Getting some air

Around here, 80° F is hot.  My friends in Florida and Arizona laugh at me but I know what I am writing about. So if we are even forecast to have anything in that temperature neighborhood, we may want to open the house up.  We are pretty quick to close back down and get the air conditioning going but when we first got to 80 the other day and my wife purred over the delicious air, we wanted to do our east-west, north-south thing and open windows.  The kitchen window gets the best and most consistent breeze but it was painted recently and doesn't open easily.  More difficulty: the window is right at the kitchen sink and so it is hard to reach over the sink and give the window effective lifting pressure.  It helps if you are trying to get the window up, if you open the latch, too.  

Don't expect me to be easily defeated by a window.  First I took the time to read and understand that the latch is helpfully printed with the word "locked' on one side.  When the latch is on, I found out it is easier to switch it away from "locked" when getting the window to open.  To exert effective opening effort, I removed my shoes and socks and used a kitchen ladder to get standing above the sink.  In that position, I opened the window!

Unfortunately, while getting down, I nudged the step ladder away from myself and fell.  All you have to do is mention the word "fall" and your friends immediately start planning your funeral.  Us wrestlers are used to falling, both on purpose and because of our opponent.  This fall left me with a sore neck that has limited turning.  I just got an appointment with a physical therapist tomorrow morning.  Otherwise, I am fine. 

First lawn cutting

We have a half acre lot.  Besides the house, there is prairie and grass.  A friend told us that genuine prairie needs to grow on a larger piece of land if it is to bloom and grow enough to thicken and resist lawn grass.  But ours seems to be holding its own pretty well.  When we first started, we burned the plants as Nature did but it was troublesome so now we have a mowing team cut all the prairie plants each spring and take away their cutting as well as the accumulated last season's mowing clippings.  I pile the clippings in our woods in back.  

This spring, our community again aimed at waiting until June for the first grass cutting, "no-mow May".  It is almost June and we got our riding mower back from its annual tune-up so I cut the lawn yesterday.  We have many dandelions growing in our lawn but we strongly limit the use of weedkillers.  I was impressed at how many of the stems survived the first cutting yesterday.

Our mower is old and we may have to buy a new one.  We do have an excellent repair and tune-up company that services our machine.  The mower moves fast and accurately.  I wear hearing protection and goggles while cutting.  The mower has a grass-catching system but it needs clearing often during a cutting.  The collection tube and baskets get jammed easily, especially when the grass is thick, long and a bit damp as it was yesterday.

CNN Photos of the week

Check out more moving, fascinating and thought-provoking images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.

Words

Time magazine has a tradition of publishing an issue listing 100 people that seem to be influencing the world or big parts of it.  That issue gets me emotionally because they have the habit of asking someone famous to write a short salute to a famous person.  For instance, they had Bill Clinton write a short comment about Joe Biden and his presidency.  

You may have heard of the word game "Wordle", invented by a Welsch software engineer.  Time has "Questlove", also known as "?uestlove" write about the inventor of the popular Wordle.  The inventor's last name is Wardle.  The article on Mr. Wardle and his game is entirely written in words that might be the word of the day, in the Wordle game.  To play Wordle, you get six tries.  You list a five letter word that is a typical English language word. The software colors each letter's box green if that is the right letter for that position, yellow if that letter appears somewhere else in the word and black if that letter is not used.

Wardle is the creator of the five-letter-word online game Wordle.

Today.

Alarm.

Arise.

Teeth: brush, floss.

Grabs phone.

Loads. Rules clear.

Legit words, slang taboo.

Ready? Ready.

Plays.

Picks usual first guess.

Sonar? Cable? Novel? Stare?

Ashen block after ashen block.

Lucky!

Clues. Hints.

Tries again.

Fifth space, amber (maybe lemon?).

Right vowel, wrong place.

Tries again.

Three right!

First, green. Third, green. Fifth, amber (maybe lemon).

Brain stirs.

Words. Order. Usage. Logic.

Tries again. Worse.

Feels faint. Think!

Needs quiet.

Fight doubt.

Avoid doing badly.

Tries again

Wrong!

Shock, truly.

Stuck.

Brain blank.

Sharp panic.

Takes pulse.

Keeps faith.

Brain spark: vowel twice?

Final guess.

Every fiber tense.

Waits.

First block flips.

Green.

Green, green, green, green!

Bliss!

Alive again!

Prize: pride.

Inner peace.

Waits.

Night, alarm, teeth, phone, newly blank board.

First guess again.

Final point:

minor thing, major magic.

Daily light among bleak times.

Happy place.

Hence,

folks thank

JoshW ardle.

Thompson is a Grammy- and Oscar-winning musical artist and director

Pollan's writings

I first heard of Michael Pollan when a friend said that her book club was reading his "Second Nature." I hadn't heard of the author or the book. I looked it up and we read the book driving on a road trip.  It was good, interesting and eye-opening.  The author said that gardeners are somewhat like lower-level gods, deciding what can live in their gardens and what must die.  He also mentioned the development of roses as something that many people worked on.

His "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is long and quite interesting. But for me, his finest is "How to Change Your Mind".  Our daughter was mentally ill for about 20 years before she died and we have paid attention to the emerging discussion and impressive results being obtained with psychedelics used in the right setting to help people with mental illness think and act better.

 

More recently, we listened to Pollan's "Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World".  I liked it but I don't think I got much out of it.  I thought he would have more about the change from farming hours under one's own control to reporting to a factory when the time to be there came around.  I looked up a bit about the book and it said that the modern world bit comes from using a non-alcoholic drink in coffee houses to stimulate thought and conversation.

Uneven job descriptions

It was just two days ago that I wrote that I recommend The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, MD. I do recommend it and Lynn seems to like all her books, too.  So, it is not just words that are obvious to a mature and experienced woman.  However, last night we read the 3rd chapter of "The Upgrade", the book about women's brains after menopause.  Wow!  Once the doctor (and mother herself) starts going through what the whole female entity has been doing for around 50 years, it is so complicated and there are so many operations that are starting and stopping all the time, it is amazing, to me, that women have any time to think of anything else.

I read way back that some Hebrew thinkers in ancient times expressed wonder that women were often so eager to be mothers even though childbirth was clearly dangerous for them. I can totally sympathize with such a thought.  One fact that seems to support the idea that the female arrangement is "better" than the male design is that women tend to live longer than men.  

Dr. Brizendine emphasizes that desire for men and for motherhood are not just whims that come to female minds.  She explains hormones and those chemicals have very important effects on minds and especially on thoughts and goals, on what is wanted and what is of interest and important.  Sometimes, living creatures are said to have two needs, staying alive and reproducing.  So, we breathe, drink and eat and we have sex.  If we breathe, drink and eat, we may still fail to survive.  Beasties, high cliffs, big rock falling, lightning strikes, volcano eruptions and warfare may end our lives.  Just as living is a somewhat iffy deal, so is reproduction.

I think the current arguments about abortions (our planet is over-populated with humans already) have turned in some cases to a new slogan: Life begins at ejaculation.  I think that is true.  When the cute little sperm finally meets the lovely egg, life processes begin.  So males produce some fine half-seeds but females do too, and then they nurse the growth internally and externally, more or less for the rest of that female's life.  Just because the fetus grows, is born, matures and even reproduces, doesn't mean that the mother stops caring and loving and being concerned.

But, after about 50 years of fertility, those female systems shift quite dramatically and female brains get an upgrade.

Gift of breakfast cereal

I like Heritage Flakes cereal.  They hold up well in milk and are a combination of several grains. They can be hard to find so so I buy in bulk.  For a birthday gift for friends, I give a  bag of Heritage Flakes for a gift. It is pretty certain that they are not also getting that gift from other people.  So far, it has worked ok.  At least one friend reports getting more.

Brains and hormones

My path began when I asked myself what I enjoy.  It was clear to me that I enjoyed working to understand other people.  That might imply study in psychology or counseling but I found better prices in education.  I became a professor in a school of education.  Normally, such a group is focused on training teachers. 

It doesn't take much experience training college students who have enrolled to become certified teachers to learn that a basic variable is gender/sex.  Being a teacher of those not of age can be a balancing act between being something of a friend and being an authority with powers of punishment.  Generally, female teacher candidates are more comfortable being friendly while males are usually more comfortable with being disciplinarians and enforcers of rules and decorum. 

I attended a large public all-male high school so when I went to a teacher's college where only 20% of the students were male, I felt a strong difference.  I have only females in my family except for my father and later, my stepfather.  I taught the 5th grade for 4 years and found most of the other faculty members were female and many of my students were, too.

From those and other experiences, I was interested in differences in life and thought for males and females.  Years ago, I read "The Natural Superiority of Women" by Ashley Montague and other sources about both male and female psychology.  It was only recently that I found "The Female Brain" by Louann Brezinedine, MD.  I read it to Lynn and was impressed with her language and comments.  She emphasizes that female human brains get restructured by strong hormones each month of the large section of their lives that they are fertile.  Hormones affect males, too, but not such opposite ones during parts of every single month.  

Brezinedine has written two other books, too: "The Male Brain" and "The Upgrade".  We also read The Male Brain and it is good and are part way thru The Upgrade, a book about the woman's mental abilities after menopause.  So far, I most recommend The Female Brain.

Take note of headlines, titles and themes

It is easy to hear or read a title without paying much attention to the words used to make it.  We know that the title is "just" a name, a reference to a book or movie or essay.  However, that title needs to convey a tone, a feeling and that tone can slip into our thinking, into our mood without proper credentials.  

I have read and benefited from the words and ideas of both Jack Kornfield and Daniel Siegel.  I have read several books by each of those men.  But, I imagine that neither of them wrote these words describing an interview that Kornfield has recorded, talking to Siegel.  Sounds True says that many of us "are seeking ways to mindfully navigate the trauma and chaos of today".  

If you read or watch or listen to the news, you know about murders, shootings, wars and diseases that are causing trouble.  These and other forces and problems are causing trauma and chaos.  I have not been responsible for writing much description of a program but I see that I can read the underlined words and be swooped into agreement that I can face all sorts of nasty, dangerous and frightening events and forces these days.  

Two friends and I created, justified and taught a course "Futures".  One of those friends was a historian and he started the project with the question "what is the history of the future?"  When he asked it, the question made no sense to me, but he explained that he wanted to know what have speakers, writers, thinkers, etc. said about the future.  After working with the course, the friends and students who enrolled, I know that one answer is used often, a major answer, is "the world is about to end!!!"  As a somewhat thickheaded, skeptical person, I learned to question the idea.  

Really?  How do you know?

God told me in a dream last night.

I can just feel it…you know, climate change, hypersonic vacuum bombs, drones in the night, drought.  We are never going to get out of this world alive!  

Personally, I recommend looking at partners, friends, children and enjoying them.  If you have a drink of water or wine, if you have something good to eat, if you have a tv that shows something interesting or fun, enjoy and be at least a bit grateful.

Habits, routine and adventures

When the doctor says my blood sugar is too high, I cut back on sweets. But I have to work at changing my habit of having a dish of ice cream.  It is a habit and I like doing it.  I am uncomfortable having to stay out of the kitchen and tell myself "No!" when my taste buds tell me I haven't had my customary candy.  Habits and routines can be comfortable and they can guide me efficiently driving through town and through the steps of meal preparation.  But they may sometimes need updating, trimming, expanding and modification at times.  

When I get a mental reminder that it is the usual coffee time, I can also get a feeling that my life is overly repetitious.  That's when I trot out more concentration on time.  I am such and such an age, it being so many minutes since I was born.  In another five seconds, I will be five seconds older.  I have never been that exact age before.  From this peak of chronological achievement, I can proudly look down on all those previous seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, years and decades I have already accomplished.  At the same time, I can relish the current moment, having never, ever been in this moment previously.  When I think of the busy week we just had, the excellent tv show we watched last night, the wonderful books I have to read and plenty of other blessings and goodies, I find I have trouble restraining myself from running ahead into next week just to see what it's like there.

George Bilgere

Some friends were discussing The Writer's Almanac.  Yes, it is still published and is available by email daily.

 

https://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/twa-the-writers-almanac-for-may-21-2022/

You can click on a link to an audible reading.  There are also citations of people and events that happened on that day in history.  Since most emails I get are ads and offers to accept money, it is a pleasure to read about people in fairly recent history.  They make up a very mixed selection since few of us plan which day to be born.  

Today's poem is "The Ineffable" (that which cannot be put nicely into words or even at all).  It begins:

I'm sitting here reading the paper,

feeling warm and satisfied, basically content

with my life and all I have achieved.

Then I go up for a refill and suddenly realize

how much happier I could be with the barista.

The poet is George Bilgere.  If you search my blog, you will see other places I have mentioned this poet.  https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/

I taught a course for experienced graduate teachers in which we reviewed the books we have read, ever.  Many people can recognize titles of books they have been meaning to get to, but never have.  For such thoughts, I use "Moby Dick" as an example of a popular book, recognized by many as important in the history of American writing, but one they haven't gotten to yet.  This line of thinking came up repeatedly in my reading course.  So, naturally, I read Bilgere's poem, "Once again, I fail to read an important novel"

https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2006%252F09%252F22.html

It is true that we can't do everything and we can't read everything. Besides, as we age, we find that we don't remember what we have read, and we could spend more and more time re-reading what we have read.  And that is not even counting time for tv, taking walks and sleeping.

Cellphone

My phone is prepaid and I usually spend about $100 a year on it.  The company behind it is big in Mexico but it was recently bought.  I expected trouble in finding a new version that was as cheap and as good.  I may have found it in Walmart.

We weren't big Walmarters before we moved to this location about 30 years ago.  Walmart has a grocery and produce section and more importantly, it is the closest grocery store to us.  I do quite a bit of buying with Amazon, but I couldn't find what I wanted with them so I tried Walmart online.  I have read that many stores, large and small, have been limited by the intrusion of Amazon into almost any type of sale, and operations like Walmart are getting into online sales.  Online can be more impersonal but more convenient.

I didn't want a plan or a monthly obligation.  The phone I carry in my small pocket is an LG and it has been good.  It does have a game on it but I have never played it.  It has had good coverage.  There was a spot in upper Michigan and one in southern Arizona where I couldn't get a signal but otherwise it has been fine.  I got a cramp in my fingers from being online today so long for the new phone, but now I am connected.  

I prefer to compartmentalize and so I use email with one email address and our home phone landline for just about all business.  That means I have thousands of "minutes" of operation from using our house phone but as months go by, I need to buy more "days".  The days get consumed by the passing of time regardless of the amount of use.  The minutes are a measure of usage.  

Car indicators

I have a dashboard light that signals when the pressure in my tires is low.  It is on and I have tried to inflate the tires properly to satisfy the system.  So far, no luck.  Maybe later.

I just learned that the indicator also reads the pressure in my spare tire.  I have tried inflating that tire a bit but I will.  

It makes sense to have the spare included but I often find that "intelligent" or semi-intelligent machines and systems are peculiar and picky but sometimes, not helpful.

Hormones and viruses

I read Carl Zimmer's "Planet of Viruses" and Louann Brizendine's "The Female Brain".  She is an MD and a specialist in neuropsychiatry.  She is also the author of "The Maie Brain" and "The Upgrade."  I have had a male brain all my life but I am interested in female brains.  She wrote the books in the order I have listed and I have only read about a quarter of The Male Brain.  Both the virus book and the female brain book focus on tiny and invisible things.  I have never seen a virus and I have never seen a hormone.  

Zimmer says that hormones were only discovered in the 1840's, well after bacteria were known to exist.  The book "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson makes clear that the evolution of glass got a lift from Gutenberg's printing press that made books cheaper and within reach of more people.  But more people discovered that, to read, they needed lens, spectacles.  Better lenses and understanding of lens manufacture led to microscopes (and telescopes) and the discovery of the existence of tiny life which can have a big effect on us, our thinking and our lives. Viruses are 1000 times smaller than bacteria so it took a while to realize their existence. 

Men are influenced by hormones but mainly in the matter of sexual pursuit and aggressiveness. Personally, I don't think it is at all true that "men only want one thing" - sex.  But I admit it can seem that way at times.  Dr. Brizendine makes clear that women have several hormone brain baths each month of their sexual maturity.  I find her wording that hormones have a strong effect on people deciding "what is important" very helpful.  When we watch "Call the Midwife", I often get a reminder of the female effort to carry and bear a new human being and the result of hormones steeping the new mother in chemicals that enchant her with her newborn.  

I see that the Harvard Medical magazine features an article on viruses and emphasizes that some of them help humans very much.

https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/viral-world/good-viruses-do

More events than usual

This is a busy week for us.  We are both in book clubs that discuss a book a month and both of them are meeting this week.  Her book is "Behold the Dreamers!" and mine is "Cat's Cradle".  Last night, we were taken to dinner for Mother's Day.  

We have window washers coming to do our windows and I have teeth cleaning.  We are having a dinner at a friend's house and we are attending a reunion of our ski club.  These more unusual events are in addition to several weekly items like church and lunch out. When we get busier than usual, I remember a colleague comparing a semester in London with life in this small city of 24,000.  London is a big city with much history and at least 144 museums.  (Lynn taught a course there about the museums.)  But John found that his home phone ringing off the wall in Stevens Point compared to many quiet times in London.  

Between spring busting out and people chafing and resisting further limits from covid, there are more and more activities, offers, invitations and possibilities, sometimes a bit too many. I have been thinking of an online organization that will accept a small fee to have their accomplished event attenders go to the overflow that a single couple can't quite manage. 

Thinking of what I want to say

I like the Learning in Retirement organization on our local campus.  Many people are reluctant to speak to a group publicly.  I suppose they realize that others can see them speaking to someone in the supermarket or in the stands during a game.  I am not sure just what pictures those who are afraid of the attention of a group hold in their mind.  As we read "The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine, MD, I read about being afraid that people would judge a person negatively.  Why is he so short?  Why is he so egotistical?  Does he really think anyone is interested in what he has to say?

I just looked up fear of public speaking and found that it is also called "glossophobia" and that it might be that 77% of people are afraid of doing that.  Since my neighbors can see me doing this and that, I personally don't think it is a big deal.  Of course they don't realize how much fun I am - they never had the chance to learn it.  

The campus organization is called L.I.F.E. and those letters stand for "Learning Is ForEver".  If I had my choice, I might use the name WHIS, pronounced "wis", rhymes with "Nice", after the words "We Have Interesting Stories". I have been associated with our Life for more than 10 years and have been impressed at the knowledge and charm that lies in so many aspects of our community. Consider a shoemaker or real estate agent or mother of three.  Any of them might surprise us with stories of their experiences.  I admit that putting together some notes or Powerpoint slides takes some time and effort but that time and that effort is the most valuable part of contributing a presentation.  We do have professors and retired professors and teachers and other community figures like lawyers and officials talk to groups.  That sort of professional is used to giving presentations for a group.  But we also have pilots and nurses and others who have to organize their thoughts to decide what they want to say.  That organization, that overview of a life or a trade or an experience is a personal lift worth quite a bit.

TED talk about our brains

https://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_3_clues_to_understanding_your_brain/transcript

I like to check out TED talks every now and then.  They take a viewer to new subjects and new ideas.  I found the talk linked above and recognized the presenter as the author of "Phantoms in the Brain", a book that a group of friends discussed about a decade ago.  

I get impressed by finding that people who have lost an arm or a leg have complained that the absent arm aches and have been making such complaints since the 1600's.  Ramachandran found ways to deal with the situation and help, and to do so at low cost.  Sounds impossible at first but it isn't and pursuing the matter shows a bit about how the 3 lb. organ in our heads works.

I think it is surprising that certain patients are deluded about their mother when they see her but not when they talk to her on the phone.

Miscellany

I think it is possible that a cold spring, like we have had, pushes the plants, flowers, trees into springing more lushly.  Maybe it only seems lush to winterized eyes.

Have you noticed that the day of the week and the date keep changing?  I just get clear on which day it is and durn if it doesn't change!

We have baby rabbits and baby chipmunks nibbling and bounding about.

David R. Hamilton has a PhD in organic chemistry.  His book "Why Woo-woo Works" is interesting.  I have wondered how our ancestors managed to survive without MD's, microscopes or anti-biotics.  Part of the answer may be 'See the medicine man' or 'See the healing woman'.  Hamilton has a newsletter and I signed up to get it.  A recent issue said that I can be younger if I want to be "by acting younger".  I don't want to go too far back but I learned from Hamilton that visualizing anything, any action or situation, tends to increase my ability to handle it well.  If you see me playing with my blocks, don't be alarmed.  Yet.

We have tree swallows in our bluebird house and we like them as neighbors.

We found Dan Buettner's "Blue Zones Kitchens" about the food that long-living people eat so we tried a fried egg, toast, and olives and I had a little wine.  It was fine and we have lived every moment since then. 

Choices

from Num Lock News 11/23/2020

a classic 2000 study found that when shown 24 types of jam, 3 percent of consumers made a purchase, but when shown just six types, the purchase rate rose to 30 percent. Bed Bath & Beyond saw can opener sales increase 30 percent after cutting some styles, part of a larger inventory cut amid a store redesign

I am interested in choice and methods of choosing, from selecting a name from a hat [a hat is not as good as a bowl but may be handier], to using a multi-column chart to award points based on various factors, to asking Mom or Dad.

It can be more difficult to choose from a very large number of possibilities.  A large number alone can discourage. A grad student traveled 60 miles to buy a machine but found too many offered in the store and returned with nothing.  I don't know about the history of thinking and argument about elections, but maybe it is easier if we have primaries and then a final election.  We can give more minute examination to the choices that survive the primaries.

There is some evidence that humans have an immediate reaction to possible choices.  If I have immediate reactions, I can include them in my considerations if I am aware of them.  If I am infuriated about one choice and attracted to another, something in me or the choice might be triggering that reaction.  If I want to be careful, I can add a column to my chart for my immediate reaction. 

If I want, I can make a choice on paper more than one time.  Sure, I will know what happened the first time when making the 2nd run.  That may influence me but that might be helpful.  I can always add a column for points from the first choice.

Unexpectedly

My car wouldn't start.  The mechanic said the battery was about 6 years old and that is often the age when a battery can't start the car anymore. Our son-in-law came to the rescue for the 44th time and we are back in business.  This is also the day that Lynn contributes food to a dinner at the local shelter.  Today is also the first day we have had hot weather even though it is the 8th week of spring according to the calendar.  Right now, it is 93°F and that is much warmer than we have experienced up until today.  Many Wisconsinites feel it is inhumane to expect people to work, think, drive civilly at that temperature.  We did get a forecast over the last few days to expect 90 degrees today but it is also one of those high humidity days so we have an additional source of discomfort.

The high warmth and heavy humidity combine to be an extra bother, partly because it is so sudden.  So if you have a Badger friend who is acting off today, give him a break.  Wait until fall to communicate with Badgers.

Borrowing ebooks through the air (they return themselves)

But the dark ages are over: While dynamic podcast ads were less than half the market in 2019, last year 84 percent of ads were dynamic, and that's only going up.

Ariel Shapiro, The Verge

Evidently, dynamic ads change according to the viewer's behavior.  That could mean many things and likely it doesn't mean just one kind of change. I tried to get an answer to how much better in several senses dynamic ads have been shown to be but I didn't.  I have read of the 'funnel', an image of a funnel that counts visitors to a site, then those that take steps to further inquire or focus and finally those who make a purchase.  

I use the app "Libby" to borrow ebooks from libraries.  They come to my Kindle and Kindle apps through the air.  I can keep a borrowed book for 14 days and that is enough time to see if I want my own copy, depending on my opinion of the quality of writing and the price.  I usually set Libby to just show me books, not magazines or audiobooks, to just show me non-fiction and to just show me what is available right now without any holds on it.  Right now, 117,000 items meet those standards.  I just found out yesterday that I can see how many pages of 8 books are available using those specifications.  Today, the answer is 495.  I have the option of looking at any of those pages.  I can start looking at page 250 or page 300.  One reason I might do that is the first few pages that meet my standards often contain book after book that I have finished with.

A basic idea in making suggestions is "more of the same".  If I have finished two cowboy books, why not offer me a cowboy book?  A basic objection might be "I am tired of cowboy books".  What else is available? Every subject can be riveting if it is handled well and I am in the mood to explore and learn new things.

Warmer

Nothing happened today.

Well, of course, that is a lot of baloney.  All sorts of things happened, about 99.9999% of which I don't know.  It would be interesting to frame an inquiry or two to see what Google, Duckduckgo and other search engines can tell me about how much of what happened I do know.  And that would just be basic knowledge, not how much of it is correct, certainly not how much of it gets used or pays off in some way.  [Short link on search engines: t.ly/3ndu]

I guess the biggest news is the outside temperature.  Right now, it is about 78°F.  When it is winter, we keep our thermostat set on 70° so it is warmer outside than we usually keep our house.  The heat is turned off and the thermostat says 74 degrees and that is with windows and doors open on all four sides of the house.

Today was the first day in months that I didn't put on a sweatshirt.  I wore khakis and a t-shirt to lunch for the first time since last summer.  

We wanted our best cross-current windows open, the ones that give the best air circulation.  They include the one in the kitchen where we had painting done and it was stuck from the painting.  I thought I might have to use my voice to record a blog post if I fell and broke something but the window is open and I didn't fall.

What's that?!

Lynn got a small statue of a fox and her baby yesterday as a Mother's Day gift.  Brain books have told me repeatedly that my brain knows more than I can tell.  I have alerted several times today to a strange figure on our deck before I remembered it is that small fox statue.  

It is surprising.  I didn't try to memorize what is and what is not normal or "permitted" but parts of me are not accustomed to the statue.  We have had foxes in our neighborhood so it is not impossible that there could be one out there. But what is interesting is that my eye finds it and focuses on it before I consciously know it is there.

 

I have thought before that a good example of having a habit that I didn't know I had relates to moving the trash can in a room.  When I ball up a paper and throw it away, I toss the paper at the old location before I remember that the trash can isn't there anymore.  

I wondered how my finding and reacting to the little statue relates to my age.  I have my computer set to look up things with Duckduckgo but I keep finding that search results are more satisfying with Google search.  I looked up "Are old people more habitual than younger people?" but I didn't find anything impressive.  I am aware of the tendency of many popular writers to find a study that shows X and conclude that X is a reliable bit of information when strong counterexamples exist.  This is the problem of the replication difficulties, especially in psychology and people-related subjects.  Just because 55% of my sample did X as opposed to Y doesn't mean I should rely on that as a newly discovered rule of human behavior.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Residences

We started counting up the places we have lived the other day. We didn't count summer camp or other short term places.  Roughly, if we lived in one place for a month or more, we counted it.  I have a couple of dozen and Lynn has more.  When you think that we have lived in our current residence for nearly 30 years, you can see that our parents and our young selves changed location quite a few times.  

Certainly the number of residences is related to one's age.  If you are only a month old, you can't fit many residences into such a small time but if you are 1,000 months old, you are probably going to have lived in more places.    

It is typical to wonder which place of residence was best.  Which one currently has the sweetest memories?  Of course, one's age matters again since the years since that place or the other place have lessened the immediacy and stripped out some memories.  I have memories of each place - that's why I can recall it.  But I don't know how accurate the memories are nor how they compare with memories of the same location I carried ten years ago.  

I think I have been lucky to have good times everywhere I have lived.  Many of the locations have been in a city.  Much of my childhood, my family or just me used public transportation.  Despite the fact that I have lived in a small city for more than 50 years, I have never been on public transport here.

Spinning a better world

Spin - I tend to use the word in a similar way to "slant" or "approach", to suggest the angle or pitch given in a narrative or report.  

I think "spin" is an important aspect of being happy.  For instance, it is a rather overcast day here now and I don't want that.  That nature and winds and clouds and whatnot have collaborated to result in my having to live under overcast - or is it "over undercast" - irritates me.  I don't want to be irritated.  So, investigate, cogitate, invent, poeticize, narrate, fancify, disfancify!  Come up with a different slant.  Put some helpful, more satisfying spin on the current state.  

That is what my wife tries to do for me when she finds I am in a depressed state.  That is what Sigmund Freud tried to do for some of his patients.  Exploring different compositions and their emotional effects is what Cyrano de Bergerac did for the gentleman who seemed to be staring at his nose:

"You might have said at least a hundred things

  By varying the tone. . .like this, suppose,. . .

  Aggressive:  'Sir, if I had such a nose

  I'd amputate it!'  Friendly:  'When you sup

  It must annoy you, dipping in your cup;

  You need a drinking-bowl of special shape!'

  Descriptive:  ''Tis a rock!. . .a peak!. . .a cape!

  --A cape, forsooth!  'Tis a peninsular!'

  Curious:  'How serves that oblong capsular?

  For scissor-sheath?  Or pot to hold your ink?'

  Gracious:  'You love the little birds, I think?

  I see you've managed with a fond research

  To find their tiny claws a roomy perch!'

  Truculent:  'When you smoke your pipe. . .suppose

  That the tobacco-smoke spouts from your nose--

  Do not the neighbors, as the fumes rise higher,

  Cry terror-struck:  "The chimney is afire"?'

  Considerate:  'Take care,. . .your head bowed low

  By such a weight. . .lest head o'er heels you go!'

  Tender:  'Pray get a small umbrella made,

  Lest its bright color in the sun should fade!'

  Pedantic:  'That beast Aristophanes

  Names Hippocamelelephantoles

  Must have possessed just such a solid lump

  Of flesh and bone, beneath his forehead's bump!'

  Cavalier:  'The last fashion, friend, that hook?

  To hang your hat on?  'Tis a useful crook!'

  Emphatic:  'No wind, O majestic nose,

  Can give THEE cold!--save when the mistral blows!'

  Dramatic:  'When it bleeds, what a Red Sea!'

  Admiring:  'Sign for a perfumery!'

  Lyric:  'Is this a conch?. . .a Triton you?'

  Simple:  'When is the monument on view?'

  Rustic:  'That thing a nose?  Marry-come-up!

  'Tis a dwarf pumpkin, or a prize turnip!'

  Military:  'Point against cavalry!'

  Practical:  'Put it in a lottery!

  Assuredly 'twould be the biggest prize!'

  Or. . .parodying Pyramus' sighs. . .

  'Behold the nose that mars the harmony

  Of its master's phiz! blushing its treachery!'

  --Such, my dear sir, is what you might have said,"

Once we internally examine each of these possible spins, we may find that we can invest in that slant and possibly use it to feel more satisfied with the issue, whatever it is.