Looking that up

When I look something up, I can tell it does me some good just to formulate the wording of the inquiry.  I almost always use Duckduckgo since it prides itself on keeping my searches "private", that is somewhat secret.  Normally, I am not ashamed of my searches but I am interested in avoiding having people all over the world sending me emails that explain why I should be buying their products.  

I was impressed by Jacques Barzun's comments that scientists are discovering so much new stuff that it is straining our supply of words just to name new discovered parts, processes and particulars.  One way we handle the strain is to use a perfectly good word for something new, something additional.  Say, I write the computer code for a new program that I want to sell.  Let's call it "slidingboard", even though it doesn't slide and it isn't a board.  From now on, when you look up "slidingboard", the first uppity-up pages of the results will be about my wonderful, handy, lovely program and not about playground equipment.

Again??

Our tax preparer called and said that the IRS says I didn't pay my estimated taxes.  Again.  Ha!  I was disturbed when I found I had forgotten before.  I had to pay an additional penalty and I felt good about paying when I should.  However, it looks like they are correct.  Some payments appear to be missing.  Damnit!

Small temp and small time

We know a fellow who is about our age and suffers from dementia.  She was supposed to take him to a physician today for a check-up but we worried that the roads might be too dangerously slippery with ice. Later, she called and said the roads were not bad at all.  Some of our weather apps said the outside temperature was 32 degrees but some said it was a little warmer, maybe enough to not freeze.

I have four different weather apps on my iPad and they rarely agree totally.  Besides, we are often said to live in Stevens Point but that can point to a rather large area.  There are occasions where one app or another says it is raining or snowing when outside of our house there is no trace of either.  We are used to clocks, weather reports and sometimes computers or house phones not agreeing with each other.

The same sort of disagreement happens with time readings.  My watch, my computer, my tablets, various clocks around the house can disagree as to what the exact time is.  I used the labels "small temp" and "small time" for times when I am interested in the exact time or temperature but I have learned that idea is somewhat mythical.

Woo-Woo

I am interested in the books and writings of David R. Hamilton.  His book called "Why Woo-Woo Works" is about his working as a pharmaceutical chemist but becoming interested in aspects of modern life that did not seem to stand up to modern methods of scrutiny.  His interests can be said to relate to the subject of placebos and nocebos, instances where positive or negative words and beliefs are held by humans who are, or seem, able to affect their own or others' lives with ideas that aren't supported by modern methods of testing, experimentation and evidence collecting.  

The novel by recently deceased author Tom Robbins called "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" features an explorer who gets cursed by a tribal medicine man.  The explorer is told that he will die if his feet touch the ground.  The man remains in a wheelchair from then on.

Book suggestions

Our local campus, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, has a learning in retirement organization called Learning is Forever and goes by "L.I.F.E."  Life sent out an email asking for book suggestions for group discussions.  I submitted the following titles:

Incognito by David Eagleman

She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer

The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, MD

Dead Water by Victoria Houston

The first three titles are non-fiction.  I don't know the tastes of the people who participate but I am strongly biased toward non-fiction.  I have read enough who-dunits and heart-throbs and I would rather read helpful books about your brain and mine.  

Eagleman focuses on the parts of us that influence or govern us but are not conscious.  Zimmer's book is about what we get into us from our parents and the long line of ancestors.  Brizendine focuses on hormones and the facts of life for a female human body.  

Victoria Houston has a large group of novels about the woman sheriff of a Wisconsin town and the work she and her boyfriend, a retired widowed dentist, do to solve crimes.

CNN photos of the week 3/30/25

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/world/gallery/photos-this-week-march-20-march-27/index.html?

It would be difficult to collect photos on as wide a range of topics as CNN photos of the week.

Resistance

A purple house finch and her red-headed mate have selected us for a nest.  Our front porch is roofed over and seems like a good place for a nest.  They are quite determined and return to try again repeatedly.  As I wrote yesterday, we get crippled babies who tumble down for the nest and egg stains on the porch and we want the parents to desist.