News and views to inform or amuse
What is it about
Corn Hole and red necks?
Two middle school boys
evenly matched
played well together.
A toddler was poised
to join them
until his mother intervened.
Some adults also
started playing.
What is it about cornhole
and rednecks?
We all age
some better than others
For many of us
a time comes
when we no longer
enjoy the things we used to
Is it the noise
the hassle
the crowds
our body saying
"Wait a minute, Pal."
Does our mind
say you are to old
and the body retorts
"Tell the mind
to do an anatomically
impossible act!"
Patience,
flexibility
both mental
and physical
may all stiffen with age
I learned more about being Blue (in the best possible way) by reading this marvelous post on the history and word origins associated with Blue. I could try until I am blue in the face, without knowing as much as Luisa shared in this post. I don’t feel so blue now, after reading this and learning so much.
Are you true blue or do you suffer from blue balls? Perhaps you are a blue haired, blue blooded, blue stocking.
💙💙💙💙💙
Mark your calendars! December 4, 2025, brings the Cold Moon, and this year it’s a dazzling supermoon. Rising brighter and slightly larger than usual, it lights up the long winter nights. Because it’s a supermoon, it may appear slightly larger and brighter than a typical full Moon—up to ~8% larger in diameter and ~16% brighter. For most casual observers, the difference is subtle, but it’s more noticeable if compared to a “micromoon,” when the Moon is at its farthest point from Earth.
The Moon names we use in The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from centuries of Native American, colonial, and European traditions. December’s full Moon is most commonly called the Cold Moon (Mohawk), reflecting the frigid season. It is also known as the Long Night Moon (Mohican) because it rises during the longest nights of the year, near the winter solstice, and remains above the horizon for an extended period.
Other names for the Full Moon:
Why does it not grow old
Staring at the moon so Cold?
No matter how much I spy
I can't find St. Nick
in the immense dark sky
The magi used the star
to guide them on their way
could we find that self same
star in the skies today?
Back in the 1980s, I remembered 9 year old Michael running home to tell his mother that a kid used the F-word at school. He never said the word or how it was used.
His 2 year old brother Bobby, was all ears and the next day I heard him calling his mother or me,” You F-word, you!” He did not know what the F-word was or what it meant, but knew it was a bad word and how to use it dramatically in a sentence.
I was in a store today ,when the owner said Shit or something similar, while we were discussing politics. She quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was around. (They weren’t.) My mind flashed back to Bobby and I said “You F-word, you”, smiling when I said it. Since I was a store regular, she knew me well enough to know I was kidding and not the least offended.
Since 47 has become so comfortable flouting most norms and conventions, I have noticed a general loosening of both manners and cussing, as vulgarities and impatience have become the norms. It’s the gradual coarsening of America, as we go from danged to damn and heck to hell. What in the heck are we turning into?
One of the side benefits of an extensive vocabulary, inviting someone to please visit the fiery furnace in an expedited manner, without using a single four-letter word. Instead of telling them to do an anatomically impossible act, we now just tell them to go f**k themselves.
Since no one seems able to willing or able to remind TACO how polite, well taught people are supposed to act, we have given ourselves permission to imitate him in most ways, whether it’s what we say, how we respond to irritants, or how we think business and government were meant to be conducted.
Nationally and individually, many of us notice that other people are so coarse, they are off course. We can’t be talking about ourselves, of course!
Ada Lovelace Day https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/ada-lovelace-day/
Ada Lovelace Day was created to celebrate one of the first computer programmers. As the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, Augusta Ada Byron, was brought up by her mother, Annabella after he passed.
Her mother feared that she would inherit her father’s poetic temperament, and gave Ada a strict upbringing of logic, science, and mathematics.
Ada became fascinated with mechanisms and designed steam flying machines, poring over the scientific magazines of the time and embracing the British Industrial revolution.
In 1833, Ada Lovelace was introduced to Charles Babbage whom she helped to develop a device called The Analytical Engine; an early predecessor of the modern computer. Lovelace and Babbage worked together closely for many years in order to refine the Engine.
Ada found relative fame in 1842 when she expanded on an article by an Italian mathematician, in which she elaborated on the use of machines through the manipulation of symbols.
Although Babbage had sketched out programs before, Lovelace’s were the most elaborate and complete, and the first to be published; so she is often referred to as “the first computer programmer”.
Ada Lovelace died of cancer at the age of 36 a few short years after the publication of “Sketch of the Analytical Engine, with Notes from the Translator”. The Analytical Engine remained a vision for many but until Ada’s notes inspired Alan Turing to work on the first modern computers in the 1940s.
Her passion and vision for technology have made her a powerful symbol for women in the modern world of technology. That’s why we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day!
Grace Brewster Hopper was another famous woman in computers. Grace Brewster Hopper was a US Navy rear admiral and a computer science pioneer who helped lay the groundwork for modern computing. During World War II, she was assigned to program the Mark I computer and later worked on the UNIVAC I, the first commercial electronic computer. Hopper is known for inventing tools that simplified coding and made computers more user-friendly. She also organized workshops and conferences to promote understanding of computers and programming.
I had the privilege of seeing ADM Hopper speak at the Naval Post Graduate School in the mid 1980s. She was still on active duty and visibly frail. Her sense of humor was ever ready when she joked about how the Navy was queried about it’s youth program because she and ADM Hyram Rickover “Father of the Nuclear Navy” were both in their 80s and still on active duty. She was also famous for carrying around a foot of rope to illustrate how long a nanosecond was. “A nanosecond is an incredibly short period of time: it is one billionth of a second (10⁻⁹ seconds). To put it into perspective, in the time it takes light to travel roughly 30 centimeters (or about 1 foot), a nanosecond has already passed.”
She was also attributed of find the first bug ( really a moth) in a computer. On September 9, 1947 — at 3:45pm — Grace Hopper recorded the “first actual case of a bug being found” in her logbook. The bug was a moth found between the relay contacts of the Harvard Mark II computer. Many have debunked this myth saying that the bug could not have been in the machine and the handwriting does not match other examples of Hopper’s handwriting.
Feelings reach through
derma, viscera, even bones
to touch more deeply
than you thought possible
heart
spirit
mind
soul
body
Profoundly changed
in ways
impossible
to understand
initially
Experience may
provide
a partial lesson,
eternity
may not be
long enough
to fully digest
or understand
Gecko on the outside wall
Protecting those within
Since the Bible says they're unclean
Would that be a sin?
They eat insects and bugs galore
Even cockroaches by the score
I love gecko and want some more
Tricks of the light
determine the shade
whether the colors are seen
or the shadows fade
Tricks of the light
that don't enlighten the mind
determines who pulls ahead
and who falls behind
Tricks of the light
reveal and conceal
both what is true
and what is unreal
Tricks of the light
do you shine or just hide
Do your lights and your actions
reveal what's inside?
noun: dope; plural noun: dopes
informal – a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes, especially marijuana or heroin.
“my dad caught me smoking dope”
informal – a stupid person.
“though he wasn’t an intellectual giant, he was no dope either”
verb
administer drugs to (a racehorse, greyhound, or athlete) in order to enhance or inhibit sporting performance.
“the horse was doped before the race”
smear or cover with varnish or other thick liquid.
“she doped the surface with photographic emulsion
adjective
informal – very good
“the suit is dope”
dope off – change from a waking to a sleeping state
be doped to the gills – to be thoroughly intoxicated by drugs, especially those prescribed by a doctor, to the point of incoherence or senselessness.
dope out – To intoxicate someone (with narcotic or psychotropic drugs), especially to the point of losing consciousness or becoming incomprehensible. A noun or pronoun can be used between “dope” and “out.”
dope sheet – A racing publication that provides detailed information on racehorses and their jockeys to prospective gamblers. Also known as a “scratch sheet.” or A document summarizing important details and background information regarding a specific person, activity, situation, or any other subject or A set of running instructions provided by an animator to photographers and editors as to how a particular animation should be filmed. Also known as an “exposure sheet.”
bum dope – navy term for bad information
rope-a-dope – A boxing strategy in which one allows oneself to become trapped against the ropes while blocking an opponent’s punches, thus causing them to become fatigued and vulnerable to attack or a term for using such a strategy
inside dope – Information that is not widely known or shared; privileged information.
straight dope – Information that is not widely known or shared; privileged information.
You Dope – You fool
I'll give you the dope
about being a dope
because if you're not on dope
you may still have a hope
because of the rope a dope
ploys of some politicians
will have you doped out
in need of morticians
My electronic keyboard lacks the clack
which maybe why I've lost the knack
of keeping my writing on the track
It's not because I'm such a slacker
just that I have lost my tracker
and my keyboard has no clacker
I have the rhyme but not the rhythm
which may be why there is a schism
when writing through a musical prism
The name “Cold Moon” is a descriptive label for the December full Moon, used by various native North American tribes and Celtic culture. In the Northern Hemisphere, December often marks the coldest day of the year, although temperatures can significantly vary, and record lows can happen at any point during the winter months. Since December signifies the official start of winter, it is often associated with the coldest temperatures, as the season settles and intensifies. This is also reflected in the Chinese name for this month’s Moon, “Bitter Moon,” which likely alludes to the bitter cold that arrives in December.
The full moon casts a cold clear light
illuminating, not warming the winter night
catching waves break as they roll to shore
white caps showing by the score
I just discovered this evocative, touching song written by one of my high school classmates, Lisa Nemzo.
International recording artist, Lisa Nemzo was inspired by a true story of a mother who drives from NY to Arlington to visit the grave of her son who was killed in Iraq. Nemzo plays the mom in the film, directed by Mary Ann Skweres. The song was written by Lisa Nemzo with the late poet Artie Colatrella, to honor the fallen warriors and their families and send the passionate message to the service men and women who serve in all branches of our military: “We will not forget you.” Washington Post Review http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/t…
Even though Memorial Day was a week ago, I couldn’t wait until next year to share this haunting song.
I have a somewhat personal connection with Arlington Cemetery since for 12 years I was the librarian at Ft Myer Library, which is the home of the 3rd US Infantry “The Old Guard”, who provides the caisson and the Riderless Horse for military funerals. Another part of the Old Guard provides the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guards.
Arlington Cemetery is separated from Ft Myer by a fence.
Gardens of Stone was a 1987 book by Nicholas Profitt. It was also a 1987 movies starring James Caan and James Earl Jones.
https://www.bookweb.org/independent-bookstore-day
https://www.readmoreco.com/blogs/book-news/the-best-bookstores-in-all-50-states
https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned.[1] Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, closely held corporations or partnerships, cooperatives, or nonprofits. Independent stores can be contrasted with chain bookstores, which have many locations and are owned by corporations which often have divisions in other lines besides bookselling. Specialty stores such as comic book shops tend to be independent.
Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons[2] and independents historically supported new authors and independent presses.[3]
Although it is billed as a fable, it really happens and versions of it happen too often.
If you are female, (and have had a comparable experience) roll your eyes in agreement, if you are male please try to figure out why some females feel like this.
I was reading about a transgender male in another blog who wrote that one of the unexpected benefits of changing from female to male was the realization that suddenly people wanted to hear his opinion as opposed to cutting the same person off when she was still a female.
This does not apply to all groups, all women or all men, so please don’t raise your hackles too high.
Would you risk going to jail so someone could read a book about a person who looked or felt like them? C-ontrolling E-very N-otion S-omeone O-btained R-eading, S-mothering H-ope I-ndependance P-ersonality
We were the second car in line, waiting to make a right onto a major secondary road.
The car to the left of us successfully made a left hand turn. No traffic was coming in either direction. The Hyundai in front of us made no effort to move forward. Not sure if the driver was on s cellphone or not, but he obliviously continued to backup the exit from the parking lot.
I honked. The driver eventually pulled forward at about 25 mph in a 35-40 mph speed zone. The car drifted over into the empty bike lane like the driver really wanted to get off the road and finish whatever had occupied him initially. However, despite weaving across the bike and turn lanes, the car progressed v-e-r-y slowly down the road.
As we approached the light, it turned red. The driver sailed though the red light and continued at the speed limit, once he realized that it served no further value to continue driving slowly.
Where are the cops when you need them?
For many places in the United States, people will turn the clocks back an hour, essentially coming off Day Light Savings Time and returning to Standard Time. Although most of us will do it when we go to bed, officially the clocks are turned back at 2 am on Sunday.
One year I woke up at 0200 to see my digital clock jump from 0200 back to 0100–hence the 25 hour day.
Although I expect that most of us will use that extra hour to sleep, what else would you do with that extra hour? While I am typing this I can hear SXM playing Time Passages by Al Stewart. Fascinating coincidence.
As your rights more important than my rights? Are you religious convictions more worthy than mine are? Does might mean right? Does white mean right (whether skin or color of a cowboy's hat)? Why is it ok to demand that you not have to get the jab or wear a mask but it is not right to have access to an abortion, contraception, or even accurate information on that topic? When up is down and in is out when no listens, they scream and shout who knows what life is all about?
e-Quips 