What Would Jimmy Do?

Seems like lately I wake up, go downstairs, turn on the TV and await whatever catastrophe or crisis has happened overnight or is pending. It’s kind of a bummer to start the day off this way. I could just turn the TV off and imagine that all is well in the world, but I figure that, realistically, before the day is over, someone will tell me it isn’t. So I thought I’d just try to change my attitude a bit. I did a little reading on the Internet and came across something that seems to have helped put things into a better perspective for me.

In 1857 an editorial appeared in the Boston Globe bemoaning the sad conditions of the nation. The editorial states, “Not in the lifetime of most men has there been so much grave and deep apprehension. Never has the future seemed so dismal.”
I suspect that many of the readers of that editorial agreed with it. Back in 1857, it was looking more and more like a Civil War was inevitable and the future did seem bleak and unpredictable. It is our natural tendency to focus on the negative aspects of situations and imagine them as only getting worse.

Each generation thinks that their times are the most difficult the world has ever seen. We characterize our yesterdays affectionally as “the good ole days.” Because the future often causes us to fear the worst, we seek consolation in the past. Imagine how many “good ole days” have taken place since 1857. Looking back, the nation survived the Civil War (and World War I, World War II, Vietnam, 9/11, and countless other catastrophic events.)
Once again, today we are in the midst of a number of situations seemingly without any apparent solution. But the future has a way of bringing pleasant surprises.

I saw a sign once that said, “These are the good old days.” Our tendency is to think that some other time or place was, or will be, better than today. All days can’t be good or great, but all days aren’t bad — most probably aren’t as bad as we think. There’s a song in the play Annie that goes something like, “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow… The sun will come out tomorrow.”
So no matter how dark and depressing things seem, we’ll get through them and the sun will come out…
— 30 —

Recently I mentioned a left-handed shovel. Of course there is no such thing as a left- or right-handed shovel. Some tools are built, or are configurable, to be used with either the left or right hand, but a lot like hammers and shovels are not. I think it’s always been popular, in construction jobs especially, to send the new guy off to get a left (or right) handed hammer or shovel or something like that. It’s all part of the initiation to the job. A lot of people don’t fall for it, but an amazing number do. Of course, the construction industry isn’t the only one that uses these kinds of practical jokes. There are certain initiation rites in just about all offices, workplaces and professions.

One place that I worked for a while was located next door to a teletype repair shop. In case you’re so young that you don’t know what a teletype is — it’s a machine that’s kind of like an automatic typewriter and was just about universally used in communications until the early 1970’s. Anyhow, these machines use a roll of paper to print out the messages. The rolls where packed 6 or 12 to a box and to keep the ends from getting crushed so they wouldn’t fit into the machines, there was a little round metal disk inserted on each side. When a new roll of paper was inserted, the littles disks were just tossed in the waste basket.
So almost anytime a “new guy” came into our shop, it wasn’t long before he was sent next door to get a couple of LRMDs. Of course when he showed up in the teletype shop, everyone rolled their eyes and depending on how busy they were (and possibly how gullible the new guy was) would give him a long story about how they had run out and send him on a wild goose chase, or have him look in the back room, or question him as to what size he needed or — well, you get the idea.
LRMDs were the Little Round Metal Disks that were always discarded with each new roll of paper… sometimes the victim figured it out, sometimes he finally just had to be told that he’d been “had.” I suppose most workplaces still operate pretty much the same way, but probably have much more sophisticated ways of initiation.

I guess we’ve all had times that we searched for LRMDs… it’s probably not important whether we found them or not, it’s important that we learned from the experience….
— 30 —

Labor not — for one day
just sit, breathe, and rejoice
drinking what you please
and enjoying what you may.
~ Terri Guillemets

Couldn’t have said it any better — Happy Labor Day!!
— 30 —

We attended a dinner party a couple of nights ago and I’ll spare you a long story about why right and left handed actions came up while pouring a glass of wine.
There was only one “leftie” in the group and during the conversation, he said that basically the only thing he did not do left-handed was shovel. Well of course that brought about all sorts of jokes about left-handed and right-handed shovels. But it turns out that he was serious and believed that people are either left- or right-handed shovelers.

I obviously had never given this much thought, but after he explained what he was talking about, it made sense to me. For the sake of discussion, let’s talk about shoveling snow. If you shovel with your right hand near the base of the snow shovel and your left in the D handle, does that make you a right handed shoveler or a left handed shoveler? My friend’s opinion is that if your right hand is at the bottom of the shovel, it makes you a right handed shoveler. If your left hand is at the bottom of the shovel, you are a left handed shoveler.

It turns out that I’m right-handed… I do pretty much everything with my right hand. But when I shovel, my left hand is near the base of the shovel and my right hand is on the D handle. So I guess that makes me a left-handed shoveler… who knew?

I was going to do some of my extensive research on this subject, but I decided I just might open up a can of worms — probably a lot of people would start worrying that they’d been shoveling all wrong over the years. Even though I didn’t get into the extensive research mode, I did give it some thought over a glass of wine. I decided that the reason I shovel the way I do is that your hand near the base of the shovel is just a pivot point — either hand will do. It doesn’t take a lot of extra strength there, it just acts as a pivot. The dominant hand (in my case, the right) wants to do the control. The hand in the D handle is doing the control of the shovel… like the angle of attack, etc. But — again — that’s just my theory. Of course it still doesn’t put to rest the question of whether l’m a left- or right-handed shoveler.

I knew shoveling was hard work, but I hadn’t realized it was so complicated… makes me even “more glad” I got a snow blower….
— 30 —

I just used my iPhone to scan a receipt so I could e-mail it to our homeowners’ association for reimbursement. That’s just one of almost countless things I do with my phone every day… phones are becoming pretty much constant companions and we use them constantly — and hardly ever to make phone calls.

I remember when I was a kid not having a phone (they were called ‘telephones’ back then.) It wasn’t that we were poor or lived out in the sticks somewhere, almost no one in the part of Oklahoma that I grew up in had a telephone — including the businesses.

I remember when we got our first phone/telephone. It was black and heavy. It didn’t have a dial, even though it was shaped like the old dial telephones — where the dial would have been was just a small circle with our phone number written in it… I’m pretty sure our phone number was 42, or maybe 47 — but it was only two digits. The phone didn’t have the fancy spiral cords that became popular later — it just had a long black (cloth covered) wire attaching the handset to the base. If you wanted to make a phone call, you just picked up the handset and an operator would answer with the phrase “number, please.” But the operator in Maysville always knew everyone and usually called you by name. If the phone rang, you waited to see if it was for you… you could tell by the number of long and short “rings.” I don’t know of anyone that had a private line — everyone had to share their line with someone else.

I remember getting a dial phone — it looked just like the old phone except the little circle in the middle was replaced by a dial. It was still black. When we got a dial phone our phone number changed to four (!!!!) digits. But the last two digits didn’t work and it didn’t matter if you used them when you dialed or not. Only the first two digits counted and they were the same two digits you had when you didn’t have to dial your phone. Of course everyone was all upset… now everyone had to remember people’s phone numbers (or look them up in something new that came along, called a phone book.) People just couldn’t believe it was now necessary to remember two numbers if you wanted to talk to someone on the telephone.

I remember leaving home after finishing high school and the phone in our house had progressed to a phone on the wall in the kitchen — still with a dial, but I think it was white, not black. And the four digits had acquired a letter prefix… I think ours was UN-xxxx. Of course you didn’t have to “dial” the UN, or even all four digits most of the time.

I remember my first “push button” phone — no more dials, just push a button and you didn’t hear all that interrupted dial tone that you did when using a dial phone — just a different tone for each button you hit. Some people were clever and learned to play simple tunes using the buttons on the phone.

I remember our first cordless phone. We were living in Vienna at the time and I bought a cordless phone at Radio Shack for Claire’s birthday. I don’t think Claire particularly wanted a cordless phone, but the one we had on the wall in the kitchen had a cord long enough to reach almost all over the house. Claire used to tour the house when she was on the phone — she’d just tuck the phone between her ear and shoulder somehow and that kept both hands free as she went about her business. I never did figure out how she did that…. Anyhow, the cord would often knock things off the cabinets or stove and fairly regularly strangle me if I happened to be at the kitchen table. So I figured the solution was a cordless phone. It worked pretty well, but suffered from interference some of the time, but here we were one of the pioneers moving into the future.

I remember our first portable or “cell” phone. It came in a bag and sat on the floor of Claire’s van between the drivers and passenger seat. It had a handset just like a home phone and it had a cord… just like a home phone. And it was black. But it worked well and we could make (and receive) calls when we were on the road or at one of the kids activities, like ball games. Since there weren’t many cell towers yet, there were a few “dead” spots, but again — here we were one of the pioneers charging into the future.

I remember my first true “cell” phone — Claire gave it to me for father’s day and when I called to activate it, the operator was almost excited as I was, so I’m pretty sure once again we were leading the charge into the future — at least in Vienna. The phone was a “flip” phone that was popular for a number of years. Phones got smaller, but the basic design stayed the same… just flip open the phone to expose the screen and keyboard.

I remember the first iPhone I got — it was an iPhone 4. Claire didn’t get one, she just upgraded her “flip” phone. Her first iPhone was a 4S… and I got one at the same time.

I still remember all my experiences with telephones over the years… I remember a lot of things, but I don’t remember how I ever got along without an iPhone….
— 30 —

A few days ago we experienced an eclipse of the Sun — total in some parts of the United States, supposedly about 83% totality here. It was supposed to be the event of the century and all sorts of weird things were supposed to happen… birds would stop flying, animals would act strange, the temperature would drop, and on and on.

We’ll, for me the great eclipse of 2017 was a bust. I admit I didn’t have the approved viewing glasses and I wasn’t as brave as the President to look at the Sun with no eye protection, but to me it was a non-event. The birds didn’t stop flying, the animals seemed as bored with the whole thing as I was, the temperature didn’t drop and at the peak of the eclipse we had more sun here that we do on a cloudy day. So if you saw it and were impressed, I’m happy for you… it just didn’t happen for me.

I suspect if I had been someplace where the eclipse was total, I’d have been impressed, but with all the media hype about everything that happens, it’s hard for any event to live up to expectations.
Apparently before everything was discussed on the news and the Internet, an event like this caused fear and panic. Before these things were explained by science, people just didn’t know what was happening. People attempted to explain eclipses the best way they could. Many people believed that gods and demons were involved and some blamed dragons. The Shan people (in what we now know as Vietnam) thought it was an evil spirit that took the form of a toad. But it seems like all the cultures shared the sentiment that somehow, there was a conflict between the celestial bodies.

Most of the stories about eclipses are folklore, but probably some are at least close to the truth and people really did act out of fear and lack of knowledge…
Chippewa people shot flaming arrows into the sky to try to rekindle the Sun. People in Peru did the same thing, but they were attempting to scare off a beast that wa attacking the Sun. In Transylvanian folklore, an eclipse stems from the angry Sun turning away and covering herself with darkness in response to men’s bad behavior.
In German mythology, the hot female Sun and the cold male Moon were married. The Sun ruled the day and the Moon ruled the night. Seeking companionship, the Moon was drawn to his bride and they came together — thus, a solar eclipse.

Solar eclipses seem to cause fear associated with pregnancy… many ancient people worried that an eclipse caused pregnancy issues such as blindness, cleft lips and birthmarks. Even today, many superstitions remain — pregnant women are sometimes warned to stay inside and not eat or carry sharp objects during the eclipse. Modern baby blogs ask if pregnant women should wear some sort of metal, such as a safety pin, to protect the baby. Baby superstitions may have originated with the Aztecs, who believed that a celestial beast was biting the Sun — and the same thing would happen to a baby if the pregnant mother watched.

The day of the eclipse I heard this on the radio: Thirty-eight years ago we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and the Sun. Today, we have no jobs, no hope and no sun. I actually know a couple of people than think like that. But ny favorite eclipse joke is about a boy that asked his dad if could tell him what an eclipse was. The dad’s response was, “No Sun.”

Another total solar eclipse will take place in the United States on April 8, 2024 and one of the places that will experience totality is Cleveland. Since I was so disappointed with 83% totality, I’m anxious to see if 100% will impress me. We’ve already got reservations.
— 30—

Since I seem to haven gotten on the topic of eating tools lately, I thought before putting the subject to rest, it would be only fair to mention the one we all probably use the most… the fork.

Today when we sit down at the table for a full meal, each place usually has a knife, fork and spoon — all used to prepare, or to shovel the food into our mouths. In the history of these utensils, apparently the knife came along first — of course some version a knife, which is is just some kind of sharp thing, and can be used for lots of other things besides eating. Next was probably the spoon… spoons somewhat mimic the shape of a a cupped hand, that was originally used to scoop up food.

But on to the fork, which is basically a stick with prongs on the end. It was originally used to grab and flip meat on the grill or cooking surface by the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, but wasn’t used for eating until somewhere around the 8th or 9th century.
My extensive research on forks revealed that in the 11th century, people, especially in the western world, viewed the fork with fear and hostility. This was probably due to the association with the Devil and his pitchfork. (The word fork comes from the Latin world “furcus” that means pitchfork.) The fork became popular in Europe when Catherine de Medici brought the device to Italy and France, where it became a trendy dining accessory.

The early forks usually had two big prongs and were relatively heavy and cumbersome. Owning one became a status symbol and people who owned them often carried them to meals with them, sometimes in a lavish carrying case. By about the 18th century, the fork had established itself as an accepted eating utensil and was used by most dinners alongside the spoon and knife.

At any rate, over the years the fork seems to have won out as the preferred eating utensil – I guess that’s progress, except in those places that don’t use forks. Those people probably have a different view… maybe they question if it is really progress if a cannibal uses a fork?
— 30 —

Since I got onto the subject of eating utensils (chopsticks) in my last blog, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the oldest eating utensil — the hands. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been many places in this world and experienced lots of things… and it seems like almost every culture has traditions centered around food. People eat different things, at different times, in different ways and use different “tools” to accomplish the process.
(I’m not referring to hamburgers, french fries, fried chicken or other “fast foods” that are typically eaten with the fingers in the United States… I’m referring to full meals — consumed in a dinner table environment)

I’ve been in a number places in various countries that primarily (or totally) consume their food using their hands.
The first time I experienced eating with my hands was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I ate at a small Indian restaurant — so small there wasn’t room to eat inside. I ordered curry and it was served to me on a banana leaf… that’s it — just a banana leaf — no eating utensils, napkins — or — directions. I looked around and other patrons were sitting on the curb outside with their banana leaves of food and eating with their fingers. So that’s what I did. I don’t think I was quite as neat as the other patrons, but I got plenty to eat.

Since that time, I’ve had a number of “opportunities” to eat with my hands. The first place I remember it being commonplace was in Africa, but I encountered the practice in more places and found it even more common in India. I’ve also noticed it seems to be fairly common in various countries in the Middle East.

Even though the thought of sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with no silverware may seem uncivilized, or even barbaric, I suppose it’s all what you get used to. In India, where I’ve practiced this style of eating more than any other place, the etiquette associated with the meal varies with the religion. Like all cultures, some things are acceptable, some are not. So if you happen to be in India and are invited to someone’s house for dinner, you should be aware that Indians always wash their hands thoroughly prior to dining and then eat with their hands without any cutlery. I was told once that this practice is historic and premised on the belief that eating is a sensual activity and touch is part of the experience… along with the aroma and taste of the food as well at its presentation. The fingers are also used to feel the temperature of the food. I learned — some years after I had eaten in Kuala Lumpur, that a Thali is a large plate made from a washed banana leaf, or several leaves stitched together and commonly used in India.  In rural settings, eating on floor mats is common… in city homes and restaurants, diners typically use a table and chairs.

Even though you’re eating with your hands, there are certain “rules” or an etiquette that you should follow, lest you be viewed as barbaric. Always wash your hands and when eating with your fingers, you should only use one hand — the other hand should remain clean and only be used to pass dishes or to drink.

So if your mother always told you, “don’t eat with your hands,” you can be pretty sure she was from some place like Ohio, not India, Africa or The Middle East.
— 30 —

We went out to dinner at the Kazu restaurant last Friday. I always eat with chopsticks when we go there… in fact if chopsticks are available, I usually use them no matter where I’m eating. After dinner, Anne and Winfried gave me a set of chopsticks — made from cherry wood. They don’t use chopsticks and almost always comment when Claire and myself use them.
So being completely fed up with the political, economic and racist news and nothing better to do, this is going to be my first chopstick blog…

I don’t remember the first time I used chopsticks, but l’m sure it was in a foreign country and more than fifty years ago. I don’t remember ever having a problem with them — that proved to be fortunate because when I spent a few months in China in the early 70s, knives and forks were hard to come by…..
Early chopsticks were used mainly for cooking — it wasn’t until about 400 A.D. that people began eating with them. About that time, a population boom in China sapped resources and forced everyone, including cooks, to develop cost-saving habits. Cooks began chopping food into smaller pieces that required less cooking fuel. As food became “bite-sized” knives became less useful, and chopsticks were just right for picking up the bites of food.
It appears that Confucius, a famous Chinese guy that you’ve probably heard of, had a lot of influence on things in China, including chopsticks. Confucius believed that knives were associated with acts of aggression and didn’t think they belonged at the dinner table. In the past I’ve blogged a lot about the Chinese New Year and various superstitions associated with it. One superstition is the use of knives during the Chinese New Year. The Chinese believe that the food needs to be prepared ahead of time and all knives put away. If a knife is used during the first day of the New Year, the good luck will be cut away for the following year.
When chopsticks became popular for eating, different cultures, especially in Asia, adopted them — usually with a different style… Chinese chopsticks usually feature a blunt, rather than a pointed end. In Japan, chopsticks were 8 inches long for men and 7 inches long for women. The Japanese invented (in 1878) the first disposable set — typically made of wood or bamboo. The wealthy could eat with ivory, coral, jade, brass or agate versions, but the most privileged used silver chopsticks.It was thought that the silver would corrode and turn black if it came into contact with poisoned food.

Eating with chopsticks lends itself to some types of food more than others — if you think about it, rice isn’t one of the first foods that pop into your head. But if you live in Asia, or have visited the area, the rice there is of the short or medium grain variety. This type of rice contains starches that when cooked, make the rice gummy and clumpy — not like the fluffy rice that most Americans eat… most rice here is a “long-grain” variety.

So why, if you’re not in China or other parts of the world, and don’t have a choice, would you eat with chopsticks? The best answer is — it’s fun… part of the experience. By the way, the fear of chopsticks is called consecotaleophobia. If you don’t use chopsticks and would like to try, I found some directions on how to do it that are simple… take one chopstick, hold between thumb and index finger of the right hand — then extend your right arm up over your head and calmly call out to the waitress, “Excuse me ma’am, could you please bring me a fork?”
I’ve heard it said that chopsticks are one of the reasons the Chinese never invented custard.

But there’s an old Chinese story involving chopsticks that makes a point that we could all take to heart — especially today. It goes like this…. A man is sent to Hell. He arrives in a room where everyone is sitting at a round table trying to eat with 3 foot chopsticks. No one is getting anything to eat, even though there is plenty of food and everyone is unhappy. The man is then sent to Heaven where he walks into an identical room, where everything is exactly the same but everyone is well fed and happy. How? Each one is feeding the other opposite to them. So whether you eat with chopstick or a fork, maybe sharing is a good thing.

— 30 —

A week or so ago we spent some time at Dave and Chassie’s new house to do a few “chores” while they were working. Dave came home first and we went with him to pick up Locke from pre-school. Locke seemed a little excited to see us and pretty much talked our ears off on the way home. During the day Claire had found a couple of his toys that had been packed away and he was super excited to see them when he got home.

After Dave and Chassie had calmed him down a bit and he had a chance to try out his new-found toys some, he decided that he wanted to watch TV — a show called Sam the Fireman, or something like that. (Apparently, he’s allowed to watch a little TV after pre-school assuming things a going well…)

Anyhow, Locke decided he’d had enough playing with the toys and was ready to watch some television. He got the remote and told Chassie that he wanted to watch “Sam.” Chassie said, “Grammy and Poppy are here, so let’s wait until they have to leave and then we can watch it.” With absolutely no hesitation, Locke said, “Bye Grammy, Bye Poppy!”

We took the hint and left — even the best Grammy and Poppy in the world can’t compete with Sam the Fireman….
— 30 —