Supporting cast

We watched all the episodes of “The Closer” starring Kyra Sedgewick.  When she left the show, the story was continued as “Major Crimes”.  I had never experienced the level of comfort and familiarity with the supporting cast of officers in the “LAPD” that I knew from The Closer when Major Crimes became our first program of the evening. We knew the personalities and specialities already.

Early!

I am often early.  I put it down to enthusiasm, with maybe a little fear of being late.  It doesn’t seem to matter what the event is.  I leave to get there early.  I try to allow for the correct travel time but then there are no holdups or traffic jams so I get there early.  My wife is aware of this tendency but she is not sympathetic.  Arriving early is not always welcomed.  It can be awkward.  People are finishing preparation, trying to get properly dressed, and I arrive early.  I haven’t been told to come back in 15 minutes but I read that message in frowns.

Animal and maybe plant detectives

We read “Dog on It” starring a German shepherd dog who has extra abilities solving crimes.  Last night, we watched “The Sheep Detectives” featuring a flock of sheep trying to solve the murder of their human shepherd.  We are on the lookout for stories featuring helpful spiders, insightful octopuses and maybe gardenias that assist or guide humans toward uncovering who dunnit. 

You and I and McWhorter

John McWhorter is an American professor of linguistics.  I enjoy his books.  I just bought one about pronouns.  He writes that his daughter, a toddler, often asked to be carried by saying,”Carry you?”.  He explains that adults often asked her those words when she was carried. So the little logic engine used the same word.  Over time she inferred that she was “me” in this instance and used the pronouns “correctly.”  Humans often learn important things outside of schools and classrooms. 

Initials

It makes sense that people who talk and write about a common subject might develop a short word or set of letters to refer to their subject instead of writing out a long name over and over.  In addition, the modern business world searches for meaningful, memorable product names or tries to invent them.  Google Search, Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Duckduckgo, Apple Safari and other software will search the internet to offer definitions and explanations when I run into an acronym or new word.  They help when my aging memory can’t produce a term that I used to know. 

 “Recognition works when memory doesn't” is a principle that people who 

write tests understand, too.  When I can’t think of my greatgrandmother’s last name, I may be able to recognize it in a list of possibilities.

Would you rather type “antiphospholipid syndrome “  or APS over and over?

Not a normal day for blogging

I normally write a blog post in the afternoon but we are going to be away then.  I suggest catching up on a half finished book you forgot about or a magazine.

The world is full of things

The world is full of things to pay attention to.  Just the birds in our backyard are interesting.  I have dozens of books.  There are something like 300 different “channels” or TV services that we can stream into our TV set using the internet.  I have this blog to write in.  I have 1000 contacts I can write to or phone or, if I am modern and up-to-date, I can ‘text’.  I can follow the example of my wife and her friends and draw or paint or sculpture or photograph.  I can create helpful and inspiring videos.  No wonder I am bored.

All these possibilities put me in mind of this long sentence I met yesterday.  This is from the book “Lion” by Sonya Walger.  She is describing the life as the grown child still living at home:

But how hard to be the one who stayed! The one who packed the raisins but not the nuts, who wiped the lipstick off the piano teacher’s mug, tissue-wrapped the Christmas ornaments, washed the sheets, staunched the blood, ignored the lies and the slammed doors, peeled the stickers off the walls, fought for sunscreen and table manners, made beds, combed out the lice, stapled the hems and later sewed them, kissed the friends, befriended the lovers, returned the books, loaned the car, the house, the denim jacket with the Liberty lining, combed out the lice, listened to the story tape jammed in the car stereo, held back the hair bent over the loo, paid the school fees, paid the tennis coach, paid the airfare, combed out the lice, pushed the swings, paired the socks, allowed the cigarettes, forbade unkindness, packed the trunk, renewed the passports, taught the second tongue, recited the alphabet, churned the ice cream, bought the brads, the Walkman, the wedding dress, learned the names and never forgot them, shared the crossword, the towel, the chewed gum.

"The Light Eaters" by Zoe Schlanger

We are reading “The Light Eaters”.  It is about research into plants.  I am not the plant person that Lynn is.  I know they usually need good soil and water.  I know they are important parts of our diet and the diets of most animals, if not all.  A major angle of this look at current research into plants has to do with plants not having anything like a brain.  Yet, they seem intelligent.  How do they accomplish all that they do with no brain?  Can they see?  Can they remember?  How?  We have plenty of plants around and in our house.  Are we in danger?

Blog stats

My blog is published on Google’s Blogspot.  I have posted most days since 2008.  Google offers a blog author quite a bit of analysis, such as the number of visitors to my blog site worldwide per day.  I am surprised at how many different countries are represented in the list of viewers.

Top ten:  

United States

Singapore

Vietnam

Germany

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Bangladesh

France

Canada

Old peoples' eating capacity

I am closer to 90 years old than to 80.  As I grew up, I didn’t hear much about oldsters eating.  I am surprised by how much less I can eat at a meal than I used to eat.  We recently ate out.  We had a good meal and brought our leftovers home.  When we ate the leftovers, we didn’t finish them in one sitting.  Mind you, that was with meals said to be for one meal.