Jis' won' listen

Recent L to Ed of Victorville Daily Press


The “Engineers” won’t listen to inventors and neophytes (like me), e.g., “1920’s incubator baby dies at 96…” Feb. 26, “…barely 2 pounds when she was born…after her parents put their faith in a sideshow doctor…who put babies in display in incubators fund his research…” Another, Feb. 17 (“PAID ADVERTISEMENT”): “Drug Companies Fear Release of the new AloeCure.” Well, actually, it might be true ! As our No. 2 Son says, “The doctor won’t listen to our guess what the problem is; he has his own idea and sticks to it.”

Then there’s the phone-answerer: We’re advised it’s from a wireless, then someone says, "Leave a message after the tone (meaning the caller of course, not me)” but when you hear a familiar voice and run to the pickup, they've hung up. Why hasn’t someone—anyone at all anywhere—told the Phone Folks about this deficiency??

An example of Survival Systems’ interdependence and their inability to keep up with one another: When the power went out Saturday, we no longer had hot water nor telephone (When we were kids, didn’t they still work?); but we were glad the toilets still flushed. “It was like campin," says my Better Half.

Then there’s the inside doorknob lock: On some horizontal, on others vertical; so every day thousands of people throughout the country lock self out.

At 86 I’m grateful to modern medicine for still being here but I find some aspects of hunamoid care lag a bit. For instance I recently asked my agreeable local Dental Folk to make a crown for the gap formed at the middle of my lower set, caused by the installation some years ago of a front upper set made of a material harder than the teeth, an obvious defect since corrected by the Dental Establishment. So these few were so far worn down that eating anything hard hurt the gum below.

However, they seemed baffled by my apparent need. While I wanted to cover just those 4 or 5 teeth that had been worn down, I was advised that the only sort of fixture available curved clear around toward the back, covering other more nearly normal ones, which would have been an incredibly clunky overkill. So they (reluctantly but cleverly) suggested having it made that way anyhow, then cutting off the excess from both sides, leaving a small "V" to cover the gap.

Cost over $200.

Their idea worked beautifully, the new appliance snapping right into place. Golly, I thought, but if The Industry had had any sense at all, it could have made 'em in white material, shaped look like the teeth they replaced; but I guess that's too much to expect after only 400 years of Dentistry Advancement? So I slid 'em in using Fixodent and now successfully eat with 'em, painlessly now.

So I tried it out by gnawing a huge chunk of jerky; and BEHOLD it stayed on! The Mouth “Managers" should be as competent as the Adherent “Engineers.”

Still, it turned, out, the gadget was 'way thicker than I had specified, and there were a few bumps here and there that I had to sand off, but otherwise it works just fine. Yet here's an open letter to the Dentistry Bunch: Guys, you just gotta catch up quicker!


Dale Hileman
Apple Valley