What Would Jimmy Do?

Since our Grand-Twins (Rory and Ellie) were born, almost a year and a half ago I’ve thought it will be interesting to see how they develop. They’re identical — in looks — but of course they’re each their own little person. They do different things at different times. It’s fun to try to guess who will be “first” to do something… say their first word, walk, etc.
I’m sure there will be a fair amount of “competition” between the two throughout their lives. But this weekend, Ellie got ahead of Rory in the category of broken bones. So she’s one up in that category — or — maybe two up, since she broke two bones. But this is a marathon, not a sprint…. too early to call a winner yet.
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In the late 1960’s, we were working in Nicosia on the island of Cyprus for a week or so. We stayed in a very nice hotel — the staff seemed extremely nice and the service was excellent. After we’d been there a couple of days, we were joined by another employee of our company to help install some equipment. I’d picked him up at the airport and on the way to the hotel he made a couple of remarks about having to travel to all these third-world countries. Cyprus was by no means a third-world country in my mind and I didn’t think anything more about it.

The next morning we went to the dining room for breakfast and Ron (the new guy’s name) came in a few minutes after the rest of us. We had a carafe of coffee on the table and I poured him a cup… turned out his cup emptied the carafe. When he finished his coffee, he asked if I’d like another cup. I said I would and he called the waiter over.

(I’m going to interrupt the story here, for an informational message… the official languages of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish. English is very widely spoken everywhere by locals of all ages. This is probably because of previous British rule…) Now back to the story.

When the waiter came over, Ron pointed at his coffee cup and grunted, and grunted, and pointed and grunted. The waiter had a puzzled look on his face and looked at me and said, in perfect English, “what does he want? Another cup of coffee?”

I guess sometimes, the phrase “ugly American” really is appropriate….
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It seems like for just about the last year, it’s done nothing but rain around here — the ground is so saturated, that just a little bit of rain sends water across the road in low spots. But we’ve actually had a couple of dry days lately — and — not unexpectedly, weeds have grown like crazy. So today, I decided to pull some weeds… the ground was “bone dry!”

Now I think most of us know that when I say something is “bone dry” I mean that it’s very dry. I’ve heard, and used, that phrase just about all my life. Of course, I wondered where it came from, and like a lot of things, the fact is, that no really seems to know.

It’s pretty certain that bone dry came into being as a phrase when people came across the remains of a body — either animal or human having being left out in the sun. If you’ve ever run across animal bones out in the woods, you know they are very dry.

One theory about the phrase’s origin claims that bone-dry is actually a variant of ‘bone-dry,” the dry clay used to form porcelain. The Bible talks about dry bones in the Book of Ezekiel, describing  a vision the prophet has about standing in a valley full of dry human bones. Then the bones connect themselves into human figures and become covered with flesh and skin.

But I think bone dry is one of those phrases that we (or someone) makes up to express something or help a listener paint a picture in their mind. We use phrases like white as a ghost, black as night, bone chilling, or blood red to help listeners better understand out points.

So dry as a bone is just one of those things that a lot of people use and most people, even if they haven’t heard it before, almost readily know what it means….
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We celebrated Easter here in Shepherdstown this year — maybe the best one ever. Our entire family showed up… along with the Easter Bunny. It was “especially” special because it was the first time all our Grandkids were here at the same time…. already looking forward to the next get-together.
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When I was little, a lot of years I got a live bunny or maybe a baby chick or duck for Easter. I don’t remember the bunnies being any color except white, but the chicks and ducks were often some unnatural color like red or green or blue or …..

I don’t remember ever giving out kids live animals for Easter — artificially colored or otherwise. But apparently, even today, there is a demand for “dyed” baby chicks and bunnies. About half the states and a number of municipalities have laws against the practice. But recently in Florida, the legislature passed bill to overturn a 45-year-old ban on dyeing animals. It seems that a lobbyist for a dog groomer was instrumental in repealing the law. The dog groomer wanted to enter contests where people elaborately sculpture and color their pets.

The idea of giving small children live animals isn’t, and never was, a good idea. I’m not a member of any animal rights group, but common sense says it’s not a good idea. As for the coloring, I’ve heard that the color only lasts a few weeks, and it comes off as chicks shed three fluff and the feathers grow in. I’m not sure what happens to the bunnies….

So hopefully tomorrow kids will just get cavities, a sugar high and maybe raise their cholesterol and the chicks and bunnies will do whatever chicks and bunnies do…
Happy Easter to all.
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I think I’ve blogged about this in the past, but today is Good Friday. I’ve always wondered why it’s call Good Friday. This is the day when Christians commemorate Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. According to the Bible, all sorts of terrible things happened to Jesus on this day, ending in his death. It’s truly hard to imagine what’s good about it. Today is typically viewed as a solemn occasion — in many places its observed with somber processions and re-enactments. It’s a day of fasting. None of this would make me pick the name Good Friday.

From what I’ve read, good used to mean holy. Actually my extensive research turned up a number of theories about why Good Friday is called Good Friday. Most, or at least a lot, of these theories are based on the use of ancient words and their meaning at some point in time. Some indicate that Good Friday derives from God or God’s Friday. This really doesn’t make much sense to me, like a lot of the other “theories.”

The only explanation I found that set well with me is that Good Friday is called Good Friday because Christians believe there is, in fact, something very good about it. It is the anniversary of Jesus suffering and dying for our sins. It led to the Resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death and sin. So if you look at the name with that in mind, maybe it doesn’t make the day in and of itself good, but it kicked off a string of events that is very good. So maybe “Good Friday” doesn’t adequately, or accurately, describe the day — but for some reason over the years the name has stuck and no matter what it’s called, and as gruesome as it may have been, it’s important, and necessary if one is to have faith.
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I’ve mentioned several times lately that there seems to be a big increase in conspiracy theories and rumors — even about some pretty mundane things. Things that make you wonder why even bother to make something up about them because they are so insignificant.

My last entry talked about a “conspiracy” to convince people that we say “hello” when answering the phone because Alexander Graham Bell’s girlfriend was named Hello. How stupid is that? But — here’s one that’s maybe even more stupid. A rumor has been circulating that the “creator” of Pringles was cremated when he died and his ashes were put into cans of Pringles and sold to unknowing customers.

Needless to say, I’m petty sure that story/rumor isn’t true. Dr. Fredric Baur was employed as a chemist by Proctor & Gamble; he was assigned the task of finding a way to get around the problem of stale and broken chips in bags — he worked on finding an alternative “chip” and container. He came up with the “saddle” or Heyerbolic Paraboloid shape for the chips. However the chips he produced just didn’t taste very good and he was eventually assigned to a different project. Alexander Liepa was able to improve on the flavor of the chips and is generally considered the inventor of Pringles. Dr. Baur did invent the Pringles can for packaging the chips. The “chips” that the two came up with were originally called “Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips.” But Pringles are made using only about 42% potato based content — most of the rest being from wheat starch and various types of flour, including corn and rice. Because of their ingredients, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made them change the name because the product didn’t technically meet the definition of a potato chip.

But Fredric J. Baur was proud of his “invention” of the packaging system used for Pringles. He died in Cincinnati, just short of his 90th birthday. It turns out hat he had, in fact, requested his cremated remains be buried inside a Pringles can. Since not all of the ashes would fit in a Pringles can, most of his ashes were placed in a traditional urn. His kids actually decided to honor his request when they were on the way to the funeral home to collect his ashes. They stopped off at a Walgreens and purchased a can of Pringles and some of the ashes were placed in the Pringles container that was placed in the niche with the traditional urn. According to one of his children, there was some discussion at Walgreens as to what flavor Pringles to buy… of course the obvious decision was — “Original.”
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When I answer the phone, I usually say, “hello?” I think most people do. We really don’t think about it, it’s just instinctive… hello is just “what you say” when you answer the phone. Why is that? Well, it turns out that the guy that invented the telephone suggested answering the phone with — not hello — but “ahoy.”

Now this seems like a pretty benign subject…but just like about everything these days, the subject contains rumors and hoaxes. One answers the phone and says, “hello.” Why hello? Well, here’s the story making the rounds. Hello was used because hello was the name of Alexander Graham Bell’s girlfriend. Margaret Hello was the first person with whom Bell conversed on his newly invented phone. Sounds far-fetched, romantic, or maybe stupid, but I guess it would be nice to honor your girlfriend by using her name as a greeting. Of course there are a few issues with this story. One — do you usually call your girlfriend by their last name? Another problem with the story is that Bell didn’t have a girlfriend — he was already married when he invented the telephone. His wife’s name was Mabel Gardiner Hubbard (she took the name Mabel Bell after marriage.) And — she wouldn’t have been conversing on the phone with her husband, because she was deaf since childhood.

At the time Bell invented the telephone, the term hello was being used as a word to garner attention — such as, “Hello, what are you doing?” Or “Hello, who is there?” Hello wasn’t used as a greeting at all. People just didn’t use hello as a greeting — that would have been considered rude. They used the traditional Good Morning, Good Day, or Good Evening. When Bell used the phone, he preferred to use “Ahoy,” which is basically a nautical greeting.

Thomas Edison gets the credit for the use of hello when answering the phone. Edison offered and used “hello” as a standard greeting when using the telephone. He actually suggested the term because there was a need for a greeting that allowed a person to get the attention of the person on the other end of the line. At the time, telephones were an open line, which meant that phones were always connected, one just had to pick up the instrument and start talking.

Bell’s “hello” won out, over “ahoy,” as the accepted greeting when answering the phone. So today, we don’t have to” talk like a pirate” every time we pick up the phone… you can thank Thomas Edison for that.
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There’s been a lot of discussion here (on this blog) lately about Prohibition. It was certainly an interesting time in our nation’s history. When I was growing up, I’m pretty sure Prohibition would have been viewed as a good thing in the church I was raised in… Proponents of Prohibition stressed that the removal of alcoholic beverages from our society would, among other good things, reduce crime. Statistics say that just the opposite occurred. When the 18th Amendment banned the production, sale and transportation of alcohol, the Volstead Act gave the government the authority to enforce that ban. The Internal Revenue Department was charged with regulating the alcohol ban and they took their job very seriously. The commissioner of internal revenue from 1921 to 1929, David Blair, stated that every bootlegger should be stood up before a wall and shot to death. He encouraged people to anonymously report their law-breaking neighbors.

Many religions were probably ok with Prohibition, but some were not. Catholic Churches need wine. It’s written in the Code of Canon Law that uncorrupted grape wine be served during communion. Even though he was obviously very much opposed to the use of alcohol, in 1922 Blair removed the ban from sacramental wine, allowing priests to use wine in religious services. At the same time, doctors could also prescribe it with a special prescription pad. There were, of course, legitimate, medicinal purposes for whiskey. But doctors reportedly earned an estimated $40 million in 1928 by writing prescriptions for whiskey during Prohibition.

While the lifting of the ban on sacramental wine wasn’t intended to be a loophole, it turned out to be one (especially for California wineries.) It pretty much kept wineries making church wine in business during Prohibition. Getting a permit wasn’t easy — Commissioner Blair’s rules included a host of measures meant to keep sacramental wines in the hands of the church. Wineries had to obtain permits from the Prohibition director. A religious leader had to act as the proprietor of the winery when it came to production and distribution, and the same leader had to ensure that the wines were used for religious purposes — not general consumption. No wine was allowed to be consumed at the wineries.

But, as with any loophole, people manage to cram a lot through it. With houses of worship one of the only legal outlets for alcohol, production of holy wine skyrocketed. One estimate is that grape production in heavily Roman Catholic California increased by 700 percent during Prohibition. The increase came despite the fact that at the time, the laity was forbidden to partake of the wine. A lot of people wondered where all that sacramental wine was going if not into the rituals. Someone noted that having a friend in the clergy might lead to better parties, at the very least.

During Prohibition, churches became targets for thieves, or at least for people that just needed a glass of wine. There’s also pretty strong evidence that Prohibition turned a number of priests into bootleggers. There is a book regarding Prohibition written by Edward Behr that contains a story about Georges de Latour, a Catholic and good friend of the archbishop of San Francisco. The archbishop insisted that all the priests in his diocese buy their wine from Latour. Behr concluded that the amount of wine purchased from Latour was so great that is was clear that most of the priests must have been bootleggers as well.

There’s no question that Prohibition was a colorful time in our history and maybe contributed to at least a few violations of the “law of the land” by some clergy. Today, the sacramental wine market is less than a half of one percent of all wines sold in the United States. That number will probably continue to fall as the country becomes less religious.

A legitimate argument can be made that Catholic (and other) churches pretty much saved the wine industry during Prohibition. Thinking about all that wine purchased/consumed by the Catholic Church….. it’s amazing what can make a person get religion, isn’t it?
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If you’ve recovered from last night’s New Beer’s Eve, it’s time to celebrate Beer Day. To recap, National Beer Day is celebrated in the United States every year on April 7, marking the day that the Cullen-Harrison Act was enacted after having been signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. This led to the Eighteenth Amendment being repealed on December 5, 1933, with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 2017, National Beer Day was officially recognized in the Congressional Record by Congressman Dave Brat and also officially recognized by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. House Joint Resolution 90 was introduced in the Virginia general Assembly to officially recognize National Beer Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2018.

Although a lot of breweries went out of business during prohibition, the brewer of one beer that we usually have in our house — Yuengling, established in 1829, survived with a unique solution. During prohibition, the company sold near-beer products and opened a dairy across from their brewery. The dairy turned out quite well for the company — they produced ice cream for over 65 years, even after Prohibition was repealed.

The first ode to beer dates to abound 1800 BC — the Hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer, was found inscribed on a tablet.
Beer is the world’s most widely-consumed alcoholic beverage.
India Pale Ale is the most popular craft beer in America.
Craft beer has lots of silicon in it, which helps build and maintain strong bones.
George Washington, Barack Obama, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison all brewed their own craft beers at home — while in office.

So here’s to National Beer Day, especially to those who suffer from “Cenosillicaphobia,” the fear of an empty beer glass — grab a beer and toast to it never again being empty.
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