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LEAP YEAR

2/28/2020

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We all know that every four years February has an extra day for the purpose of keeping our calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolution around the sun. Our year has 365 days, but it takes an additional 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds for the earth of revolve around the sun. Without adding the extra day every four years, our western calendar would lose about 6 hours every year and within a hundred years, we’d be 24 days off.

Instead, we accumulate those hours for four years and add a day to February. A simple concept, and it works pretty well.
​
WHO FIGURED THIS OUT?
In ancient times, all cultures created ways to track the year, usually using the seasons, the sun, and the moon. Probably the oldest is the Chinese lunar calendar which doesn’t number years, but counts in 60-year cycles, divided into five 12-year cycles named after different animals.

Emperor Julius Caesar

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In 46 BC, named by the Romans as the Year of Confusion, Julius Caesar adjusted the Roman calendar to 445 days, beginning the year in January, changed the month Quintilis to what we call July, and divided the months into 30 and 31 days — except for February which had 29 days and 30 every fourth year. So the Father of Leap Year, so to speak, was Julius Caesar. The Romans spread this Julian calendar throughout the known world.
​
But, alas, the Julian calendar was still off by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. A small amount, but those minutes added up. In 1582, under Pope Gregory XIII, a correction was made and eleven days were dropped. And I believe the Gregorian calendar we use today is considered almost completely accurate with the additional day in February.

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LEAP DAY TRADITION OF WOMEN’S PRIVILEGE
Most of us associate Leap Day (February 29) with the tradition of women proposing marriage. According to Louis J. Boyle, a professor of medieval literature and Arthurian legend at Carlow University, Leap Day comes with a variety of medieval Urban Legends which are undocumented.
​
Artist Donald McGill
Photo source: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107684


​One suggests the origin of Women’s Privilege comes from St. Brighid, a patron saint of Ireland who died around AD 525 and is known to have founded a convent in the Kildare region of the country. Named after the Celtic goddess Brigid (Brighid) she was born to a Druid king and his Christian wife in the exact moment the sun rose so that a beam of radiant light burst around her forehead like a flame. She is credited with a number of miracles.                     Goddess Brighid by Lisa Iris
                                                                                                                                       
▼Photo source: ​
https://journeygoddess.wordpress.com/ 

Over time, stories of the patron saint intertwined with those of the Celtic goddess Brighid who was the goddess of fire (the forge and the hearth), poetry, healing, childbirth, and unity.
​
THE LEGEND OF ST. PATRICK AND ST. BRIDGET       Photo source: monasteryicons.com/st-brigid-icon  Saint  Brighid ▲  The legend dates to the 5th century, around the time St. Patrick supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland. The tales says St. Patrick was approached by St. Bridget, who had come to protest on behalf of all women the unfairness of always have to wait for men to propose marriage. 
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After due consideration, St. Patrick offered St. Bridget and her gender the special privilege of being able to propose marriage to men one year out of every seven. St. Brighid disagreed, and they finally settled on one year out of four—leap years, specifically. It’s not clear to me why St. Patrick had the final say on this matter, but what do I know?

In one version of the tale, after the deal was cut, unexpectedly (because it was a leap year and St. Bridget was single), she got down on one knee and proposed to St. Patrick on the spot. He refused, of course, bestowing on her a kiss and a beautiful silk gown in consolation.

According to Boyle,
"The tradition was that if the man said 'no,' he had to provide a gift to the woman. Traditionally, [the gifts] were a garment or money.  Sometimes the tradition reads there was some penalty designated or the woman had the right to say, 'This is what you have to do for turning me down.' "

In another legend, Women’s Privilege resulted from a law passed by Scottish Parliament in 1288, of which one of the many quoted versions reads:
“It is statut and ordainit that during the reine of hir maist blissit Magestie, ilk maiden ladye of baith highe and lowe estair shale hae libertie to bespeak ye man she likes; albiet, gif he refuses to tak her till be his wif, he sall be mulcit in ye sume of ane hundredth poundis or less, as is estait mai be, except and alwais gif he can mak it appear that he is betrothit to ane other woman, then he shall be free.”

Because this text cannot be sourced (or read, for that matter – at least by me), it was considered suspect, even by the Victorian authors who quoted it. The only authority for the statement is the Illustrated Almanac' for 1853, and scholars believe the statue was “manufactured” as a kind of joke.

Queen Margaret of Scotland is also given credit for this 1288 law (even though in 1288 she was five years old and lived in Norway). In this version, the law required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man.
​
The earliest verified reference in the English language is a couplet from an Elizabethan-era stage play called The Maid’s Metamorphosis, first performed in 1600, a leap year.

TimeandDate.com indicates that Leap Day is known in some places as Bachelors’ Day”, an Irish tradition allowing women (on Leap Day) to initiate dances and propose marriage. If the proposal was refused the man was expected to buy the woman a silk gown or, by the mid-20th century, a fur coat. The tradition is supposed to originate from a deal that struck with Saint Patrick.

In the United Kingdom, a woman was allowed to propose marriage on Leap Day and if refused the man was obliged to buy her new gloves on Easter Day (some sources say 12 pairs of gloves). In some areas a woman could propose for the entire leap year.

SADIE HAWKINS DAY
The American version on Bachelor’s Day arrived on the scene as Sadie Hawkins Day, originating from Al Capp’s cartoon series “Lil Abner” in the 1930’s.

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Here is a holiday that originated from a cartoon. It all began in Al Capp's "Lil Abner” Cartoon in on November, 15, 1937. In the cartoon series, the mayor of fictional town of Dogpatch, Kentucky (also the wealthiest man in the community) was desperate to marry off his ugly 35-year-old daughter, so the artist helped him out and created the holiday.

​As the story went, the mayor Hezekiah, brought together all the bachelors around Dogpatch and declared “Sadie Hawkins Day” and ordered a race of eligible bachelors with Sadie chasing after them… when a man was caught, he would be legally bound to marry her. The other town spinsters loved this idea so much that they declared Sadie Hawkins Day a mandatory annual event which lasted as long as the cartoonist – 40 years.
​

If you grew up in that era, you probably experienced the traditional high school Sadie Hawkins Day dance when the girls invited the boys, or the many university events. The whole idea was wildly popular. While there is no specific day or month for Sadie Hawkins Day, Leap Day is as good as any, but it is celebrated usually in the fall.                                         
Sources of Photo: mentalfloss.com/article/29084

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​womenyoushouldknow.net points out that “this was a very different time in history” which helps in understanding its popularity. “As for the man who dreamed up this idea, Al Capp was apparently a known womanizer and misogynist, as well as an accused rapist."
​

“His reputation for seducing and even sexually assaulting aspiring actresses, including a young Goldie Hawn and a distraught and disheveled Grace Kelly,” along with sleeping with the college girls he met on his Sadie Hawkins Day tours preceded him.”

LEAPING BABIES
Persons born on Leap Day used to be called “leapings” or “Leapers”. There’s actually a society “leapings” can join. https://www.leapyearday.com/honor-society-of-leap-year-day-babi

The chance of being born on February 29 is approximately 1 in 1,461. But if that’s your birthday, you can celebrate it on February 28.
At one time it was once thought that leapling babies would inevitably prove sickly and "hard to raise," though no one remembers why. Today, there is still a problem with leap day babies and medical records.
□
Author R. Ann Siracusa
Converting Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide For Over Three Quarters of a Century
 

Resources
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2012/8/hellman_all_2012_02_23_q.html
http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventionsalphabet/a/leap_year.htm
http://www.terracestandard.com/community/139765403.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/Mary-Alice-Powell/2012/02/19/Leap-Day-2012-is-nearly-upon-us.print

http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index.ssf/2012/02/lakewood_students_born_on_feb.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12054/1211860-55.stm#ixzz1nQB9feFv
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/historical/a/leap_year.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leap-day-february-29.html
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/celtic-goddess-brigid.htm
http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/17573876/article-A-leap-forward?instance=home_opinion
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/fashion/weddings/women-proposing-leap-year.html
https://reason.com/2013/02/26/the-wizard-of-dogpatch-2/
http://blog.bridgemanimages.com/leap-year-2016-if-she-likes-it-she-can-put-a-ring-on-it/
https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/goddess-brigit/
https://www.monasteryicons.com/product/st-brigid-icon-396/irish-gifts-and-decor
https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/leap-day-proposals-the-story-behind-the-leap-year-tradition-in-ireland/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/fashioan/weddings/women-proposing-leap-year.html
 



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I Approve This Message

2/21/2020

3 Comments

 
I AM A WOMAN
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If someone tells you that you
have enough shoes,
Stop talking to them.
You don’t need that kind of
negativity in your life.

AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE
I was just wondering how many of you out there are getting as tired of political ads as I am, and we still have months to go. Most of all, “I Approve This Message” is getting really irritating. When did this statement become such a thing? Why do all the candidates say this?

STAND BY YOUR AD
Believe it or not, this is a legal mandate! Of course it is! You knew that. I mean … after all … we’re talking about government here!
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The SBYA (Stand By Your Ad) Provision is part of the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act” adopted in 2002 which amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates for federal political office, as well as interest groups and political parties supporting or opposing a candidate, to include in radio and television advertising the statement that the candidate has approved the
                                     statement.
                                            
Photo source: cagle.com/jason-stanford/

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​The provision was intended to minimize the “Attack Ads” which began to proliferate in the 1960s, criticizing an opponent's political platform. and has since become a slandering contest. It is an attempt to force candidates to associate themselves with the attacks in such ads (rather than do it anonymously) and to discourage defamation of character as a campaign strategy.

Representative David Price of North Carolina, proposer of the amendment, state:
"The American people are sick of the relentlessly negative tone of campaigns, particularly in presidential races. ‘Stand By Your Ad’ isn't just about restoring civility to campaigns. It's also about restoring people's faith in our political process." wikipedia.org/Stand_by_Your_Ad_provision

In my opinion, that would be a good thing. Unfortunately, it hasn’t seemed to achieve its purpose, but at least the public knows who is saying what.
 
THE “BAD TIMING AWARD” GOES TO….
As Jon Levine says in mic.com/articles/, “Despite noble intentions, the major flaw of the Stand By Your Ad provision wasn't in the text but its timing.” Adoption preceded actions which rendered it somewhat ineffective.

The Legislation addresses only radio and television ads without anticipating the popularity of the internet and social media. Also, the Supreme Court allowed unlimited donations to super PACs, not named in the SBYA statute. “Now, rather than any single person, massive political ad campaigns are often bankrolled by groups with names like ‘Security is Strength’” not subject to the disclosure.

Violation of the “Stand By Your Ad” provision can result in penalties levied by the Federal Election Commission and the loss of lowest rates for campaign ads. Attempts have been made to broaden the text to include internet ads, but the original bipartisan support has fallen victim to the ever-expanding schism between political parties and platforms.
I predict a long and full life for the words “I’m X, and I approve this message.”


MUDSLINGING: AN AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION
I also predict the American Political System will not betray the long tradition of negative campaign rhetoric.

Most likely, the first presidential election in the United States of America (1788–89) is the only one not plagued by badmouthing the other candidates. That’s because no one else ran against George Washington. Washington had no political party and did no campaigning. He was our last and only non-partisan president.

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By the election of 1800, between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,  influential outsiders and journalists had taken up the torch. There is a long backstory to the election, which I won’t bother you with other than to give some of the quotes.

                       Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
               Photo source: https://www.bing.com/images/


The President of Yale publically suggested that if Jefferson were elected “we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution.” A newspaper in Connecticut stated that “Jefferson would create a nation where ‘murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught and practiced.”

Others in the Adams camp called Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”

Not to be left out, an influential supporter of Jefferson, named Callender, wrote that Adams was “a rageful, lying, warmongering fellow; a ‘repulsive pedant’ and ‘gross hypocrite’ who ‘behaved neither like a man nor like a woman but instead possessed a hideous hermaphroditical character.”


An interesting side note to the above story: Callender expected to be named postmaster as a reward for his support. When Jefferson appointed someone else, Callender wrote a series of articles charging the new president with having fathered children with a slave named Sally Hemings.

In this election, no one was exempt and the candidates’ wives were also subjected to public name-calling. In the words of one historian, the election of 1828 boiled down to: “Do you want to vote for someone whose wife is a whore or do you want to vote for someone who pimped for the czar of Russia?”

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Jefferson was elected, and later he and Adams mended fences and became close friends, but the tradition lived on.

Things seemed to reach the anonymous-ad-boiling-point in 1988 with the Willie Horton TV ad consisting of a mug shot of convicted murderer William Horton. This criminal was released as part of the weekend furlough program, escaped, and committed more crimes.


The ad was produced by supporters of a candidate without his authorization, and devastated the other candidate, setting the later stage for the bipartisan adoption of the as part of the SBYD in 2002.

But the relentless, undying ingenuity of the American Political System has found ways to continue the example set by our forefathers who, after all, were just human beings like everyone else.


That’s my message and I’m sticking with it.

I AM AUTHOR R. ANN SIRACUSA
AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE

​□
sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_by_Your_Ad_provision
https://www.mic.com/articles/126897/when-the-hell-did-i-approve-this-message-become-a-thing
https://www.marketplace.org/2016/10/17/where-did-i-approve-message-come/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-campaign-mud-slinging-history-flashback-perspec-1002-md-20160930-story.html
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/04/facebook-and-google-asked-to-suspend-political-ads-before-general-election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_advertising
https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/the-presidential-election-had-plenty-of-mudslinging/article_309eebb2-efc5-5e70-a9e7-5225158b8101.html
https://westfieldfinancialplanning.com/mudslinging-political-tradition/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/10/ten-most-awesome-presidential-mudslinging-moves-ever/
https://www.cagle.com/jason-stanford/2012/10/confessions-of-a-political-junkie
​
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Chocolate, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Calories

2/14/2020

0 Comments

 
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​GOOD NEWS ON VALENTINE'S DAY
Instead of talking about Saint Valentine, today I'm going to talk about "Saint Chocolate", with whom Saint Valentine is joined at the hip. According to a plethora of recent medical articles, you may eat your Valentine's Day chocolates without guilt. Chocolate is good for your health.
Yay!  Well, within certain limits, that is. You know the lecture about "all things in moderation."

OUR FRIEND THE CACAO BEAN
The cacao is an evergreen tree native to humid and wet (tropical) regions of Central and South America. Its white flowers become cacao pods. When ripe the fruit is orangish and weighs about a pound. The flesh is eaten or made into juice, and the beans, or seeds, inside are the source of cacao powder which is made into chocolate. The fat from the seeds in made into cacao butter.


The use of cacao has been around for a very long time. The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica recognized the medical benefits of cacao before the time of Christ (1900-900 BC), and used it to treat stomach and intestinal problems. To those societies it was very valuable.

Cacao is also part of the Mayan Creation belief. Deemed of holy origin, the Mayans believed the Plumed Serpent gifted cacao to humans after they were created by the goddess Xmucane. Named Theobroma -- "The Food of the Gods" – it was restricted to the elite of society.

Fast forward two thousand years, give or take a few.

When the Spaniards came to the western hemisphere, cacao made its way to Europe. Christopher Columbus was the first to bring it, but it didn't catch on. Cacao by itself is very bitter. Later it became popular as a medicine and aphrodisiac.

Cocao and Cocoa are often used interchangeably but, in fact, cocao refers to the tree, pods, and beans – the natural products. Cocoa means the products manufactured from the beans. Just sayin'.

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THE LOVE OF OUR LIVES
Cacao beans are rich in chemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-clotting properties. The heroes in cacao, flavanoids and flavanols, widen blood vessels, reduce blood pressure and loosen platelets, preventing them from forming clumps which reduce blood flow. They also may increase production of nitric oxide, which helps improve insulin sensitivity. In addition, Flavanols protect brain cells and improve cardio vascular function, so more blood reaches the brain. The theobromine in falvanols is a stimulant which inhibit the vargus nerve which is responsible, in part, for the cough reflex.

The most cultivated species, Theobroma cacao, contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, sulfer, and the chemicals phenylethylamine and anandamide.

The most beneficial chocolate – dark chocolate -- contains at least 85% cocao and cocoa butter, not added palm, coconut, hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated oils. Cocoa butter's saturated fats contain stearic acid, so cocoa butter doesn't raise cholesterol levels because it's converted in the liver to heart-healthy oleic acid. (Eric Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist and faculty scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health).
        
Refined sugar, used to sweeten the bitter taste of chocolate, is bad for the same health benefits Cacao is good for. Choose the darkest chocolate. UC San Francisco research say to limit intake to 7 ounces per week of dark or semi-sweet chocolate. That's about two bars.

The nine health benefits of chocolate (by Diane Wedner, Lifescript Health Directive and reviewed by Edward C. Geehr, Chief Medical Officer, Lifescript) are as follows:
 
1. Lowers the risk of heart attacks.
2. Protects against blood inflammation.
3. Reduces risk of diabetes
4. Helps control weight by limiting the number of calories the body can turn into fat.
5. Improves memory and task performance, and slows cognitive decline, particularly in seniors.
6. Improves math skills.
7. Controls coughs.
8. Improves mood by stimulating production of natural opioid chemicals such as endorphins.
9. Reduces stress by lowering levels of stress-related hormones cortisol and catecholamine.
    Like you really wanted to know that!

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IT'S ALL IN THE SUGAR 
All very well and good. As you are munching happily, don't forget about the refined sugar added to make chocolate sweet. If you eat too much, you've cancelled out all the benefits of the cacao with the deadly affects of the sugar.

That's a real Valentine's Day Buzz Kill!

RESOURCES
http://www.macfieldmd.com/uncategorized/chocolate-and-the-brain/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-resilient-brain/201410/dark-chocolate-good-your-brain
http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/heart_health/articles/the_health_benefits_of_chocolate.aspx
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270272.php
http://www.medicinehunter.com/brief-history-cocoa
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/24/future-of-the-chocolate-industry-looks-sticky.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295615.php?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_News_Today_TrendMD_0
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235756.php?sr=&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_News_Today_TrendMD_0
http://www.naturalnews.com/041178_cacao_history_chocolate.html



​

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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

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