"Musings" - Commentary by Tony Seton

Musings

Here are some thoughts that didn’t fit together but which were cluttering my desktop on scraps of paper.

First, I was not one of those who went ga-ga over Mars being closer than it had been to the Earth in 60,000 years. To my untrained eye, the Red Planet has always only been an idea or a small white dot in a moonless night sky. And I didn’t know which dot, until all the hoopla, and then I saw where they said Mars was supposed to be a slightly larger dot, maybe less white than cream color. And still I say, so what? As Sherlock Holmes noted about astronomy, one of the fields he didn’t think important for him as a consulting detective to study, "What the deuce is it to me? You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."

Second, also in the nature category, on a recent drive to Sacramento, I passed a number of trucks loaded with cattle. I deliberately forced myself not to think about where they might be going. On the way back, I passed by a dairy lot where I saw three cows lined up providing shade to a calf. I thought that was a pretty smart thing for cows to do. I mean, not knowing if the calf was ill or weak or needed the shade to see his computer screen better, there was clearly some sort of understanding on the part of Elsie and her friends that shade was needed and by god they provided it. It’s tough, sometimes, to forget about what, and nearly whom, we eat.

Third is a kudo for television. Specifically the Home-and-Garden channel, HGTV, which features home and yard decorating and rebuilding and the like. What makes the programs so palatable -- nay, engaging -- are the people on it. The hosts are intelligent people, reporting interesting information, without affect. Similarly, the designers, consultants and clients are informed, gracious people. They are so much more real than the people on reality TV, who are all schtick.

Finally, if you weren’t in Redding last week, you likely missed another cultural milestone...the opening of the 99 Cent Only Store. Dozens of people got into line almost a day early, sleeping on the sidewalk, hoping to snag one of the 99-cent televisions or scooters that were offered to first-comers. But check this out, one of the early birds paid $101.57 for 93 items. With that kind of pricing, the Dollar Only store should be safe.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.