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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Lauren,

How about wishing an "Honorable Veterans' Day."

Jim Cejka

Some thoughts for Veterans Day:

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."  ~José Narosky?

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die."  ~G.K. Chesterton

"I just don't know why they're shooting at us.  All we want to do is bring them democracy and white bread. Transplant the American dream.  Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back."  ~Hawkeye

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."  ~Sir Winston Churchill

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children."  ~Jimmy Carter

"War is not nice."  ~Barbara Bush

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Jim,

You have so many profound and worhwhile thoughts to share. Leaning forward, grumbling, and squinting to read your font is always worth the effort.

Your suffering classmate, Nancy

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

Nancy - I have trouble reading Jim's posts with my trifocals!  Maybe a magnifying glass????

Barb

Jim Cejka

Better?

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

I really appreicated your quotes on war, Jim - especially in the more readable font! As to Barbara Bush: what children EVER listen to their mother's excellent advice. Sigh. 

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Right on Barbara, and right on Terri!

William Nelson

We spent yesterday away from home, so didn't have an opportunity to read these comments until now. I really appreciate the quotes from Jim's post. Remember when Ike warned about the "military-industrial complex" feeding on itself and taking us all down.

I was drafted and wound up in the Army in Vietnam. Thanks to the good training I received at CHS from Mr. Frisby and others, I was chosen to go to microwave school. Only a few of my classmates were drafted, because many of the officers didn't think it was worth spending that much training on draftees. We did our best and did our time. We hope we made a positive difference by providing communications for I Corps, but we were happy when we had our orders in hand to head back home. We interacted with some of the locals around Da Nang. They were happy that GIs spent more money than they'd ever seen, but most would have been happier to work their rice farms in peace. They really had a beautiful country before the wars tore it up.

We really enjoyed a call from our son in Mukwanago yesterday. He called because it was Veteran's Day, but we talked mostly about other stuff. He was in the Air Force Reserve for >20-years and spent a lot of time overseas. He missed both of his brother's weddings because he was in Iraq, or the surrounding area, and they were married eight years apart!

Our eldest grandson (daughter's son) is back in Waukesha after a couple of tours in Iraq as a combat soldier left him with PSTD. We don't hear from him often, because it's really messed him up. Sometimes he wants to be close to his family and other times he wants to be left alone. He's in the latter mode now and has been for a while. We just keep hoping he'll be led back to normal some day, but the resources from the VA seem to be pretty limited.

Those quotes were very approrpriate Jim. I like Jeanne's suggestion that we use, "Have an Honorable Veteran's Day."

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Much better, Jim! Thanks,

One more war-related thought:

I vaguely remember a passage we looked at with Mr. Marino (Homer, I think) in which warring armies were encamped at night across a river, or a field, from each other. Those were the days when wars were fought by day, face-to-face, man-to-man. Soldiers on each side were earnestly praying for victory. What folly! As mentioned - no one wins in war. And we still haven't learned.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Right, Sal. Or - with my new iPad - just put a thumb on each side and SPREAD......

It never even occurred to me to do THAT. You can't even imagine what non-techies some of us are..........

I sometimes need to be dragged, screaming and kicking, into this century (will probably be the last person on earth to join Facebook; my mobile phone does exactly that - phones).

Jim Cejka

Hey - all you teachers out there - it's Jeopary's teacher week, and I DON'T SEE YOU! How many of you are watching, and how are you doing? (In all honesty, of course.)

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Jim - I really enjoyed the first time I got to watch the Teacher's Tournament last night - did pretty well! Looking forward to the week to come. Speaking of losing your contacts - since I've had my iPad (2+ years now) I've been steadily adding all my contact information about EVERYBODY into the iPad. One day a few months ago, all my contacts completely disappeared! Fortunately a wonderful tech person referred by Apple got them all back from a previous update I had done a few weeks prior to the loss. Now I and my contacts are safely floating high above it all on a beautiful iCloud! Whew!!!

Jim Cejka

Garry,

Wasn't derivatives something we studied in somebody's math class?

It's interesting how we get on peoples contact lists, even if we don't know them. I seem to be on the lists of many people from Nigeria, the British lottery, someone who only writes in Chinese, Viagra and discount watch sellers, and several others I won't mention but would be disinclined to accept their services.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

My personal favorite story of being on someone's contact list was a series of e-mails  I received at school, through my teaching e-mail address. (This was right after being warned by the District not to indulge in using our school account for personal e-mails.) I started receiving daily e-mails (in German) from a company selling Viagra at - according to their hype -  the German equivalent of "rock-bottom prices". My first thought was this was just a continuation of the same problem I had at Custer of "Terry" being mistaken for a male name; on the first day of class, I always groaned when my name was not called in the roll call at girls' P.E.,  because it meant when I returned to homeroom all the boys would be asking why I had skipped P.E. - where my name was apparently called in the boys' class. EVERY year. Even changing the speling to "Terri" didn't help. (I think it was getting the letters from my friendly corner Army recruiter that pushed me over the edge into the spelling change.) I was hoping the guy who supposedly monitored the e-mails in the District Office didn't speak German. However I think Viagra was spelled the same way. 

Jim Cejka

This moving to "middle" northern CA is interesting. (I'm having a hard time thinking of it as "northern CA." I have this mind set that CA ends just above San Francisco, and have to force myself to remember there's a whole lot more of CA north of here.) Anyway, you were right Garry. After all that previous discussion about fall and leaves turning and stuff, it actually is like that around here. There's a definate fall feeling in the air, cooler breezes (if you consider 60 cool - it is compared to the 75 in San Diego), and trees turning color and dropping leaves all over. I even have enough leaves in my yard to rake. (I won't of course, never did see any sense to that.)

Even though this brings back memories of fall in WI, it is comforting to know, however, that this fall here isn't going to be followed by a WI like winter.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Jim, are you here in Middle California yet? I think if/when California gets divided into two states :-) the boundary will be right where you are living. Then we will all be southern North Californians. You might just be a northern South Californian! But we do have beautiiful Falls here - not the dramatic multicolored forests of northern Wisconsin, but many beautiful fall trees:  red/orange  liquidamber, glowing yellow ginkgo, maple, and red oaks; and we get the crisp Fall air - fireplace weather. You really don't get that "fall feeling" down south among the palm trees. 

Jim Cejka

Yup, Terri, here I are in middle/northern/whatever CA. Right in a position where if they do divide the state, my house will be in one state and back yard in the other.

Jim Cejka

             R.I.P. JFK

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

"Don't let it be forgot

That once there was a spot

For one brief shining moment

That was known as...CAMELOT!"

Jim Cejka

Trying to think who was the quarterback on our team. Maybe someone should tell him the Packers are looking...

William Nelson

Jim,

One of our grand-nieces in Milwaukee posted a video of a local TV spot about Brew City Brand Apparel where her boyfriend is a designer. One of their more popular T's says, "Backup Quarterback ... Green Bay ... it can't get any worse!"

Melody Jones (Parker)

Rainbow over my house from Thursday evening last week.

There is a faint shadow of a "double rainbow" on the left.  I grabbed my camera just before it disappeared in the clouds.

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

Too funny, Garry!  And I really needed a good laugh this morning.  I'm leaving for the hospital shortly - am finally getting the back surgery done. I will be soooooo glad when the surgery is completed & I'm working toward recovery.  I'll keep you posted.  Hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!

Barb

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Barbara, wishing you the best outcome for your surgery and a quck recovery! Thanks for the double rainbow, Melody - beautiful!

Jim Cejka

Good luck Barbara. Hopefully after the back surgery, all your troubles will be "behind" you, and you'll be back to shovelling snow quickly.