Amazing European Stuff

While the FBI was deciding how to retrieve the documents that I took with me when I l left my position as President of the Carroll County AARP, I found some interesting articles about European concerns.

Sweet dreams, Spiderman

A research team in Germany found that certain spiders seem to doze in a dream-like state and even experience REM sleep.  I wonder how the researchers figured that out.

I always have thought that creatures like spiders could have brains and I have been therefore very reluctant to squash one, even though Elaine and I have both had hospital stays related to spider bites.

Blood Clots in Legs

A health minister in the United Kingdom has outlined blood clot warning signs for legs.

1.  Pain, swelling, tenderness in one of the legs.

2.  Heavy ache in the affected area.;

3.  Warm skin in area of the clot.

4.  Red skin in back of the leg, below the knee.

Crown Me

Over one thousand people in Scotland received blank email messages from Burger King.  Most of the recipients had never even eaten at such a fast-food restaurant.  Burger King management said it was "An internal processing error."

Good but Bad Food

The United Kingdom Minister of Health lists 7 foods that taste great but are not good for those with Type 2 Diabetes.

1.  Grapes

2.  Ramen

3.  Potatoes

4.  Sushi

5.  Dried Fruit

6.  Fruit Jam

7.  Cereal.

I may still have type 2 diabetes, but I would never give up grapes, fruit jam or cereal.

Why are Americans so Smart?

I've read that milk is not popular in Europe, although the French had a program once to promote milk drinking.

In the United States, milk is a staple.  Some lactose intolerance is still around, but scientists think that it is being diluted through marriage.

Baby animals drink milk until they are older and discover solid food.  But most Americans continue to drink milk throughout their lives and retain "babyness" as it relates to intelligence, according to those scientists.

In other words, milk-drinking older Americans  never become  adult creatures; therefore they retain an infant's curiosity and fast learning ability all their lives.

What do you think of that?

PS:  Citizens in Argentina and Peru recently complained that the world considers only the citizens of the United States as "Americans."  "Wait a minute aren't we Americans too!"

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PUZZLES

Wordle

I read some notes online from a Wordle fan who can't get to sleep at night until she has solved the daily Wordle.  I would say to her, relax! Life is too short to have it governed by a puzzle, no matter how interesting.

This same person gave a couple of tips that I advocated for a while.

Use "adieu" as a starter word, to get vowels.

Use words such as "atone" to get the most common usage letters.

After a while I asked myself if I was looking for kind of easy solutions that did not tax my brain, or was I looking for tougher solutions that made my tired old brain get into exercise mode.

I felt that I wanted the exercise and besides it would be more fun.  So, now I try to key in words that force me to think - a lot.

Words like:  "query," "climb," "plume," or "expel."

It often takes me "down to the wire" to get the solution, but I do have fun getting there.  It has worked for me. After over 100 tests, I have only missed one solution, because I was over tired and mixed up the letter colors.

Crosswords

The same situation occurs with Crossword Puzzles.  The LA Times, New York Times and the Atlantic all have puzzles that are relatively easy for Monday and Tuesday.  After that, the words get a lot harder.

If you don't want frustration, you can stick with those easier puzzles. I like doing them for those days because it relaxes me.  However, I also like the challenges in the puzzles for the rest of the week.  

Cryptics

For a good brain workout, you could try Cryptic Crosswords.  The Brits could never understand Americans' crosswords, so they developed their own word puzzles which utilize all kinds of puzzle  methods, such as charades, containments, acrostics, etc.  I enjoy trying to solve such puzzles; however, I have never solved even one of those published by the Daily Telegraph.

For years I have tried to rustle up enough interest to form a class for puzzlers.  Everyone says they like to do puzzles, but nobody wants to learn how to do them better.

 

I read that a famous psychologist says that doing crossword puzzles does not tax your mind and is a waste of time.  BALONEY!

No matter if you are doing relatively easy puzzles or challenging ones, you are definitely using your brain.

I've gone to nursing homes where some patients just vegetate in their chairs all day, while their brains rust away. And I've seen other patients there happily moving their pencils as they use their brains on the daily crossword.

Tip:  If you have a computer of some kind, use Google to solve clues when necessary.  Otherwise, how on earth would anyone know the answer to clues like this:

Brother-in-law of Grace Kelly in the 1967 unreleased movie "Midnight in Poughkeepsie."

Crooks

Lemonade?

In the State of Washington, there is a 12-year-old Ukranian-American who, even at this young age, is an expert entrepreneur. He has found himself a lively street corner where he sells snacks, lemonade and candy.  He makes a good living at that and even has some money to send to help the Ukranians.

Last week one of his customers paid for $20 worth of goodies with a $100 dollar bill. The boy gave him $80 change, which is all he had at the time.

After a while the boy looked more closely at the $100 bill and thought that it looked a little funny.  He took it to a bank where they said it was counterfeit.

Some folks felt sorry for him and set up a "fund me" file and collected $25,000 on the boy's behalf.  Police have a photo that might show the counterfeiter.  Meanwhile the boy is back in business.

Mis-fits.

Virginia police have confiscated 165,707 pairs of socks advertised for people with diabetes. Such socks must be cotton and adhere to special rules governing their manufacture.

Apparently, these "so-called" diabetic socks did not meet expectations and the complete shipment valued at $2.6 million was pulled.

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 Every day Stuff of Minimal Interest

Fame!

Today, Carroll Lutheran Village (CLV) honored those of us who have been inducted into "The Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.  We had a tasty luncheon, after which, President Parker Koons spoke about the organization.

Parker just turned 90, but he's still going strong.  He reminded me that I am still on the Emeritus Board and said some nice things about me to the audience. Parker is a fantastic person, and he was a pleasure to work with on Board activity.

What? Say again!

I'm still looking for a reasonably priced hearing aid.  I believe that my insurance would cover $2000. Are the aids that cost less than $500 any good?  That's what I'm trying to find out.

AARP endorses a cheap aid, but AARP gets money for advertising that product.  So, I need to get more information.

A PC for Elaine

Elaine's PC would have to:

Run on powerful batteries.

Be small enough to sit in front of her in bed.

Have an unobtrusive keyboard.

Have Zoom facility.

Have instant Wi-Fi.

Have Internet access.  Google!

Have email access, in and out.

Have a bright screen.

Have Windows (11?)

I doubt that a reconstructed PC would have these features (reliably.)

A new one might cost $200 to $500.

POST-IT NOTES:

Alexa on Fire TV

To pause a movie, you could say: "Alexa, I'm getting a snack." Supposedly, "play, pause, resume" work, as appropriate.

Alexa on Show

"Alexa, what's going on?"

"Alexa, show photos from last year."

"Alexa, enable good morning routine."

"Alexa, set up my photo display."

"Alexa, take a selfie."

"Alexa, send the selfie to Grandma.

Health Tips?

Eat a tspn of cinnamon daily.  (In cereal?)

Instead of Cola, pour pure fruit juice into a glass and add carbonated water to taste,

HMMMMMM!

I noticed that a humming bird was tasting the purple flowers on our back deck, but not tasting the feeder water on our side porch, in fact, ants were enjoying what was supposed to be for our hummer.

Kathy cleaned up the feeder and set it up in back. I'm waiting for our little friend to discover it.

A Friendly Creature

Lately, as I sit on our back porch and watch my vegetables grow, Mr. Bumble comes to partake of all the pretty yellow flowers that are proliferating.

Mr. Bumble is a Sierra Club member.

A SHRINE

At the Bongo Java coffeehouse in Nashville, one can enjoy a strong cup of coffee while contemplating a cinnamon bun that bears a strong resemblance to Mother Teresa.

OUCH!

A few tears ago, at Greenville, South Carolina, a Cabbage Patch Snack Time Kid doll was caught trying to eat the hair of a three-year-old girl.  These dolls are designed to just "eat" plastic french-fries.

  

Mr. Shakespeare wrote a play about this blog entry:

Much Ado About Nothing

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 Cartoon Characters

How many of these cartoon characters do you know?

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1. This is Jiggs.  He and his spouse, Maggie were characters in the comic strip "Bringing up Father" created by George McManus. It ran under syndication for 87 years! (1913 to 2000)

2.  This is Charlie Brown, the main character in Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. The strip began in 1950, with an uncharacteristically flippant Charlie Brown.

3.  This is Jeff, the partner of Mutt in the comic strip that ran from 1907 to 1983.  Bud Fisher had created the original "odd couple."

4.  I think that this kid was called Sappo.  I am probably wrong on that.  I believe that Sappo is an earlier name for Wimpy, in the Thimble Theater.

5.  This is Jughead Jones, a character in Archie Comics, begun in 1939.

6.  We all know Fred Flintstone, TV star.

7.  This is Dick Tracy showing off the wrist radio that all of us kids lusted for.  The character was created by Chester Gould in 1931.

8.  This is Jeff's partner Mutt.  He was lanky; Jeff was short and stubby.

9.  This could be a skinny version of Snuffy Smith's wife, Loweezy, but I doubt it.  I think it might be a neighbor, perhaps a school-marm. 

10.  The Little King created by Otto Soglow was the first cartoon character I drew.

11.  Winnie the Pooh, of course!

12.  Captain Marvel.  SHAZAM!  I liked this super hero because he seemed to be a nice guy, not a vengeful killer.

13.  The Adventures of Smilin' Jack and his sidekicks, including this guy,  Mofak's who had a happy chicken.

14.  This is Andy Capp, a pub-loving guy in England.  He was created by Reg Smythe in 1957.

15.  A cigar-smoking character in Gasoline Alley by Frank King and others.

16.  Popeye.  "I likes to go swimmin' with bow-legged women, I'm Popeye the sailor man."

17.  This is Brigadier General Amos T. Halftrack, a character in the Beetle Bailey comic created by Mort Walker.

18.  Who doesn't know Pluto the Pup?

19.  This is Dondi, about a large=eyed war orphan.  Created by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen.  It ran from 1955 to 1986.

20.  This is Sargeant Orville  P. Snorkel, a character in the Beetle Bailey comic.

21.  Dopey, Sneezy, Happy, Doc, Sleepy,  Grumpy, and Bashful.

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New Bedford, Massachusetts Artist

New Bedford has been the home of several world-renowned painters, such as Albert Bierstadt and Albert Pinkham Ryder.

Ryder was born in 1847, at the height of New Bedford's status as the "World's Richest City." He lived there until he was 20-years-old, at which time he moved to Greenwich Village where he studied at the National Academy of Design.

He was one of four brothers, Edward was in the Union Navy and Preserved was a whale chaser.  Too frail for a whaler's career, Pinkie, as he was called, was also too young for the war.  So, he turned to art as a career.

For part of his artistic life, he was considered a Tonalist, working at the19th century art form that depended on a colorful atmosphere that was muted as though by a foggy sea mist.

For the other part of his life he was considered  a Symbolist, working on symbolic images.

The first work of Pinkie's that I saw did not impress me.

Moonlit Cove,

My impression changed when I saw the next work.

Pastoral

I really like this painting.

Resurrection.

And finally, I believe that this painting is the kind of work that Ryder wanted to be remembered for.

Boat.

Christopher Benfey wrote a nice critique of an exhibition of Ryder's paintings held from June to October 2021 at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. I wish I had been able to see the exhibition, listed as "A Wild Note of Longing Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art,"

Benfey also remarked on something Ralph Waldo Emerson said during a New Bedford visit in 1833:

NB has a predatory industry, "chasing the poor whale wherever he swims all round the globe, that they may tear off his warm jacket of blubber and melt it down into oil for your lamp, and to steal from him his bone to make stays and parasols for ladies,"

PS:  We now love and protect whales.

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Special Marriage

Through the years, my late wife and I were friends with several couples.  Often, the lady in a couple would confide in us, because she knew that we would never tell anyone about certain situations related to marriage, and would never give clues as to who had confided in us. Sometimes both parties would tell us secrets.

We were concerned about a few couples who said that they either slept in separate beds or who split up each night and slept in different homes.  

Why be married if you could not share a bed with your loved one?

The New York Times posted an article last year that seemed to bring understanding to my question.

If a devout Catholic obtains a divorce, they are not allowed to consummate a marriage with someone else.  That would be "living in sin."  However, the couple could get permission to live as "brother and sister" in a "Josephite marriage." 

Such a union was inspired by the relationship between "Joseph and the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus."

As I think back, the couples who told us they didn't sleep together were devout Roman Catholics who had been divorced. 

Another mystery solved.

More Questions

Back in the 1990's, the Q and A SIG of Mensa published a monthly newsletter called "The Rational Inquirer." 

Readers would send in questions on topics they were interested in, and other readers would respond by trying to address the questions.  For Instance:

Q: Why do we use a 12-hour clock instead of a 24-hour clock?

A:  The ancient Egyptians divided the day into 12 equal parts, and then did the same for the night. 

The Babylonians must have liked "12" because they then invented the 12 signs of the zodiac to describe the movement of the sun, moon, and planets.

The 12-hour clock just evolved over time in Europe.  It fit into the scheme of things related to the number 12.

Q:  What use is the groove on our upper lip, just below our nose?

A:  It's called "nasolabial philtrum" and without it we could not smile.  Chimpanzees do not have this facial feature, so they don't smile.  

Some folks insist that their dogs smile, at least when they are puppies.  I wouldn't try to see if pit bulls can smile. 

Francine sent me an interesting article on Sitcoms. Here is a list - how many have you seen on your TV screen?

I Love Lucy 1951-1957

The Honeymooners 1955-1956

Leave It To Beaver 1957-1963

The Andy Griffith Show 1960-1968

The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1970-1977

The Odd Couple 1970-1975

All In The Family 1971-1979

The Jeffersons 1975-1985

Cheers 1982-1993

The Golden Girls 1985-1992

Friends 1994-2004

The Simpsons 1989-

Seinfeld 1989-1998

The Office 2005-2013

Black-Ish 2014-2022

Schitt's Creek 2015-2020

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 2005-

I watched 11 of these 16 sitcoms.  

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 Archives Digging

Carter Joke

The longest living Ex-president, Jimmy Carter likes to tell this joke:

A wealthy cheap-skate dies and presents himself at the Pearly Gates.  He tells Saint Peter that he was really a good guy, in fact, once he gave 50 cents to a homeless person and once he donated 50 cents to a charity.

Saint Peter was intrigued and sent an angel to Earth to check it out.

The angel came back and said, "Yes, it's true."

Saint Peter replied, "O.K. - give him his $1 back and tell him to go to hell!" 

Do we have this facility now?

A few years ago, British scientists were working on a "Soul-Catcher" memory chip. Chris Winter, head of British Telecom Artificial Life, said: "With these chips we wouldn't have to rely on holiday snapshots and our memories."

"... combining this information with a person's genes, we could recreate a person physically, emotionally and spiritually."

Chris promises: "This is the end of death - immortality in the truest sense."

Couldn't we combine all of our Internet activity, the content of our PC's and Cell Phones, all of our photographs and videos, and our medical and DNA information to create a kind of individual "Soul Catcher." 

But wait!  Don't we have that already? Our BRAINS.  So, why don't we just preserve brains?

Beer Lovers' Discovery?

A few years ago, British astronomers studying how stars are born, detected a giant cloud of pure alcohol near the Constellation AQUILA (eagle), about 10,000 light-years from Earth.

The cloud contains the equivalent alcohol content of 400 trillion pints of beer!

Note: as of today, we know that 9 stars in the Aquila constellation support planets. (Beer drinkers all?)

Are the Map-Makers blind?

I'm looking at several maps, some purporting to show the Middle Atlantic area, and several purporting to show the Southern New England area.

The Middle Atlantic maps show Washington, DC, Arlington, Virginia, Wilmington, Delaware, and even Ocean City, Maryland.

Where is Baltimore?  

The city has been losing population for a few years.  It had close to a million inhabitants during WW2, and the number now is over 600,000, a big city.  Much bigger than the other cities shown.

The city has been home to some remarkable persons, such as Edgar Allen Poe and H. L. Mencken, and showcases lots of historical venues, such as Betsy Ross' house and Fort McHenry. 

So, why isn't it shown on some maps?

The Southern New England maps show Mystic, Connecticut, Martha's Vineyard, Chilmark on the Cape, Providence, Rhode Island and even Fall River, Massachusetts.  Sometimes they even show Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Where is New Bedford?

The city was once the richest place in the world, thanks to whale oil.  Hettie Green lived here, where she became the richest woman in the world. (Called The Witch of Wall Street.) Lots of historical activity occurred here, including service as one of the terminals of the Underground Railroad.

An area of the downtown is designated as a National Park, showcasing reconstructed 19th century buildings and homes as well as the world-famous Whaling Museum, greatly outclassing the museum in Nantucket.  

Today the port contains the largest fishing fleet in the United States.  Its catch appears on the tables of all of the best restaurants just within hours of being caught.

So why isn't it shown on some maps?

Spoiler:  I've lived in Baltimore City and I was raised In New Bedford.  As you can tell I love both places.

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