Comments on: Sign of the times http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/ I used to be in the middle, but they keep moving the line! Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:47:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Polimom http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76396 Mon, 14 May 2007 14:11:01 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76396 Your granddad clearly understood the power of letting people learn things the hard way. Of course, one could argue that the same lesson is learned by the owner of a vehicle that's broken into (ummm.... like, say, <a href="http://www.polimom.com/2007/04/12/things-i-didnt-know/" rel="nofollow">Polimom</a>?), but since it's not the burglar's "stuff", I'm thinking (s)he's the one who should be asked, "That hurt, didn't it?" Your granddad clearly understood the power of letting people learn things the hard way.

Of course, one could argue that the same lesson is learned by the owner of a vehicle that’s broken into (ummm…. like, say, Polimom?), but since it’s not the burglar’s “stuff”, I’m thinking (s)he’s the one who should be asked, “That hurt, didn’t it?”

]]> by: Tony B http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76393 Mon, 14 May 2007 13:52:12 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76393 Err...electric, electronic, whatever. Err…electric, electronic, whatever.

]]> by: Tony B http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76392 Mon, 14 May 2007 13:51:35 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-76392 Or as my granddad used to say, "That hurt, didn't it?" after one of us had our first (and only) encounter with the electronic fence in the pig yard. Or as my granddad used to say, “That hurt, didn’t it?” after one of us had our first (and only) encounter with the electronic fence in the pig yard.

]]> by: Polimom http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75870 Fri, 11 May 2007 10:23:50 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75870 Dorothy -- the sign in this photo is at the entrance to a soccer field parking area in George Bush Park. I think it was the West Houston Soccer fields. (Interestingly, that's very near where my car was broken into a couple of weeks ago at Buffalo Bayou). There's another one just like it by the entrance to the teeny weeny itty bitty parking area for Addicks Dam / Barker Reservoir. I'm thinking that instead of all these signs, and the related tacit acceptance of thieves' ability to control our lives, we should all put really valuable-looking boxes on our front seats, and put something really icky nasty in that box for somebody to reach in and grab. With children, we call that "Natural Consequences". Dorothy — the sign in this photo is at the entrance to a soccer field parking area in George Bush Park. I think it was the West Houston Soccer fields. (Interestingly, that’s very near where my car was broken into a couple of weeks ago at Buffalo Bayou). There’s another one just like it by the entrance to the teeny weeny itty bitty parking area for Addicks Dam / Barker Reservoir.

I’m thinking that instead of all these signs, and the related tacit acceptance of thieves’ ability to control our lives, we should all put really valuable-looking boxes on our front seats, and put something really icky nasty in that box for somebody to reach in and grab.

With children, we call that “Natural Consequences”.

]]> by: Ed T. http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75853 Fri, 11 May 2007 08:57:12 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75853 The one I always get a chuckle over is "We love our children and pets...please drive slowly." My mother saw that sign one day, and remarked, "Your father and I loved our children and pets... so <em>we</em> didn't let them play in the street." And they didn't. ~EdT. The one I always get a chuckle over is “We love our children and pets…please drive slowly.”

My mother saw that sign one day, and remarked, “Your father and I loved our children and pets… so we didn’t let them play in the street.”

And they didn’t.

~EdT.

]]> by: Dorothy http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75830 Fri, 11 May 2007 04:02:21 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75830 The public signs that one encounters out in the world just get odder and odder, but I suppose this one makes as much sense as any I've seen lately. I'd be interested to know where you found it. The public signs that one encounters out in the world just get odder and odder, but I suppose this one makes as much sense as any I’ve seen lately. I’d be interested to know where you found it.

]]> by: John http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75778 Thu, 10 May 2007 22:30:54 +0000 http://www.polimom.com/2007/05/10/sign-of-the-times/#comment-75778 Funny: whenever I see a sign like that, I think, <em>"Who needs to be told that?" </em>I think it's a result of parking my cars on the streets of DC and Boston (Secure parking? $40K/space last time I checked), but the idea of leaving anything more valuable than chewing gum in my car just seems incredibly wrong. In one of my old Boston neighborhoods the custom was to park with the glovebox open to alert thieves that it wasn't worth their time to break in. And in DC, someone once told me (and I believe it) that thieves specifically pick out cars with Virginia and Maryland tags, rather than those with DC tags, because suburbanites were much more likely to have cars crammed full of valuable stuff - the city folks generally kept the cars empty. Funny: whenever I see a sign like that, I think, “Who needs to be told that?” I think it’s a result of parking my cars on the streets of DC and Boston (Secure parking? $40K/space last time I checked), but the idea of leaving anything more valuable than chewing gum in my car just seems incredibly wrong.

In one of my old Boston neighborhoods the custom was to park with the glovebox open to alert thieves that it wasn’t worth their time to break in.

And in DC, someone once told me (and I believe it) that thieves specifically pick out cars with Virginia and Maryland tags, rather than those with DC tags, because suburbanites were much more likely to have cars crammed full of valuable stuff - the city folks generally kept the cars empty.

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