LANGUAGES

 I receive in the mail a monthly statement about my Anthem health insurance accounting.  It's usually short, two pages  - - -  but, they send three additional pages of warnings.  Well, it's really just one warning.  It says "Attention, if you speak (insert a language), free language assistance services are available to you..."  than it gives instructions to get this assistance by calling the number on your health card.  You wouldn't think it would take three pages, typed on both sides, to get this note across.  It does because they repeat the note 29 times in 29 different written languages.  TWENTY-NINE

Here is the way I break them down:  besides English, the ones which use our alphabet are Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Hatian Creole, Italian, Kinyarwanda, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Turkish, Uzbek and Vietnamese.  Three use the extended alphabet including the Russians, Serbians and the Ukraine.  Four languages that use the little pictures that mean something; a letter, a word or a group of words:  Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean.  Then we have the languages that use something that, well,  I have no Idea what to call it.  Let's say they use little squiggles:  Amharic, Gujarati, and Telugu.  Now we have two with little squiggles underneath a line:  Nepali and Hindi.  Last but not least, we have little squiggles read backwards (right to left):  Arabic, Dari and Pashto.  

I'm amazed that Anthem has customers that read all those languages.  I'm amazed they have employees who speak all these languages.  I'm amazed there exists so many languages.  Who even knows where they speak these languages?

I'm thinking this world is not close to ending because I've always pictured everyone speaking the same language in the end.   

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 

LORD,

AS WE HAVE REACHED 

THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT

HELP US TO RELY ON YOU 

IN MOMENTS OF WEAKNESS,

TO REJECT WHAT PULLS US AWAY FROM YOU,

AND TO TRUST THAT YOU ARE ENOUGH. 

AGING

 At my age, it's not uncommon to receive in my e-mail box a plethora of jokes and cartoons about aging.  Most of them, sadly, really hit home.  They are obviously written and designed by people who have been there - done that.

I had a revelation similar to these jokes while walking as fast as I can on the running machine at the gym.  First, the evil interior designers put those contraptions on the second floor so I have to catch my breath and check my pulse before I ever start.  That's a different issue. 

I can see all around the gym from up there.  Last week, I noticed that almost every sweating body was  adorned with headphones or a headset of some kind.  They have some strange names that I never heard of printed on them.  Not sure if they are listening to something or just noise-canceling.

Looking closer, all the rest of the people had cute little white or black earphones or earbuds stuck in their ears.  Wow!  I didn't feel so bad now.  I had my earbuds in place listening to a "current event" podcast on my phone.  I'm one of them!

Then it hit me; the age thing struck me:  I was the only one in the whole place that had wires attached to my ears!  Yikes!   It's like having a dial telephone mounted on the wall. So oooooold.  I covet being taken for a younger person.  Now, that could be out at the gym.  

Yankee ingenuity to the rescue.  No more listening to podcasts on my outdated ear devices.  I'm ripping the wires off of my Apple earplugs so I can be part of the crowd, be one in solidarity with the guys with 32" waists and Popeye forearms;  be one with the chicks in the yoga pants and bare-midriff tank tops.  They'll never know that I'm connected to nothing.  

Pity me ... and my ego.  

RELIEF FROM DIFFICULT QUIZZES

We could all use a pep talk once in a while - here is a hotline you can use: 707-873-7862  or 707-8PEPTOC  It is sponsered by a school and all the pep talks come from elementary aged children.  You will be given these choices (you can try them all) for the pep talk you want to hear, dial:

1.  when you're frustrated or nervous or sad or angry

2.  when you need life advice

3.  to hear pep talks from kindergarteners

4.  to hear "children laughing with delight"

5.  to hear pep tralks in Spanish

6.  to hear "how awesome you look"

7.  for bonus advice on what to do when you're feeling "down", "hurt" or "deflated"

I've tried it.  It's been running for over three years.   Cute

ANSWERS

My millions of readers not only don't know the answers but, alas, they don't even know the questions.

It is a sad reflection of our educational systems in this country and around the world.

I don't know what to say.  I don't know what to do.

I hate to leave you on a down note, today, but what can I say or do?  I make my stab at educating the country and the world and I come up empty.  It's a disaster.  I've failed in my quest.  So much great information and all I get is crickets.  Deaf ears and silent tongues. 

Hide the knives!  Lock up the meds.  Put me on suicide watch.  

Someone please look at last Monday's entry and offer a question.  Someone!  Just one someone.  

Do it for me.  

Or, ...... buy me an ice cream cone.  That might do it.  

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

 So much great information, all in one spot.

1.  Mickey Mouse was first seen in a moving picture show released in 1928.  It was a short called "Steamboat Willie".

2.  The Panama Canal opened in 1914.  The expansion of the canal opened in 2016.

3.  The distance from LA to NYC is only half as far as from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea.  This is the path of the Nile River.

4.  In 1792, 24 stockbrokers and merchants signed the Buttonwood Tree Agreement creating the NY Stock Exchange.  It is the most important financial document in U.S. history.  

5.  Baalbek is an ancient city in eastern Lebanon (currently a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah). It is a world heritage site that includes the Roman-built  temple of Jupiter (their pricipal god), another temple for Baachus (their god of wine and merrymaking) and another for the Phoenician sky god Baal. The site includes 1,000 ton+ stone blocks placed one on another. (No one knows how this was done.)

Surely this little dab of information is worth the price you paid to visit my blog.  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 The first week of Lent has passed.  How did you do?  

Lord, give me the power to do what I know I should do, the will to do the things I promised to do, the strength to do the things not easy to do, the humility to do the things I'm embarrassed to do and the knowledge  to know what you want me to do.  Amen

MY LIFE WITH THE RADIO

In the 1940s, right after WWII, there was a rush to get radios into the home; AM radios, that is.  Large boxes ensconced on a shelf or table; some a piece of furniture themselves, some sold as part of a stereo that included a record player.    

Cincinnati had the following stations when I was a kid.  WKRC 550; WLW 700; WCPO 1230; WSAI 1360; WCKY 1530 were the available. stations.  All were AM; FM was not yet available.  Mostly, their formats were all music, all the time.  

In the 1960s, FM radio came into the home if you had a receiver.  Cars were just now being sold with AM radios.  You could buy an FM converter to get those channels into your automobile.  In the late 1960s, AM-FM radios were being put into luxury cars and others on request. 

FM stations could be built and run with relatively low wattage compared to AM stations.  FM signals could not travel as far as AM, but they were more clear and could be done in stereo.  Eventually, AM channels cut back or eliminated music from their format.  FM sounded better and took over the music market.  

It wasn't long before their was an FM channel for every type of music available.  AM channels were concentrating on news and sports.  That's where we are today.  Where will we be tomorrow?  

ZIUQ

 ZIUQ   Could you read this?   It is quiz spelled backwards.  That's what I'm having today.  My readers have not been too good at solving my quizzes so, I thought, "I'll give them the answers and they can pick the questions."  Great idea, don't you agree.  

So here we go. No question is too stupid.  Comment your questions to my answers - any or all.

1.  Snowbird

2.  Exaggeration

3.  Her butt

4.  Last place

5.  Green

Good luck.  I post just the best on Friday - you have until then to pick the questions..  

TRUMP - THE REAL STORY

 On a beautiful Spring day in 1956, in a pasture on a horse farm in Pensylvania, a stallion named Tonga Prince mounted a mare thought to be infertile named Be Trump.   This was a totaly unplanned union but it surprisingly produced a foal the following year.  It was a strong bay colt with a white diamond on his forehead.  He was named Jay Trump after his owner Jay Sensenich and his mother. He was a thoroughbred.  

Jay Trump was sent to a small farm located near two race tracks in West Virginia to be trained.   His first horse race was a disaster.  His jockey accidentally struck him in the eye with his whip causing Jay Trump to crash into a post and severly injuring both horse and jockey.  It was thought that the horse just wasn't cut out for racing.

A jockey named Crompton (Tommy) Smith Jr. was aware of the horse and knew a lady from Indian Hill, near Cincinnati, that was looking for a thoroughbred.  Her name was Mary Stephenson.   She was a member of the Camargo Hunt Club and master of the Camargo hunt for 16 years.  She most wanted to win the Maryland Hunt Cup; an annual timber race - the most prestigious of it's kind in America.  Smith arranged for her to buy the colt for $2,000. 

The horse and jockey went into training for this type of racing.  They were successful right off; winning the Maryland Hunt Cup in 1963 and 1964.  In 1965, she sent the horse and jockey to England for the top race in the world; the English Grand National Steeplechase.   A Scottish horse named Freddie was the 7-2 favorite to win and Jay Trump paid 100-6 for the betting crowd.  Jay Trump just edged out Freddie after the 4-1/2 mile trek was complete.  The horse entered and won the Maryland Hunt Cup again in 1966.   

Jay Trump was the toast of the racing world.  He made the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the star at the National and International Horse Shows.   Mrs. Stephenson retired the horse to her Indian Hill farm where he lived out his days in luxury.  

When the horse died, he was buried at the finish line of the steeplechase track at the Kentucky Horse Farm.  Mrs. Stephenson rests in Spring Grove Cemetery. 

WISDOM

 TO BECOME 

WHAT YOU WANT TO BE, 

YOU MUST GIVE UP 

WHAT YOU ARE !

I'm thinking this is almost impossible for some people.  

Of course, there are those who feel they are just what they want to be.  No great aspirations for them.  No changes for this group at the 25th reunion.  

Don't be sullen and sad about your state - if it doesn't suit you, do something about it.  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 A post I wrote about nine years ago.

3/01/2017

INTERFAITH WISDOM

What a day to talk about faith.  Ash Wednesday.  Much of the Christian world observes the period (forty days) leading up to Easter as Lent -  a time for repentance and preparation.  Today is the beginning of that season.  

The symbolism of ashes goes to ancient times.  It was once common for those in a repentant state to cover themselves with ashes as if they were the poorest of the poor.  It was self-humiliation.  In some Christian churches, an Ash Wednesday service includes the placing of ashes on the forehead of those present while saying  "Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return." or something similar.  

It is grounding to be reminded that we will all die - that this body in which we live will decompose to dust.  Depriving oneself of food or drink during the coming season will again remind us that there is a struggle going on between what we want and what we need - just like the struggle between evil and good.  Deprivation strengthens a person to exert self-control.  It is a typical prayer for this day that follows:

Lord, 

On this special day, Ash Wednesday,
may my small sacrifices in fasting be a way to clear away
the clutter in my life to see you more clearly.
May my longing for meat and other food,
help me to focus my life today more outside myself.
Let me be aware of those who are in so much more suffering than I am
and may I be aware of them as the brothers and sisters you have placed in my life.
Lord, I know there is darkness within me and around me.
Bless these days with your Word.
Let your Light shine in the darkness.
Help me long for that Light
until we celebrate it at the Vigil six weeks from now.
And most of all Lord,
help me to honor this day with the ashes on my forehead.
They help me remember where I have come from and where I am going.
May I acknowledge to you my sins
and my deep need for your loving forgiveness and grace.
I pray that this Lenten season will make me so much more aware
of how much I need your healing in my life.

AMEN

HAPPY NEW YEAR

With all that's going on, I almost forgot that our Chinese friends are celebrating today as their New Year's Day.  The Chinese use a lunisolar calendar - based on the movement of the moon and the sun.  The Chinese zodiac puts their calendar in a twelve year cycle - each year with a designated symbol.  All the symbols are animinals although one is an imaginary one.  It is thought that the symbols tell something about those born during that year.  In astrology, the Chinese zodiac begins today as the Year of the Horse, a fire element. 

I have checked all my offspring, their spouses, their offspring, their spouses and their offspring.  Here's what I came up with for the Chinese zodiac.

Evan and Scot were born in a year of the HORSE.  The Horse is brave, stong and talented.  Very independent. Like the horse, a means of travel, these people get around.  

Amy, Frank, Ben, Katie and I were all born in a year of the ROOSTER.  Stacey and Ryan were born in a year of the SHEEP.  Michelle, Joe and Lucy were born in a year of the MONKEY.  Andy, Andrew and Bella were born in a year of the TIGER.  Jack and Milo were born in a year of the PIG.  Maddy was the only one born in a year of the OX.   Missy was born in a year of the RABBIT.  RJ and Mac were born in a year of the DRAGON.  Finally, Jeff was born in a year of the RAT.  Sorry. 

If I got any of these wrong, that could be why you didn't get my birthday card.  

QUIZ

 If you knew French, you would know that Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday.  It is more than a day in many places.  The celebration of Mardi Gras goes on for several days to a week ending on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  The partying and celebrating come to an end on that Wednesday for Christians. 

The day is also called Shrove Tuesday by some.  To shrive is to confess and to be shriven is to be absolved.  It is the day to complete your pre-lenten preparation by confessing your sins.  I suppose many will have to do that in between gorging themselves with food and drink and dancing in the streets in wild costume.

Of course, for Christians, Lent is a period (40 days) of fasting, prayer and reflection in preparation for Easter.  The question for today's quiz is:  what will you do or deny yourself during this Lenten season? 

There will be no answer to this one on Friday.