The trail and stew

Today is February 22.  That is George Washington's birthday.  It is true that sometimes as a kid, I read about a special sale, maybe something like "we have 5 excellent washing machines for sale for a nickel each.  First come, first served." But that isn't what sticks in my mind about the first president's birthday.  What I remember is the Appalachian Trail.  

You may know the trail runs from Maine to Georgia.  It is just about 2200 miles long.  Washington's birthday was a school holiday where I was then. My Boy Scout troop hiked on the trail in Maryland on his birthday.  The weather was not usually very cold or snowy.  The trail tends to be somewhat scooped out compared to the land on both sides and that scoop collects leaves.  After walking for 6 hours, the swish of feet through leaves was deeply in my head.  When we settled in our sleeping bags for a night away, swish, swish, swish came to mind.

The most memorable time involved Dinty Moore's Beef Stew.  We had a good-sized pot of the stuff sitting on sticks and logs in a fire.  The pot was on a precarious slant.  One of the guys tried to straighten that slant but ooops!  The pot tipped and emptied into the ashes.  Our dinner!  Death by starvation came to mind but we ate Three Musketeers bars and survived.  Whew!  A close one!

Greatest of the best of all

My plan was to write about superlatives.  I see that in a marketing economy, writers of advertisements have a natural desire to shout that their product is simply the greatest of the greatest of the best ever.  Even that doesn't work since (1) we immediately discount such wording as simple exaggeration and (2) whatever term, seal of ultra-approval, report of highest honors and attainments eventually loses its charm and magic.  

I have friends that are delightful, books that are fun and fulfilling, memories that are satisfying to recall and relive.  I didn't use any superlatives in that sentence.  In case you want to read some of my comments on the subject of superlatives, here are two short links:

Posts containing singular "superlative" t.ly/vIii

Posts containing the plural "superlatives" t.ly/f3W0

Great Courses through the air

We have a wide variety of things to watch on our television set.  We use a Roku streamer and mostly watch programs on Netflix, Amazon Prime, PBS and Acorn.  We also have a number of programs and courses on DVD.  Last night, we decided to switch to a DVD but found the player empty.  What happened to the disc?  We looked here and there.  We questioned ourselves and each other but could not find a disc for the Great Course by Prof. Michael Wyesessions on "Geological Wonders of the World."  Lynn chose that course but I have gotten some appreciation for caves, waterfalls, odd currents and wind patterns and other features of our globe.

So, what the heck could we (or somebody) have done with that disc?  A mystery like that sticks in my mind and I started up on the search again this morning.  It turns out that we couldn't find the program disc because we don't have it and we never did have it.  The course is delivered to a channel on our Roku arrangement electronically through the Internet.  I feel unimaginative and out-of-date.  So, using the right combination of our tv remotes, I looked at the list of Great Courses we have purchased.  They sit there, at the ready, for us to play them.  The first position is occupied by Geological Wonders of the World!  Mystery solved and we will watch the next lecture tonight.

I read that the Library of Congress and other collectors of recordings of various kinds have trouble keeping track of the arrangements that various companies and organizations use to lay out files on surfaces.  The chapter of "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson on "sound" relates the history of making lasting recordings of sounds, voices and music.  I have also read that some workers in artificial intelligence are moving toward offering people a constructed version of best guess remarks by deceased relatives for a price.  This blog has 4,833 posts written and posted by me.  So, if you miss me after I'm gone, an artificial version of me might be available.

Spring, old songs and photos

On Sunday mornings, we have a tradition of Lynn writing a letter recapping the events of the previous week and me cooking oatmeal. I put banana, apple, raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts and frozen blueberries in it.  But, today, we had no bananas.  So, for older folks, such a situation can bring to mind the song from 100 years ago (1923): "Yes, We Have No Bananas"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QqkrIDeTeA

I didn't add anything to substitute for the missing fruit.  Lynn said we had suffered through a similar lack before and were no worse for the experience.  So, we did it again and survived.

This morning, I found a ladybug in the house, the first indicator that spring is creeping toward us.

Today being Sunday, there is a collection of Photos of the Week on CNN:

t.ly/N90w (here is a short link to the pictures using a Firefox short link)

A day trip

We wanted to take a day trip and get out of the house.  Our town has about 25,000 but Wausau is about 60,000.  It has several shopping areas.  We stopped by friends' house to drop off two of our ten bottles of cinnamon whiskey, a spur for Valentine activities.  They were pleased to see us and invited us in for a chat - no bots involved.

We drove to Birds Unlimited and bought a new cage for a cylinder of seeds and 20 lbs of worms.  I had my first visit to Hobby Lobby and I saw the very large assortment of house art and hobby items they sell.  Lynn was after replacements for some of her fine brushes for glazes but they didn't have anything she wanted.  We had lunch in a Mediterranean Grill and we had our first gyros in a long time. 

We visited Barnes and Noble and looked at a selection of banned books but we didn't buy any.  Normally, if I see a title of interest, I try to get it in Kindle format for both print size control if it is needed and a file of highlights.  We drove to downtown Wausau and visited the bookstore in operation since 1919. 

We were in Lynn's car and it needed a wash.  We stopped for a gas refill and a wash/vacuum.  

Good time and nice change!

Me, Sandi and Carl

There's me, there is Sandi Peters and there is Carl Jung.  You know me a little bit.  You may not have heard of Sandi Peters but she is the main author of "Aging with Agency" written with a co-author, Prof. of Philosophy Drew Leder at Loyola University in Baltimore.  Carl Jung is world-famous as the next big psychiatric thinker after Sigmund Freud.  

The book Aging with Agency was already known to us through a friend. I read the books her book group picks aloud to her and the next book is this Agency. By the way, "agency" has picked up the meaning of something like 'control, purpose and participation'.  So, the title means being an older person with some control over one's aging and life.

As I read it, I saw that the wording was more advanced and agreeable but it wasn't until chapter 3 that I got more enthusiastic and respectful of the book.  Chapter 3 is about the work of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and friend of Freud.  Freud is often referred to as the father of recognition of humans having other thinking parts than the conscious mind.  From the little I know about either man, Sigmund Freud was a bit too focused on ideas of sexual thoughts and repression but Jung evidently was more aware of parts of our heads and memories that influence us but that are not consciously chosen.  

I have a doctorate degree and so does my wife.  We and friends who have the same degree are aware that on the morning of our orals, when we sit with several professors who are going to talk with us and render a decision as to our qualification to be doctors, that morning we ask ourselves if we are properly prepared.  We put our minds to the question: Do we know enough? And the answer is No!!!  There are hundreds of important articles we haven't read, there are dozens we didn't understand!  What if questions are asked in other languages???

Yet, despite not having studied our own memories and convictions, we do have memories and convictions.  We don't know why we picked those memories and not dozens of others that we could have picked to hang on to but didn't.  It is handy if we have had the experience of living through orals and if we understand that parts of us are in use all the time, even in sleep!, that we don't know about, don't have control of, don't understand but are still influenced by.  Carl Jung realized this weird truth.

What to write about

Sometimes it is hard to find a topic, one that seems part of me and yet one of interest to somebody who looks at my blog.  One source is the present: what just happened, what is happening now.  Of course, the present is elusive.  By the time I see it or realize it, it has already gone.

It is often said that the present is all we have.  The past, last year or a moment ago, is over and the future isn't here yet.  But it is more complicated than that.  I can read and study and ruminate and imagine human life thousands of years ago. I can stew in guilt or regret over what I did that time or what I failed to do.  It is the human mind and imagination again, that ability to dwell in the past, while still following today's needs and opportunities.  

The name Eckhart Tolle is a good one for getting encouragement and hints for focusing on the present.   His books "The Power of Now" and "Stillness Speaks" and others help thinking about the present and explaining the power of attending to current surroundings and events.  As we age, we can work to accept what we remember of our own past, trying to forgive and accept shortcomings and recognize and accept wise and intelligent actions we took.  

I tried an app that is supposed to employ the new ChatGPT artificial intelligence bot.  I just asked it "What's up?" and it said, "Just hanging out.  What about you?"  I didn't answer or continue conversing (in writing, of course, which means no voice tone or vocal expression).  I could have said I am sitting at a keyboard, writing to you.  Accurate observation coupled with imaginative perspective often shows up something or other that may be worth mentioning.  I type on a Hewlett-Packard auxiliary keyboard and have for years with the idea that using it means I am always facing the same size keys sitting the same distance apart.

When I pay close attention to people and things around me, I see things I didn't see yesterday, things and expressions of interest.  We ate lunch out and a little girl, maybe three or four years old, started screaming about something her father forbade.  She was shaking with pain and rage but 90 seconds later was calmly eating her lunch.  I would still like to question her and her dad about the issue. I imagine the father might remember but the girl might just say "What?"

Post Valentine's Day

Thanks for the good wishes for Valentine's Day.  Hope it was a good one.  One Valentine gift I got was an email saying that our taxes were done and the forms could be picked up from the preparer.  I failed to pay any estimated tax over the year so I had a much larger bill than usual.  Our accountant sends every back in a single large electronic package.  I submitted the right forms to the right addresses and I hope things are right now.  Hope you will visit me in prison.

I was so busy with taxes, I didn't notice that today is bill paying.  So, later on, I got to that, too.

Lynn is working as host in Gallery Q today and it is a day for her turn fixing dinner.  I asked if it would be welcome for me to fix it and it is.  We are trying for less meat after being interested by "The Blue Zones Kitchen" by the Blue Zones (greater longevity guy) Dan Buettner.  There are several dishes I used to cook and let go, one being lentils.  I dug out my folder of recipes and found the one for lentils.  I just went to the store and bought three cans of cooked lentils but I plan to add some or all of the listed seasonings.  

We have whiskey Manhattans most days and I bought whiskey the other day.  The counter clerk mentioned the special sale they had on heart-shaped boxes of 10 single shot bottles of cinnamon flavored whiskey.  On a whim, I bought one.  The box warns that the whiskey is "red-hot".  I am not a red-hot person but we both tried a taste.  Not overly hot but certainly not cold. We may figure a combination of a mixer and the whiskey that we like but so far, we have 9 ½ bottles of seasoned whiskey awaiting their fate.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you have some chocolate or other goodie, that you and others can enjoy the day and think of love!

Google, You, Duckduckgo and ChatGPT

We have been warned that the new ChatGPT bot will end the world, steal our livelihoods and stain our reputation. I don't think it is that dangerous.  One of reasons I think we may survive is that Google is already doing much of what we are warned about.

I have been promoting going to Google with fears, questions, hunches, mysteries and whatnot.  For instance this morning, just to test Google, I put in "Why doesn't she love me more?"  I immediately got sensible answers advising me to show my love more often and more clearly.  I got a billion and 880 million hits.  I haven't read them all yet and I may not get to the latter ones today.  I realize the dangers include that I may cobble together some of the better and more promising results and produce the world's best ever handbook on getting more love.  However, I may not.  

Some of the worries relate to false credentials that mislead or defraud.  If I read some of the results from this morning's search and open an office offering my love coaching and advice, based on my long list of Google hits, I may fail to assist innocent elderly lovelorn trying to stem loneliness.  That might happen if I get official training from the Love Advice Training School, too.  

I hope you won't get into fraudulent activity and I wish you success in your business ventures.  I do hope you will try Google with every question and worry that bugs you.  It is well-known that 30 minutes probing the world's internet web sites with questions that haunt you will change and enrich your thinking. 

Five links

Three of five themes I prompted myself with for today's blog post have to do with web pages and links.  I will show the links.

I am impatient and skeptical so I prefer the stripped-down version that gets to the essence.  So, the two books that seem to capture the important essences of meditation to make the practice worthwhile and inexpensive of time and money are the two books by Chade-Meng Tan: "Search Inside Yourself" and "Joy on Demand".  I think the more complete and helpful book is his second one, Joy on Demand.  I often think that the collection of highlights I can make with Kindle reading summarizes a book pretty well.  Sometimes that is true, sometimes it isn't.  Here are links to web pages of highlights I collected from the two books:

Chade-Meng Tan book: Joy on Demand

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/joy-on-demand-by-chade-meng-tan-highlights

Chade-Meng Tan book: Search Inside Yourself

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety2/search-inside-yourself-highlights

I find it helpful and satisfying to check the weather and my time pieces against these two pages:

Weather: https://radar.weather.gov/

Exact time: https://time.gov/

CNN produces Five Things most days, listing five important news items.  It also accumulates Photos of the Week: t.ly/W3uc

Mary Rose O'Reilley

If you look up Mary Rose O'Reilley, you will find she is a writer, a poet and a professor of English.  You could guess from her name that she is of Irish descent but you won't find that she has been a stalwart of Lynn's thinking for years.  O'Reilley's most popular book is "The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd".  That is a long title but it fits and describes accurately.  

MRO went to a Catholic school and a Catholic college but later in life, she earned a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. You may know that the Quakers, a.k.a. The Society of Friends, emphasized their idea that "there is that of God in every person" and moved strongly away from having a clergy or other intercessory between the individual and God.  Quakers speak of "meeting" instead of "church" and are famous for their hour of silence.  Google shows this comment from quakers.org.uk:

In Quaker worship there are no ministers or creeds. We first gather together in silence to quiet our minds – we don't have set hymns, prayers or sermons. In the stillness we open our hearts and lives to new insights and guidance. Sometimes we are moved to share what we discover with those present.

If you are familiar with the practice of most American Protestant churches, the silence and waiting on God of a Quaker service can be quite a different experience.  

How Quakers worship

It may be of interest to note that there are several branches of Quakers in the US and some do practice a more typical service and organization.

Lines

We have 10 power strips working in our house.  They recharge devices and they supply wi-fi and internet all over.

Hating ebooks less

Several intellectual friends have emphasized they don't want ebooks as gifts.  One stated he will kill me if I send him another ebook.  I sent him one by accident but he hasn't killed me, yet.

Some people have mentioned scent.  They like the smell of a paper book, especially a new one.  Others have mentioned heft - they like the feel of the book's weight in their hand while reading.  

I like ebooks more and more.  As I am aging, I sometimes find the type size too small in a printed book but in an ebook, I can adjust the type size quickly and easily.  Lynn found the same thing the other day and I quickly added the library book she was reading to our Kindle archive.

I just looked up "ebook" in Google.  I don't think the results are all that good.  Software to accept and read an ebook can be found in a number of places.  In my experience, Amazon was the first to send ebooks over the internet.  The action was much like receiving an email except that unless special effort was used, what was received could not be edited or changed.  After all, like any other art, writing is done by the artist or author and is not for others to change.  

Since I am an ants-in-the pants person and like things to be quick, I was impressed when I read about 15 years ago, that Amazon would send me a book I ordered by what seemed like a cellphone call.  My Kindle reader needed to have a charge and it needed to be on, much like a cellphone.  No connections needed.  Since then, things have branched out quite a bit.  I can read Kindle books on my laptop, either of my cellphones, any of my tablets.  I can easily access the same book on any connected device and easily go to the place I left off. 

I have been using the Libby app (https://libbyapp.com) to borrow ebooks from my local public library.  One thing I like about such borrowing is the convenience.  I can place a hold on an ebook and a popular one may not be available for weeks or months but when it is, zap!  Got it.  When I borrow a book, I usually have two weeks before it gets "returned".  When that happens, it disappears, like magic!  No coat, no car, no driving, no dropping in the slot at the library.

I just found out that I can also borrow ebooks from the University of Wisconsin ebook collection using the Libby app as well.

It is true that books of a certain age and popularity level may not be available in the e-format.  However, that situation is changing all the time.  If a book has been important in the history of literature, it is probably already available in e-format.  

Production of an ebook can be faster and cheaper that a paper book so the cost is generally lower.  So, the price of an ebook can be lower than in paper.  I usually buy at a price of $9.99 or lower.

What am I like?

I am still thinking and preparing to talk about our unconscious minds in April.  I may re-read "Incognito" by Eagleman but lately I have been enjoying a slow careful re-reading of "Seven and a Half Lessons about Your Brain" by Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett.  

Here's a search link to my blog posts about Barrett: t.ly/RWOg

In addition to the short, energetically worded book, she gives a link to a web site that summarizes her points: sevenandahalflessons.com

A person can review writing and other projects that he did sometime.  He can ask relatives, friends and those who know him what they perceive him to be like.  He can recall remarks others have said about him in the past.  A good source of information about a person is a marriage partner, but that partner has a personality and viewpoints and prejudices.  That partner and any source of information may be biased, slanted, out of date and/or incomplete.

I suspect that knowing oneself may be easier when one is older.  Then, I have more experience seeing myself behave and remembering things I have done.  It may be helpful to meditate, since that activity tends to increase self-knowledge. 

Liquids and information

First, liquids.  I drink a cup of coffee every morning and another cup at lunch.  I have a glass of milk at breakfast or a bowl of cereal in milk.  At 10 AM, I have a cup of green tea, except on Wednesdays and Sundays. On those days, I have 8 oz of water with Starbucks instant coffee, either Columbia or Pikes Place.  I have a glass of water with dinner.  Lynn usually fixes us pint drinks of water during my reading aloud in the evening.  If I feel thirsty during the day or my urine is strongly colored, I have water, usually about .8 of a pint from my handy mug.  

I have read that as we age, becoming dehydrated is usually an increasing danger.  My wife's stepfather was once whisked to a hospital by helicopter for serious dehydration.  I think the problem is lessening sensitivity to thirst and the need for liquids.  Just writing about this makes me more aware of a feeling of thirst.  So, I am getting a drink of water. 

Second, information.  I am continually being told that Google captures my "information" and sells it.  I believe that is possible, but I doubt that it is very important for me.  It might be important for Microsoft or Apple but I don't have any indication that it is important for me.  I use Firefox browser fairly exclusively.  I don't have any of that stuff called "evidence" that Google, China, North Korea or those that hate me have been capturing data about me and selling it.  I remember Lycos, a pre-Google search engine, and how impressed I was with Google search when it first became available.  I and others wondered how the new company would make money and I guess there are two main ways: ads and the sale of information.  

I recommend Firefox but I can't prove that browser doesn't collect my information and sell it to people around the planet hungry to know what I do and where I do it.

There is more to me

Our local learning-in-retirement organization said they could use an additional presentation in their line-up.  What has stimulated my thinking lately?  The two books: Incognito by David Eagleman and Seven and a Half Lessons about Your Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. They both emphasize that our conscious minds are only a small part of what our brains do.  

Why does it matter?  Because there is much more to me and my personality and my impulses and my emotions and my memories.  The book by Louann Brizendine, MD called "The Female Brain" helped me be aware of some of the differences typical female human brains experience and mine.  Eagleman wrote that scientists at one time felt clear that humans have few or no instincts but they started to think about a man being attracted to a woman while a bull frog gets turned on by a gorgeous female frog.  Brizendine points to hormones to explain much behavior and desire.

I was surprised to find that a while back, I had already created a web page listing books I had read about the unconscious.  Here is a short link to that page: t.ly/rKeG  

The books listed are these:

1. Cordelia Fine's A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives

2. Shankar Vedantam's The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives

3. Prof. Wilson's "Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change

4. Wray Herbert's On Second Thought: Outsmarting Hard-Wired Habits

5. Before You Know It by John Bargh

6. Prof. Timothy Wilson's Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious

Many conversations about brains, thinking, minds and humans make little or no distinction between a brain and a mind.  Those two words seem the best so far for naming the gooey mass under my skull vs. the invisible source of my conscious, marvelous but error-prone thinking.  

Just this morning, I started re-reading "Seven and a Half Lessons About Your Brain".  The writing is very good and the message clear: it seems I have one brain, not three.

Whatever you are thinking

I have been following a routine that I like.  It is putting phrases, questions, subjects into Google.  I use Firefox browser and I have my computer set to default to Duckduckgo for searching.  Both Microsoft and Google remind me in various ways that they prefer that I use Edge and Chrome but I don't want to and I don't.  I wouldn't approve of a single store building the only entrance from the mall parking lot to their store, even if I could leave their store and go to others.  The first browser I used was Netscape and I have read that Marc Andreessen was an important part of the development of software that could be used to visit "web sites" that had "web addresses."  Andreessen is still part of computing and the Foxfire browser reflects the idea that the user should be assisted, not herded.

I still find Google search the most powerful and complete.  I have actually never had any typical search that I followed up all the results of the search.  Beyond the first page or two of search results, I don't usually have any desire to go.  Everything I see says that Chrome is the most used browser. It can be surprising to search "browsers" or "search engines".  Usually the result is longer than I thought it would be and includes names and possibilities I never heard of.  

What I like about using Google search is the extra that the software adds.  That extra includes items, ideas and sources I never thought of.  Each time I enter a search word or phrase, I get results I haven't considered.  Sure, a good many of them are of no interest but some of the related questions that people have asked spark my thinking in new directions.  I enjoyed fooling with "Eliza", software that more or less acts like a counselor.  I might enjoy the new bot that is getting lots of attention: ChatGPT.  It is supposed to be very smart and capable.  But I may well get to the end of my life before I feel I have exhausted the usefulness of Google Search. 

Today is the mid-point of winter

Today is the mid-point of winter.

3/21/2023	90 days from 12/21/22
2/4/2023	45 days from 12/21/22
12/21/2022

Whether you dislike winter, feel more or less indifferent, or love it, you can consider today the mid-point of the season.  The figures above come from an Excel spreadsheet and are based on whole days.  The usual markers of the seasons are solar positions and they do not accord exactly with our calendar and our system of minutes and seconds.  

So, what does this mean?  From now on, winter is diminishing.  Spring is approaching.  I saw a nature video where owl babies were born in February enclosed in down flight suits of feathers.  Maybe the parents strive for births in time for available early spring prey.

Whatever, from now on, you have gone through more winter than there is to go.

Living to what age?

She said she was 65 years old. I said,"You are just a kid." 

I don't want to say that someone 65 is young, but in contrast to someone who is 95, they are somewhat young.  I mentioned to her that we have a man in this area who is 110 or some such age. 

Some people say that everyone wants to live a long time but no one wants to get old.  I am a bit surprised when I think of the instruction I have had, that virtually none of it was about the latter times of life.  When are the latter times? Many sources have said that humans at one time lived to be about 40. One I just looked up said those figures applied in Europe from 1500 to 1800.  

I read years ago that Peter Drucker, a famous writer on business, said that 65 was too young to retire.  I didn't follow up to see what he meant but he might have meant something beyond what society needs.  

To me, it is instructive to watch what people say and the words they choose when describing heaven, wonderful times, etc.  I have noticed that "retirement" or "winning the lottery" are often described as release from work or duty, Certainly from drudgery.  At the same time, I see myself and others wanting purpose and satisfaction.  I want something to do that I respect and enjoy.  I don't need to be launched into extreme pleasure every minute and I do practice trying to recognize and appreciate blessings and sources of gratitude.

When I first heard of extensions of life beyond 90 years, I didn't pay much attention.  But now I am beginning to appreciate the impact: the need to possibly revise what is "old", the actual figure I will use to denote my reaching "old age", the increase in numbers of infirm and disabled people and other aspects I will come to see.

Writing

I became aware of meditative practices and the evidence that being calmly focused on my breathing could help my self-knowledge.  By the time I felt I had some experience with it, I was retiring from teaching.  I found that Google offered free web sites and free blogging sites so I thought I would make use of them to further awareness of the usefulness of mediation.  Then, with so much very good writing by Jack Kornfield and friends and Sylvia Boorstein and Andy Puddecombe and Dan Harris on meditation, as well as good audio in Audible.com, I found I had repeated my ideas enough.

But by then, I was in the habit of noticing what was happening to me day by day.  I was enjoying noticing both external events and internal questions and impulses and thoughts.  So, I kept writing Fear, Fun and Filoz.  I found that there are said to be 600 million blogs but that most of them are written sporadically, not steadily.  I also found that most of the ones I have seen charge a fee or require a paid subscription.  I email my posts to about 100 people and a small scattering of Internet users look at the posts on the web page dedicated to the blog. 

Writing and talking are the two main avenues we each have to express our inner selves and unique views. I have 4,815 posts online, going back to 2008.  Lynn's book group recently selected "The Roosevelt Women" and I read it aloud to her.  The author, a woman historian, emphasized that she had access to letters the women had written and that was her main source of information.  She mentioned that today's communication methods don't tend to create orderly, erudite preserved statements that can be reviewed to understand a life.

My sister and I are both in our eighties and we both find our memories aren't what they used to be.  She mentioned that she jots down notes all day.  I said she might want to throw them in a box for her descendants to look over.  Writing (and audio and video recordings) can be fun and valuable.  

I tend to use this blog for considering my days and my web sites for more permanent information. Doing so certainly increases my awareness of how and what I am doing and the blessings I have.

Larger and smaller

Our local paper is very thin.  It has advertisements, some local and state news and cartoons.  We continue to subscribe because it is good for a community to have a paper, as well, of course, as local tv and radio stations.  UWSP, a branch of the University of Wisconsin system, is located in our town and it has a local radio FM station.  It is well-known for its Trivia Contest, held to be the largest in the world.

I don't read much of the paper.  I note the subject of the main headline, which often has to do with other Wisconsin communities than ours.  But each day, I read through the comics in the Stevens Point Journal.  I am interested in the effect of all communication systems around us today.  The books "From Gutenberg to Google" and "What Hath God Wrought" have opened my eyes to the effect of communication on people, politics and awareness.  If you want a quick review of the history of Stevens Point, see the presentation my wife made for her master's degree:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety2/link-to-reasons-for-st-point

I grew up in Baltimore, a metro area of nearly 3 million and I have lived in Point for fifty years, in a county of 70,000.  I am interested in the tone and the opportunities and life in two different sized American communities.