Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Eclipse -- and Exhausted

     Did you see today's eclipse?  We saw it...we think. It was supposed to be 70% here in Colorado, but there was a sliver off the sun, at best. (It was shining -- but the rest of the sky was clouds. Later on, it started snowing.) 

     The Dallas Zoo had their first eclipse, and they were curious what the animals would do. Turns out the gorillas and elephants could care less -- but the giraffes, zebras and ostriches freaked out and galloped in circles. One ostrich even laid an egg! 

     This has been an incredibly tiring week. We spent most of it clearing out the fifth-wheel, and cleaning it so Daughter #1 and her partner could take it to Texas for the eclipse. (Daughter #2 and Son #1, meanwhile, headed to see the eclipse in New York, and do some rockhounding while they were there.) We thought we'd cleared a lot out -- but the hallways are lined with boxes and bags of Stuff. 

    To make life even more interesting, the UPS truck drove up while we were working, and Ruby threw a fit. I heard her (the Brick was vacuuming), and hurried out -- tripped on the bottom step -- tripped again on Ruby, who was still barking, and face planted in the gravel rock bed. The UPS girl was shouting, "Are you ok??" I was yelling back that I was fine (I wasn't). She wouldn't leave the package until 'you get hold of your dog.' Finally she left. Ruby stopped fussing about the 'evil UPS girl.' The Brick eventually heard me yelling -- and hauled me up. Results: a sprained hand and two knees full of blood and scratches.  

     I'm better now...but no doubt the UPS girl thinks I'm an idiot. I certainly felt like one. However, the Brick pointed out that we wouldn't have to do much more work to get the fifth-wheel in salable condition. And he's right. (Want to buy a nice fifth-wheel?)

I'm behind on reports -- and the house looks like a bomb went off in it. We have taxes to finish up, too. Guess what we're working on this week?

Plenty of flies, though.

Meanwhile:

A common sense look at what welfare is meant to do -- and what using it for decades can do. 

Positive stories and memes -- we need boosts of cheerfulness in this bleak world.

Imposters galore - starting with Stanley Weyman. (No, that wasn't his real name.)

Giant skeletons, sandals, footprints and handprints in Nevada?

An easy (and unusual) way for teachers to find out if their students actually wrote essays -- or used AI to do them.  Teachers, take note!

The teenagers who thought it was funny to throw rocks at cars -- and were proud they killed a 20-year-old woman. (They even took souvenir photos of her smashed windshield.)

'My teenager thinks it's funny to challenge me in public...how can I address this problem?'  Quora people hold forth. 

A newborn is found and survives -- buried alive for six hours! (And it's happened before, according to the article.)

The easy way to conceal errant bra straps. 

Frans Hals -- drinker extraordinaire? Definitely a man interested in his Holland -- and the people in it.

A Stanford professor has no problem with a "reckless disregard for accuracy." Hmmmm.

 Richard Dawkins is well-known for his atheist views...but says he prefers Christianity to a Muslim religion because it's 'nicer.' What???

We finally finished all five seasons of Person of Interest. If you want to watch a show that predicts the Covid epidemic, the government's need to 'watch' (and control) us, as well as AI's rise in eerily accurate form... you'll want to watch this. Bear in mind that this tv series started in 2011, more than ten years ago!

    I especially enjoyed its booklover references -- including Finch proposing to his love by giving her a hollowed-out copy of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, with engagement ring inside. However, none of the social media whizzes seems to realize that the password for installing the virus that kills Samaritan is 'Dashwood' -- a direct reference to S&S! The creme on the top, though, was the occasional references to my buddy -- and his books.. 

Charles Dickens, looking his best. Sort of.

Interesting things that people inherited.

Lump-in-the-throat stories about statues dedicated to animals.

The first dinosaur tail found imbedded in amber. (It's got feathers!)

The British Museum tries to explain why it's still holding onto looted Ethiopian artifacts.  (They aren't doing a very good job of it.)

Have a good week.



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