What Would Jimmy Do?

Scientist have discovered and know a lot about matter. The dictionary defines matter as a physical substance in general, as distinct from mind and spirit; (in physics) that which occupies space and possesses rest mass, especially as distinct from energy.
Anyhow, the news article that brought this to mind indicated that scientists are on the verge of discovering an entirely new type of matter. They’ve already come up with dense matter, dark matter and even found anti-matter, but I guess there’s always more matter to be found. 

But all this got me to thinking… all of us non-scientists would be hard pressed to get along without the word matter. As a matter of fact, it’s the subject matter of this blog. No matter how you slice it, the fact that we use the word matter so much is no laughing matter.
We all have to deal with family matters and the way we do that sometimes only makes matters worse. While it’s not a matter of life or death, it’s only a matter of time that we must come to an agreement on how to handle waste matter. 
The crux of the matter is that no matter what, we use matter a lot.
Whether or not you like this blog is a matter of opinion — and if you don’t, it doesn’t matter.
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Today, December 15, is Bill of Rights Day. The Bill of Rights Day didn’t exist until Franklin D. roosevelt’s presidency — President Roosevelt made it a national holiday in 1941 — one the document’s 150th anniversary.

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These ten amendments were adopted in 1791 in order to protect individual rights and limit the federal government’s power. The Bill of Rights is made up of amendments that guarantee fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to carry arms, the right to a fair and quick trial, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and protection from harsh and unusual punishment. 

At the time the Constitution was being written, many Americans were concerned about the new federal government’s potential abuse of power. The modifications, or amendments, to the Constitution were intended to protect individual liberty while also preventing the government from exceeding its authority. The original intent of the Bill of Rights was to limit the federal government’s powers and preserve individual liberty from federal overreach — it did not, however, apply to state governments. Of course, this meant that state governments could violate individual rights in ways that the federal government couldn’t. 

The Bill of Rights wasn’t applied to the individual states until the twentieth century — and — that only happened because of a series of Supreme Court decisions. The process of applying the Bill of Rights to the states is known as “incorporation.” It began in 1925 with the case of Gitlow v. New York, that extended the First Amendment’s free speech and press protections to the states.  Following that judgement, the Supreme Court gradually incorporated other Bill of Rights provisions. Throughout the twentieth century, the Bill of Rights became an increasingly essential aspect of American philosophy of law. 

The Bill of Rights also didn’t apply to all Americans when it was first enacted. Certain groups of people, like slaves and Native Americans, were not covered. Even after incorporation, certain groups of individuals continued to be denied full protection under the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights is one of the most important and enduring documents in American history and the original document is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
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On today, December 14, in 1807, residents from Vermont to Connecticut looked up at the sky and saw a red fireball. The fireball was described as being about two-thirds the size of a full Moon. The fireball broke apart and fell to Earth in at least six areas of Weston (that is now Easton,) Trumbull, and Fairfield, Connecticut.According to news reports, whizzing sounds were heard close to the impact sites, and three sonic booms were heard as far as 40 miles away. 

A few days after the event, Yale professors Benjamin Silliman and James Kingsley traveled to the area to talk to witnesses, examine impact sites and collect specimens — including some from enterprising townsfolk who were selling them as souvenirs. Stiliman confirmed that the object was a meteorite — the first recorded in the New World. At the time, meteorites were a concept slowly being accepted in Europe, but their study was still a relatively new science. The Stilliman and Kingsley findings were published in the Connecticut Herald and rapidly spread to other newspapers. The professors findings were discussed by notable scientific organizations in Philadelphia, London and Paris. But there were still lots of skeptics about the idea of meteorites — including, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was said to have remarked, “It is easier to believe that two Yankee professors could lie than to admit that stones could fall from heaven.”
But nonetheless, Sillimans and Kingsley’s meteorite fragments collected in Weston were the first cataloged items in the Yale meteorite collection, which is the oldest in the United States.
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Today is St. Lucia (also called Lucy) Day — she was a fourth-century martyr. Her name is derived from the Latin lux, meaning “light.” Before the Gregorian calendar reform (in 1582, and adopted in Great Britain and the American colonies in 1752) her feast day occurred on the shortest day of the year. There is an old saying, “Lucy light, Lucy light, the shortest day and longest night.” As you might guess, St Lucia is associated with festivals of light. 

St Lucia’s Day is celebrated mostly in Scandinavian countries, but it’s also very popular in Italy.
In Scandinavia, each country each town elects its own St. Lucia. The festival begins with a procession led by the St. Lucia designee, who is followed by young girls dressed in white and wearing lighted wreaths on their heads and boys dressed in white pajama-like costumes singing traditional songs.

Centuries ago, the Scandinavian countries celebrated the winter solstice with large bonfires — to scare off evil spirits and alter the course of the Sun. Later, after converting to Christianity, they incorporated the legend of St. Lucia into their celebration that has resulted in the modern festival of light celebrations of today.
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I read an article yesterday that stated that LEGO had failed in an attempt to make their product more environmentally friendly. LEGOs have always made their “bricks” out of plastic — it’s not a recent thing, that they turned to plastic after being made of wood or metal, or some other substance. They started out being made of plastic and they still are today. 

LEGOs are made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, better known as ABS. The problem with that is that ABS doesn’t biodegrade and it’s not easily recycled. So, as you might imagine, concern about climate change and pollution have made this material increasingly taboo. Responding to this concern, the LEGO Company is in a rush to find alternatives. 

Two years ago, Lego announced it had made impressive progress in developing a suitable robust material made from recycled plastic bottles. This material is known as recycled polyethylene terephthalate or rPET. The LEGO company CEO called for companies and policymakers to stand together globally for a just and green transition to a net-zero future. 

However, the article explained that LEGO’s project to transition away from ABS to rPET had failed. The company determined that the new equipment and process needed to be used for rPET manufacturing, would have a heavier carbon footprint than if they stuck with ABS.

The article went on to explain that LEGOs don’t provide as much of a threat to the environment as some products because LEGOs are generally not thrown out — they are kept for many years and often passed along to the owners children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 
I guess there may be some truth to that — we still have legos that out kids had…. hopefully our grandkids will take them and pass them along.
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I watched an interesting segment on 60 Minutes last Sunday about quantum computing. The program was fascinating and frankly a little disturbing. When these computers come along with their magic large number factoring capabilities, I’m going to be even more lost in the world of technology than I am now. 
Maybe its just me being my curmudgeon self, but I think there are a lot of things with our current computing systems that should be fixed before we take that quantum leap.

One of the most frustrating things about using a computer today, or even my phone, is passwords. It seems like every time I need to access a particular site, I have to put in my user ID and password. It doesn’t matter if I’ve asked my computer to save it or not and, apparently, if I’ve used the same password more then two or three times, it’s no good anymore and I have to come up with a new one. If our kids, or grandkids come to our house and use their phones/computers, all our devices inform me that out network has been accessed by someone new and we have to log in all over again….

The first computer I ever owned was a TRS-80, made by Radio Shack — a few years later, I got an Apple IIC. We used those computers for years — and — when you wanted to use them, you turned on the power switch, waited a few minutes for them to “boot,” and…. and there wasn’t anything else,  that was it. You just started using the computer — it didn’t ask you do do anything, or provide it any information before it was ready to serve you. In fact, until just the last several years, that’s the way most computers worked. But today, we have passwords for our phones, iPads, computers, Internet, local area network, some functions in our cars, lots and lots of company sites, banks, TVs, TV channels and even some of our appliances… the list just goes on and on.

I understand the need for privacy and security in this day and age, but it sure seems like the keen technical brains that are working on things like quantum computing, could take a few minutes and figure out how to make us average Joe’s lives simpler by coming up with a scheme to make our electronic gadgets user friendly again.
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“A day that will live in infamy,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his speech responding to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Every year, on December 7, Pearl Harbor Survivors, veterans, and visitors from all over the world come together to honor and remember the 2,043 service members and civilians killed during the Japanese attack. 
The attack on Pearl Harbor created a wave of patriotism and outrage. Less than a year after Pearl Harbor, 50 million of the 132 million Americans were employed in the war effort working for the government. 

Something that isn’t well-known is that on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Wickes-class destroyer USS Ward attacked and sank a Ko-hyoteki class midget submarine near the entrance to the harbor, making it not only the first shot fired on that day, but the first official American shots in the War.

The Pearl Harbor attack began at 7:55 am (Hawaii time) on Sunday morning. Japanese aircraft were launched from the Japanese fleet north of Hawaii that consisted of 67 ships —6 heavy aircraft carriers, two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two battleships and 11 destroyers. They deployed 353 aircraft — 40 torpedo planes, 103 level bombers, 131 dive-bombers and 79 fighter aircraft.

The US declared war on Japan on December 8th. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States.
Most ships on “Battleship Row” in Pearl Harbor returned to service after the attack, but the Arizona and Oklahoma were damaged beyond repair by bombs or torpedo hits. Of the 2,026 American sailors and marines killed in the attack, 1,606 had been aboard those two ships.

The survivors that served on the USS Arizona have the option to join their lost comrades and make the ship their final resting place. Crew members who served on board the USS Arizona during the attack may choose to have their ashes deposited by divers beneath one of the sunken Arizona’s gun turrets. 

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor a second time on March 4th, 1942 — in what they called Operation K. They used two 4 engine naval flying boats, nicknamed “Emily” by the allies. They could carry one ton of bombs and had a crew of 10. Also known as the flying porcupine, the planes had five 20mm cannons and four machine guns in turrets and blisters.
However, on March 4th, radar saw them coming, and just after midnight, air defense dispatched fighters to patrol Pearl Harbor. Because they were unable to see the target due to cloudy weather, one aircraft dropped bombs on a remote hillside and the other dropped its bombs into the ocean.

So today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — a day we should truly “never forget.”
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I’ve mentioned before that I never knew about St Nicholas Day when I was little — I only learned about it when I was much older. Claire, on the other hand, always knew about St. Nicholas and it was always celebrated in her house. 
We observed St. Nicholas Day with out kids, but I’m not sure they really got into it like some people.
But anyhow — today, December 6, is St. Nicholas Day.

Most people know that St. Nicholas was a friendly man who brought joy to the children in his hometown with gifts — but — like most things, there’s much more to the story than that….

The Dutch are responsible for the change from St. Nicholas to Santa Claus. The Dutch brought traditions of “Sinterklaas” (that’s what the Dutch called St. Nicholas) with them to North American and founded New Amsterdam, in 1621. Shortly afterwards, English settlers made the name sound more like what we’re used to hearing today — Santa Claus.

But back to St. Nicholas — his path to sainthood wasn’t easy. He was tortured and imprisoned for his faith until the first Christian emperor gave religious liberty to Christians everywhere. St. Nicholas was made a Bishop of Myra when he was only 30 years old — that earned him the moniker “boy bishop.”
One of the more famous stories of St. Nicholas, aside from giving gifts to children is his intervention on behalf of three men who were falsely condemned to death. When they were to be killed, St. Nicholas risked his life by grabbing the sword from the executioner’s hands and throwing it on the ground, demanding the men be set free.
He had such authority that the executioner left his sword where it fell. Later, the man really responsible for the crime the three men would have died for, sought forgiveness from St. Nicholas and confessed his sin.
St. Nicholas forgave the man and absolved his sin — after he underwent a period of repentance. 

Throughout the centuries many stories and legends have been passed down about St. Nicholas’ life and his good deeds. No wonder he has the reputation for being an extraordinary character and why he is so beloved as a protector and help of those in need.
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Years ago, we were in Hawaii and we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant. I think on this particular night, we went out to eat a little later than we normally do. Anyhow, the restaurant wasn’t very crowded and while we were eating, most of the patrons finished their meals and left. We were one of only two or three, or maybe four, couples left. Just about the time we were finishing up, an older couple a few tables from us began to argue. I don’t know what the argument was about, but it got pretty heated and the husband (I’m assuming he was her husband) stood up, threw his napkin on the table,and announced (loud enough for everyone to hear,) that he’d had enough and stormed out the door. The lady seemed very upset and looked at us and said, “what do I do now? I don’t have any money.” 
Well, as you can imagine, we felt sorry for her and we paid her check and called her a cab. She told us what hotel they were staying at, so we paid the cab to take her to that hotel.

I’m not sure why I thought of this experience, but I just wonder if the couple had a real argument, or was it just a scam? Did they do this on a regular basis? It’s funny, but that thought never crossed our minds back then. I wonder if the same thing happened today, would we handle it the same way? I hope we would, but it seems like the world has become more cynical and we become suspicious of most everything. But that’s the way it is — everything changes, and obviously not always for the better.
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Around this time every year, most of the dictionaries and a few other sources choose their “word of the year.” It’a always interesting to see what they think should be the word of the year. Some years it’s driven by circumstances, like the pandemic, sometimes it’s due to some new technology or discovery and sometimes it isn’t even a word — a few years ago, it wasn’t a word, it was an emoji.

Anyhow, as I said, there turns out to be lots of words of the year, depending who chooses them. 
I decided this year to just focus on two pretty well-known sources — the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Cambridge Dictionary.

Merriam-Webster chose “authentic” as their word of the year. This one kind of puzzles me — it seems to me that nothing much is authentic any more. You certainly can’t believed most anything on social media is authentic, turns out that much of the news isn’t authentic, either. You have to be careful buying car parts (or airplane parts) because there’s a real possibility they’re not authentic. And of course with the explosion of Artificial Intelligence, it’s getting harder and harder to determine what is authentic.

The Cambridge Dictionary came up with “hallucinate” as their choice for word of the year. I guess I think this one might make a little more sense. As the campaign for president is gearing up, most of the talk I hear doesn’t make any logical sense — maybe some or most of these people really are hallucinating. Again, AI, or more particularly generative AI, may have played a part in their selection. So if it’s generative AI or the political climate, they both seem to stray from reality and truth….hallucinating may be a good term. 

Just as I finished writing this, I thought I probably should check to see what the Oxford Dictionary picked this year, after all it’s pick usually get the most press. The Oxford word of the year for 2023 is “rizz.” I have to be honest — I’ve never heard that word before and have no idea what it means. According to the Oxford University Press, it is derived from the word “charisma” and it refers to a person’t ability to attract a romantic partner through “style, charm or attractiveness.” The Oxford folks added that the word can also be used as a verb, in the phrase “rizz up,” meaning to attract or chat up a person. 

So three different sources came up with three pretty different words for this year. With a little imagination I could see why two of them might have been chosen. The third one baffles me. Apparently I have absolutely no rizz at all….
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