What Would Jimmy Do?

Shortly after we were married, Claire gave me a Swiss Army Knife. I still have that knife and, in fact, put it to good use just yesterday. 

Since Switzerland stays out of international disputes, it make you wonder how its army became associated with what is one of the best known, and most commonly used, pieces of military hardware in the world. 

The Swiss Army Knife was the brainchild of Swiss cutlery manufacturer Karl Elsener. Elsener was more than a little ticked that the Swiss soldiers got their standard issue knives from a German manufacturer, so he set out to win the contract from the Swiss government.

When Claire bought that knife for me, there were two Swiss companies producing “Swiss Army Knives” — Wenger and Victorinox. My knife is a Victorinox. Wenger sold their knives as the “Genuine Swiss Army Knife,” and Victorinox claimed to be the “Original Swiss Army Knife.” Victorinox acquired Wenger in 2005. Interestingly, both Wenger and Victorinox used the cross and shield to identify their knives — a symbol still used today.

When Karl Elsener’s mother died in 1909, he named his company “Victoria” in her memory. In 1921 the company started using newly invented stainless steel to make the Swiss Army Knife. Stainless steel is known as “inox,” short for the French term acre inoxydable. Victoria and inox were combined to create Victorinox — the name of the company today. 

Elsener called his knife the “Soldier’s Knife” and made a lightweight version with a few more tools called the “Officer’s and Sports Knife.” Handymen around the world discovered them and began carrying them in their pockets. But it wasn’t until World War II, when American GIs dubbed it the Swiss Army Knife, that the tool got the name we use today.
— 30 —

On Christmas morning of 1975, at least 1.3 million people became the proud owners of a Pet Rock. The Pet Rock was a craze that rivaled things like the Hula-Hoop and was even less explainable. Newsweek called the fad “one of the most ridiculously successful marketing schemes ever.” What this fad consisted of was a rock — a plain, ordinary, egg shaped rock like you could dig up in almost any back yard. But during the Christmas season of 1975, more than a million people paid $3.95 for such a rock. 

The genius of the idea was in the packaging. Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of nesting straw. But the masterstroke of the marketing scheme was the accompanying manual on the care, feeding and house training of Pet Rocks. The 32-page booklet described how to teach your new pet basic commands such as “Stay,” “Sit,” and “Play Dead.” The rocks learned these tricks quickly, but more complicated commands such as “Come” required extraordinary patience on the part of the trainer. One entry in the manual read, “If, when you remove the rock from its box it appears to be excited, place it on some old newspapers. The rock will know what the paper is for and will require no further instruction. It will remain on the paper until you remove it.”

So who came up with such a brilliant idea and how did he think of it? The man behind the scheme was Gary Dahl — often described as a marketing genius and a swindler or con man. Mr. Dahl’s brainstorm came to him in a bar in his home town of Los Gatos in Northern California. At the time, he was a freelance copywriter (he said that was another word for being broke.) One night in the bar, the talk turned to pets and complaints about troublesome animals. During that conversation, Dahl announced that his pet caused him no such trouble. He explained that he had a pet rock. After making the statement, he realized he just might be on to something with pet rocks.
He recruited a couple of investors and visited a building-supply store and bought a load of smooth Mexican beach stones for about a penny apiece.

Pet Rocks were the must-have gift of the 1975 Christmas season, but they rapidly went the way of all fads. Even though Mr. Dahl trademarked the name, there was nothing to stop someone from putting a rock in a box and selling it — and many did. 

In the year 2000, attempts to recreate the magic of the Pet Rock, or take it a step further, with Rock Concerts or Rock Families (some had google eyes glued onto the rocks) all pretty much fell flat. The Pet Rocks were packaged and sold with very minimal changes to the original design. One interesting omission in the manual included with the 2000 revision of the Pet Rocks was the “Attack” command. The 1975 manual told owners when confronted by a mugger, they should “Reach into your pocket or purse and extract your pet rock. Shout the command “attack” and bash the mugger’s head in.” Obviously that type of language and action was considered unacceptable by the year 2000. 

None of the revived sales strategies worked … Pet Rocks enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame in 1975, but since that initial, legendary success all attempts to re-market Pet Rocks have failed.
— 30 —

Yesterday, I mentioned that something was out of “whack.”  I realized that I use that term on occasion and maybe sometimes I use it when I should probably be using another phrase or expression. 
I have a power washer that I’ve had a number of years — it still works fine, but a lot of the time I have to give it a good “whack” to get the motor started. Once it’s running, everything works fine.

I looked whack up in the dictionary and came away with a number of definitions indicating that whack can be used in ways I’ve never thought of before. Here’s some of the entries from the dictionary:  a: to strike with a smart or resounding blow; b: to cut with or as of with a whack: chop; c: to get the better of: d: defeat; slang: murder, kill; e: a critical attack; f: portion, share; g: condition, state: h: an opportunity to do something; i: a single action or occasion; j: out of proper order or shape.

I usually use whack when I hit something or something doesn’t seem right or work right. 

My extensive research found that “whack” as a verb first appeared in the early 18th century, meaning “to beat or strike sharply and vigorously.” it was probably formed as an imitation of the sound that such a blow would make. As a noun, “whack” started out meaning a kind of blow, but soon developed a whole range of secondary meanings. One of the meanings, mentioned in the dictionary indicated that whack became to be used to mean “a portion, or one’s share” — that started as slang in the criminal underworld meaning “a share of the proceeds of a crime.”

Later it became popular to describe a person, or one of his/her body parts as “out of whack.” Then of course, the phrase was applied to mechanical devices. I think that’s the most popular use today…. almost every gizmo we have goes kablooey at some point, and we say it’s “out os whack.”

I found one reference to the “out of whack”  terminology originating from the chopping or splitting of wood…. supposedly the original word whack or thwack meant a blow — when you are chopping wood you want to keep putting one chop right in the same spot as the previous ones or you simply make lots of little chips — if you were missing the mark, not quite right, you were out of whack.
Anyhow, I think it’s an interesting word and an an interesting phrase. I know, I have too much time on my hands…..
— 30 —

I’ve often said that the world was getting too complicated for me…. yesterday there was a fire in a building in Utah — that prevented my blog from being updated. We are not alone has never been more true, and apparently we can’t even function being alone. Anyhow, here’s what you would have read yesterday… if — there hadn’t been a fire in Utah.

One year in the early 70s, we were in Hong Kong over Easter. Almost the entire city was closed for most of the weeks preceding and following Easter. It was even hard to find a place to eat, outside of some hotels. I thought this was interesting, especially since the population isn’t primarily “Christian.” 

We refer to Easter Monday around here, but it isn’t considered anything special — almost all stores are open… but people in more than eighty countries of the world celebrate the day after Easter as a holiday..

A little of my extensive research revealed that Easter Monday stands as the last remnant of a once much longer season of post-Easter festivities. In the early Middle Ages people treated the entire week following Easter as a holiday. People tended to their religious devotions in the week before Easter and celebrated with feasts, parties, games, relaxation, and attendance at religious services in the week after.

By the thirteenth century this two-week period had shortened and shifted to the latter half of Holy Week and the ten days following Easter. These last two days, the second Monday and Tuesday after Easter somehow acquired the mysterious name of Hocktide. In 1552 Parliament passed a law restricting post-Easter festivities to the Monday and Tuesday directly following Easter. This practice lasted until the 19th century, when lawmakers further reduced rejoicing to the Monday following Easter, known as Easter Monday. 

In the US, there are only a few activities celebrated on Easter Monday — probably the most famous one is the White House Easter Egg Roll, held on Easter Monday. Claire took our kids there on some years.

Easter Monday was formerly regarded as unlucky and was known as Black Monday (White Monday in Greece.) For some reason, Monday itself was generally considered unlucky… maybe because it meant returning to school for many school children after the Easter break.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter and Easter Monday isn’t unlucky for you… and be glad you’re not in Hong Kong if you’re hungry.
— 30 —

Today, of course, is Easter — but it’s also a special day in Chinese culture. Both faithful readers know that I/we celebrate a lot of Chinese holidays — not because either of us have any particular ties to China, but because they’re interesting and almost all seeped in tradition.

Today, is one of those interesting Chinese holidays. Every year on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, Chinese people celebrate Qīngmíng jié — the Tomb Sweeping Festival. This year it happens to fall on Easter — April 4.

It is said that the Qīngmíng Festival was originally held to commemorate a loyal man living in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 – 476 BC,) named Jié Zitui. Jié cut a piece of meat from his own leg in order to save his hungry lord who was forced to go into exile when the crown was in jeopardy. The lord came back to his position nineteen years later, and forgot Jié Zitui. But later he felt ashamed and decided to reward him. However, Jié had locked himself up in a mountain with his mother. In order to find Jié, the lord ordered that the mountain should be set on fire. Later Jié was found dead with his mother. In order to commemorate Jié, the lord ordered that the day Jié died was Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival — the day that only cold food could be eaten. 

The second year, when the lord went to the mountain to sacrifice to Jié, he found the willows revived, so he gave instructions that the day after Hanshi Festival was to be Qīngmíng Festival. Later, the two festivals were combined as one.

The Qīngmíng Festival is a time for a number of different activities — one of the main ones being tomb sweeping. Others include taking a spring outing and flying kites. Some customs have been lost over the years like wearing willow branches on the head. The festival is a combination of sadness and happiness. 

But of all the activities, tomb sweeping is regarded as the most important custom in the Qīngmíng Festival. Cleaning the tomb and paying respect to the dead person with offerings are the two important parts of remembering past relatives. Weeds around the tomb are cleared away and fresh soil is added. The dead person’s favorite food and wine are taken to sacrifice to them, along with paper resembling money, that is burned in the hope that the deceased are not lacking in the afterlife. In return for this it is believed that ancestors will bless their living family members and help them have a prosperous year in the temporal world. At the end of the entire ceremony all the family members gather around the tomb and throw up colored papers in the air to heaven for blessing.

Of course, the modern world has effected the way the Qīngmíng Festival is celebrated today… the modern version has gotten more materialistic. Paper goods in the form of cars, smart phones, iPads and other technological gadgets are made especially for this occasion, but people still ask for wealth and luck in return. And today, people that live too far from their ancestors tombs are now able to send flowers, candles or food through the Internet.

So even though in many places, the festival has been modernized, it’s still not only a day for remembering and honoring the departed, but also a day to be spent with family outdoors or traveling in the colors of spring after a long, gray winter.
Happy Easter — and — Qīngmíng.
— 30 —

Happy Easter — one of those annual events that falls on a different date each year. If you’re interested as to how the date of Easter is calculated, you can check this blog’s entry of December 22, 2020 for my attempt to explain it.

Easter is a Holy Day — the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after 3 days in the tomb following his execution by Jewish officials. That’s what Easter is really all about, but there other things that have become “tradition” that are about as complicated as arriving at the date for Easter every year.

The early Christians decided they needed to come up with familiar (and relevant) ways to help get their new religion off the ground, so they used familiar symbols to get the ministry moving and help explain what they were trying to say.

Take the Easter Bunny, for instance. Just like Santa Claus has no Christian significance to Christmas, the Easter Bunny has no real connection to Easter. 

None of the Gospels ever mention the Easter Bunny, but rabbits have a long history of being a symbol of fertility and new life. Another Pagan symbol was eggs — a symbol of the preciousness of life. In the middle ages, it was forbidden to eat eggs during lent, so once Easter arrived, they painted the shells to celebrate the end of this period and that Christ rose from the dead.

The origin of the term “Easter” comes from the pre-Christianity goddess, Eostre. In the late 7th and early 8th centuries, a Monk, named Venerable Bede, wrote about his observations of how the early Christians celebrated the Resurrection (Easter.) They called their celebration Eosturmonath after the Germanic goddess Eostre. She was recognized as the bringer of springtime and flowers and after all the celebrations in her honor, the name stuck for the Christian celebration of the Resurrection. 

When we think of Easter, we usually think of chocolate, hot-cross buns and eggs — but Pretzels are also an Easter snack. Pretzels are associated with Easter because the twists resemble arms crossing in prayer. It was a tradition for Germans to eat a pretzel and a hard-boiled egg for dinner on Good Friday.

Easter, like most everything, has evolved over the years, but it’s true meaning remains the same. So if an Easter egg hunt is in your plans for today, just remember that these egg hunts are proof kids can find things when they really want to….
— 30 —

I’m not really a basketball fan, although I do seem to pay a little closer attention to college teams than pro teams. But one thing I usually look forward to is “March Madness.” I admit that one reason is that when March Madness arrives that means that spring is here or right around the corner.

March Madness is the yearly college basketball tournament held by the NCAA that runs from mid-March to early April. Today, March Madness is pretty much the pinnacle of sports in the month of March. Football is in the distance in the rear view mirror and baseball hasn’t started yet — hockey season is underway, but it takes a back seat to the basketball tournament. 

Well, I got to wondering why the tournament is called “March Madness,” so my extensive research mode kicked in…. here’s what I discovered, in case you’re interested. 

March Madness actually wasn’t the first postseason college basketball tournament — the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) began in 1938. That was the most popular tournament for a few years, but what is now referred to as March Madness has long since overtaken the NIT as the top college basketball tournament.

The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was held in 1939 — a year after the first NIT tournament. The 1939 tournament featured just eight teams. Over the years, the tournament grew from an eight-team tournament to 16 teams in 1951. In 1975, it doubled to 32 teams and doubled again in 1985 to 64 teams. Currently, 68 teams make it into the tournament with eight teams participating in play-in games to make the official first-round field of 64.

Now back to the name “March Madness”— the term was first used in 1939 by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter. He referred to the original eight team tournament by that name, writing in a high school athletic magazine, “A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.” But — the term didn’t become associated with the NCAA tournament until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of the tournament. Interestingly, Musburger claims that he got the term from car dealership commercials he saw while broadcasting the Illinois state high school basketball tournament.

There have been 80 NCAA tournaments between 1939 and 2019 (there was no tournament in 2020 because of CoVID.)
Kentucky has the most NCAA tournament appearances (58) and NCAA tournament wins (129.)
UCLA has has the most NCAA men’s basketball national championships with 11
Duke’s Mike Kzyzewski has the most NCAA tournament wins by a single coach — 97.

So we’re down to the final four and in a few days we’ll know who the 2021 March Madness champion will be. All four teams deserve to be there — they all beat everyone they faced in the tournament… I wish them all luck and good shots — Charles Barkley said the only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
— 30 —

Today is Good Friday — the day commemorating the Crucifixion of Christ. The question of whether to observe Jesus’ death and Resurrection created a major controversy in early Christianity. Until the 4th century, Jesus’ Last Supper, death and His Resurrection were observed in one single commemoration on the evening before Easter. Since then, those three events have been observed separately with Easter, as the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection, being considered the pivotal event. 

The Mass of the Presanctified is observed on Good Friday. Its name is derived from the fact there is no consecration of the sacred elements of bread and wine — Communion is ministered from the Reserved Sacrament (consecrated elements retained from previous celebrations.) 
There are no other Masses until Easter.

Why this day is called “good” has alway puzzled me. About the best explanation I’ve heard is from Randy Alcorn — “What is good about Good Friday? Why isn’t it called Bad Friday? Because out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressible good. And the good trumps the bad, because though the bad was temporary, the good is eternal.”
— 30 —

I know what today is, but this no April Fool’s joke — fifteen (15) years ago today, we moved into our house in Shepherdstown, WV. We had been “homeless” since November of 2015 — a lot longer than we had planned. We were “assured” that our house would be ready in December (2015.) Based on that information, we agreed to move our of our house in Vienna before Thanksgiving. Our plan was to stay with Kelly and Chris in their new house in Leesburg for 2 or 3 or maybe 4 weeks. 

Well of course our house wasn’t anywhere near being ready by December, or January, or February, or March, or — to be honest — April. But on April 1st, we did move in. Almost a year later, the house was probably “ready to move in.” Needless to say, we had a few problems with the builder.
But we survived it all, and we’re happy here in Shepherdstown.
— 30 —

Most April Fool’s experts agree that April Fool’s Day originated in 16th-century France, when Pope Gregory Xiii mandated that the new year begin on January 1 instead of the end of March. Those who failed to follow the new calendar were dubbed “April fish.” Those experts that don’t agree with that explanation think that it originated from ancient spring festivals that included mischief making.

But for whatever reason, today has evolved into a day to play pranks on people. Over the years even major companies and corporations have gotten in on the fun and, in fact, pulled some of the best pranks including….

In 1980, pranksters at the BBC announced that Big Ben, London’e historic clock tower, would undergo a face-lift and become digital to keep up with the times. 
In 1965, a Copenhagen, Denmark newspaper reported that parliament had passed a law that all dogs be painted white to improve road safety because they could then be seen clearly at night.
In 1994, PC Magazine ran a column about a bill making its way through Congress that would prohibit the use of the Internet while intoxicated.
In 2009, BMW ran an ad promoting its new “magnetic tow technology.” The invention enabled driver to turn of their engine and get a “free ride” by locking onto the car ahead via a magnetic beam.
In 2015, Cottonelle tweeted that it was introducing left-handed toilet paper for all those southpaws out there.
In Norway in 1986, after reading that the government was planning to distribute 10,000 liters of wine confiscated from smugglers, hundreds of citizens turned up caring empty bottles and buckets.

So while corporate America is typically ruled by information and strategy and is all business, today is the one day of the year that their business turns to funny business. This year, Volkswagen has already announced that they’re rebranding their electric vehicles as “Voltswagen” — can’t wait to see if someone will come up with a better one this year….
— 30 —