More than sheep shearing at a Fair, but that still happens too….
Good 3rd Wednesday of August to all of you arriving in Pittsfield, Massachusetts! The year is 1807 and by the inspiration and leadership of Elkanah Watson the sheep have come to Pittsfield. Say what?
Elkanah (what a name!) thinks sheep farmers would like to show off their prowess in shearing, and that other farmers and town folk might enjoy or be impressed watching them. And so the first ever American Fair happens.
Elkanah Watson, obviously modeling a “gag pipe” that he won at the apple bobbing booth…...
Mr. Watson’s idea was a hit, and he made it a regular event in Pittsfield and soon in other counties. Farm animals other than sheep were added; activities and games for men, women and children appeared, and merchants set up in tents to display and sell their wares. The events grew bigger and more numerous across state after state, so that in 1841 New York took it to a whole new level, the First State Fair. (Syracuse; 2 days; animals, agriculture and speeches. Drew over 12,000 people, considered astoundingly popular.)
Now this morning, YOU have paid your admission and arrived from the (2025) parking lot (catch that moment of time-travel from 1807?) via the Sky Glider/chair lift/gondola (as pictured above….) at the Gnuville Breakfast Brunch unloading & reloading station on the third floor. A great view from up there while you wave to the other Gnusies coming in as well.
The Beverage Bar is, of course, open to fuel the fun with coffee, tea, and mocha-cocoa, while the “Fruit Juices For Adults Tiki Bar” is starting your day with mimosas, margaritas and other colorful, tropical, rum-spiked or tequila-enhanced eye openers.
A State Fair always features Exotic, New foods. Dr. Pepper was introduced at one such Fair, as were ice cream cones, Cracker Jack, cotton candy (first called “fairy floss”), Cream of Wheat, Pearl Milling/Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix in a box, Belgian waffles (at the World’s Fair in 1964 in NYC), peanut butter, the hamburger, and the BLT. Steamed sausages in 1904 in St. Louis were handed out with white gloves (!) for eating---until a nearby booth baked up some small, long buns to combine with and HOLD those sausages……. and invent the hot dog (white gloves not needed.) Pick out something to start your Day (in Minnesota at the State Fair opening tomorrow, new foods ...”on a stick” are almost required…...including “breakfast on a stick.” Some will be featured in today’s Round Up.)
Yep, that’s a pickle spear in the iced tea…...
(Every year the Minnesota State Fair shows off new foods. SageHagRN and I went through the list and her favorite new-bie is the Dill Pickle Iced Tea. (Having grown up in a Scandinavian home, she admits many of the other new foods on the list would cause her to spontaneously combust and utterly overwhelm her Beige Food on a Beige Plate palette she ate the first 15 years of her life at home (and at Lutheran Church suppers.)
Me, I may have to give a try of the Caprese Curds, which, while NOT served on a stick, DO follow the State Fair “deep fried” rule. For the curious, the whole list, complete with ingredient list and a picture each, is at THIS LINK.)
And New Technologies are often shown to the public for the first time at a Fair. In 1876 in Philly, for the Centennial Exposition (a Fair with a fancy name) the public saw a typewriter for the first time, and heard through a telephone. in 1893 the “clasp locker” intrigued clothing makers (now called the zipper). In 1904 how about gawking at a kitchen machine that could wash your dishes for you? That used a cord to plug into a wall socket wired into a house to carry electricity?
So find yourself a comfy landing place, set out your food and drink, tune in to the WiFi, perhaps on your touch screen (Knoxville, 1982), and have a read, make a rec, comment, ask, add, reply, clarify, chuckle and even digress. This is the Good News Round Up and the 3rd Wednesday of each month the Powers that Be let me become Fair Master and Carnival Barker for the Day. So hurry, hurry---there are articles to read. Because its me there are History Corner moments from August 20ths of yesteryears to bemuse and intrigue. And please…...down below there is the comment section, where YOU chip in and get chipped upon by each other. Its like virtual confetti, so throw around your ideas, thoughts and snickers….because thats what a Fair is for.
Good News in Science and Tech and Engineering
Here, have a bite while you read:
Caprese Curds: Mozzarella cheese curds breaded with Italian seasoning. Deep fried. Served over a bruschetta of tomatoes & basil, drizzled with balsamic glaze and a side of crostini.
>>>>>>>>».Despite the Occupation of America by the Amoral Ultra-Wealthy, the United Nations still functions on several levels to deal with planetary matters. Of course one of these matters is climate change/global warming. If we are to survive, we have got to get off fossil fuels ASAP. THIS HEARTENING STORY reports on the UN report on the acceleration (YAY!) of renewable energy, to the (tipping) point that fossil fuels are near, fast approaching, and/or even past their peak in place after place, nation after nation, even continent after continent. The Faster the Better for us all!
>>>>>>>>» Last year the Summer Olympics landed in Paris, and were done with a lot of panache. A few of the long distance swimming events were held in the River Seine, which had been undergoing a MAJOR pollution clean up for the prior several years. Not enough. Some of the swimmers got sick afterwards from the bacterial crud still in the river.
But the project has continued, to the tune of nearly $3 billion spent since 2018. And in one of the hottest summers in years across Europe…..YES! IT SAYS HERE there are three public river beaches now open (complete with life guards) and Parisians are flocking to splash away like their great-grandparents did before the Industrial Blight years. I mean….its JUST swimming. Just swimming DOWNTOWN. Just swimming, coming out, toweling off, and flip-flopping/sandal-ing over to a river beach cafe….in PARIS! To sip and chat and lounge and sip…..in bathing suit and a cafe in PARIS! Yes, a beacon of civilization burns brighter these days……
>>>>>>>>» A whole lot of the MAGA types are actively opposed to science. (As it has been said, “They don’t want to have people learn science, because people who do ask questions.”) In fact, many of them are SURE…...in the marrow of their bones…..just how WRONG some people are about all sorts of things. Why? Well let me tell you about that….you see, the Catholic Illuminati were actually ETs who built the Nazca landing strips in the Andes. They took over medicine and made us pollute the air and water so we’d get sick and go to the doctor. Then the doctors would implant various devices that would start humans evolving to become the Borg…….
OK, so I got a few things wrong, but how and why do such conspiracies have such a hold? THIS STORY ABOUT a Cornell study unpacks a fair bit of what drives conspiracies in humans. A nice primer on what we’re up against and why…..
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Meanwhile, in the past 250 years, while you weren’t looking (or maybe weren’t even around yet) those brainy scientists and engineers were already exploring various domains…..like our planet, or how we got here, or some other planet, all doing so on an August 20th.
1911: Not even 8 years after the Wright Brothers got off the ground,
the Minnesota State Fair noted its first-ever fly-over by a
cutting-edge, modern “aero-plane”
1741 (A timely History Moment, in view of last week’s Historic Insult of the Soil of Alaska by the 2 Rat Bastards touching down together on the Frozen Tundra of the Frozen Tundra State.) The Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska is being explored by a Russian-sponsored expedition. The Czar hired Denmark’s Vitus Bering to lead the effort. On this day, old Vitus looks out from HIS strait and says to himself, “From the other side, I can see Russia from my ship. This piece of land is someplace else.” (Sounds better in the original Danish I have no doubt.) The first known sighting of Alaska by a European.
1779 (Baltic) Island of Ösel, Russian Empire (now Estonia) Birth of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, explorer. (The Germans came on crusades in the 1200s to convert the local pagans (who speak a Finno-Ugric language (#1) of Estonian; 2nd cousin to those Finno-Ugric Hungarians along the Danube) to Christianity, with success. Some of them were
“Bumped into this while Down South…..really South…..to the South of South”----possible Bellingshausen report to the Czar
rewarded with land grants and some of them stayed to become the upper crust, and handed down VERY German surnames like von Bellingshausen.)
Back in 1492 Columbus discovered India/China/the Bahamas/a bunch of land, trying to reach the East by sailing West. Von Bellingshausen gets a commission from the Czar to go exploring. Fabian figured he could do the same Columbus idea, but instead of east to west, on a north-south route. On this day in 1820 this Russian citizen becomes the discoverer of Antarctica, on the other, other side of the world. (The Flat Earth Society curses his name to this day; really hard to fit Antarctica on a world disc…..)
1858 London The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society is out today with a new issue (on newsstands everywhere!) Charles Darwin, after a lot of thinking and a Pacific sea voyage, first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection. The same issue contains Alfred Russel Wallace’s version of the same theory. (Creationist fundagelicals of many religions count this as a black day in human history; let ‘em……)
Dear NASA! Long drive but worth it! The view is great. Having a wonderful time and wish you were here. Regards, Viking 1
1975 Cape Canaveral, Florida If Bellinghausen (above, 1779) was taking a leaf from Columbus (1492….and a great city in Ohio), then this day NASA reaches back further in time for a leaf to take. Recalling that Leif Ericcson and crew came in a Viking longship to touch down in a NEW TO THEM CONTINENT, this morning Voyager 1 lifts off. She is bound for Mars, carrying the Viking Lander. The way the planning worked out, successful touchdown came for the Viking on Bi-Centennial Day: July 4, 1976.
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Good News in Arts, Music, Literature and Fun
Ah, time to re-load with another morsel from the Fair,
this time for the eyes:
Yes, this is a portrait of the singer Prince (Minnesota is very proud of this native son) from the State Fair…...and in keeping with the agricultural heritage of the Fair, this is done as “crop art” from various carefully placed seeds…..
>>>» Michelin. A grand French surname for two excellent reasons. A) Brothers Andre and Edouard at the turn of the 20th century got caught up in the coming craze of self-moving (“auto-mobile”) vehicles. They tinkered with several designs and then observed all these “transport sans chevaux” (horseless carriages) all used wheels….with rubber tires. 4 of them for each. Rubber wears out but the vehicle is OK; all it needs is a new tire or 2. AHA! Repeat business! And so the brothers set up shop to manufacture vehicle tires…..AND STILL DO.
B) In order to drive (!) business, well, the more driving by everybody means their tires wear faster, and need replacing sooner, which is Good for Business making tires. So how to get or keep them driving? How about a….. mmmm….guidebook for travelers, for places to eat and sleep. We could call it the “Michelin Guide.” And they did. And the guide went on to its own sort of fame, particularly regarding food. Using a star rating system chefs and restaurants worldwide strive for excellence, to be listed and then, the holy grail, to receive a rating of 3 stars.
Of course, you need to sneak up on this, so even getting 1 star shows you are on your way and doing a LOT of things right. And so comes THIS STORY FROM MEXICO CITY….. a local restaurant has achieved a 1-star rating. Worth cheering, and travelers and locals are noticing. But what they are REALLY noticing is that “El Califa De Leon” has won a Michelin Star…...as a taco stand. (That is SOME drive thru window….whew!)
>>>>>>>» Yes, in the arts (and related marketing fields) there are trends, even fads. You may recall snappy sedans of the 1950s were often 2-toned colors among the chrome. Leisure suits happened…..and went away. When SageHagRN and I are channel surfing and there’s a clip from a movie playing, she can instantly spot a certain women’s hairstyle and say, “Oh, a movie from the 90’s!”
The last decade and a half has seen design leadership set by mid-40-s to mid-60’s GenXers. My complaint is High Style (clothes, cars, home remodeling shows) is an endless procession of materials in black, white and 50 shades of gray/silver. (Someone break the news that book was NOT a design textbook…...) But as always, in order to create a trend, or end another trend, someone has to break the mold and strike out in new directions, right? So...how about a home, urban setting, sophisticated, trendy (?), upscale. In Queens, New York a multi-story house is up for sale. Asking price: $3 million. And you can SEE FOR YOURSELF that this home the epitome of ANTI-Black, ANTI-white, ANTI-50 Shades of Gray/Silver. OK then……
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The Human side of being Human has always lived in the arts, in literature, in music and in, well, being goofy. In the words of Star Trek’s android Data, “"Being able to make people laugh, or being able to laugh is not the end-all and be-all of being human…...But there is nothing more... uniquely human". And this has been true on August 20ths of years gone by….
1667 London Samuel Simmons is a printer in that rather new industry, printed books. After a LOT of work by him and his apprentices, on this day he puts out 10 volumes (later printings, revised slightly to 12) of the epic poem, John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. While not read anymore as much as it should be, its relevance is still obvious. After all, DJT, DeathSantis and Abbott are all living out the credo of Satan in the poem, “Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.” Yeah, I went there….
1720 Not just Paris but Versailles, France Birth of Bernard de Bury, composer. Born to a Royal Orchestra musician who got to live at the Palace (like dozens of others), Bernard learned music from a young age (although calling him and his companions the ‘Boys in the Band’ is a bit gauche.) Composed a collection of harpsichord pieces at age 17. Starting at age 23 wrote and staged several operas and ballets as well as what we might call dance productions both at the Palace, on the grounds to amuse royal guests over dinner, and at several posh locations around Paris. Well rewarded and given a noble title a few years before he died (just a few years before the monarchy died.)
Dressed in 18th Century dress, at a reproduced 18th century “clavecin” to bring you some 18th Century Bury…..
1882 Moscow, Russia Its been 70 years since Napoleon’s invasion (and almost 60 years until another European power would march to the gates of Moscow) but right now seems peaceful. On this day Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” premieres. (Those of us of a certain age will need to be reminded that cereal was not shot from its guns until about 1970----according to Quaker Oats.)
1920 Canton, Ohio Football, the American version with the pointy ball and leather helmets, is catching on, not just in schools and colleges, but as a professional sport. People will actually pay actual money to sit and watch these bruisers play this game, so there are teams put together by well-to-do men who PAY these guys to grunt and tackle.
Classy place in Canton to start a Professional League…..
Across Ohio there are 4 such professional teams, the heartbeat of a rising sport. On this day the owners of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians and Dayton Triangles, along with a Chicago guy who already loved the game, George Halas, bring along ideas, plans and a public sports hero that plays their game: Jim Thorpe. Borrowing some floor space in the Canton Jordan and Hupmobile Auto Showroom (things were slow in business this morning) they create the American Professional Football Conference. Jim Thorpe is nominated as the League’s first president, with the hope his fame would help the league be taken seriously. In the coming months, it was. They changed their name to the National Football League and started adding teams from OUTSIDE of Ohio….to...you know…..go National (all the way to Chicago…...) BTW this origin story is why the NFL Football Hall of Fame is in Canton, Ohio…..
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Tart green apple/Granny Smith ice cream with swirls of sweet caramel
As you settle in to meet a First Lady, its time for a bit of a palette cleanser, yes? And maybe something of a treat too, yes? How about a few licks of Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream from the Fair?
Almost 18 months ago I put up a couple profiles of American First Ladies, and many here at the Good News Round Up have liked these, so nearly every month since there has been a profile or two. Today there is only one, but the biography and story is intricate and takes a while to unravel.
First Lady
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt
Born in Connecticut in August of 1861 Edith Kermit Carow’s mother and author Edith Wharton shared a common ancestor, were related to a cousin of Aaron Burr, and were direct descendants of Preacher Jonathan Edwards of Puritan Massachusetts. Edith’s father was an import-export broker and well-to-do. When Edith was still a baby the family moved to mid-town Manhattan, across the street from the well-off Theodore Roosevelt Sr. family. That family had 4 children (one of whom was named for his father as Junior) and Edith and several other upper crust children began private school in a private home with a private teacher. Edith and Teddy Roosevelt Jr. became close childhood friends. (All the children from Kindergarten up to 6th grade were on a balcony in April of 1865 when the funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln passed through New York City on the way to burial in Illinois.)
When Edith was about 7 or 8 her father suffered major financial losses due to his alcoholism and had to declare personal bankruptcy. Edith, a younger sister, and their mother moved in with a nearby, wealthy relative so Edith could continue the next several years in a private girl’s academy (and stay in regular touch with the Roosevelts and others in those circles.) She was an excellent student with a love and grasp of literature. The entire school regularly attended New York concerts, plays, choral performances, theaters and circuses.
When Edith was in what we would call her junior year, her friend Theodore (2 1/2 years older) was accepted as a student to Harvard College. When he was a sophomore and again as a junior at Harvard the Roosevelt clan and assorted friends (like Edith) visited him there for the Thanksgiving holiday. Both times he proposed to her, and both times she said ‘No.’ Back at Harvard his senior year he fell in love with Alice Hathaway Lee. To the family’s (and Edith’s) shock he proposed and married her in 1880 as he graduated.
The family adjusted and even Edith was able to stay cordial during occasional encounters. These broke off for a couple years as Edith’s father and a grandfather both died, each leaving Edith’s mother a fair inheritance, but each had willed this to her (since “women had no head for money”------pfffft!) so she would only receive the interest on the principal, and could not tap the inheritances themselves. This income would not allow mother and daughters to live as they were accustomed, so they went together on an extended stay in Europe, with an eye toward relocating there to make their money stretch further. (Edith’s mother and sister did settle and live long in Italy while Edith returned to New York.)
In 1884 Teddy Roosevelt had been elected to the New York legislature (about age 25!) and was in Albany. February 12 he received a telegram: his wife Alice was in labor. As he scurried about to catch a train back to New York City, 2 more telegrams arrived: Alice had delivered their first child (a girl, soon to be named Alice) but was dying of kidney failure. Teddy Roosevelt’s mother had contracted typhoid and was also dying. Roosevelt had to watch each die about 11 hours apart. At the double funeral, Edith was among the mourners.
As Roosevelt worked through the double tragedy he re-connected with Edith, and in 1885 once again proposed. She accepted, but they kept this a secret, as there was a social stigma for a widower or widow to re-marry “too soon.” Edith went back to Europe to be with her mother and sister, and in late 1886 Roosevelt (27) sailed to London, where Edith (25) met him and married him. The couple took a 2-month honeymoon across much of Europe and, as they sailed back to the US, Edith found she was pregnant.
Back here, their family and friends found them an odd pairing: Roosevelt a gregarious extravert in any setting, Edith careful, intellectual, spending time editing literary journals, and so outwardly quiet this was seen as cold and aloof. Their house, though, was boisterous and energetic. Teddy’s daughter Alice (about 5, having lived with an aunt her first years) came under their roof (stepmother Edith and step-daughter Alice clashed often (and more so as she grew older.) The Roosevelts had 5 children of their own, 4 boys and a girl. Despite various social conventions, Dad and Mom had a great love for the outdoors; both liked to go rowing, and long-distance swimming. Edith took up tennis and could beat Teddy fairly often. The whole family enjoyed bicycling (now that those “2-wheels-the-same-size” “safety bikes” had been invented) and Edith became quite a horsewoman. In 1893 the couple took a long, Western train journey, visiting Yellowstone National Park, a South Dakota ranch that Roosevelt had bought, and the World’s Fair in Chicago.
A bit later in the 1890s, President McKinley named Roosevelt Assistant Secretary of the Navy. From this post he was a hawk in the dispute with Spain over Cuba, and when war came in 1898 he got an appointment as a Lt. Colonel of a cavalry command, the quickly famous “Rough Riders”. Roosevelt became a national war hero and soon became governor of New York. In 1900, Edith was quite reluctant to have her husband go on the ticket with President McKinley as Vice-President, but finally accepted the idea. She did attend the 1901 Inauguration, but then returned to New York to be with her children (the Vice Presidential quarters in Washington were minimal, and not child-friendly.)
1901: Even Lt. Colonels visit the Minnesota State Fair! If they happen to be the Vice President they might even give a speech…...
6 months later, Lt. Col. Roosevelt (those were the posters; noting he was Vice-President was an afterthought) visited the Minnesota State Fair. He gave a speech that included the celebrated phrase “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” One week later, President McKinley was in Buffalo at another expo, shaking hands in a line of well-wishers. One of these was a bad wisher and shot McKinley, making Roosevelt President (age 42; still the youngest, although JKF was the youngest elected) and Edith First Lady.
Roosevelt relished the role, while Edith was not a fan of public appearances. However, Congress had just made an allocation of $500,000 (today, about $200 million) to renovate and upgrade the Executive Mansion. Edith threw herself into this with the architects and contractors, starting with enlarging both wings of the structure. The West Wing became all business, the President’s office, advisor, staff, etc. on 2 floors (preparing for the arrival of President Josiah Bartlet……) The East Wing also grew out and up with the second floor becoming First Family living quarters. Roosevelt popularized a shift in the name from “Executive Mansion” to the current “White House.”
The Roosevelt children found the wood floors upstairs very handy for indoor roller-skating, going around on stilts---just because. The young ones also had or acquired one of the widest White House collections of pets in the history of American Presidents: horses (since the whole family liked to go riding around Washington for fun on weekends and holidays) and dogs. Also there were a Lizard, a Garter Snake, a Macaw, a small black bear (later, when “not as small”, was sent to a zoo), a pet Rat, a badger, and---a gift from the Emperor of Ethiopia---- a laughing hyena (also soon donated to a zoo.) It says something about Edith’s mothering style that she oversaw all this with aplomb.
From 1901, when Edith Roosevelt became First Lady…..
While not at all as gregarious as the President (hardly anyone was,) Edith Roosevelt was hostess for many of the social events, dinners and dances at the White House and was considered a dignified presider at these. She especially arranged for musical recitals, including such rising stars as cellist Pablo Casals, and pianist Jan Paderewski (about 1919 he became the 1st President of Poland.)
Edith was the first First Lady to extensively research her predecessors, and as the remodeling ended, she arranged a gallery of First Ladies portraits and pictures in the public part of the White House for display. (She also offered the use of the White House for a family wedding: one of Theodore’s (many) nieces, Eleanor Roosevelt, was marrying her (and TR’s) distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt. The couple declined, and were married in a private ceremony in New York.)
After 1909, when Roosevelt stepped down in favor of William Taft, he went barnstorming around the US. Edith (no schism here; just a very different person) went to Europe for a long stay with her family and relatives there (returned in 1910.) She had the chance to visit Egypt and got to ride a camel. Also in this international stay, she fell and suffered a severe concussion, which left her permanently without her sense of smell.
In 1912 Edith had very mixed feelings about her husband trying to regain the Republican nomination from the sitting President Taft. She was also dismayed when the burgeoning Progressive Party arose and nominated him as their candidate, causing a 3-way contest with Taft, Roosevelt and Democrat Woodrow Wilson. In the fall campaign Theodore was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt. Edith traveled from New York to Chicago at once to be with him. She brooked no nonsense from anyone; she admitted doctors and nurses to his room, and his immediate family, but barred everyone else.
After the election (both of them did NOT care for Wilson) they took a couple long trips through South America. When World War I broke out, 3 of the Roosevelt sons eventually enlisted in the US military. The youngest son, Quentin, died in 1918 when his fighter plane was shot down. Two other brothers, Archie and Kermit, were both wounded while serving in the infantry. While the former President himself hoped for one more military appointment, Wilson did not name him, partly because of his declining health. Roosevelt died of a heart attack early in 1919 (age 62.)
Edith and one or more of her sons (sometimes), or sometimes solo, traveled extensively around the globe during the 1920s. 1 of her sons was appointed Ambassador to Puerto Rico, and another appointed Ambassador to the Philippines...and she visited both of them. She even wrote a novel about traveling (1927). As a dedicated Republican she became friends with Lou Hoover when she became First Lady, and offered a few speeches (one live on radio) in support of his election, and, in 1932, of his re-election. When instead FDR won in 1932, Edith was disappointed; she didn’t like Franklin on a personal level. Still, as the New Deal began making a difference in the US, she came to admit his success on policy grounds, including moving to a war producing stance in the late 1930s.
When World War II broke, two of Edith’s sons, although middle-aged, volunteered for the military. Her son Kermit did not wait for the US to enter the war; he sailed to England and volunteered for the British military. After a time his troubles with the bottle got him discharged. FDR used his position to keep him in the Army, the US one now, and had him stationed in Alaska. His spirits and demons did not improve, and he shot himself. (Edith was not told of this; she was informed he had died of a heart attack “like his father.”)
Theodore Roosevelt III, at age 56, went ashore in Normandy on D-Day with the Allies. He was killed in action 11 days later. Edith grieved these deaths heavily, and was further saddened in 1945 when Franklin died suddenly in office. She did travel to Europe one more time to arrange for her son Quentin’s remains from WWI to be buried next to Theodore III’s in the same cemetery. She left her public life behind and died quietly in 1948 (age 87.)
Good News in Society and Politics
Shrimp & Pork Toast On-A-Stick: Ground pork and shrimp.Hmong aromatics (lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots,Thai chilis) to season a fish sauce. Spread on Texas toast, deep fry. Side of apricot jelly hot sauce.
For those who want something bold and strong to catapult their tastebuds through this Wednesday:
>>>>>>>» In these days of the 1% Occupation, there is a good deal of noise that pretends to bless their crap. I do mean noise, and I do mean bless. The ‘Xtian Nationalist’ segment of the MAGA types are those perfect-toothed, white guys who head up various “independent” congregations that call themselves Christian.
As a professionally ordained Lutheran I have few quibbles with denominations among Protestants, a few issues with the Catholics and Orthodox, and a few more issues here and there outside of Christianity. But all of these are worth talking through and talking over and virtually always worth that almost-Bible verse, “Live and let live” (AKA known as “Believe, and let believe.”)
But these guys (guys nearly exclusively, and nearly all white) are in a different league. They use terms that me and many Christians of various flavors recognize, but they don’t mean them THAT way. They are (mis-) using their position and (mis-)leading them selves and their followers into…...I’m going there…….heresy. Yep. The “H” word. They are giving all of us a bad name and I find them religiously repugnant (let alone their politics.) I came across THIS EXCELLENT ARTICLE that says what I mean in some depth, and I thought it might help you too.
>>>>>>>» When it comes to beating back Fascists, June 6, 1944, D-Day, ranks perhaps at the top. After more than a year of planning, 156,000 Allied troops went ashore in Normandy, along 5 different beaches, to breach Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall”, liberate the oppressed, and chase down and defeat their foes. The planning took months as various bits of intelligence were acquired and sifted and assembled to make for a clear understanding of the lay of the land and the challenges and dangers the Allies in the landing boats and on the beaches faced.
Now comes this ASTOUNDING FIND, 80 years later! A set of intricate, detailed maps, kept secret for decades, have come to light and are actually up for auction. Where to land? What are shoals and sand bars? Pillboxes up there? Or mostly barbed wire? A fascinating bit of Inside History……
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Mind you, people in their nations and among their fellow citizens have been swinging by August 20ths for centuries with the Good and the Goofy among themselves and from their leaders.
1000 Central Europe. Here along the Danube River, downstream from Vienna, the Magyars live, a group people of the Finno-Ugric (#2 for the day; completely different TREE from the Indo-Europeans) language persuasion who live amid a swirl of Germanic and Slavic speaking groups. On this day of a VERY round-numbered date, King Stephen I establishes the kingdom of Hungary as a Christian state on the map. The capital was at Buda, across the Danube River from the little town of Pest. 800 some years later the towns had grown and sprawled and decided to merge, including merging the names, Budapest.
One of the planes that saved civilization
1940 Across Great Britain. It has been a full week of the Luftwaffe’s main effort to beat down the RAF and pave the way for invasion. Yesterday both sides lost nearly 70 planes, but the other days so far, the British have had success by shooting down 2 times or even 3 times as many of their own. (Then too, German aircrews who bail out safely become POWs and are taken off the board of war; British pilots who hit the silk often were up on another sortie within a couple hours.) Prime Minister Churchill salutes them on behalf of the nation with another stem-winding speech, punctuated with the immortal line: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” (Within a week, the cheeky RAF fliers were joking Winston was merely describing their outstanding tabs and IOUs to various concessionaires (the British canteen or PX) at several RAF airfields.)
Keep that red one for as a mud room door
mat, for wiping off shoes and boots….
1991 Tallinn, Estonia Over in Moscow things are testy; units of the military have placed Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest, while Boris Yeltsin is saying Gorbachev should be released but also deposed as leader of the country and that the military should leave the civilians alone and in charge. But like their neighbors from Latvia down the map to Bulgaria, the Estonians (Finno-Ugric language speakers #3 for the day) really WANT NOT TO CARE about what’s going on in Moscow and want to treat it as “foreign news.” So, on this day, the Constituting Assembly (which is in existence at all because of the Gorbachev “glasnost”) unanimously passes not a Declaration of Independence, but a Re-Claiming of Independence, which was stolen from the nation on this day in 1940. Whatever the Fraying Dis-Union of SSRs wanted to do, the Estonians would henceforward chart their own course. (For 30+ years this has been a great national holiday, not the least because the formal Independence day (dating from 1918) is February 24 and is DANG COLD, while August lends itself to non-frozen tailgating…..)
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Personal note…….skip-able to the wine glasses below…….
A Book? Yes….. A Book!
(I don’t remember writing that part, but…….)
Friends and neighbors, fellow Gnusies and casual drop by-ers! At least weekly I have read from our beloved Chloris Creator as she posts Round Ups here. Toward the end of those posts, she mentions that she is an author, and includes titles and links to her works.
Borrowing her elegance and example, I have the great pleasure to announce that as of last week, for the first time since 2009, I am ALSO and AGAIN the author of a book (both in print and e-book/Kindle formats.) "LIKE WELL-AGED WINE" is my first try at a Romance----wrapped around an adventure….OR an adventure wrapped around a Romance.
(When I was setting up “keywords” and “genres” one of these I checked the box for was “Romance-Later in Life.” When I drilled down to these and took a look at the first 2 dozen titles, I was tickled to discover the OLDEST, later-in-life character in these titles was…..52. Both my characters are mid-70s…..and yet still believe in hope and romance…..)
If you’d take a look (even just to discover my non-screen, real name), or even mention something to someone “Later in Life”, I would be grateful.
Cheers…..and thanks for coming by.
Now I know all of you here want to get to the State Fair flights of micro-brew beers, the dart-throwing at balloons booth, and ride the rides, so let me just say: you’ll find all of these and more happen below in the comments. When YOU add a story, fix a misunderstanding, show how you care via your words, comment, or rec, or reply, or snicker, or ask something, or digress like the giant, 2-person slingshot into the ether-sphere, someone will read, click, reply or rec right back at you. And THAT Internet Interaction is the best thing about this site and about these diaries. Thank you for coming by, and thank you for pitching in.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.
