What Would Jimmy Do?

Argh me hearties! Here it be me most favorite of all me favorite holidays — Talk Like A Pirate Day. Of course there’ll be the usual Hornpipe ceremony later today at 47 Field Crest Court and then me and me wench Claire will show up at the neighbor’s house for a grog. Then we’ll make our usual rounds of the neighborhood knocking on doors and yelling, “arr, scurvy dog me be needing to swill a pint or two of grog.” No grog and they get the blige rat insult, or offered the “ye scurvy dog!” response. 

But to some of us, who always aspired to be pirates, this is a serious holiday. Piracy can be traced back to the second century, when the earliest recorded pirate attacks began after China’s Han Dynasty fell. 
The period between 1650 and 1680 is known as the “Golden Age of Piracy.” The increased maritime trade and travel between Europe, the Americas, and Africa provided plenty of opportunities for Caribbean pirates. 
In the 1800s, female pirate Ching Chih command a fleet of 1,800 ships and between 40,000 and 80,000 pirates. 

And then in September of 2002, Talk Like A Pirate Day became National Talk Like A Pirate Day. Even though Talk Like A Pirate Day was born in 1995, when two friends created the day as a joke, it didn’t gain wide recognition until 2002 when they wrote to humor columnist Dave Barry asking him to be the spokesperson for a National Talk Like A Pirate Day. Barry agreed, wrote a column about the holiday and gave it national prominence, spurring celebrations across the country. The date of September 19 was chosen because it was one of the founders’ ex-wife’s birthday and the only date he was able to remember. 

One of my neighbors said the closest he ever got to a pirate was the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride at Disneyland. Since this is Talk Like a Pirate Day, I thought a little bit about that ride might be in order…
Even though Walt Disney oversaw the design and construction of the ride, he died three months before the ride opened to the public.
The fire chief in Anaheim was so concerned with how real the fire effects inside the ride looked, he asked Disney to install an automatic shutoff, triggered if a real fire broke out.
Disney has never confirmed the rumors, but it’s possible that one of the decorative skulls inside the ride is part of a real human skeleton. 
The Blue Bayou restaurant, located in the “swamp” at the start of the ride, offers a full menu of Creole cuisine. 
The ride consists of a boat ride through a 1,838-foot world of Pirates of the Caribbean and takes almost 15 minutes, making it the longest ride at Disneyland.

Pirates continue to capture our imagination. When most people think of pirates, they picture piracy as described in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” The book was hugely influential in creating the pirate as a pop culture stereotype. Treasure Island mentioned X-marked maps, shoulder-perched parrots, and buried treasure — things that always come to mind when we think of pirates. 
Unfortunately, most of the fun phrases we use to celebrate today and attribute to pirates are just fiction, but that doesn’t take away from the holiday.

And pirates do still exist today, but on a much smaller scale than in previous centuries and they still occasionally attack ships passing through international shipping channels. Unfortunately they don’t fly the Jolly roger, wear eye patches, or have parrots on their shoulders…. all the more reason to celebrate today like we do.

While discussing my enthusiasm for this year’s TLAP Day, someone asked do we really need an International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Well, make no mistake — we do. It’s a little hard to articulate why, but we do. I think it boils down to talking like a pirate is fun — it’s probably just that simple. 

I’ve mentioned it before, but me olde name be Jimmy, but today I’ll be known as Bubonic Skyler Screed, and me wench’s olde name be Claire, but today she be Cap’n Lucy Redbeard.
Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!
— 30 —

For a number of years I’ve been fascinated (and usually amused) at things Dan Quayle has said.
A few days ago I read a review of a book by Andy Borowitz, who writes for the New Yorker. The book is titled Profiles in Ignorance, and it details some of the (public) misstatements and fiascos that politicians have made over the years — many of which embarrassed us as a country. 
I’m looking forward to reading the book and I’m sure the forty-fourth Vice-President of the United States, Dan Quayle will have a prominent spot. 

Thinking back about Dan Quayle and comparing him to a lot of the politicians in Washington today, I’d kind of like to have him back. I’m not sure why, but recently I remembered a quote from him on several different occasions — “Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It’s the other way around. They never vote for us.” Maybe that’s popped into my head because of the current political climate, I’m not sure. But I though it was funny at the time, and I still do. 

I looked up “Quotes by Dan Quayle” on the Internet and there’s a lot that I remember, and a lot that I don’t remember, but here’s some that I find funny….
Bank failures are caused by depositors who don’t deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement.
The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.
Tobacco exports should be expanded aggressively because Americans are smoking less.
I deserve respect for the thing i did not do.
Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.
I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.
One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Vice-President, and that one word is ‘to be prepared.’”
When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple. Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame.
The future will be better tomorrow.

I’m not making fun of Dan Quayle — he’s a lot like Yogi Berra to me…. a lot of things he said were just funny.
— 30 —

Besides being Constitution Day, today is the opening ceremonies for this year’s Oktoberfest. 
For the past two years, the largest Oktoberfest in the world has been cancelled due to corona. Today, after a two-year break, Oktoberfest in Munich opens — at 12 noon.

Oktoberfest began as the marriage ceremony between Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese on October 12, 1810. All of the townspeople were invited to attend the festival, which took place in the fields outside the city gates. Following the wedding the fields were named Theresienwiese after the Princess, and the party was such a hit that the townspeople asked King Ludwig to continue the celebration the following year. 
Today the remnants of the gates still stand and the fields, known by locals as the Wies’n, now host the largest beer festival in the world — Oktoberfest! (Wies’n means field or meadow in the Bavarian dialect.)

What was a simple wedding celebration has transformed into a 17 or 18-day festival in which 7 million people from around the world participate — consuming more than 6 million liters of Bavarian beer. That equates to 1 million gallons of beer. Oktoberfest officially begins on the second to last Saturday in September at noon when the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel at the Schottenhamel Tent, crying “O’zapft is” (It’s open.) The festival concludes the first Sunday of October.

The grounds known as Theresienwiese is usually called “Festwiese” by the locals. Half of the year, the grounds are simply a public park. Around June, the tents and fun fair foundations begin their staggered process of construction with a completion date of late September, just in time for the beginning of the festival. The area hosts a space of 420,000 square feet and is easy to get to from central Munich. 

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’ve never been to Oktoberfest in Munich, but I’ve been to Oktoberfest in Frankfurt — Munich is supposedly the largest Oktoberfest in the world, but it’s hard to imagine anything larger than the one I attended in Frankfurt. 

All beer served at Oktoberfest is 13.5% Stammwürze, which equates to around 6% alcohol content. The drinking age for beer and wine in Germany is 16. Distilled alcohols, like spirits can be purchased at age 18.

The majority of the 16 to 18 days of Oktoberfest take place in September, not October. The first Oktoberfest  was the wedding of the Bavarian Crown Prince in October of 1810. Since the party was so well received, the festival was repeated in the following years and extended — and at some point, brought forward into September. The weather probably played a role in moving the dates — the Munich weather in September is just right for Oktoberfest.

In case you’re planning on going to Oktoberfest in Munich, be sure to bring cash — the tents don’t accept credit cards, and know that it’s ok to dance on the benches, but not on the tables — and steins are ok to buy, but not to steal.
We have an Oktoberfest here in Shepherdstown, at the Bavarian Inn, and I think the same rules apply, except I’m pretty sure you can use a credit card.
— 30 — 

Today is one of those days that never gets enough recognition — it’s Constitution Day. I’m pretty sure our Constitution has never received the criticism it’s receiving today — from several directions. So let’s take a few minutes to talk about it. It’s hard to imagine what our lives would be like without it.

The U.S. Constitution was signed 235 years ago today — on September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. The original document was four pages long and thirty-nine men signed it — including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.
The Constitution includes seven articles that outline the powers of Congress, the President and Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, the relationship between the states, the process of adding amendments and the oath that representatives must pledge to it. 

My extensive research about the Constitution revealed some interesting things, like….
The main reason for the meeting in Philadelphia was to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, the delegates soon concluded that it would be necessary to write an entirely new Constitution. They agreed to conduct the meetings in secrecy by stationing guards at the door of the Pennsylvania state house.
At the time of the Constitutional Convention Philadelphia was the most modern city in America and the largest city in North America. It had a population of 40,000 people, 7,000 street lamps, 33 churches, 10 newspapers, and a university.
The national government spent $4.3 million during the first session of Congress from 1789-1791. During the last year that George Washington was President of the United States (1796-1797,) the entire cost of running the federal government was $5,727,000.
The Great Compromise saved the Constitutional Convention — and — probably, the Union. Authored by Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman, it called for proportional representation in the House, and one representative per state in the Senate (this was later changed to two.) The compromise passed 5 to 4, with one state, Massachusetts, “divided.”
The Constitution does not set forth requirements for the right to vote. As a result, at the outset of the Union, only male property-owners could vote. African Americans were not considered citizens, and women were excluded from the electoral process. Native Americans were not given the right to vote until 1924.
The word “slavery” did not appear in the Constitution until the 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.
The U.S Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.
There are some spelling errors in the Constitution, “Pensylvania” above the signers’ names is the most glaring.
The Constitution was “penned” by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania General Assembly clerk — he was paid $30 (that would be $952, today.)

Since 1952, the Constitution has been on display in the National Archives Building in Washington. Currently, all four pages are displayed behind protective glass framed with titanium. To preserve the parchment’s quality, the cases contain argon gas and are kept at 67 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 40 percent.
Of the forty-two delegates who attended most of the meetings, thirty-nine actually signed the Constitution. Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign due in part to the lack of a bill of rights. (When it came time for the states to ratify the Constitution, the lack of any bill of rights was the primary sticking point.)
The word “democracy” does not appear once in the Constitution.
The only other language used in various parts of the Constitution is Latin.
Four of the signers of the Constitution were born in Ireland.
There was a proposal at the Constitutional convention to limit the standing army for the country to 5,000 men. George Washington sarcastically agreed with the proposal as long as a stipulation was added that no invading army could number more than 3.000 troops.
At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin observed the symbol of a half-sun on George Washington’s chair and remarked, “I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”

On February 29,1952, Congress designated September 17 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. The day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution and recognizes all American Citizens. 
An important day indeed — the Constitution may not be perfect, but it’s the best one in the world and we must defend it from all enemies…. foreign and domestic.
— 30 —

Today is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. This day is intended to bring awareness to the depleting ozone layer. Started by the United Nations General Assembly in 1995, it continues to promote a healthier vision for Earth every year — it is observed on the 16th of September.
The theme for 2022 is global cooperation protecting life on earth. 

In 1987 representatives from 24 countries met in Montreal and announced to the world that it was time to stop destroying the ozone  layer. In doing so, these countries committed themselves, via the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, to rid the world of substances that threaten the ozone layer. 

On 19 December 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 16 September to be the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date when the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed in 1987. The day was first celebrated on September 16, 1995.

The adoption of the Montreal Protocol 35 years ago marked a turning point in environmental history. The Protocol has become a symbol of what global cooperation can achieve if people unite and work together to protect the environment. The Protocol came into effect in 1989 and by 2008, it was the first and only UN environmental agreement to be ratified by every country in the world.

Because the ozone layer filters most of the harmful ultra-violet radiation from the sun, action because of the Montreal Protocol has protected millions of people from skin cancer and cataracts, allowed vital ecosystems to survive and thrive, and slowed climate change.

On this World Ozone Day, we celebrate the achievements of the Montreal Protocol — that through global cooperation protected all living things, now and into the future.
— 30 —

For Just about as long as I can remember, I’ve heard that the city of Nome, Alaska was inadvertently named when a British mapmaker — with really poor handwriting, apparently — circled the port and wrote “Name?” next to it.
Well, that may be pretty much true, or kind of true, or maybe not true. Like a lot of things, the real “facts” tend to get lost or at least a bit muddled over the years.

So how did Nome really get its name? There are (at least) three theories about why other towns were named for explorers, heroes or politicians and this city got stuck with the unusual name of Nome.
One story is that Nome’s founder, Jafet Lindeberg may have given it that name because of a Nome Valley near his childhood home in Kavaenangen, Norway (in Norwegian, Nomedalen.)
Some say that Nome received its name by a mistake. A British cartographer allegedly copied an unclear annotation on a nautical chart made by a Naval officer while on a voyage up the Bering strait. The officer had written “? Name” next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as “C. Nome,” or Cape Nome, and used that name on his own chart. Cape Nome made the map and the nearby city took its name from the cape. 
This actually did cause some confusion and in 1900, some local miners and merchants voted to change the name from Nome to Anvil City to avoid confusion with Cape Nome which was 12 miles south, and the Nome River, the mouth of which is four miles south of Nome. But the United States Post Office refused to accept the change. Fearing a move of the post office to Nome City, a mining camp on the Nome River, the merchants unhappily agreed to change the name of Anvil City back to Nome. 
Another story is that a settler asked a native to the area the name of the place and received the reply “no-me” meaning “I don’t know” and the settler accepted his comprehension of that answer as the name of the place. 

So like a lot of things, the debate goes on, but the bottom line is that those that liked Anvil City lost and the name Nome won out. 
What we do know for sure is that Nome is the most famous gold rush town in Alaska — site of the last great gold stamped in the history of the American West. And we also know that what is now known as Nome was founded as a camp for gold miners. 
Today, Nome is probably most notable for the finish line of the annual Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.
— 30 —

Both the readers of this blog know about Emily — I periodically talk about her here and often mention some of her many talents. She keeps adding to those talents all the time. Her latest venture is into learning to play the guitar. 
The guitar she’s learning on in the picture came from us and it’s probably close to sixty years old. She’ll not only have to master the instrument, she’ll probably have to teach it some new songs.
— 30 —

Besides being Patriot’s Day, yesterday was also National Grandparents Day. I didn’t want to write about grandparents on September 11 — that day deserves to stand alone…. its importance can’t be stressed enough. 

So today, let’s talk about grandparents — and their day. Grandparents Day always lands on the Sunday after Labor Day.
The official statute says the purpose of Grandparents Day is, “to honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of strength, information, and guidance older people can offer.”

I’ve mentioned it before, but the idea of a Grandparents Day was hatched right here in West Virginia — by Marian McQuade, a mother of fifteen children. Marian had a lifelong mission of supporting senior citizens. She began her campaign for a day to honor grandparents in 1970. All her effort paid off in 1973 when the first Grandparents Day was held in West Virginia. Five years later, it was nationally recognized — President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation in 1978. Other countries around the world have established their own Grandparents Days. Poland led the way, holding their first Grandparents Day in 1965. Since then, twelve other countries have followed.

Grandparents Day in the US even has its own official flower — the Forget-Me-Not, and an official song, A Song for Grandma and Grandpa, by Johnny Prill.
There are over 70 million grandparents in the United States today.
2.7 million grandparents are the main caregivers to their grandchildren and 7.3 million children under 18 live with their grandparents.
69% of grandparents live within 50 miles of their grandchildren.
58% of grandparents say they talk to their grandchildren at least once a week. 
Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey were raised by their grandparents.
More than half of all grandparents are on social media sites and share photos online. 
Slightly more than 10% of grandparents have tattoos. If you’re still reading this blog when our children become grandparents, I’ll bet that number will be a lot higher.

A survey I saw said the majority of grandparents say they think being a grandparent is the single most important and satisfying thing in their life. I guess I pretty much have to agree with that….
— 30 —

Today is September 11 – a date that is etched in all adults minds — and — a date and event that we’ll never forget. Today we commemorate the September 11 attacks, also called 9/11 attacks — a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed in 2001 by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States. The deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in U.S. history. The attacks against New York City and Washington, D.C. caused extensive death and destruction and triggered an enormous U.S. effort to combat terrorism. 2,750 people were killed in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Pennsylvania. All 19 terrorists died.

9/11 was not the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center — a bombing in February of 1993 killed six people.
After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the rescue and recovery clean-up of the 1.8 million tons of wreckage from the site took 9 months.
Video accounts of the WTC attack aired immediately, but no video footage of the Pentagon attack was publicly released until 2006.
(Only) 18 people were rescued alive from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

The September 11 plot demonstrated that al-Qaeda was an organization of global reach. The plot played out across the globe with planning meetings in Malaysia, operatives taking flight lessons in the United States, coordination by plot leaders based in Hamburg, Germany, money transfers from Dubai, and recruitment of suicide operatives from countries around the Middle East — all activities that were ultimately overseen by al-Qaeda’s leaders in Afghanistan.

If this operation didn’t convince American leaders that the United States can’t operate alone or totally put “America first,” I don’t know what it would take. Just remember today as the political campaign picks up steam — and — never forget!
— 30 —

If you’re like me, today kind of slipped up on you — but, today is the 15th day of the 8th month (on the Chinese calendar.) The significance of today is that it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival or Moon Festival, and probably some other names. No matter what you call it, it’s one of China’s biggest holidays.

This year the Moon Festival falls on September 10 and it’s also a popular observance in many other Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore — but those countries have different names for the celebration. The festival date, however, is the same as in China — this year, that’s today. On the Chinese mainland, people usually have a three-day public holiday for the festival. In Hong Kong and Macau, the day after the festival is a public holiday rather than the festival day itself because many celebration events are held at night.

On the Chinese lunar calendar, the four seasons each have three lunar months — day 15 of month 8 is “the middle of autumn” — thus, it’s name. The date of the festival is a full moon, and that’s why it is also called the Moon Festival. (On the 15th of each lunar calendar month, the moon is at its roundest and brightest, symbolizing togetherness and reunion in Chinese culture.)

The festival is always brightly lit with Chinese lanterns and people reunite with their families and friends, check out the lanterns, visit temples and attend various celebration events — and — buy and exchange mooncakes. In ancient times, mooncakes were a kind of offering to the moon. Over the centuries, these special cakes have become the most popular food of the festival.

Mooncakes typically measure 2 to 4 inches across and up to 2 inches deep. Most mooncakes have a pastry skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling. They are usually eaten in small wedges during the festival, and shared by family members. They are generally served with Chinese tea, and, very rarely, mooncakes are served steamed or fried.

In Chinese culture, roundness symbolizes completeness and togetherness. A full moon symbolizes prosperity and reunion for the whole family. Round mooncakes complement the harvest moon in the night sky during the Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival.

The mooncake isn’t just a food, it’s a profound cultural tradition deep in Chinese people’s hearts, symbolizing a spiritual feeling. At the festival people eat mooncakes together with family, or present mooncakes to relatives or friends, to express love and best wishes.
Seems like kind of a cool thing to do….
— 30 —