holiday. Personal freedom for all burdens each of us with inconvenient obligations and necessities. One of them is tolerating that which we may find distasteful or outright bad, but others evidently don’t.

    Tolerance does not mean endorsement. It does not mean capitulation, or “giving in to evil.” It means abiding by the old “live and let live” rule. It means, sometimes, averting our gaze and buttoning our lips and resolutely going about our own business while letting the ones we find offensive go about theirs.

    In a library setting especially it means taking responsibility for controlling ourselves and our rightful charges (perhaps children) and refraining from trying to control what others may or do peruse.

    That is righteous behavior in a shrine devoted to freedom. It is what ensures that our libraries will remain as true bastions of personal freedom, as well.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    1. Do you prefer to eat chicken or fish? Fish

    2. Corn on the cob or off the cob? On the cob

    3. Do you own any wicker furniture? Nope.

    4. How often do you put things away? Not often enough.

    5. Be honest, is it really better to give than to receive? Yes, it really is, especially if it's a gift from your heart.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    As a sort of follow-up to my December 22 post, this is from today's newspaper:

    December snowiest month ever in mid-Michigan

    By MARK RANZENBERGER

    Sun Online Editor

    With more than 4 feet of snow, December was the snowiest month in Mt. Pleasant history.

    Weather-watchers at Central Michigan University recorded 48.15 inches of snow at the official monitoring station, more than twice as much snow as the previous record for December. It broke the record for the snowiest month ever recorded.

    That record had stood for nearly 112 years.

    Weather records at Mt. Pleasant date back to 1895. Those early weather-watchers still have some records in the books, including the rough winter of 1896-97.

    In February 1897, mid-Michigan got buried under 40 inches of snow, the most ever for a single month. Until now.

    Central Michigan usually doesn’t get a lot of snow. It’s right in the geographic center of the state, well away from the lake effect that produces mounds of snow near the Great Lakes coastlines.

    Heavy snow in mid-Michigan generally comes from storms fed from moisture from the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific, and that usually don’t happen all that often.

    Those storms happened in December. A lot.

    A winter-like weather pattern set up across the Midwest in late fall, and a series of storms rolled off the Plains across the Great Lakes. In storm after storm, central Michigan was the focus of some of the heaviest snow.

    On Dec. 1, 3 inches of snow fell, followed by 0.75 on Dec. 2, 0.2 Dec. 4, 0.75 on Dec. 7, and 1.5 inches on Dec. 8. Then things got serious.

    A very uncharacteristic 9.5 inches of snow fell during a two-day snow Dec. 9 and 10. Dec. 14 saw a half-inch, 3 inches on the 17th, and 2.2 inches on the 19th.

    That totaled 21.4 inches, and broke the old record for December, which had stood for 101 years. December 1907 saw 21.0 inches of snow.

    But this record wasn’t just going to be broken. It was going to be buried.

    A powerful late-fall storm Dec. 20 dumped 9.75 inches of snow on Mt. Pleasant.

    Then winter began. At least officially.

    Another 3 inches of the white stuff came down Dec. 21, and a Christmas Eve storm dropped another 5 inches of snow. Christmas day saw another inch.

    Right after Christmas, weather-watchers recorded a total of 2 inches of rain Dec. 26 and 27, but the snow came right back on Dec. 27, when another 5 inches of snow fell.

    December ended as it began, with a 3-inch snowfall. By then, it was hardly worth shoveling.

    The record isn’t official yet. Weather records are subject to review by the National Climatic Data Center, a quality-control effort that generally takes about six months.

    More snow is in the forecast for today, but it likely will total less than an inch. Forecasters are keeping a close eye on a storm system that could roll across central Michigan this weekend, bringing a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow Saturday night into Sunday.

    It’s winter.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    1. Will you be having a white Christmas?

    Without a question. We had 8+ inches today, 2-4 predicted for Sunday, and a little bit more Christmas eve.

    2. Will you be traveling?

    Yes. Just a short drive though.

    3. What is the worst thing about this time of year?

    The cold. The dry inside air.

    4. Do you have any favorite holiday foods?

    Show me the dessert & snacks please!

    5. Favorite holiday tradition:

    Spending time with family. Opening presents. Watching Xmas specials on TV - The Grinch, Charlie Brown, Frosty, etc.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    One of the biggest stories around here is the weather. We're having a very snowy December, breaking records and everything.

    "Yet another late-fall storm is expected to move across mid-Michigan Thursday night and Friday, dumping around 8 to 10 inches of snow by the time it’s over late Friday afternoon...Another storm appears headed for mid-Michigan late Sunday and early Monday, forecasters say, followed by low temperatures close to single digits. Monday, incidentally, will be the first official day of winter."

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