Palindrome Days

Palindromes abound this month and every year there’s usually a streak of them to be found. The date in digits today (5-15-15-without the dashes 51515) is a palindrome, in this case a group of numbers that read the same either backwards or forwards. Palindromes can also be words like racecar, but I like number palindromes. You can turn any set of numbers into a palindrome by simply adding the digits in reverse to the original the digits in their original order. Example: 123+321=444 or 1203+3021=4224. I could go on and on but if the numbers don’t add up into a palindrome right away things get a little trickier. You just keep adding them reversing the sum of each pair until eventually they do. It took a whole sheet of notebook paper to turn the digits representing the year I was born into a palindrome but it finally did happen! But I will give you this hint; it is easier for peeps born in the 2000s to turn the year they were born into a palindrome and if you were born in 2002 you don’t have to do any addition at all!

Kids on Bikes, in Cars

Another one on a bicycle got into it with a car and the car won again. We saw the young man (on his way home from middle school – he is on the same grade level team as my grandson) in the ditch with his mangled bike beside him. He was sitting up surrounded by first responders looking pretty animated. From what we could see as we drove by, the boy will be ok but the bike was basically totaled and of course there were no bike helmets anywhere. School is almost out. I've turned the A/C on in my house because summer temps are heating up. And then I saw on the news that another child has died after being left in a hot car. This is a risky world for kids and this time of year seems like the riskiest. Time to insist they wear a bike helmet. Time to look where you are driving because once school is out everywhere kids are may as well be considered a kid zone. And if you are a parent of a little one, please throw your shoe in the backseat beside the car seat so you won’t go off to work and leave the baby in the car. One child gone and another injured is hard enough to handle. Consider these incidents a very sad and scary wake up call. Let’s work together to keep kids safe this summer.

Fugitive on the Lam for 56 Years Found!

For the last three days in a row, on my morning commute to a grand’s school, I've been hearing about this on the radio. In the 1950s he did part of his time for speeding and killing a pedestrian in the Ohio State Reformatory which closed in 1990 and was used as the set for the movie The Shawshank Redemption. He escaped from an honor camp near the reformatory unlike the prisoner in the movie. The now wheelchair bound fugitive has waived his rights to expedition back to Ohio. If he is returned this time-they passed the last time in 1975 when he was recaptured in West Virginia, so he was re-released. He has basically been on the lam for 56 years and of all places he turned up in Melbourne Fl. It’s enough to make me wonder about other folks, acquaintances, in my age category that could be on their second or third career, I mean chance, with a false identity. This guy has even been collecting social security. In a way a return to jail could be considered another kind of social security, I guess. Most of the people weighing in on social media say too much time has passed-just let it go. It will be interesting to see if that happens. There was a stakeout and fancy plan to get his fingerprints in order to confirm that William Cox was indeed Frank Freshwater. This will probably replay as a made for TV drama at some point. There is that and that’s the latest from my current locale. Other than Cub Scouts, baseball, house painting, and visits to the beach this trip has been rather undramatic, just the way I like it! 

Micronations

By definition a micronation is any entity (physical or virtual) that purports to be or has the appearance of being a sovereign state. Interestingly enough there are about 98 active micronations on our planet (and one on Mars) right now. There was even a conference, called MicroCon2015, earlier this month, the first in the U.S. A., held amid chalkboards and school chairs in a public rec room of Anaheim, Calif.’s Central Library and dignitaries representing 40 different micronations attended. Micronations have been around since 1851 with the first one consisting of a literary group of Cambridge students who appointed themselves clerics and consuls of the Upware Republic Society. More recently (in 1982) we have the micronation called the Conch Republic, a Key West succession movement created in response to a U.S. Border Patrol roadblock that was meant to stem an influx of Cuban immigrants. And today micronations can be found that range from the virtual to actual places, parcels of private property located in various countries. Maybe when I finish this blog post I’ll look for directions to a Margueritaville micronation destination for me!   

Tesla and Lithium Ion Batteries

Tesla is taking the lead (and a big risk) developing stationary batteries for storing solar energy in homes and businesses. Some think lithium ion batteries may not be the type of battery (definitely not the traditional battery tech either) that will be the leader in energy storage of the future but nevertheless, Tesla is planning to build the battery packs at its $5 billion Gigafactory just outside of Reno, Nevada. The massive plant will employ 6,500 workers and has the potential to crank out a half-million lithium-ion batteries by 2020. The batteries are my height (just over five feet), about a yard wide and only seven inches thick. Like all technologies these days, I wonder if they will continue to get smaller. In any case, they are made to easily mount on a garage wall either inside or out and are designed to work with your solar system right out of the box. The price range from $3000-$3500 isn’t too bad either. Of course on top of all this, these batteries also come in a variety of colors too make it easy to find a palatable complement to where ever you choose to install them. Interesting things keep popping up on the green energy horizon.  

Dad Writes a Letter Re: his Kids Absences from School

On Face Book, I saw a letter that has of course gone viral that a father wrote to a school Principal after receiving a form letter about how family vacations are not considered excused absences. The kids missed school to go and cheer their Dad on in the Boston Marathon and also visited historical landmarks. There is a lot of history, old and new, there for sure. The kids did miss the standardized testing window at school which as a retired educator I’d consider a major no-no despite the opportunity for experiential learning. Some of the readers’ comments portrayed the father, his actions, and response to the form letter in such a positive light I could honestly say they were convinced Dad was heroic. On the other side of the issue this same letter writing father was labeled by some as arrogant and perhaps a less than stellar role model for his kids. Perhaps it is one thing to disagree with a form letter describing the school’s attendance policy and another to send a scathing response to the school’s Principal that basically left me with the impression that the father didn’t have much respect for the school folks and their efforts to provide an education for his kids. I think he took his position too far because I know firsthand how much time and caring goes into that education. Teachers don’t get enough credit for the work they do from the parents’ and politico’s side of society. That being said, the testing window here has closed and my grandsons are going to miss a few days of the less than last four weeks of school for a family emergency, the details of which I will not reveal here. That will be the excuse they turn in. If and when we receive a letter regarding the schools’ attendance policy (and these absences) I will just accept it and give no written response.

Capsule Wardrobes

This is an interesting current concept I just might try. I have a closet filled with clothes I don’t wear and that doesn't even include the jeans just gathering dust on my over the bathroom door hanger. And looking at the big picture, the capsule wardrobe seems to encourage mindful clothes shopping which for many is probably a good thing. I am not a fan of shopping but I have managed to accumulate lots of clothes and after a year of focused fitness most of my clothes consist of items that are either completely out of style or don’t fit. Hence I have all the more reason to consider a capsule wardrobe now. Simply defined a capsule wardrobe is a fixed amount of clothing items (often one capsule for each season- which here in south GA, means basically two capsules- hot weather or cold weather). Shoes are included along with clothes but in my research I haven’t seen underwear mentioned so I won’t count undies. The number 33 (for thirty-three items, Google-Project 333) is a popular one so when I get my wardrobe pared down to 33 items (tops, bottoms, dresses, and shoes) for every new purchase over that number an old item must go. Simplifying my lifestyle at least as far as my wardrobe goes appeals to me and Goodwill and the Salvation Army can always use a donation. I’ll let you know how this latest venture works out for me!

The Hallelujah Rock!

While cleaning up the beach my husband found an interesting ‘rock’ today. It’s funny because I told him (via text) this morning when he was on his way out to the beach to be on the lookout for ambergris, which is of course I am hoping his rock is. Ambergris is something I blogged about back on March 16^th in 2013. It is excreted (vomited or through other digestive channels) by sperm whales and used in the perfume industry. In my previous blog I mentioned that it was something I was keeping an eye out for on my beach walks because of its value, upwards of $10,000 per pound and the fact that it has been known to be found on the beaches in the Bahamas. So I wasn't surprised when my husband sent me this photo of the ‘rock’ he found in the high tide wrack line today but I was excited. Then I read online about a lady that found a diamond the size of a pinto bean, 3.96 carat, in Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. She has named it the Hallelujah Diamond and its value is easily comparable to that of a pound of ambergris. She is planning to keep it. Of course I figure my husband would prefer to keep money over a smelly beach rock, at least that’s what I think. If it isn't ambergris and hence it does become a keeper I’m naming it the Hallelujah Rock!

Cubs on the Rumor Mill

This is the only time of the year that I actually miss having cable TV, baseball season. In truth I have only turned my TV on once this month and that was last night to watch the Blacklist. But this morning as I was browsing MSN the 15 Major League Baseball Rumors that You Need to Know caught my eye and I knew I was going to click on it to see if any involved my lovable losers, the Cubs. The last and most recent four games I’d been to see in person rather than on the tube (three against the Rays at Tropicana Field and one in Atlanta against the Braves) were all Cub losses. In addition to seeing my favorite team play I got to go on a lost car adventure with a bunch of grandsons after the game in St. Petersburg which ended with a ride in the back of a police cruiser that the boys still talk about today. Then not too long ago Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, (a wonderful ballplayer and gentle spirit, one of my all-time favorite Cubs) passed away so after all my reminiscing, of course I had to check the rumor mill. There was one rumor regarding the Cubs and the possible trade of short stop, Starlin Castro. If they don’t trade him will he stay at short stop? These are the questions being tossed about but personally I hope the Cubbies keep him and maybe this will be the season I figure out how to watch some Cubs games on this computer!

Let the Girls Run

Of course now that I have finished weeding my flower bed and am seated ready to blog about a school in Australia that has banned girls from running because running can cause injury that would sacrifice their virginity and/or make them infertile, the wifi is down here at my house. Internet service has been a bit sketchy here as of late much to the grandkids chagrin. I was just planning to go back to that article and give it a reread as I found myself incredulous when I did the first reading. Of course this is a Muslim school so the fact that girls are allowed to attend is probably remarkable in itself. Maybe because the school is in Australia a bit farther away from the Middle Eastern heart of Islam. Maybe I am interchanging my words, Muslim and Islam, incorrectly but I can imagine running in a burka would be deterrent enough so the female runners there must be truly dedicated to the sport. I actually had a friend of that faith long ago that ran and she didn’t wear a burka but managed to cover her skin and remain within her considered cultural norms with regular running clothes. This was back in the 80s. Nevertheless, I am still basically addicted to running (I call it running but in reality I AM SLOW!) and though well past the age where speed, virginity, and/or fertility would even begin to matter, I couldn't imagine my life without it. I was sweating over the weed pulling in the flower bed today but it wasn't the same as the sweat I get from running. Getting all those weeds out did provide a measure of satisfaction but weeding doesn't take one to another place like running can, even when you just run in your own neighborhood like I do. I hope the media attention given to this school in Australia shines a light on the ridiculousness of the reasons for keeping these girls from running and helps in turn to get the ban lifted.

Goodbye Cell Towers?

Depending on your age you might remember (or not) how when the power went out, your cordless land line phone went out too. Those phones and many other land line phones (the kind plugged into a jack in your wall) have been becoming obsolete with the technological advance of the cell phone and more recently the smart phone. Even I have ditched the land line thinking why pay for something I don’t use. Well the next obsolete thing down the proverbial technological road might be cell phone towers. There’s a new technology that allows smartphones to communicate with other mobile devices up to a range of 500 meters, bypassing cell towers altogether and it is called LTE Direct. This new stuff, already being used by the military, uses something called licensed spectrum and doesn't drain a phone's battery life. It will become commercially available in 2016, which given how time flies, is right around the corner. In the immediate future LTE enabled devices have the potential to become competitive for fallback public safety networks that must function when cellular networks are not available or fail too, like when hurricanes, earthquakes, or other disasters topple towers or clog up the system with more call than can be handled. But in the longer run this technology could mean goodbye cell towers. I think they’re eyesores in our landscape anyway so I know I won’t miss them. 

Teach Tolerance, Not Hate

How sad it is to me when I read about a group of high school kids in Pennsylvania putting hateful posters on gay kids lockers and writing up a lynch list. The homophobic students, mostly boys, all wore flannel shirts and wrote “anti-gay” and drew crosses on the backs of their hands. There was pushing and general scuffling with Gay-Straight Alliance kids and their supporters at the high school too. All this occurred in response to the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance’s Day of Silence that was organized to draw attention to and condemn bullying against gay students. It is hard for a school to provide a safe, supportive environment for all children when this kind of intolerance occurs and makes the school the antithesis of safe and supportive for ALL children. I’m not sure how big the high school is (Claysville’s McGuffey High School) but as many as 100 students at took part in the Thursday protest. The GSA kids and others tried to counter the Anti-Gay protest with signs that said “Stick with Love” and “It Gets Better” on the following Monday. Hope the parents, teachers, and students on all sides of this can find ways to replace hate with tolerance because people are people regardless of their sexual orientation and hate has no place in our schools.

Stray Thoughts

The spring before last my sister trapped a litter of four nearly newborn feral kittens. Cats in general are just domesticated enough to have trouble making it in the wild and just wild enough to cause trouble in one’s domicile but these particular tiny ferals were totally wild. We took the four to First Coast No More Homeless Pets for a group discount on shots, spay and neutering, and there discovered that two were male and the other two female. I kept the females in hopes of taming them and the males were released back into the neighborhood in which they were born. It has been a little over two years and Stubby and Tubby (not the girliest cat names, but perfect for a pair of manx kittens) are still not the friendliest of felines. The males didn’t fare as well. They quickly became part of the food chain in the wild. Meanwhile Stub and Tub entertained each other and did solitary cat things most of the time when they weren't in hiding, intimidating the family dogs, or scratching up furniture their first year. For the most part they were only pettable while occupied at meal time and that’s where the taming began. Today Stubby decided it was time to sit in my lap as I began to work on my blog. In all fairness she has darted on and off my lap in the past to snatch a yarn ball while I crochet. She finds yarn irresistible but this time she snuggled in for the duration and some ear scratching. This is the day I am finally convinced that she has decided it is time to be a regular house cat. Here is the part where I’ll tell you that I am not yet nor will I ever be a ‘crazy old cat lady’ but I will admit that I am a collector of strays, namely stray thoughts, things, critters, kids, and even grown people. I have found that all require patience and time for taming but there is the satisfaction of discovering a friend that changes and enriches your life as you change and enrich theirs. When all is said and done there is that.  

The One Investment You Need Most For A Successful Retirement

I got the title for this blog post from MSN Money but where they advise putting most of your money into low-cost index funds and ETFs as the one investment one needs most for a successful retirement, I beg to differ. When I saw the picture of a smiling gray haired couple with golf clubs on their shoulders and smiles on their faces I thought for sure I could predict the obvious answer to what the one thing would be but I guessed wrong. Be that as it may I think MSN is incorrect on this one, investing in your health is what you need most for a successful retirement, according to me! Income from those low-cost index funds and ETFs is nice and all but you need good health to enjoy retirement and spend the money you earned by investing or saving. This leads me to another headline, one I saw yesterday and noticed once again today in the (as a hint maybe?)… Never Too Late: 10 Ways to Get Active at Any Age. This list struck a chord with me because it took me till retirement to get really focused on improving my health risks. Work, family, and stress derailed my efforts many times but now I hear comments on how retirement suits me (meaning I look healthier now rather than my old coworkers just seem happy not to see me at work anymore!). Anyway, I believe the second title to be true. It’s never too late to embrace and benefit from a healthy lifestyle. So log off, shut down, and go!

Swimming with Manatees

It was snorkeling actually, with no fins and no splashing that might startle the manatees during their rests. This was the second time I’d actually had an opportunity to swim with manatees in Crystal River. The first time was on my checkout dive for scuba diving certification some 30 plus years ago. That day we saw the manatees munching on what I thought was either hydrilla (native to Asia, Africa, and Eastern Australia) or elodea (native to South America) both considered invasive water plants here. FL Fish and Wildlife officers patrolled the area where we were making sure the manatees weren’t disturbed in any way. On this more recent (Spring Break at Three Sisters Springs) manatee swim the manatees, we saw manatees that were not resting but rather shoveling vegetation from the river bottom that looked like bright green hair when we pulled some up with the anchor. Although we saw no Fish and Wildlife peeps on patrol this trip our captain and guide, Fred and others plying the waterways did a good job of making sure kayakers and swimmers alike stayed out of restricted areas. They had all of us (my husband, myself, and a couple of grandkids) view a video about the rules and regulations regarding manatees and manatee etiquette in general. The wet suits we wore helped make the swim more tolerable but once we saw the manatees all thoughts of the cold dissipated. I swam parallel to a big mossy backed fellow and when he rose for a snoutful of air I let my palm slide along his back. All in all snorkeling with manatees in their natural habitat is an amazing experience. I know I won’t forget it but having underwater video and photos (including some serious footage of someone’s thumb) are great ways to keep the memories of this kind of trip fresh too.  

Pennies from Heaven

Found two while Fiff and I were out for our early morning run. Not sure where they came from but they somehow managed to land right where I could find them. Besides being the title of a song, Pennies from Heaven are sometimes considered a portent or sign. I’d always heard, See a penny? Pick it up. All the day you’ll have good luck! But the common meaning is one of unexpected benefits, especially financial ones to come. With this week’s IRS filing (and if owing-paying) deadline it would be nice if the pennies signified a big return. Not good luck for me because they don’t signify any tax refunds so on to another meaning.

Pennies from heaven are also sometimes thought to be sign from a spirit, sometimes a deceased loved one letting you know they are okay or sent from an angel that’s been missing you. I recently joined a running support group, Megs Miles, a group that runs to honor the memory of a runner, Meg Menzies, who was killed by a drunk driver last year while out on a run and left behind a husband and three young children. Her story has inspired many and often I read posts written by runners who feel her presence motivating them to keep going. Maybe Meg was sending Fiff and me reminders to keep on keeping on as we had been on the run for 40 minutes and still had a ways to go.

Or…Maybe those two pennies were somebody giving me back my two cents, thinking maybe I’d lost it. I do have a habit of putting in my two cents on a pretty regular basis whether people want it or not so if that’s it, thank you! 

Giant Methane Cloud

I know I've included methane madness in my blog somewhere before but there is more methane news, for real, maybe even right on our horizon. There is a big (half the size of the entire state of Connecticut) cloud of methane out there in our atmosphere and scientists have lost track of it. The source of the methane is unknown (though I have a few ideas after enchilada Tuesdays at our house) and the cloud has been present over the southwest (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) for six years (2003-09) as tracked by a European satellite. Methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide and can be quite a threat to the environment. I already knew the latter; once again I think enchilada Tuesdays. How has a methane mass of these proportions been lost, one might wonder? Well unfortunately, the European satellite used to collect the data “is no longer in commission.” However, Japan has agreed to capture images of the region where the methane mass was last located with their GOSAT satellite. Hopefully it has dissipated rather than moved on!

Second Place in the my Age Group for the Men’s Division of a 5K

Just when I get used to being recognized as a woman, albeit with almost a man’s first name-Jo, middle initial E, once again I was mistaken for a man and declared the second place age winner for men in a 5K I ran a couple of weeks ago. I had left as soon as I finished, before the race results were announced, to go to the local Peter Cottontail Express, yet I’m sure I put an X in the blank for female on my race application. Over the years I have found with a name like mine mistakes happen. I received plenty of mail and phone inquiries for Mr. Jo E. Mount. Once when I went to Armstrong University in Savannah to interview for an adjunct professor position, I was asked with eyebrows raised in surprise, “You’re Jo E. Mount?” After the confusion was cleared the interview went on and I did get the job. Nevertheless, as I recounted the story about coming in second in the male age category in my most recent 5K to different people the reactions varied. A female friend of mine of a similar age at the pharmacy was quite happy to hear I’d beat the men in a race and heaped on words of encouragement even when I told her my husband let them know about the mistake and I lost my title. Still it gave me a good feeling to know another woman supported my effort. Men chuckled at my retelling, especially when I mentioned my daughter made hints to my husband about how others might wonder about whether he had a  wife or perhaps more politically correct, a partner since he got third place. Love has no gender bias but either way I am running another 5K tomorrow and whether or not I improve my time or place in my age category I’m looking forward to showing my support for another good cause (this time Autism Awareness-CASA the time before) and just running for the sheer joy of it. 

Dang Video Games Make Kids Smarter!

Of all the things I read online today, I had to find playing video games in the top ten things that make your kids smarter. Of course reading and eating a good breakfast were also on the list but those wouldn't be the things that my grandkids would notice right away! Nor would they place any emphasis on fitness and team sports (also made the list!) but instead they would JUMP on the so called ‘fact’ that playing video games could make them smarter. They wouldn't care about the caveat included warning that the games should be those of strategy and creativity vs violence. They’d skim right over that because they love video games. Every school night the playing and viewing of all screens (all electronic) ends an hour before bedtime and reading actual bound books along with the brushing, flossing, and laying out of clothes for the next day commences. This has been grudgingly accepted as routine but this latest on MSN (if discovered by the grandkids) could be the beginning of a new argument for playing video games right up until bedtime. So here I am working on my blog, forced to minimize MSN every time one of them comes by. That’s right, just like an employee playing computer solitaire on their bosses’ dime! Okay I know I am dating myself with that one. I guess it is time to finally say uncle and admit that video games are back in my house to stay at least as long as grandkids are here. 

National CP Awareness Day

When my grandsons told me last night that they needed to wear something green today, I knew it wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day because that had already passed. So of course I asked and I was told there was a student there that everyone was wearing green for named Jacob. He walks with crutches. So I did a little looking up and found a green ribbon and some info on National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. The boys just said Jacob would get a kick out of it if he saw a bunch of people wearing green for him today and I know he did because I saw a sea of green garbed middle schoolers at dismissal. I could go on to give a bunch of information about CP here but instead I’ll just end with a link to a You Tube video of Jacob and Haley posted by one of the teachers at my grandsons’ school. They do a great job explaining and putting a face on CP. I love their courage and determination. Check them out at… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v4BsJAtckI

Another Controversy for Sept.11 Museum

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum was honored with the Themed Entertainment Association’s “Extraordinary Cultural Achievement” award at a black-tie affair, sponsored by global consultancy firm AECOM, was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel. The tickets to the affair started at $520 for nonmembers. Some of the families of the people lost on 9/11 are angry and feel that this “honor” does not bring dignity and respect to the World Trade Center museum but rather lumps the solemn memorial in with amusement parks and for profit, money making places of entertainment. The 9/11 Museum was given the award along with Universal Studios Florida, Harry Potter exhibit. This isn't the first of the controversies, over what is considered respectful and appropriate in regards to this national landmark, that have arisen since the museum’s opening in May and it probably won’t be the last. No monetary benefit accompanied the award itself but I side with the families that are outraged over the idea of honoring the heroes of 9/11 by including their solemn memorial in an award ceremony with a bunch of amusement oriented theme parks. The museum did send a representative to accept the award.

My Next Car Will Be…

AeroMobil, a flying car! I saw the video and I am really impressed. In my family I am the one that likes to keep a car till it’s almost an antique, in other words, long after it’s been paid for. That way I think I am getting my money’s worth. That’s the way it has always been until today when I saw the video on line for the AeroMobil, the flying car that manufacturers claim will be available in 2017. It will go 99 miles per hour on land and then the can wings fold out for the ultimate off road experience. It can fly 425 miles on a tank of gas at 124 miles per hour. This info and more can be found at the Aeromobil website. No price list yet but they will be taking orders next year.

There are only two problems with my plan to get one that I can see at this point. First I have to keep my current car running for two more years and secondly, I didn’t see them land the flying car in the video. But I have known all along that my next car would be a hybrid. Guess I’ll need to get a new kind of driver’s license too!

Joint Project between GE and the VA to Make Bedsores a Thing of the Past

The VA’s reputation for poorly serving those who have served our nation has slowly been fading from the limelight like so many other issues brought to the public’s eye by the media. Here is some good news about an innovation created in a joint effort by GE and the VA. A team of scientists have combined an array of sensing and analytical tools, including motion analysis, thermal profiling, image classification/segmentation, 3-D object reconstruction and vapor detection into a single medical sensing handheld probe. This probe is then used to assess and monitor bedsores. Bedsores (or pressure ulcers, the official name for bedsores) are pretty common and very painful. As many as 2.5 million patients get them every year. The device the VA and GE are working together to develop can help detect the earliest signs of bedsore formation. Researchers are hopeful that the info the device provides may help hospitals reduce and one day eliminate these painful pressure ulcers from developing all together. It’s nice to have some positive things to share about an innovation that will not only benefit our veterans but many others that visit hospitals and care centers in the civilian sector too.

Spring Break is NOT a Break for Everyone

It is spring break season and I am hearing a lot about towns trying to tame the spring break crowds and how the kids have migrated around in the south each season. Some of the latest destinations are in the panhandle these days’ vs the Atlantic coastal areas. I have always loved the gulf beaches, personally, but for some people spring break is not a break and one of those people is me. Spring break for me means spring cleaning and yard work and neither are all that much fun especially when you've “let things go” around the house and yard, so to speak. Yes, I am guilty and now I have to pay the price just when the weather is getting decent. I had to pull the extra trash can out this week and take it completely full to the curb with the city trash can and my recycling bin. Yep, spring cleaning means culling clutter, (I almost wrote crap the honest albeit less appropriate word) and I started putting things on the curb the day before trash day so some of the items could be someone else’s treasure. Surprisingly enough some things were gone by morning (and not just blown into the ditch) so I guess the old adage one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure is actually true. I did take some pleasure in painting fish in a barrel on my rain barrel after dumping out a bunch of slimy pine needles and cleaning out well for the lack of a better descriptor, a lot of green, smelly, slime. There is that at least. Spring Break, which only lasts a week, will probably be over in a blink of an eye as I continue to toil with spring cleaning and yard work until summer begins.

Women on 20s

Here is an idea long overdue, putting a woman on the twenty dollar bill. Women on 20s is a nonprofit group that is fighting to do just that by 2020, the 100^th year anniversary of the amendment giving women the right to vote. Members of this group and others feel that having a woman on the $20 bill would send the message that women are not just strong and powerful, but also deserve equality under the law, and I agree. They have a list of possible candidates for the $20 that includes Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller, Rosa Parks, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Patsy Mink, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The men pictured on paper currency, mostly presidents, haven’t changed since 1929. Women on 20s has a website for voting for the woman the group wants the Treasury secretary to put on the $20 in 2020, five short years from now. I, for one, hope they succeed. 

Ultrasound to Fight Dementia

The ultrasound scientists are using to clear tangles of plaques linked to Alzheimer’s in mice is more focused than the ultrasound used to see the shadows of babies in utero. After using the ultrasound to clear the plaques mice memories improve. One test used to measure this has to do with navigating through a maze (something I am not very good at). Ultrasound was originally used to help get drugs past the blood barrier that protects the brain but now scientist are hoping to use ultrasound without drugs to fight dementia without the use of drugs.

After several weeks of treating mice that had been genetically altered to produce amyloid plaques, the scientists found the ultrasound almost completely cleared the plaques in 75 percent of the animals, without apparent damage to brain tissue. I am officially impressed. The ultrasound stimulates microglial cells, which form part of the brain's immune system, and then the cells engulf and absorb the plaques which most agree are associated with dementia. This research is still years away from human trials (sheep are next after mice) but it is my hope that the approach using ultrasound will work on humans as I am rapidly approaching the age for dementia to begin. Who knows, maybe I’ll figure out how to get out of a corn maze in my old age too!

Pi=3.141592653 = March 14, 2015 at 9:26:53=Today!

Pi was special today, all the more reason to celebrate with some of Pi’s homophone, pie! If you are not into math or pie (think custard, pizza, quiche, Eskimo, etc.) you could have celebrated today’s beautiful spring weather and blooming azaleas by spending time outdoors like I did. 

Hope you found a way to enjoying the day with or without pie! 

Happy Pi Day!

Internet Connected Barbie, Hello!

When I was a kid I played with Barbies (and complained when my twin brother cut their hair after tangling it to rat nest standards) but the big talking doll was Chatty Cathy. She had a string you pulled and a few different phrases that randomly repeated. That was the entire level of interaction involved. Now toy makers have come out with an internet (the cloud) connected Barbie that not only talks to you but stores and uses the things you have spoken with her about in conversation. Yes, the doll uses a speech-recognition platform called Pullstring, developed by San Francisco startup ToyTalk, which allows writers to create evolving dialogue based on what your child says. Your child presses a button on Hello Barbie's belt to chat and Barbie “listens” to their speech. An audio recording is then sent over a WiFi connection to ToyTalk’s cloud-based servers, where your child's speech is recognized and processed so Barbie can then make an intelligent response. There are groups with privacy concerns stirred up over this newest Barbie clamoring for her removal from the market. I think it may be too late for that since the cat is probably already out of the bag and I wonder what my grandson, who talks to Siri on my iPhone, making Siri call herself a doo-doo-head, would have to say to Barbie! 

The Carnival Returns

That time of year again and as the rides and booths arrive and fill the parking lot across from the middle school the excitement builds (and my dread level rises as my wallet level looks at a big decrease). My grandkids have made comments about it the past two mornings in a row so I figured I’d mention this in my blog today.

The younger one just wants to go. The older one would easily fit in with the unsupervised teen mob that roams on weekend nights, the time I always avoid. Interestingly enough he doesn't want to go then because all his friends will want to ride rides he is too afraid to ride. Maybe that is putting it too bluntly. Perhaps the wilder rides (and stomach churners) are just not what he considers fun, but basically he doesn't want to chicken out in front of his friends. I used to love roller coasters but I am content with the Ferris wheel now and even that requires coaxing with these guys.

The other predominant comment was the one about the guy that was killed at the carnival last year. Didn't someone get killed by a ride last year? That was the question I decided to research. From personal experience I know a past student of mine actually broke a bone tripping on the way up the ramp to get on the Himalaya. This happened a few years back and could not be misconstrued and called a death. Apparently a worker was too close to a moving ride and did get knocked unconscious by one last year. According to all reports he was tended to by the local EMS peeps and survived. The only deaths I found in my extensive research were the mysterious deaths of goldfish won on the midway. The carnival does have a website you can go to (for a coupon-$5 off wrist bands, family packs and $2 off a ten dollar food purchase-they only take printed paper coupons no phone coupons) and the dates and times for this year’s appearance. Here is the web address, http://www.dreamlandamusements.com/. You can find the safety standard section too but no mention of the goldfish there either even though that’s the one thing other than an empty wallet and a tummy ache that my younger grandson will want to bring home.    

Don’t Forget DST Tonight!

Got this lovely email from my better half explaining tonight’s spring ahead! (He does a much better job with this than I did last year!)

Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday morning as we enter Daylight Savings.

American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light" to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.

A major contributor to the invention of DST was New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson. In 1895, Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society, proposing a two-hour shift forward in October and a two-hour shift back in March.

Germany was the first country to implement DST. Clocks there were first turned forward at 11:00 p.m. (23:00) on April 30, 1916. In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time - or "fast time", as it was called then was first introduced in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law to support the war effort during World War I. The initiative was sparked by Robert Garland, a Pittsburgh industrialist who had encountered the idea in the United Kingdom. A passionate campaigner for the use of DST in the United States, he is often called the "father of Daylight Saving". In the United States, DST caused widespread confusion from 1945 to 1966 for trains, buses and the broadcasting industry because states and localities were free to choose when and if they would observe DST. Congress decided to end the confusion and establish the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that stated DST would begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October. However, states still had the ability to be exempt from DST by passing a local ordinance. The U.S. Congress extended DST to a period of ten months in 1974 and eight months in 1975, in hopes to save energy following the 1973 oil embargo. The trial period showed that DST saved the energy equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil each day, but DST still proved to be controversial. Many complained that the dark winter mornings endangered the lives of children going to school. After the energy crisis was over in 1976, the U.S. changed their DST schedule again to begin on the last Sunday in April. DST was amended again to begin on the first Sunday in April in 1987. Further changes were made after the introduction of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Daylight Saving Time (sometimes called Daylight Savings Time) is now in use in over 70 countries worldwide and affects over a billion people every year.

And now you know the rest of the story..... 

Linguistic Fingerprints

My husband has a saying about if you don’t have it in writing you don’t have squat. This is even more true now than ever before because textual sleuths find clues these days, not in fingerprints or handwriting, but in word choice, spelling, punctuation, character sequences and in subtle (and usually subconscious) patterns of sentence structure. Forensic linguistics has a controversial subspecialty, author identification, and authors are identified through these clues found in the treasure trove of written communication we create everyday…in email, in texts and in tweets. Private companies want to find out which disgruntled employee has been posting bad stuff about the boss online. Police and prosecutors seek help figuring out who wrote a threatening e-mail or whether a suicide note was a forgery and forensic linguistics seek to provide answers. There are debates about the acceptability of this new science in courts of law now but as error rates drop and techniques become more refined forensic linguistics will become more important. The new whodunit will become a who wrote it, something to think about the next time you consider posting a rant on Face Book!

Fight Blight? There’s an App for that!

In Jacksonville there’s a new app for fighting blight. You can put this app on your smartphone and then when you see blight you can just snap a photo, send, and the city gets the photo and location, no muss, no fuss, and no long wait on hold. The actual fight is then up to the city but at least by using the app you can get the ball rolling. The other, somewhat obvious, alternative would be to get down and dirty, and fight it yourself. In other words, go one on one with the blight. If it is litter you could pick it up and properly dispose of it or (here’s a novel idea) consider not littering in the first place. Maybe St. Marys needs an app like this…or just a few less litterbugs!

Rabbits with Reefer Madness!

Yep, wildlife living the wild life is just another possible side effect of the legalization of marijuana. Rabbits in particular are apparently attracted to and especially fond of weed. A DEA agent, Matt Fairbanks told a Utah state senate hearing about how in the course of his marijuana eradication work, he had encountered animals, including rabbits, that had developed a taste for the drug and how when under the influence these same rabbits lose their natural instincts to run away. This was presented as one of the most recent arguments against the legalization of medical marijuana there but it seems pretty moot since medical marijuana is supposed to be grown and produced indoors where a wild hare dare not usually travel. All I know is whenever I see a bunny nibbling away on the tender grass along the roadside you can bet I’ll be wondering whether or not it plans to take off as I near it and just what kind of grass it’s been nibbling on. And as for the Easter Bunny and what’s in your basket…..that’s a topic for another day!

Political Conservatives Going Green

Sundogs in St. Marys

Green renewable energy, like solar power is a movement that actually unites grassroots political activists from the left and the right, even though the issues involving the green energy movement in this country are more often associated with liberals. Getting both parties (Dems and Republicans) behind these renewable energy issues is a good thing because solar energy companies still need protection from the better funded (big business) fossil fuel people (the ones more often associated with Republicans). Even though the right and left have different motivations for seeing solar power succeed the simple idea that both political opposites actually support the same issue and find some common ground is a really good place to be. Hope it can be a jumping off point for bipartisanship in other issues too.

Blogger Hacked to Death with Machetes

I really wish this was just a funny title for a blog post but it isn't. Since 2004 four bloggers in Bangladesh have been attacked and most recently two writers murdered by those representing opposing religious extremes. I’ll be blunt. Avijit Roy received numerous death threats from Islamic militant groups prior to his murder by machetes last Thursday. Roy was the founder of the Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog, and he was killed inside Dhaka University, a bastion of secularism and free speech in the Muslim-majority nation of Bangladesh. The attack also left Roy’s wife seriously injured and is being condemned by the U.S. as a shocking act of violence. Rest in Peace Avijit Roy and may your killers know that though they succeeded in murdering you, your words live on and cannot be unwritten.

Happy Polar Bear Day!

Today is only a so~so day to be a polar bear. Global warming (which this winter doesn't seem indicative of) and climate change are the two things that have caused the polar bear to be considered a vulnerable species according to international conservation organizations. Good reasons to be a polar bear, however, abound. Polar bears have excellent noses and can smell a seal (a meal) more than a mile away. Polar bears are the largest land animal carnivore too. Pregnant polar bears often give birth to twins (I’m a twin!) and pregnant mamma bears don’t eat during their pregnancy, they just live off their fat (I wish that would have worked for me!). Polar bears actually have black skin and colorless hair. That last fact just seemed like an interesting one to me. So even though it may only be a so~so day to be a polar bear, I wish you a Happy Polar Bear Day anyway! And many more!  

Faking DNA

DNA, the veritable gold standard for evidence in criminal cases, can be faked! Scientists in Israel have demonstrated fabricated DNA evidence, specifically in blood and saliva samples. With access to a DNA database they can construct a sample to match a DNA profile without obtaining tissue from that person. And these same scientists say the process is simple enough that any biology undergrad could replicate it. This coupled with the fact that DNA evidence is easier to plant at a crime scene than a fingerprint, is enough to give this person (me) pause. At this point in time it appears that criminologists and investigators aren't worried because they think the technology is still beyond the reach of common criminals. I wonder how long before that changes and then how many cases will have to be overturned whether or not the person or persons were actually guilty of criminal acts. 

When You-Know-Where Freezes Over!

Despite the recent onset of memes on FaceBook menacing who ever complains first about the heat this summer, I find myself tiring of the cold. That’s because it has finally happened. Not when pigs fly, but rather when you-know-where freezes over and of course I mean Niagara Falls! This actually doesn't happen every year but it manages to make the news when it does. In all honesty I must say here that I have never actually visited Niagara Falls, frozen or not. I have been to several waterfalls though, in Hawaii, Waimea Falls, in Michigan, Tahquamenon Falls, and in Georgia, Amicalola Falls. I saw some falls in Alaska also but never have I witnessed any frozen waterfalls. I have enjoyed seeing waterfalls and listening to the rush and roar of the cascading water, but as I mentioned previously I am tired of the latest polar vortex, arctic air mass, or wintry blast, whatever the weather folks are calling it. I will be content this winter to enjoy seeing Niagara Falls in all of its frozen splendor from the comfort of my own home, wrapped up in a snuggly blanket, in front of my TV or computer!

Funny Bunny Business

Bunny slippers, Bye Baby Bunting, bunnies in general just bring warm snuggly thoughts to my mind, especially since we have been experiencing one of the coldest southern winters in my memory. Nevertheless, the habits of rabbits (in Europe according to a recent study) are changing. Instead of bunching up (I prefer the term snuggling) in complex burrows in rural areas, rabbits are moving to the cities and living more solitary lives in smaller rabbit warrens. The closer rabbits are to the city the less populated and smaller the burrows become. Cities provide a better food supply thanks to humans feeding them deliberately and offer easy access to shrubs and other vegetation. Cities are warmer so the need to snuggle for warmth is reduced. Burrows don’t need multiple exits (think of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons) because the threat from predators is reduced in cities too. Rabbit populations in rural areas are declining and cities are serving as new habitats for them.

Now it’s time for me to slip into my bunny slippers. 

Left Swipe Dat

Today’s title has a couple of meanings. When you left swipe dat on your smartphone, you are getting rid of an image or email you don’t like or want (sending it to the trash so to speak). So left swipe dat can be an indicator of dislike. The bigger (more viral) meaning is it’s the name of a video on You Tube starring various internet personalities (none of whom I know or am familiar with) that my grandsons showed me this morning. They were pretty insistent about me featuring this in my blog today and after watching it I agreed wholeheartedly with them about the value of its message. Keep in mind, that my only use for You Tube in the past has been for videos on how to crochet new stitches, can or freeze veggies, or occasional funny cat entertainment. I think highly enough of this (Left Swipe Dat) to try to copy a link to it at the end of this entry. (if the link doesn't work just type Left Swipe Dat in your search engine) It is worth checking out. I’m glad my grandsons found it and I hope they and all the other young people watching it take its message to heart. Perhaps there are some good things on those phones everyone seems so attached to these days! After you watch look out for a new finger gesture I’m working on. I point (with my index finger), paired with my over the glasses, eyebrows up, teacher/granny look, and then slide that same finger that’s pointing right at you, to the left. When you see it you’ll know you or whatever you've been doing has been left swiped too!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcAj3lOyv3s  

Thundersnow

Here is an odd topic for me since I can now say I've lived in the south longer than I lived in the north where I may have had an opportunity to experience thundersnow storms. I have no recollection of it if there was one way back then. Now living in the south, I get excited if there is even a slight chance of flurries. There were a few flakes here this winter and no I’m not talking about visiting family either, I am talking about snowflakes. Thundersnow, however, is a completely different story. Thunder and snow together seems especially peculiar because when you've lived in and around the lightning capital of the USA (central FL) you come to associate thunder with hot (really hot) weather, not snow. But there you have it, thunder and snow can and does go together. Thundersnow is relatively rare but like regular thunderstorms with lightning, thunder, and rain, they occur when cold and warm fronts meet. Thundersnow storms, a winter time phenomena, generally occur where there is lake effect snow (think the Great Lakes area). I guess since I have no desire to drive in snowy conditions (like the ones associated with lake effect snow) it is unlikely that I will actually ever get to experience thundersnow. I figure I’ll just have to be content to watch it via video clip on the internet.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Today is the day for this, a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13^th. Along with not being able to pronounce the name of this phobia I also find it difficult to spell. Numerous analyses of accident and hospital visit data shows that Friday the 13ths are no more dangerous than other days, but for some reason this particular day gets a bad rep. Maybe it is the combination of Friday, known for being an unlucky day for a long time…since Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and 13, the floor number that many hotels and skyscrapers skip completely. The number 13 has its own phobia name too (Triskaidekaphobia), so there is that. I think 13 can be a good kind of luck when you consider a baker’s dozen. Either way, I am not superstitious about Friday the 13^th. I have been too busy crocheting hats leading up to it for the Mardi Gras and St. Marys Express craft booths tomorrow. So I’ll end this here and go count and organize my hat inventory. I already know I don’t have 13 of any one particular kind!

Seeing the World through Rose Colored What???

A Poem…

Roses and Valentines go together so well,

Today rose colors meanings are of what I must tell…

Roses of red - the color I favor,

Speak of love - paired with chocolate, my favorite flavor,

White roses are for those with hearts unacquainted,

With love’s tender brushstrokes, a heart yet unpainted.

Roses of pink, which signify grace,

Match the blush of new love on the one you love’s face.

Peach for the modest, purple enchant,

Orange is fascinating - I agree with that.

This year I’ll forgo roses for a simple Forget-Me-Not,

And don’t forget the chocolate ‘cause I like that a lot!