So it looks like the President and Congress are getting ready to extend the length of time people can collect unemployment insurance again.  This time for another thirteen months.

It is wrong to let people starve because they can’t find work but it is also wrong to tax working people to give the unemployed money whether they need it or not.  In my town the spouse of a college professor has been collecting unemployment for almost two years.

How about this simple solution.  After your unemployment insurance runs out if you want to keep getting benefits there is a means test.  So in most states after six months if you really need help keeping pasta on the table you go on welfare.

I think this simple change would cause a lot of the “long term unemployed” to change their expectations, go back to work, contribute to the economic recovery and save the taxpayers a lot of money.

In my life time the word “gay” has had a dramatic meaning shift.  “Gay” used to mean “exuberantly happy”.  Now it is an informal word for homosexual.  I’m not saying that this is a bad thing.  There was a need for casual non-derogatory word for homosexual.  “Gay” fit the bill perfectly.  Now we need a word for “exuberantly happy.”

The purpose of this post is to alert you to a similar word meaning shift that is occurring right now.  “Special” means outside of the normal.  Something “special” used to imply a good thing: a special relationship, a special treat or a special event.  But that is changing.  A decade or so ago “special” was taken by social workers and used instead of “retarded”or “handicapped.”  So now we have special needs children and the Special Olympics and the meaning of “special” is shifting from different in a positive way to different in a negative way.

We know that over time language changes and adapts.  It is rare that we can hear it happening.  Now that is special.

Your assignment is to write me a comment on another word that has a meaning shift going on.  Or, if you can’t think of one, my use of quotation marks in this piece.

A week ago I sent my camera in to be repaired.  The little flash thing had stopped coming up.  The good news is they repaired it under the warranty.  The bad news is I didn’t post on my bog the entire week.  It would be a lie to say that I had been busy.  What happened was that my blog muse went away.  I hope that it was the disconcert caused by the camera being gone.  I have lots of material.  We shall see.

Another thought is that my need for self aggrandizement is met through facebook.  I do feel a little conflicted about that sometimes.

Self aggrandizing

Self effacing

BTW the camera should be back tomorrow

“The hallmark of the truly innovative inventor is a quality called ‘intelligent ignorance.’  It is an ability to think, coupled with an absence of preconception.”

Charles Kettering

Head of Research at GM 1920 to 1947

Howard and I did five dives in the Cabo San Lucas area.  Our dive master, organizer and driver was Adriana Manjarrez a young woman from Mexico City who has set up as a private diving service.  Her Company is  Saba Diving.  Highly recommended!

The first day we did two shore dives at Bahia Santa Maria on the coast between San Jose and Cabo San Lucas.  The water was warm and the visibility was near 100 ft.

See underwater pictures of what we saw.

The second day we drove to Cabo Pulmo, about two hours toward La Paz and did three dives.  All of them were great.  On the first dive we went looking for white tip sharks.  We didn’t see them but we did see a school of Manta Rays.  There were perhaps fifty of them about two feet across all swimming together.  It was awesome.

The second dive was one of the most spectacular dives I have ever had.  We dove with sea lions.  They played near us looked us in the eye and swam so fast it made our heads spin.  A big male examined us carefully and decided that we weren’t a threat so he hung face down in the water and just watched.

I’d love to go back to Cabo Pulmo and spend a few days visiting all of the sites there.  This is the harbor:

and this is one of the restaurants:

More pictures from our trip here

A few weeks ago we went to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico with our good friends Howard and Aty.  We stayed at Club Solaris, an all inclusive, time share resort in San Jose del Cabo where they had some coupons.

I was suspicious of all inclusive and time share but it turned out to be great.  Howard and I dove with Sea Lions, we all went on a humor safari and a snorkeling cruise.  We ate a delicious meal in a beautiful setting at Tequila in San Jose Del Cabo which is a lovely town.

on the last day we saw a Mexican Independence Day Parade that was marvelous.

We saw a whale.

Party Animals

One of my tasks was to find five things about Mexico that are better than the USA.  I did find them and you can read all five here.

More Photos on Flickr

In the USA you have to have permits, inspections and equipment to open a restaurant.

In Mexico all you need is ambition, two plastic chairs and a wood fire.

Excellent Coffee!

In the USA you never know if the water is drinkable.

In Mexico they put a sign near the faucet:

In Mexico Jesus is everywhere:

This Jesus has a name tag

In Mexico they sell puppies from their car trunks:

In the USA we have:

THE POUND