Shade Tree Wisdom 8/17/07

My grocery bill this morning came to a sum ending with 34 cents. I had just been reading that it costs 2 cents to make each penny, so I offered the manager who happened ot be checking out at this early hour if he would take two for that. No, said he, we are living in the real world.

So I paid him the 4 cents. But the government spends almost 2 cents to make each penny, and given the fact that nearly 8 billion new ones are placed into circulation each year, that’s real money! So some in Congress are suggesting using steel blanks instead of zinc to bring the cost down. The sole supplier of that zinc is, of course, lobbying heavily not to make any change. Now there are a number of bills floating around to give the Treasury Department the right to use the best metals. By the way, it costs nearly ten cents to make each nickel, so passing such a bill might save as much as 100 million annually.

And here’s an item saying Cary Malchow of Muncie, Indiana had paid his semi annual real estate taxes on his home, business and rental properties he owns, by bringing $ 12,656.07 in bills and coins to the treasurers office. He said it was worth it to see 3 clerks, guarded by deputies, working 3 hours to count the amount. And, of course, what he did was perfectly legal.

In our lives, not everything is as promised. I was reading about a product called Alli – said to be wildly popular and sold over the counter and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The article said that everything said about the warning on the label is true including that “Until you have any senses of treatment effects, it is probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes to work”. Reason for this is using the drug might lead to loose stools.
So my informant, a Chronicle columnist, said he and a friend were having their Sunday breakfast at Whataburger. So when his friend got up to get a refill, he had a “treatment effect“ in his pants, and was not even aware of it, though everyone in the restaurant was. Embarrassing indeed.

So not everything is as it seems.


But in all this, you and I can live and work, enjoying the day that the Lord lays before us, and rejoice in this, that as His Baptized Child, you are ever in His care. Thank God for this daily.

GPD 8/17/07