Randomness Friday Returns

Because my mind is all over the map today, randomness Friday is returning.

Demons
Have you ever had a horrible experience, and years later, it flows back into your consciousness. You know, you have thought you had forgotten it, either through spirituality, through pharmaceutical means or through dementia. But then those horrible images, experiences come back.

The experiences are immaterial, really. Well, personally, they mean a lot, but one would think that once one lived past the experience, they would tuck the experience away in a quiet area of the brain. Naw, not really. Darned demons keep coming back. And life is a bitch.

Playing in the Rain
I love playing in the rain, but I don't do it as often as I would like. Soft summer rains are so nice, better to play in than thunderstorms. I think it may rain this weekend, and if it does, perhaps I will splish-spalsh in the rain.

Keeping up with the Jones'
The other day, I wanted to know where we got, "keeping up with the Jones'."

Here is what I found, from "The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997):

"According to his own account, cartoonist Arthur R. ("Pop") Momand lived in a community where many people tried to keep up with the Joneses. Momand and his wife resided in Cedarhurst, New York, one of Long Island's Five Towns, where the average income is still among America's highest. Living 'far beyond our means in our endeavor to keep up with the well-to-do class,' the Momands were wise enough to quit the scene and move to Manhattan, where they rented a cheap apartment and 'Pop'
Momand used his Cedarhurst experience to create his once immensely popular 'Keeping Up with the Joneses' comic strip, launched in 1913. Momand first thought of calling the strip 'Keeping Up with the Smiths,' but 'finally decided on 'Keeping Up with the Joneses' as being more euphonious.' His creation ran in American newspapers for over 28 years and appeared in book, movie, and musical-comedy form, giving the expression 'keeping up with the Joneses' the wide currency that made it a part of everyday language."

Eminent Domain or Stealing Land
Remember last year (or was it the year before) when the Supreme Court basically backed a lower court's stance that they could use eminent domain to take land from one landowner to basically give it to another landowner who would better serve the local area (I think the term "public benefit" was used, code words for something about when the government could collect more taxes).

I know governments can still use eminent domain on properties that are not declared blighted when the purpose is for "public use" such as a road, or fire station, or what have you. But under any eminent domain action, the government must pay fair market value for seized property. I have actually read stories where certain government entities would buy a bunch of land for stuff like public roads, more than they need, and sell off the excess as a profit to finance the venture. That smells bad.

Anyway, I wanted to write something on this, a full blog entry, but I just lost focus. I am guessing that until we really care about the issue, certain landowners will get screwed out of land.

Community Channel
Ane I will end this one with some YouTube randomness. One of the best vloggers on YouTube is Community Channel. I think she is great. If I was a lesbian living in Austrailia, I would be totally stalking her. How is that for a qualifying statement, huh? Bet you never would have read that in someone else's blog. Sort of like Maxwell Smart saying, "Missed me by that much," and he holding his index finger and his thumb, signifying how close this almost came to be. Actually, my girl crush will always be ~Deb. Really strange since I was brought up to think bad things of New Yorkers.