Boo!

Did I scare you? Heck!  You were forewarned, weren't you?

How cold is it outside? What time is it?

I often look at the Yahoo weather app in the morning.  I have three other indicators of the temperature outside.  It was about 37°.  But other apps often give different readings.  We have two thermometers outside and they never agree exactly.  We attribute the difference to the difference in the ages of the two.  Sometimes, the best thing to do is to go outside and sample the weather physically.

I often look at time.gov if I am hankering for exactish time.  The web page even gives a correction for the transmission of the time reading across the wires of the internet.  In a way that seems related to trying my own reaction to the outside temperature, I sometimes ask how others I am dealing with seem likely to read the time - phone?  Computer?  Watch?  House clock?  In the end, everything seems to be an approximation. 

Do you have a fine sister, too?

Ok, I admit my sister is a little bit finer than yours.  But still, let's combine energies and declare a likely coming day "National Sisters Day".  Yes, I am proposing a little conspiracy.  Here is a handy tool that will help us make National Sisters Day rival today (Oatmeal Day).  The tool is NationalDayCalendar.com and it lists days of the year that are already devoted to something, frequently to multiple glories.  For instance, not only is today reported to be Oatmeal Day but also National Cat Day and National Hermit Day.

Websites Kirbyvariety 1 and 2

Here is a link to my web site:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/welcome-to-my-home-page

It includes pages related to the courses I taught but also many other items that may be of interest.  There is a three line symbol in the upper left corner.  It leads to a table of contents with live links to the "pages" listed.

There are two websites since the first one was getting rather large.

There are many pages that relate to books and some that relate to movies.

More on hydration

I have read comments and articles about hydration but the book "Quench" by Dana Cohen, MD and Gina Bria is the only book I have read on the subject.  Cohen is a practicing physician while Bria is an anthropologist.  From reading Quench, I gather that Bria studied desert people and saw that their diet was a factor in allowing them to live in places with scarce water.

If you cook spinach leaves in a frying pan, you can see that cooking removes quite a bit of moisture from them.  Their volume after cooking is much less than before heat does its work.  I looked up how much of an apple's weight is water and the answer was generally about 86% with some varieties reaching into the 90% range.

I have read that elderly people have bodies that offer a sensation of thirst less than younger people.

I asked Firefox "How many die in the US of dehydration?"  and got this from AI:

1. To understand the impact of dehydration in the U.S., consider the following points:
   
   

• Approximately 1,000 deaths annually are attributed to dehydration-related causes.

• Dehydration is more common among the elderly and those with chronic illnesses.

• Heat-related illnesses can exacerbate dehydration risks, especially in summer.

• Symptoms of severe dehydration include confusion, rapid heartbeat, and fainting.

• Prevention includes staying hydrated, especially during hot weather or illness.

• Public awareness campaigns can help reduce dehydration-related fatalities.

1. media.market.us › dehydration-statisticsDehydration Statistics and Facts (2025) - Market.us Media

2. Jan 14, 2025 · Dehydration prevalence varies by age, affecting 16-21% of individuals, with symptoms like thirst, dry mouth, decreased urination, and darkened urine indicating its presence. Severe dehydration can lead to rapid weight loss. Global surveys highlight inadequate awareness of hydration needs.

1. Data are for the U.S.
   •Number of deaths: 3,464,231
   •Death rate: 1,043.8 deaths per 100,000 population
   Source: National Vital Statistics System – Mortality Data (2021) via CDC WONDER
   See full list on cdc.gov

2. www.naturawater.com › 7-surprising-dehydrationTop 7 Facts About Dehydration In 2022 And How You Can Fight It

• 75% of Americans are dehydrated. Most Americans are considered chronically dehydrated. When this happens, we get used to the lack of water, so it can be difficult to tell when our bodies need to drink more.

• The average American drinks just 2.5 cups of water daily. On average, adults in the U.S. drink well below the Institute of Medicine's recommended intake of 10 cups of water per day.

• Even mild dehydration can inhibit your ability to think clearly. Scientists say that when people drive dehydrated, they make the same number of mistakes that drivers make when under the influence of alcohol.

• Feeling thirsty? You're already dehydrated. When we are dehydrated, the body's thirst response gets triggered. So, whenever you get thirsty, dehydration is already occurring.

3. www.cardiologistnyc.com › blog › dehydration-mayDehydration May Increase Risk Of Death By Up To 20%

4. Jan 24, 2023 · A new study has found that not consuming enough water can increase the risk of death by 20%. The study, conducted by a team of researchers from various institutions, analyzed data from over 20,000 adults and found a clear link between low water intake and an increased risk of death from all causes.

5. www.uhhospitals.org › blog › articles9 Facts About Dehydration That May Surprise You

6. Jan 18, 2023 · The study involved about 20,000 adults in the United States and China. It found those who slept six hours or less had up to a 59 percent higher risk of dehydration compared to the other group.

7. quench.culligan.com › blog › how-many-people-areHow Many People are Dehydrated? | Culligan Quench

8. Fortunately, in the U.S., people are drinking more water now than they were 30 years ago. However, the average American still drinks significantly less than the 8.5 cups a day that are recommended by the European Hydration Institute — one of the world's leading organizations in human hydration.

1. 12345
   Next

1. See results about

• 
  United States
  Country in North America

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › 32310416Adult Dehydration - PubMed

Mar 5, 2025 · In contrast, dehydration is highly prevalent among older adults, with reported prevalence rates in the United States ranging from 17% to 28%. Dehydration is often precipitated by low fluid intake, increased fluid loss, or a combination of both of these factors.

www.cdc.gov › nchs › fastatsFastStats - Deaths and Mortality

CNN Photos of the week 10/26/25

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/world/gallery/photos-this-week-october-16-october-23

Hydration tales

I was ending a morning walk around the neighborhood with my friends.  I got this feeling that it was time to just let go, stop trying to walk and just collapse.  I did.  It shocked my friends.  When I told a medic, she asked me about my daily fluid intake.  She concluded with advice to drink more.  Since then, I have and it seems to have helped me stay upright and not just collapse.

There was a time when popular knowledge was that a person should drink water from an 8 oz. vessel 8 times a day.  I never felt I needed that much liquid and our local paper published an item by Prof. Heinz Valtim of Dartmouth stating that such an amount unnecessarily taxed the kidneys.  I wrestled in high school and in college and didn't feel that I was badly in need of liquid.  As far as I know, there is no easy and accurate way to tell if I am drinking enough.  I know about pinching skin and recognizing elder difficulties in sensing thirst.  I read through "Quench" by the founder of the Hydration Foundation.  It does seem that my pint of water each morning matters. 

Current thoughts

I could skip a day once in a while but I like to keep writing each day.  I have many suggestions for what to write.

We finished the ebook "1000 White Women" by Fergus about an attempt by the Cheyenne tribe to get white women to mate with and produce humans that are both white and Cheyenne.  We are trying to follow C.S. Lewis's idea of re-reading books that have mattered to us with The Scarlet Letter by N. Hawthorne.  Gripping!

My head has slowed down.  I find myself doing the classic: trying to remember what I came into this room for.  Sometimes, the idea takes a while coming to mind.  Sometimes, if I just stand and think where I have been, I will see in my mind the object that sent me in here.  Then, I remember!

Highschool and college yearbooks

I graduated from Baltimore City College in 1957.  The school was a high school founded in 1839, third oldest high school in the US.  Getting the public to pay taxes to use to have buildings built for 6 years of what we now call "elementary school" took a while.  When Daddy needed a boy to tend to gardens and animals, being in school five days a week from September to June cost him labor.  The idea that the public should pay for an additional 6 whole years of education for all was not always well received.  

"City" was a public school, not a religious one, but when I went there, only males were admitted.  At the time, Baltimore had something like 14 high schools and two of them were all male and two were all female.  The school was my choice since it was the only school where I could get credit for my year of Latin in 9th grade.

The class of "57 held reunions but over time, my life got more and more centered in Wisconsin.  One of the energetic organizers of a reunion and I became friends and we have written back and forth quite a bit.  My wife asked me to show her a picture of that energetic organizer so I dug out my year book and showed her.

That book brought back memories!  Being the drum sergeant in the drum and bugle corps, showing mental instability as Capt. Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny" and being on the wrestling team were pictured.  I am thankful for the book.  Keep those yearbooks!

Kindle Unlimited and Libby

The Amazon program called "Kindle Unlimited" has some valuable features in my estimation.   "Kindle" is the Amazon name for their ebooks program.  When people go on a trip or a vacation, they often pack a book they are reading.  Waiting for a train or a plane or sitting in a car while somebody else is driving - times when you might read a book. You might choose to read aloud if others want you to.  Once you download an ebook to your devices, you no longer need to be connected.

A good feature of electronic books is that with an internet connection, you can get them at any time the connection is on.  Another good feature is the weight, which is nearly zero:

How much does an ebook weigh? - thetimes.com

So he worked out how much energy that was in joules and using Einstein's 1905 formula translated that into mass, or the weight of the download. Spelt out the long way it is 0.000000000000000001g, also known as an attogram. The ereader might also grow a little heavier in warm weather, because the machine would absorb more ambient energy or ...

Another feature of the Amazon ebooks is their Kindle Unlimited program.  For books that are in the program, they can be borrowed free and read on one's devices.  Only 20 books can be borrowed at once but it is no trouble to choose one and return it to borrow another.  Millions of books are in the program, which costs about $12 a month.

The app called "Libby" is a similar deal that enables a public library-card holder to borrow ebooks from a library through the air.  It is true that ebooks are popular so a library patron may have a long wait before an ecopy is available.

What is that person's name?

We moved to Stevens Point, Wi  57 years ago.  I have met many people here since then.  However, there are many that I haven't seen lately or regularly.  So, when an event is held where people meet in a room, there are faces that I recognize but I can't put a name to.  In some cases,  I know I have known a person for a long time. I am reluctant to reveal that I have been unable to think of their name.  I very much appreciate when the person senses my problem and just says their name to me.

Chicken Little

Several of my friends know that I have a special affection for the movie "The Russians are coming!  The Russians are coming!".  It is a well-done adult version of the story of Chicken Little.  You may remember that Chicken Little was out walking when an acorn fell from a tree and struck him in the head.  He immediately concluded that the sky was falling and he felt it was his civic duty to inform the King.  One panic gave rise to others when in fact there was no emergency.  

"The Russians are coming!" is available on Amazon Prime movies.  Don't let it scare you.

CNN Photos of the week 10/19/2025, Gnomes

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/world/gallery/photos-this-week-october-09-october-16

Gnomes made by Lynn for Christmas sales

Complexity and consequences

We had our DNA analyzed four times, twice with 23andMe.  Thinking about ancestors has given me a good chance to see what is too big to know intimately. I was a page in the main Enoch Pratt Library of Baltimore in the history department.  I reshelved books that had been left out or borrowed.  Those shelves and the one I saw in other branches of the library and in the Trinity College library in Dublin gave me other pictures of more reading than I could do or even wanted to do.  It is the same with thinking about ancestors: 

2 parents, four grandparents, 8 greatgrandparents, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc.  I just can't keep all those people in mind.  The whole deal is too big for my limited brain.

When my daughter gave me Storyworth to think about my life and experiences, I realized that tiny actions in 8th grade lead to my going to college, getting married, becoming a faculty member at a university in Wisconsin but I had no way at all of knowing that long chain of consequences was at work.  Again, a long chain of important consequences following from each other that I had no way of knowing until years later.

I guess I am guided by intelligence but also by intuition, advice and luck.

No repeats

When I get a hamburger again, it is not the same.  Sure, it looks the same.  If you take a photo of the two servings, I might not be able to tell which is the early one and which the later.  But right there, I show the difference: early and later, distinguishable or not.  We sophisticates know that time and history make a difference.  When I bite into that 2nd burger, I have already eaten the first one.

This whole business of first and second shows the truth of many things, not just hamburgers.  When I travel to Hawaii, the islands are a little older on each subsequent visit.  There are no repeats.  Sure, there are strong similarities but each event is its own.

Vanity? Useless? Forgotten?

We have been streaming episodes for "Northern Exposure" from Amazon Prime.  Lynn says we watched them all before but I don't remember any of them.  Recently, various characters were wrestling with questions about their achievements and their legacy.  I wanted to refer them to the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament of the Bible.  

I have read that the book was questioned as to its value at various times.  It is the one that contains famous lines, such as "Vanity!  Vanity!  All is vanity!"  The Northern Exposure program never mentions that Biblical line but the book faces questions of achievement and the evaluation of a lived life.  Various men in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska wonder if they have achieved anything of importance or that is notable, or even worthwhile.

I am reminded of the famous poem by Shelley called "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair" in which the poet describes a broken statue lying alone and ignored in the desert.  It bears the inscription of boasting but the circumstances show that the proud, arrogant ruler is no more and has been forgotten.

"Eisenhower"

When they go through my writings and notes, they will find "Eisenhower" written here and there.  I had the impression that he was a good president of the US and I have read that he oversaw the largest military operation in history with the Normandy invasion in WWII.  But that is not why I write his name in cursive here and there.  

I like ballpoint pens.  I read a while back that "Eisenhower" has a good set of curves and movement with a new ballpoint to get its ink flowing and its point in good shape for writing.  So, when I write Ike's last name many times on a piece of paper, I am getting a ballpoint into good writing condition. 

Wearing a girl's jacket without being a girl

We were at the Grand Canyon.  We had a cabin to sleep in and the plan was to wake up early and watch the dawn.  We expected it to be somewhat cold so we went in the gift shop to see if we could buy jackets that might help.  The best ones we found were for women and had women's front construction.  I have been wearing mine for 11 years and no one has ever commented on my jacket being made in the style of women, with the front overlapping because the right side of the front extends across the left side a little.  They are black and not easy to see the details.

If you want to pursue this weighty topic, try this link:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=why+do++women%27s+coats+and+men%27s+coats+close+over+differently&atb=v423-1

Photos and visuals

I started reading CNN morning news.  It is marked written by Alexandra Banner but that was when she was Alexandra Meeks.  It wasn't too long and it was well put together.  Then, I found the Sunday version that included a section of photographs. I realize that human vision is very important to all individuals and society as a whole.  But, at the same time, speaking and writing about what we think and feel is maybe the most precious and special ability we have.  Speech and writing do not completely reveal what is going on in our minds but words are our best tool for getting what is inside out where it is available to others.

So, I basically stick with writing but I realize that professional news photographers see things that are worth seeing and I enjoy posting a link to CNN Photos of the Week.

CNN Photos of the week 10/12/2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/09/world/gallery/photos-this-week-october-02-october-09

Maybe later, if you don't forget

Just because you have been married to her since before being a legal adult doesn't mean that you can interrupt her at any moment with some funny tale.  She is busy preparing for Christmas sales.  You know, it takes a while to make a single mug.  You must fashion it and shape it from the raw clay.  You must let that clay dry.  You must "fire" it in the kiln for several hours at something like 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.   Then you must let the damned thing cool to room temperature.  Then, you must glaze it, not with just a simple red or green but with a cute design, one that will attract customers.  Then, you must fire it again, at something like 2200 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then, you let it cool again and drive it to the Gallery and hope to get $40 for it.  No, better not interrupt her.

What happened to the "19"?

I was born as WWII started so I was alive for more than 40 years during the time when the calendar number for the year always began with "19".  Now it doesn't!!!  For goodness sake, will they make up their mind?

How many ruined checks and notes do I have to suffer?  Then, I suppose, once I am finally used to "20", it will be "21" or some other number.

Looking for the criterion

I think in many situations, people prefer generalities.

  

"Mom makes good pizza". 

 "What's good about it?"

"I don't know, it's just good." 

"X was a great baseball player."

"Nah, he drank too much."

"What's that got to do with playing ball?"

Getting into data

I taught courses to both graduate and undergraduate education students about grading, testing, statistics and educational research methods.  I tried to use explicit grading based on clear standards of performance.  At the same time, personal computers were becoming available widely at prices that many people could afford.  

I had a duty of promoting the use of our campus computer that was rented for the express purpose of supporting faculty research with data analysis.  It was a time where I sometimes got asked by a professor "What is a computer?" People hadn't used one but they had heard of such a machine.  The situation was somewhat like the current one with AI (artificial intelligence).

My first experience with a computer involved developing a computer program in the computer language Fortran.  The computer was too large and expensive even to rent to have many.  We created a series of Fortran commands, each one punched in a separate card.  We handed our deck of cards to a clerk at a window and came back the next day to see the printed output.  It was tedious detailed work and often disappointing to see how our program had failed to do what we wanted.

It was a big deal in our household when we bought our first computer, an Apple IIe.  I wanted it at that time because I read that Apple had just started selling commercially made software for the machine.  The software consisted of a word processor, a spreadsheet and a simplified database.

It was so exciting when the printer printed out a sentence that I had just typed that I took the output to my wife's workplace to show her immediately!

That sort of work increased my sensitivity to what basis was being used to sort students, results, scores, etc.  It can be disorienting when one faces the many different ways that data can be derived, calculated and viewed.

Death Corps membership

Maybe as a person gets older, it is beneficial to join what I could call the "Death Corps".  I am using that term to refer to older people who school themselves in acceptance of death.  It may be impossible for a living human to fully accept death but it seems to me that the more one can accept the possibility of death, the less the event of one's death holds one hostage.  When I suddenly experience a heart attack, fear may storm through my being but working on acceptance may lessen the paralysis of mind and emotion that dying smacks me with.  I like to point out that I have not actually died.  We understand that full death is final and that it may not be possible to sample death.  It seems to be a condition that is all or nothing but it seems to be that books and opinions and medical exams can give me the idea that I am approaching the state of being dead.  Working on accepting that fact, on the realization that many people before me have died and that it seems inevitable that I will too.

As I age and friends about my age die, become limited in their body's abilities, I may become convinced that being dead would be preferable to being in pain or being very limited in my abilities.

Ebooks and two good reads

I have heard objections and reasons why some people don't like ebooks, (electronic books).  Some like the heft of a book.  Some like the scent of a book. When I first bought Amazon ebooks, I worried that some books I wanted to read might not be available through Kindle books.  Now, I have 3600 of their books.  They tend to be cheaper than paper books and they are much faster to acquire.  It does take an electrically charged device to read them but if a person has a cellphone, tablet, Kindle reader or computer, charging is quite familiar.  

There are various services and possibilities with Kindle books but the main differences are in weight and in speed of obtaining ebooks.  Since they are nearly weightless and take up just about no space, having a large number of them is not like having shelves and shelves of paper books. When I take a Kindle reader in my bag, I am taking quick access to thousands of books.

When I learn of a book I am interested in, I usually have a copy after a few clicks.  I can start reading immediately.

A friend recommended the book "One Thousand White Women" by Jim Fergus.  After I read a bit to Lynn, she agreed to listen to the whole book read aloud by me.  

"Why do men have nipples?" by Leyner and Goldberg consists of many often-asked questions about our bodies and their care.

CNN Photos of the week 10/5/2025

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/02/world/gallery/photos-this-week-september-25-october-02?

Skirts

When I was in the third grade, I asked a girl to go to the Saturday afternoon movies with me.  I think I got a ride to her house from my parents or maybe rode a bike.  I don't remember the movie.  Many of the Saturday cowboy movies were quite similar.  A hero, Gene Autry or Hopalong Cassidy or Tim Holt, had to straighten out some bad guys.

When I was in the fifth grade, I purposely dropped something on the floor so I had an excuse to get under a group round table.  From there, I could look up the girls' dresses.  All I could see was white underpants.  Not very thrilling.

I knew I enjoyed trying to understand people and their feelings, fears, impulses, personal convictions and habits.  I discovered the local teachers' college was quite inexpensive so I went there.  Most of the other guys in my all-male high school looked for a high salary.  I had no salary at the time and put off thinking about money.  The teachers' college was about 80% girls, very different from an all-male school.  I dated a gorgeous girl who was intrigued by the books I carried and read.  In my junior year, I started dating the woman I have been married to for 65 years..

Some graduate courses later, after four years of teaching the fifth grade, I became a faculty member of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.

Home!

We are back.  We tried to find a trip that appealed to us both and after several misfires, decided to drive around Lake Superior.  After a while it got too repetitious and we came back.  We still love and admire each other, and are proud of our 65 year marriage. The trip used Lynn's car and she drove until yesterday.  I suffered multiple zones of road repair and one-laned roads but have recovered from my single experience driving while she rested and put her attention elsewhere.  Don't expect us to try again.