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May 22

Tipping

It’s possible, and even likely, that you’ve never heard of the kind of tipping I mean.

This week’s podcast guest has something so important to share! And I want to get that message out to as many people as possible.

Debbie Deming is on the show to talk about furniture tipping over onto little children. She says that in the US this year, about 25,000 children go to the ER and a child will die every 9-11 days due to a tipping accident.

It’s the kind of accident that can happen in any home, to any one’s family. And so many people have never even heard of it before.

When it happened to their granddaughter, Debbie and her husband thought it was a freak accident that had never happened to anyone else. But as they mourned the loss of Amaya, they found other families who had gone through the same tragedy, and they realized that tipping happens all too often.

So they started a foundation, Safe and Sound with Amaya, to spread the word about the dangers of tipping. And along with information, they give out free furniture straps to anyone who needs them.

safe and sound icon photo

You can hear Debbie’s story on the podcast, but whether you listen or not, I just want you to be aware that this is a thing that happens. 

As I said on the show, I climb up on things that I know I have no business attempting. These little kids are just doing the same thing – trying to reach something they want. Only they don’t have the experience to understand that it’s dangerous. Until it’s too late. It’s our responsibility to keep them safe, and tipping deaths are totally preventable.

If you have kids or know anyone who has kids, please look around and see if they are as safe in their home as you think they are. A 25 pound child can pull over a 100 pound dresser just by stepping or pulling up on a single open drawer. That’s a fact that too many parents have learned in the worst possible way.

Free furniture straps are available!! Be safe now, instead of sorry later.

Debbie Icon

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Listen to the podcast ~ Debbie Deming: on Furniture Tipping
Visit Safe and Sound with Amaya
Contact Debbie for free furniture straps
Consumer Product Safety Commission ~ report on tipping

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May 15

A Year in the 80’s – New Wave Music

When I think of early 80’s music, New Wave is what first comes to mind. Wikipedia says that “New Wave music is an umbrella term for several late-1970s to mid-1980s pop/rock musical styles…broadly analogous to punk rock before branching as a distinctly identified genre, incorporating electronic/experimental music, mod, disco and pop.”

I think of New Wave as punk-ish, pop-ish, stylized, individualistic, creative, synthetic, and highly electronic. And like Punk, New Wave was a style beyond the music, with its own distinct fashion sense – that maybe made no sense, haha. But it was creative, you have to give them that!

Here are some videos of what I think of as New Wave Music:

Culture Club, Karma Chameleon, 1982

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Adam Ant, Goody Two Shoes, 1982

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Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), 1983

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Cyndi Lauper, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, 1983

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Thompson Twins, Hold Me Now, 1983

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Howard Jones, Things Can Only Get Better, 1985

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I read once that the music you loved during your formative years will stick with you the rest of your life. That must be true, because I definitely still have a place in my heart for the synthetic sounds of New Wave.

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How about you?

What kind of music did you listen to
when you were first starting to really get into music?

 

 

May 13

A Year in the 80’s – Some 1981 History

January 20
Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States. At the moment he completes his inaugural address…

The Iranian hostage crisis ends with the release of 52 Americans in exchange for the return of $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets. 66 hostages had been taken captive after a group of Iranian students took over the US embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. 13 people were released in November of that year, with a 14th later released due to illness. These remaining 52 hostages were in captivity for 444 days.

March 30
John Hinkley attempts to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who is shot in the chest as he’s walking to his limousine in Washington, D.C.. Also shot are press secretary James Brady, a police officer and a Secret Service agent. All recovered except Brady, who was confined to a wheelchair as a result of brain damage.

April 12
The space shuttle Columbia launches from Cape Canaveral, and manned American space flights resume after a 5-year hiatus. The Space Shuttle is the first reusable spacecraft flown in orbit. Columbia flew 28 flights (125,204,911 miles in total), spent 300.74 days in space, and completed 4,808 orbits. On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated during re-entry after it’s 28th mission, killing all crew members aboard.

May 13
An assassination is attempted on Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter’s Square. Thought the Pope is shot, he recovers from his wounds, and would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca is sentenced to life in prison. (He is pardoned in 2000.) It is widely believe at the time that Agca is an agent of the Soviet Union or Bulgaria, due to the Pope’s anti-communist stance.

June 5
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention release a report “describing cases of a rare lung infection in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. All the men have other unusual infections as well, indicating that their immune systems are not working. This marks the first official reporting of what will become known as the AIDS epidemic. Within days, doctors from across the U.S. flood CDC with reports of similar cases.” (aids.gov)

July 29
Prince Charles and Lady Di are married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. 3,500 guests are in attendance, and an estimated 750 million additional people watch the wedding procession and ceremony, which are televised world-wide. In the United Kingdom, the day is considered a national holiday to mark the wedding. Which is why everyone’s home to watch it on the telly.

August 1
MTV launches at 12:01 EST with The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”. The “Music Television” channel plays back-to-back music videos and features “video jockeys”. MTV’s effect is immediate in areas where it’s available, with record stores selling music that local stations are not playing. MTV also sparks the Second British Invasion, with British acts already accustomed to making music videos.

August 12
IBM introduces the IBM PC personal computer, IBM 5150. It sells for $1565.

September 21
Sandra Day O’Conner becomes the first Woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, approved unanimously 99-0 by the U.S. Senate.

October 6
Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated at the annual victory parade in Cairo. Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli leads an assassination squad riding in a troop truck, and when the truck stops, Sadat believes it to be part of the parade. As he stands to receive his salute, Islambouli attacks. Additional assassins rise from the truck, indiscriminately firing AK-47 assault rifles into the stands. In an attack that lasts about two minutes, Sadat and eleven others are killed and 28 are wounded.

December 11
After 20 years as a professional boxer, Muhammad Ali fights his last bout, losing a ten-round decision against Trevor Berbick.


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So there’s a little history from 1981!
Do you remember any of that?

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May 11

8 Comments

Random Thoughts – on toilet paper

When you go into other people’s bathrooms,

and the toilet paper faces the “wrong” way,

do you ever change it?

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Just so you know,

I wanted to,

but I didn’t.

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So, over or under – how do you roll?

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