Hi, Ted.  Just two questions: (1)  How many hours are “lost” by the extra dead people?  (2) In a land where only a relatively few chose fuel economy over ego-driven-hyperconsumption, why should society leave important issues like fuel dependency and fuel mileage to individual choice?

Hi, Ted.  Just two questions: (1)  How many hours are “lost” by the extra dead people?  (2) In a land where only a relatively few chose fuel economy over ego-driven-hyperconsumption, why should society leave important issues like fuel dependency and fuel mileage to individual choice?

If you add up the number of hours lost to slower speed limits, they far exceed the number of hours lost to additional accidents from faster speed limits. I shouldn’t be slowed down because so many people don’t know how to drive. And if you’re concerned about gas mileage, get a Prius, like I did.

If you add up the number of hours lost to slower speed limits, they far exceed the number of hours lost to additional accidents from faster speed limits. I shouldn’t be slowed down because so many people don’t know how to drive. And if you’re concerned about gas mileage, get a Prius, like I did.

Hi, Ed,   Thanks for checking in from your workplace.  As usual, I appreciate your kind words about my haiku.
Your gift of poetry today is an excellent one and much appreciated.  I couldn’t tell how you meant for them to be formatted, so I edited them into 3-lines each.   I’m always amazed at how prolific you are, while I try my best to eke out one semi-presentable, tiny poem a day. 
I’m going to shift today’s haiku from you to the homepage very soon —  handful of clear, sharp images, and moments experienced, remembered, imagined.

Hi, Ed,   Thanks for checking in from your workplace.  As usual, I appreciate your kind words about my haiku.
Your gift of poetry today is an excellent one and much appreciated.  I couldn’t tell how you meant for them to be formatted, so I edited them into 3-lines each.   I’m always amazed at how prolific you are, while I try my best to eke out one semi-presentable, tiny poem a day. 
I’m going to shift today’s haiku from you to the homepage very soon —  handful of clear, sharp images, and moments experienced, remembered, imagined.

dave, have been off line at home due to many resposibilities. am writing this from work on my lunch break so no pressing matters to tend to right now. saw your piece in frogpond, good one at that. you’ve got a bright future in this haiku world. as for fireflies, well in michigan we call them fireflies. can’t recall too many people using lightning bugs.
 
a few new pieces from my neck of the woods.
ed

thunder
the migrant workers
never look up
 
 
 

small town news
just enough paper
to cover the wino

 
 
 
city sunset
two men prowl the ruins
of a burned out house
 
 
 

june heat
the artist’s sketch
of the rapist’s face

 
 
 
tunnel of love
she props the stuffed frog
between us
 
 
 

small talk
at the end of a long day
fireflies

dave, have been off line at home due to many resposibilities. am writing this from work on my lunch break so no pressing matters to tend to right now. saw your piece in frogpond, good one at that. you’ve got a bright future in this haiku world. as for fireflies, well in michigan we call them fireflies. can’t recall too many people using lightning bugs.
 
a few new pieces from my neck of the woods.
ed

thunder
the migrant workers
never look up
 
 
 

small town news
just enough paper
to cover the wino

 
 
 
city sunset
two men prowl the ruins
of a burned out house
 
 
 

june heat
the artist’s sketch
of the rapist’s face

 
 
 
tunnel of love
she props the stuffed frog
between us
 
 
 

small talk
at the end of a long day
fireflies

My friends in the D.C. Area told me over the weekend that the fireflies haven’t arrived there yet.
I’m not sure that I should be enabling your MIDS — mundane informational dependence syndrome – by answering a question that is so easily answered on the internet, but I’m a sucker for a chance to share information (after first clarifying it in my mind).  Here’s what The American Heritage Dictionary says under “lighting bug

“Although firefly remains the literary and formal word, lightning bug is the term used by the majority of Americans for the slow-moving flying insect that flashes in the dark. Nearly 80 percent of those interviewed for the Dictionary of American Regional English volunteered lightning bug, while not quite 30 percent said firefly (including those who said both). Only in the northernmost states, especially New England, and along the Pacific coast, does firefly hold its own with lightning bug. Bug itself is nowadays an American term; since the 18th century, the British have preferred insect.”

Growing up in Upstate New York, I’ve always called them fireflies.  When I was visiting in DC at the end of June last year, I saw the most spectacular firefly displays of my life.  I did have the “lightning bug” discussion with a woman from Georgia.
I was inspired back then to pen:

late-comers:
fireflies join
the solstice party
 
                               [dag, 06-20-04]   
 

summer blockbuster
fireflies outdo
Spielberg
 
          [dag, 06-24-04]

My friends in the D.C. Area told me over the weekend that the fireflies haven’t arrived there yet.
I’m not sure that I should be enabling your MIDS — mundane informational dependence syndrome – by answering a question that is so easily answered on the internet, but I’m a sucker for a chance to share information (after first clarifying it in my mind).  Here’s what The American Heritage Dictionary says under “lighting bug

“Although firefly remains the literary and formal word, lightning bug is the term used by the majority of Americans for the slow-moving flying insect that flashes in the dark. Nearly 80 percent of those interviewed for the Dictionary of American Regional English volunteered lightning bug, while not quite 30 percent said firefly (including those who said both). Only in the northernmost states, especially New England, and along the Pacific coast, does firefly hold its own with lightning bug. Bug itself is nowadays an American term; since the 18th century, the British have preferred insect.”

Growing up in Upstate New York, I’ve always called them fireflies.  When I was visiting in DC at the end of June last year, I saw the most spectacular firefly displays of my life.  I did have the “lightning bug” discussion with a woman from Georgia.
I was inspired back then to pen:

late-comers:
fireflies join
the solstice party
 
                               [dag, 06-20-04]   
 

summer blockbuster
fireflies outdo
Spielberg
 
          [dag, 06-24-04]

David:

You need to move south for June. We have had the best firefly season in quite a while. What is the difference between a firefly and a lightning bug anyway?

David:

You need to move south for June. We have had the best firefly season in quite a while. What is the difference between a firefly and a lightning bug anyway?