What Would Jimmy Do?

Any of you following “The Puppy Files” (Dave and Chassie’s blog about their new puppy) are aware that a couple of entries recently covered — in depth — the subject of poop, from way too much to not enough.

That got me to thinking — poop is, and always has been a funny word; it’s hard to say it without at least smiling. It’s always interesting to learn when, where and how a term originated. However, the first couple of dictionaries I checked didn’t even have an entry for poop.

Finally, through my extensive research, I determined that most dictionaries defined the word as a part of a ship. e.g., “the aftermost and highest deck of a ship, esp, in a sailing ship where it typically forms the roof of a cabin in the stern.” It’s origin was apparently from the Old French word pupe, that is a variant of Latin puppis, meaning stern. Well, I don’t think that was what Dave was referring to in his blog entries.

What Dave was referring to was well, you know… something else.

My persistence finally paid off and I found a reference in a book of word origins (Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by Eric Partridge) that indicated that “poop” comes from the Middle English word poupen or popen, and it originally meant “fart.” The word was based on the sound of a fart. The term came into use in America with its current meaning around 1900.

So if poop means well, you know… something else, then I wondered why does pooped mean very tired or exhausted, and not that well, you know… something else had happened? Once again my extensive research didn’t turn up much — it may be that it kind of sounds like the sound of an exhausted sigh, but it probably comes from the nautical reference I first ran across; to be pooped means to have waves breaking over the poop, or stern of the boat…

It occurs to me that all this research, while interesting, has wasted a lot of time for not a very good reason — poop is still a funny word, no matter where it comes from and unlike some people, I don’t consider fans of poop to be nincompoops.
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Well, here it is the middle of January already and I’m already behind on my goal of regular updates for this here blog. But as the old saying goes, better late than never – I suppose. 2012 is, of course, a very special year. As we all know, the world will end on December 21st of this year.

So — will it be the end of everything? No one really knows, but one thing is for sure – December 21st of this year is the day time as we know it will end. At least that’s what the Mayas believe. The Maya’s had a rather complicated method of keeping track of time, based on three separate calendars. One of these calendars, and probably the most important, holds the “Long Count,” the period from the beginning until the end of time. On December 21st, 2012. the Long Count expires. Time will be up for the Universe and it will be the end of days.

A lot of people believe that a lot of significant events over the years collate with the Mayan Calendar system, making the 2012 doomsday, arguably, the most scientific end of the world prediction ever.

Whether you believe or not, there’s some interesting things about 12/21/12. On that day, the Sun will move to a unique spot in the sky, and hold still for a while, since it is solstice day. The Sun will sit precisely on the crossing point between the Milky Way and the galactic equinox, forming a perfect alignment with the center of the galaxy. (There are a number of mathematical lines that we use to define coordinates in space: one is the axis of the Milky Way; another is the cosmological ecliptic, the axis along which the constellations travel.)

They Mayas knew a lot about stars and astronomy – they calculated the exact duration of a year to a thousandth of a second – much more precise than anyone did for many thousands of years. They were able to predict every solar and lunar eclipse until this day. They also knew where the galactic equinox and the exact center of the Milky Way crossed; they called this point “the Sacred Tree.”

If a Maya tells you the world will end in 2012, I wouldn’t just brush it off…

Since all the Mayas’ books and most everything else was burned when the Spanish ransacked the land in 16th century, we don’t have any insight into what the Mayas thought might happen when the calendar ends. So what will (or won’t) be on December 22 is pretty much an open question. Since the Mayas had a philosophy of the cosmos that saw the cosmos as the true mother of things and believed that the cosmos is all around us, and within us and that every plant, animal and every man is sheer cosmos, I personally like the theory that December 21st will be the day that the inner cosmos is reconnected to the divine outer cosmos. The Sun will mount its unique position to form a gateway between the Universe and the souls of every living creature on Earth. Our linear concept of time will crumble, and with it, fear and hatred will vanish. It will be purification at it’s very best, when everyone is soaked in cosmic understanding and divine love.

Some doomsayers foresee doom and destruction — December 21st will be the day the Earth is destroyed; some think it will be because of a nuclear war, some say it will be the biblical judgement day and others claim the Universe will just go zzzap! and be gone…

Will it or won’t it — maybe it all depends on your point of view. I read a quote once that said something like what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. Anyhow, keep you eyes and ears open, I’m sure you’ll hear about it in the media – I wonder how they’ll report it? However, I’m becoming a little more skeptical – Claire just bought tuna fish at COSTCO that’s good until 2015…
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As I mentioned earlier, Chris, our niece, was visiting over the weekend. She asked a very interesting question and I didn’t know the answer. I figure I owe it to her to satisfy her curiosity and provide her with accurate, well researched information.

The question was: why is the infantry called the infantry? Is it somehow related to babies?

As I said, I didn’t know the answer, but after my extensive research, here’s what I found out.

The word originated in Latin as ‘infans’ – but the modern derivation is from the Italian word fante, which signifies a follower. In warfare years ago, battles were chiefly fought by cavalry, or horsemen, but they were always followed by a certain number of squires or armed men on foot that marched in the rear, and assisted their leaders.

Infantry has become a common English term to apply to troops or soldiers that operate on foot. The infantry component of the army is the biggest, made up of the most people. Infantrymen are often thought to be like infants in that they don’t reply back or refute orders – they are well trained to not answer back at a superior.

An interesting related fact that I uncovered during my extensive research is that ants are the only other species besides humans to use army formations.

So the answer to the question as to whether the infantry is in someway related to infants is not really, but maybe a little bit because often other army units imply that infantry members have intelligence comparable to infants…
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It was an active weekend around here – Chris and John came in from Cleveland on Friday evening and we wined and dined them at the cafeteria at Shepherd University. It was the annual holiday meal at the university and they had quite the extensive menu – and of course live music…

Chris got to experience a number of culinary delights for the first time, such as pecan pie, funnel sticks and figgy pudding, which dates back to 16th century England.

On Saturday, Chris and Claire went to some kind of craft fair/show and later in the morning we all attended the annual Christmas Parade in Shepherdstown. In the afternoon, the big event was the Candy cane Walk here in Deerfield Village that included a visit from Santa.

On Saturday evening, Dave and Chassie came out and we attended the Antietam Memorial Illumination at the battlefield – a candle lit for each casualty in the one day battle – in excess of 23,000. We had almost a 3 hour wait to get into the battlefield and about an hour to drive through it, but everyone agreed it was probably worth it.

Dave and Chassie spent the night and headed out Sunday morning to pick up the newest member of the family – a new puppy.

All in all, a fun weekend!

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This past weekend was not only the first Sunday of Advent, it was also the introduction of the “new” Mass translation in the Catholic Church – at least the English-speaking Catholic Churches. I think this is the 3d edition of the Mass translated into English and its use is apparently mandatory. I suspect that most Catholics long ago memorized their lines – and even though I’m a relative newbie, I pretty much had mine down…

At my age, my memorization skills are not what they once were – if I’m any where near normal, plenty of people will probably be using the cheat cards in the pews for a long time to come.

Except for the homilies, priests don’t ever call an “audible” during Mass – the same lines are just repeated over and over. There’s a certain amount of comfort in that because no matter where you go to church, you know what to say and do and don’t have to learn a new routine based on the location or personnel involved.

But this weekend, what American English-speaking Catholics knew by heart, changed. Apparently the new language is a more faithful translation of the Latin. Actually, the changes aren’t that big a deal – the words are changed just enough to mess everyone up periodically. To me the changes fall more into the category of tinkering, rather than fixing something that was broken – it would seem the church should have more important things to do than tinker…

The one change that is especially annoying to me is the use of the word consubstantial instead of ‘of one being.’ I didn’t even know what the word meant – had to look it up. Every source that I checked, indicates that they mean the same – so why use the long word – it doesn’t make the meaning any clearer. Maybe it just sounds more like Latin.

Some people are indifferent to the change, some like it, some don’t. I guess I fall into the category of indifferent  There’s always a good number that don’t like change and are not bashful about voicing their displeasure; often times those people just have to voice an opinion because they want to say something and be heard. When a change like this, dictated from the top, comes along – if you don’t like what the church is doing, don’t go – or – find another church. Most people go to church because they have a strong faith in God and their religion.
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The last entry in this blog was titled, End of the Trail — and it was, for the original blog I started back in March of 2007. I decided it was time end it for a number of reasons, not the least of which was it was technically difficult to update and maintain. When it was started, I knew even less about blogging than I do now, if you can believe that.
At any rate, it just seemed a good time to call it quits, step back think about it and start anew using new technology.

Recently, all sorts of things seem to have gotten in the way of my keeping the journal, or blog, up to date. I’ve decided that now that the weather is providing less and less good golf days, it’s time to get back to making “blogging” one of my more active undertakings.
I think that now is a good time for a fresh start, so the old blog (“In My Own Write”) is ended and the second in (perhaps) a series begins with this entry. In keeping with a fresh start, the look of things have been changed, and will probably continue to change until I settle on something I like. The old title is retired; the new handle is WWJD, or “What Would Jimmy Do.” Since I never knew what the theme or purpose of my blog was, it’ll just stay the same. Since WWJD is still in the development stage, if you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them.

After four years and seven months and 267, give or take a couple, entries, it’s time to move on – it’ll still be a blog because I come closer to knowing what a blog is than a tweet or a woof, Facebook, MySpace, Skype, Bebo or any of those other things that people seem to use to publish every detail of their lives.  In response to the title of this first blog entry, WWJD – I believe I’ll start another blog!
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So – back on Saturday, March 31, 2007 I began an experiment; I decided to try my hand at “blogging.” At that time, I didn’t know what a blog was, and to right now, I’m still not sure. Originally I intended to use it to replace the “Family Web Site,” that I decided wasn’t worth the effort as only about two or three members of the family ever read it (about the same number that have periodically checked out this blog) and discuss family matters, but basically just document our activities here in West Virginia.

Somehow, it evolved into me just writing down whatever happened to be on my mind when I decided to make a new entry. Chris and John (and sometimes Mike) often times provided the subject of some of the entries by asking insightful, thought provoking, and often world changing questions. Both you faithful readers know that I always provided scientifically accurate, well researched answers to their queries.

Recently, all sorts of things seem to have gotten in the way of my keeping this journal, or blog, up to date. I’ve decided that now that the weather is providing less and less good golf days, it’s time to get back to making “blogging” one of my more active undertakings.

I think this is a good time for a fresh start, so this will be the last entry is this blog. I’m going to change the format a bit and it will be moved to a new location on the Internet. Realistically, with the holidays approaching, I probably won’t do too much until January – but if you’re curious, you can periodically check http://jimmy.ekota.net to see what’s happening – that’s the new address for “In My Own Write.” I’ll probably be playing around with it for the next month or so. If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them.

After four years and seven months and 267, give or take a couple, entries, it’s time to move on to the next phase – it’ll still be a blog because I come closer to knowing what a blog is than a tweet or a woof or Facebook or any of those other things that people seem to use to publish every detail of their lives. I appreciate the readership – many thanks to you both.
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Seems like I’m writing way too many of these lately.
Surviving the loss of a friend can be a difficult process – one of our closest friends, Marvin Smith passed away early this morning. None of our lives will ever the same without him.
Those of you that attended Kelly’s wedding will remember that the Smiths not only won the prize for being married the longest, but – had there been one – would easily have walked off with the prize for the best dancers.
There’s an old saying that nobody cares if you can dance well – just get up and dance. That probably sums up Marvin’s life pretty good. He had a couple of careers and still found time to have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood, he enjoyed going out for a good meal and finally figured out that a Martini is better if you just use vodka and don’t mess it up with all that other “stuff.” He enjoyed just going for a drive – exploring new things and places. He never mastered the slots, but Anne did, so Marvin rarely had to pay for dinner. He had a great philosophy for life — Marvin just danced!

I suspect that by now Marvin has got the greatest set of golf clubs and using them on the most beautiful fairway one could imagine – and – I bet he’s hitting them straight down the middle way more than 150 yards.
How lucky I was to have known such an unselfish person that lived by example and by the rules of integrity, hard work and treating people with respect.
I heard a quote once, and a usual didn’t write it down or remember who said it, but it went something like: To live in the hearts we leave behind, is not to die.
There always will be a place in our hearts for Marvin – may he rest in peace.
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This time of year is always kind of busy around our house. This year is no exception; Thursday was Cinco de Mayo, yesterday was our anniversary, today we’re attending a friend’s wedding, tomorrow is Mother’s Day and Monday is Kelly’s birthday.

This is a yearly occurrence and we can always remember this stretch of activities because the Kentucky Derby and the Virginia Gold Cup races always fall in this period of activity.
For those of you who don’t know the Gold Cup is a Steeplechase type race held in Virginia on the same day as the Kentucky Derby and rivals the derby in terms of splendor – all the ladies wear hats, people tailgate using real silver and china and are served by “butlers.”
Of course the Kentucky Derby gets the most publicity and like the Gold Cup, people who don’t follow horse racing go just for the festivities.

On this date the year I was born (1938) the 64th Kentucky Derby was run – the winning horse was Lawrin and was ridden by a pretty famous jockey, Eddie Arcaro.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby has a leg up, of course, on winning the Triple Crown. The two other races that comprise the Triple Crown are the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore and the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
There hasn’t been a Triple Crown Winner since 1978; in fact, there have been only 11 Triple Crown winners. The first was Sir Barton in 1919 and the last was Affirmed in 1978. The others are: Gallant Fox (1930); Omaha (1935); War Admiral (1937); Whirlaway (1941); Count Fleet (1943); Assault (1946); Citation (1948); Secretariat (1973); and Seattle Slew in 1977.
So whether you favor Mint Juleps or Margaritas – it’s always a busy time around here.
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So it comes down to Butler and UConn – March Madness is coming to an end – in April. I really don’t follow college basketball very much, but I love March Madness. The NCAA tournament is fun – I like the set up with the winner having to win every game to advance. Maybe part of my looking forward to it every year is because it’s a sure sign that spring is coming.
But this year I’ve been particularly annoyed by the announcers. Actually, I’ve found them to be downright irritating. Overzealous is an understatement – I keep hearing “BRYANT FOR THREE!” and “OH, YEAH!!” and of course, the “POW!” I’m not sure why sportscasters can’t understand that just because you YELL, it doesn’t make it more exciting…

Here’s some of the phrases that I heard over and over this year (I guess I’ve heard them just about every year, but for some reason they were more annoying this year.)
They can’t buy a basket! – if you weren’t watching a basketball game, you’d think what the heck? Haven’t you ever gone to JoAnn’s or didn’t you ever hear of Longaberger?
Shooting from Downtown! – I guess any three point shot from behind the line must come from “downtown.”
Yesssssssssss! – Seems like I heard this a lot this year; hardly ever Nooooooooo!
Share the Sugar! – I believe this means that the player(s) should share the ball… I guess sugar sounds better than ball.
He has a hot hand! – Again, if you heard this and weren’t watching the game, you might well think that someone had stolen a prosthetic body part.
Take it to the hole! – This apparently means that a player drives to the basket instead of settling for a jump shot or shooting from long distance. Sounds more like it should be applied to a sport like golf.
Anyhow, you get the idea. So Monday night, if the game turns out to be a blowout, you can pass the time counting how many times you hear these cliches – unless, of course, you just turn the sound down.
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