What Would Jimmy Do?

The last time I updated this blog, I wrote about wondering about insignificant things. One thing I could have included in the “wonder why” update is why does milk come in square containers and (most) other liquids and drinks come in round containers. I had actually wondered about this some time ago and did some extensive research to come up with some plausible explanations. The generally accepted answer to this puzzlement is that because milk must be refrigerated, rectangular containers occupy less shelf space and the shelf space is more valuable when the space has to be cooled.

I’m pretty sure that’s not the reason — it makes sense, but using that logic, soda (and beer, etc.) containers should be made square to conserve space. I think the real reason is just plain physics. Any liquid that requires pressure for storage uses round containers because they withstand pressure much better than square ones. If you stored coke in a square can, the pressure would push out the sides and it would become “rounded.” If you look at a soda can, you’ll see it’s not just a perfect cylinder with a flat top and bottom — obviously a lot of engineering went into designing these cans, and it’s all about pressure. For environmental (and probably economic) reasons, the cans have become thinner and thinner and yet they still maintain the pressure without rupturing or bulging. If the top and bottom of the cylinder were completely flat they would be prone to bulging. That’s why soda cans taper a bit at the top and why the bottoms are built bulging inward.

But back to milk…. when I was young, I remember that milk came in round, glass bottles. We got ours at the store, but when Claire was growing up in Cleveland, milk was delivered — in round glass bottles — to their door every day by the milkman. We all know that milk must be refrigerated to keep it from spoiling or “going bad.” Before refrigerators, (some) people had ice boxes — they were exactly what they sound like — kind of an insulated “box” where ice was put — in big chunks, usually 25 or 50 pound “chunks.” Of course the ice, even in an insulated box didn’t last very long and had to be replenished ever day or so. Anyhow, that’s where a lot of people kept their milk before refrigeration. The bad news is that milk didn’t last very long. The good news is that milk was often delivered in those glass bottles every day, so you always had fresh milk — you just had to drink it real fast.

The milk carton was patented in 1915. GE produced the first refrigerators along about 1910. So people could keep their milk longer, but they preferred to keep them in those glass bottles — most didn’t think much of those new fangled cardboard containers — that were square.

When I was in China in 1972, milk was packaged in plastic bags (paint was packaged that way too, but that’s another blog.) They were just flimsy plastic bags. You had to cut the corner of the bag off to get the milk out and there was no way to “close” or re-seal it. If you weren’t going to drink the whole bag of milk, it seemed like an inefficient way to keep it. You just had to carefully balance the bag in the refrigerator so it wouldn’t turn over.

I forget the point of this whole thing — I suppose it might be that things around us are designed to be exactly how they are — maybe we should pay more attention.
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The other day I wondered out loud — well, actually I wrote it down in this blog, about why people would park their cars — worth thousands of dollars outside and use their garages as a place to keep (mostly) useless junk.

After I had published the blog, I wondered why I had wondered about such a foolish thing. There’s lots of important things to wonder about — even more important than wondering why people don’t take care of their cars. But it occurs to me that I wonder about a lot of insignificant things. We probably all do sometimes, but i”m beginning to wonder why I wonder about things that aren’t really important.

Before Christmas, we were in a Toys-R-Us store buying some toys for some kids at church that had recently lost their dad. While we were waiting for the clerk to find something in the back, I was wandering around looking at things and someone asked a store employee if they had a particular toy gun – specifically he asked for an AK-47. He was told that those types of toy guns are illegal (in Virginia) and the store could not carry them. I wondered why you can buy a real machine gun, but toy guns are illegal?

There was a blurb on the news the other night about someone having a medical issue and the ambulance taking so long to get to the house that the person had died. I got to wondering why would it take so long for an ambulance to respond? If the guy had ordered a pizza at the same time, it probably would have arrived and the guy could have eaten it while waiting for the ambulance. Why should you be able to get a pizza delivered to your house faster than you can get an ambulance?

One thing I’ve often wondered about is the placement of pharmacies in drugstores (and now department stores, food stores, etc.) The pharmacy is always in the back — so sick people have to walk all the way through the store to get their prescriptions and probably manage to infect lots of people in the store on the trip to the back. I’ve also noticed that tobacco products, including cigarettes, are almost always up front, near the door. I guess that’s so second hand smoke doesn’t kill the customers. I just wonder….

We had people over the other night and the discussion turned to politics — not something I particularly like to discuss. I got to wondering about the word politics and why it’s used to describe the process used in Washington. I figured I shouldn’t finish this entry without some extensive research, so I looked up the origin of the word politics. It makes sense — comes from the Latin — ‘poli’ or ‘poly’ meaning many and ‘ticks’ or tics’ meaning bloodsucking creatures or parasites. I wonder why that particular word was chosen?

Maybe I should just stop wondering….
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Just saw some e-mail traffic about people not parking their cars in their garages. Some people seem to think the neighborhood is beginning to resemble a used car lot. It’s always been a puzzlement to me why people leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put pretty much useless junk in the garage.

Well, I got to thinking, and my extensive research instinct kicked in. I found a study that concluded that in the United Kingdom, 53% of households have access to a garage, but only 24% use the garage for parking cars. In the US, it’s even worse — 82% of homes have two-car garages, or larger, but only 15% use them to park the car inside.

I’ll stay out of making any judgements, but we always park our cars in the garage. The real reason is practical. If the car sits out in the hot sun of summer, not only is the sun’s rays harmful to the paint, the inside temperature goes up to probably 140 degrees. So if the car is in the garage, it only takes the air conditioner seconds instead of minutes to cool the inside. The winter makes even more sense to me — cold mornings with the temperature near 20 and frost all over the car that must (at least should) be scraped before driving just doesn’t appeal to me. Our car warms up in just a few minutes and we don’t have any visibility problems because it’s in the garage.

So why do people not use their garages for parking cars? If I had to guess – at least in our neighborhood – when people move into a new home with a 1 or 2 car garage, they probably have good intentions. They figure they’ll just use the garage as extra storage space until they get fully moved in. Of course the problem is, it becomes easier and easier to keep adding to the “stuff” inside the garage every time they buy more stuff.

But c’mon — aside from the bikes and lawn mowers and tools (which most garages are large enough to accommodate — even with cars parked inside, if you don’t use something regularly, then it’s not worth keeping around anyway. And, once you decide that the garage is the best place for an item (that’s not normally kept in a garage) then you decide that the garage is actually the best place for the item.

Anyhow, if parkways are for driving and driveways are for parking, what are garages for?
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You old time faithful readers may remember about a year ago when I researched, and commented on, the word poop. Dave had used it in “The Puppy Files,” and I thought it was a funny word. I don’t know why, but I thought of it again a week or so ago when I used the word chintzy when we were watching some award show — think it may have been the Golden Globes or something like that. Anyhow, for some reason I used the word chintzy and thought it was a funny word — like poop, only different.

Well of course this all got me to thinking — there are lots of funny words. Some are strange funny, and some are just fun to say and some just make you laugh, sometimes when you don’t even know why.

Bamboozled is one of those words to me — I’ve always thought it was funny, and it’s often appropriate to use it in funny situations. Gobbledygook was a word that Ronald Reagan used often referring to Washington — it’s probably more appropriate to use it today. During World Was II, the British had a slogan, “keep calm and carry on.” History tells us that when that phrase was used, it was often accompanied by a plea not to let the noise and uproars all around get to you and the word they used to describe the chaos was “hullaballoo.” Another funny word.

I can think of a few funny words that I use from time to time — some, unfortunately, I rarely get to use, and that’s a shame. Here’s a few I think are funny — and I actually know what they mean.

Klutz, mollycoddle, boondoggle, piffle, quagmire, jabberwocky, brouhaha, cantankerous, and whippersnapper.

If you don’t fall into the anencephalous category, you probably already know what they mean, or can look them up. If you need help, let me know.

Now — I must vamoose.
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Usually around this time of year, I’m a little sad the football season is ending and there’s not really any more sports activity on TV that interests me and it’s too cold to get outside much. This year it’s same, not same. I’m sad because football season is ending but for the first time I can remember, I really have no interest in either team playing in the Super Bowl. I don’t particularly like either team. I don’t hate either team — it just doesn’t make any difference to me who wins. Most people seem to think I should be a Ravens fan, living so close to Baltimore, but there’s a lot of reasons that I kind of dislike the Ravens, starting with the Art Model fiasco of moving the team there from Cleveland. The 49ers just fall into the ho hum category.

Since the Redskins are usually out of the picture, I typically choose a team or two that I’d sort of like to see win. This year I would have been alright with Seattle or Atlanta — probably because neither has had a particularly good team over the years.

But this year, I’ll just plop down with a glass of wine and cheer for the best commercial. But just wait for this blog entry at this time next year….
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I read an article in a recent AARP publication recently that discussed calculating your true wealth. That got me to thinking about “wealth.” If you look up wealth in the dictionary, the definitions become fairly complex, but the bottom line is that wealth is defined as possession of material things, or a measure of how much you have.

There have been a number of studies done on wealthy people and not so wealthy people. The results are interesting, but like any study, can’t be used to categorize all “wealthy” people. One of the studies conclude that wealthy people are more likely to cut off other drivers, be disinterested in the welfare of others, cheat on a test to get ahead, and give more to charities.

Of course the study was based on the classic definition of wealth in materialistic terms. In reality, there are many definitions of wealth — it comes in many forms — emotional, spiritual, social, monetary, etc. So naturally you’re wondering what my opinion and definition of wealth is… I think if someone can conquer three areas in life, they would have to be considered wealthy: family, health and appreciation of nature.

When people are young, they spend their entire lives making money or enhancing their careers. They never have time for their families or to actually watch their kids grow up. We’ve probably all heard, or worse yet, said, “I can’t believe how fast you’re growing up.” That’s because we’re too busy to see it happening. Stop and think about the memories you have — they’re not about that new iPad, or that sexy car you drove when you were younger, they’re of your kids first steps, or really nice times you’ve had with your family or friends — emotional memories, not materialistic memories. Memories are wealth you still have, but some of those opportunities for other memories is just wealth that you wasted.

A lot of people spend their youth and most of their life running — not running for exercise and to keep fit, but just running — running after money, trying to become wealthy, not even knowing why they are running sometimes — just running, stress everywhere. Then when they get to the place where they can enjoy life, they’re in no position to do so because they forgot to look after the most important asset they have — their body. So if you’re healthy enough to do pretty much all the things you’d like, you’re wealthy. If you wind up frail and unable to fully enjoy activities because you squandered the chances to take care of yourself, that’s more wealth that you wasted.

You don’t have to have any money to appreciate nature and the universe all around us. The most beautiful things on earth are not man-made, but exist in the universe and are ours for free. When we went to Alaska and saw the glaciers, they were beyond anything I could imagine. That ice is millions of years old, and the sound of a piece breaking off and the reflection of the lights on the ice… certainly a wow factor. And things like this are all around us — and free.

I do realize that money and material things are necessary for our basic existence. We are oriented in such a way genetically that material pleasure gives us a feeling of wealth. Maybe we’re quibbling over terminology here — maybe we should distinguish between being rich and being wealthy.

Anyhow, those are my three areas — pick your own. The fact is, we are all wealthier than we can ever imagine. And sometimes you have to redefine “wealthy” before you will realize it.
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We’re having people over on Sunday. When Claire told me about it, it occurred to me it was January 20th — Inauguration Day. Then I realized it was Sunday and I remembered that they don’t hold the Inauguration on Sunday. But I got to thinking — the 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed the beginning of the term of a President from March 4 to January 20.

I think Obama’s first term as President expires at noon on January 20th. So if the Inauguration isn’t held until the 21st, is there a period of time that the country would be without a President? I knew the answer to that question, but I decided to check into it just to be sure.

It turns out that this will be only the seventh time in our nation’s history that the constitutionally-mandated date for the Inauguration has fallen on a Sunday. President Obama, like those before him, will be sworn in in a private ceremony on Sunday (January 20.)

My extensive research came up with some information that a lot of people may not be aware of… at noon on January 21st, President Obama will have been sworn in as President of the United States four times. He took the oath twice in 2009, after Chief Justice John Roberts botched the wording the first time. And this year he will be sworn in in a private ceremony on Sunday and in public on Martin Luther King Day. I believe the only other President to be sworn in four times was Franklin Roosevelt — because he was elected four times.

Aren’t you glad you’re a faithful reader of this blog?
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I read that Lance Armstrong has now completed his interview with Opra and has “confessed” that he used performance enhancing drugs. This is one of those incidents/stories that I really wanted to turn out differently. Unfortunately by now, the story has been “beat to death.” I think the general public just doesn’t care anymore,

Apparently, based on how many athletes get caught with drugs in their system every year, most all athletes are doing it and it probably forces many others into the practice to just try to stay even with the competition.

The bigger story here is all athletics and athletes — not just cycling or Lance Armstrong. Major League Baseball is a good example. In the middle of last season, baseball’s leading batter (Caberera – San Francisco) was suspended for 50 games because he had used banned substances. Caberea’s teammates expressed disappointment and disgust that a player would jeopardize a team’s chances by acting selfishly. Barry Bonds is another example.

I feel bad for the youthful sports fans — when I was growing up I had all sorts of sports heroes. Maybe they cheated, but I never ever would have believed they would — and — none were ever brought before congressional committees, or accused of cheating by others.

The fact is that we live in a society that rewards winners. And it seems to encourage people to do whatever it takes to win. It appears to me that the effectiveness of drug testing is questionable, and substance abuse is readily forgiven by most people. Some people will always look for ways to cheat. If that continues to be easily forgiven by the majority of people, I don’t know how to correct it.

As I said earlier, I really, really wanted the accusation against Lance Armstrong to be wrong. He just seemed to be the kind of person we needed as a hero — he overcame so much adversity and a lot of people could relate to him. Not many people can hit a baseball out of a major league park or tackle Adrian Peterson in the open field, but most do know how to ride a bicycle… Armstrong seemed like a regular guy that overcame some of the obstacles that life throws at all of us.

One reason Armstrong disappointed so many people is that he fostered deep emotions in his fans. Barry Bonds always came across as a kind of jerk — his myth tended to produce anger or disgust. Lance Armstrong broke hearts.

I noticed that the Baseball Writers Association of American voted nobody into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. Good for them!!!
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In one of his earlier comments, John asked about the tradition behind Boxing Day in Canada. Boxing day is a holiday celebrated not only in Canada, of course, but in many other countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland to name a few.

If you’ve ever looked at a calendar — even those from Hallmark — you’ve probably seen it listed and wondered about it. I’ve noticed it and wondered why anyone would annually list a holiday like Boxing Day and completely ignore some other major holidays (e.g., Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day.)

A few years ago I did some extensive research on its origin and the results were less than satisfying. It appears that no one is really sure why the day is called Boxing Day and aren’t even really sure why its a holiday or what they are “celebrating.”

When I first heard about it as a kid, I thought it had something to do with boxing, which was much more of a sport than it is now. I thought it was like the day of the championship boxing matches — kind of a boxing super bowl.

Although theories of why it’s called Boxing Day vary, most in some way tie it to St. Stephen — but that connection gets messy, too. There is more than one St. Stephen and there is really no proof that there is any connection between St. Stephen and Boxing Day.

One common thread seems to be that the day after Christmas, no matter what its called, has been, since the middle ages, the day when gifts of money were given to hired help, apprentices and others of the “poorer” classes. All the explanitions I found involve the giving of food, clothing or money to persons of lower financial status than the giver.

One theory I like is that St. Stephens Day/Boxing Day was traditionally when the poor boxes at the churches were opened and the money distributed to the poor. My extensive research revealed that early-day poor boxes were made of clay with only a slot in the top to insert money. So the only way to open the boxes was to break them. Of course that begs the question, why call it Boxing Day and not something like Smashing Day?

I mentioned earlier there being more than one St. Stephen — one is the one we usually refer to when we mention St. Stephens Day. I think he may have been Irish, but Im not sure. At any rate he was a martyr that was stoned to death in the days following the crucifixion. According to the Catholic Church, he was the first Martyr to the teachings of Christ. St. Stephen is also the name of the patron Saint of Hungary — St. Stephens Day is celebrated there in August, the day his holy relics were brought to the city of Buda. He was canonized by Pope Gregory VII, and is usually called St. Stephen of Hungary to differentiate him from the “other” St. Stephen.

So whether you choose to believe the day got its name from people giving “boxes” of goods to their servants or the lower class or the distribution of money from alms-boxes placed in churches, it’s still a strange name. Maybe because of the name, it lost its true meaning through the years. Seems like today, for those who observe it, Boxing Day is just a day to lounge around the house and spend time with the family, watch TV and recover from the excitement of the 25th. That’s probably why its not on my list of favorite holidays….
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Well, since the Mayan calendar proved to be wrong, I’ve been worrying all year about what to worry about. Seems like you should always have some sort of doomsday scenario tucked away just in case you feel the need to worry. If you’re worrying about the end, having to drink white wine instead of red doesn’t seem so significant.

Anyhow, just when I thought I might have to spend the entire year worrying about little things, I heard about a new asteroid (Apophis) that just may well hit the earth! And the really good news is that the collision won’t occur until April 13, 2029. Man, that’s a few years of having my worries taken care of.

Now NASA says that this big rock poses no real threat to the Earth, but what do they know? They’re just scientists — not experts in doomsday scenarios.

Just to be safe, I looked it up — and the current predictions indicate the asteroid will come within 19,400 miles of the earth. That’s closer than the satellites in geosynchronous orbit, like Direct TV and Dish. So if that doesn’t give you something to think (and worry) about, I don’t know what will.

So let’s all live it up and make the best of things — looks like we’ve only got until 2029…
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