Thursday, March 12, 2015

Where Men Have Gone Before

Listening to the radio yesterday, i heard a news report that had me shaking my head.

It seems that Ashton Kutcher, an actor and new dad, is asking for more baby changing tables in men's restrooms.  He promises to promote the first business in which he finds one.

My first thought was, where have you been, sir?  Or have i only been dreaming that men's rooms have had changing tables for a while?  Did i only imagine it when everyone laughed over the sign above a changing table in the men's room near the fishing dock in Florida that told men they couldn't clean fish there?

A caller to the radio station to which i was listening confirmed my feelings.  He said that his oldest is 20, and he was finding changing tables in men's restrooms all those years ago.

Then the caller began mentioning names of places that have them, and i realized the problem.

He mentioned places like Wal-Mart, Target, Albertson's, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and other such places.

Mr. Kutcher's problem may be that he only dines in high end restaurants and shops where you can't buy a sock for less than $100.  Those places just may not have changing tables in the men's rooms.  People who own such places may assume that anyone coming in there has a nanny to do the changing anyway.  Who knows?

But i think it's the places he goes, not that no place has baby changing stations in the men's rooms.  Maybe he needs to expand the places he goes.

"Hey, mom!  Do you have any of the needles you use to give the kittens shots?" #2 Son came into the kitchen to ask.

Sure, i said, and handed him one.  What's up?

"Friend Becky's dad killed a copperhead, and I'm going over there to fill its body with alcohol to pickle it!  I'm going to keep it in a jar in my room!"

Mr. Kutcher probably doesn't live anywhere that he would hear something like that.


Today is:

Alfred Hitchcock Day -- some internet sources say March 8, and no one knows who picked either day, but he is worth celebrating

Arbor Day -- China; Taiwan

Donkey Appreciation Day -- formerly celebrated, but the lowly donkey is no longer as indispensable as he was; if you share my fondness for beasts of burden, celebrate it anyway

Girl Scouts Birthday -- US

Huddling of Fairies of the Third Flight -- Fairy Calendar

Kronprinsessans Namnsdag -- Sweden (Name Day of HRH Crown Princess Victoria, the Heir Apparent; an official flag day)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day festival, dates approximate; celebrates the marriage of Kore and Dionysos)

Louisiana Sportmen's Show and Festival -- Gonzales, LA, US (boat show for NOLA, BR, and the Gulf Coast, and includes a jambalaya cook off; through Sunday)

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria -- in 415, she was murdered for the three crimes of being intelligent, female, and pagan

National Baked Scallops Day

National Day -- Mauritius (anniversary of independence in 1968)

Plant a Flower Day -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation; now's a good time to give wildlife friendly perrenials a head start, starting them indoors if you have to

Quebec City Hunting, Fishing, and Boat Show -- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (through Sunday)

Rockhound Round Up Gem and Mineral Show -- Deming, NM, US (through Sunday)

St. Gregory the Great's Day (Patron of choir boys, educators, masons, musicians, popes, schoolchildren, singers, stonemasons, stone cutters, students, and teachers; England; Kercem, Malta; Legazpi, Philippines; Montone, Italy; San Gregorio nelle Alpi, Italy; West Indies; against gout and plague)
     note that Pope St. Gregory is also celebrated on Sept. 3, the date he was elected pope
     Graekarismessa (Mass of St. Gregory) -- Torshavn, Faroe Islands (traditional day on which the oystercatcher, their symbolic national bird, returns)
     Gregoru Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Gregory's Day, similar to groundhog day for weather prediction)

St. Seraphina's Day (Patron of the disabled and handicapped, and of spinners)

World Day Against Cyber Censorship -- sponsored by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International

World Kidney Day -- www.worldkidneyday.org

Youth Day -- Zambia


Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, 1971
Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman, 1969


Birthdays Today:

Frank Catalano, 1978
Aaron Eckhart, 1968
David Daniels, 1966
Darryl Strawberry, 1962
Marlon Jackson, 1957
Rob Cohen, 1949
James Taylor, 1948
Liza Minnelli, 1946
Al Jarreau, 1940
Barbara Feldon, 1933
Andrew Young, 1932
Edward Albee, 1928
Wally Schirra, 1923
Jack Kerouac, 1922
Gordon MacRae, 1921
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1881
Simon Newcomb, 1835
Charles Cunningham Boycott, 1832
Clement Studebaker, 1821

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Moses und Aaron"(Opera), 1954
"Fervaal"(Opera; d'Indy Op. 40), 1897
"Simon Boccanegra"(Opera), 1857


Today in History:

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria, philosopher, 415
Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius, 538
Orvieto, Italy, rules it will behead and burn Jewish-Christian couples, 1350
Jews are expelled from Syria, 1496
New Jersey becomes an English colony, 1664
The first steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine, 1755
Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain, 1881
In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time, 1894
The first main line electric train in UK, from Liverpool to Southport, begins running, 1904
The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States, by Juliette Gordon Lowe, 1912
The foundation stone of the new Australian capital in Canberra is laid, 1913
Mohandas Gandhi begins 200m (300km) march protesting British salt tax, 1930
The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism, 1947
The Church of England ordains its first female priests, 1994
Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO, 1999
Financier Bernard Madoff plead guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history, 2009
The U.S. Census Bureau reports the world now has 7 billion people, 2012 

6 comments:

  1. I have not seen changing tables in men's rooms and I do not use high end establishments, but I do see a lot of "family" restrooms which are singles and anyone can go in and use them and they have changing tables.

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  2. When I started to read this I was scratching my head as I see changing tables in men's rooms all the time. I am sure they are used from time to time, though I have never seen it my self. I think you nailed it with the high end theory. Some day I may pop into a high end store and see.

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  3. yeah, guessing so. :) my husband bought formaldehyde at the feed store one year and kept two copperheads in a jar after the dogs killed them. :)

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  4. I see "changing stations" in most of the public restrooms I have an occasion to visit, so I don't see the problem. I've yet to see a dad in any of them changing a baby. And I probably don't frequent the same sort of places as Kutcher.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hollyweird folks are so out of touch. They are the 1% they scream about all the time. Look at the mansions. They don't get much.

    Make sure he has a good lid on that snake that he's going to keep in his room. Bless his heart.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ha. I love that you didn't even question why your son wanted the needle and that it was to pickle a snake. LOL. My son used to catch snakes all the time and be covered in stinky snake pee. As for Ashton, I think you hit the nail on the head. Most food coops have baby changing tables in the men's room. You'd think he'd have been to one of those in California. Geez.

    ReplyDelete

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