CNN Photos of the Week 6/22/2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/19/world/gallery/photos-this-week-june-12-june-19

Mystery trip #5

Lynn and her friend went on the mystery trip yesterday. It was #5 so I guess there have been five all together.  I see that mystery trip #6 is taking names for later. I didn't choose to go but I was surprised at how much difference keeping the five destinations a secret mattered.  

Of course, there is a certain amount of suspense wondering where the bus is going.  As a mate of someone on the trip, I realized that I wouldn't know where she was.  Turns out that the stops were more or less in the local area. I guess the extra surprise and excitement lends a lift to the whole operation.

Summer solstice in a few hours

It will be summer soon.  At 10:42 PM Eastern Time.  The geographic area I live in was described as a place of long cold winters. People here wear gloves,scarves, heavy hats and thick coats to bear the cold so it is typical to think around here that 90° Fahrenheit is HOT!  We expect such temperatures in the next few days and we intend to bear whatever comes nobly.

Juneteenth

Heather Cox Richardson is a historian who writes about history most days.  Here is what she wrote about Juneteenth:

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-18-2025-wednesday

Gifts from my father

Growing up, my mother was my go-to parent.  She was more dynamic, more explanatory.  I think she did a good job with me.  My dad was more distant.  But now I realize I have traits I probably got from my father.  I think first among them is a certain quiet.  I am not easily aroused to temper.  If I am, I am usually in control of myself and my thinking.  As I understand it, my father tried selling insurance and made very little.  Eventually, he tried working as a tool-and-die maker, which I guess was a more solitary, more detailed job that relied on speech much less. I am not sure where I got my rather high level of speech from.  I do know that my stepfather said that he thought I had been vaccinated with a phonograph needle. 

Maybe my dad, maybe "what is done", maybe a coin

I am interested in decision-making.  I wrote my dissertation on the subject.  I have been carrying a coin in my pocket to help me make decisions. I have been telling myself that the coin is for checking how I feel about the result of flipping it, and then seeing how much I like the result. I really haven't used the coin much, but I am surprised at how much the few uses differ from what I have told myself.  

I thought I would use the coin for decisions where I couldn't decide on A or not-A. I thought that situations where a choice felt very close to the line between Yes and No would be aided by seeing which the coin advised and seeing how much I agreed with the flip result.  But what I have been finding is that the coin's indication quickly feels like the right thing, seconds after I couldn't make up my mind.  Am I a secret authoritarian, eager to be told what to do?

Elizabeth Eisenstein's "Divine Art, Infernal Machine"

The book by Elizabeth Eisenstein, "Dvine Art, Infernal Machine" reports that after Gutenberg and his business partner printed copies of the Bible, they traveled to Paris and sold copies of their product on the street.  The price they asked for a copy was much lower than Bibles sold for usually.  People were amazed but some reported the sellers to the police.  The problem?  It was obvious that these sellers were in league with the Devil!  The telltale evidence was the observable fact that a given page in every copy was identical to the same page in all the copies!!

Fwd: Link to Scott's bear video

---------- Forwarded message ---------

Date: Sun, Jun 15, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Subject: Link to Scott's bear video

My friend had a bear in his yard yesterday evening.  Bill

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QF8DXhjSLuTc3MQOeG39kqH1m9WyDN81/view?usp=drive_link

Poison ivy

This plant, poison ivy, figured large in my life at one time.  I have heard horror stories about getting smoke of fires burning the plant into one's lungs or throat and other difficulties.  I had my own first outbreak in about my third grade year.  From then to about age 20, I often got an outbreak, despite being able to identify the plant and wanting to avoid it.

When we were a young married couple with two tender-skinned girl children, I got a summer job at a large Boy Scout camp.  The four of us lived in a little cabin in a field with lots of poison ivy.  That is where I first learned that my wife had never had any trouble with the plant.  To protect me and our girls, she tore many of the plants out of the ground and we got rid of them.  

I am much older now and haven't had trouble with outbreaks on my skin for years but I don't trust it.  I am certainly not going to flaunt my skin or tempt the plant in any other way.  I plan to stay the heck away from it.

So it is Friday, the 13th

Does that mean it will be a bad day?  Should I be frightened?  Worried?  Disdainful of fear of Friday, the 13th?  I believe that I could have a doubt that today is a lucky day without being fully aware of my doubt.  I don't consciously feel that any number on any day of the week is unlucky or dangerous but what if I am wrong?

Keep in mind, from the Wikipedia:

Triskaidekaphobia is fear or avoidance of the number 13. It is also a reason for the fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia (from Greek Παρασκευή (paraskevi) 'Friday' Greek δεκατρείς (dekatreís) 'thirteen' and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') or friggatriskaidekaphobia (from Old Norse Frigg 'Frigg' and from Ancient Greek τρεισκαίδεκα (treiskaídeka) 'thirteen' and Ancient Greek

Numbers, measures and us

Investment houses, athletes, students and many other people can be obsessed by numbers.  Scores, number of games won, dollars saved, dollars earned, etc. etc.  If we want, we can be immersed in numbers.  Here is a plea to try to appreciate wonders, beauties, achievements without numbers, and scores.  If I make a lovely kick, an amazing goal, a terrific save or catch, they are lovely and amazing and terrific in themselves.  My house can be a wonderful dwelling without having the most square feet in the neighborhood.  My car can be a very satisfactory transport without costing the most, being the lowest consumer of fuel, accommodating the most passengers.

Pocket pens and paper

As my memory weakens but I find increasing numbers of important or interesting things to remember or do, it is helpful to habitually carry pens and paper.  I like to take a piece of scrap paper, usually something printed on only one side that came in the mail and fold it into eighths.  I have room in my pocket for two small pens.  I carry two in hopes that one will work.  Often, the pen won't make a mark.  I think it comes from something rubbing on the paper that make the paper hard to use a ballpoint on. 

Link to small pens on Amazon: t.ly/dd-dq

I haven't actually used my pocket paper much but I am training myself to question if making a note would be helpful.

Clock watching

My watch and our house clocks help me all day long.  I get up about 6 AM.  I make coffee and bring some to Lynn while she reads and does puzzles for a while.  I make myself some breakfast about 7:30.  I call my friends about 8:15 if the weather is ok for walking for exercise.  

I have various other time signposts throughout the day.  I have routines and I tend to follow them at certain times.  Clock watching usually enables me to have sufficient time to complete tasks and have the results when they fit into other peoples' lives, too.

Group nouns

We use many collective nouns in our thinking and communication.  We speak of the US or Earth or the stock market.  Our usage is much the same as when we are speaking of one person or one event.  "The weather has been cool here lately."  What weather?  All day and all night?  Every day or just MOST days?  We have to use "trends" and generalities and it is probably one of our most valuable abilities that we can.

BUT, sometimes it pays to take a moment to ask ourselves about the masses or collections we are thinking about.  Whenever we are thinking about something, it can be eye-opening to ask if there are component parts, sub-divisions, separate people or opinions or feelings or histories.  There almost always are.  Even A body might have important differences between the head and the feet or the right and the left eye.  

"This Green Bay Packers this…" and "Media are that…" but we can find Packers that aren't and media that aren't.

CNN Photos of the week 6/8/2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/05/world/gallery/photos-this-week-may-29-june-5

Transmission time

Many computers are advertised as being quite fast.  That is, they perform their operations quickly.  I learned years ago that most of the time I spend with any internet connected device is time I am thinking or correcting keys I hit by mistake. I do realize there is a small time span between the time I depress a keyboard key and the letter for that key appears on my screen.  I believe that my computer is my fastest connected device followed by my tablets followed by my phone.

Because the time lapse is small, negligible even, it is easy to overlook the fact my own brain, my hands, my eyes all take time to perform. I remember studying in grad school about astronomers coming to realize that perception takes time, writing the time of an event takes time so the personal element matters.  In addition to those things, internet operations that involve other machines need time to communicate results that themselves took time to calculate and communicate.

Blue Oysters Mushrooms from a Segura kit

https://www.seguramushrooms.com/

Last day of school

Today is the last day of school in the Stevens Point school district.  Do you remember the last days of school?  I can remember being quite elated on some.  I taught the 5th grade for four years and the last day of school was also promising but it had the sober side of no income until fall.  I held various jobs to avoid too much financial trouble and we managed with Lynn's help.  Teachers often get raises with additional education so summer can be a busy time for faculty at institutions that offer relevant courses. 

English, Danish, Irish, Scottish, French

We have had our DNA analyzed several times by the National Geographic Society's "Genographic Project" and by 23andMe.  Lynn has considerably more recognizable groups than I do.  Somebody commented that with migration and air travel and all, the association between certain locations and groups of people is getting lost more and more.  France is more associated with the Latin countries and language than the others I have listed in the title but it is still European, if not that Germanic. My grandfather told me there is a family story that a law in France required a first son to join the army and a second son to become a priest. A 2nd son did not want to join the priesthood and emigrated to the US.

I got started on much of my ancestor interest when the local paper had a map of my home state that included my family name.  I have read some books on human ancestry and one of them that stuck with me most was "The 10,000 Explosion" by Cochran and Harpending.

I realize that the story is that humans came from the development of primates but I like to say my ancestors are blue-green algae and cockroaches.

Bath water from her!

I had never heard of the young actress Sydney Sweeney but Numlock News informed me that she sells hand/bath soap bars made with her bath water.  I imagine some heroic politicians will be selling their own such soap soon.  I am sorry to admit to my fans that I have no such product.

Jade, Judd, Walt & Heather

Most mornings, I read Jade, Judd, Walt and Heather.  Jade Walker is listed as the writer of CNN's Five Things.  The main writer used to be Amanda Meeks but after she recently married, Jade is listed.  I admire the writing, which seems to be direct, honest and with minimum slant.  Judd Legum writes "Popular Information", articles about American politics.  Walt Hickey writes and edits Numlock News.  That newsletter focuses on numbers, as happens on many keyboards when the Num(ber) Lock key is depressed.  Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of history at Boston College and writes most days about government and politics.

I can get my fill of news but these writers satisfy me as to what is happening in the US and other places.

CNN Photos of the Week 6/1/2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/29/world/gallery/photos-this-week-may-22-may-29