Potpourri

Sometimes there are subjects that just don't rate a whole column. This column will be a compendium of such topics, all thrown together in a stew known as potpourri. Don't look for a common thread, because there isn't any; these are just the wanderings of my fertile mind.

1. I recently read a mystery in which I came across a term used by the police to refer to a person who informs on an associate in crime. The term itself has lost all meaning, due first to inflation and later to technology.

In cop jargon, the act of informing is called either "diming him out" or "dropping a dime on him". Of course, the reference is to calling the police from a pay phone, which for years cost a dime. Then the price for a local call went up to a quarter and eventually got up to fifty cents. That was the inflation effect.

Now you would be hard pressed to even find a pay phone in most public places. Where they do exist, they don't take coins anymore, but require a credit card to even use them. That is where the technology comes in.

The use of cellular phones has become so commonplace that few of us would ever think of putting money into a pay phone to place a call. But the really strange thing about the cell phone world is that it is much easier to trace a cell call than it ever was to trace a call from a public pay phone.

So in effect, it is nearly impossible to remain anonymous when you use a cell phone, and "diming him out" is a lost art. That doesn't prevent the police from using the term to describe the act of informing on a criminal, though.

2. I guess everybody has had ramen at one time or another. Heck, that very fact that it is synonymous with soup says it all. It always makes for a quick pick-me-up lunch, and some are reduced to eating it as a meal in order to save money.

Noodles and broth go way back in Japan, and I fondly remember my stay there in the 1950s, when the soba man came around in the middle of the night playing a haunting tune on his flute to hawk his tasty treat. If you’ve never heard that tune at 2 or 3 o’clock in the early morning, you’ve missed both treats.

There is a world of difference between ramen and soba, but they are still somewhat similar. One of the differences is that ramen is just noodles with a flavoring packet, while soba noodles come with lots of vegetables and meats in there.

When you buy ramen you get to choose which flavor to have. I was making that choice recently when it came to me that there is one flavor that defies description. There is beef, pork, chicken, creamy chicken, chili and shrimp, all of which can be easily identified. But what about Oriental flavor?

I ask you, what the heck flavor is "Oriental"? Is that a broth with the flavor of a Japanese, Chinese or Korean person? Or is it maybe "dog"? (They do eat a lot of them over there, you know) It does taste a little spicy, but I just can't quite put my finger on where I've tasted that before. Well, perhaps I'll stay away from Oriental flavored ramen from now on until somebody can tell me which Oriental I'm dining on.

3. Why are we forced to place our garbage into plastic bags before they are loaded into a garbage truck? Those plastic bags never degrade, so our landfills – the PC name for garbage dumps – never really become earth again, but become manmade mountains of trash.

In some cities we are supposed to separate the cardboard, cans, plastic and glass bottles and other items out for recycling. Wouldn't it make sense to also keep the organic refuse out of those plastic bags that never degrade?

As long as we're recycling, why not make a landfill for fruits and vegetables and yard waste and such? We can have a community compost heap, and everybody will be welcome to come and share in it. Now, isn't that a great way to save the earth?

4. Here’s a question for you to complete the category. If the fellow who buries dead people is referred to as an undertaker, then what does that make the person who cremates bodies? An afterburner?