SALTY LANGUAGE … this from California’s Eastern Municipal Water District: “On average, a single residential self-regenerating water softener can discharge a pound of salt a day and between 70 to 300 gallons of water per week when it regenerates and ‘flushes’ away the brine. Residential self-regeneration water softeners are a significant source of salinity.” …

Hmmm … wonder what the folks on the Water Advisory Committee have to say about that …

THE READERS ALWAYS WRITE … Lisl at hotmail.com asks if I “could please help to entice local grocery stores to place collection bins at their exits so those who wish to donate to food banks can simply drop off their food right then and there, rather than having to wait for some food drive that happens only a few times a year.” … consider it done, Lisl …

“With all this intelligence and efficiency floating around in this town, there must be a more practical way to keep those food closets stocked well at all times.” … amen to that …

RUINING THE GAME … if the first weekend of the college football season is any indication, the new kickoff rule — designed to take away one of the game’s most exciting plays — is working to perfection … in order to have fewer kickoffs run back, a play that results in the ballcarrier actually being tackled by the opposition, the new rule places the ball five yards further up the field before being kicked, resulting in a whopping increase in touchbacks … thus no runback …

But if the goal is really to prevent injury, let’s ban kickoffs altogether and just always place the ball on the 25 yard line when it comes time to kick off …they might want to consider outlawing punt returns as well, which are at least as dangerous as kickoffs … and finally, let’s go to flag football and outlaw physical contact altogether …

SPEAKING OF FOOTBALL … while the big boys of college football have finally agreed to a four-team national championship playoff in 2014, they steadfastly refuse to expand it to more teams because might “diminish the regular season” according to those in charge of making such decisions …

One step down, however, in the division UC Davis calls home, plans are in the works to expand the national championship playoff to 24 teams next fall … apparently, diminishing the regular season is not a concern at this level …

EVEN MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL … this from ESPN, which notes that two members of the West Virginia football team were arrested for stealing snacks from a convenience store … according to the report, “Shoplifting merchandise worth $500 or less is punishable by a fine of up to $250.” … so, steal $500 and it’ll cost you $250 … sounds like a growth industry to me …

MORE, MORE, MORE FOOTBALL … our beloved Aggies have joined the Big Sky Conference, where fellow newcomer North Dakota is in hot water for its Fighting Sioux mascot … which is nothing compared to Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., which used to be known as the Fightin’ Quakers …

Thirty years or so ago, however, the school’s board of regents decided it was inappropriate for Quakers to fight and switched back to simply “Quakers.” … given that Earlham’s football team has produced identical 0-10 records the last two seasons, the regents may wish to put “Fightin’” back into the equation …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

Comments

comments