What Would Jimmy Do?

There is a famous Chinese poem that contains the line, “he who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.” Well, I guess that puts me in the category of a “true man.” I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit the Great Wall in 1972. China had been pretty much “closed” to the western world since the 1940s. President Nixon was getting ready for a historic trip to China and some of us were lucky enough to take part in the preparations for that trip. 

When I was there, we weren’t left on our own to wander around Peking (it wasn’t called Bejing at the time) and everything had to be requested and arranged through the Diplomatic Service Bureau (DSB.)

We were fairly busy while we were there, but we had requested a trip to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs and on one of the slower days we were driven out to a section of the Great Wall by a DSB driver. There was no “tour,” we were just allowed to look around and walk on a section of the wall.

Most people usually refer to the wall as The Great Wall of China, but it’s actually known by many names throughout the world. The Great Wall’s original name translated to “The Long Wall of 10,000Li.” I also heard it referred to as “The Earth Dragon” while we were there. It is often called “The Long Wall” and “The Chinese Wall.”

Construction of the wall was started by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of unified China around 220 BC. Previously, China had been divided into numerous geopolitical factions, during which time many walls were constructed to form boundaries between the different groups. When Qin became emperor, the walls between the states were removed and some were repurposed to form a border between China and the “barbarians” to the north. Even though Qin was responsible for starting the wall, the most enduring sections were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when Peking was made the new Chinese capital. The Ming wall is still the most famous portion of the structure, with its iconic stone towers and gates. 

Construction workers were a disposable commodity when it came to building the wall. It’s estimated that as many as 400,000 people died building the wall, making it known as the “longest cemetery on Earth.” Many of the workers who died during the wall’s construction were buried in its foundation. 

Because of the many lives lost during construction of the wall, a farewell tradition of bringing roosters to the wall was begun. It was thought that the rooster’s singing helped carry the souls of those who had lost their lives at the Great Wall. Family members would come to the Great wall to ensure their loved one’s soul was not stuck within the structure by carrying a rooster in hand which helped guide the souls of the lost.

Something we’ve all heard about the Great Wall is that it’s the only man-made structure than can be seen from space with the naked eye. Despite the fact that we’ve heard it for so long, the Great Wall cannot be seen from space — any images of the structure from space were taken with a very zoomed-in camera lens. 

The majority of the Great Wall was constructed using earth, brick, wood and stones. Recently, while researching the makeup of the mortar used for building the Great Wall it was found that the standard mixture of lime (limestone that has been heated to a high temperature) and water also contained another ingredient — sticky rice. In tests, scientists compared the quality of mortar made with and without sticky rice and found that sticky rice-lime mortar has more stable physical properties, has greater mechanical strength, and is more cohesive, which makes it a suitable restoration mortar for ancient masonry. Scientists believe that using sticky rice as a construction ingredient was one of the greatest innovations of the Ming dynasty. It helped their structures (including tombs and pagodas) survive earthquakes and the elements.

Over the years, obviously many legends about the wall have developed — one of the best known is the story of “Men Jiangsu’s Bitter Weeping” whose husband died building the wall. Her weeping was so bitter that a section of the wall collapsed, revealing her husband’s bones so she could bury them.

The Great Wall not only served as a military defense system, but also carries a contribution to China’s literary culture, through the sayings and proverbs associated with it. One saying translates to, “If you want to know where the Great Wall is, it’s at the bottom of people’s hearts.” It’s come to mean that if the people make a concerted effort, and their wills unite like the Great Wall, the people will overcome all troubles together. I’d say that’s pretty good advice that we could all use today…..
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Well here we are kicking off a new year with another new January. This month was named after the Roman god Janus, who, fittingly, represented new beginnings. Janus was known as the protector of gates and doorways and who symbolizes beginnings and endings. He is depicted with two faces — one looking into the past, the other with the ability to see into the future. A pretty good symbol, I’d say, for January — our door into the new year. 

January’s Moon is called the Wolf Moon. The Saxon word for the month was Wulf-monath or “wolf month.” This month’s full Wolf Moon reaches peak illumination on Friday, January 6, at 6:09 P.M. EST. January’s full Moon is a “Micromoon” this year — that’s kind of the opposite of a “Supermoon.” It means that the full Moon is at its farthest point from Earth — not the nearest point, like when it is a Supermoon.

We’re into the second day of the new year and this year January will also welcome the Lunar New Year on January 22. You faithful readers know that we always celebrate Chinese New Year so you’ll be hearing more about it later this month. The Lunar New Year begins with the first new moon after the Winter Solstice and this year we will welcome the Year of the Rabbit.

So we’re off and running — new month, new year.
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Well, here we are in 2023 — hope it will be a great year for all of us.

Today is the start of 2023, a common year that will be the 2023rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 23rd year of the 3rd millennium, the 23rd year of the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2020s decade.
You noticed that I referred to 2023 as a “common” year in the Common Era. You don’t hear that nomenclature used too much nowadays, if we define the year 2023 other than just 2023, we usually use 2023 AD.

So to start the year off, let’s talk about these methods used to identify a year…. one method used to identify a year is Common Era or Christian Era (CE) — it means “a year in our time,” not a year a very long time ago. It’s the system for recording dates that is used almost everywhere around the world today. 

CE is an alternative to the AD system — a system used by Christians. The numbers are the same — this year is 2023 CE and it’s also AD 2023, but usually we just say that this year is 2023.
AD is an abbreviation of Anno Domino that means “Year of the Lord.” Since people who are not Christian may not be willing to accept that the Lord of any religion should be named when a date is written. This is the reason another way to write a date was needed. 

When writing about calendars, an era is a span of dates, starting from a particular moment in time. For both CE and AD, that start date is approximately the date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
 Before Common Era (BCE) is the system for the years “before the Common Era.” BCE uses the same numbers as BC (Before Christ.) CE and BCE are placed after the year number.

Talking (or writing) about years would seem to be a pretty non-controversial subject, but like just about everything else, in recent years, a persistent criticism has come up leveled against the use of the BCE/CE system, rather that the BC/AD system in dating historical events. Opponents claim the newer system is nothing more than an attempt to “remove Christ from the calendar” in keeping with the “subversive” effects of political correctness. Those opposed to the system claim the use of the BCE/CE system is offensive to Christians who recognize time as dated up to, and away from, the birth of Jesus. They also claim that BCE/CE makes no sense because it refers to exactly the same event as BC/AD. There is one school that opposes the use of the “common era” designation that seem to think that the use of BC/AD is actually stipulated by the Bible and in some way carries biblical authority. But we’ll leave that subject to another blog sometime.

No matter how you designate it, it’s 2023 — the start of a brand new year and new beginnings and another chance to do better. Happy New Year!
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Well, it’s almost 2023 — even though the big countdown to the new year happens just before midnight everywhere in the world, the time zone where you live determines who gets to celebrate first (and last.)

So who gets to go first? That honor goes to Kiritimati — you may know it as Christmas Island. Kiritimati became famous, or maybe notorious, as the site of nuclear testing by the British and United States in the 1950s and 60s. But the residents get to be the first to welcome in the new year.

If Kiritimati goes first, who is the last to get in on the celebration? The last place on Earth to ring in the new year is Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket Island or Phoebe Island. The island is now uninhabited except for periodic visits by scientists and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under whose jurisdiction it has been since 1974. The last inhabited place to observe the New Year of 2023 will be American Samoa. The people in the capital of Pago Pago, although located less than 600 miles from where the first celebration of 2023 took place, won’t be able to start the new years until 25 hours later….
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Most of what CIA does is classified and the general public doesn’t learn about it until years later — if ever. A couple of us were talking the other day over our “Christmas beers,” and remembered an operation that has long since become public, but is an interesting story…. probably more so to us “old timers” than a lot of other people.

During the Cold War, one of the top priorities of the CIA was monitoring the Soviet Union and its increasing influence in the world. This was back in the 1950s — before sophisticated collection systems like reconnaissance satellites came into being. One of the techniques used in that time frame was wiretaps. 

Berlin was the center of an extensive communications network from France to deep within Russia and Eastern Europe. In the 50s almost all Soviet military telephone and telegraph traffic between Moscow, Warsaw, and Bucharest was routed through Berlin over lines strung overhead from poles and buried underground. The CIA teamed up with the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6) on a project to tap into underground communication lines in the Soviet sector of Berlin —  to gain access to Soviet and East German communications. To accomplish this, they decided to tunnel from West Berlin to the underground cables in nearby East Berlin — by building a tunnel, the operation would be hidden from visual surveillance. 

Construction of the tunnel took a year — 3,100 tons of soil was removed and the project used 125 tons of steel plate and 1,000 cubic yards of grout. The finished tunnel was 1,476 feet long. 

However — unknown at the time to the CIA and MI-6, the KGB (the Soviet Union’s premier intelligence agency) had been aware of the project from its start. A KGB mole (George Blake) inside MI-6 had informed the Soviets about the secret operation during its planning stages. But the Soviet Union, to protect Blake, allowed the operation to continue until they “accidentally discovered” the tunnel while supposedly repairing underground cables.

The Soviets planned the discovery in hopes of winning a propaganda victory by publicizing the operation. But their plan backfired when, instead of condemning the operation, most press coverage marveled at the audacity and technical ingenuity of the initiative. 

I’m not sure if it’s true, but the story goes that following the press conference at which the Soviets announced the “discovery” of the Berlin Tunnel, the presiding Soviet military officer was heard saying to his U.S. military counterpart, “Just between us, what a great, XXXXing operation.”

Anyhow, a great story that waited many years before it could be told…..
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Every Year about this time I make New Year’s Resolutions. Why? Because it’s what I do. I admit that I often times (usually) don’t keep these resolutions, but that’s not the point. Resolutions are a way of expressing one’s desire to change something in ourselves or adapt to a new challenge. I usually make a sincere effort to keep my resolutions and as I’ve mentioned before, when I fail, it’s usually because of forces beyond my control.

But it’s still fun to ring in the New Year with fresh set of resolutions. Every new year is a fresh start with new goals to achieve. I suppose there was once a time when setting New Year’s resolutions was considered a serious thing…. not so much nowadays. 

But as I always do, her’s my resolutions for 2023:
* I resolve to unsubscribe to all the (un)helpful e-mails that try to sell me stuff that I don’t want and can’t afford.
The number of these I get seems to have increased dramatically lately — I’ve tried to “unsubscribe” to a few of them, but they keep coming back. This year I’m going to finally get rid of them.

* I resolve that I will not act my age.
I realize that I’m getting older, but lately I’ve been acting older. Just because I’m over 80 doesn’t mean that I have to act like I’m that old. This year will be a new, younger (acting) Jimmy.

* I resolve to make the usual unusual.
It’s become apparent that I’ve gotten into a rut, doing the same things day in and day out. This year I vow to try to do one small thing differently every week. 

* I resolve to learn something I never learned as a child.
Thinking back, I had a pretty dull childhood — there was lots of stuff I could have learned about but didn’t. This year I’m going to learn to do something that I never did as a child.

* I resolve to do something nice for others every day week.
After thinking about it, I changed every day to every week, but I still think this is an admirable goal. I plan to do one nice thing a week for someone else.

* I resolve to become really good at procrastination.
I know this has appeared on my list for the past few years, but I think I’ll really be able to accomplish it this time — and if not, the next year for sure. And I’ve got a good start with the long list of things I didn’t accomplish this year, or last year.

So there you have it — my realistic list of achievable resolutions for 2023 — all intended to make me a better person. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I didn’t become a better person, but I’m looking forward to 2023 and a better me.
Check back here about this time next year and I’ll give you my honest evaluation of how i did.
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Earlier this month I mentioned that some consider December 28th the unluckiest day on the Christian calendar. Since today is December 28, I thought it might be good day to talk about that….

It seems that how December 28 got such an ominous reputation has to do with folklore, infant mortality, and a paranoid madman emperor who lived in 73 B.C.

In the Catholic church, three feast days are marked immediately after Christmas. After the feast of St. Stephen on December 26, and the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist on December 27, comes the feast of the Holy Innocents (alternatively known as Childermass) on December 28. Childermass commemorates the slaughter of all the young male children of Bethlehem at the command of King Herod in an attempt to destroy Jesus.

The paranoid madman I referred to earlier was King Herod — if he wasn’t a madman, he was certainly a “very paranoid man,” who according to first-century historians not only killed one of his wives and several of his children, bur also gave orders when he was dying that people from every town and village in his territory would be held together in one of his prisons and slaughtered upon his death, so there would be tears in every town of Judea.
So as a result of the association with King Herod, December 28 certainly wasn’t a good day for children.

Catholics observe December 28 with prayers and readings referencing King Herod’s slaughter of babies, as recorded in Matthew. Priests normally wear white during the Christmas season, but on December 28, they wear red to commemorate the early child martyrs.

Today most people don’t think much about the day’s evil roots, but in the past, the day was considered incredibly unlucky. The most common superstition was that anything begun on the day would never be finished or would go disastrously wrong — even doing something as innocent as laundry would be certain to result in a death in the family!

This day now serves as a reminder that not a whole lot has changed in our world — it’s not as safe for as many people as we would like to believe. Innocent people are still put to death…. today is a good day to remember that.
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All our lives, we are subjected to “rude awakenings” — Santa, the Easter Bunny, professional wrestling, etc. Seems like there is more “fake” stuff than real stuff anymore. I figured, at my age, I was beyond being shocked — but I was wrong. 
This time of year, around Christmastime, it’s a shame to be disappointed in something you thought you could rely on. But even Christmas isn’t immune to legalized fakery. 
We have fake Christmas trees, garland, and even fake mistletoe…. but I figured that the one thing absolutely immune to fakery was the annual holiday fruitcake.
Well, unfortunately, my extensive research has discovered that even that sacred holiday tradition has been compromised.

Let me explain….
If you take a poll, you’ll find that almost no one likes fruitcake. But a few years ago a friend started giving everyone a fruitcake that he made and people raved about it — everybody said they don’t like fruitcakes, but his were really good. I suppose it’s his secret recipe, but he revealed that it contains a good amount of bourbon. I just assumed it was probably the bourbon that made it so good.

Well, this year he slipped up — every year he’s given everyone the cakes just wrapped in aluminum foil, but this year he added a label, and as they say…. the secret’s out!
I’ve attached a picture of the label as proof — you’ll notice that he hasn’t been giving fruitcakes, he’s been giving fruitfakes!! 
So even the sacred fruitcake is prone to being knocked-off.

Maybe he’ll claim that it’s a typo or a computer “auto-correct” but maybe there’s something more sinister going on here???
I’m just saying…..
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Every year on December 26, our calendars on our phones and computers show that it is Boxing Day (Canada.) I’m not sure why it specifies Canada, because Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and a lot of other British Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand as well as Canada.

The term is of British origin and first appeared in the 1800s — and — it has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. The exact roots for the name of the holiday are unknown but according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Boxing Day originated because servants, who would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, were allowed to visit their families the next day and employers would give them boxes to take home that contained gifts, bonuses and, sometimes, leftover food. 

Another popular theory is that the Boxing Day moniker came from the alms boxes that were placed in churches during the Advent season for the collection of monetary donations from parishioners. Clergy members distributed the contents of the boxes to the poor on December 26, which is also the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr and a figure known for acts of charity. In fact the day is celebrated as St. Stephen’s Day in Ireland and parts of Spain. 
The practice of almsgiving on December 26 has faded over the years and charity acts are now often made in the weeks leading up to Christmas. 

Maybe it’s a shame that Boxing Day doesn’t get much recognition here in the United States but it’s still a good day to stop and think about what Boxing Day was originally all about. 
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Well I think it’s just about time for my annual, or at least almost annual, Christmas blog.

I was thinking about Christmas over the years. Although Christmas is always a bit hectic, the last few years it’s been crazy. What with all the lockdowns and medical restrictions, it’d be hard to classify the past few Christmases as “normal.”
I’m not sure how Christmas will play out here this year,but I think (and hope) it becomes a little bit more normal.

But anyhow I was thinking about the 79 Christmases I’ve experienced and how things have changed… and stayed the same.

I don’t remember any special meal at our house on Christmas. We usually went to one of my grandparents houses at Christmas when I was little, so we probably had whatever “grandma” prepared. I don’t remember any “traditional” dishes. I know Claire had lots of traditional foods at Christmas time and I think our kids, if asked, would say the green bean casserole was a tradition when they were growing up I don’t remember having it until I was married — I suppose that makes sense, since the green bean casserole wasn’t invented until 1955 (by the Campbell Soup Co.)

Shortly after I’d left home, one Christmas when I cam home, my parents had put up an aluminum Christmas tree. I think it was in the very late 50s or maybe early 60s. I thought it was just about the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, and my dad agreed. I guess my mother was the trend setter for the family. 

I remember before I left home, bubble lights were all the rage. Our “real” Christmas tree (not the aluminum one) was decorated with bubble lights for a number of years. If you’re too young to remember, the lights looked a little bit like a candle filled with a liquid and when the liquid reached a certain temperature, the lights would “bubble.”

Seems like every year, the toy companies would introduce a new toy for Christmas — and of course they were almost impossible to find in the stores. I remember Silly Putty, Mr. Potato Head, Frisbee, Hula Hoop, match book cars, etc. But dolls always topped the list for being new every year. The Barbie doll had a lot of knock-offs every year, like the Ginny dolls, Sweet Sue dolls. Just about every year there was a new have-to have doll like the Cabbage Patch doll….

When I was younger, it was common for people to dress up for Christmas. I remember having to wear my “church clothes,” and my parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles always dressed up for Christmas.

I did a little extensive research and found out that Christmas the year I was born (1938) sort of kicked off the superhero era — Action Comics #1 introduced Superman, and from what I’ve read, that comic book became a major Christmas gift.
The year of Claire’s first Christmas saw the release of the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” that became a Christmas classic — that you can watch every year on various TV channels.
Kelly’s first Christmas (1976) was a routine year in that new dolls were introduced — the trend that year was to model dolls after famous people. The popular dolls that year were Cher and Muhammad Ali.
And in 1980, Dave’s first Christmas, the new toy of the year was Rubik’s Cube.

So no matter what my 80th Christmas brings, it’ll be special — all the Christmases I’ve experienced are special….
Merry Christmas to all!
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