About why people reject global warming
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why can’t more people believe in global warming, when it is so obvious to anyone with any intelligence? –Deborah
Truly a puzzlement (as the King says in “The King and I”). Fast thoughts:
About a friend who is always busy
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
I have a friend who, whether she is working 10 hours a week, 30 hours a week, or not working at all, seems to always be busy, overworked, etc. It is hard to understand. –Kathleen
It is so nice that you keep trying to understand. This is what friends do for each other.
Try these answers on for size:
About a husband who looks at other women
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
My husband looks at my best friend too often. Should I be jealous? –Penny
Nope. Jealousy is pretty dang useless.
Hubby comes home and stays with YOU, not with your best friend. You probably don’t notice/see when he looks at you. What’s “too often”?
Most men look... it doesn’t usually mean much about their actual state of attraction…let alone what they are doing, or going to do. As the conversation in “Plain and Fancy” (an old musical comedy) went:
About a granddaughter who won't talk to you anymore
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
My granddaughter doesn’t talk to me anymore. I don’t know how to make up with her. Can you advise me? I’m not sure what the problem is. –[Penny]
Dear Penny, so very sorry. I understand how painful this is.
Good start that you DON’T know what the problem/issue is. That suggests your mind is open. Let’s hope that your granddaughter’s mind gets open as well.
About how to advise someone thinking about getting married
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
The son of a friend is planning to get engaged and married. As an older person, I have so much knowledge gained...from my own life and observation of others. I have seen what appear to be basic "failure to discuss" divorce-producing flaws in so many relationships. Even couples who have lived together before a wedding, can find that the traditional assumptions about "marriage" can make for problems once the reception is over. What would YOU suggest these young people review before they commit? –Anonymous
Hmm, always tricky to give advice that has NOT been asked for. Try this:
About a neighbor who leaves her garbage bin out overlong
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
We live in a neighborhood where people are supposed to put their garbage bins back out of sight after collection, but the neighbor across the street sometimes leaves her bin out for two or three days. What should I do? Rolling her bin back up to beside her house hasn't worked. SHE JUST DOESN'T GET IT.
The other morning early someone laid her garbage bin DOWN right behind her SUV, I suppose hoping that she would back into it and THAT would wake her up. But that seemed like playing dirty to me, so I stood it up and moved it to one side of the SUV. –Take the Fifth
Dear Take: Seriously? I know, I'm the one who whined about the disabled parking space created on my block...And I chose to do nothing but whine.
About being occupied with celebrities
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why do people have to be so occupied with celebrities? –Deborah
Yeah, funny, right? And a relatively recent phenomenon from my generational perspective.
It just seems to be one of those things that happen in a culture...Connecting talented and totally untalented, but “famous” creatures with constant pictorial and internet-communicated coverage.
I daresay the “tulip mania” of the 1600s was no more or less sane. If you are unfamiliar with this “fashion/passion,” please consult Wikipedia.
About a difference between men and women
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why can so many men eat the same as their wives but not gain weight? Is it their metabolism? Women’s hormones? –Kathleen
First, this is absolutely a fact, and it sucks. And the answer to both of the following sub-questions is also, yup.
I am not qualified, nor inclined to give you lots of science. So, we’ll stick with the simple stuff, and a few gross generalizations.
About men and women and math
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why are men better at math than women? –Penny
They are not. Who told you that? (I was always good at math and on the math team in high school, and most recently, worked as a bookkeeper.)
Most young girls are better at reading than boys, and maybe the boys focus on the numbers to even the playing field? Ok, I acknowledge that some women do not feel comfortable with math, and I really don’t know why. Found some intriguing and confusing answers regarding this topic on the Internet (biological basis and truth about gender).
About women's attitudes toward how they look
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you? Today we have two questions, from Kathleen and Deborah.]
Do women ever get to an age where they don’t worry about their looks or weight? I know women in their 80’s who are still concerned, and it is discouraging as I would love to get to the place where vanity is not such a “big thing” in my life. –Kathleen
Excellent place to aspire to. This pre-occupation is boring and silly. (Uh, so we thought we’d always look as we did in our...20s??? Really? Lack of simple, observable logic, helllooo.)
Why would this topic still demand our attention? Well, we spent most of our formative years convinced, via this society and its commercialism, that our looks were a critical part of our identity and “success.” Your looks defined who you were by high school, and there are data to suggest that your looks defined which jobs you got, and certainly, who wanted to date/mate with you. (And women’s looks have always been more crucial, and narrowly defined, than men’s.)
Susan's simple answers
By Susan C. Price
Ok, we’ve expanded this column to include pieces in which readers ask questions and one of us answers them. Susan, daydreaming of herself as “wise” (perhaps due to advanced age), thought this would be splendid. (“What the heck! Dear Abby is gone…clearly there is a gap!”) She envisioned questions about...oh, relationships, personal finance or organization, modern manners, being kind...why some of us cannot grow tomatoes to save our lives...etc.
Maybe next time. Our chief editor suggested that Susan answer the same question he was asked last week—in her style…“to illustrate the point that answers depend on of WHOM a question is asked.”
We really would like some FUN QUESTIONS to answer, though, so send ’em in….
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