Saturday, September 21, 2013

8:22 AM News –- Channel 12 First Coast News discussed bullying. A young man who was bullied has written and is acting in a play about bullying. He said that both people who were bullied and former bullies have come up to him afterward and talked to him. It seems that some people who were bullies come to regret their actions and try to change. I'd like to see that play. I'd also like to get a good book or two about the psychology of bullying. FCN has a boot camp for young people called the Anti-bullying Boot Camp, also. Cyber bullying is a big problem, and the lady who was on the segment said that laws are being written that criminalize it. I'll look on the net and see what I can find about that. I'd like to see all bullying criminalized. It is, after all, assault. I feel the same way about kids who bring knives to the schoolyard. It shouldn't be considered “a stage they are going through.” It should be punished as though they were adults. In the same category is hazing. I wish the human animal could be more civilized. Teachers and other school officials should crack down on it. Instead they often try to ignore it. They aren't doing their jobs and should be fired for that.

A friend of mine has a spunky daughter who was slapped by a boy when she lit into him verbally because he spit on her friends food. When he slapped her she “went blank” and began slugging him with both fists, backing him up against a wall. Her parents went to the school officials to get the boy punished, but they were told that “we would have to punish her too” if they punished him. Nonetheless, the boy got the message and never bothered her again. Some self-defense techniques might help the students who are bullied. I do basically believe that bullies, like other criminals, don't want to pick victims who can fight back. It is also true, though, that being able to stand up for oneself verbally should be tried first, and will often be enough. One kid has little defense against a gang, of course. The schools should monitor what goes on on the playground and in the hallways, so that the gangs who go around together could be watched. Cliques among the jocks and “popular kids” should be watched, too, as they do often harass less aggressive students. We tend to think of the problem kids as being from poor homes, but they are often privileged instead. Sometimes those kids are used to getting everything they want from their parents, and don't develop a very active conscience. If I were the head of the school system, the students who start fights either in a group or singly would be expelled. Of course, I would investigate the incident and try to get witnesses, so it could be established who hit first and what the provocation was. It seems to me that spitting on somebody's lunch is provocation.

Coffee now. 9:21 On the net – Author Lindsay Ashton has written a murder mystery called The Mysterious Death Of Miss Austen, based on the true case of her symptoms when she died and a lock of her hair which a reader bought at auction, which tested positive for arsenic. I'd like to read that book. I'd also like to read a real biography of Austen's life. She is probably my foremost literary hero. With none of the flashy techniques of some modern authors, she wrote beautiful prose which flowed perfectly and never failed to have a well-formed “plot,” while writing deep characters as well.

Net and news – Mystery intoxication condition –- a man in East Texas, 9/20/13, was diagnosed with an infection of brewers yeast. The yeast had colonized his colon, and caused him to have a blood alcohol reading of .12, though he hadn't had any alcohol to drink. It took five years for anybody to believe that he wasn't actually drinking. Finally a nurse Barbara Cordell who was a friend of his took him to Dr. Justin McCarthy who put him in the hospital for observation and diagnosed his condition. The condition is called “auto-brewery syndrome,” or “gut fermentation syndrome, and the high production of alcohol is triggered by a “glucose challenge” (high blood sugar) and a high carbohydrate diet. Fascinating!

Reading now. I'm about halfway through the Ann Rule book. The murder suspect is a chronically angry and bitter man with a very negative attitude toward women. He was slow to begin to date women, had the attitude that men are tops and women are secondary under all conditions and was very angry and “hurt” when his first real girlfriend dropped him. He alternated between crying and raging over it. When the second girlfriend wanted to split up he killed her, and then his third romance with his wife went the same route. He is a dentist who, according to his words, wants to “stick it to his patients,” so that he can make more money. He is parsimonious and greedy about money and harsh toward his young sons and wife. His wife didn't catch on until the very end that he was physically dangerous and didn't make the attempt to leave him in time. I'm at the point in the reconstruction of the crime at which he is about to kill her. I don't know what the author's evidence was as to the events, though in the introduction it said she read the case files in the police department. I'm reading with interest.

My allergy problems are better today, though I haven't taken an anti-histamine. I ran out and need to buy some more. I have decided to go with Benadryl rather than Claritin, because it does as much good and doesn't cost as much. I need to buy groceries today, too, so I'll get dressed after lunch and go up there. Still reading.

I went to the drugstore and bought Benadryl and Sudafed (store brand) and a mouthwash fortified with fluoride that is supposed to harden the enamel. I bought too many groceries. The bags were so heavy that I could barely make it in the doorway. Luckily the guard was there and she opened the door for me. I'm well-stocked now, though, so I don't have to go again for about a week. I only bought 5 cups of yogurt, so I will need that a little sooner.

I tried to finish the book this afternoon, but it's time to eat and try to catch some news. I'll finish it tomorrow morning.