Voice

You may know Alexa and Siri.  They are mechanical devices, not people. When a potter is deep into clay, it is handy to be able to speak to a “smart” device and have it stay quiet a while or switch stations.  There are other situations where it is preferable to be able to speak rather than take some hand action.  Receptive devices are getting more widespread and their list of abilities is lengthening. Voice depends on transmission and reception.

As a person with poor hearing, I may want my smart speaker to be louder than you do.  I only speak English so I don’t want to have to speak one of the many other languages that exist.  I don’t have wonderful handwriting and I make mistakes every few strokes typing so speaking can be an advantage.  I haven’t tried using a smart speaker in a noisy environment but I suppose it might not work too well.

Look!

I read that male-only gyms are gaining popularity.  I can understand why.  Now, in my mid-80’s, it still happens to me that scantily or tightly dressed female bodies are a distraction.  When I am lifting a heavy weight, I don’t need a gorgeous woman to walk by.  Sure, I have been harnessing my impulses for years and years but it can be nice to get a break.  In a fraction of a second, I can think I am married, she shows no attraction to me, I am much, much too old.

Five dimensions of a person

I taught a course about grading students and testing them.  What about students are we trying to assess?  School is famous for parroting: I say Columbus launched an age of exploration of North and South American continents.  I ask: What did Columbus do?  You write that he launched exploration of the North and South American continents.  You get a high grade!

Every time, throughout your life, that you need to state what Columbus did, you will thank your time with me and my teaching.  But how many times will that happen?  What about the five dimensions of you?  You know: 

Physical

Cognitive

Social

Emotional

Moral

Teachers and parents understand that all five dimensions will matter over your lifetime and that you are going to be your own version of you.  We may lecture, implore, beg, punish, reward but our own dimensions are not perfectly developed.  Further, we don’t understand ourselves or you fully.  As we live, we ourselves change as do you.  Still, it is worthwhile to spend a day on each dimension, thinking how we are doing in that area and gauging you to see if we can say or do anything of value in your development.

Outage

We were talking together in our living room when our lights quietly turned off.  An electrical outage.  No ignition for flame on our gas stove. No internet.  Our cellphones have power and a signal.  Looked up a number and called it.  

Turned out a little group of four houses were affected.    Linemen were here quickly and fixed us up.   Some wire needed to be replaced but it runs underground.  A temporary fix is installed but sometime later it will get more permanent treatment.

It's August

August is the month when my grandmother told me to go outside and look into the family car, which had just brought my parents home.  I did and saw that my mother was holding my new baby sister.  We have been connected ever since.

August is the month that was inserted into the calendar in the name of Augustus.

It is the last month before school reopens.

"The Week" by David Henkin

“The Week” goes out of Henkin’s way to emphasize that weeks are not natural.  Years have to do with the sun, days have to do with the sun but weeks are a human invention.  I wondered if some societies have used more or less days than 7.  I got this:

Yes, many historical and traditional societies have used cycles shorter or longer than seven days, such as the ancient Roman eight-day market cycle, the Egyptian and Chinese ten-day cycles, and the traditional West African four-day or five-day market weeks. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Ancient and Traditional Week Lengths

• 3-to-4 days: Isolated pockets in parts of central Africa historically operated on ultra-short three- or four-day intervals. [1]

• 4 days: The Igbo people of Nigeria traditionally organize time around a four-day market and ritual week. [1]

• 5 days: The Javanese people of Indonesia use a traditional five-day cycle called a pasaran, and various Korean and West African regions used five-day market structures. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• 6 days: The Akan people in Ghana use a six-day cycle alongside other reckonings. [1, 2]

• 8 days: Early Romans used an eight-day agricultural and market cycle known as the nundinae before switching permanently to the seven-day week. [1]

• 10 days: Ancient Egyptians and ancient China split their months into ten-day units (such as the Chinese xun). [1, 2, 3]

• 13 days: The Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures structured time using a 13-day cycle, often called a trecena. [1]

• 15 days: Certain older Chinese administrative systems divided months into two 15-day periods. [1]

Modern and State Experiments

• 10 days: During the French Revolution, the government replaced the seven-day week with a decimal ten-day décade to eliminate religious influences, though it was short-lived. [1]

• 5 and 6 days: The Soviet Union experimented with continuous rolling five-day and six-day workweeks in the 1920s and 1930s to keep factories running constantly, but abandoned the practice due to social complications. [1, 2]

I'll last longer

When I said,”You know, your devices (connected tablets, smartphones, computers) will last longer if you only charge them 60-80% of their capacity”, she answered “I’ll last longer if I charge them without paying attention to 60 or 80 %.”

Try replacing "the" with "a"

I see titles that say “the truth about” this or that.  I think it would lead to better thinking if people tried replacing “the” with “a” truth. 

It is actually nearly impossible to tell or write “THE” truth about anything.  It might tip off a little wider thinking if we habitually said “A” truth.  There are many truths, more than we know or can hold in our minds. 

Janet Davis, photographer

Quite a few people complimented the photo of a hummingbird on a hot lips plant.  I want to say that I looked at something like 25 or 30 shots and the one I copied seemed the best.  Enough people seemed to think I took the picture that I wanted to give the Canadian photographer credit.  You may have noticed that she has a credit line in the picture.  You can look her up online.  The name “Janet Davis” is not that unusual so there may be several people with that name.  It seems she is also an author.

Hummingbird and hot lips plant