Presidents Day

I am a fan of Alexandra Meeks Banner, a woman often listed as writer of CNN Five Things AM.  She has a way of explaining what happened fully, succinctly and respectfully. She wrote this morning that

Depending on the state, it may be known as Presidents' Day, President's Day or Presidents Day — a subtle shift in apostrophe placement that has fueled decades of debate.

I take the simple plural without really knowing what my state is doing.

Despite having read that and liking it consciously, I went to the bank today.  Guess what I found.  The place was closed!  Because it is Presidents Day!

My aging memory

If something makes me think back 10 or so years to a person I haven't thought of for quite a while, I may not be able to recall the person's name.  I know I used to know it but I cannot make it come to mind.  That is more or less a classic aged memory problem.  I try to find a way around needing to recall, using old records or vague language.

But things that repeat are a little different.  I have breakfast every morning.   I make dinner every other night.  I often have trouble remembering the last time and not confusing it with other recent times.

It is Valentine's Day!

It is a good day to tell people you care.  Maybe more than "care".  For some people, this is a good time to tell a partner that you are grateful for all they do, including providing chances for you to perform supportive, loving deeds.  It could be the right day to ask someone to dinner.  What about memories and thoughts and kindnesses you have ?  What about what you have received?

How is your intertragic notch?

 

Don’t know?  Didn’t know you have one? You probably do, right between your tragus and your antitragus.  You probably have two of them actually, one in each ear.

I went to the doctor and she had a chart hanging on the wall show parts of the external ear.  The folds and channels have names that people who deal with ear health use.   Like this:

"Same Time, Next Year"

We watched "Same Time, Next Year" with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn.  It is a 1978 film available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube and Apple TV.  I guess the movie was much like the play that ran before it.  I thought the dialogue was especially good, appropriate and clever.  It is true that the film is about meeting a person of the opposite sex for a weekend in a motel room annually so if you can't stand watching sweet sinners, you might not like it.  

Storks and babies

Just to get to the bottom of the matter, I asked the internet if storks bring babies.  We were considering various stories that have been used to explain the occurrence of babies, money that appeared after the loss of a tooth, and gifts delivered on Christmas.

Yahoo reported 45, 800 answers to my inquiry but the first one listed was composed by artificial intelligence:

"To clarify the myth about storks bringing babies, consider these points:

• Storks are often depicted in folklore as baby deliverers, but this is a myth.

• The origin of this myth may stem from ancient cultures associating storks with fertility and new life.

• In reality, babies are born through human reproduction, not delivered by birds.

• Storks do care for their own young, which may have contributed to the legend.

• The stork myth is often used in children's stories to explain where babies come from in a gentle way.

• Understanding the real process of childbirth can help dispel this myth."

We see many babies but we have never seen a stork around here.

Delete, delete

I got a notice from Apple that I am running low on space and need to buy more for saving things.  I do care about my past and my family but I am confident I have enough documents and pictures.  So, I spent about an hour or so deleting things.  While doing that I stumbled on a giant patch of photos of a QR code.  I imagine there is a setting somewhat that will avoid saving such photographs.  I guess some smart intelligence kicked in and kept showing me photos of that.  I doggedly deleted over and over, finding it a bit faster to use a pen with a soft rubber button on the end.  I guess it feels like a finger to the machine.

Some notable authors

Ok, authors that we have enjoyed.  You might, too.

Eric Berne - a psychiatrist, who wrote Games People Play, Sex in Human Loving

Dona Leone, Victoria Houston: Leone writes about fictional crime in Venice, Houston writes about crimes in fictional Loon Lake, Wisconsin

Carl Zimmer - a good science writer who selects interesting subjects and angles

Alexander McCall Smith - stories about Mma Ramotswe, a detective in the African nation of Botswana. Also about Bertie, a little boy in Scotland

Photos, blog posts

CNN photos of the week

1. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/world/gallery/photos-this-week-january-29-february-5

My older blog posts  https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/

"Thank Q!"

I am still a big fan of "Call the Midwife", which I think I read has earned the title of a favorite program on British TV.  We use streaming, that is internet connection for the tv. I didn't realize how extensive the collections on Netflix and Amazon Prime are.  I have learned that there are other streaming services that specialize in art films and rare movies.  We watch Wis Public TV and Acorn and we have many other choices.

Lately, we have gotten interested in "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwyck, as a deputy police chief.  Her role makes her somewhat obnoxious in my opinion.  She plays a woman police official who is competent but impolite and irritating to her fellow officers.  She is over-polite and is constantly thanking coworkers with her "Thank q so much", her rapid way of saying "thank you".