● Richard Burton, who starred in the 1984 film “1984,” died in 1984.
● Ninety Mile Beach in New Zealand is only 55 miles long. It is misnamed because European settlers in the mid-1800s could traverse the beach on horseback in three days, and horses typically covered 30 miles a day. They failed to account for sand slowing their progress.
● 250 languages are written and read from left to right, 12 from right to left.
● In Hawaiian, the word ukulele means jumping flea.
● The Province of New Jersey, an English colony that preceded the American Revolution, granted women the right to vote in 1776. But in 1807, as a US state, New Jersey reverted to the old system wherein only white men could vote. Classy.
● In America, 375 slices of pizza are consumed per second.
● 45 men have served as US President. Only 12 were elected to a second term.
● The only member of ZZ Top who doesn’t have a beard is Frank Beard.
Science, as you know, is willing to change its conclusions as new evidence warrants. Well, while I wasn’t paying attention, science made a whopper of a change about the nature of evolution.
As Darwin explained, evolution occurs through the process of natural selection. Namely, the fittest organisms survive, reproduce, and pass on their traits to the next generation. The idea also took root that the process unfolds as a rather neat and orderly progression, as if the species is changing by climbing a ladder, moving onward and upward.
That concept — that evolution is largely progressive — is now out the window. Instead, experts think evolution is less like a ladder and more like a big, gnarly tree, with lots of branches and numerous dead ends everywhere.
The new thinking is that a species evolves to adapt to a specific, immediate environment. For example, researchers once believed that the first horses had four toes, then evolved to three, then two, and finally to hooves.
More likely, toed horses evolved as more suitable in various marshy habitats, and hoofed horses evolved to navigate dry, rocky ground. Maybe one evolved from the other, maybe it didn’t. Think chaos, not orderliness.
Learning this made my head swim, but it makes sense. And it’s wonderfully objective.
I love science.
The Chase
My dog Jake sees deer all the time as they pass through the woods behind our house. It’s a thrill for him, but he’s inside a fence. You can bet he aches to be free, to give chase as nature intended, galloping in pursuit through the trees, unrestrained by fence or leash.
Not long ago, he got his wish. He and I went walking at Jefferson Elementary School on a Saturday, when he could go off-leash. The school property backs up to a multiple-acre woods.
As we walked along the edge of the woods, Jake suddenly froze and stared into the trees. Seconds later, a deer bolted and took flight. In a heartbeat, Jake was after it.
The chase lasted 10 or 15 seconds. Ultimately, 75 or so yards away, the deer leapt a fence into the safety of someone’s back yard. The drama was over.
When Jake came trotting back out of the woods, he was panting with excitement and exhaustion. A beaming dog smile was on his face.
Chickens
The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is the planet’s most common bird and one of the most widespread of domestic animals. More than 50 billion cluckers are raised annually as a source of meat and eggs. They are a crucial and relatively low-maintenance food source worldwide.
The modern chicken is a descendant of junglefowl that evolved on the Indian subcontinent about 8,000 years ago. Man has raised domestic chickens since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.
Early ocean-going explorers, including the Vikings, helped introduce chickens to all parts of the world. Typically, live chickens were kept on ships as part of the crew’s food supply, and the birds often were traded in foreign ports for needed supplies.
The origin of chickens in the Americas? Christopher Columbus introduced them here on his second voyage in 1493.
Draw a crazy picture, Write a nutty poem, Sing a mumble-grumble song, Whistle through your comb. Do a loony-goony dance ‘Cross the kitchen floor, Put something silly in the world That ain’t been there before.
———
Harriet Tubman
By Eloise Greenfield
Eloise Little Greenfield (1929-2021)
Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff Wasn’t scared of nothing neither Didn’t come in this world to be no slave And wasn’t going to stay one either
“Farewell!” she sang to her friends one night She was mighty sad to leave ’em But she ran away that dark, hot night Ran looking for her freedom She ran to the woods and she ran through the woods With the slave catchers right behind her And she kept on going till she got to the North Where those mean men couldn’t find her
Nineteen times she went back South To get three hundred others She ran for her freedom nineteen times To save Black sisters and brothers Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff Wasn’t scared of nothing neither Didn’t come in this world to be no slave And didn’t stay one either
And didn’t stay one either
———
When Earth’s Last Picture is Painted
By Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
When Earth’s last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried, When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died, We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it — lie down for an aeon or two, Till the Master of All Good Workmen Shall put us to work anew.
And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair; They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comet’s hair. They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul; They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!
And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame; And no one will work for the money, and no one will work for the fame, But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They are!
———
Remember
By Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)
Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann’d: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.
———
Try Again
By W. E. Hickson
William Edward Hickson (1803-1870)
‘T is a lesson you should heed, Try, try again; If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try again; Then your courage should appear, For, if you will persevere, You will conquer, never fear; Try, try again.
Once or twice though you should fail, Try, try again; If you would at last prevail, Try, try again; If we strive, ’tis no disgrace Though we do not win the race; What should you do in the case? Try, try again.
If you find your task is hard, Try, try again; Time will bring you your reward, Try, try again. All that other folks can do, Why, with patience, should not you? Only keep this rule in view: Try, try again.
As I noted a while back in this post, I’m not a fan of the works of William Shakespeare. I put it this way:
Most of us, especially we writers, have an ingrained tendency to be precise and literal when we communicate. We try to speak and write in ways that best convey our intended meaning to others. That would seem to be the point: to express thoughts clearly and precisely.
Shakespeare saw it differently. He was among the poets and authors to whom clarity and precision are optional. Their goal, apparently, was to perform and entertain.
Well, I prefer clarity and precision. So I tune out the likes of Shakespeare in favor of, oh, Robert Frost and Sarah Teasdale and Dorothy Parker and Poe and Kipling.
Shakespeare himself, of course, was a genius. His mastery of the English language was astounding. And he created hundreds of new words and phrases, as well as found new ways to use existing ones.
His phrases “break the ice,” “melted into thin air,” and “the lady doth protest too much” are wonderfully, brilliantly descriptive.
Here are other common expressions Shakespeare is credibly thought to have originated:
All that glitters is not gold All the livelong day As luck would have it Be-all and end-all Brave new world Breathe one’s last Brevity is the soul of wit Clothes make the man Down the primrose path Eat me out of house and home Fancy-free Fit for the gods Foregone conclusion Forever and a day The game is afoot Give the devil his due Good riddance Greek to me Have not slept one wink Heart of gold In my heart of hearts Kill with kindness Knock, knock. Who’s there? Lie low Love is blind Made of sterner stuff Method in one’s madness Mind’s eye My own flesh and blood Naked truth Neither rhyme nor reason Off with his head One fell swoop Pitched battle Pure as the driven snow Seen better days Something wicked this way comes Smells to high heaven Star-crossed lovers Strange bedfellows To each his own Too much of a good thing Tower of strength Wear my heart upon my sleeve What’s done is done Wild goose chase The world is my oyster
As for the individual words he created, most were legitimate and useful, rarely designed for dramatic one-time use, as in Lewis Carroll’s “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves…”
Many were existing words he cleverly combined, such as cruel-hearted and never-ending.Or words whose usage he changed — converting verbs to adjectives, nouns to verbs, etc., such as converting the noun elbow to a verb to describe the act of elbowing.
Below is a list — abbreviated, mind you — of words attributed to Shakespeare.
Admirable Arch-villain Barefaced Baseless Belongings Birthplace Bloodstained Bloodsucking Catlike Cold-blooded Cold-hearted Countless Dauntless Disgraceful Distasteful Distrustful Eventful Excitement Eyeball Fairyland Fanged Fashionable Featureless Fitful Foul-mouthed Fretful Gallantry Go-between Homely Hot-blooded Ill-tempered Indistinguishable Lackluster Majestic Malignancy Meditate Mimic Money’s worth Monumental Mortifying Motionless Nimble-footed Overblown Pageantry Premeditated Pious Priceless Profitless Quarrelsome Rawboned Reclusive Remorseless Resolve Restraint Savagery Shipwrecked Soft-hearted Spectacled Swagger Time-honored To blanket To castigate To champion To dishearten To dislocate To enmesh To impede To muddy To overpower To perplex To petition To rant To reword To secure To sire To squabble To sully To undervalue To undress Tranquil Transcendence Unappeased Unchanging Uneducated Unquestioned Unrivaled Unscratched Unsolicited Unsullied Unswayed Unvarnished Unwillingness Useful Vulnerable Well-behaved Well-bred Well-educated Well-read
To sum up, I give the devil his due. I applaud Shakespeare as a wunderkind, a virtuoso of the English language. In that regard, he is unrivaled.
But in my heart of hearts, writing like this turns me off:
Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all Wherein I should your great deserts repay, Forgot upon your dearest love to call, Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day; That I have frequent been with unknown minds, And giv’n to time your own dear purchased right; That I have hoisted sail to all the winds Which should transport me farthest from your sight.
1. What is the world’s oldest continuously-inhabited city?
2. In the art world, what is bricolage?
3. What was the first country to give women the right to vote?
4. No major league baseball team uses the number 24 to honor what legendary player?
5. What does BMW stand for?
The Answers…
1. Probably Damascus, Syria. Evidence of habitation there dates back 11,000 years.
2. Bricolage is art created from non-standard material — junk, metal parts, etc. — or mixed media. A collage of photos, for example. The word bricolage comes from the French verb bricoler, which means “to tinker.”
3. New Zealand, 1893.
4. Jackie Robinson.
5. In English, Bavarian Motor Works. In German, Bayerische Motoren Werke.
● Thomas Edison held a total of 2,332 patents worldwide. Today, the president of a semiconductor lab in Japan holds the world record — 5,843 patents and counting.
● English has more words than any other language.
● The average human sheds some 600,000 particles of dead skin per hour, or about 1.5 pounds per year.
● When viewed from the Earth, the Moon goes through eight phases as it progresses from new moon to full moon and back to new moon, as shown below. (The word gibbous refers to being more than half lighted, but less than full, which is the opposite of a crescent.)
● British author Agatha Christie (1890-1976) featured her famous detective Hercule Poirot in 33 novels, 50 short stories, and one play. Christie was honest about the character. She once described Poirot as “a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep.”
● The word karaoke comes from the Japanese words karappo, which means empty, and oke, a shortened form of okesutura, which means orchestra.
● July 4 is the day in 1776 when the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the vote to do so took place on July 2. John Adams and several other founding fathers believed that we chose the wrong day to honor.
● The average adult bald eagle weighs 14 pounds and is about three feet long. Its wingspan, however, is a full seven feet.
Rudeness is the weak person’s imitation of strength.
— Eric Hoffer
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The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
— Dante Alighieri
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The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work, and then they get elected and prove it.
— P. J. O’Rourke
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The best revenge is to be unlike he who performed the injury.
3. The best-selling novel of all time was written in Spain in the early 1600s. What is it?
4. In ancient Egypt, what served as pillows?
5. What is the largest known cave system in the world?
The Answers…
1. Tulip bulbs. In the Dutch Republic in 1634, tulips were a new thing, and a wave of “tulip mania” swept the country. Certain varieties of tulip became coveted luxury items that soon were accepted as currency. The speculative bubble burst in 1637, and the fad fizzled.
2. The mouthpiece of a wind instrument.
3. “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. Over 500 million copies sold.
4. Chunks of wood or stone.
5. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. People have explored 400 miles of it, and national park officials believe another 600 miles is out there. Also, scattered around the region are some 200 smaller caves not connected to the Mammoth system.
Okay, it’s time. Donald Trump, the disgraceful, traitorous former president, was caught stealing government documents. Attorney General Garland needs to direct his minions to file charges. Just do it.
Here are the facts about Trump, the twice-impeached loser, and the stolen documents.
In August, after a year of politely asking for the return of missing documents, and doing a dance with the Trump lawyers, the FBI finally did the right thing, got a warrant, and raided Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s country club in Palm Beach.
There, FBI agents confiscated 20-odd boxes of documents, among which were over 100 marked secret and top secret, plus a boatload of unclassified files.
All of it was being held illegally. Under the law, when a President leaves office, his documents and emails, all of them, become the property of the US government and must be turned over to the National Archives.
Yes, a judge friendly to Trump wants a “special master” to review the confiscated documents. It was a ham-handed ruling that probably tanked her career. But the fact that Trump stole the material is not in question. He had no legitimate reason to be in possession of any government documents. He stole them.
For a year now, the conversation on the news has been about why Trump took the documents and what he did with them.
Did he sell secrets to the highest bidder? Was his goal to pay debts? Show off? Did classified information end up in the hands of foreign countries? Were people endangered or killed?
Critical questions all, and the answers eventually will surface. But the feds already have enough evidence to charge Trump with stealing the documents. And charge him they should.
Some of the documents confiscated at Mar-a-Lago were so highly classified that the FBI agents who found them needed additional security clearances to process them.
Which is why the Justice Department needs to charge and arrest Trump for theft. DOJ needs to get the process started now. Posthaste. ASAP.
After the filing of charges and the arrest, Trump no doubt would plead not guilty and post bail.
Whether he remains in the US or defects to Russia or Saudi Arabia, his trial should proceed. If he is convicted and sentenced, that’s justice being served, even if he flees and can’t be extradited.
At some point, depending on what their investigation uncovers, DOJ may bring additional charges. They probably will.
Lastly, if Trump’s Nazi goon fans object, well, we have police, national guard, and military forces that can deal with them as appropriate.
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