Circular Logic

The government needs to do something about this COVID virus.

They recommend wearing a mask

That infringes on my rights and freedom.

Are you maintaining social distancing?

That’s another infringement.

Are you staying home?

Heck no! I have the right to go wherever and whenever I want.

Are your kids participating in hybrid or distance learning?

No, I’m paying taxes so my kids belong in school–period.

Will you get a vaccine?

No way. I don’t want to the government injecting something weird into my body.

The government just passed the new stimulus bill.

I don’t have direct checking so if I get it at all, it will take months. The government hasn’t even gotten my unemployment benefits straightened out. I’ll say this again, the government needs to do something about this COVID virus.

Circular logic

The wheels of conspiracy theories operate much faster than the wheels of government.

Live in the Time of Coronavirus, Pt 22: First Anniversary-What Would You Include?

The traditional 1st-anniversary gift is considered to be paper, while the modern gift is a clock, which commemorates the passage of time over this important first year.

What artifacts would you include on the first anniversary of COVID?

1. paper mask
2. shot record of COVID vaccinations
3. COVID test results, perhaps showing luck or virtue
4. snips of the changing political and social views on mask wearing
5. changed work schedule or filing for unemployment benefits
6. pictures of friends and family that you have not seen for a year
7. cancelled event tickets
8. programs for events never attended
9. invitation to your first post-COVID gathering
10. take-out menus
11. 2020/21 calendars showing how empty life was, except maybe for medical appointments and Zoom meetings
12. diary (see calendar entry)
13. copies of all of the COVID jokes and toilet paper memes sent around by people desperate for a reason to smile or even laugh
14. election memorabilia
15. collection of recipes used this past year
16. pictures of the garden or other hobbies you took up this year
17. lessons plans from home schooling
18. list of lessons learned
19. changing or morphing political/cultural opinions
20. new books read or streaming platforms watched

2020 in Hindsight

According the calendar, 2020 began on 1 January and ended on 31 December. Trump dominated the year. The year may have begun in September 2019 when the House first moved to impeach him and ended on January 13, when the House moved to impeach him again. He is the first president to ever be impeached twice.

Like the of the previous impeachments, (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton), the presidents have been accused of impeachment, but never found guilty in a Senate trial. The outcome on this one may follow that trend.

In 2020, Trump both exceeded and met my expectations. When he was surprised by someone asking him if he knew that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had passed, he replied that he did not know and called her “very great lady.” In that instant he made no disparaging comment about her. I was very pleasantly surprised.

Almost every other time, he met my expectations, even on January 6 when he encouraged the crowd to storm the Capital and Pence to throw the Electoral College results.

On that day and since Vice President Pence has exceeded my expectations by acting the way that most of us hope that a President would act.

December Holidays to Celebrate–Part 2

Chanukah begins Thursday evening, December 10, 2020 and continues through Friday, December 18, 2020.

Chanukah is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods.

The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and is thus named because it celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple ). Also spelled Hanukkah (or variations of that spelling), the Hebrew word is actually pronounced with a guttural, “kh” sound, kha-nu-kah, not tcha-new-kah.

The Winter Solstice is December 21. The next winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere occurs on Monday, December 21, 2020 at 5:02 a.m. EST. It’s the astronomical moment when the Sun reaches the Tropic of Capricorn, we have our shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere in terms of daylight. Regardless of what the weather is doing outside your window, the solstice marks the official start of winter.

Roots Day is December 23. No, it is not planning on where to plant your live Christmas tree.

National Roots Day on December 23rd encourages families to delve into their family history, heritage, and ancestry.

Each year during the holidays is an ideal time to collect family information. While families gather around the table telling stories and sharing memories, someone is sure to be the family historian. It is entirely possible a grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle has already started a family tree and will share with other family members.

December 25 is Christmas.

Christmas (or Feast of the Nativity) is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world^. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world’s nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.

Did you know: In 567, the Council of Tours “proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast.

October 30 is National Speak Up for Service Day

Speak Up For Service Day on October 30th recognizes the importance of young people to be actively involved in community service. Too often, the good deeds of young people go unnoticed by their communities. Speak Up For Service Day gives recognition to the overlooked. It serves as a reminder to tell others about the contributions of young people to their communities.

This year seems like a particularly good time to recognize this day. Young people are taking an active role in this year’s election by serving as poll workers, urging people to vote (for whoever the candidate maybe), going door to door or making phone calls urging people to vote, etc. With many seniors (the normal poll workers) afraid to come out because of COVID, the young people are filling a vital role as an unprecedented number of Americans turn out to vote in what has been called the most important vote of a lifetime.

History from the National Speak up for Service Day website.

The Speak Up For Service Project’s history began in 2003, when the Fargo, ND Lions Club initiated a public speaking contest for area high school students in honor of Laura Christensen Espejo. Laura devoted her life to improving the health care services available to the less fortunate in the Fargo community and Peru, the country of her husband, Lucho. Lion Robert Littlefield coordinated the contest on the local level. Soon, he was launching it as a statewide initiative while serving as District Governor in 2010-2011.

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A-m-e-r-I-C-A-N

During WWII, I can became We can as exhibited in the popular Rosie the Riveter poster. Seventy-five years later, as we mark the anniversary of VJ Day,  there is  not much we left–it got we-weed away.

The almIghty I has become I CAN do almost anything I want  whether it benefits me or anyone else.  Whether it’s

 

• wearing a mask,
• maintaining social distancing,
• peaceful protest,
• voting on legislation that may move this country forward

we have become so locked in our I Can isolation that we will harm ourselves, our country, and our future.

It takes us a while to get used to anything that might preclude us from doing what  we want, whenever we want:

• Wearing seat belts
• Smoking in restaurants, bars, grocery store check out lines, and on airlines
• Wearing shoes and shirts in a restaurant
• Giving everyone an equal opportunity to
  • vote,
  • apply for jobs and higher education
  • marry whoever we’d like
  • live wherever we can afford

But most of us get there eventually.

 

June 10 is National Iced Tea Day

Our air conditioner is dying a slow and painful death.  The company can not replace it until Tuesday, June 16.  Meanwhile, we are going old school

• fans
• iced tea

It does make me wonder how people managed in the days before electricity when they also wore a lot more clothes than we do today.

From National Today.Com  Tea has been around forever, but iced tea didn’t burst onto the scene and win over America’s hearts and minds until 1904. In that year, visitors to the St. Louis World’s Fair were greeted by exceedingly hot weather. Tea plantation owner and merchant Richard Blechynden, who was present at the fair, took advantage of the situation by selling chilled tea drinks (instead of hot tea) as a cold refreshment. The rest is history. On June 10, we fill our glasses with iced tea (sweetened or unsweetened—that’s your call) and celebrate National Iced Tea Day.

On hot days, one of my favorite things to make is sun tea.

According to  Simple Recipes

Put 4 to 8 tea bags into a clean 2 quart or gallon glass container (4 teabags for a 2 quart container, 8 tea bags for a gallon container). Fill with water and cap. Place outside where the sunlight can strike the container for about 3 to 5 hours. Move the container if necessary to keep it in the sun. When the tea has reached its desired strength, remove from sun and put it in the refrigerator. You may or may not want to remove the tea bags at this point. I usually don’t.

I’ve found that the tea can brew in the shade if the temperature is warm enough. Although I like to make Tazo’s Green Ginger Tea, any type of tea bags will work.

 

Library Days to Celebrate in April

April is School Library Month. School Library Month is the American Association of School Librarians’ celebration of school librarians and school libraries. Every April school librarians are encouraged to host activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school libraries play in transforming learning.

School closures have made celebrating School Library Month a virtual experience.  Things that school librarians may have been doing include:

• Helping teachers prepare syllabi
• Providing as many online resources as possible
• Networking with public libraries to share resources and inform their students on what is available to them
• Hosting  a virtual story hour or providing a recommended reading list
• Encouraging their students to use the library when school resumes

April is also National Poetry Month.  I’ve been writing and publishing a poem a day–so far I’ve got poems for the first half of the month.  How can you celebrate National Poetry Month?

• List  your virtual poetry reading and events
• sign and display a National Poetry poster
• participating in Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30, 2020 recommending the Dear Poet project to a young person,
• signing up to read a Poem-a-Day,

April 10 was  National Sibling Day.  Some siblings have co-written books; others have written books independently.  Famous writing siblings include the Bronte sisters and Jacob and Wilhlem Grimm  of Grimm’s Fairy Tails.  Pauline Esther Friedman and Esther Pauline Friedman (also known as Dear Abby and Ann Landers) were famous identical twins and advice columnists.

Bronte sisters as painted by their brother

National Library Week

is April 19-25.
The theme for National Library Week (NLW) 2020, “Find your place at the library,” was chosen before the emergence of the global pandemic. To acknowledge our altered landscape, ALA flipped the script a bit on the theme. “Find the library at your place” highlights how libraries are offering virtual services and digital content their communities need now more than ever.

National Library Workers Day is April 21.

National Library Workers Day was first celebrated in 2004.  It was started as a way to raise support for better benefits and salaries at a time when they had been stagnant for years. National Library Workers Day Continues to promote increased benefits and wages for the services provided by library workers every day.

The month ends with Preservation Week, April 28-May 2.

Do you know about the Library of Congress’s Veteran’s History Project?

The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

When I volunteered at the University City Branch of the San Diego Public Library, I got to interview several people for the Veteran’s History Project. My practice interview was with my own husband. I also got to interview veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and cold war veterans. It was a fascinating experience.

Live in the time of Coronavirus, Pt 7–I’ll Drink to That

“U.S. sales of alcoholic beverages were up 55 percent in the week ending March 21, according to Nielsen. Spirits sales were up 75 percent in the same period, wine sales were up 66 percent, beer sales up 42 percent,” reports Cyril Penn on WineBusiness.com. “What’s more, Nielsen said online sales of beer wine and spirits were up 243 percent versus the same week the year before.”

In Virginia, libraries, schools/universities, courts, and the DMV are all closed indefinitely. However, the states’ Alcohol Beverage Control  (ABC) stores are considered essential along with grocery stores,  pharmacies, laundries and dry cleaners, gas stations, etc.  I guess the state has to make money somehow.

Virginia, a former blue law state, has loosened the requirements on who can offer take-out liquor–breweries can now offer deliveries, many wineries are offering free shipping, and restaurants can sell their bottles of wine to go at discounted prices.

One the other hand, many distilleries have switched from making spirits to hand sanitizers.

Is your wine cellar or beer stash still intact?  What is your favorite tipple during the pandemic

 

Twitter Power

All the little birds on Jaybird on loved to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet.--“Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day

Twitter or Tweets have come a long way since this song was released by Bobby Day as a single in 1958.

According to Lifewire, Twitter is used for

1. Connecting people
2. Sharing Information in Real-Time
3. Marketing in business
4. Educational tool

It can also be used to share Misinformation in Real-Time.

From Wikipedia–Twitter diplomacy, also “Twiplomacy” or “hashtag diplomacy“, is the use of social network and microblogging website, Twitter, by heads of state, leaders of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and their diplomats to conduct diplomatic outreach and public diplomacy

Donald Trump may not have been the first person to use twiplomacy, but he has become the poster child for its use.

However, in 2011, Admiral James Stravitis, then the supreme allied commander at NATO, caused a “diplomatic stir by sending out a tweet to the world explaining what I would recommend to the twenty-eight ambassadors later that day.  News organizations picked it up and soon the story of ‘the first war whose end was announced on Twitter’ was making the rounds.”  from The Accidental Admiral by James Stravridis,  USN (Ret.) ( Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2014), p. ix

On March 21, 2016, Brian Mastrioni at CBS News wished Twitter a Happy 10th Birthday by writing  “Tweet-worthy Milestones from Twitter’s First 10 Years.”

Gayle Osterberg wrote on December 26, 2017 “In 2010, the Library of Congress announced an exciting and groundbreaking acquisition—a gift from Twitter of the entire archive of public tweet text beginning with the first tweets of 2006 through 2010, and continuing with all public tweet text going forward. The Library took this step for the same reason it collects other materials – to acquire and preserve a record of knowledge and creativity for Congress and the American people. The initiative was bold and celebrated among research communities.”

That changed to:

The Library now has a secure collection of tweet text, documenting the first 12 years (2006-2017) of this dynamic communications channel—its emergence, its applications and its evolution.

Today, we announce a change in collections practice for Twitter. Effective Jan. 1, 2018, the Library will acquire tweets on a selective basis—similar to our collections of web sites.

Twitter had outgrown even the Library of Congress’s ability to archive its public totality.

March 14 is Pi Day

The number π is a mathematical constant. Originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, it now has various equivalent definitions and appears in many formulas in all areas of mathematics and physics. It is approximately equal to 3.14159.  From Wikipedia

The earliest known official, or large-scale celebration of Pi Day, was organized by Larry Shaw in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium. The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Our research has found that there are different ways that people celebrate National Pi Day.  Some of the celebrations include:

• Eating a slice of pie
• Pie eating contests
• Discussing the significance of the number π
• More recently watching Life of Pi
• Finding 3.14 deals in as many version of π as possible.  For example
  • Half.com  is offering 95 % off the paperback of The Life of Pi.
  • Think pizza Pi as much as dessert kind of deals on this day!
  • Get punny Geeky Greek Pi inspired t-shirts deals.
  • Find these and more at www.GoBankingRates.com
  • Visit the National Day Calendar Classroom for a National Pi Day lesson.

March 14 is celebrated for other reasons too:

• Steak and Blowjob Day (sometimes Steak & BJ Day or Steak and Knobber Day) is a satirical holiday created in the United States as a male response to Valentine’s Day and celebrated a month later, on March 14.
• On March 14, 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)
• In the St . Vincent  and the Grenadines is it National Heroes Day, which is a public holiday.
• It ‘s National Potato Chip Day so enjoy a bag without feeling guilty.

• National Write Your Story Day- You may think to yourself, “There’s nothing in my life to tell.” It will surprise you once you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and the words start filling the pages. Words have a way of triggering memories.

• NationalLearn about Butterflies Day
  • There are more than 20,000 types of butterflies worldwide.
  • Their wing spans can range from 1/2 inch to 11 inches.
  • Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year, depending on the species.
  • Many butterflies migrate over long distances.  Particularly famous migrations are those of the Monarch butterfly from Mexico to the northern USA and southern Canada, a distance of about 2500 to 3000 miles.
    

    

    

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FUN FACT: https://www.piday.org/find-birthday-in-pi/

If you use the first date of 1 Jan 2019 the answer is

Dreams vs. Reality

Does anyone remember Father Ted and his fellow cleric Father Dougal?

Father Dougal had trouble differentiating between what was real and what was a dream so Father Ted drew a simple picture to help him remember.

Is your coronavirus information based upon science or a hunch?

 

Where is Father Ted when we need him now?

The Hundred Little Things

I came across this helpful and heartfelt blogpost that aptly illustrates that it is the hundred little things that add up to real love and change. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy sharing it with you.

A Teacher's Reflections

I have a handwritten list of posts I want to write, things that are important.  There is one that has been screaming at me for a long time, with yellow highlighter and a post-it note: “The Hundred Little Things.”  It is the source of all that’s important, why everything we do is meaningful, whether we know it or not.  It is the most important thing I learned in teaching.  Oh boy, did I learn this.

A past parent visited me at school this week.  Her boys are beyond college and doing well.  She wanted to stop by, give me a Peter Rabbit cookie jar, and say thank you.  Like the student alumni who stop by and cannot pinpoint what it is they remember, she was the same way.  And I know why.  It’s the hundred little things.

Do I remember everything I did with Adam?  No.  Does his Mom?  No. …

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Own the Behavior, Not the Organization

Why do certain members fill like they own the group they have joined?

I belong to several groups.  The three that I’m most involved in are a read and critique group (member for 3 years), a Celtic discussion group (3 years) and a professional library association (30 years).   AARP eligible members compose the first two groups.  The library group is about half senior citizens and half librarians too young to be retirement eligible.

One or more members (both male and female)  expect the rest of us to follow wherever they lead.  Some of them do a better job of paying lip service to other people’s ideas, but it’s a pretense since they assume their ideas are so much better.

Read and Critique Group — Some of the members have actually taken their marbles and left the group entirely.  The group was in transition and they rightly felt that their ideas and experience would benefit the group.  When all of their ideas were not welcomed with open arms, they left in various fits of pique.  (This may explain  why they appear to have lost a few marbles in the process-pun intended).

Celtic Discussion Group — Two leaders and several participants.  One of the leaders offers recommendations and then promptly assumes consensus.  During the course of each discussion, she’ll take us on a tangent of her choosing.  Often, we lack the time to get back to the chapter we were supposed to be discussing.

Library Group –  One person has carried the organization for several years.  She is its most successful fundraiser and has repeatedly ‘lent’ the group thousands of dollars by putting a variety of conference-related expenses on her credit card until she can be reimbursed by the organization.  She is our corporate memory and is, fortunately, a benign despot.  She is also the only one of the examples given who acknowledges her behavior.

Why do some people feel that like ‘their’ organization is ‘theirs?  These are all organizations that are run by volunteers.  Except for the Celtic Discussion group which is too small to have a board,  the groups have a board and committees.  There is as least one King or Queen Bee who feels that the group should be run in their own image whether they are on the board or heading a committee.  Except for the lady from the library group, they would be astonished if confronted with with how others view their organizational usurpation.

Do you belong to a volunteer group that is OWNED by one or more members, despite the fact that the group is open to any interested or dues-paying member? What do you think about these self-appointed Queen or King Bees?

 

 

Five Gym-Related Signs You May Be a Geezer or Geezerette

1. You argue with your body that it really can do that 30 minutes on the reclining bike.  Your leg begins to mutter about 10 minutes in and by 20 minutes, it complains loudly that the effort is too much (even though you have not increased the resistance past level 1.)  It was able to do up to level 4 two days ago and it has not been injured or abused. You ignore the leg cramp and sigh heavily when the clock shows that 30 minutes have trickled away.
2. Your body does not want to get down on the floor for stretches (and you don’t want to let gravity help you get down there more swiftly.) You grab the exercise mat and lie it on the floor, staring at it resentfully.  You know all of the grumbling parts will feel better once they are stretched, but they show no interest in making that happen.  So you bend at the waist (fortunately the hamstrings still cooperate, even if the knees are sulky), touch the floor and walk them forward until you can drop your knees to the mat.  It ain’t purty, but it serves a need.
3. A new body part joins in the argument about which part is aching the most.  Usually, it’s the knees that complain, but today the right hip feels entitled to join in.  Nothing makes it happy.  Talk about a whiner.
4. Any piece of equipment in a pinch.  Once the stretches, leg lifts, and the world’s briefest plank position hold have been accomplished, you have to stand back up.  Fortunately, you are next to the Glute Ham developer so it allows you to pull/push yourself up from a kneeling position.

5.  Doing the actual exercises is the easy part.  Getting situated in the machine and adjusting the seat and weight are the hard parts.  Getting out is almost as difficult as getting in.

This is one of the most difficult to navigate getting in and out.

Is it better to be unheard or not being listened to?

Say What?

Ladies, this question is for you.  Gentlemen, you are invited to give an alibi or explanation as you feel so inclined.

Sometimes when I speak to my husband, he practices selective deafness where he does not acknowledge that anything has been said.   At other times, he grunts in affirmation implying that something has been said, but is not worth listening to.

Do you think it is it less frustrating to be unheard (where whatever you say  is totally ignored) or not be listened to (where you say something but it is deemed  unworthy of attention)?

 

January 26 is National Spouses Day

National Spouses Day:

is an unofficial holiday which encourages couples to celebrate each other on this day. On this day, people are supposed to take time out of their busy schedule to show just how important their spouse is to them. After all, the love that isn’t tended is most likely the one that doesn’t thrive. This holiday shouldn’t be confused with Military Spouses Day – a holiday which falls on May 12^th.

Interesting Facts About Marriage

• The average married couple has sex once a week
• 20% of married couples have a sex-less marriage
• It’s legal to marry someone who is dead in France
• Over 300 couples marry in Las Vegas every single day
• The 3rd year of marriage is usually the happiest for most couples
• Every hour, there are a 100 divorces in the United States
• Interracial marriage was banned in the U.S up until 1967  (Ironcially, it was a couple called Loving that brought this to an end. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down laws banning interracial marriage as violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution)
• Gamophobia is the fear of commitment
• Wedding rings go back to Ancient Egypt

How are you going to celebrate?

Musings

Say What?

Has the bully pulpit become more bully than pulpit?

What is it about a subpoena that frightens the memory away?  Do they drink the fifth before they plead it?

Is Santa Claus a toy sleigher?

A woman says something.  One to three minutes later it percolates through a man’s brain and he utters the same words as an original  thought.  The other men in the group hail it as significant.  Why?

You hear something on the news that you agree with–Benghazi attack, withholding funds for Ukraine to mention two from the recent past.  You say you are not a conspiracy theorist type of person–is it because you agree with whichever side is being discussed? Do you think that the other side is actually part of a conspiracy theory?

“I may not know where I’m at but I know where I’m going.”  From an old woman confused about Charlotte, NC, and Charlottesville, VA.

A mother was having a discussion with her teenage daughter and had to eat a bite of her daughter’s bagel before saying anything. ” You don’t like nothing that they serve?

If you’re drifting, someone else is doing the thinking.  Congresswoman Love

Trump is a British slang word for fart. It is derived from the noun ‘trump’ which is a blast from a trumpet.
 

Reblog: Southern Comfort–Soups, Stews, and Grits

January is Soup Month.  Since I love soups and do not have any homemade recipes to share, I thought I would share Camilla’s Cottage blog on the topic.  The recipes look warming and delicious on a chilly, grey January Saturday when Winter has decided to make a comeback after a two week hiatus.

To read this tasty blog posting click  here

Picture is from Soup and a Sandwich at Bold Rock Cidery in Nellysford and not from Camilla’s Cottage  blog.

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Saving a Local Bookstore

Cynthia Reyes’ blogpost about a British bookstore is heartwarming and how sometimes twitterstorms can be a good thing.

Cynthia Reyes

If you love books, and value bookstores, you’ll want to read this remarkable story. It started with a single tweet:

7

Petersfield Bookshop@The_PBS

…Tumbleweed…

Not a single book sold today…

£0.00…

We think think this maybe the first time ever…

We know its miserable out but if you’d like to help us out please find our Abebooks offering below, all at 25% off at the moment….

Read the story here:

https://www.lifeisamazing.co.uk/kind-words-on-a-stormy-day

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