What Would Jimmy Do?

America’s relationship with alcohol is interesting, to say the least. The United States banned the sale of alcohol for 13 years. That contributed to an entire industry of bootlegging — a term I learned early in life when I was growing up in Oklahoma, a state that was one of the last to lift fairly restrictive laws on liquor sales. But bootlegging in Oklahoma is the subject for another time on this blog. Back to the subject at hand….

Once upon a time, one couldn’t (legally) drink beer in the United States. The government ratified the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, banning all intoxicating liquors, including beer. And thus began a 13 year period in U.S. history known as Prohibition. But in 1933, the government saw the light and President Franklin Roosevelt ended Prohibition. The date was April 7, so now we celebrate New Beer’s Eve each year on April 6!

I think New Beer’s Eve should be an official Holliday — if you think about it, it symbolizes how the government used to work and how it should work today….  We didn’t always get it right, but when we didn’t, we sure knew how to fix it. Think about all those people that had to go 13 years without a drink and the leaders who realized that was no way to live, committed to fixing it, and did so. Isn’t that the way our government is supposed to work? Maybe it will again someday… there’s always hope. Cheers!
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We got a little newsletter the other day from “Bobbie the Nun” that contained some interesting short articles. The date of the publication was March 27, 2019 and one little blurb mentioned that today (March 27) is “Joe” Day.

We’ve all heard the term “average Joe.” Average Joe, Joe Schmo…he’s bland, vanilla, just average. He’s faceless, but not nameless — and it’s probably not “Joe.” Every country needs a way to talk about just “some guy.” Here’s some of the names listed in the newsletter that various countries use to call that typical guy that probably has no specific qualities….

In Germany he’s Otto Normalverbraucher (Otto “normal consumer” or “middlebrow”); Denmark calls him Morten Menigmand (Morton Everyman); In Australia, he’s Fred Nurk (sounds like a normal guy to me); Russia refers to him as Vasya Pupkin (sounds like a typical schmo); In Finland, the guy’s name is Matti Meikäläien (Meikäläien means “one of us”); In both the UK and New Zealand an average Joe is still Joe — Joe Bloggs (but Joe can also be a Fred in those countries); The Italians just pick a common name — Mario Rossi and the same goes for Latin America… they typically use Juan Pérez to talk about their typical guy.

Everywhere you go, there’s more of us “average Joes” than celebrities or royalty — and there’s nothing wrong with being average. I remember a couple of Presidential elections ago, “Joe the Plummer,” an average guy, played a role in national politics. So what’s in a name? Lots… but no matter the name, he’s still “one of us.”
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Even though, when reading the news, it may seem like every day is April Fools’ Day, today is the real deal. Although today, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for many centuries by different cultures, the exact origins remain a mystery. A popular theory is that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, that was called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.

I mentioned earlier that, especially in Washington, it seems like we’re living a perpetual April Fools’ Day. Sometimes the line between what’s a prank and what’s not isn’t always clear-cut. When Donald Trump announced he was running for president, it seemed like a prank… maybe it was, but the fact that he ended up winning — is it still a prank? I’ll leave that judgement up to you.

But in 1959 something almost similar happened in Brazil… students in Sãn Paulo, Brazil were tired of the city’s overflowing sewers and inflated prices, so they launched a campaign to elect a rhinoceros to the city council — and won. The rino’s name was Cacareco (Portuguese for “rubbish”) and was already a popular figure in Sãn Paulo when the students launched her campaign. The four year old rhino had moved to the city from Rio de Janeiro when Sãn Paulo’s zoo opened, and was scheduled to return to Rio soon. When the students looked at the 540 candidates vying for Sãn Paulo’s 45 city council seats and feared that none of them would address the city’s problems, they decided to make a point by asking people to vote for the popular rino instead. Cacareco won a city council seat with a whopping 100,00 votes — far more than any other candidate. Of course, she didn’t end up serving on the council because the election board disqualified her. But she remains one of the most famous protest votes in Brazilian history.

Maybe if a rhinoceros is on the ballot in 2020, the race might get a lot closer — or — maybe a runaway. Just remember, April Fools’ pranks used to be pretty easy to spot — today, not so much sometimes. That says a lot about our world… I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. But go play a prank on someone — it is April Fools’ Day….
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I was very excited to learn that today, March 31, is National Backup Day. I thought, what a great subject for my blog. When I think about cars, I think about the Model T, built by Henry Ford. We all know it was the first car made that was affordable to “average” people — not just the rich. But the first vehicle developed by Henry Ford wasn’t the Model T, it was the Ford Quadricycle. The Quadricycle was just a frame, powered by an engine that burned ethanol — four bicycle wheels were mounted on it. It was driven by a chain — the transmission had only two gears, first and second. It did NOT have a reverse gear. I think you can see where this story on National Backup Day is going… The success of the Quadricycle led to the founding of the Henry Ford Company and later the Ford Motor Company (in 1903.) But back to the Quadricycle and backing up.

The first 800 Quadricycles actually produced for sale could back up and were put in reverse with a lever. All units produced after that put the vehicle in reverse using a pedal between the clutch and brake pedals. The middle peddle was used to engage the reverse gear when the car was in neutral. After the Quadricycle, Ford went on to produce the famous Model T. Its transmission was a planetary gear type that was billed as “three speed,” but in today’s terms it would be considered a two-speed, because one of the three “speeds” was reverse.

You’re probably wondering what’s the fastest anyone has ever driven backwards… well, a few years ago, a stunt driver named Terry Grant drove a Nissan Leaf (really!) backwards over a course about three miles long and and averaged about 55 mph — in reverse. If you think that’s impressive, in Germany, Marco Hellgrewe drove a truck backwards for 39.7 miles in 5 hours and 21 minutes.

I know by now you’re as excited as I am about back up day, but after putting together all this fascinating data, I’ve been told that National Backup Day doesn’t have anything to do with going backwards — it’s a day that everyone is supposed to make a copy of all their data on their computers. To say I’m a little bummed would be an understatement. I think a day dedicated to backing up should be about…. backing up.
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We’ve had a lot of rain around here lately and it seems like our cars are always dirty, so we seem to spend a lot of time at the car wash. There’s a really nice full-service car wash not too far from our house and we go there often. I’ve wondered what it would be like to be “stuck” in one of those car wash tunnels… well, last week it happened. We were probably half way through the tunnel and everything just stopped. I thought of all sorts of things like what if it never starts again and no one finds us for weeks and weeks. This particular car wash has windows along the side so it really wasn’t super dark — if it had been really dark it might have been a little spooky.

Anyhow, it’s one of those experiences in life that our grandkids probably won’t care much about. I can’t imagine Locke saying, “hey, Poppi, tell me again about that time you were stuck in the car wash.” But if someone wants to play that stupid ‘never have I ever’ game with me, to “been stuck in a car wash” I can answer yes — or maybe no — I forget how it’s played…..
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When I was growing up, one of the things we always did in the spring, was fly kites. Maybe I’ve just missed it, but kite flying doesn’t seem as popular these days — at least not for the “average” kid.

I know they still have the Kite Festival on the National Mall every year (this year it’s Saturday, March 30) but I don’t see many local kids out flying kites. Living overseas in Asia, kites were a big deal, kids flew them all the time… in the streets, off balconies, in the parks — just about anywhere you found kids, there were kites. I used to like to build and fly kites, but neither Dave or Kelly ever showed much interest and I’m pretty sure that goes for our grandkids so far.

A kite is a heavier-than-air craft that depends on the wind to overcome gravity to fly. All kites have one or more surfaces to be acted upon by the wind, a bridle to hold the kite at an efficient angle into the wind and a flying line to keep the kite from blowing away.

In the history of flight, the kite might be number one — existing long before other types of “flying machines.” I couldn’t find any information about when the first kite was flown, but I’m pretty sure they originated in China. I found some information indicating that they were flown in China more than two thousand years ago. One legend suggests that when a Chinese farmer tied a string to his hat to keep it from blowing away in a strong wind, the first kite was born.

One of the earliest written accounts of kite flying was about 200 B.C when the Chinese General Han Hsin (of the Han Dynasty) flew a kite over the walls of a city he was attacking to measure how far his army would have to tunnel to reach past the defenses. Kite flying eventually was spread by traders from China to Korea, and across Asia to India. Each area developed a distinctive style of kite and cultural purpose for flying them.

Over the years, kites have served all sorts of useful purposes — Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Wilson used their knowledge of kite flying to learn more about the wind and weather. The Wright Brothers experimented with kites that contributed to the development of the airplane. During World War I, the British, French, Italian, and Russian armies all used kites for enemy observation and signaling. The US Weather Service flew kites to raise meteorological instruments and cameras. A guy by the name of George Pocock came up with one of the strangest uses of kite power. In 1822, he used a pair of kites to pull a carriage — at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour. Some of his kite trips were recorded at over 100 miles. Because road taxes at the time were based on the number of horses used to pull a carriage, he was exempted from any tolls.

Gas doesn’t seem to be getting any cheaper and the wind seems to blow continuously around here — maybe it’s time to hook a couple of kites to the front of my car….
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And here it is St. Patrick’s Day again — it’s also the closing ceremonies for Cinco de Marcho, that started on March 5. Check the blog entry for March 5th if you’re confused.

St Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of St. Patrick, is a religious and cultural celebration held on 17 March — the death date of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in the United States, but it’s not a “holiday.” In the Republic of Ireland, today is a national public holiday, and the banks are closed. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the American colonies was held in New York City in 1762.

I think I’ve mentioned before that when I was working, a guy in our office always went out to lunch for St. Patrick’s Day, leaving about 11:30. You could pretty much set your watch that the phone would ring at just about exactly 4:30. The voice on the other end always said, “ I won’t be back today, I’ve been kidnapped by leprechauns.” Lots of people celebrate the day by tipping a few — green beer used to be very popular, but not so much anymore. Nonetheless, there’s lots of Irish drinking jokes and poems, like: I went out drinking on St. Patrick’s Day, so I took a bus home…that may not be a big deal to you, but I’ve never driven a bus before.” And one of my favorite Irish poems is:
There are many good reasons for drinking,
One has just entered my head,
If a man doesn’t drink when he’s living,
How the heck can he drink when he’s dead?
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone!
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Beware the Ides of March. You can check this blog’s entry of March 15, 2017 for more information on Kalends, Nones and Ides. But why should you “beware the Ides of March?” Well, if you’ve never read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there’s really no reason to fear the Ides. Back in Shakespeare’s day, the months of January and February didn’t exist — they were just referred to as “winter.” So March was the first month of the year. Using the Roman calendar, the midpoint of every month was known as the Ides. The Ides of March fell on March 15, that correlated with the first full moon of the year (winter didn’t count.)

Supposedly, in 44 BC, a seer told Julius Caesar that his downfall would come no later than the Ides of March. Caesar ignored him, and attended a senate meeting at the Theatre of Pompey, and was murdered — by as many as 60 conspirators.

So all the drama about the Ides of March is attributable to Caesar — before he got himself killed, the Ides of March was just a date. Ides isn’t anything — just a name given to a single day that falls in the middle of the month, and March isn’t alone… every month has its ides. The ides only got a sinister reputation after Shakespeare used the word in his play. But for some reason, this day has gained notoriety for being a day on which bad things happen — like the abdication of his throne by Czar Nicholas II in 1917 and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. When I was younger, March 15 was also tax day. But on the bright side, it was seen as the first day of spring on the Roman calendar. Spring is good enough reason to celebrate for me… beware if you must, but I think I’ll celebrate.
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This day every year is Pi Day and a lot of years it doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves on this blog. But today, let’s talk about and celebrate Pi which is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and equals 3.14…. In 2015, this date (3-14-15) was the only day this century that match pi, commonly approximated as 3.1415. Supercomputers have now worked pi out to over 13 trillion places — and still there no patterns or repetitions.

In 1897, Indiana state legislators tried passing a Pi Bill that legally defined pi as 3.2. Edward J. Goodwin, a physician, convinced a well-known mathematical monthly newspaper that he had solved what mathematicians had tried to do for generations: squaring the circle. Squaring the circle is the impossible task of finding the area of a circle by finding the area of a square around it. Goodwin claimed that pi was 3.2 instead of a continuous number. The bill never became a law thanks to Professor C.A. Waldo who convinced the Indiana Senate that Goodwin’s discovery was not possible.

You faithful readers may remember that a couple of years ago, I challenged a popular belief that during the spring equinox brooms will stand by themselves — straight up. My extensive research and experiments proved the concept to be no more than an old wives tale — check the March blog entries from a couple of years ago if you don’t believe me.  Well, now I’m about to take on another challenge concerning pi. I have read and heard, that you can prove pi exists with matches, toothpicks, a pen, or anything else that is the same length. Here’s the way it works: You find a floor with parallel lines; you find matches, pins, pens, or any item exactly the same length. If you drop a hundred of them at random on the floor, the points touching a line will equal pi. The matches (or whatever you’re using) must be equal to the distance of the two parallel lines. After the matches are dropped, you multiply the number of matches thrown down by two and divide it by the total number of matches (or whatever) that touched a line, which will equal pi. I intend to duplicate that experiment and determine for myself if it’s really true. Hopefully it is and I won’t have to go through the disappointment I suffered with the broom experiment. I’ll probably report my findings here, so stay tuned — but instead of matches, I intend to use Eskimo Pie sticks (I thought that would be appropriate for a pi experiment.) So I now must eat 100 Eskimo Pies before I can begin my study. I figure after 100 Eskimo Pies, I won’t really get upset no matter what the results. Just another example of my contribution to science.
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In just a few hours, Daylight Saving Time is back — I like DST with the longer days, just seems like I get more done.Most everyone knows that daylight saving was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, but not everyone knows that he proposed it as a joke. Franklin wrote a satirical letter, in 1784, to the editor of the Journal of Paris outlining how many pounds of candle wax the city would save (64,050,000 pounds, according to his calculations) if its clocks were better aligned with the rising and setting of the sun.

It was more than a century after Ben’s letter that a British builder named William Willet became a champion of daylight saving, and lobbied Parliament to adjust the time in April and September in order to take full advantage of the day’s light. Germany and several other European countries had already mandated DST as a way of reducing energy and saving coal for the war effort. Recently, several studies have questioned this line of thinking and there is some data indicating that DST probably doesn’t really save that much energy.

After World War II, the US repealed the national law requiring states to institute daylight saving. Some towns decided to stick with it — some didn’t. This ultimately led to chaos. One 35-mile bus ride from Mounsville, West Virginia to Steubenville, Ohio, took its riders through seven different time changes. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act standardized DST, but the federal government has no law requiring states to observe DST — Hawaii and Arizona have chosen not to implement the time change.

I’ve often wondered why daylight saving time didn’t occur at midnight — that certainly seems more logical than waiting two more hours until two in the morning. Apparently there’s no really good explanation, at least not to me. The two in the morning time appears to have been chosen because most people aren’t awake to notice it — most workers with early shifts will still be in bed and most bars and restaurants will already be closed.

We have twin granddaughters and it never occurred to me until recently that if they had been born around the time of the clock change it might complicate things, especially discussions as to who came first…. If one twin is born right before the hour of 2 a.m., then the second twin is born after the clocks roll back — which one is older. I’m sure this has happened more than once, but my extensive research found an instance when twin brothers were born in Massachusetts on November 6, 2016, right at the weirdest possible time. Samuel was born first, at 1:39 a.m.;  his brother Ronan arrived about 30 minutes later, at what should have 2:10 a.m. But because of DST, it was only 1:10 a.m. — paperwork-wise, that made Ronan appear to be “older.” I imagine this contributed a bit to their sibling rivalry. Anyhow, it’s good to have the longer days back — long live DST.
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