What Would Jimmy Do?

Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and is generally considered by most people to be one of the best. Our current President often compares himself to Lincoln and even he acknowledges that old Abe is the only President that even comes close to his greatness. I won’t argue that point, but Abraham Lincoln had a lot of qualities, and quirks, that makes him stand out among the leaders of our country.

In the past I’ve taken the occasion of his birthday to try to learn a little more about him. I may have mentioned this before, but Lincoln is the only president to have been issued a patent. In 1849, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 on a device that was designed to keep boats afloat when they passed over a sandbar or entered shallow water. 

Illinois may be know as the Land of Lincoln, but he was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, and moved with his family to southern Indiana in 1816. Lincoln didn’t migrate to Illinois until 1830. 

Before gun control became a hot topic, Lincoln — a hands-on commander-in-chief, was very interested in the artillery used by the Union troops during the Civil War. He often met with inventors demonstrating military prototypes at the White House. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lincoln personally test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the lawns around the White House — now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall. 

Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. As a young man, he was an accomplished wrestler, being defeated only once in approximately 300 matches. 

On April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service. That evening, he was shot at Ford’s Theatre. This may sound like bad timing, but the original mission of the Secret Service was to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. It wasn’t until 1901, after two other presidents had been killed, that the Secret Service was formally assigned to protect the President.

In 1876 a gang of Chicago counterfeiters attempted to steal Lincoln’s body from his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The plan was to hold the corpse for a ransom of $200,000 and obtain the release of the gang’s best counterfeiter from prison. Secret Service agents infiltrated the gang and disrupted the operation. 

When he occupied the White House, Lincoln used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office, to meet with Cabinet members and sign documents — including the Emancipation Proclamation. So Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom — at least not in a bed. Today, the room still contains a few pieces of office furniture along with a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln was the first president to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda… and just to wrap this up, Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, was a distant relative of Tom Hanks, making the president and the actor fourth cousins, four times removed.

We’re almost half-way through February — still celebrating all these great February events.
Happy Birthday Abe.
— 30 —

When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we used words and phrases that were unique to that area. Some of the words we used hadn’t ever been heard in other parts of the country. That’s true with any region of the country — they use terminology that just isn’t used anywhere else. 
I’ve lived in countries where neighboring communities didn’t even speak the same language, and if they did speak the “same” language, their terminology was so different they couldn’t communicate. 

A few days ago, someone mentioned cells. I immediately thought they were talking about their phones. Actually the conversation was about the coronavirus outbreak. That got me to thinking about how words have changed… it seems like you could use exactly the same words and the conversation using those words in 1970 would have a completely different meaning than a conversation using those words in 2020. 

Cell is a good example — when I was growing up, cell meant a tiny little part of your body, or in Oklahoma, it was a common term for a jail. But when I heard the word a few days ago, my brain said, cell… oh, that’s what you call your phone. 

Cloud is another one of those words — when I was a kid, we use to lay on the ground and imagine pictures in the sky by looking at the clouds. Clouds were those things in the sky made up of particles of condensed vapor suspended in the atmosphere. Today, cloud immediately brings to mind something associated with the Internet. It somehow allows online processing and storage of data when its not on your computer… I’m not sure anyone knows what and where it really is….

When I lived in Marysville, we lived on the corner and my friend lived down the block. A block was (usually) a square piece of land with houses on it and streets ran in front and back and down the sides of the block. Today we don’t live on a block. We used to find people by saying they lived in the 1200 block of such and such street, or something like that. That term isn’t used much anymore. I had building blocks when I was a kid… today, block most likely means preventing someone from contacting you on a social network, like Twitter or Facebook. Same thing with “friend.” Friend used to be someone you really liked, now it’s more likely to mean adding another name to a list of contacts on some social network.

We used to “hook up” a new stove or some other appliance when it was installed… today, “hook up” usually means to meet someone….

Anyhow, you get the point — you have to forgive us older people for being slow or a little out of touch sometimes… we not only had to learn the language, we keep having to re-learn it every few years.
— 30 —

The U.S. Capitol has been in the news a lot lately — or, maybe it was the U.S. Capital that’s been in the news. Which is it — with an “o” or an “a?” Actually, in this case, both.

I’m certainly not a grammar expert, but I think I know when to use capital or capitol… these words are a set of homophones — words that sound the same when spoken but have different meanings and different spellings. 

Capital (with an “a”) has many meanings. It is the seat of government for a state or country. Upper case letters are referred to as capitals. Capital means wealth or money, especially in the context of business. Capital can mean particular or significant, or it can mean “fabulous.” And then there are capital crimes and capital punishment. 

Capitol (with an “o”) refers to buildings — only buildings, like a state capitol building or the U.S. Capitol building. Only buildings — that’s it’s only use. I suppose that’s why it’s always been easy for me to remember. 

Seems pretty simple, but start taking notice of how the two words are used in the news and social media — sometimes it just seems like a random choice. Your grammar lesson for today — and, you’re welcome.
— 30 —

Today is National Chopstick Day. Another great day to celebrate in February. So today may not be a big deal for ¼ of the world’s population who use chopsticks as the eating utensils of choice for every meal, but for the rest of us, we should put away the forks and spoons for today and use chopsticks for all our meals. 

The improper use of chopsticks, just like any eating utensil is in poor taste and could possibly even be considered impolite or insulting. One should never insert chopsticks upright into your food — it’s an insult. It’s okay to stab a piece of food with a chopstick, but don’t point at people with them. And don’t suck or chew on the ends of your chopsticks. Also, it goes without saying, chopsticks are not drumsticks — don’t drum with them.

A Chinese word for chopsticks is kuaizi — which, roughly translated, means quick little bamboo fellow. The English word “chopstick” was apparently derived from the Chinese Pidgin English words “chop chop” — which means fast. Chopsticks are called hashi in Japan.

Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand, even by left-handed people, but today it’s acceptable to use either hand — even though traditionalists still consider left-handed chopstick use “improper.” If everyone uses chopstick in their right hand, it prevents a left-handed chopstick user from accidentally elbowing a right-handed user seated nearby. Of course, the same argument can be made when using a fork.

So happy National Chopstick Day!! However, I do wonder about the “national” part of the title. In this case, is the “national” referring to the U.S.? Seems like China and/or other Asian countries might be more appropriate…. but what the heck, it’s still an occasion to celebrate in February, and I’m going to take advantage of it.
— 30 —

Tonight the President will deliver the State of the Union address. A State of the Union address is required by the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3, Clause 1.
The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend for  their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

The presidential message mandated by the Constitution has gone through a few name changes over the years. It was formally known as the Annual Message from 1790 to 1946. It began to be informally called the “state of the union” message/address from 1942 to 1946. Since 1947 it has officially been known as the State of the Union Address.

In the 19th century, the annual message was both a lengthy administrative report on the various departments of the executive branch and a budget and economic message. Beginning around 1913, it became a platform for the President to rally support for his agenda.

As technology advanced, and radio, television, Internet, etc. became readily available to everyone, the State of the Union became a forum for the President to speak directly to the American people.

Among the longest State of the Union addresses were those given by President Jimmy Carter, 33,667 words in 1981 and President Bill Clinton, 9,190 words in 1995. The shortest was given by President George Washington, 1,089 words in 1790. The average length of the message in the 19th century was about 10,000 words… in the 20th century, about 5,000 words.

So tonight President Donald J. Trump will deliver the State of the Union address for 2020. Accepting the fact that it will be the “greatest ever given,” it’ll be nice if the “state of the union” we hear about tonight is somewhat close to the real “state of the union.”
— 30 —

Last night Super Bowl LIV was played. In case you went to a Super Bowl party, the final score was Chiefs 31 — 49ers 20. I post the score as a public service. 

I started my campaign last year when I proposed there should be no Super Bowl parties — at least not on Super Bowl Sunday. As stated clearly in my proposal for change, Super Bowl parties are all about the party — no one goes to a Super Bowl party to watch the Super Bowl. In case you don’t remember reading my blog last year around this time, here’s what I suggested.

Starting this year, there should be no Super Bowl parties. On Super Bowl Sunday, football fans should stay at home and watch the game. Non-fans should do whatever they do on a Sunday. Beginning this year (2020) instead of Super Bowl parties, there should only be Pro-Bowl parties, my reasoning being that nobody watches the Pro-Bowl and certainly no one cares who “wins.” So it’s the perfect time to have a party. Pro-Bowl parties will be just like Super Bowl parties — lots of food and drinks and the TV tuned to the Pro-Bowl, that no one will be watching, just like the Super Bowl. Except the game doesn’t matter anyhow — alleviating any possible guilty feeling during the party that maybe you should at least check on the game’s progress. 

But like a lot of my ideas, apparently not many people thought it was as good as I did… the Pro-Bowl passed and we didn’t get one invitation to a Pro-Bowl party. Even though I’m a little discouraged, I’m not giving up on my idea — maybe it was just too progressive for some people. I do hope it takes off though, because next year I want to stay home and watch the Browns and Redskins in Super Bowl LV.
— 30 —

Groundhog Day has been around since 1887, but its traditions go back much further than that. The original Groundhog Day has nothing to do with repeating the same day over and over, but the 1993 Bill Murray movie was such a success that the two are now inextricably linked. So as I try to write something new about Groundhog Day here every year, it becomes more and more like the movie — it seems like I’m just repeating the same thing over and over. But — because it’s Groundhog Day, here’s my annual Groundhog Day blog…..

While we’re on the subject of the movie, the term “Groundhog Day” has become a slang phrase that is widely used in the military. It means a mission with long and repetitive duties that has no end in sight. Soldiers in the Iraq War used it to denote the boredom of daily life in the field, as well as assignments that included endless iteration of the same duties, such as patrols, transport, or guarding dignitaries. 

But back to the real Groundhog Day…. which is based on the premise of predicting the weather. The modern Groundhog Day is a variation of weather lore practiced by ancient peoples for thousands of years. The current Groundhog Day ritual is based on a practice brought to America by German immigrants. Of course Groundhog Day activities aren’t based on, or even about, the cold hard truth. They’re about upholding an ancient tradition and celebrating the coming of spring. 

I’ve mentioned in previous years the (probable) relationship of Groundhog Day and the Christian holiday Candlemas, which was held on February 2 — 40 days after the traditional birth of Christ. (Rather than repeat even more of this Groundhog Day blog, you can check the previous Years blog entries for Feb 2)

Every year, we discuss Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog who can predict if winter will end quickly or linger for six more weeks. Phil is supposedly the same groundhog from year to year, all the way back to 1887. That’s because every seven years, he’s given a magic Elixir of Life — a magic brew that contains a variety of herbs and fruits, ice from Antarctica, and the urine of the Loch Ness Monster.

One Legend has it that during Prohibition, Phil was so upset at not getting any booze, that he threatened the people with a staggering 60 weeks of winter — unless he was allowed to have a drink.

Most groundhogs live in eastern and central United States, although some reside in Canada and even Alaska. They build pretty impressive underground burrows that include multiple “rooms” with different purposes, including a sleeping chamber, a nursery chamber and a waste chamber (a bathroom.) Their burrows can stretch anywhere from 8 to 66 feet long. They spend a good amount of time underground, but they also climb trees — an activity I see often here in Deerfield Village.

So as I indicated yesterday, I’m trying to make the best of February — here’s to the first big celebration of the month. Happy Groundhog Day.
— 30 —

I know you’ve heard this from me before, but here we are in February — my least favorite month. Every year I try to change my attitude about the month, but I haven’t made much progress. I suppose I could look at this second month of the year as a time for true new beginnings since by now a lot of people (not me) have already given up on their half-hearted New Year’s resolutions. I guess the month does have some redeeming qualities… celebration of love, a month to remember civil rights achievements, and February does have a couple of notable days dedicated to wine — the month contains both National Drink Wine Day and (the official) Open That Bottle Night. So, maybe its’s not all that bad. If we could just get rid of the cold weather and snow, it might be pretty good. And after all, it is two to three days shorter than every other month, and it does have its fair share of holidays and reasons to celebrate… we’ve got all these to look forward to — many of which I’ll probably be commenting about when they roll around. Groundhog Day, Lincoln’t Birthday and Valentine’s Day are all days to look forward to, but we’ve also got Susan B. Anthony’s Birthday, President’s Day and Mardi Gras — plus — this year we get an extra day — Leap Day on February 29.

February’s full moon, the Snow Moon, reaches peak fullness at 2:34 A.M. EST on Sunday February 9, 2020.
Even though there are many roses sold during February because of Valentine’s Day, the symbolic flowers of the month are the Violet and Primrose.
The violet signifies watchfulness, loyalty, and faithfulness. Give a violet to someone to let them know that you’ll always be there for them…
The primrose lets someone know that you can’t live without them…

So once again I’ll attempt to embrace February — I just realized that in addition to the two special wine celebration days, February 22 is National Margarita Day. Cheers to February!!!! 
— 30 —

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that President Trump had a thing against wind power and especially windmills. Here’s his quote on the subject: 

“If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little statue for the poor birds.”

I actually thought that even though he doesn’t seem to care much about, or show compassion about, people, that he really did have a soft-spot in his heart about birds. 

But then today, the news reported this :
“Interior Department officials said Thursday that they will propose regulations clarifying that individuals and industrial operators, such as oil, gas and wind companies, will not be penalized if they accidentally kill birds — even on a massive scale. … Since guidelines under the administration’s interpretation of the law were issued in April 2018, hundreds of ducks, geese, herons and migrating birds have perished in oil pits, on utility lines and in other operations without penalty, according to documents compiled by conservation groups.”

Maybe a lobbyist has a company that makes those little statues for the poor birds….
— 30 —

Haven’t heard too much about the wall being built along our southern border lately, but some news blew in last night. According to the news I read from a couple of sources, a section of the wall was taken down during “strong” winds. I put strong in quotes because these strong winds produced gusts of up to 37 miles an hour. Here in the West Virginia panhandle, we routinely get winds that gust to 37 miles an hour, or more. 37 mile an hour winds fall into the “Moderate gale” category of the Beaufort Scale. Supposedly, the sections footings hadn’t recently been poured and had not fully “cured.”

I suppose I could take this opportunity to make some smart-a** comments, like, I/m sure glad Humpty Dumpty wasn’t sitting on that wall or a big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew that wall down, or build it and it will fall, or some such stupid thing… but it occurs to me that the President once said, “I hate wind.” Now I’m beginning to see why. The subject of wind often comes up at Presidential rallies, so I did a little extensive research and found these actual quotes made by President Trump:

I know windmills very much.
If it doesn’t blow, you can forget about television for that night.
I’m not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills, which, frankly are not working all that well.
If you love birds, you’d never want to walk under a windmill, because it’s a very sad, sad sight. It’s like a cemetery. We put a little statue for the poor birds.
If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations. Your house just went down 75% in value.
They say the noise causes cancer.
I never understood wind.

So I think this latest incident clears up the President’s dislike for wind. I’m sure the wall section will be built back even stronger using the best quality materials, because I know no corners will be cut using our taxpayer money. 

Interestingly, on the same news page was story describing a large underground tunnel that had just bee found — it even had an elevator. The tunnel stretches from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego. I’m not sure if moats are a deterrent to tunnels, but I’m confident Washington will come up with a solution.
— 30 —