About bugs, and mosquitoes

I don’t know what bugs you, but here’s something that bugs me: Signs that are misspelled.

Call me a grouchy old wannabe-schoolteacher or whatever, but when I see a home-made sign on a store that sells stationery and they’re advertising the availability of ‘stationary,’ it makes me shudder.

‘Stationary,’ of course, means to be not moving. ‘Stationery’ refers to writing materials.

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The radio commercials use an ominous voice to remind us about the seriousness of West Nile Virus and the need to take every precaution.

But how many people stop to check to see if the mosquito pulling a half-litre of blood from their arm is actually a Culex mosquito?

“Hey, Martha, don’t worry about swatting that one. It’s not a Culex. I can tell by looking through my handy magnifying glass that’s it’s one of those other types of mosquitos. Let it suck away, dear.”

The radio reminder that it’s only the Culex mosquito that carries the virus is a waste of words. If it’s a mosquito of any kind, kill it. Sorry, PETA.

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Under the 'did you know' file is this little tidbit about Premier Gary Doer, who let it slip Monday during the tour of the ACC trades and technology construction site that he is colour blind.

When you think about it, what could be better for a premier when he looks at the provincial budget than to not see a single drop of red ink?

Of course, it's against the law in Manitoba to run a deficit (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), so let's just say that whenever Gary Doer looks at the books in Manitoba, he legitimately sees nothing but black ink.

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Not that I'd like to go back to being 12 years old again, but school kids sure have it easier than we did back in the 60s, when the school year consisted of 200 days. That's a full seven more days than Brandon School Division students will be sitting in the classroom this year.

Some might say today's old folks are seven days smarter than today's kids. Others may say, however, that today’s kids are so smart that it takes them only 193 days to learn what it took us 200 days to learn. The latter is probably true.

DIBS AND DOTS: Note to city works: You’re doing a great job on city streets, but how about running a grader over the road winding through Dinsdale Park on First Street . . . Does anyone in Brandon have a lower, more baritone pleasing voice than general manager Cam Clark of CKLQ-Star FM? . . . Some people on ebrandon.ca are up in arms over the cell-phone-while-driving legislation, saying local police are themselves regular violators of that practice. I say cops are allowed by law to speed, too, so lay off. . . . Brandonites must be a contented lot, because the Heckles and Hurrahs email hotline slowed to a crawl last week. This feature in the Journal is a forum to offer anonymous shots (or plaudits) about things you see or hear around the city. As long as they’re not personal, and kept general in nature, it should prove to be a much-used feature.

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