I never thought I'd be doing this...

Those who know me well know that I am one of the last people to defend Halloween.  I have many issues with it, but this article makes an excellent point about parenting, paranoia and how political correctness has caused the decline of society.

St. Mirren park

Sunny day for a game in Paisley, Scotland.

Best reards,
Gordon
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Sent using BlackBerry

Full moonm over tower bridge

Brilliant

Best reards,
Gordon
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Sent using BlackBerry

Going to London

All 7 of us on one full plane!

Cheers,
Gordon

Sent from my wireless device.

Self-righteousness

In full disclosure, I do not qualify as objective, but listen to the words, not the speaker.
Airline passengers (or more precisely consumers) are upset about airline fees.  Now I hate being nickeled and dimed as much as the next guy.  I hate looking at a cell phone bill that has all kinds of extra fees attached that you can't understand and can't avoid.  Auto rentals are almost worse with all their "concession recovery fees" and the like that you must accept.
The big difference between these fees and airline fees is that the fees people complain about (bag fees, meals, pillows and blankets, exit row seating, etc) is that these fees are all avoidable.  For the record, no one is complaining about the airport fees or the security fees that airlines are charged and pass on to passengers.
It frustrates me to no end to see all these complaint articles written by people who buy tickets from a search engine to find the lowest base fare (ie. are making their travel choice based on price) and then complain about additonal fees for additional services.  This is like chosing a 99-cent hamburger because it is the cheapest thing on the menu and then being upset because dessert doesn't come with it.  Look, folks, if you want dessert, then you will either pay a higher prix fixe dinner (which you refuse to do), or you buy your cone as an add-on--and pay for it.
I have bought on-board meals a couple times and they were just as good as I could have bought for the same price in any airport restaurant.  So what's the problem?  You say "back in the good ole days, meals were served free on airplanes".  Yes, they were, because in the days of regulation, airlines competed on service since fares were regulated.  They made money on every ticket, so it was in their interest to attract more passengers and they did it with service.  By the way, remember how airplane meals used to be a joke about how bad they were, so why are they complaining that the food is gone when they never liked it anyway?
Nowadays, most people buy on price and then expect to get all the freebies (that are not essential).  Now I believe the pay lavatories that Ryannair (a european super-low cost carrier) has are a step too far, because the toilet is essential (although I have taken numerous flights without using the facilities).

more later

"But what about socialization?" or Reason 1,792

My Wife had to give my daughter an alternative activity (quite brilliantly conceived) to help her deal with peer pressure from the neighbor girl to put on makeup.

Did I mention the girls are eight years of age?

As I usually reply when people ask this empty question, "If that's socialization, then I am actually quite thrilled that they are NOT being socialized". 

By the way, when was the last time that "socialists" were considered the good guys?

Reason #1,791

"You're not going to grant the award to New Jersey because of a mistake, a clerical mistake in one piece of paper?"  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

I'm not going to let a typo affect my Children's education!