BRAVE NEW WORLD

No, it's not, but I will come back to that, and other novels of a dystopian future, later.

I am setting this to post 63 years, to the minute, after I was born. It will also be exactly 8 years after my first blog post.

I started writing this yesterday and managed to get 2 sentences down. May use 'em, may not. Wound up spending the day reading this blog. THIS blog. Every stinkin' post. (In reverse chronological order, btw.) Some of them weren't too bad, if I say so myself, though most lived up to my usual description. I may go through and tag everything this year, "not too bad" or "complete waste of time." Some might be both...?

A lot has happened in the year since I posted last. We lost another beloved pet (and gained seven. Need a kitten?) I got a detached retina for Christmas. The economy soared..., and then ...

Here we are now.

THE NEW NORMAL

No. No, it's not. The thing that scares me most about this current situation is hearing people speaking as though it is permanent. This is a temporary change to address a problem that will pass. Will it have a lasting effect, probably. Permanent? No. Nothing is permanent.

I have never read "Brave New World." I have a copy somewhere and I need to find it. But I have read "1984," "Animal Farm," and a few lesser known dystopian novels, not to mention the movies ("Logan's Run," "Soylent Green," ... okay, I did mention a couple of 'em.)  One thing that those stories have in common is a totalitarian government isolating the individual in order to control the populace. It is difficult to look at our current situation without dwelling on that.

I have watched more television in the last 2 months than I usually do, I'm sure everybody has. About 2 weeks into this shutdown I noticed that advertising changed, started to acknowledge this shutdown, treat it as permanent. High production value, not slapped together. It made me wonder how far in advance they had been produced. I can concoct some elaborate conspiracy theories..., now is not the time.

More productively, I have read, and re-read, some Bible passages, leading me to wonder where we stand in the Book of Revelation. Now is not the time.

MORE ON THAT LATER

I am going to try to get back to blogging once a week. (Maybe more..., I'm thinking of trying my hand at some specialized blogs.) This Friday I will fill you in on the pet situation. (I took a break in the middle of that sentence, and when I came out of my room Boober ran in and hid under my bed. When I looked in the hall I saw that he was being pursued by three tiny kittens. These are the tales you can look forward to.)

I can also rant further about the current world situation. Much of that is already written, and cut from this rambling post.

But for now, let me just leave you with this cheery thought:

WE ARE GOING TO DIE

Every one of us. The only questions are when and how, and the end grows closer each second. The only weapon we have against death is to live while we can.

So, live while you can, my friend. Go out on the lawn, breath the air. You can even come onto my lawn, just don't breath in my face.

Volume 8

One year (and two blog posts) ago I announced I was back to blogging. So much for that. In that blog I mentioned that I shared a birthday with the King of the Netherlands and the Mayor of Newark. If a text I got this morning is accurate I can add the First Lady of the United States. (Nope, looked her up. Hers was yesterday.)

Anyway, this is the 33rd anniversary of my 29th birthday, and I've spent most of the day, so far, clicking "Like" and pasting "Thank you" on Facebook happy birthdays. I'm glad the computer has given us so much free time.

"Back to blogging." That implies that one ever blogged in the first place. Assuming that "blogging" implies writing something worth reading ..., I have yet to start.

Over the past year I've lost too many friends..., I don't want to blog about that today.

I worked two months giving tours of the State Capitol, until Civil Service decided that filing campaign finance reports constitutes prohibited political activity.

I've threatened it for seven years, but I'm ready to make this a political blog..., as soon as I get around to it.

And until I do, get off my lawn.

Happy Acadian Day

Some people call it "Black Friday," but I'll come back to that later.  According to KADN News 15 in Lafayette1 Acadian Day is "Louisiana's Least Known Holiday." It is an optional holiday in Louisiana, proclaimed by the Governor each year. As a state civil servant for 25 years, I always thought of it as an excuse for the Governor to give us a 4 day weekend. On August 15th each year Canada celebrates the history of the Acadian people with National Acadian Day.2

But the reason I started this post was to say a few things about "Black Friday." I often hear it said that the day after Thanksgiving is so called because that's the day the American retail industry moves into "the black."  Really? Retail, in this country, operates at a loss 11 months of the year? Does this idea disturb anyone but me?

Well, I did a little research while rushing, at the last minute, as I am wont to do, in an attempt to get this posted 15 minutes from right now, and this is what I found: 

The earliest evidence of the phrase Black Friday applied to the day after Thanksgiving in a shopping context suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. This usage dates to at least 1961. More than twenty years later, as the phrase became more widespread, a popular explanation became that this day represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being "in the red" to being "in the black."3

Okay..., so a "popular explanation" isn't necessarily fact..., let's look further:

The earliest known use that presents the "black ink theory" appeared in the edition of November 28, 1981 of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

If the day is the year's biggest for retailers, why is it called Black Friday? Because it is a day retailers make profits - black ink, said Grace McFeeley of Cherry Hill Mall. "I think it came from the media," said William Timmons of Strawbridge & Clothier. "It's the employees, we're the ones who call it Black Friday," said Belle Stephens of Moorestown Mall. "We work extra hard. It's a long hard day for the employees."4

Is Ms. McFeeley the source of the now popular explanation? I notice she didn't say anything about profit for the year, just that they could count on being in the black that day.

The Christmas shopping season is of enormous importance to American retailers and, while most retailers intend to and actually do make profits during every quarter of the year, some retailers are so dependent on the Christmas shopping season that the quarter including Christmas produces all the year's profits and compensates for losses from other quarters.4

Okay, so some retailers do, in fact, operate at a loss until the end of November, but the industry as a whole makes a profit year round. I feel better now.

Now all you black friday shoppers GET OFF MY LAWN.

*1 https://kadn.com/acadian-day-louisianas-least-known-holiday/
*2 https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/acadian-day/
*3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)
*4 https://www.businessinsider.com/meaning-of-black-friday-retail-accounting-2015-11

I'm back.

I've had 365 days to write this blog, and I've got nothin'. I did post twice over the last year, on my parents' birthdays. I felt that I couldn't let my mother's 100th pass without comment.

I did have an occasional urge to post, but I subdued it. I even had a topic now and then. I may remember some of them this year. For the last two weeks I've been reminding myself I need to write something. Now I'm scrambling to write something, take a shower, and get to High Twelve.

Thirty two years ago today I celebrated a birthday. After that I thought I was old. (I didn't have a clue.) Since, other people have celebrated, and I appreciate it, and here's a "thank you" for all the "happy birthday"s, but I claim I don't celebrate. (I have been known to take a day off when I was working. Does that constitute a celebration?)

I was born on Grant's birthday. (Ulysses Simpson or Hiram Ulysses, whichever you prefer.) My mother told me that when I was on the way whenever my dad got a $50 bill he'd say "I got another YOU-la-SEEZ S" and put it away to "pay for the baby." I always thought that was a funny coincidence. Another was that my dad was born on Robert E. Lee's birthday.

For years I thought I was born on Carol Burnett's birthday, but she was born on the 26th. When I started on this last night I looked it up. I had figured out I was wrong before and needed to confirm it. Oh well. My mother always claimed to be born on Edison's birthday, and she was off by almost 2 weeks.

While I was googling that, I found a few more people I share a birthday with. (Google wished me a happy birthday, by the way. I love Big Brother.) Mumtaz Mahal was born 4/27. She has a nice tomb. Frankenstein's grandmother (Mary Walstonecraft Godwin.) Samuel Morse, Walter Lantz, Kitty Kelly and Frank Belknap Long. Jack Klugman, Coretta Scott King, and Casey Kasem. Judy Carne, Cuba Gooding, Sr., and Sheena Easton. The King of the Netherlands and the Mayor of Newark.

Well they can all get off my lawn. (If not off my birthday.)

Mom

http://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=maxie-dawson&pid=175274686

One hundred years ago today, January 29th 1918, my mother was born in Polkville, Mississippi. That's 36,525 days. She lived 35,591 days (or 97 years, 5 months & 11 days.) That's a long time. I'm not getting into hours, minutes or seconds, since I'm not sure what time of day she was born. (But she lived ABOUT 3,075,062,400 seconds. I couldn't resist, it was right there.) Over three billion seconds. (I'm comin' up on two billion.)

Here is a picture of her from the late 1950s (best I can figure) along with my Dad and their pet monkey.

And here is a link to her obituary:

http://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=maxie-dawson&pid=175274686

Dad

I said I wasn't blogging this year, unless I had something to say. But my father would have been 93 years old today, so I just want to say "Happy Birthday, Dad."

After all, it's really your lawn.

My Last Blog Post

Here.

For a while.

I posted my first blog entry 1826 days ago. (That's 2,629,440 minutes for those of you scoring at home.) Five years for normal people.

I would say that I've run out of things to say, but that implies that I had anything to say in the first place. Having "studied" blogs a little bit in the last few months (though you couldn't tell it from this one) I have learned that they are considered by some a powerful tool. I have been told that their power lies in the ability to interact with the reader. That's where it all falls apart for me.

When I started reading blogs I found that the comment section at the bottom was generally populated by morons. I had no desire to interact with anyone, especially if they have nothing better to do than comment on something I've written.

But now, having actually found at least one successful blog that I enjoy, I see that my cynical view may have missed something. It is apparently possible for someone to be a professional smartass and still like their readers. Not me, of course, but someone.

I guess I'm doing a little house cleaning before taking a hiatus. In November I predicted a return of civility to political discourse. I'm still waiting. In the meantime I want to share with you three truths which I believe to be indisputible. I am however aware of the human ability to dispute anything (I have been accused of this myself) so I will list them in what I think is order of increasing disputability, and since I threatened in my last post to talk politics in this one, here you go:
 

1.     Donald Trump is NOT the Messiah.
2.     Donald Trump is NOT the Anti-Christ.
3.     Donald Trump IS the President of the United States.

(I'm a little stunned myself.)

Anyway, this happens to be the 31st Anniversary of my 29th Birthday. As I do every April 27th, I will set this post to publish at 6:38 PM. Then I'm taking a break. If I post anything here in the next 31,536,000 seconds it will be because I think I have something to say.

So until then, GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!