I’m picky when it comes to gumbo. I prefer cajun to creole and okra to filé powder. Yet, for today’s post, it’s a great symbol for a tasty mix. You might need some antacids if you’re not used to it.- Today at 1:52 p. m. the temperature here in Georgia is 91°. The weather forecasters keep saying we have a chance of rain. They’re talking about imaginary rain. Or, possibly, in-your-dreams kinds of rain.
I’ve just finished re-reading The Zoo Keeper’s Wife. I’m impressed by the willingness of people to fight, hide Jews who are escaping from the Ghetto, and risk their lives sabotaging the Nazis. I hope that if Americans face similar circumstances, they will be as strong as the people in Warsaw. (And Ukraine, of course.)- When it comes to the Supreme Court’s action in overturning Roe v Wade, I dissent. And if the justices were bound and determined to tinker with precedent, I agree with the Chief Justice that the court went too far. To counteract the most meanspirited states, the court should have declared it’s a violation of equality and liberty rights to force a woman to give birth to a child created out of rape or incest. Women will also need protection from arrest for having a miscarriage.
This Facebook meme is especially apt this week. Speaking of Facebook, and I’d rather not, it still hasn’t addressed the software fault on my author’s page. I have unpublished it, and it will go away forever if the fault isn’t fixed before the count-down-to-deletion ends. (13 days from the day I unpublished it.) Some people say that Facebook doesn’t need support because everyday users aren’t their customers. I beg to differ inasmuch as the company wants me to see my page as a business, one where I spend money to advertise my books and “boost” posts for wider audiences.
Filed under cute animal news in the Literary Hub, is this turned out to be an interesting article: “Do Birds Dream About Their Own Birdsong?” As I read it, I found myself wondering, “Why have I never thought about this before?”- And, under “frightening news” we find this story in the Desert Sun: “Leave it to the Westerners to come up with solutions to their problems by causing problems for others. Las Vegas resident Bill Nichols’ June 22 suggestion of diverting Mississippi River water to the Southwest to help solve the Southwest’s drought problem is nothing more than a plan to steal, under federal-government oversight at taxpayers’ expense, water that belongs to the Midwest.” Nichols probably got this idea from the mayor of Los Angeles.
Enjoy your bowl of gumbo,
The first large plane I flew on was the DC-8. I flew it between Luxembourg and New York City (with a brief stop in Iceland) and between Manilla and California. Both flights must have been smooth because my main memory was being asleep for most of both trips except when the flight attendants woke me up to eat again and again.
My favorite plane was the L-1011 (TriStar), very technologically advanced when it appeared in 1972, even though it certainly had a lot of people in that center section where the windows seemed several miles away. I think these were retired much too soon. Delta and Eastern flew these, so I saw a fair number of them.
The strangest plane I flew on was the Grumman HU-16 Albatross. These were used by the Navy and Air Force for search and rescue operations and could be configured as a seaplane, though the one I flew on in the Philippines was land-based. Jimmy Buffett flew the seaplane.
The Albatross typically carried 10 passengers. The Grumman C-1 Trader typically carried nine, though its main role in the 1960s and 1970s was bringing mail and/or flag-level staff to aircraft carriers. While it was capable of taking off from a carrier without using the catapult, the time I flew between the USS Ranger and Da Nang, we were catapulted off. That was a bit rougher than a DC-9 taking off from Tallahassee.
The DC-3 I flew on in the Boy Scouts seemed rather ancient and it was for a special trip out of the Tallahassee airport down to the coast and back. This would have been in the late 1950s. My biggest surprise was seeing the Gulf of Mexico right after we took off. Oddly enough, a few airlines and cargo operators are still flying this 1935 aircraft.
Today’s special event (let’s help Malcolm mow his yard) has been canceled due to hot weather. Even CNN, which normally stays quiet about news it doesn’t like, posted numerous stories about the heat, noting among other things that heat will be bad in the South. Duh. Apparently, the weather system is centered around Mempis. Those of us who live in Georgia think all bad weather begins in Memphis.
Suffice it to say, I ended up a Leo, and while it’s been nice being the best of the sun signs, I’d trade away all that glory to have a winter birthday. A little-known fact about my reign as a Leo is that I’m the one who posed for the MGM logo. (My stage name was “Tanner” to help the family duck all the taxes on royalties.)
When a friend learned I was just finishing Robert Galbraith’s (aka JK Rowling) Troubled Blood, she wondered whether I thought she might like it. I told her she was on her own this time in making that decision. Why? The book features an old-style detective and is very long, very British (people are always stopping for tea), has a lot of characters in it, and takes its time working through a complex plot to the final showdown. I liked it, but then I’m old and eccentric. I’ve read most of the books in the Comoran Strike series and will probably read the next one.
sure he would grok the Internet or Facebook, but he would remember this picture taken near Santa Cruz, CA when I was little. Yes, I come from the San Francisco Bay Area and had family all over the place in that area when I was little. I’m the kid on the right who seems to be either cold or scared.
No, Facebook has not fixed the software fault on my author’s page. The page is fairly worthless if I cannot post links. If they continue to do nothing, I’ll delete the page.
We watched “Bull Durham” on TV last night and think it’s held up well during the last three decades. Of course, Susan Sarandon’s character made a big splash in that, though what I liked best was how well the film portrayed baseball in the minor leagues. The team reminded me of the team in the movie “The Natural” that was also inept until somebody came along with the competence and charisma to change everyone’s attitude.
It didn’t take long for me to get really tired of people saying the weather is “Chili Today, Hot Tamale.” Thank goodness most of them didn’t know it was a song and had lyrics, &c. Actually, we’re having chili tonight and it’s raining tomorrow.
The Supreme Court should replace Roe V. Wade with a stronger decision that states abortion is not the business of any level of government. Okay, you can ponder this point.
If “paper boy” isn’t the first job on your resume, you’re not management material. By the way, that’s not me in the picture.
Malcolm's Round Table 