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VETERANS DAY: A Time for Reflection

11/8/2019

Yay! Veterans Day, November 11, is coming. A day off! No Mail! We get to wear red poppies, wave flags, and go to a parade!

Many American tend to think of Veterans Day as just another day off. Or, if you don't have a holiday, it may be just another day when the mail isn't delivered.

That's too bad, because it should be a day of reflection and thanks to the multitude of armed services veterans, and their families, who have kept our country "the land of the free, and the home of the brave."
Don't confuse it with Memorial Day, which honors those service men and women who have died in the service of their country. This day honors everyone who has served.

Source of Photos: inthesetimes.com/veterans_day
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force / Flickr

HISTORY
Nothing is easy when it involves the federal government.

US President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed Armistice Day for November 11, 1919, one year after the armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and brought to a halt the actual fighting in WW I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed seven months later, on June 28, 1919.

I was surprised to read that Congress didn't officially recognize the end of WW I until June 4, 1926. It's hard for me to envision signing the treaty without acknowledging the end of the war. However, in the same resolution, Congress requested President Coolidge to proclaim November 11 as a national holiday. This is the same day celebrated in other
parts of the world as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Victory in Europe Day, and other names.

An act approved in May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November a legal federal holiday, known as "Armistice Day", dedicated to the veterans of WW I and the cause of world peace.

Something as non-partisan/non-controversial as this took almost ten years. No wonder we're in trouble.

Then, on June 1, 1954, Congress approved legislation changing the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, a holiday which honors of the veterans of all wars, not just WW I, and celebrated on October 25. The first Veterans Day was celebrated on October 25, 1971. Confusion ensued. No one was happy.

On September 20, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a law which returned Veterans Day to the original date of November 11, beginning in 1978.

Sigh of relief. This pleased just about everyone, although I used to wonder why my employer gave us a union-negotiated holiday on October 25, when the official holiday was November 11. Now I understand.

Hopefully, everything is settled for a while. And it pleases me that Veterans Day hasn't been moved from the specific date. That's not an accident. The proponents wanted to preserve the significance of November 11 and to focus attention on the purpose of Veterans Day.

A TIME FOR REFLECTION AND THANKS
As Senator Mike Johanns said,
   "Nothing we can do in Congress will ever fully return the favor of those who have given so much for America. But we must do all we can to honor them. All Americans share in the responsibility of caring for our veterans who have defended our freedom.
   Fewer causes are so imperative or so noble. This Veterans Day, we remember the service to our brave men and women in uniform. We thank them for their sacrifice and for their service."

Rory Fanning inthesetimes.com/veterans_day sends this message.
   “Many veterans enlisted in the military thinking that they were indeed serving a noble cause, and it's no lie to say that they fought with valor for their brothers and sisters to their left and right. Unfortunately, good intentions at this stage are no substitute for good politics. What they really want is not to be thanked for their service, but wants politicians to stop sending young soldiers off to die.”

THANK YOU TO THOSE MEN AND WOMEN, AND THEIR FAMILIES, WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE PAST AND TO THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO SERVE AND PROTECT OUR FREEDOM!

Marine Corps War Memorial For the Marine dead of all wars,
and their comrades of other services who fell fighting beside them.
Unveiled November 10, 1954
Designed by Felix de Weldon (sculptor)
Horace W. Peaslee (architect)
Photo source: https://inthesetimes.com/article/17337/veterans_day_stop_thanking_troops

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DO YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO YOUR OPINION?

11/1/2019

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Photo source: www.inc.com/respectfully-disagree-with-someone.html

“The greatest deception men suffer is their own opinions.”
~Leonardo da Vinci

WHAT IS AN OPINION?
If you look the word up in the dictionary, you will find the definitions along this line, stating that an opinion is:

● A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
● An estimation of the quality or worth of someone or something
● The beliefs or views of a large number/ majority of people about something; a generally held view.
● A belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge
● A formal expression (as by a judge) of legal principles upon which a legal decision is based.

You would think these are fairly easy concepts to understand. The unsettling part of this discussion is this:
“Most human beings believe their opinions are facts.” Because they believe it, that makes it so. "Make it sew!"►
“I HAVE A RIGHT TO MY OPINION.”
This is a phrase most people have used at one time or another, and sometimes too often. I doubt that most us have ever thought in depth about what it means.
The statement “I have the right to my opinion” means that “no one can stop me from thinking, observing, and drawing conclusions about anything.”

Having the “right” to either have opinions or stopping people from having them is a moot point. In fact, no one can prevent another person from forming views about the world around them -- short of getting into medical and/or psychological interventions or serious violence.

So, sure. You have the right to your opinion … but keep in mind that “rights” are defined by the duties to which they give rise. When you claim a “right” to something, ask yourself what duties this right is supposed to impose on others.
medium.com/@neallwebster/

“I AM ENTITLED TO MY OPINION”
Although the phrases are used interchangeably, Entitled means that you have been given a legal right or just claim to receive or do something. However, most dictionary definitions of entitle or entitled imply or flat out state that a person who is entitled believes themselves to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment and feel they deserve what they want without earning it and can take it from someone else just because of who they are. Yikes!

Philosophers consider both statements as logical fallacy. “A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. All logical fallacies are arguments in which a conclusion doesn't follow logically from what preceded it.” https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-logical-fallacy-1691259
Urbandictionary.com puts it, rather bluntly, this way: “You have the right to your opinion, but at the same time go fuck yourself and the horse you road in on.”

“I HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXPRESS MY OPINION”
The right to express your opinion is a separate issue. Generally speaking, yes, you do have the right to express your opinion … at this point in time.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly, states that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

However, the exercising of these rights carries "special duties and responsibilities" and may "therefore be subject to certain restrictions" when necessary "[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "[f]or the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public health or morals." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

Although much of the world enjoys a political state of affairs which allows them to speak out without prosecution, that hasn’t always been true and could change in the future. There hasn’t always been a United States or United Nations to grant people freedom of speech.

No matter who or where we are, there are always other human beings who have, and will continue to have, the power and means to prevent most people from stating what they believe, good, bad, or indifferent. Whether or not that power is exercised is a separate matter. This is where the violence comes in. Keep in mind we have fought wars and earned Freedom of Speech.

The second point in this discussion: you do not have the right to expect anyone to listen to your opinion, act on it, or treat it as truth. Also, you do not have an equal right to be heard on a matter in which the other party is the only one with the relevant expertise and facts.

Before you express your opinion, take a moment to remember the following:
● Opinions are not fact; they are expressions of a point of view.
● Opinions are not actions.
● Opinions change frequently and are not binding commitments.
● Opinions are not necessarily rational.
● Opinions are not essential.

OPINIONS ARE NOT FACTS
Cortney S. Warren, Ph.D. writes, “A fact is a statement that can be supported to be true or false by data or evidence. In contrast, an opinion is a personal expression of a person’s feelings or thoughts that may or may not be based in data. Indeed, many of our opinions are based on emotions, personal history, and values—all of which can be completely unsupported by meaningful evidence.” www.psychologytoday.com/

We tend to protect and defend our opinions because they are an expression of us; our values, self esteem, beliefs, goals, education, identity, and our views on the specific subject. On the surface, opinions give us a voice. People agreeing with our opinions gives us validation. An attack on our opinions is like an attack on our physical person, and the human reaction is to defend yourself with anything you can use.

It never hurts to listen to others and assess their points as well as the significance of the opinion. We need to take a step back and assess the importance of any opinion.

NOT ALL OPINIONS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Warren makes sense when he states all opinions are not equally valuable, depending on the manner in which they were formulated. In the hierarchy of Opiniondom, those based on facts, knowledge, and analysis have the highest value because they can be treated by others as serious candidates for the truth. That still doesn’t make them true, but those informed opinions are a step toward finding the truth – and they are much easier to defend.

The lowest order of opinion is the gut-reaction; a view based on personal experience with nothing else to back it up. As Bill Bullard, lawyer and former member of the Michigan State legislature, says, “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability and no understanding.”

The second face of this pyramid is the significance of the subject matter. You could have all the data and facts in the world that prove you look better in a long red dress rather than in a short black dress, but it’s an issue that only matters to you and maybe to your mother and your dressmaker. Essentially trivial and inconsequential on a larger scale, although not to you within your sphere of activity.

The third face of the discussion focuses on who has the opinion and who will listen to it. Obviously human beings formulate opinions about nearly everything. Sometimes it’s just the way of nature. Other times people formulate opinion with purposeful intent, which usually implies influencing some kind of future action, whether it be the selection of healthy food in the grocery store or advising the Commander in Chief about declaring war.

The people who opinions are valuable arrive at their conclusions because they have expertise and facts and have looked at all sides of the issues. Their opinions will carry weight with decision makers because of that. Mediawatch host Jonathan Holmes says, “there’s evidence, and there’s bulldust,.and it’s not part of a reporter’s job to give bulldust equal time with serious expertise.” http://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978

WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO USE THE PHRASE?
First and foremost, the reality is our opinions only matter when we are in a position to affect change. The rest is pretty much useless mental and emotional clutter.

The reason people continue to use this phrase, although it is meaningless, reveals a great deal about the individual making the statement. According to most of my research, people speak these phrases in order to close down and walk away from a disagreement and/or to discredit or manipulate someone. The phrases are used as a way to:

● To end the debate when it is a waste of time and effort to continue because the issue cannot be resolved at that moment, at that location, or by the people engaged.

● To silence others who have different opinions and not let them have their say. To silence opinions you do not want to hear.

● To “save face” by defusing an argument or disagreement and presenting the opportunity for both parties to walk away; agreeing to disagree is a “No Harm” solution most of the time.

● To offer an excuse for not believing the truth or the facts.

● To finish the argument when the speaker has: 1) hit the wall defending their position; 2) knows or suspects they are incorrect, 3) has no evidence to back up the opinion. It is the last ditch effort to justify an indefensible point of view by defending their right to hold an opinion, no matter how stupid, ignorant or ill-founded it may be.

● To prevent yelling, a fight, or serious consequences from the disagreement.

● To discredit one or more participants in opposition by implying the opposition is of no value and it’s not worth the time to even talk to them.

● To demonstrate to others that the opposition is less smart or less knowledgeable by tearing them down or refusing to budge; It’s giving the opposition the brushoff as being unworthy of listening to.

● To justify the speaker’s belief that he/she can say of think whatever they like and implying that continuing to disagree with them is disrespectful.

● To cover up the speaker’s ignorance in order to protect their misconstrued beliefs.

● To have the satisfaction of getting in the last word.

THAT’S MY OPINION AND I’M STICKING TO IT
Nothing we or others can do will stop our brains from formulating opinions or developing personal preferences, but there are things we can do.

● Give up the belief that you need an opinion on everything. Save your angst and energy for those things that are important and you can actually do something about. That’s not just an excuse to be lazy or apathetic about things. Sure, you can’t actually make the decisions on issues before congress, but you can vote for the people who do. Don’t undersell the ways in which you can affect actions and decisions.

● If an issue falls into the “important” category and is worth your time to have an opinion, it is also worth your time to inform yourself of the facts, or at least the pros and cons.

● When you express your opinion, say why you believe that and be able to reasonably argue for it with evidence and real facts. If it’s trivial, don’t bother talking about it.

● Abandon the dismissive phrase “That’s just your opinion” and focus on whether people can offer good reasons for the claims they make – reasons that might compel us to share their views.

Patrick Stokes, noted philosopher, suggests that the “next time you hear someone declare they’re entitled to their opinion, ask them why they think that. Chances are, if nothing else, you’ll end up having a more enjoyable conversation that way.” qz.com/852709/a-philosophy
□
Sources:
https://qz.com/852709/a-philosophy-professor-explains-why-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion
https://www.philosophersmag.com/essays/26-the-fact-opinion-distinction
https://strangenotions.com/fact-and-opinion/
http://home.sandiego.edu/~baber/logic/6.Knowledge.pdf
https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/8053/what-is-the-difference-between-fact-and-truth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_entitled_to_my_opinion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativist_fallacy
http://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978
https://medium.com/@neallwebster/sorry-but-you-are-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-ef4b06b3f094
http://bit.ly/1hC2Atp
http://bit.ly/1EPUB0x
http://bit.ly/1Jf4ngV
https://goo.gl/frzEch
http://bit.ly/1JekZDa
https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198252177.001.0001/acprof-9780198252177-chapter-33
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=You%20are%20entitled%20to%20your%20opinion
https://www.iep.utm.edu/ep-en/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/naked-truth/201706/your-right-opinion-does-not-make-your-opinion-valid
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stop-letting-other-peoples-opinions-control-you_b_9587330z
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/31/people-who-think-their-opinions-are-superior-to-others-are-most-prone-to-overestimating-their-relevant-knowledge-and-ignoring-chances-to-learn-more/
https://fs.blog/2017/10/opinions-on-everything/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/15-important-truths-about_b_5532585
https://www.inc.com/kat-boogaard/6-key-tips-to-respectfully-disagree-with-someone.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sorry-you-entitled-your-opinion-bruce-d-
http://quantumperformanceinc.com/agreeing-to-disagree-is-always-a-cop-out/
https://www.onewithnow.com/no-opinion/
https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/tell-me-again-how-you-pay-my-bills-clean-my-house-raise-my-kids-and-live-hereoh-wait-you-dont-so-sit-down-and-keep-your-opinions-to-yourself-thanks-700d7/?tagSlug=mom|
https://www.permaculturevoices.com/agruing-with-reality-and-making-yourself-miserable-with-javan-bernakevitch/
https://www.philosophersmag.com/essays/26-the-fact-opinion-distinction
https://strangenotions.com/fact-and-opinion/
https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/8053/what-is-the-difference-between-fact-and-truth
https://www.inc.com/kat-boogaard/6-key-tips-to-respectfully-disagree-with-someone.html
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/31/people-who-think-their-opinions-are-superior-to-others-are-most-prone-to-overestimating-their-relevant-knowledge-and-ignoring-chances-to-learn-more/

More Resources:
Whyte, Jamie (2004). "The Right to Your Opinion". Crimes Against Logic.
New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-144643-5.
Deleuze, Gilles (1994). "The Image of Thought". Difference and Repetition. Paul Patton (trans.).
New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08159-6.
Whyte, Jamie (August 9, 2004). "Sorry, but you are not entitled to your opinion".
The Times. News UK. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011.
Stokes, Patrick (9 October 2012). "You're not entitled to your opinion".
New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2017.

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YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY: The Art of pumpkin carving

10/25/2019

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YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY
Halloween is Thursday, October 31. This is my last chance to write something about Halloween. But what is left to write about Halloween that isn’t redundant?

Not much, but I like to recognize the holidays in my blog … so I’m thinking. Pumpkins? Jack’o lanterns? Naw. No one wants to read about pumpkins being one of the most popular crops in the US or that it is a cultivar of a squash plant. I don't think so.

IN THE BEGINNING
Pumpkins, native to North America, are one of the oldest domesticated plants. I don’t know what they looked like 7,500 BC, but they were here. When Europeans came to the new world, they brought the tradition of carving vegetables – turnips, primarily – into lanterns at Samhain for the purpose of keeping away the evil spirits. Because turnips were scarce in those area, the settlers substituted with lanterns carved out of the plentiful pumpkins.

The turnip carvings in the photos are typical of the kind of lantern carved by the early settlers.

In the 1940s, when I first met the carved Halloween pumpkin as a child, they had taken on more personality but were still relatively simple in looks with triangles for nose and eyes. ▼

IT’S A NEW AGE, EVEN FOR PUMPKINS
By the 21st Century, the superstitious carving vegetables had become the sophisticated fine art of pumpkin carving. Pumpkin carving contests abound, and innovation and imagination displayed is amazing. The activity seems to fall into three categories.

Just For Fun - The More Traditional Front Porch Style
Just for Fun pumpkin carving is the home carved type that are fun to make. Many are just as innovative and well crafted as competition pumpkins.

syracusecountrydancers.org/pumpkin 2016 jiernaair.com/pumpkin-carving-contest/ pinterest.com/660973682788134247
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

Competition Pumpkins
All sorts of organizations have pumpkin carving contests. Many sell the pumpkins to raise funds for charities and other good causes.

These pumpkins are as much about the innovative and imaginative idea as the carving skill, but the skill level is high. There are tons of website about carving ideas, so the judges are looking for something new. Pumpkins eating things, like the squirrel and cannibalistic pumpkins below, seem to be popular but maybe overdone.

▼sep.yimg.com/bloody-eyeball pinterest.com/222928250277002249 ▼ pinterest.com/99571841739011579/ ▼

▲pinterest.com/539657967822747214 ▲motobilt.com/1st-motobilt-pumpkin-carving

Some of the competition pumpkin fall into what I would call the fine arts category. These require excellent carving skills and artistic ability.

Carving: Ray Villafane youtube.com/LTcuXLqVuKA Carving: Ray Villafane PhotoCredit: Anthony Souffle lifeasahuman.com/2010/arts-culture pinterest.com/461548661785643629 startribune.com/pumpkin-carving
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼Carving: Jodi Engel

   ▲ ▲    ▲Nasa Jet Propulsion Lab ▲Carving: Kelly Finke geeksraisinggeeks.com/ZQuinto ▲
honestlywtf.com/pumpkins/ honestlywtf.com/rarebirds    space.com/nasa-pumpkin    Swarthmore.edu/pumpkin-carving

Decorating Ideas
Finally, Halloween pumpkins serve as home and party decorations, as well as decorations for commercial business.
Have fun carving your pumpkin.

Sources
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html
http://www.motherearthliving.com/natural-health/history-of-carving-pumpkins
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSvb2o5wyEI
https://topsfieldfair.org/giantpumpkins.php
http://romae.org/blog/2008/10/22/the-roman-origins-of-halloween/
https://alphamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CreeperPumpkins21.jpg
https://www.instructables.com/id/Spooky-Edible-Eyeballs/
https://www.pinterest.com/1inspiredwoman/fruit-vegetable-carvings/?lp=true
http://www.globeslcc.com/2014/10/30/halloween-facts-origins/
https://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/2015/10/the-halloween-turnip-an-american-history/
https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/pgx58g/evil-irish-turnips-were-the-original-jack-o-lanterns
https://www.annieandre.com/carve-scary-turnip-jack-olantern-halloween-not-pumpkin/
https://www.geeksraisinggeeks.com/geeky-pumpkin-carving-ideas/

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Online Dating

10/18/2019

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THE JURY STILL OUT?
In 1954 Darrell Huff wrote a book entitled How To Lie With Statistics. It’s been revised a few times, but it is still in print. I’m convinced every survey, no matter how correctly designed, uses some of the principles from this work. Otherwise, how can so many studies be so contradictory?

Take the topic of Online Dating, for example. Recent headlines range from “Online Dating Marriage Success Statistics” and “Meeting Online Leads To Happier, More-Enduring-Marriages” to the other end of the spectrum which claim new studies suggest that “Couples Who Meet Online Far More Likely to Have Marriages End in Divorce.”

ALAS, ALL WE HAVE TO GO ON ARE CONFLICTING STUDIES
One thing all researchers seem to be clear about is that online dating is affecting how couples meet in the US, and how long all couples stay together. This is accompanied by an implied impression that this is having a more profound effect on society that anyone expected.

How I Met Your Mother
It wasn’t until the 1990s that anyone met online. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, about one third of all people who dated met online and slightly less than one quarter of people over 50.

Photo Source: https://static.eharmony.com/blog/how-you-meet-your-spouse-matters/

General public opinion about online dating has changed also. In 2005 only 44% of US adults believed online dating was a good way to meet people. In 2015, 59% believed online dating was a good way to meet potential dates.

Before the 21st century the primary way to meet potential mates was through social networking: friends, family, work, church, special interests. As a result, most people fell in love with, and married, people who had certain life aspects in common. One fifth of the way into the 21st century, we have opened up the meeting/dating pool to far greater diversity in race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, and so on.

Some psychologists believe bringing together more people from various cultures and ethnicities would result with more interracial couples and, hopefully, help alleviate prejudices and racism. While I believe that couples do need some things in common to be happy, I also see greater diversity as a way to enrich our lives, increase our understanding, and eat away at the prejudices that separate us by creating new links within society that didn’t exist before.

One point in favor of online dating.

Marriage
Unlike the days of arranged marriages and marriages of necessity, in 2019 meeting a potential mate is the first step. And if the older methods of meeting people caused us to marry people more or less like ourselves, online dating should, and has, resulted in more diversity in marriages as well. According to the statistics of the Brain Research Institute, 1 in 5 relationships and a little more than 1 in 6 marriages begin online. www.datingadvice.com/online-dating

Experts agree those numbers are only going to grow, as more than 49 million people have tried online dating, and nearly 8,000 dating sites exist in the world. Nearly ten percent of the US population visit these sites daily, and participation isn’t cheap. Although there are free services available, from an economic standpoint online dating is a $3 billion-a-year business.

However, when it comes to studies about the success and duration of marriage that begin with online dating, the jury is still out. The results seem to point in all directions.

Photo Credit: The Social Firm
Photo Source: pinterest.com/pin/292452569522774655/

GIVE ME THE BAD NEWS FIRST
Because experiences with online dating vary, some people are satisfied and others not. Everyone claims there are Pros and Cons to meeting potential dates and/or mates in this manner. I have some good news and some bad news.

The Bad News First – The Negatives

● If you’ve never done anything like this before, it may create feelings of discomfort and take time to get used to.

● It’s a crowded digital space, and it can be exhausting having to weed out the good from the bad.

● The choice of partners can become confusing and overwhelming, or disappointing.
Online daters can get stuck endlessly "shopping" for the perfect partner, rather than actually starting a satisfying relationship. Having choices is great, but keep them manageable.
   If you want an actual face-to-face dating interaction, don't get stuck endlessly "browsing" online hoping for someone better to come along. Narrow your search to a small location, or a certain set of "make-or-break" features, characteristics, interests, -- whatever is most important to you. After your narrow it down, rather than just "shopping", talk to those who make the list.
   For men, on average, only about half of your initial emails will get a response. From there some women will drop off and only a smaller percentage will meet up for a date. For attractive women in their 20’s, so many emails may come in that it is overwhelming.

● Many men online are not seeking a meaningful relationship.
“One of the big problems with online dating for women is that, although there are genuine relationship-seeking men on the sites, there are also plenty of guys on there simply looking for sex. While most people would agree that on average men are more eager for sex than women, it seems that many men make the assumption that if a woman has an online dating presence, she’s interested in sleeping with relative strangers.”
psychologytoday.com//the-mating-game

● It can be difficult to stick to one site, making the experience stressful.

● Sitting on a computer and interacting via email can get boring and disappointing, particularly if you are just waiting for responses.
If you go out to a bar to meet women (even if you get shot down 1,000 times) you can still feel productive. At least there you’re developing your social skills.

● Evaluating a match is hard without any physical interaction.
Psychologists warn computer-mediated communication may have an artificial and unemotional quality since it can be harder to evaluate a potential match online where you cannot pick up on cues and features that build attraction, like touching and body language. We pick up a lot of information with our physical senses.
Cartoon by Bill Whitehead
   Cartoon Source: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/o/online_dating.asp

● Matching is a difficult process and testing may not be accurate for everyone.
I assume “computer matching” is likely to identify clearly incompatible matches, but could possibly overlook potentially good partners in the process.

“I said I’m looking for a date who is soft, sweet,
and a little bit nutty. They matched me with a
loaf of banana bread.”
Cartoon Credit: Randy Glasbergen
Photo Sourse chinalovematch.net/magazinearticle

● People lie on their profiles.
Why are you not surprised? Online dating sites will admit many users lie on their online dating profiles. Men users most commonly lie about age, height and income, whereas female users lie about weight, physical build and age. Women pick the most flattering picture possible which may not represent the current reality.

● Your best chance is still meeting through a friend.
Despite everything, eHarmony states that statistics currently show you are more likely to meet “the one” by being introduced through a mutual friend. In fact, that’s how 63% of Photo Source: married couples met their spouse.
www.fittitude2freedom.com/the-dating-game/

Now The Good News – The Positives
The primary rationale of online dating is meeting potential partners [for just hooking up, dating to have fun, dating with the intent of getting into a relationship, dating with the intent of finding a longer term partner, spouse, companion, mate] for subsequent person-to-person contact. In that respect, online dating serves its purpose in the 21st century. In my opinion, the positives are fewer in number but compelling in quality. They include:

● There is no longer as much social stigma to meeting online.

● Meeting online is easy and convenient.
To quote one site: “You can connect with women without having to bother with things like putting on pants.” [Clearly written by a man]

● Meeting online saves time.
Dating takes time, and in today’s world some people who want a relationship don’t have the time for endless dating to find a companion. Why waste time on relationships that eventually will not work.
Cartoon by Out There By George;' Photo source: www.toonpool.com/cartoons

● Dating sites match based on compatibility and personality.
Such matching can help guide individuals toward dating partners who may be more compatible. Gone are the days of sitting through awkward blind dates–most dating sites use personality tests to guide users toward their best match.

● Dating online gives access to people you might not have ever crossed paths with.
Online dating allows people to connect with a much larger dating pool which is no longer limited to the people you went to school with or live near, or friends of friends. It dating allows you to meet and connect with people you probably never would have met without the Internet. If you’re interested in a particular type, orientation, and lifestyle or live in a rather isolated area, online dating gives you access to more potential partners.

● Meeting online allows screening and reduces risk before investing effort, money, and time.
As crass as that sounds, it’s true. Face-to-face dating takes a certain level of commitment you may or may not want to invest in. And if you are shy or not socially inclined, the risks of dating may seem overpowering.

● The odds are pretty good.
One out of five relationships start online [the percentage may be debatable, but it’s close]. Such computer-mediated communication allows for safe and convenient interaction, without much risk or time commitment. For the busy professional, or the safety-conscious, such communication is an excellent way to "test" potential partners.

Now The Really Bad News - A Word of Warning
Be careful! Don’t let infatuation or anything else cloud your thinking. There are a lot of nuts and predators out there. The dating sites and surveys don’t address this – quite the opposite: they run from it -- but dating online can be dangerous and requires the application of good sense, which is often in short supply, young or old.

According to Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, a UK-based non-profit, “actual physical attacks are only part of the picture. Online dating is also the source for financial and other scams [such as obtaining your financial data] that cause emotional trauma … I honestly believe there is a lot more that the online dating companies can do” to protect users … No dating company has ever approached this organization for a conversation about safety.” Instead, he claims, when he tried to talk to them they are “very defensive” on the issue. https://qz.com/dangerous-online-dating

Recent data from opinionmatters shows 53% of people lie on their profiles. Most of them – such as lying about age or using younger pictures -- fall into the category of “white lies” which won’t hurt anyone else, although they may jinks the dating. However, predators who lie can be very convincing. Things are not always as they seem, even after a surprising number of dates.
Cartoon by: SHIERS Jr. Creativet; Photo source: www.courierherald.com/safe-online-dating

Most of the reported crimes include robbery, financial scams [confidence fraud / romance schemes], and sexual assault. No doubt many crimes are not reported to anyone – the dating service or the police.

Retired Toronto Police sex crimes detective, Suzanne Kernohan says online dating provides a new hunting ground for sexual predators. “Don’t be afraid to sit down at the table and say, ‘Okay, this might sound silly but I don’t know who you are. Can I have a look at your driver’s license?’”
globalnews.ca/news/1875533/sexual-predators

FINISH

Sources:
https://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-online-dating-could-do-to-divorce-rates-2017-10-16
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609091/first-evidence-that-online-dating-is-changing-the-nature-of-society/
https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/online-dating-marriage-success
https://www.businessinsider.com/happy-marriage-online-dating-2017-10
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11124140/Couples-who-met-online-three-times-more-likely-to-divorce.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dating-in-the-digital-age/201712/is-meeting-online-good-marriages
https://www.datingnews.com/industry-trends/online-dating-statistics-what-they-mean-for-future/
https://www.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/dan-joseph/couples-meet-online-far-more-likely-have-marriages-end-divorce
https://www.bustle.com/articles/41802-couples-who-meet-through-online-dating-are-more-likely-to-divorce-new-study-says
https://www.zoosk.com/date-mix/online-dating-advice/online-dating-statistics-dating-stats-2017/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/the-truth-about-online-dating-according-to-someone-who-has-been-studying-it-for-years/
https://www.50more.com/blog/2017/10/19/how-effective-is-online-dating
https://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_dating_service
https://harlequinblog.com/2011/04/online-dating-and-romance-novels/
https://www.bustle.com/articles/170836-9-ways-reading-romance-novels-will-help-your-online-dating-game
https://www.glamour.com/story/romance-novelists-online-harassment-social-media
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/divorce-united-states-dropping-because-millennials/
https://www.wf-lawyers.com/divorce-statistics-and-facts/
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/meeting-online-leads-happier-more-enduring-marriages
https://www.infoplease.com/us/marital-status/marriages-and-divorces-1900-2012
https://qz.com/890320/nobody-know-how-dangerous-online-dating-really-is-and-dating-sites-wont-talk-about-it/
https://globalnews.ca/news/1875533/sexual-predators-increasingly-find-victims-on-dating-sites-police-warn/
https://whnt.com/2019/04/25/online-dating-popularity-continues-to-rise-so-do-associated-dangers/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mating-game/201609/the-ugly-truth-about-online-dating
https://static.eharmony.com/blog/how-you-meet-your-spouse-matters/
http://www.ootem.com/uncategorized/if-youre-single-and-you-like-to-mingle-head-to-the-nearest-laptop/

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history rewritten: the Columbus Day Controversy

10/11/2019

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IT IS WHAT IT IS
Throughout the history of the world, human beings have committed acts of war and perpetrated atrocities on other human beings for all manner of reasons. Political and military leaders and their armies have been responsible, over the millennia, for torturing, killing, and enslaving of millions.

The fact that many famous figures in history are deemed responsible for such acts of mayhem does not change history nor lessen the historical importance of other things these people may have accomplished or change their roles in the development of world history. Many of the acts are deemed atrocities by 21st century standards, but they happened. Right or wrong, good or evil, it is what it is.

Over the centuries human beings have become more civilized, educated, and empathetic to the rights and dignity of others. Standards of behavior and values have changed over time – for the better, I believe, although we still have a long way to go.

ORIGINS OF COLUMBUS DAY
Stories have it that Christopher Columbus died broke and in jail, but for the most part, the history books still give Christopher Columbus the credit for “discovering” the new world and opening up the Americas to European colonization.

October 12 is supposedly the day Columbus landed on what is now part of the Bahamas. [He never actually set foot on the North American mainland.] The day is celebrated in many countries in the Western hemisphere as well as Spain and Italy under various names, including "Día de la Raza" [Day of the Race], “Día de la Hispanidad” [Day of the Hispanic], Day of the Americas and Discovery Day. It was first celebrated in the US in 1792, the 300th anniversary of the discovery, by the Tammany Society.

Subsequently, there were celebrations of the day in various locations all over the US. In 1866, Italian Americans in New York began celebrating Columbus Day as recognition of their Italian heritage, with which this holiday has been connected ever since. As a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, October 12 was proclaimed by Congress as a federal holiday in April 1937. [Note: several references said 1934]. In 1971, the US Congress officially designated the date of the annual federal holiday as the second Monday in October.

According to a Senate report to Congress from the year Columbus Day was proclaimed [not clear this means 1934, 1937, or 1971], it is an "annual reaffirmation by the American people of their faith in the future, a declaration of willingness to face with confidence the imponderables of unknown tomorrows.” www.latimes.com/columbus-day

Based on that statement, it appears Congress intended to celebrate the event of the discovery and the introduction of the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere, not specifically Columbus himself.

THE COLUMBUS DAY CONTROVERSY
The earliest opposition to celebrating Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, before the holiday had any kind of legal status, when anti-immigrant activists attempted to eliminate it because of its association with immigrants from the Catholic countries of Ireland and Italy. Notably, the holiday was opposed by the Ku-Klux-Klan because they believed it increased Catholic influence in the United States.

Photo Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/
By Edmund S. Morgan - The Gallery Collection / Corbis

More recently, there is a growing movement in the US to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples Day” because the proponents consider Columbus’ “discovery” of the new world a tragedy. According to Nadra Kareen Nittle’s article in www.thoughtco.com, March, 2017, “Native American groups argue that the Italian explorer’s arrival in the New World ushered in genocide against indigenous peoples as well as the transatlantic slave trade. Much like Thanksgiving, it highlights Western imperialism and the conquest of people of color.”

They argue that Columbus Day and other memorializations of Columbus “whitewash the brutal history of of native enslavement and genocide that represent his true legacy … Millions of indigenous people were displaced by Columbus, and between his arrival and the Pilgrims’ arrival in 1620, 90% of the native population died, mostly from diseases brought over from Europe. The remaining natives saw their land and culture destroyed by the violence of white Western colonization.” www.theyucatantimes.com/2018/columbus-day/

It is true that as Governor of the Indies, subsequent to his voyages, Columbus enslaved and mistreated the native populace and even colonists who objected to his policies and methods.

Was he a racist and a rotten, brutal person? Evidence indicates he was. Although his beliefs were not much different than anyone else at the time, he was held accountable for his atrocities by his peers, the Spanish.

Did he introduce slavery and other European injustices to the Americas? No. Slavery and human sacrifice had existed among some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas for hundreds of years before the Europeans got there.
He did come uninvited, invade their territory and conquer the inhabitants? Yes, but isn’t that the pattern of history throughout the world?

Should Columbus bear the responsibility for the European beliefs of the time, including slavery, and for what happened centuries afterward? I supposed that’s what the debate is about.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
In my opinion, it is futile to try to assign “blame” for the consequences of any historic event. Understand the motivations and consequences, yes, but not blame. Columbus Day does not have to commemorate the person nor does it celebrate the ultimate outcome of the voyages. It does mark an important event in world history.

Highlighting an event that changed the world, or much of it, is neither a positive or negative comment on the value of the event or what happened subsequently. Remember, nearly all events commemorated by any culture, have their positive and negative impacts.

While the United Nations declared August 9 as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in late 1994, Berkeley, Calif., had already become the first city in the U.S. to replace Columbus Day itself.

It would take an act of Congress to do away with Columbus Day at the national level, but at least 6 states and 130 cities have officially renamed the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day, and more are proposing legislation to do the same. Many cities, including Columbus, Ohio, have cancelled the traditional Columbus Day parade. These movement to rebrand Columbus Day and/or eliminate the parades are typically resisted by cities’ Italian-American communities, the original promoters of the holiday.

Italian flags Columbus Day parade Fifth Avenue NY Columbus Day Parade on 5th Avenue
Photo Credit: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Photo Credit: (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)
Photo Source: cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/no-apologies Photo Sourcewww.latimes.com/nation/columbus-day

It would take an act of Congress to do away with Columbus Day at the national level, but at least 6 states and 130 cities have officially renamed the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day, and more are proposing legislation to do the same. Many cities, including Columbus, Ohio, have cancelled the traditional Columbus Day parade. These movement to rebrand Columbus Day and/or eliminate the parades are typically resisted by cities’ Italian-American communities, the original promoters of the holiday.

Idigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Berkeley, California in 2012 Idigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Berkeley, California in 2017
Photo source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Peoples%27_Day Photo source: berkeleyside.com/2017/dump-columbus-day

Perhaps we could should rename the holiday for October 12 as Italian-American Heritage Day, since that’s what it has become to many in the US, and add another holiday on August 9 to celebrate Indigenous Peoples.
I can’t imagine most Americans opposing another national holiday with a day off work.

Sources:
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/10/09/berkeley-became-1st-city-dump-columbus-day-indigenous-peoples-day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day
https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-columbus-day-why-do-we-still-celebrate-20151012-htmlstory.html
https://www.freetheslaves.net/about-slavery/slavery-in-history/
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac41
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Christopher-Columbus-Trivia
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2017/10/11/if-you-apply-a-21st-century-standard-to-columbus-then-you-should-to-the-natives-as-well/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-i-proudly-celebrate-columbus-day
https://www.thoughtco.com/columbus-day-104712
https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/columbus-day
https://www.thoughtco.com/case-against-celebrating-columbus-day-2834598
https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/at-parade-no-apologies-for-columbus/
https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2018/10/why-are-people-celebrating-indigenous-peoples-day-instead-of-columbus-day/
https://sokokisojourn.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/vermont-senate-house-bills-introduced-for-statewide-indigenous-peoples-day/
https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/10/why-cities-turned-against-columbus-day/572338/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/us/columbus-day-indigenous-peoples.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/case-against-celebrating-columbus-day-2834598

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NO, YOU REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND: Writing Characters With Backgrounds Other Than Your Own

10/4/2019

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All writers have their own methods of creating characters and generating ideas for novels. I use my foreign travels for plot ideas, and enjoy creating stories that take place all over the world. I also draw ideas from things I experience, read, see in movies or on TV, and from life itself. Yada-yada-yada.

My story idea and setting usually come before the main characters, who are then developed to fit the location and have the characteristics and personalities to move the plot forward. From there, I populate the novel with a lot of secondary and minor characters as the need for them comes along.

In real life, there are tens or maybe hundreds of people who move through our lives each day, but have no importance for us. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not saying some people are more worthy of our attention than others. Neither am I implying we should ignore or not see those people: quite the opposite. We should be kind, civil, respectful, sympathetic, caring, and interested in them. We should listen to what they have to say. That doesn’t mean they are integral part of our lives physically or emotionally.

I’m always nice to the cashiers at the grocery store [even the rude ones], and for the most part they are pleasant with me. Sometimes we talk briefly about what’s going on around us, in the news, or in our lives. We exchange a few sentences. I attempt to learn and remember their names … always a challenge for me. After five or ten minutes we part, and if we never see each other again, neither of us will be left with big holes in our lives.

But I digress. As far as my fictional characters go, when the need for a minor character comes up -- a baggage handler, a member of a tour group, a waitress, etc. – I usually don’t know what role the person will play. They may ends up:
Kicked out of the novel Murdered off in the novel Be given a role in the novel
▼ ▼ ▼

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
Those words of wisdom are some of the first “rules” beginning authors learn. While the guidance is, without question, useful at the start of a writing career, after a while most writers amend the advice to “write about what you know about” and realize it doesn’t necessarily mean should only write about yourself, your family, the town or country you grew up in, or anything specific in your background. It does means, “Do your homework first.”

There are many ways of accumulating knowledge besides “living it.” Granted, personal experience is vivid -- even mundane incidents or incidental knowledge can remain with us for a lifetime -- but human beings can, and do, learn through other means.

Nevertheless, writing about the experiences, events and feelings of others and understanding them are not the same.
That’s when an author, even one who has done their homework, can stray off the path when creating characters who do not resemble the writer’s own background and experiences -- including experiences in and with other backgrounds.
Hold that thought!

LONG TERM MEMORY IS WHO WE ARE
Our collection of memories provide humans [and fictional characters] with a sense of past, present, and future. The long term memories garnered from just being alive makes a humans who they are.

The process of memory involves the way human brains encode sensory perceptions -- everything around that the human body can perceive in one way or another – as well as storing these conscious and subconscious memories and recalling information. The brain absorbs innumerable bits of information every second, but it can only register a limited number taken in by our senses of sight, touch, sound, smell, feel (tangible and intangible such as mood).

Then, quickly this data is moved to parts of the frontal cortex responsible for analyzing the various sensory inputs and deciding if they're worth remembering. If they are, they're shipped off to the various parts of long term memory. Much of it returns to the sensory cortex areas where the brain originally received it.

Thus, if our long term memories are essentially who we are, our values, and what we believe in, then everything we see and do is filtered through that lens.

Hold that thought also.

WRITE WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND?
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object -- such as a person, situation, place, message, idea -- whereby one is able to think about it, use concepts to deal adequately with that object or thought, and make inferences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding

Intellectual vs. Emotional Understanding
I spent a lot of effort trying to get my mind around the difference between intellectual and emotional understanding, although I’ve used those words myself on many occasions. The best articulation I found is from an article written by Elinor Greenbers, Faculty New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, describing the “practical differences between intellectual and emotional empathy”, which is not quite the same thing. Her example, slightly reworded, is below.
   "If we see someone fall down and spill their groceries on the ground, persons with emotional and intellectual empathy are almost equally likely to help.
   The intellectual will consider how the other person will react to the help, if other people are moving to help, and if helping the other person will inconvenience them. The intellectual might actively decide not to help at all, though they are also likely to ask the other person, “Are you all right?” or “Would you like a hand?”
   So, while the mechanics of the two kinds of empathy differ, they have few practical differences."

To me this means, intellectual understanding is listening to the words and what they mean, really hearing the story, realizing the kinds of impacts the incident had on the particular person telling the story, and being sympathetic to how the person is saying they felt about the situation.

Emotional understanding is all of the above plus the visceral feeling in your gut. Therein lies the rub. Even though being familiar with the details of experiences and feelings of others, understanding them are not the same. Is it possible to feel exactly as another person feels, both emotionally and physically?

The answer is, “No, you can’t completely understand.” No two people have exactly the same lens and process the information the same way. But people who have shared the same experiences or many of the same experiences can come very close to it, and having shared similar backgrounds and experiences gives a much better sense of what the other person thinks and feels.

Writer Eliza Andrews, in her article, quotes a friend of color who told her, “You can’t tell white people a story about white people and expect them to understand.”

She writes that no one can take their own experiences and then paste them over the top of race … or another person. I am white. I grew up at a certain time in a certain place and I’ve lived the life I have lived. I will never understand what it means to grown up being a person of color. I can only empathize and relate at some level.

We all “think” we understand, because anyone who is interested and/or even a little empathetic relates the topic of discussion to something that they are familiar with or have experienced personally which seems to replicate the other person’s point of view, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Everything we see, feel, learn, experience in any way, comes into our brains through unique filters.

That is a hell of a lot of words to say respect the fact that everyone is different.

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING CHARACTERS WITH BACKGROUND DIFFERENT THAN YOUR OWN
This blog was intended to list a few simple guidelines for writing characters who have different backgrounds [ethnic, cultural, national, sexual orientation, linguistic, interests – whatever the author didn’t experience directly]. Instead, my To-Do list morphed into a complicated research project. Apparently, I have no lens for pithy.

I believe that most writers want their works to be read, enjoyed, appreciated, and respected. I doubt most authors – at least not any that I know -- sit down at the computer to create characters and a story line for the purpose of spreading discriminatory practices and hate, or the intention of purposefully hurting, offending, disparaging, or damaging other people.

But authors are human. Not only do we see things through our own lens, we flat out make mistakes sometimes. We can be insensitive to something and be totally unaware of the results. What authors can do is be conscious of the problem and make an effort to lessen or eliminate those unintended offences from our writing. [If an author intends to be hurtful or offensive, there’s probably nothing anyone can say or do to make a difference.]

After running all this information through my own filter, I formulated these guidelines for writing about any characters and communities different from our own and those we are familiar with.
   ● Respect the people and their culture of the people you are writing about.
   ● Accept the fact that you may not “understand.”
You probably don’t, or at least not completely. Come to the task of writing your novel expecting to question and challenge your own filters on an ongoing basis to keep on course.

● Ask yourself why
If your major characters are of different background from your own, and you want to tell their story, ask yourself why. Why are you writing this book? Who is your audience? Why did you choose to this character whose background is different from yours?

● Do some serious research
Be ready to do as much research as your novel needs, which can consume much time and effort sometimes.

▪ Seek out one-on-one contacts, literature, research data, movies, etc. originated by the community you are writing about. Ask questions about things you don’t get.

▪ Listen! Pay attention! Set aside your own experience, beliefs, and filters. Try to suspend critical judgment in order to hear and understand, at least intellectually. How does this community see and represent itself? Be aware that in any community, the manner in which that community perceives and defines itself will vary from person to person, group to group, and may often seem contradictory. Don’t expect all members of any community to think alike or experience the same things. Don’t state or imply in your work that they do. Expect and represent a wide range of opinions.

▪ Research the speech characteristics and terminology used at the time and location of your novel. Language and dialogue are weak points in portraying accurately a community you are not familiar with, and certainly can be unintentionally incorrect or offensive. My research informed me, loud and clear, that black English is not English with bad grammar and slang. It is a dialect.

In dialogue, slang, pronunciation, and accents present potential pitfalls. More so if the setting is one which did or does not respect certain communities of people. The reality is that disparaging words are or were used to refer to others. Those words may be hurtful to readers.

Just sayin’. At times it is almost impossible to be true to history and at the same time be respectful of the feelings of the community in question. I don’t have the answer.

● Build and populate your world with sensitivity
Get your facts straight and keep them correct. This is not the time to “wing it.” Research your setting, history of the time, and language, and create, with sensitivity, the world your characters occupy or occupied. Numerous people of color pointed out that in many novels not one character, even a walk-on, is a person of color. Even though the main characters may not be a person of color, could the individual float through life without ever seeing one?
At the same time, be sensitive to stereotyping and dropping in "tokens."

● Avoid stereotyping
Stereotyping is making broad and often oversimplified assumptions about all members of a specific group or community.

Native American Stereotype John Herrington, Native American Astronaut African American Stereotype Serena Williams, Tennis Champ

▪ While some people within the group may embody the traits or characteristics of their stereotype, they are not necessarily representative of all people within that group.

▪ Although stereotypes are often seen as negative perceptions, they can also be positive. Either way, they can be harmful and hurtful.
▼ Spanish stereotype of American Tourist
www.countriesandcultures.com

▪ A characteristic associated with a group does not have to be inaccurate in order to be a stereotype.

There is always the chance that a character who seems well-rounded and deliberate to you might appear to someone else as a stereotype. To avoid stereotypes, you’ve have to know what they are from the perspective of the character you’re writing about. Time for more research.

Orson Scott Card writes, “The moment we see a stranger, we immediately start classifying her according to the groups we recognize she belongs to. We also, unconsciously, compare the stranger to ourselves. Is the stranger male or female? Old or young? Larger than me or smaller? My race or another? My nationality or another? Richer than me or poorer? Does he do the same kind of job as I do, or a job I respect, or a job I think little of? The moment we have identified the stranger with a certain group, we immediately assume that he has all the attributes we associate with that group. This is the process we call prejudice or stereotyping, and it can lead to embarrassing false assumptions, needless fears, even vicious unfairness.” writersdigest.com/characters-and-viewpoint-excerpt

● Take A Shot At Understanding What Being Privileged Means
Read White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. There is a lot of food for thought, and it gave me a different perspective on the matter. https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

● Base your character, closely or loosely, on a real person.
Author and illustrator Elisha Lim writes, “Consult with them as you write it. Let them edit it. Credit them generously. Repay them, at the very least with a copy of the book. If you can’t do this because you don’t have any friends of the particular background, then you probably don’t have the life experience to write that character convincingly. (Also a good moment to seriously reconsider your friend selection process.)” https://midnightbreakfast.com/writing-people-of-color

● Seek feedback from Sensitivity Beta readers
After completion of the first draft, you may want to ask certain members of the community in question to be Beta Readers for sensitivity. If you don’t know anyone, then you probably need to do more research. It’s good to have more than one. Listen carefully to what they tell you.

● Give your secondary and “minor” characters as much attention as your primaries
Secondary characters need to be fleshed out almost as much as primary characters. They deserve to be well-rounded individuals in their own right regardless of heritage or community. Minor characters and walk-ons get as much attention and description as warrants in the manuscript, but they should be accurate to the depth they are addressed.

● When in doubt, write from a place of shared understanding.
Authors must understand who they’re writing about, whether the character is a five-year-old child, a war hero with PTSD, or the worst antagonist ever.

● Remember Western culture has a predisposition to meaning of colors.
Do not always associate, in your writing, white with the definition of good and pure, and black with the definition of what is evil. We can’t escape the millennia of such references, but don’t put them in your writing. There are plenty of other words in the English language to make your meaning known.

● When introducing characters, do not point out non-white races or differences.

● Do not describe people in terms of edibles.
Describing people using food is not good in general, but it is particularly offensive to people of color and done so often that it warrants constant alertness. People of color have had a history of being used for slave labor involving food, especially coffee, chocolate, and so on, and the words have a historical context. Be aware of them. It is only a matter of selecting our words with care and sensitivity. Break the habit.

Writing With Color is an excellent website which provides alternate words for describing colors and tones of skin and many other things. Writing with Color: Description Guide – Words for Skin Ton

● Think twice about a plotline involving the whiteman saving the natives.
It’s not only the characters but often the overall premise of your story. Consider this in your plotting as well as creation of characters.

SHOULD AUTHORS WRITE ONLY CHARACTERS LIKE THEMSELVES?

Photo source: https://writersrelief.com/2018/02/15/characters-different-ethnicities-writers-relief/

No brainer. Hell, no! We live in the 21st century, in a world that is as diverse as it’s ever been. Not writing about other cultures and characters of other communities is being untrue to reality. Most important, it can only make us better writers, broaden our audiences, and give us more interesting things to write about.

Kristin Nelson puts it this way. “Make your characters realistic and grounded, and avoid falling back on stereotypes. Instead of merely describing your characters’ skin color, build a realistic and complex backstory for each character: What past experiences related to their heritage have shaped their identities and worldviews, and how will those things affect the ways in which they think, behave, and interact with others during the course of your story. Research extensively. Engage sensitivity readers of the same background(s) as your character(s). Expect and listen to criticism.” nelsonagency.com/can-white-authors-write-characters-of-color
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Sources and Resources:
https://indefeasible.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/writing-about-characters-of-a-different-race/
https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2017/09/writing-white/
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2016/06/06/writing-poc-while-white/
https://sheerhubris.com/2016/09/18/writing-while-white-embracing-diversity-or-appropriating-culture/
https://erinbartels.com/tag/writing-while-white/
https://bookriot.com/2018/02/05/casually-racist-things-that-white-authors-do/
http://authorelizaandrews.com/on-writing-about-race-when-youre-white/
https://lithub.com/writing-while-black/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding
http://www.journal.kfionline.org/issue-6/this-matter-of-intellectual-understanding
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/why-do-we-read-and-write-novelshttps:/www.writersdigest.com/wd-books/characters-and-viewpoint-excerpt
https://nelsonagency.com/2017/01/can-white-authors-write-characters-of-color/
https://writingtheother.com/writing-characters-of-different-races/
https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/guest-post-max-gladstone-on-bees-and-diversity/
https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2017/09/writing-white/
https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/writing-with-color-description-guide-words-for
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/95955707903/skin-writing-with-color-has-received-several
https://www.vox.com/2015/8/19/9173457/hispanic-latino-comic [Good explanation of the difference between being Latino and Hispanic. They are not interchangeable.
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/writing-with-color-description-guide-words-for
https://thinkprogress.org/the-damaging-effects-of-the-model-minority-myth-5de48554c2d9/
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/10/16/the-effects-of-seeing-asian-americans-as-a-model-minority/model-minority-seems-like-a-compliment-but-it-does-great-harm
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/latino-stereotypes-thrive-media-negative-attitudes-dominate
cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2014/02/writing-tonto-wise-cracking-minority.html
gypsyappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/problem-with-word-gypsy.html
https://www.essence.com/news/5-code-words-media-needs-stop-using-describe-black-people/
https://clairelight.typepad.com/seelight/2006/09/almond_eyes.html
https://litreactor.com/columns/representation-matters
https://bookriot.com/2018/02/05/casually-racist-things-that-white-authors-do/
uncannymagazine.com/writing-the-margins-from-the-centre-and-other-moral-geometries-by-amal-el-mohtar/
https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/guest-post-max-gladstone-on-bees-and-diversity/
https://twitter.com/DavidOBowles/status/959132384624103424
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/10/16/the-effects-of-seeing-asian-americans-as-a-model-minority/model-minority-seems-like-a-compliment-but-it-does-great-harm
https://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2016/06/20/how-to-write-protagonists-of-colour-when-youre-white/
https://writersrelief.com/2018/02/15/characters-different-ethnicities-writers-relief/
https://midnightbreakfast.com/writing-people-of-color
http://www.fantasy-writers.org/forum/writing-character-different-race
https://wendyallott.com/2018/02/07/what-should-you-consider-when-writing-characters-who-are-have-a-different-race-religion-gender-or-sexual-preference-to-you/
Ten Tips On Writing Race in Novels – AuthorMitaliPerkins

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HOMOPHONES and words that sound like homophones but probably aren’t

9/27/2019

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IS IT AN INSULT OR A NEW SMART PHONE?
Neither. A Homophone is a word that is pronounced the same (in varying degree) as another word but differs in meaning and often in spelling.

Homophones run in family herds with other similar relatives, the heteronyms [words with the same spelling but different pronunciation and meanings] and heterographs [words with the same pronunciation but a different spelling and meaning]. Whew!

The grammatical relationships in this family is more than this writer wants to deal with, but they stalk me and once and while break into my novels and cause problems for me.

Chart By Will Heltsley - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Source: Wicki https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7146056

ANN'S DUCK TEST
The duck test is a form of abductive reasoning or inference, the sort of logic that employs a set of observations to find the most likely explanation of the observations. The test implies that a person can identify an unknown subject by observing that subject's habitual characteristics.
   “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”
I’ve applied that same test to some of my problem words. I can’t prove they are homophonic couples, but …. well, you’ll see.

Nauseous and Nauseated
I’m not sure what to call this situation. The words sound similar to a homophone, it's not a duck.
   ●nauseous = causing nausea, sickness
   ●nauseated = feeling sick
Even though both the words nauseous and nauseated are often used to mean “feeling unwell” “or “sick to the stomach”, grammar purists insist nauseous means “to cause nausea” (presumably in another person) while nauseated means “to feel sick”. Casually, it is probably OK to use both words to mean feeling ill. However, in more formal situations, use each word correctly. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/nauseated = vs = nauseous/

Radiate, Irradiate, Irradiated
This is a question of using the correct part of speech more than it is a homophone.
   ●irradiate = to throw rays of light upon; to illuminate; to brighten; to adorn with luster (Verb)
   ●radiate = to extend, send or spread out from a center like radii (Verb)

   ● irradiate = is illuminated; irradiated; made brilliant or splendid (Adjective)
   ● radiate= radiating from a center; having rays or parts diverging from a center; radiated (Adjective).
https://wikidiff.com/irradiate/radiate
   ● irradiated = past tense of irradiate
● Food irradiation = the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays or x-rays, that can be transmitted without direct contact to the source of the energy (radiation) to free electrons from their atomic bonds (ionization) in the targeted food. Harmless to people and animals, it extends life of foods by destroying organisms responsible for spoilage, foodborne illnesses, and sprouting,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation

Nucleus, Nuclear, Nucular
This one is my pet peeve and drives me nuts when I watch the TV news.

● nucleus = 1) a central point, group, or mass about which gathering, concentration, or accretion takes place; the core. (noun) (Synonym: center, central part, most important part, heart nub, focus, kernel, etc.).

2) = in physics, the positively charged central core of an atom, consisting of protons and neutrons and containing nearly all its mass

3) = in astronomy, the small bright body in the head of a comet.

● nuclei = Plural of nucleus. More than one nucleus. (Noun)\

● nuclear = following definitions:
1) of, relating to, or constituting a nucleus or core of something, such as the nuclear family.
2) of, or relating to, a process by which the nucleus (central part) of an atom is divided or joined to another nucleus, resulting in the release of energy; i.e. relating to the power produced when the central part of an atom is divided or joined to another one.

● nuclear = to become wildly excited or upset; to go berserk or crazy wild. (verb).
● nucular is not a word. Despite the commonly used pronunciation -- in particular, by every TV news commentator who has ever spoken on the tube since it was invented -- nucular is actually the colloquial
mispronunciation of the word nuclear.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary receives so many questions about this mispronunciation (nuclear vs. nucular) that the dictionary calls it out for special mention in their FAQ section. It reports "widespread use among educated speakers, including scientists, at least two United States presidents and one vice president."

TRICKY HOMOPHONES
Most people, and particularly writers, use homophones all the time and have no trouble with them. Most of us know the difference between ate and eight or bare and bear. Nonetheless, all of us blithely breeze by some of the more tricky ones and don’t even realize we’ve made a mistake.

Discreet and Discrete
Here is one from my first book. It is not even a tricky one, but I didn’t pick up on it and neither did my editors. Some of my readers did and kindly pointed it out to me. Yuck!
● discreet = on the down low, under the radar, careful, attempting to be unnoticed.
● discrete = individual or detached.
Both words come from the same ultimate source, the Latin “discrētus”, for separated or distinct, but discreet has taken its own advice and quietly gone its separate way. https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/discreet = discrete/

Carat, Karat, Caret, and Carrot
I see this misused, often in commercials and advertisements. I believe that the confusion has to do with the fact in the Queen's English (in the United Kingdom) Carat and Karat mean the same thing.

● carat = a unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, especially diamonds; now equivalent to 200 milligrams. Carat is measured on a scale of 1-24; a carat is one-fifth of a gram or 200 mg. and is divided into 100 points. Denoted by “Ct.”

● karat = the measure of purity of a metal , especially gold, pure gold being 24 karats. Denoted by “K”
● caret = a proofreader's mark placed below the line to indicate a proposed insertion in a text.
● carrot = a vegetable

Afterward, Afterwards, and Afterword
For shame if you are an author and are not familiar with this one.
   ● afterward = interchangeable with the words "after" and "later."
   ● afterwards = at a subsequent or later time and usually relates to events that occur relatively close together, typically one right after the other.
   ● Afterword = an epilogue or concluding section of a text, typically written by the author of a book, play, or other significant work. In the past, was referred to as the "author's notes." (Noun)
https://www.thoughtco.com/afterwards = and = afterword = 1689292
Note: the words forward and foreword are similar, being a verb (motion) and a noun (part of a book or written document).

Complacent and Complaisant
   ● complacent = satisfied with the status quo while unaware of a danger ahead; self-satisfied or unconcerned.
   ● complaisant = eager to please; marked by an inclination to please or oblige.

Roo, Roux, Rue, and Roué
Foreign words absorbed into common English create problems, one being that the letters are usually pronounced differently in the foreign language than they would be in English. Another of the other difficulties is that the meaning in the original language may be modified or completely changed once it becomes an English word.

My husband is Italian. I lived in Italy for a number of years, and we spoke Italian at home when we returned to live in the United States. I’m familiar firsthand with how foreign words lose their original meaning. In Rome in the 1960s, the Italian word scampi did not refer to a particular type of shrimp or method of preparation. It meant shrimp. The Shrimp Scampi on the restaurant menu only means you are ordering shrimp shrimp fixed however the cook prepares it.

Similarly, gelato in Italian means ice cream, but Italian ice cream does taste differently. I haven’t been in Italy for six years, but based on Italian television, which we watch nightly, if you order gelato or ice cream, you will get the same thing.

● roo = a kangaroo.(Australian)
● roux = a mixture of a fat, such as butter, and flour, that is used to make a sauce or a gravy. The term roux is derived from the French culinary term beurre roux, which means browned butter.

● rue = (French) a street, road, avenue, boulevard.
● rue = to regret something, to wish one may undo something, carrying a connotation of bitterness; regret. (transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object.)
● roué = a debauched man, usually an elderly debauched man.

Eminent, Imminent and Immanent
Most of the homophones that give me problems involve three words, and often one of them I am unfamiliar with.

● eminent = famous and respected (usually a person within a particular sphere or profession.) Most often used to emphasize the presence of a positive quality; significant, influential, esteemed.
● immanent = dwelling within; inherent to something else; spiritual presence
The less common word, immanent, often sneaks in where it doesn't belong. Immanent comes from the Latin immanens for "to remain in." or “dwell within.” Often used in reference to spiritual or nonmaterial
things.

● imminent = about to happen (adjective)

Meat, Meet, and Mete
● meat = edible flesh from an animal (noun).
● meet = an organized event at which a number of races or other sporting contests are held (noun).

● meet = come into the presence or company of someone; touch or join (verb).
● mete = dispense or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment (verb).

MORE COMMON HOMOPHONES
Aural, Oral, and Verbal
● aural = related to hearing or the sense of hearing (adjective);

● oral = something spoken rather than written; something related to the mouth.
● verbal = verbal can be spoken or written.

Oral and verbal both relate to something expressed through words, but oral is spoken and verbal can be spoken or written. These words are often used interchangeably since both describe spoken words but, in fact, they are not always interchangeable. If your little sister sticks everything in her mouth, she has an oral fixation. If she can recite the Constitution by age two, she's quite verbal.

Capital and Capitol
   ● capital =
   1) of chief importance or influence, most serious (adjective);
   2) the seat of government of a particular jurisdiction(noun) Example: Sacramento is the capital of California.;
   3) letters conforming to the series A, B, C, D, etc. rather than a,b,c,d, etc. ▼

4) punishable by death;
5) relating to or being assets that add to long-term net worth; value of accumulated goods (noun);
◄ 6) the uppermost member of a column or pilaster crowning the shaft and taking the weight of the entablature (noun).

● Capitol (noun)
◄ 1) a building in which a state legislative body meets or a group of buildings in which the functions of state government are carried out;

2) capitalized, the building in which the U.S. Congress meets in Washington D.C. ►

Principal and Principle
● principal
1) first in order of importance(adjective); Synonyms: main, primary, chief, foremost, most important, leading, dominant;
2) the person with the highest authority or most important position in an organization, institution, or group; such as the principal such as the principal of a school (noun); Synonyms: chief, chief executive officer, chairperson, president, director, etc.
3) in money, denoting an original sum invested or lent (noun) such as the principal sum of an
   investment;
● principle = generally refers to a natural, moral, legal rule or standard (always a noun).
The word principle is used in a number of popular sayings, such as “In principle, I agree,” “As a matter of principle, I must take a stand.”

One dictionary give this tip for remembering the difference: Someone who is a “princi-P-A-L” should be looked at as your “pal.” Only people can be “pals” and principal refers to people, whereas “princi-P-L-E” refers to truths, rules, or standards. A truth or standard cannot be your “pal.”

Prophesy and Prophecy
Here it’s a matter of which is the correct part of speech to use.
● prophesy = say that a specified thing will happen in the future (verb) (Synonyms: foretell, foresee, divine, etc.)
      ● prophecy = a prediction (noun) (Synonyms: second sight, clairvoyance, prognostication divination, foretelling.)

Eye, I, Aye, and Aye-aye
Following up on my thought to add a list of Homophones to my website references, I ran onto a variation on this one that I had never heard of or seen. I had to add it.
   ● eye = the part or organ of a boy used to see (noun).
   ● I = A first person singular subject pronoun. (Always capitalized)
   ● aye = an old fashioned and nautical term for “yes”
   And here is the one I learned.
   ● Aye-aye = The Aye-aye is a rare species of lemur native to isolated regions of Madagascar and known as the world's largest nocturnal primate. They are also one of the most distinctive looking animals on the planet due to a number of unique adaptations, including coarse dark hair, long bushy tails, rodent-like teeth, piercing eyes and skeletal hands that feature extra-long middle fingers with hooked claws. Aye-ayes are born weighing just a few ounces and reach up to 5 lbs. as adults. They have been known to live up to about 20 years.

A person is never too old to learn something new.

There are zillions more homophones, but most of them we all know and love, and have mastered. It never hurts, though, to look up uses and pronunciations that sound a little off. English is constantly losing words and absorbing new ones, particularly foreign and technological words. I am planning to put a list of homophones on a reference page on my website … but it may take me a while.
□
Sources:
http://www.magickeys.com/books/riddles/words.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph#/media/File:Homograph_homophone_venn_diagram.png
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph
https://www.ragan.com/27 = tricky = homophones/
https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/discreet = discrete/
https://www.thoughtco.com/afterwards = and = afterword = 1689292

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Elephant Appreciation Day and the Elephant Orphan Project

9/20/2019

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This coming Sunday, September 22, is Elephant Appreciation Day. I thought it fitting to post this blog about the elephant rescue and rehabilitation projects in Africa.

ELEPHANT FACTS
African Elephants, the noblest of pachyderms, are the largest land mammal on earth today. We've all seen them in zoos and perhaps at the circus, but up close and personal, they are really big. The drawing to the left shows the comparison between an elephant and a six foot man.

Their average life span in the wild is 70 years, their height at the shoulder is from 8.2 to 13 feet, and can weight from 2.5 to 7 tons. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by the larger ears. Asian elephants have smaller, rounded ears.

Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust. An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles.
▼ Photo Credit: R. Ann Siracusa, 2008, Zimbabwe

Elephants are social animals and travel in herds of 6 to 12 (but can expand to 20). The family consists of the matriarchal head, her daughters, and their calves. The matriarch dictates where the herd goes and helps to teach the younger elephants proper behavior. Female elephants, or cows, live in multigenerational family groups with other females, and they remain with their natal group for life, sharing responsibility for calves,. The females will assist each other with the birth and care of their young.

Males stay with the family until they reach 12 to 15 years of age, when they leave the herd and live alone or join up with other bulls. Male and female elephants live separately with bulls only visiting when some of the females are in their mating season, known as estrus.

Elephants are a keystone species and dramatically affect their landscape. They are seed dispersers and influence forest composition, creating clearings to boost tree regrowth and reducing cover to create suitable habitat for browsing and grazing animals.

AN ELEPHANT RIDE
In 2008, I traveled in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. There, we not only observed and photographed elephants in the wild... but we rode them. To be truthful, we rode elephants that are part on an elephant rescue project and not in the wild.

Poaching is a major issue throughout Africa, as well as loss of habitat. The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust plays a role in the rescue of injured or trapped animals and their rehabilitation. This is one of the many elephant rescue/ rehabilitation projects in Africa

Donald, Shirley Wilder and Ann Siracusa riding Tatú Don't get on an elephant this way Off we go into the bush

The elephants we rode are part of a program which rescues injured and "homeless" elephants. Usually, these are babies who have lost their mothers or sick elephants left behind by the herd. After they are brought back to health, and when they are old enough, some of them provide tourists with a half-hour to forty five minute thrill. This helps finance the rescue program.

This elephant's foot was damaged in a elephant snare set by poachers.►

The older elephants are not released back into the wild even though elephants are social animals and one of the few species that will take outsiders into the herd. However, they accept the outsides on a trial basis, but if the visitor misbehaves, it may be thrown out. Donald told us he had taken care of Tatú for fifteen years.

THE ELEPHANT ORPHAN PROJECT
The African elephant is endangered due to poaching (for ivory) and loss of range through deforestation. In the early 1900s, there were about 10 million elephants in Africa. By 1970 there were 1.3 million; by 2007, somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000; by 2016, an estimated 352,000 survived.
▼Photo credit: Friedkin Conservation Fund
Photo Source: News www.foxnews.com/science/queen-of-ivory

Elephant Orphanages exist in several locations in Africa, but the most significant is in Kenya. It exists within the Nairobi National Park under the auspices of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and was overseen by Dr Daphne Sheldrick who had a life-time of experience with elephants. Dr. Daphne Sheldrink diesf in 2018 at the age of 83 and, happens in her beloved society, the mantle of matriarch has been passed to her daughter Angela, who has run the DSWT for 17 years, supported by her husband Robert Carr-Hartley, and sons Taru and Roan.
Daphne Sheldrick & daughter Angela 1968 Daphne Sheldrick, daughters Angela (lft) & Jill Woodley (rt)
▼Photo Source: www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/obituaries PhotoSource: www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/obituaries Photo credit: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust ▼ David Sheldrick Photo Credit : The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust/A.F.P. -Getty Images▼

At the heart of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's conservation activities is the Orphan’s Project, which has achieved world-wide acclaim through its hugely successful elephant and rhino rescue and rehabilitation program. Animals and humans are increasingly coming into conflict over space and food, especially on community-wildlife borders. The Trust works in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service and offers hope for any orphaned elephant fortunate enough to be found alive.

YOU TOO CAN ADOPT AN ELEPHANT
As with most mammals, the baby elephant's world is its mother, then the extended family. Elephants are particularly vulnerable to psychological despair if it loses its natural family. Even bulls, which separate from pod, never forget their female family.

In the orphanages, the orphaned elephants need a replacement human family i.e. enough keepers to represent a “family”. The orphan needs physical and mental care to grow up psychologically stable. If they are psychologically unstable and neurotic they will not be welcomed into the wild herds and risk rejection.

Photo credit: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

The keepers are with the young elephants 24 hours a day, traveling with them as a group during the day, sleeping with them at night. Babies need contact at all times. Keepers rotate so that a different keeper sleeps with a different elephant each night, to avoid strong attachments to just one person.

As you can imagine, the orphanage costs a lot, in part because they are labor intensive, in part because elephants eat a lot. As part of the funding raising, you can adopt a particular elephant for fifty dollars and contribute to their upbringing, while receiving information about the rescue and ongoing progress report and photos. There are 18 pages of elephants waiting for adoption but I’ve shown here a few of the recent rescues.
https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans

Name: Malima (F) Name: Nabulu (F) Name: Mukkoka (M) Name: Larro (F)
Current Age: 3 years Current Age: 2 years Current Age: 23 months Current Age: 17 months
Rescued: 30-10-2016 Rescued: 01-02-2019 Rescued: 23-09-2018 Rescued: 02-01-2019

   Name: Kiasa (F) Name: Kiombo (M)    Name: Ziwadi (F) Name: Karisa (M)
   Current Age: 2 years Current Age: 2 years    Current Age: 18 months    Current age: 4 years
   Rescued: 10-30-2017 Rescued: 07-17-2019    Rescued: 04-07- 2019    Rescued: 10-24-2014

It took Daphne Sheldrick nearly three decades of trial and error to perfect the milk formula and complex husbandry necessary to rear an orphaned infant African elephant yet today, with support from many caring people world-wide, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is proud to have saved over 150 orphaned infant calves, which would otherwise have perished.

More importantly, every one of these orphans can look forward to a quality of life in wild terms, living free in Tsavo East National Park protected by their new extended orphaned family and friends amongst the wild herds.

Sources
http://vicfallswildlifetrust.org/VFWT%20Website/Wildlife%20Rescue.html
https://www.safarious.com/en/posts/4555-elephant-rescue-at-camp-hwange
http://www.rescue.org/program/programs-zimbabwe
http://www.amanzitravel.co.uk/rhino-and-elephant-sanctuary
http://www.afrizim.com/Activities/Victoria_Falls/Elephant_Rides.asp
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/fostering.asp
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/raiseorphan.htm
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/a/african-elephant/
http://www.elephantsforever.co.za/family-structure.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/31/africa/great-elephant-census/index.html
http://mentalfloss.com/article/82974/10-royal-facts-about-babar-elephant
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/elephant-appreciation-day-september-22/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/24/dame-daphne-sheldrick-obituary
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/obituaries/daphne-sheldrick-who-saved-orphaned-elephants-has-died-at-83.html

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/424534702347703553/?lp=true
https://www.elephantand.co/blogs/blog/world-wide-elephant-charities
https://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/species-adoptions/african-elephant.aspx
https://www.foxnews.com/science/queen-of-ivory-africas-infamous-poaching-mastermind-nabbed
https://sciencing.com/elephants-mate-4574022.html

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BAD THINGS HAPPEN: Friday the Thirteenth

9/13/2019

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BEWARE!
This notice is for everyone, not only paraskavekedatriaphobians, triskaidekaphobians, and friggatriskaidekaphobians! Be careful and don’t go outside. Bad things happen to good people on Friday the 13th.

Although science assures us that bad things are just as likely to happen on any day of the week and any day of the month, as they are to happen on Friday the 13th, there are people who have a true physical condition which is an exaggerated, irrational fear of Friday the Thirteenth.

This fear even has a name. Several, in fact. The term paraskavekedatriaphobians was first used in the 1990s by Dr. Donald E. Dossey, an American psychotherapist specializing in phobias and stress management. The term uses the Greek word paraskevi (Friday) and dekatria (thirteen). He is reputed as saying that if someone can pronounce the name of the phobia, he/she is cured.

Symptoms
The symptoms resemble any panic attack:
● Hyperventilation
● Rapid heart rate
● Trembling
● Lightheadedness or dizziness
● Refusing to leave home on this day
● Indulging in ritualistic behavior
● Talk of death or dying

Who Is Affected?
The bad news is that millions of people have this phobia, and even more people fear the unlucky number thirteen, a phobia with another long name. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimated that between $700 to $800 million dollars are lost every Friday the 13th because people are afraid to shop, travel, and conduct business.

IT’S JUST A SUPERSTITION … RIGHT?
The law of averages answers “yes,” but that doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen on Friday the 13th. They happen on other days, but believers don’t take the time to look at all bad luck. Here’s a look at some of the events of the past taken from a number of online articles regarding Friday 13.

October 13, 1307
French King Philip IV arrested and tortured hundreds of Knights Templar, of the Temple of Solomon, for accusations of blasphemy and homosexuality.

August 13, 1521
Conquistador Hernán Cortés captured Cuauhtémoc, the ruler of Tenochtitlán, claiming the city for Spain, marking the end of the Aztec Empire, and renaming it Mexico City.

November 13, 1789
Benjamin Franklin wrote "Everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes," according to U.S. government documents.

July 13, 1821
Nathan Bedford Forrest (born July 13, 1821) was the Confederate general in charge of the infamous Fort Pillow Massacre, where he and his men allegedly killed over 200 unarmed Union soldiers that had surrendered (many of whom were black).

July 13, 1923
While hunting fossils for the American Museum of Natural History in Mongolia, an expedition team led by Roy Chapman Andrews discovered the first scientifically recognized dinosaur egg fossils.

July 13, 1923
A group of letters was inaugurated in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, to signify a housing development owned by H.J. Whitley called Hollywoodland.

March 13, 1925
Tennessee Senate voted to prohibit Evolutionary Theory from public universities and schools.

October 13, 1933
British Interplanetary Society, the oldest space advocacy group in the world, was founded to boost public awareness of astronautics.

September 13, 1935
Hughes h-1 racer sets a world airspeed record.

January 13, 1939
The “Black Friday” bush fires in Australia killed 71 people in the Victoria province. Ash fell as far away as New Zealand.

September 13, 1940
In World War II, the Nazis dropped five bombs on Buckingham Palace on Sept. 13, 1940, while the King and Queen were both at the residence.

July 13, 1951
State of Kansas was hit with over 25 inches of rain, and over two million acres of land were damaged by the flood. The storm also affected oil tanks, some of which caught on fire and exploded.

June 13, 1952
A Swedish military plane with a crew of eight was reported missing. Two planes were sent to search for the original plane and were later shot down by the Soviet air force.

March 13, 1964
In New York City a woman was murdered in front of 30 witnesses, and not one person intervened.

November 13, 1970
The Bhola cyclone hit Bangladesh, the deadliest storm in the Bay of Bengal, killed an estimated 150,000 to 550,000 people, 45% of its population.

October 13, 1972
A plane carrying a rugby team crashed into an Andes mountaintop with only sixteen surviving. The rescue efforts were called off 10 days after the crash. 72 days later 2 of the 16 left and managed to alerted authorities there were 16 other survivors trapped in the mountains. 16 survived.

October 13, 1972
A plane in Moscow crashed into the ground trying to land in bad weather, killing all 174 on board.

December 13, 1974
Malta becomes an independent republic.

January 13, 1989
A widespread computer crash infected hundreds of IBM computers in England, causing anxiety over lost files and the threat of then-new technology.

October 13, 1989
The “minicrash” often referred to as "Black Friday" was, at the time, the second-worst stock-market crash in American history.

September 13, 1996
Rapper Tupac Shakur died after being shot multiple times in a murder that remains unsolved.

October 12-13. 2006
Western New York was hit with two feet of snow, leaving over 300,000 people without power and damaging thousands of trees.

March 13, 2009
"SAW – The Ride" premiered at Thorpe Park amusement park in England, only to be temporarily shut down due to "minor teething problems."

November 13, 2009
NASA announces evidence of water on the moon.

August 13, 2010
A 13 year old boy was struck by lightning in England at an air show and received burns only on his shoulder. The hospital stated he was expected to make a full recovery. Wikipedia says about 240,000 people are injured by lightning strikes each year. One estimate is that the annual global death toll is 6,000.

January 13, 2012
The Costa Concordia was wrecked off the Italian coast, killing more than 30 passengers.

HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND?
The Insider (https://www.insider.com/worst-things-friday-the-13th-2017-12) precedes its list of Friday the 13th events with this sentence: “Still think it's just a superstition? These events might be enough to convince even the most determined non-believer.”

I don’t think so. Supposedly, this superstition has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, yet we only list four events before the 20th century and less than thirty total. Sure, there are a zillion things that have happened on these cursed days, but I thought the list was rather paltry.

A Bad Luck Day of its reputation ought to be able to come up with more disasters than listed herein and in most articles you find on the subject. And some aren’t disasters at all.

A FEW INTERESTING FACTS
● President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.

● Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.

● Some believe that the 13th or Friday the 13th was the day Eve tasted the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge. I'm not sure how that figures, since humankind at the time didn't have a calendar with either Fridays or Friday the 13th, but what do I know?

● In the New Testament, thirteen people attended Jesus' last supper on Maundy Thursday, the day before Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday. Judas was the thirteenth to be seated.

● Numerology first appears in written records in Egypt and Babylon, and in numerology, the number 13 is considered unlucky.

Note, however, that while 13 meant death to the ancient Egyptians, it was a joyous time when the person ascended into eternal life. Death was not considered bad luck to them.

Middle Ages
● This is a more likely time for such superstitions to be tied to Christian beliefs surrounding the last supper and crucifixion.

● In the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in his Canterbury Tales a reference to Friday as being unlucky.

● While some historians point to evidence of both Friday and the number thirteen being considered unlucky, there are no references connecting the two before the 19th century.

Nineteenth Century
● Henry Sutherland Edward's 1869 biography of composer Giaochino Rossini, is credited with the first documented reference. According to Edwards, Rossini regarded Friday as an unlucky day, thirteen as an unlucky number, and died on Friday, November 13, 1868. While I have no way of knowing if Rossini himself believed 13 was unlucky, I do know that Italians consider 13 a lucky number. The Italian bad-luck-number is seventeen, and that superstition has been around since the early Romans. I lived in Rome and know there are many buildings that don't have a 17th floor or a room #17 and so on.

● Another early reference comes from a club [The Thirteen Club] formed by William Fowler, whose intention was to debunk the superstitions as baseless.
□
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/friday-13th-does-come-unlucky/
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/the-origin-of-friday-the-13th-as-an-unlucky-day/
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/13-things-friday-13.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/friday-13th-history-origins-myths-superstitions-unlucky-day-395108
http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0212_040212_friday13.html
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/paraskevidekatriaphobia.html
http://www.cogwriter.com/hebrew-calendar-postponements.htm
http://aboutnumerology.com/history-of-numerology/
http://gizmodo.com/why-people-think-friday-the-13th-is-unlucky-1306401570
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/freya/
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/freya/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-freya.htm
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-freya.htm
https://www.allaboutcounseling.com/library/triskaidekaphobia/
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/p/paraskavedekatriaphobia/misdiag.htm

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Richard Lederer’s “World History According to Student Bloopers”

9/6/2019

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It’s become a real chore this summer to come up with something more interesting to write about than what my husband is cooking for dinner or my latest medical miseries. My apologies to you folks who enjoy recipes and where other people are taking their family vacations, but I just can’t make myself write about those.

While I was flailing around, looking at materials I’ve accumulated and toying with an idea for a blog I should have started working on two weeks ago, I can across this Richard Lederer piece. I’ve read it many times before, but I couldn’t help taking another look. Soon I was laughing so hard my cleaning lady came in to my office to find out if I was crying. It’s too funny not to share.

The World According to Student Bloopers
By Richard Lederer

Photo source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lederer#/media/File:Richard_Lederer_at_2006_Mensa_WG.jpg

Richard Lederer writes, “One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following “history of the world'' from certifiably genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout the United States, from eighth grade through college level. Read carefully, and you will learn a lot.”

Read more about Richard Lederer at the end. He’s so much more than a teacher.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

● The inhabitants of ancient Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.
▼Photo Source: encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn

● The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, once asked, ``Am I my brother's son?'' God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother's birth mark. Jacob was a patriarch who brought up his twelve sons to be patriarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

● Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

● Without the Greeks we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns---Corinthian, Doric, and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth.

● One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intollerable. Achilles appears in The Iliad, by Homer. Homer also wrote The Oddity, in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.

● Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.

●In the Olympic Games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled the biscuits, and threw the java. The reward to the victor was a coral wreath. The government of Athens was democratic because people took the law into their own hands. There were no wars in Greece, as the mountains were so high that they couldn't climb over to see what their neighbors were doing.
When they fought with the Persians, the Greeks were outnumbered because the Persians had more men.

● Eventually, the Ramons conquered the Geeks. History calls people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long. At Roman banquets, the guests wore garlics in their hair.

● Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Nero was a cruel tyranny who would torture his poor subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

●Then came the Middle Ages. King Alfred conquered the Dames.

● King Arthur lived in the Age of Shivery. King Harold mustarded his troops before the Battle of Hastings. Joan of Arc was cannonized by Bernard Shaw, and victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their necks. Finally the Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense.

● In midevil times most of the people were alliterate. The greatest writer of the time was Chaucer, who wrote many poems and verses and also wrote literature. Another tale tells of William Tell, who shot an arrow through an apple while standing on his son's head.

● The Renaissance was an age in which more individuals felt the value of their human being. Martin Luther was nailed to the church door at Wittenberg for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death, being excommunicated by a bull. It was the painter Donatello's interest in the female nude that made him the father of the Renaissance. It was an age of great invention and discoveries.

● Gutenberg invented the Bible. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes. Another important invention was the circulation of blood.

● Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper.

●The government of England was a limited mockery. Henry VIII found walking difficult because he had an abbess on his knee.

● Queen Elizabeth was the ``Virgin Queen.'' As a queen she was a success. When Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all shouted, ``hurrah.'' Then her navy went out and defeated the Spanish Armadillo.

●The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespear. Shakespear never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He lived at Windsor with his merry wives, writing tragedies, comedies, and errors.

●In one of Shakespear's famous plays, Hamlet rations out his situation by relieving himself in a long soliloquy. In another, Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill the King by attacking his manhood. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couplet. Writing at the same time as Shakespear was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained.

●During the Renaissance America began. Christopher Columbus was a great navigator who discovered America while cursing about the Atlantic. His ships were called the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Fe.

● Later the Pilgrims crossed the Ocean, and this was known as Pilgrims Progress. When they landed at Plymouth Rock, they were greeted by the Indians, who came down the hill rolling their war hoops before them. The Indian squabs carried porpoises on their backs. Many of the Indian heroes were killed, along with their cabooses, which proved very fatal to them. The winter of 1680 was a hard one for the settlers. Many people died and many babies were born. Captain John Smith was responsible for all this.

● One of the causes of the Revolutionary War was the English put tacks in their tea. Also, the colonists would send their parcels through the post without stamps. During the War, the Red Coats and Paul Revere was throwing balls over stone walls. The dogs were barking and the peacocks crowing. Finally, the colonists won the War and no longer had to pay for taxis.

● Delegates from the original thirteen states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence.

Franklin had gone to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm. He invented electricity by rubbing cats backwards and declared, “A horse divided against itself cannot stand.'' Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.

● George Washington married Martha Curtis and in due time became the Father of Our Country. Then the Constitution the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility. Under the Constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms.

● Abraham Lincoln became America's greatest Precedent. Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands. When Lincoln was President, he wore only a tall silk hat. He said, “In onion there is strength.'' Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope. Fourteenth Amendment gave ex-Negroes citizenship. But the Clue Clux Clan would torcher and lynch the ex-Negroes and other innocent victims. It claimed it represented law and odor. On the night of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to the theater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in a moving picture show. The believed assinator was John Wilkes Booth, a supposingly insane actor. This ruined Booth's career.

● Meanwhile in Europe, the enlightenment was a reasonable time. Voltare invented electricity and also wrote a book called Candy.

Gravity was invented by Isaac Walton. It is chiefly noticeable in the Autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.

● Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handel. Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

● France was in a very serious state. The French Revolution was accomplished before it happened. The Marseillaise was the theme song of the French Revolution, and it catapulted into Napoleon. During the Napolenonic Wars, the crowned heads of Europe were tremoling in their shoes. Then the Spanish gorillas came down from the hills and nipped at Napoleon's flanks.

Napoleon became ill with bladder problems and was very tense and unrestrained. He wanted an heir to inherit his power, but since Josephine was a baroness, she couldn't bear children.

●The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. Her reclining years and finally the end of her life were exemplatory of a great personality. Her death was the final event which ended her reign.

●The nineteenth century was a time of many great inventions and thoughts. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Samuel Morse invented a code of telepathy. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbis. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the Organ of the Species. Madman Curie discovered radium. And Karl Marx became one of the Marx brothers.

●The First World War, caused by the assignation of the Arch-Duck by a surf, ushered in a new error in the anals of human history.
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I would love to read a similar composite from WWI through 2019, but I would die of laughing long before I got to the end. Maybe that’s why there isn’t one. Or maybe there is more in one of Mr. Lederer’s books.

WILL THE REAL RICHARD LEDERER PLEASE STAND UP?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lederer
Quoted Directly From Wikipedia

“Richard Lederer (born May 26, 1938) is an American author, speaker, and teacher. He is best known for his books on the English language and on word play such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams. He refers to himself as "the Wizard of Idiom," "Attila the Pun," and "Conan the Grammarian." His weekly column, "Looking at Language," is syndicated in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States.

"Lederer invented the words 'aptagram',an anagram which means the same as the other word, and 'antigram', an anagram which means the opposite.

"He has written more than fifty books, including Anguished English (1987), Get Thee to a Punnery (1988), Crazy English (1989), A Man of My Words (2003), The Word Circus (1998), The Miracle of Language (1992), The Cunning Linguist (2001), Word Wizard (2006), and Presidential Trivia (2007). Known as a "verbivore", a word he coined in the early 1980s, Lederer's interests include uncovering word origins, pointing out common grammatical errors and fallacies, and exploring palindromes, anagrams, and other forms of recreational wordplay. Lederer wrote the foreword to Words at Play: Quips, Quirks and Oddities, by O.V. Michaelsen (Sterling Publishing Company, New York, 1998), and to Weather Facts and Fun (2009), a children's book on weather, co-written by Josh Judge and Kathe Cussen and published by SciArt Media. He was elected International Punster of the Year in 1989[4] and was the 2002 recipient of the Golden Gavel of Toastmasters International.”
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Richard Lederer’s “World History According to Student Bloopers”

Author R. Ann Siracusa

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