Smart geese take a gander
This is going to be a Forrest Gump type of column.
Like his momma told him about a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get.
We certainly need to start with a tale shared by Tony Maravilla. I thought this one was a spoof, but Tony insists it’s true.
“I believe you’re right about the intelligence of geese,” he wrote, “and I have a situation that was used at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska.
“Several years ago, there was a crash when a group of geese were sucked into the jet engines of an AWACS plane on take-off.
“They needed a way to keep the geese away from the flight line, and after several considerations, the base put up signs that showed a goose with a circle and a line through it.
“Geese, being intelligent, would see the signs and stay away.”
I wonder if The Coeur d’Alene Resort might try that.
Idaho geese are pretty savvy.
A WHILE back, we wrote about how tattoos are becoming mainstream — as opposed to the image of bikers and inmates that was the norm several years ago.
Body ink is so common, in fact, that it can cause relationship problems — say, a woman gets a tattoo and her husband or boyfriend strongly disapproves.
Two ladies, who asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, offered cautionary tales about deciding to get inked despite objections from their partners.
Apparently women are more forgiving about this than the other way around.
We asked Madison Mataban, an artist at Jojo’s Tattoo & Body Piercing on North Government Way, if she’d run across any divorces or split-ups because of tattoos.
“None that I’m sure of,” she said, “but we spend a lot of time counseling clients — especially young ones — about these tattoos being a lifetime commitment. With some, it’s such an obvious mistake that we talk them out of it.
“One thing that can happen is that someone gets a tattoo without mentioning it, and maybe Grandma goes hysterical when they get home.
“You need to be sure.”
Amen to that.
ON A more serious subject, we heard from quite a few people after writing about the #MeToo movement and the tidal wave of women now coming forward to say they’d been abused or harassed by men in power.
Readers mentioned several types of fallout.
Sue Nussear worried about false accusations: “We’ve talked about this: What if?
“There was a recent case where a man spent nine years in prison, and then the girl comes forward and says he didn’t do it.”
Meanwhile, there was a bit of sadness that the current uproar might affect some courtesies of everyday life.
Lauren Hopkins offered this take: “On another level, how do we distinguish between a sincere compliment and a sleazy comment? It’s sad that from now on, men will be afraid to pay a woman an honest compliment.”
Lauren’s right.
But like so many times in society, plenty of well-meaning folk wind up paying the price for some bad apples.
Sad, indeed.
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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press. Follow A Brand New Day at facebook.com/BrandNewDayCDAPress. Email: [email protected]