Random Notes from a Crank

I got this image from the InterWebs. It reflects the dual nature of my personality. 

Our little area of the country was featured by CBS evening news because of all of the damn cicadas. Check it out. 

The only error I noticed is that the location is described as "southern Illinois" when in reality it's east-central Illinois. I guess it's southern if you think of downstate Illinois as south of Chicago. 

Here are some percentages from the June "Harper's Index" that might factor into college choices:

• Percentage of U.S. college students who say reproductive-health laws were at least somewhat important to their school choice: 71
• Who say they were highly important: 38
• Percentage of Republican college students who would prefer to attend a school in a state with greater access to reproductive care: 63

Musing of the Moment: Interesting Facts/Trivia

For the holidays I got book of factoids titled Interesting Facts for Curious Minds: 1572 Random but Mind-Blowing Facts about History, Science, Pop Culture and Everything in Between. 

As I read the book, I noted these facts/trivia I found most interesting, and I'm sharing them in this post. 

They are below, and I'm quoting the author, Jordan Moore, word for word. 

• Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was a pragmatic leader. One of his best-known quotes is, "A revolution is not a bed of roses."
• Panama may be a small country, but Manuel Noriega was able to build a personal fortune of $300 million as its dictator from August 12, 1983 to December 20, 1989. He built his fortune through drug smuggling, CIA contracts, bribes, money laundering, and fraud.
• If you really don't care about something, you "couldn't care less," not you "could care less." The latter implies you still have some caring to do. 
• The once common dog name "Fido" came from the Romans. The name is derived from the Latin word, fidelis, which means "loyal." 
• An average dog's hearing is four times better than a human, but the part of their brain devoted to their sense of smell is about 40 time larger than ours. 
• Although the ancient Egyptians didn't name most of their breeds, their texts and reliefs show they had basenjis, salukis, and greyhounds. 
• When your dog kicks his hind legs after relieving himself, it isn't a weak attempt to cover the poo. No, Spot is merely marking his territory with the scent glands in his feet. 
• Although dice games preceded the Romans, the Romans were the first people to bet on dice. The Romans called double 'ones' -- 'snake's eyes' today -- a 'dog throw.'
• Up to 20% of the American population may be allergic to the chemical nickel. This could be big considering that nickel is a major components in smartphones. 
• The 1980 arcade game, Pac-Man, originally came out in Japan as Puck Man. The name was changed when it was realized how vandals could have fun with the word "Puck." 
• The Atari 2600 console hit the stores in 1977. It was a big step up from previous game systems because it used separate cartridges for each game. 
• The lyrics of the nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosie" are a bizarre mystery. Many believe it refers to a bout of the plague where people carried bouquets of flowers and herbs to smell while walking in public, while others think it refers to a pagan ritual. 
• The bean bag chair was invented in 1968 by Italian Piero Gatti, Cesare Poolini, and Franco Teodoro. Its popularity peaked in the late 1970s. 
• As Charles Darwin (1809-1882) developed his theory of evolution, he also invented the modern office chair by adding wheels to make a swiveling chair. 
• The Ancient Greek mathematician Pythogoras (ca. 570-495 BCE) is best know for his theorem but he was also a mystic who led a commune. 
• The opposite sides of traditional dice always add up to seven. You can throw the dice as much as you want, but it's always the case. 
• According to the "birthday problem," 23 random people can be placed in a room and there's a 50% chance two of them will have the same birthday. 
• Tamales are an ancient dish dating back at least 5,000 years in Mesoamerica. The word "tamale" is derived from the Nahuatl/Aztec word, tamali.
• The Carthaginians reportedly catapulted pots filled with venomous snakes onto the ships of the Pergamon navy during a battle in 184 BCE. 
• Greek Fire was an incendiary, napalm-like weapon used by the Byzantine Empire from 672 to 1453. The ingredients and process to make Greek Fire remain a mystery. 
• In  the 500s BCE, the Greek colony, Sybaris, in Italy, passed one of the earliest known noise ordinances. It prohibited tinsmiths and roosters form the city limits. 
• Hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms were taken by many different American Indian peoples as part of religious rituals. The Aztecs even referred to one species as the "divine mushroom." 
• In the 1980s, ethnobotanist Wade Davis claimed that Haitian Voodoo zombies were created by a combination of tetrodotoxin from a pufferfish and bufotoxin from a toad. They were then "reanimated" with a natural drug, datura.
• Englishman Thomas Crapper (1836-1910) didn't invent the toilet, but he did improve plumbing by inventing the "U-bend" trap. It prevents liquids and gasses from flowing back into the toilet. The actual invent of the flush toilet can be traced back to a British man named Sir John Harrington who, in 1596, devised a mechanism with a cord that, when pulled, flushed away waste with a rush of water. 
• A survey revealed that the average woman hasn't worn $550 worth of clothing they own or about 20% of their wardrobe. Interestingly, shoes are the number one unworn item. 
• Islam has traditionally viewed dogs as "unclean," so they aren't very common pets in the Middle East. Cats were kept by Mohammad and considered "clean." 
• Contrary to common media portrayals, most burglaries take place between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Professional crooks strike when homeowners are at work or school.
• "Molly Pitcher" is the legendary name of either Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley or Margaret Hays. The story is that "Molly" carried pitchers of water to Patriot troops to cool the canons during a battle in the American Revolution. 
• Warrior goddesses were not uncommon in the ancient world. The Greek goddess Athena, the Assyrian goddess Ishtar, and the Egyptian lioness headed goddess Sekhmet, were all martial dieties. 
• No US state uses wind as its primary source of electrical power. But it's the second source of power for Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Kansas. 
• "Forest bathing" is a form of natural mental health therapy where a person simply spends time in forests. The activity is officially sanctioned by the Japanese government, which calls shinmin-yoku.
• A single cottonwood tree can release 40 million seeds in one season. The seeds can then float through the air for days, much longer than any other type of seed. 
• In the Keynesian view of modern economics, low unemployment is more important than low inflation. Government spending is encouraged to keep employment levels high. 
• Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) was South America's George Washington. Bolivar drove the Spanish from northern South America to become the father of the nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia. 

Stay Positive: Birds & Positive Thoughts and Feelings

In The Washington Post, Richard Sima has an interesting article titled "Why Birds and Their Songs Are Good for Our Mental Health." 

The findings about birds creating positive vibes for humans is not a surprise to me. 

I'm fascinated with birds and their behavior, and how hearing and seeing birds is positive for humans makes sense considering the findings that Florence Williams talks about in The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. 

I featured that book in a Stay Positive post back in 2017 if you want to check out my prattling on about her book. 

I'm a person who has a depressive bent from since a young age, and being outside and paying attention to birds is something that makes me feel happy. 

The author mentions the Merlin Bird ID app, which I have had before but I never used. So I may download that gadget again. 

I would also argue that playing attention to plants when one is out and about also create good vibes. I currently use the PlantNet app to identify plants when I'm rambling around outside. 

Notice that I didn't use the term "mental health" in my own writing. I didn't use the term because I'm tired of people using "mental health" as an excuse for not wanting to do something or just being lazy. 

Just stay positive by seeking out positive vibes, folks. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'd venture to guess that the people who say "America is the greatest country in the world" haven't been to many other countries. And if they've been to other countries, it's not been for a long while, possibly only on a vacation. 

I know of family who has had to have fundraisers to help pay off their debts because their father, who died recently, had cancer. The US has to be one of the few, if not the only, first-world industrialized countries in the world that doesn't have universal health care.  

We don't have one of the best health care systems in the world, but it's certainly one of the most expensive. 

I think there needs to be a Karen/Karin support group out there. Being a "Karen" has been a negative epithet for a few years now. I've never thought of the name Karen in a negative light. 

One of my former girlfriends in high school was named Karen. And she provided fabulous hand jobs. So when I hear something along the lines of "you're being a Karen," all I have is fond memories. I smile and have an overwhelming feeling of good. 

The past month or so when I wake up in the morning I have found one of my bird feeders and the hummingbird feeder knocked down. My bird feeders are "squirrel-proof" because they have a mechanism on them that shuts the feed holes if a rodent weighs down on the feeder. So I was nonplussed about how a squirrel cracked the code. 

I pulled into the drive the other night and discovered the perp who has been knocking down my feeders. It's a raccoon. 

When my son was young, I remember watching a PBS nature documentary on raccoons. The scientists were tracking their movements in the city of Toronto. It was amazing how active they are and how many they are. They're everywhere.