A tricked out name tag

I was watching the noon news and saw, for the umpteenth time, a commercial for an insurance company which says they compare their prices to those of other insurance companies. They show an example of what someone saved, with more than two hundred dollars between the price from the advertiser's company and the nearest competitor. The woman on the ad says "That's a new pair of shoes." A new pair of *shoes*? Actual human beings pay more than two hundred bucks for a pair of friggin' shoes? I know, I know. I'm not your average fashion plate, but paying that kind of money for anything that you wear just to impress other people is, well, stupid. And, frankly, obscene.

Sometimes people are really cool

I've been working on my genealogy site and trying to find some more information. Every once in a while, I just toss in a relative's or ancestor's name into a Google search to see what comes up. It's pretty surprising what you can find

A couple of weeks ago, I entered the name of a cousin of my father, whose maiden name was Areta Wolters. I was surprised to get a hit at all. A woman had posted a message back in 2003, saying that she had picked up a baby book in an antique store that had belonged to Areta. She was looking for relatives who would be able to "give it a good home."

I wrote to her and, after she verified that I really am one of Areta's relatives, offered to send it to me. She wouldn't take any money to reimburse her for either the original cost of the book or the shipping. She said that all she wanted was to get it to where it should be.

It came in the mail yesterday. It's just great to see all the names of people that I know so well and more pictures to identify. Mostly, though, it's nice to get reassurance that there really are cool people in the world who are willing to give of themselves while asking nothing in return.

Come into the world alone?

A couple of days ago I was watching some movie and there was the line that we've all heard dozens of times: "You come into the world alone and you leave it alone." Really? Has anyone since Adam and Eve (if you believe that sort of thing) actually come into the world without someone else being in the general vicinity? Am I the only person who had a mother present at her birth? I kinda don't think so.

As for leaving it alone, there are a lot of people that do that, but not everybody by a long shot.

The silliest things bother me. :)

It's all a matter of perspective

Yesterday being the fourth of July, there were some human interest-type stories on the Today Show dealing with the revolution. One of them reminded me of a little funny that happened the first time I went to London.

I had a day completely on my own, which was great. I bought a pass to one of those open-on-the-top tour buses and rode around the city, getting off and on at various places that I wanted to visit. On one pass through the city, I passed by a row house with a little blue sign on it that said that Benedict Arnold had lived there. (Research tells me the address is 62 Gloucester Place, Marylebone.) There was a line on the sign that I was certain I had misread it, so I took another trip around the city to come up to it again. Sure enough. Included on the sign was a description of Benedict Arnold as "American Patriot." :-)

I wonder what the reasoning behind this is. To be sure, Benedict Arnold was a patriotic American revolutionary at the beginning of the war. As a general, he successfully lead his troops against the British at Saratoga and Quebec. Maybe they were just focusing on his early career.

Or maybe they are using the term "patriot" to refer to the fact that his patriotism changed to a different type later on, when he offered to hand over West Point to the British for £20,300 and a brigadier's commission. Had his co-conspirator not been found and hanged, the plot would have succeeded and it's likely the revolution would have failed. Arnold did continue to fight in the war, on the side of the British. This would make him a patriot to the British cause and an American by virtue of where he was born and lived.

For those who may not know, the term "Benedict Arnold" in the US is equavalent to the term "traitor." Calling someone a "Benedict Arnold" is exactly the same as calling them a "Quisling." Can you imagine how people would react if Quisling was referred to as a "Norwegian Patriot" somewhere in Germany?

I just think the sign is humorous. It is one of those instances where just a little research might have done some good, though. Maybe "American revolutionary" would have worked better.

BTW, the Today Show segment was about the great-great-great grandson of Benedict Arnold.