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WHAT'S IN A NAME? gelato vs. Ice Cream - A Conflict of Terms

8/9/2024

0 Comments

 
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Summer is here, and what better time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the delicious, smooth taste of a dish of ice cream to tickle the taste buds, or maybe a cup of gelato. Most Americans delight in the taste of frozen desserts without knowing or caring what the ingredients, as long as it tastes good. 

​Eating Ice Cream in front of the Pantheon, Rome
Image Source:
diaryofawannabeworldtraveler.com

CONFUCIUS SAY "CONFUSION OF DEFINITIONS"
The world’s love affair with icy delights is centuries old. The earliest evidence of frozen desserts can be traced back to ancient China, when people consumed ice flavored with various syrups and extracts. This gives humankind thousands of years to get confused about names of frozen desserts, of which there are many.
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The need for an explanation exists because of a confusion of definitions. I place this at the feet of the English language, which has been quick in previous years to absorb words from other languages. While these new English words may have the same spelling and pronunciation (or not), Americans usually give the new word a different meaning, often unintentionally.

​​
A BBC publication claims that "Although English is now borrowing from other languages with a worldwide range, the number of new borrowed words finding their way into the shared international vocabulary is on a long downward trend. One big reason for this is the success of English as an international language of science, scholarship, business, and many other fields." www.bbc.com/news/magazine

BE SPECIFIC
In order to explain the difference between gelato and ice cream, I have to get excessively specific. Sorry.

First, ice cream and gelato are only two of a large variety of frozen desserts made worldwide, including cakes and drinks. This blog does not attempt to address those.

Second -- and be very clear on this -- Gelato is the Italian word for the English word ice cream. Another definition of the word in Italian is frozen. Linguistically, there is no difference between gelato and ice cream, other than the way it is prepared, i.e. the recipe, which isn't part of the simple definitions. Just as different locations and countries have different recipes for preparing the same foods, gelato is Italy's recipe and process for making ice cream. France, America, and other locations have their own unique recipes for ice cream plus many other frozen desserts which go by a variety of names.

Third, the word gelato has been subsumed into the English language, not meaning just ice cream, but the particular recipe and process the Italians use when they make ice cream.

If you look gelato up in Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means "a soft rich ice cream containing little or no air." In the Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries it is "the Italian style of ice cream (a cold, soft, sweet food), made from milk, cream, sugar, and fruit or other flavors mixed together and frozen." 


A BRIEF HISTORY OF GELATO
The website whygelato.com/history gives a brief rundown of the history of gelato, the word for ice cream in Italian.

"• 7000 BC - Asian cultures discover they can consume crushed ice and flavorings.
  • 2500 BC - Egyptian pharaohs offer their guests a cup of ice sweetened with fruit juices.
  • 0 - The Romans begin a custom of consuming the ice of Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius with honey.

  • 1500-1550 - Ruggeri participates in a competition in Florence and wins with a frozen sweet (a sorbet or sorbetto)."

"• 1550-1600 - Buontalenti prepares a banquet for the King of Spain and gelato is served for the first time..."  At this point, there were two types of gelato.l "... one made by mixing water with fruits such as lemon and strawberries (also known as Sorbetto), and another made by mixing milk with cinnamon, pistachio, coffee or chocolate."

Here is where some of the confusion starts. The Italians, and I presume other Europeans, referred to both types of frozen desserts by the name gelato (and continue to do so as far as I can tell from my Italian relatives and dictionary). From the 16th century forward, references to gelato appear to mean the kind of gelato Americans call ice cream, i.e. made with dairy products, not water or ice.


"• 1686 - Francesco Procopio moves from Palermo to Paris and opens a café, making gelato famous all over Europe.
  • 1770 - Giovanni Basiolo introduces gelato in New York.
 • 1846 - Hand-crank freezer is perfected in America and changes the way the frozen dessert is made.
  • 1967 - Luciano Rabboni starts PreGel and creates the first semi-finished gelato product."

Let's take a look at the differences.


ICE CREAM
All ice cream is made with a base of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and sometimes eggs and/or egg yolks. The base is churned at specified speeds in an ice cream maker before mix-ins are added. Recipes vary but those are the basic ingredients of all ice cream.

American Ice Cream
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that, in the US, food products to be labeled as "Ice cream" (traditional hard ice cream, not soft serve), must contain at least 10% milk fat by weight, although most American brands will have 14 to 25%
BE SPECIFIC
In order to explain the difference between gelato and ice cream, I have to get excessively specific. Sorry.

First, ice cream and gelato are only two of a large variety of frozen desserts made worldwide, including cakes and drinks. This blog does not attempt to address those.

Second -- and be very clear on this -- Gelato is the Italian word for the English word ice cream. Another definition of the word in Italian is frozen. Linguistically, there is no difference between gelato and ice cream, other than the way it is prepared, i.e. the recipe, which isn't part of the simple definitions. Just as different locations and countries have different recipes for preparing the same foods, gelato is Italy's recipe and process for making ice cream. France, America, and other locations have their own unique recipes for ice cream plus many other frozen desserts which go by a variety of names.

Third, the word gelato has been subsumed into the English language, not meaning just ice cream, but the particular recipe and process the Italians use when they make ice cream.

If you look gelato up in Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means "a soft rich ice cream containing little or no air." In the Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries it is "the Italian style of ice cream (a cold, soft, sweet food), made from milk, cream, sugar, and fruit or other flavors mixed together and frozen." 


A BRIEF HISTORY OF GELATO
The website whygelato.com/history gives a brief rundown of the history of gelato, the word for ice cream in Italian.

"• 7000 BC - Asian cultures discover they can consume crushed ice and flavorings.
  • 2500 BC - Egyptian pharaohs offer their guests a cup of ice sweetened with fruit juices.
  • 0 - The Romans begin a custom of consuming the ice of Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius with honey.

  • 1500-1550 - Ruggeri participates in a competition in Florence and wins with a frozen sweet (a sorbet or sorbetto)."

"• 1550-1600 - Buontalenti prepares a banquet for the King of Spain and gelato is served for the first time..."  At this point, there were two types of gelato.l "... one made by mixing water with fruits such as lemon and strawberries (also known as Sorbetto), and another made by mixing milk with cinnamon, pistachio, coffee or chocolate."

Here is where some of the confusion starts. The Italians, and I presume other Europeans, referred to both types of frozen desserts by the name gelato (and continue to do so as far as I can tell from my Italian relatives and dictionary). From the 16th century forward, references to gelato appear to mean the kind of gelato Americans call ice cream, i.e. made with dairy products, not water or ice.


"• 1686 - Francesco Procopio moves from Palermo to Paris and opens a café, making gelato famous all over Europe.
  • 1770 - Giovanni Basiolo introduces gelato in New York.
 • 1846 - Hand-crank freezer is perfected in America and changes the way the frozen dessert is made.
  • 1967 - Luciano Rabboni starts PreGel and creates the first semi-finished gelato product."

Let's take a look at the differences.


ICE CREAM
All ice cream is made with a base of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and sometimes eggs and/or egg yolks. The base is churned at specified speeds in an ice cream maker before mix-ins are added. Recipes vary but those are the basic ingredients of all ice cream.

American Ice Cream
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that, in the US, food products to be labeled as "Ice cream" (traditional hard ice cream, not soft serve), must contain at least 10% milk fat by weight, although most American brands will have 14 to 25%

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         American Ice Cream                               image source: www.magnumicecream.com/icecream-

French-style ice cream incorporates egg yolks into the base, while American and Philadelphia style may not. American ice cream also has a faster churning process which introduces more air into the product which affects the density. 

Italian Ice Cream / Gelato
Italian ice cream is also made with the same ingredients: heavy cream, milk, sugar, but most commonly without eggs or egg yolks, but it may have them. The lower milk fat content is usually 3.8 to 9%, yielding a softer, denser texture and smaller ice crystals. That results from the base containing less cream and more milk, as well as a slower churning process that introduces less air into the final product rendering it softer and denser.

According to Italian-feelings.com/ the four distinctions between American and Italian ice cream are:

1 – Italian ice cream has much less fat because it is made with fresh milk and not powdered milk or cream as with America ice cream.

(I couldn't verify that all commercially American-made ice creams are made with powdered milk, but I did find that at least some of them are. Using powdered milk is claimed to make the ice cream creamier.)


2 – Italian ice cream is blended slowly, so it contains less air than industrially produced ice cream (10% air in Italian vs. 50% in American ice cream). A balanced quantity of air affects the consistency, smooth texture and appearance.

3 – Italian ice cream is kept at a temperature of around -12°C, while American industrially produced ice cream is usually kept at an average of -20°C. This makes an unmistakable difference to the product’s taste.

4 – Italian handmade ice cream is usually made in small batches that are consumed shortly afterwards. That’s why it doesn’t need the preservatives or additives that industrially produced ice cream needs to be stored for long periods of time.

Overall, American and Italian ice cream (Gelato) are differentiated by the proportion of ingredients in the base and the rate at which they’re churned. The Italian version contains less milk fat and is churned at a slower rate, and is typically served at a warmer temperature, introducing less air to the dessert and yielding a softer and denser texture. 

Gelato tastes differently from American Ice Cream and results in greater flavor experience because there is less fat that coats the taste buds, more flavor per spoonful due to lower quantity of air and, the taste buds are more alive since the temperature is not so cold as to dull their sensitivity.
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Italian ice cream is softer and silkier
Image Sources: 
https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid


Italian ice cream is often made fresh and in lesser quantities which allows Italian ice cream shops to keep the temperature of the cases higher than American shops. This higher temperature gives Italian ice cream a silkier texture. The Italian government requires a milk fat content of at least 3%. You didn't really need to know that, did you?

SORBET
But wait! What happened to the other type of Italian gelato that has no dairy products? What should we call that?

Technically, it is still gelato. As generally used by Italians, the term may include both sorbet and granita, another similar frozen dessert which is very popular in the southern parts of Italy.
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   Italian Sorbet                                                         Italian Granita
   Image Sources: 
https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid


The most notable difference with sorbet is that the concoction does not contain any dairy products. Its composition is simple: water, sugar, and a flavoring agent (typically fruit purée or fruit juice). Its smooth consistency comes mainly from its churning process, which is near-identical to that of ice cream. Sometimes, producers will even put alcohol into sorbet to give it a smoother texture, due to alcohol’s low freezing point.

Compared to its sibling Italian ice, sorbet is much richer and packs roughly twice the calories. However, it is also low fat because there are no dairy products in the mixture of the base.

ITALIAN ICE
Italian ice was created in America, despite its name, by Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. Italian ice contains water, sugar, fruit purées or juices, and sometimes natural or artificial flavoring. These are the same ingredients as Italian sorbet and granita, and some gelatos.

The key difference between sorbet and Italian ice is the ice itself: The latter contains larger chunks and is churned at a slightly slower rate than sorbet, giving it a more grainy, slightly crunchy texture. Italian ice is less dense than sorbet, which explains its lower calorie count — there’s simply more ice in it.
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Water ice is another form of Italian ice, native to the Philadelphia area. It’s slightly chunkier than standard Italian ice, but it’s more or less the same thing — unless you ask someone from Philly.

FROZEN CUSTARD
Here is another frozen dessert to throw into the mix(er), just to confuse the issue, and I can assure that the dairy case at your grocery store will have even more products.

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The FDA requires frozen custard to include 1.4% eggs yolks in the base. Like ice cream, it must also include a minimum of 10% milk fat by weight.

Retail shops make this frozen dessert in a machine that incorporates minimal air, creating a richer, silkier product that is more gelato-like in texture, but with a pronounced custard flavor from the egg yolks.


SHERBET
Another delightful version is sherbert or sherbet, a frozen dessert made from water, sugar, a dairy product such as cream or milk, and a flavoring, such as wine, liqueur, fruit juice, purée, and occasionally non-fruit flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, or peppermint.
It is distinct from sorbet, which contains no dairy products.

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Image Source: http://www.Beyers.com/Beyers

The United States defines Sherbet in the Code of Federal Regulations as a frozen product containing one or more optional dairy products. Sorbet, on the other hand, is made with sweetened water and no dairy, similar to Italian ice.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...
Actually, may not be as sweet, but all frozen desserts are yummy and taste oh-so-good on a hot summer day, or any other day, in my opinion. So, what is all this whoop-la about?

Italian gelato -- primarily the ice cream kind but also the non-dairy product version -- is increasingly popular in the USA. Studies show the consumption of Italian ice cream (aka gelato) in the USA has been constantly increasing since 2009, with annual sales estimated to be worth approximately $210 million. It is a smaller share of the frozen dessert market but has the fastest growth (up 32% in 2016).


WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ORDER GELATO
If you are in Italy, the United States, or any other place in the world, and you ask for a "gelato", there is no telling what you are really going to get, or what the purveyor will call it. In Italy you will probably be served Italian ice cream... but maybe not. In the United States, you might have to go to a specialty store or Italian restaurant to get gelato. Decorated and ready to serve, these products look very similar unless you pay close attention.

My advice: Ask Before You Order
If there is something you are allergic to, can't eat, or dislike, always ask about the contents of a frozen dessert product. Most of the products in the category of gelato will contain a dairy product or two. Sorbet (although this may be called gelato by the retailer or restaurant) and ices or Italian ice are not made with dairy products. Remember, flavorings can also cause an allergic reaction. You don't need to argue about the name, only the ingredients.


In the United States there are no government standards for gelato, so whatever you are served, if it is advertised as "ice cream", it has to have 10% milk fat by weight. If it bears another name, all bets may be off.

JUST SAYIN'
Sources:
https://ouritalianjourney.com/gelato-vs-american-ice-cream/
https://italian-feelings.com/italian-gelato-vs-ice-cream-the-four-differences-between-them/
https://lifehacker.com/make-creamier-ice-cream-with-powdered-skim-milk-1715528125
 https://www.foodandwine.com/gelato-vs-ice-cream-8609179
https://vinepair.com/articles/ice-cream-sorbet-italian-ice-gelato-differences-explained/
http://www.dreamstime.com-Images-Free
https://www.menuswithprice.com/culvers-menu
https://nationaltoday.com/national-frozen-custard-day
https://news.italianfood.net/2021/01/07/the-us-ice-cream-market-is-worth-5-billion/
https://whygelato.com/gelato-101/what-is-gelato/

https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid=c5864670a38e1e60737620fe720ee7f4&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=c5864670a38e1e60737620fe720ee7f4&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_ICEUND_General-Gelato_Inf_Txt_CPC_GenProd_PM_Bads_Tal00000

https://www.magnumicecream.com/us/en/products/icecream-bars.html?&msclkid=97c0d8d722ea15cb0831be59fa1a0a96&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_ICEUND_Always-On-CN000557_Inf_Txt_CPC_GenProd_BM_General-_Bads_Mag0000126&utm_term=ice%20cream%20w

ttps://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26014925#:~:text=Although%20English%20is%20now%20borrowing%20from%20other%20l

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbet_(frozen_dessert)#:~:text=Sherbet%20%28%E2%AB%BD%20%CB%88%CA%83%C9%9C%CB%90rb%C9%99t%20%E2%AB%BD%29%2C%20often%20referred%20to%20as,non-fruit%20flavors%20such%20as%20vanilla%2C%20chocolate%2C%20or%20peppermint.

https://fthmb.tqn.com/JUp6yBMz7ZPjB7OCpggoNi6aXXs=/2500x1844/filters:fill(auto,1)/rainbow-sherbet-2500-57638b923df78c98dcd30fa9.jpg
https://slicesconcession.com/blogs/frozen-dessert-industry-and-machine-articles/liquid-vs-powder-ice-cream-mix-what-you-need-to-know​

https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/whats-the-difference-between-ice-cream-frozen-custard-and-gelato/#:~:text=For%20a%20product%20to%20be%20labeled%20ice%20cream%2C,standard%20prevents%20manufacturers%20from%2C%20essentially%2C%20selling%20you%20air.,

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The First American Flag

7/4/2024

0 Comments

 
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Nobody has the time to look into everything, so people often have to take some things which we know are common knowledge for granted. But in this case, you've been taught this myth in school. I'm sure that will continue because, so far, there is no way to prove it once and for all.
​
MYTH: Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag.

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WHO WAS BETSY ROSS?
There is a lot written about Elizabeth Griscom of Gloucester City, New Jersey. Some of the information about her is highly debated. After reading endless articles, I decided that as far as I was concerned, National Geographic was likely to be the most accurate.

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Depiction of Betsy Ross sewing the flag
​Image Source: 
Nicholas L. Vulich's Blog (goodreads.com)
​

Elizabeth (Betsy) was born in 1752 and raised as a Quaker. After she eloped with John Ross, a member of a prominent Philadelphia family that included one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, she was expelled from the            A Betsy Ross Postage Stamp
Quakers for marrying a Protestant.                                               Image Source: https://flagsusa.com

Her name now shows up as Betsy Ross in history books and school lessons everywhere in the US, along with some of the most prominent names from that era. John and Betsy had their own upholstery business, and lived a lively social life in Philadelphia They attended Christ Church with people like George Washington, and rubbed elbows with some of the young nation's most prominent people.

John was killed in the Revolutionary War in 1775. Betsy Ross later married two more times and bore seven children. She is credited as having sewn (and some say designed) the first American flag. But if she did sew the flag, she died in 1836 (84 years of age) without anyone ever mentioning a connection with it. Apparently, she did make flags for various organizations during her lifetime, but there was never a reference to the first American flag being one of them.


INTO THE BREECH
There is always someone who won't leave well enough alone, and those people always want to write their own version of history (of which there are many, and many of them are correct and have been passed along as family legends). The ones told in my family were not true at all.

In 1870, almost forty years after her death, her grandson William J. Canby, a historian, made a speech on the history of the American flag to the Historic Society of Pennsylvania. In that speech Canby claimed that
"a bereaved Betsy Ross had been approached in 1776 by George Washington and members of a congressional committee appointed to create a flag for their new nation. She suggested the flag include five-pointed stars instead of the six-pointed stars the committee had suggested, and she demonstrated how to cut them out with a piece of paper. Canby called on the world to acknowledge Ross as “an example of industry, energy and perseverance, and of humble reliance on providence.”

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William J. Canby
Image Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/william-canby


Of course, the press of the day, just as today, is always looking for something to capture the reader's attention. A scoop!

The press picked up on the story and soon it was printed in the newspapers. In 1873 an article in one of America’s most-read magazines, Harper’s Weekly, spread it to the nation, treating Canby’s anecdote as proven fact.


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​The article depicts Ross was “carrying on business of her own account in her little shop when Washington, members of Congress, and other influential men paid her a visit."

According to the article, they "showed her a sketch of a proposed design, and asked her to make a flag with 13 six-pointed stars. She intimated her willingness to try,” the author  continued, repeating the grandson's story about    
Image Source: www.timetoast.com/timeline-of-early-american-history
her suggestion to use five-pointed stars.

CONCLUSION
Although her name has found a permanent abode within our history books and may remain there forever, no official documentation has been found yet to confirm that Betsy Ross was responsible for creating the very first flag. There is also nothing to proves that she did not.

But you know how family stories are. Each time it is the tale is told, there is a bit of an exaggeration, so who knows.


THE HISTORIANS CARRY ON
Some historians attribute the design of the first flag to Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, who also played a role in designing seals for various departments within the U.S. government​.

Picture
Francis Hopkinson
Image Source:www.thefamouspeople.com/francis-hopkinson


I am inclined to believe this version, although both could be true. 

In 1780, Hopkinson sought payment from the Board of Admiralty for his design of the “flag of the United States of America.” However, his petition for payment was denied on the grounds that “he was not the only one consulted” on the design.
​JUST SAYIN'

Sources:

https://www.ushistory.org/betsy/more/canby.htm
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/betsy-ross
https://www.history.com/news/did-betsy-ross-really-make-the-first-american-flag
https://www.biography.com/history-culture/betsy-ross
https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson153/july4th-myths.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Canby
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2021-07-02/betsy-ross-descendants-reunite-2030954.html
https://flagsusa.com
https://wethepeopleholsters.com/betsy-ross-flag?tw_source
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/07/11/betsy-ross-husband-diary/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/betsy-ross-likely-didnt-sew-the-first-us-flag#:~:text=Although%20seamstress%20Betsy%20Ross%20is%20often%20credited%20as,nearly%20a%20hundred%20years%20after%20the%20Revolutionary%20War.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/meet-the-american-who-stitched-the-stars-stripes-betsy-ross-reputed-wartime-seductress/ar-BB1od3sv


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GRANDPARENTS: NEITHER A LENDER NOR A LANDLORD BE...

6/5/2024

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No doubt you have heard the old adage:
"NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS."
Once again, this has proved sage advice.

A FAIRY TALE [based on real life]
Once upon a time in a medieval galaxy not far away, there was an old, retired knight and his wife who owned two houses within the Realm of King Skinflint Pennypincher the Third. They lived in one house; the other they rented.

After their grandson got married, Grandpa said, "Why not rent the house to our grandson and his new wife, and give the kids a break."

Grandma replied. "Good idea. We can charge them a fourth of the usual rent for a few years. We can manage without, and they can save up some money to put down on an estate of their own."

So, pleased with their generous decision, they presented the proposal to the grandson and his bride, saying, "All you have to do is keep up the grounds and the house as if it were your own."

Joyfully, the young couple moved in and everyone lived happily ... but not for ever after. Only for about two years. During that time the young couple never visited the grandparents with their new baby. They never invited the old jouster and his wife over to their house, much less for dinner or Harvest Festival. The grounds became overgrown with weeds and cluttered with toys and abandoned barbecues. The house looked worn out, and the young couple spent the Coin of the Pennypincher Realm, called PP3 for short, like Chinese college girls on a Singles-Day spending spree.

One day, a new gold carriage and two beautiful horses appeared in the young couple's driveway.

That was the last straw. The grandparents refused to renew the lease without a rent increase. The haggling went on for a year. Everyone in the family got so riled up that the young couple began to argue a lot and eventually decided to get a divorce. They both moved out, without forcing the grandparents to go to court, thank goodness.

But, alas, this did not solve the grandparents' dilemma. First of all, divorce was not held in good esteem in the Pennypincher Realm. Both the nobility and the villagers gave them a hard time. Soon, both of them looked years older. They were really tired and could really, really use some time without family quibbling.

The same was said by King Pennypincher, who heard daily from one of the family or some offended villager who had nothing to do with anything. He ordered the extended family to get the matter resolved, or they would all be hanged from the city gate.

Terrified, they ceased to speak to each other at all.

The grandson, left with no place to go -- since neither parent, each with a new spouse, would take him in -- ended up moving in with 
the beleaguered grandparents, who at first thought it might be a good idea to have someone there who could help them in their old age.

Sadly, they quickly discovered that was not the case, and the grandson was eating them out of house and home.

The next blow came when the old couple tried to rent the house to someone else, and the King Pennypincher declared it could only be occupied if it was refurbished.

"Of course," the king added, and flipped his shoulder-length bob, "You'll get a break on next year's taxes when harvest time comes around."

All in all, that turned out to be a very bad deal. The old folks got to work and refurbished the rental house, but in the end, when the old couple took account of the end result, the story was grim indeed.
   

   • 2,000 Coins of the Realm (PP3) had been spent to have for the groundskeepers haul away all the trash, couches, furniture, junk, and filth left behind at the rental house, and pay the dump fees.

   • 280 PP3 went to the drudges hired from the village to clean the place, which was filthy.

   • 3,000 PP3
had been spent for the village weaver to replace the carpeting.

  • 3,800 PP3 went to the royal general-handyman for re-hanging doors, fixing rollers on closet doors, new bathroom fixtures, and a ton of other minor repairs.

   • 1,000 PP3 had been paid to the Plumbington Monks for repairing the outdoor watering system.

   • The whopping cost of 9,000 Pennypincher Coins to refurbish the master bathroom wasn't really the young couple's fault. The roof had leaked inside the bathroom walls and ruined everything. However, the grandson might have mentioned it two years previously when the light beige tiles of the shower walls started turning bright pink from something leaking through from behind.

He claimed he'd never seen the pink color until that day when it was discovered, but his eyes were good enough to scold his grandmother because he had counted three fleas on her cat.


   • Also, the 30,000 PP3 Coins to replace the roof was not the fault of the grandson and his wife either, but the grandparents might have been able to put off the expense another three or four years if the issue had not come to the attention of King Pennypincher... the Third. Once his minions had their teeth in the old couple, there was no letting go.

Of course, both contracts were awarded to Count S.I.L. Skinflint Construction, the initials S.I.L. standing for son-in-law of the King.

THE FINAL H.E.A.
Unlike any good fairy tale, this one does not have a final HEA ending [Happily Ever After]. It is more in the genre of a Family Saga that can go on and on for generations. But worry not. This particular tale ends here even though the events may continue on, undaunted, into infinity.

LOOSE ENDS
The old folk ended up more than $50,000 PP3 Coins in the red. The grandson was judged by the Royal Medical Minions as mentally incompetent to hold a job because of PTSD resulting from these recent, unfortunate traumatic events. Despite having sold the rental to be able to hire a good barrister, the courts saw fit to appoint the Grandparents as Guardians of the poor sod of a grandson, so he continued to live with them.

The Grandparents, alas, found they now had little revenue to live on. The useless grandson still drove them to distraction and ate all their food, but of none of the rest of the family would speak to them much less anyone else in the family.

Desperate, the old couple secretly sold their house out from under the grandson, packed up a few belongings and the family heirlooms still in their possession, and escaped in an Uber in the darkness of night. At the port they boarded the once-a-decade space transport, and immigrated to another galaxy, this one far, far away, where they knew no one and had no relatives.

To date, neither the grandson nor the rest of the family has found them.
THE END

JUST SAYIN'
This is just a fairy tale. The names of people and places have been changed to harass the guilty, and the end of the real story is yet to be written. 
​

Sources:
https://www.medievalists.net/2021/12/medieval-family/
 
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lOGLINES AND TAGLINES

5/24/2024

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Nearly fifteen years have passed since Lucy V. Hay (script editor and novelist) stated in an article that every week she saw scores of pitches and every week she saw loglines and taglines being mixed up. She begged that it stop.

I would like to believe we've improved but authors still confuse the two. Although repetition does not make the heart grow fonder, it sometimes inspires us to remember, so here we go again.
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IMAGINE MY SURPRISE
So here I was (fifteen years ago), cruising along, a relative newbie as a published author, following the lead of others who were more seasoned in the business than I will ever be. And since many of these authors seemed to use the terms logline and tagline interchangeably, I labored under the delusion that these were just different terms for essentially the same thing.

Wrong! You know that. While the terminology was initially borrowed from the movie industry, the terms are defined the same way for both literature and film.
  • A logline provides a concise summary of the plot and characters in no more than                   thirty words.
  • In contrast, a tagline is a catchy phrase no more than 8 words used in marketing and on
     the poster to capture the film’s essence without revealing the plot.

 
Since a lot of attention focuses on these two similar, but different, tools of the trade, research was in order. I found plenty of blogs and articles that confuse the two, or describe the difference but use examples for one term that are clearly samples of the other. A few pointed out the difference.

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  • THE TAGLINE
  • ​First, taglines, tag lines, or tags are American terms, so if you are in the UK, you know them as end lines or straplines. In Italy, they are called pay offs; in Belgium, baselines; in France, signatures.

  • In the film industry, a tagline is a piece of marketing copy designed to go on posters to sell the film, or in a writer's case, to sell the book.

  • Another definition, this time by Author Stacey Nash, describes a tagline for books as "a one-sentence summary of your story. Its goal is to intrigue and make the person that you are delivering it to want to read the story. The most important thing about the tagline is that it needs to be high concept. It should sum up the entire plot in one quick compelling sentence."

  • The samples of taglines (all for movies) used by Lucy V. Hay, which she found in a Google search, are:
      ● "He lived the American Dream…With a vengeance." (Scarface)
      ● "An epic of miniature proportions" (A Bug's Life)
      ● "The Toys are back in town." (Toy Story 2)
      ● "Whoever wins…We lose." (Alien Vs Predator)
      ● "EARTH—take a good look. Today could be your last." (Independence Day)
     
    The longest is ten words: short and high concept.

  • Whatever art form they're selling (movies, TV shows, music, books), taglines are one sentence (or maybe two) that describes the product. They utilize puns, clever wording, and images that the average person already knows about, at least superficially, to intrigue the individual into wanting to see the film, hear the music, or read the book.
    The key is using imagery most people know and understand to convey an expectation of what the book is about.

  • Some blogs call a tagline an elevator pitch. I guess that depends on how many floors you're going to travel in the elevator, but it's basically a one-story pitch. Whatever you call it, it's the Big Hook. The Attention Grabber. And your book, and everyone else's, needs one.

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THE LOGLINE
Origin of the term logline

The origin of the logline (or log line) is not the movie industry tie. Actually, according to Stanley D. Williams, it is a nautical term. Log lines were thin ropes with knots tied in them and wound on a spool. Mariners unreeled these ropes behind them to measure their speed-- in knots--by counting how many evenly spaced knots passed through their hands as the sand in the hourglass drained from the top to the bottom. 

The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool. 

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​​The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.

I'm not sure how the use of the nautical term got transferred to the movie industry, but according to Wikipedia and others, the logline came into use when the old movie studios had script vaults. In those vaults, they stored screenplays, apparently one on top of the other, in stacks.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Image Source: http://www.Amazon.com/books/sports

    Image source: https://www.bing.com/aclick?ld=e8q7FQvoy  

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​Readers supposedly "wrote a concise one line summary of what the script was about either on the cover of the script, on the spine of the script, or both." This allowed people to read the loglines without actually unstacking the scripts.

I suppose, in a sense, this was also a navigation tool.

What is a Logline?
The logline, while short, is longer than the tagline and presents a basic description of your plot in about twenty-five to thirty words. It should contain all the necessary elements for telling a good story.
​
That's right. And it's tough to condense 90,000 words into twenty-five. It's a two-story elevator pitch or a thirty-second time bite in real time.


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RULES OF THUMB

● Be succinct without being sparse. The trick is to create a logline that is pithy but has substance. It must be clear that the antagonistic force is an obstacle to the major goal. It must imply that something is at stake; it must suggest that something can be lost.

● Don't use the main character's name.

● Use a descriptive adjective to give the main character depth in a word or two. Instead of describing the main character as "a detective" say "a cynical fifty-year-old detective" or "a young, enthusiastic detective." Using "an ex-superhero" tells a lot more than "a superhero." "An alcoholic ex-superhero" conveys even more to the reader (or listener).

● Make the genre clear in the text. If your novel is a romance, you need a hero and heroine in the logline. Whether science fiction, comedy, or mystery, the logline should tell the reader what the genre is.

● Present a succinct description of the protagonist's main goal and place it as close to the beginning as possible.

● Make your protagonist pro-active. Show the action of the story. Even if the protagonist is reactive, that's not the same as passive.

● Include the stakes or a ticking time-bomb. Urgency. Show that something can be lost. I like the example used by Erik Bork in his article.
To save his reputation, a secretly gay fraternity boy must sleep with fifteen women by the end-of-semester party.

● Include the set up, particularly science fiction or paranormal where the rules are different. More Erik Bork examples:
   • In a world where all children are grown in vats…
   • Driven to a mental breakdown by an accident at work, an aquarium manager…

● Don’t reveal the twist or surprise at the end. The logline (and the book) should work by itself without the "bonus" surprise at the end.

● Make every word count.

● Sell it, don't tell it.

One final suggestion from a number of screenwriters and authors: Write your Log Line before you write your novel, or at least at the beginning. James Burbridge writes that the bad news is that if you can't make the logline work, it's probably because the story doesn't work. When things were getting pretty fuzzy and definitions overlapping and contradictory, this example brought clarity to me.


Close Quarters - Press Kit. Please note that there are several movies and books with the same title.
  ● Tagline
  A film about sex, betrayal, friendship, jealousy, love, hate, death, and coffee.
  ● Logline
  Forced to work an extra shift, two young baristas must come to terms with their own
  relationship while being bombarded by the very different issues of their diverse customers.
  (29 words)
  ● Short Synopsis
   BARRY and ABBY are two baristas in a Chicago coffeehouse. Barry is passionately and
   blindly in love with Abby. She knows this all too well, but is hardly ready to move into any
   kind of formal relationship with him. This does not stop Barry, though, who has decided
   that the best way to win her over is to propose to her in front of the largest group possible.
  This evening will be his opportunity. It is Abby’s birthday and her friends are planning
  a surprise birthday party for her. Barry is planning an even bigger surprise.


Jaws.is a movie we all know.
  ●Tagline
  Don't go in the water.

  ●Logline
   A sheriff struggles to protect his beach community after a grisly shark attack, but greed
   rules the Chamber of Commerce. (21 words) 

Alien often comes up as an example.

  ●Tagline
  In space, no one can hear you scream.
  ●Logline
  After responding to a distress signal, a space crew is forced to confront a deadly alien who
​  stows aboard their ship, leaving one member to fend for herself. (28 words)

JUST FOR FUN
So, authors, write your taglines and loglines, and if you run out of ideas or just want some fun, go to Brian Stoke's Random Logline Generator. This link is for the Zombie edition of the generator: http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
Another random generator is: http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=Logline

Have fun, and please share your logline and tagline in your comments.

JUST SAYIN'
□

Resources
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-your-novels-log-line/http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing-good-log-lines.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_8663965_write-taglines.html
http://www.bang2write.com/2010/05/loglines-are-not-taglines.html
http://www.staceynash.com/2012/08/24/taglines-hooklines-loglines/
http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/p/how-to-do-log-line.html
http://www.kimberlykillion.com/writers.asp
http://www.closequartersmovie.com/cms/uploads/press-kit.pdfhttp://www.flyingwrestler.com/2013/02/loglines-dont-tease/http://www.raindance.org/10-tips-for-writing-loglines/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_line
http://www.lifeformz.com/logline.html
http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html

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"I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE"

4/1/2024

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WHEW! WE MADE IT 
The Primaries are over. After the fact, it seemed to be a big to-do over not much. Of course, that's not the way the politicians and their closest followers see it. To them it's life or death, and they are getting warmed up for the real battles -- which consist mostly of seeing who can sling the most
                          mud. But enough said about our political system.

We have many happy months to go before all the campaign hoopla will be over. I was just wondering how many of you out there are already as tired of political ads as I am. After all, I am almost 84 years old.

One of the things I dread the most when important elections come around is the constant pummeling of the ads and the ubiquitous refrain accompanying them. 
"I'm So-and-So, and I approve this message!"

STAND BY YOUR AD
Believe it or not, this isn't just a catchy phrase...is a legal mandate!

Of course it is!

You knew that. I mean, after all, we’re talking about
government, aren't we?
​
Image Source: https://imgflip.com/meme/12244012/Godzilla-approved 

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The SBYA (Stand By Your Ad) Provision is part of the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act” adopted in 2002 ("written by Democrat Russ Feingold and the late John McCain, both of whom were serving in the U.S. Senate. McCain, a Republican, and Feingold wrote the bill in an effort to legitimize campaign contributions by banning large corporate donations.")
https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/.


The Act 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. The goal, according to The New York Times, was to limit insults and accusations at one another.


How's that working for you?                                           Image Source: cagle.com/jason-stanford/
                                                                                                                          https://www.nj.com/hudson/dupuy

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​The SBYA provision was intended to minimize the “Attack Ads” which began to proliferate in the 1960s, criticizing an opponent's political platform, and turning the whole thing into a slandering contest.

I suppose it is a miracle it ever got passed. The provision was an attempt to force candidates to associate them-selves with the attacks in such ads (rather than do it anonymously) and to discourage defa-mation of character as a campaign strategy.


Representative David Price of North Carolina, proposer but not author of the amendment, stated: "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, which no one asked for, 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 subsequent 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 ---, and I approve this message.”


MUDSLINGING: A GOOD OLD AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION
l
MAGE SOURCE: https://www.slideserve.com/vlad/mudslinging
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​I also predict that in 2024, and many year after, the American Political System will continue to honor the long tradition of negative campaign rhetoric. It shall carry on as before.

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 first, last, and only non-partisan president.

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

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The President of Yale publicaly suggested that if Jefferson were elected “we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution.”

An article in a 
Connecticut newspaper 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 journalist and 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 unflattering articles charging the new president with having fathered children with a slave named Sally Hemings.

In presidential elections, 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?”

And not one of them had to tag his ads with "I approve this message."


ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
Jefferson was elected, and later he and Adams mended fences and became close friends again, but the tradition of badmouthing their competition to the point of slander and lies has lived on into the 20st century when things seemed to reach the anonymous-ad-boiling-point in 1988 with the Willie Horton ad on television.

Who, you ask, is Willie Horton?

In 1974, William Horton was a convicted criminal serving time for first degree murder, who became eligible for the weekend furlough program. He was allowed to take furloughs and spent them shopping, attending church, and being with his daughter. At that time the furlough program was highly praised as a success.

However, in 1987, one particular furlough weekend, Horton escaped and committed more crimes. Personally, he had nothing to do with the presidential election in 1988, but his recently high profile on the news stoked a debate on whether the furlough program should be deep-sixed because it was "soft on crime."


During the 1988 presidential election, Horton became a central figure in Bush’s campaign as a way for the candidate to imply that his opponent, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, was "soft on crime." 

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When a political action committee used Horton’s mug shot in an attack ad, he became part of an infamous election-season strategy to stoke fear and racial anxiety among white voters. The ad was produced by supporters of a candidate without that candidate's authorization, and devastated the other candidate.
​Image Source: https://www.history.com/news/

"The 30-second ad was financed by the National Security PAC, not Bush’s campaign. It was designed to expose Dukakis’ policies on crime as weak, taking advantage of an issue that historically drove Republican votes. But it also used photos of Horton, including his mug shot, to panic prospective voters about black men and crime." https://www.history.com/news/

All this set the later stage for the bipartisan adoption of the advertisement portions of the SBYD in 2002, which was intended to curtail such advertising in the future by being sure the candidate was clearly tagged as supporting the ad's claims.

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

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Image Source:  https://www.reddit.com/r/conservativecartoons/
JUST SAYIN'
□

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
2024
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/bipartisan-campaign-reform-act-success-or-failure/
https://www.mic.com/articles/126897/when-the-hell-did-i-approve-this-message-become-a-thing
https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/candidates-say-i-approve-this-message-but-why/KT5OG7W2BZFDBHYX3VFXGAB4HI/
https://www.thenewsherald.com/2022/09/28/candidates-dont-want-you-to-know-their-party-affiliation/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/630073/why-politicians-say-i-approve-this-message-in-ads
https://theweek.com/articles/470977/craziest-most-nailbiting-elections-history
https://www.history.com/news/george-bush-willie-horton-racist-ad
https://www.reddit.com/r/conservativecartoons/comments/jxpigi/if_the_2024_election_were_held_today/?rdt=57873&onetap_auto=true&one_tap=true

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The Theory of the Two Bishops of Ireland

3/8/2024

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ÓCH! SAINT PATRICK WASN'T IRISH!
For lo these many years, the world has had to live with the knowledge that Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, was not born in Ireland, but in Scotland. Humbled but never daunted, the Irish learned to accept that and have worshiped Saint Patrick as their patron Saint nonetheless. At minimum, for driving the snakes out Ireland.
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"The snakes miracle" has always been in question because scientists archeologists claim there were never any snakes in Ireland. What is now Ireland separated from the continental mainland at the end of the ice age, and snakes never managed to make the swim, although parts of Scotland were within about eighteen miles from Ireland and most snakes are good swimmers.

Was that not enough? Apparently not.


THE THEORY OF THE TWO PATRICKS
On March 20, 1942, Thomas Francis O'Rahilly (Irish: 
Tomás Ó Rathile) cast more doubts regarding Saint Patrick by announcing his scholarly “Theory of the Two Patricks.”
O'Rahilly, an Irish scholar of Celtic languages from the University College in Dublin, wrote extensively on early Irish history and mythology. His most important contribution to Celtic linguistics is Irish Dialects Past and Present (1932, Dublin: Browne and Nolan) which remains in use to this day. O’Rahilly was latter appointed senior professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
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Thomas O’Rahilly was no slouch in his field of research, so he rocked the boat, so to speak, by proposing that there were two missionaries to Ireland, both of whom went by many names including Patricius (Patrick) whose individual 30 years of service overlapped but encompassed about sixty years in the 5th century.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=photos%20of%20Thomas

​He claimed both Patricks were Roman citizens and both had been sent to Ireland by different Popes, but only one of the Patricks wrote an autobiography -- “Patrick the Britton” -- whom we now honor on March 17.

The timing, combined with difficulties keeping accurate records of dates and events; led eventually to a medieval scribe who either implied or believed that there was only one missionary to Ireland named Patrick who died somewhere between 461 and 493 AD. Ultimately, O’Rahilly professed, this range became accepted as the possible death dates of “Patrick the Britton,” who was the better known of the two, and who received credit for all that was achieved by both him and the first missionary who was called Palladius.

SAINT PALLADIUS (PATRICK), THE FIRST BISHOP OF IRELAND
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Palladius (the first Patrick) was born in the Roman province of Gaul (modern-day France) in approximately 390 AD, the son of Exuperantius of Poitiers, a member of the one of the prominent families in Gaul.

There are records that he was married and had one daughter. Around 408/409 AD, he went to Sicily, put his daughter in a convent there, and lived as an ascetic. (Nowhere did I find a reference to a wife).

​Image Source: https://www.brcblog.org/2019/07/saint-palladius.html
​
It appears that he was ordained as a priest around 415. He lived in Rome between 418–429, and is believed to be the "Deacon Palladius" who was responsible for urging Pope Celestine I to send Bishop Germanus to Britain to guide the Britons to the Catholic faith.
​

​Pope Celestine sent Palladius to Britain with the mission of bringing some heretics back to Christianity. Then he was sent to Ireland as the first bishop of the Christians of Ireland and is recorded as arriving there about 432. He established his church in southern Ireland and proceeded to convert heretics throughout the provinces of Leinster and Munster. But Ireland was not the end of the line for Palladius. Irish writers of the lives of the Saints Patrick indicate that it didn’t take long before Palladius was banished by the king of Leinster.

From Ireland he returned the part of Britain known now as Scotland and was recognized as the first bishop of Scotland. Then he was sent to the northern part shown as Albann on the map, the land of the Picts. The Picts were known as being a wild and fierce people. They went into battle (frequently), their entire bodies painted blue and wearing no clothes.


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He remained in Scotland until his death, and some sources say he met a martyr’s death, others claim he died outside of Aberdeen in about 450 AD.

According to the authors of an article on https://www.electricscotland.com/, Palladius is buried in the village of Fordun  which is situated on a spur of the Grampians, looking sweetly down on the well cultivated plains of the Mearns. The church of Fordun is claimed to hold records corroborating this.

​
Historical Map- Celtic Britain in the 6th Century-Image Source: https://www.angelfire.com/mac/cambel/500_hist/5_hist_celtic550ad.html
​

SAINT PATRICK, THE SECOND BISHOP OF IRELAND

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“Patrick the Briton” is better documented than Palladius. This Patrick was born in Roman Britain, near Dumbarton, Scotland, in the year 387. His father, Calphurnius was a deacon from a Roman family of high standing, and his mother, Conchessa, was a close relative of St. Martin of Tours. Patrick's grandfather, Pontius, was also a member of the clergy, but in his aristocratic youth Patrick was not an active believer in Christianity.
                            Image Source:  https://www.Saint Patrick: Man or myth? - BBC Bitesize

He beat Palladius to Ireland, but not as a missionary. He was captured at the age of 16 by Irish raiders pillaging the west coast of Britain, by then a land no longer protected by the rapidly dissolving Roman Empire.

He was taken to Ireland where he was enslaved for six years near Slemish, County Antrim. (Other scholars claim he was taken to County Mayo near Killala.) Where ever he was held, he worked as a shepherd. Alone and afraid, he turned to his religion for comfort and direction. It was then he became a deeply devoted Christian.
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            Slemish County - Image Source: http://goaheadItours.c om
​Apparently Patrick had visions and, in one, he saw the children of pagan Ireland reaching out their hands to him. This led him to the determination that he should free them from Druidism and convert them to Christianity. In around 408, he dreamed a voice told him he would soon go home; then, in a later vision, the voices said his ship was ready. Apparently it was, and he eventually escaped but vowed to return to Ireland and bring the gospel of Christ to the people he had come to love.

Patrick began studying for the priesthood in Auxerre, France, and was ordained four years later. Later in life, he was ordained a bishop and still held on to the desire to bring Christianity to Ireland. Around 461, at the same time that Palladius’s days either had drawn or were drawing to a close, Pope St. Celestine I consecrated St. Patrick as Bishop of the Irish, then sent him to Ireland to spread the faith.

The latter Patrick’s mission concentrated on the north and west of Ireland, in Ulster and Connacht, places Palladius had not touched. He died in 493 A.D, according to no less of an authority than St. Colmcille, and is buried in Downpatrick, in Ulster.


SO, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE THEORY?
Professor O'Rahilly became known for his theory which was characterized as the person we knew and loved called Saint Patrick was actually an amalgam of a number of holy men who live more or less contemporaneously. This resulted in both consternation and amusement among scholars and holy men concerned with the subject.
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​Writer Flann O’brien saw the amusing side of the controversy and wrote in his Irish Times column jesting that O’Rahilly had “so far proved that there was no God and two St. Patricks.” O’Rahilly didn’t think that was funny, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies sued for libel. The Institute prevailed and was awarded damages in the sum of 20 British pounds, half of which was never paid. https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/the-two-st-patricks,

Flann O’Brien  -  Image Source: writerswrite.co.za/flann-obrien/

​None-the-less, the publication of the theory started an academic civil war, which still rages.
​O'Brien wrote:
“If the careers of the two Patricks, through scholarly bungling, had become inextricably entangled, who did what? And worse still-which of them was the patron saint? If you addressed a prayer to one, might it not be delivered by mistake to the other? There was a feeling abroad that any concession to the two Patricks theory would lead unfailingly to a theory of no Patrick.” https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-solution-to-the-two-st-patricks-theory/

No Saint Patrick!? That would be the final blow.

CONCLUSION
To the extent that there is a conclusion, the first is “There is no hard and fast answer.” The historical evidence and documentation available is quite limited. What exists has been so dissected and re-dissected in genuine attempts to find the truth that it has become extremely interwoven and confused. It is generally accepted now by most historians that Palladius was the first Bishop of Ireland.

The second conclusion is that Saint Patrick and his status a Patron Saint of Ireland is extremely important to the Irish and, in general, the beliefs and celebrations of the Irish at home and abroad, remain unchanged by academia and theories.

JUST SAYIN'
ABÚ (Hurrah for) SAINT PATRICK and HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY.
□
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89
http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/who-was-saint-patrick
http://st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.html
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/legend-of-Saint-Patrick.html
http://www.biography.com/people/st-patrick-9434729
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/shamrock-plant.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladius_(bishop_of_Ireland)
https://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/religious-studies-and-philosophy/critically-assess-the-view-that-the-two-patrick-theory-solves-the-puzzle-of-patrick.html#:~:text=Critically%20assess%20the%20view%20that%20the%20two%20Patrick,contained%20to%2
https://www.theexaminernews.com/a-tale-of-two-patricks-but-who-was-first/
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/the-two-st-patricks
https://www.academia.edu/11900877/THE_TWO_PATRICKS
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-solution-to-the-two-st-patricks-theory/
https://www.edmaps.com/html/british_isles.html
https://www.uni-due.de/DI/DI_Portraits.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFlZcAkqn9E
https://members.tripod.com/~Hal_MacGregor/gregor/Chronicles.html
https://travel.sygic.com/en/poi/slemish-poi:3652586
https://fiveminutehistory.com/the-top-3-most-beautiful-cathedrals-built-in-honor-of-st-patrick/
https://www.writerswrite.co.za/literary-birthday-5-october-flann-obrien/
https://www.lane1photos.com/Archives/2015/St-Patricks-Day-Parade/i-mBGJhgn/
https://www.thrillist.com/events/philadelphia/st-patricks-day-parade-in-philadelphia
https://dailyhive.com/montreal/st-patrick-day-parade-return
http://thelistlove.com/10-amazing-st-patricks-day-facts
tps://www.sacredhearthook.org/st-patrick
https://blog1.hawaiianislandweddings.com/2015/03/why-you-are-wrong-about-st-patricks-day.html
https://www.yourirish.com/history/christianity/palladius#:~:text=After%20a%20short%20while%2C%20Palladius%20was%20banished%20from,Scotland%20where%20he%20landed%20at%20the%20Orkney%20Islands.
https://www.electricscotland.com/history/wylie/vol2ch8.htm#:~:text=History%20Of%20The%20Scottish%20Nation%20Vol%202%2C%20Chapter,in%20Ireland.%20Dies%20and%20is%20buried%20at%20Fordun

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MEMOIR: "sOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND"

1/16/2024

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​WHO, ME? WRITE A MEMOIR?
Even after taking up fiction writing as a second career, I never gave any serious thought to writing a memoir, primarily because I did not feel I have anything particularly profound or interesting to say that anyone would ever want to read (and as it turned out, I didn’t even know how to spell the word correctly).

I’ve done interesting things, and I have known interesting people, but personally, I never thought about my life as particularly extraordinary or memoir-worthy.

From my research I learned, first, that you don’t spell memoir with an “e” at the end. Second, I realized I never felt a burning need to tell my story because no one else could tell it or to create another version of my life. My bad!

Maya Angelou once wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”  I believe that, but perhaps I was (am?) too shallow to realize the significance of what was going on around me or too busy living life to make the time to write about it, but there are no burning compulsions to drive me.

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WHAT IS A MEMOIR?
Traditionally, Memoir is a branch of literature now called “creative nonfiction”, defined by American writer and speaker Lee Gutkind as, “true stories, well told.”
   Image Source: Ingramspark.com/writing-a-memoir
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Although Merriam Webster defines a memoire as “a narrative composed from personal experience”, that could be a rather opened-ended rambling about anything or nothing, as long as it is personal experience. In the 21st century, the term might also apply to telling one’s story in a format other than writing, such as video, photography, song, and so on, but this discussion is limited to written memoirs.

If open-ended narrative is what you want to write, you are probably doing it already as a diary, in letters, or in some other way such as, ahem… writing blogs. If so, most of this article will not matter to you, which doesn’t mean you are not building a written record that will assist you later if you choose to write a more conventional account of your life.

So — Bye, bye! And good luck!  Otherwise, memoir is a true story, well-told, about someone and something, however the author chooses to tell it.

INGREDIENTS OF MEMOIR
Masterclass.com, whose writing courses are taught by some pretty high-powered authors, indicates that memoirs do not document the author’s entire life but focus on an era or a specific multi-era segment of the journey. The memoir can also follow the author’s life “through a particular lens.” Memoirs generally contain six basic ingredients.

● Theme
Memoir writing should focus on a specific theme or lesson, and every compelling story included in a good memoir should support that theme. When people read your memoir, what do you want them to take away?

● Obstacles
If the author was alive and conscious during most of his/her life, the story will be full of obstacles to be overcome. Every good story has them because every human life has them.  An author can facilitate the writing process by outlining the major obstacles that stood in the way of achieving their goals.

● Emotional beats
How can a story be good without any emotion? It can’t, and that is why memoir writing is packed with the author’s feelings and opinions.

Writing in the first person is the favorite choice of most memoir authors because it is very immediate, and easy enough to do when you are telling your own story. Owning those emotions may be the hardest part for the writer. Of course, using first person is not a requirement, but it does bring the reader right along the emotional arc with the author.


● Supporting stories
Writing memoirs involves plumbing the depths of your real-life story and presenting those key events with honesty and transparency. That’s why one of the essential elements of a memoir is gathering supporting stories from other sources.

Masterclass.com suggests that for many types of memoirs, including a coming-of-age story, it is helpful to interview your friends or family members who were around you at the time. They will remember events differently than you do. I don’t recall being an obnoxious teenager, but my family does. Besides, stories from the memories of others add variety and perspective, and you may learn something about what happened when you were “out of the room.”

● Personal style/ Voice
As with any type of writing, except perhaps technical writing, voice is key. You can tell your story in a way that no one else on earth can, with the private thoughts and emotions that went along with the experiences. That is your personal style. A memoir should make the most of your personality and your point of view.

● Honesty
This is what really happened! At least as the author remembers it. No one else remember exactly what the author does, but memoirs require the author to be brutally honest. That is one of the defining characteristics of this kind of writing.

Readers expect a memoir to be true, even though some of them forget a memoir it is what the authors remembers as true. But if you whitewash your story and try to make it something it isn’t, a reader will see through that in a New York minute. If your dress was red or green doesn’t matter (usually), and those kinds of details may be the kind you don’t remember vividly. But feelings and reactions are another matter.

If you can’t take the "heat of honesty", don’t try cook in the "memoir kitchen". Or if you do, be sure you can deal honestly the events you choose to write about.

PURPOSE
Delving into writing memoirs was enlightening, particularly in relation to purpose. While attempting to write a simple, definitive paragraph, I had an ”ah-ha!” moment when I realized that the purpose of the memoir is not the same as the purpose of writing the memoir. While the two are inexorably intertwined and overlapping, it is not difficult to see the differences.


● The Purpose Of A Memoir
Like any other good story, there need to be reasons (there is usually more than one) for telling it. 
The word memoir itself is derived from Old French meaning “written note; memorandum; something written to be kept in mind.” That last part of the definition strikes me as the overriding purpose of a memoir.

“To keep something in mind.” The purpose the memoir itself is to share with others what the author believes should be kept in mind. Something to learn or understand more thoroughly, and to remember.

● The Purpose of Writing a Memoir
There are numerous reasons for writing this type of creative nonfiction, but all of them are intensely personal to the author. 
 

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​● Preserve A Family Legacy
The most common reason people write memoirs is to preserve a family’s legacy. Most humans seem motivated to have someone to remember them after death.

​ Self-image, generativity (relating to reproduction), and death anxiety all play a role in driving people to do all sorts of things to build a legacy to ensure they are remembered long after they are gone. Writing memoirs, leaving family heirlooms to children, and creating a charity in their own name are a few examples of some of the more productive ways to deal with the apparently inherent need “to live forever.”

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​​​● Search For One’s Personal and/or Family Identity
The purpose can also be a search for one’s personal and/or family identity. Growing up, we all glean something about our family identity through what we are told and what we observe. Usually, this pieced-together vision is incomplete, and it may also be painfully inaccurate.
Many people feel the drive to investigate and learn the true identities and histories of their families and their ancestors, and writing a memoir is a popular way to accomplish that.

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● Gain Insight About The Past
A purpose can be an attempt to gain insight about a past personal event(s), or heal from traumatic experiences or wounds inflicted by others or by life itself.

However, the insight does not have to be personal. By going through the process of writing about one’s life experiences, one can also search for, gain and share insights about the times in which the person, or the person’s ancestors, lived.

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● Reinvent the Author
Writer André Aciman believes some people write memoirs because they want a chance to create another version of their lives.
psychologytoday.com/your-memoir
Somehow the outcome does not have the “ring” of being  completely honest, but maybe some authors achieve that.

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​● Expose the Individual and/or The Past For The World To See
The burning agony to tell one’s story most often springs from an author who is not so much searching for personal identity and insight, but one who wants to expose to the world not only past experiences but also the reasons why these experiences happened, particularly when those reasons have been purposely hidden, not seen, or misunderstood, by those who did not experience them.

Of course, purpose and results usually vary, and while an individual may write a memoir for the purpose of exposing corruption in the X industry, the author may achieve several or all of the other purposes for writing the memoir.

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One Purpose for Not Writing a Memoir
The only purpose I found for not writing a memoir is revenge. Everyone writing on the subject agrees that no good comes of revenge memoirs. It would appear, however, that some authors did not get the memo and have written this form of creative nonfiction with that objective in mind.

​
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?
The audience for any memoir is also interrelated to the purpose of the memoir and the purpose for writing the memoir. While it may seem that audience doesn’t matter and comes “after the fact” in the process, that’s not the case. The audience should be kept in mind while structuring the work: i.e. pay attention to how the material is put together and presented in a way that is meaningful to that audience.

Just remember, whomever the author is writing the memoir for, in reality it may be difficult or impossible to control who reads it. The same goes for whether it remains private or ends up being public. 
Anyone who reads a memoir has one of two motivations to do so which makes them the audiences.


● First, Audiences Interested In The Author or the Author’s Family

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• You, The Author
Sometimes there is no other intended audience than the author, who is writing it solely for cerebral purposes. Just remember, ultimately it may not turn out that way.

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 • Your Family or A Select Member(s) Of Your Family
In this case, the content is specifically for a certain member or members of your family, but not everyone.  Again, that might be hard to control once one has read it.

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• Your Family, Extended Family, and Friends
It may be that the information is intended for the entire family, which can also include close friends, and those with whom the author has a fairly close relationship with, such as members of the same church or professional organization. In short, this audience might not be the one you choose for revealing closely guarded family secrets, scandals, or even deeply personal beliefs or confessions.

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● The General Public
In this context, I am talking about people who are interested in a particular memoir not because they are interested in author Joe Blow or Joe Blow’s family, but are interested in the time period (history, culture, the way of life, technology available, social events, social mores, and other issues related to that time) or the topic the author was involved with and wrote about.

An example could be a Chef’s memoir. The reader might not be interested at all in the cook as a person but is interested in the author’s descriptions of the dishes prepared (maybe even recipes and those originated by the author), unusual ingredients used, the cooking tools available at the time, customs regarding the serving of the dishes, and so on.

In either audience, you will find 1) those who will buy the memoir (book, e-Book, video, game, film, and whatever other format it is available for purchase); 2) those who will read it if they don’t have to buy it; and 3) those who will buy it but won’t read it.

TERMINOLOGY TURMOIL
As often occurs, different folks have different strokes. We all tend to refer to things by using general terms (such as kinds, styles, types, forms, components, elements, etc.) to describe different, similar, and sometimes the same classifications or categories.

The product is like a big round cake of one layer or many. There are a number of ways it can be cut and served.

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But no matter how you do it, each segment is a piece of cake identified by one classification or another. It can also be described by the ingredients from which it is made. Still cake. My point is, I am trying to avoid calling the numerous pieces and approaches to memoir by certain categories. However, there is one distinction to make.

● Autobiography vs. Memoir
One difference in terms that matters is Autobiography vs. Memoir. Both are written, non-fiction narratives about the life of the person who wrote them, but they are different in structure, scope, style, philosophy, and audience.

   • Autobiography is a factual and historical account of one’s entire life, usually from  beginning to end (or present), and usually in chronological order.
        
    • Memoir is a narrative account in which the author shares their memories of specific times, events, people, or reflects on a string of themed occurrences throughout all or part of their life. Memoir is more based on the raw material of their life and memories and feelings from a personal perspective.


Beyond this, it is easy to become confused by terminology and to compare apples and oranges, which are both angiosperm fruits (flowering plants that produce seeds include in a fruit). Both fruits have numerous varieties and similarities, but somewhere along the line stop being comparable with each other. Say what?

ORGANIZATION OF CONTENT
Most writers understand the word “content” to mean what the book is about. The meaty part. In the case of memoir, it has to do with what part of the author’s life he will write about and for what reasons.


Let’s face it. No matter how exciting, interesting, unique, or motivational our lives are overall, we all live certain segments of our time doing things that no one wants to know about. This means the author has to determine what parts of his life he wants to tell and those he does not want to write about.

Even if the purpose is solely to record everyday life with all the boring chores, events, conversations, etc. that happen to that person, in that place and at that time, there needs to be a thread that holds everything together. Whatever your purpose and the purpose of your subject matter, you are not writing to bore the reader to into a coma. You are not killing yourself writing your memoire so the reader will die of boredom. You want the reader to be interested and be anxious to know what comes next.

Memoir makes visible, and weaves together, the connecting threads of life events and gives meaning to them. This form of writing pulls related events from your life and examines them, turns them around and inside out, and shapes them into a story that communicates your perspective and truth to others.

The following is an alphabetical list of approaches without giving them categories. I’m sure many of them overlap. Sorry!
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● Celebrity Memoir
This type of memoir is popular among famous people and, similar to all memoirs, can serve a number of purposes. However, such works are also written to sell to the public (and in large numbers, if possible), and immediately brake the rule of having to be written about the author by the author.

You don't need to be a, or "the", celebrity to write a celebrity memoir. You can write a portraiture memoir about someone renowned whom you are close with. Write from your perspective instead of theirs. Celebrities sell, so any incident concerning them (and you) has appeal to readers. 
*Memoir written to sell.

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​● Confessional Memoirs
Confessional memoirs focus on what the writer feels are the wrong actions or decisions they took in life. It is a lot like someone entering a confessional booth to talk to a priest about their sins, which is how this memoir got its name. After discussing the decision or actions, the writer could then use the memoir to talk about how they made amends with those involved and how the process eventually changed their life for the better (or whatever). The name implies an upbeat ending rather than a downer.


● Novel-Like Memoir *Memoirs written to sell
This type of memoir is page-turning, evocative, and narrated like a novel. It combines tragic events with a dash of magic and an inspiring storyline. Like a novel, the writing style provokes the readers' imagination with vivid and visual descriptions. Feelings are also described in an engaging way.

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 ● Personal Event Memoir
The Personal Memoir always focuses on: 1) A specific experience or event; 2) Why that event may have (or did) occur; and 3) What the writer learned after the situation was resolved.

​This kind of event can be a childhood or a coming-of-age occurrence, or revolve around a personal life event such as divorce, illness, abuse, grief, an adventure, living abroad, and so on. Every individual has such events (ordinary or unusual) which can become an infinite well for inspiration.

Because this type of memoir deals with primarily one event with usually major fallout, they tend to be life-altering experiences. 
Another way of framing this kind of memoir is a glimpse into the writer’s personal life during a certain segment of time. These memoirs are traditionally the most popular type. Finally, the theme that ties the stories together could the type of event related to extreme emotions, such as the most embarrassing moment, the most gratifying moment, the most horrific moment, etc. 

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● Political or Activism Memoir
These are most often written by those who have held public office, like presidents, governors, and other government officials including military. Some high-profile activists with inspiring life lessons have also written such a memoir.

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● Portraiture Memoir
This type of memoir is the only other, besides a celebrity memoir, that may be written by someone other than the actual person. It’s based on the experiences or events of a person who has documented them thoroughly in some way but, in this case, the other person does not have to be a celebrity. Nonetheless, this calls for subject who is “bigger than life” to keep the interest and sell the book. As the author, you are writing about your experiences when dealing with the subject of the memoir.

A variation of the theme could be based on someone’s diary or even correspondence with someone over a period of time, as long as it is taken from the narrative the individual wrote. I believe it would have to include a lot about how the original writer felt about things to make it work as a memoir.

​The writer of a portrait memoir does not include their own thoughts or feelings – only what they have found in their research is included.

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● Professional Memoirs
This type of memoir is written from the perspective of the writer’s professional life. If someone was a politician, for example, they might write a memoir about their time in public office. A judge might write about important or memorable cases; a clown, what it was like growing up as part of a traveling circus.

Some memoirs in this category are written for the purpose of forming a historical record of events. Others may be written as training materials for others. At the end of the day, however, this type of memoir still needs to offer a story arc and thesis to keep the reader engaged.

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● Public Memoirs
Some people live their lives in a very public way. Celebrities would be associated with this type of memoir, but so would anyone that lives their life in the public eye on a regular basis. The public memoir is a little different because the goal is to let readers get to know the writer in a more personal way than the public lens allows. There are more thoughts, opinions, feelings, and points of view included in this narrative without the need for a comprehensive story arc.

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● Spiritual Quest Memoir
A memoir about searching for spiritual meaning and purpose is most often referred to as a Spiritual Quest. The author is a spiritual seeker, which may or may not discuss anything related to religion. Spirituality, after all, is the quality of being a human spirit and the experiences related to the soul and immaterial activities. Many spiritual memoirs talk about peace, love, and mindfulness, like those written by the Dalai Lama.

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● Transformational Memoirs
Oops! Maybe not this kind of transition

Transformational memoirs, one of the most common types, include:
1) coming of age memoirs; 2) o
vercoming addictions or challenging circumstances; and 3) embracing religion or spirituality and the changes that decision helped to create.
​

Significant events and experiences that helped to shape the writer are important elements in this type of memoir. A transformational memoir should also include what the writer found or learned at the end of the journey during the quest for transformation.

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● Travel or Adventure Memoir
Some writers have had notable experiences while traveling. Others may have started traveling just so they could have those experiences.
This type of memoir focuses on the personal adventure of the situation and challenges the writer may have faced and overcome. Imagine climbing Mount Everest and dealing with the cold, wind, and low oxygen near the summit. What were the writer’s thoughts, feelings, and choices during this difficult time? That’s what makes this type of memoir stand out.

A travel or adventure memoir includes narration on experiences, activities, and lessons learned during a trip. This type of memoir mostly describes places in vivid detail and relates unforgettable experiences. To add substance, many authors include how they were forever changed by their travels.

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● Trial-to-Triumph Memoir *Memoirs written to sell
We all love reading about heroes, survivors, and rags-to-riches. This type of memoir describes the hardships, what the author endures, and how he or she continues to fight against all the odds. The triumph comes with important life lessons, which the author shares with readers without lecturing. This type of memoir is so common that the competition in this genre is fierce.

JUST SAYIN’!
This is what a memoir is. But it is your work. As the author you can put whatever twist on the format, content, and structure that you want. Of all the types of writings there are, this is the most personal, the most you that you can get.

​Take advantage of that and make your story sing. Personally, after this, I don't think I'll attempt to write one. 


Sources:
https://prowritingaid.com/art/942/selecting-and-writing-a-memorable-memoir-.aspx
https://louisadeasey.com/six-styles-of-memoir-essay/
https://networlding.com/types-of-memoirs/

https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-memoir
https://medium.com/thrive-global/why-write-a-memoir-432d18fa236b
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-empowerment-diary/201609/why-should-you-write-your-memoir
https://www.psychalive.org/why-write-memoir/
https://www.etymonline.com/word/memoir
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-empowerment-diary/201609/why-should-you-write-your-memoir
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/breaking-down-the-key-elements-of-a-memoir
https://www.psychologytoday.com/identity-can-change-even-after-death#:~:text=Generally
https://sage-answer.com/what-are-the-5-elements-of-a-memoir/
https://uwc.cah.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2015/04/The_Memoir.pdf
https://etheleemiller.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2013/02/5-Elements-of-Memoir.pdfhttps://www.ingramspark.com/blog/what-to-share-when-writing-a-memoir
https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/what-to-share-when-writing-a-memoir

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STATISTICS AND ODDITIES YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT CHRISTMAS

12/1/2023

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THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S CHRISTMAS LETTER
If you celebrate the December holiday season – and even if you don’t -- you have no doubt been exposed to a vast amount of information about the meaning of the Christmas holiday, the customs and traditions, how to decorate, how to dress, and how to everything else. I’m sure you don’t need an annual repeat. This about some of the statistics and oddities about Christmas that you may not know.

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​● MISTLETOE
​Viscum album [mistletoe] means “dung on a twig” in the Anglo-Saxon language. Mistletoe spreads through bird droppings.


Image Credit: Geograph
Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/

● CHRISTMAS GIFTS
A 2014 survey from Japan-based online retailer Rakuten found three-quarters of Americans didn’t like their holiday gifts with one-third choosing to regift, 27 percent donating to charity, and 14 percent cutting their losses and selling while the item still had value.

● ‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE DUMPING
Data analyst David McCandless analyzed more than 10,000 Facebook status updates and found that approximately two weeks before Christmas is the most likely time that a man or woman will dump their significant other. Wait until the last week to buy that gift.

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● BEWARE CHRISTMAS DANGERS
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates there are approximately 15,000 Christmas decoration-related emergency room visits each holiday season. These must be old statistics. I'd have bet on a much higher number of visits.


Image Source: https://firstaidforlife.org.uk/christmas/

● US MILITARY TRACKS SANTA
It started by accident when, in 1955, a local department store had a typo in their newspaper ad which misdirected children to call NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. In response to the many calls, NORAD started Santa Tracker, and has assigned one colonel to answer calls every Christmas since then. That’s almost 70 years.


● LETTERS TO SANTA

In 1982, Canada Post assigned Santa the postal code of H0H 0H0. It has received an annual letter volume of 1 million ever since, addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada.

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Image Credit: Promotional still from The Grinch, c/o Zimbio
Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/

● CHRISTMAS REQUIRES TORTURE RESISTANCE TRAINING
According to the Chicago Tribune, film funnyman Jim Carrey was so uncomfortable in his Grinch costume for 2000’s live-action adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic, he likened it to being “buried alive,” and hired a Navy SEAL to train him in torture resistance so he could endure wearing it.

● TALLEST CHRISTMAS TREE
The Northgate Mall in Seattle has lost its status as having had the tallest Christmas tree ever at 221 feet.                                 Image Credit:  English Book in Georgia --     Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/  
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Gubbio, a town in the region of Umbria, Italy, now holds the distinction of having the largest Christmas tree in the world. It was first inaugurated in 1981, and it’s a tree of colored lights spread over the slopes of Monte Ingino. The roots sink into the walls of the village, while the star is at the top where the Basilica of Sant’Ubaldo, patron saint of Gubbio, is located. It can be seen from up to 30 miles away. (See photo below.)
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With a base of 1,148 feet wide and 2,130 feet high, the Christmas tree of Gubbio consists of 3000 multi-colored lights placed all the way up the slopes of Monte Ingino, which towers above the city. Green lights outline the shape of a Christmas tree, with over 300 multicolored lights scattered in the central body and at the top, at least two hundred lights outside the star. The tree lighting takes place every year on December 7th. 

Image Source: www.italybyevents.com/world-largest-christmas-tree

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● CHRISTMAS CARDS
Werner Erhard is cited in the book The Curious World of Christmas as holding the world record for sending the most Christmas cards in a single year (December 1975). He sent 62,824 cards. Considering standard postage at the time, the postage cost alone would have been $8,167.12, which works out to around $30,783.76 in today’s dollars. (No estimate on the cost of the cards.)


According to Wikipedia, Werner Hans Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg; September 5, 1935) is an American author and lecturer known for founding Erhard Seminars Training. In 1985, Erhard replaced the his seminars with a newly designed program, the Forum. While Wikipedia does not mention the Christmas cards, based on his involvement in training seminars, and the large number of people who took his seminars over the years, it is certainly possible that this is the same person.

● KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN
Each year since the 1970s, millions of Japanese families have celebrated Christmas Day with a “Party Barrel” from Kentucky Fried Chicken. According to the BBC, a local-to-Japan KFC restaurant owner dreamed up the idea, and the company took it national in 1974.
        

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             Image Credit:  Boing Boing                                                                                         Image Credit: KFC Japan
            
Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/                                                             Image source: www.bbc.com/worklife/japan-christmas--kfc     


● ROLLER-SKATING TO CHRISTMAS MASS
In the capital city of Venezuela, Caracas, there's a 'wheelly' fun tradition which involves pretty much the entire city roller skating to early morning church services throughout the Christmas period. They even close the roads off specially to allow for the unconventional commute.
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According to Hispanic Culture Online, children are put to bed earlier than normal the night before to give them enough strength to wake up and skate to Mass. Afterwards, those who attended apparently all go out, eat tostados and drink coffee.
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                                                                                                 Image Credit: Getty
              Image Source: //metro.co.uk/2017/12/20/venezuelans-roller-skate

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● WORLD’S TALLEST SNOWMAN
Guinness World Records credits the title of world’s tallest snowman — snowwoman, rather – to Bethel, Maine, after the entire city pitched in on the 122' 1" tall creation, named Olympia, who measures just a few feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty (also a woman). She was built is 2008 and named after Senator Olympia Snowe. 
She had skis for her eyelashes and wreaths for her eyes. She wore a 100-foot long scarf, and waved 2 whole 27-foot tall trees as arms. And imagine lugging her 8-foot nose up there!
   Image Credit: Guiness World Records - Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/                                                      

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● WORLD’S LONGEST CHRISTMAS STOCKING
The Italy-based emergency services organiza-tion, Pubblica Assistenza Carrara e Sezioni, located in Carrara, Italy, captured the world’s longest Christmas stocking title from Guiness World Records on Jan. 5, 2011. The final size was over 168 feet in length and more than 70 in width (from heel to toe).                          Image Credit: World Record Academy -- Image Source: //www.robertreeveslaw.com/

● BECOME A BETTER SANTA CLAUS
If you are a part-time Santa Claus for the last few months of the year, there's a place you can go to hone you Santa Claus skills for that department store gig. There is no more prestigious place to do that than the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School.

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The school has operated since 1937 (86 years), teaching Santa history, proper dress, Santa sign language, toy making, the latest toy-and-gadget wish lists, and live reindeer habits. Every year, nearly 300 of "Santa's cousins" come from across the country and the world for fellowship, inspiration and a celebration of the Christmas spirit… and to learn how to be a better Santa.
    
Image credit: Katy Kildee/[email protected] --  Source of Images: www.ourmidland.com/Charles-W-Howard

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​● CHRISTMAS AT DENNY’S 
Denny’s restaurants have long been known for their “always open” motto, even on Christmas. In 1988, Management, having experienced a rare moment of compassion for its employees, decided to give them Christmas day off. The only problem was 700 of the franchise’s then-1,221 locations had no locks per the company policy.                                                                             Image Credit: Denny’s Restaurants
                                                                                                                                                                     Image Source: heavy.com/dennys-christmas-open
            Thankfully, corporate was able to come through with
last-minute installations, and the employees got to go home for Christmas. No word on what their policy is now.

JUST SAYIN'! 

Sources:

https://metro.co.uk/2017/12/20/christmas-around-the-world-why-venezuelans-roller-skate-to-mass-on-christmas-eve-7018407/
https://www.italybyevents.com/en/events/umbria/world-largest-christmas-tree-gubbio/
https://www.robertreeveslaw.com/blog/strange-bizarre-hilarious-christmas-facts/
https://bedtimemath.org/fun-math-largest-snowperson/https://bedtimemath.org/fun-math-largest-snowperson/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Erhard
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20161216-why-japan-celebrates-christmas-with-kfc
https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Charles-W-Howard-Santa-Claus-School-continues-13324811.php
https://heavy.com/news/2015/12/dennys-menu-near-me-christmas-open-on-hours-is-holidays/
https://firstaidforlife.org.uk/christmas/
https://www.mcall.com/1988/12/21/dennys-is-taking-a-day-off/​
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THE FIVE MASS EXTINCTIONS OF THE WORLD

11/3/2023

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Just reading the title “Mass Extinction” may shake a person up a bit. What mass extinctions? Did I miss something in history class?
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Take solace in remembering that if you are here to read this, your progenators, in one form or another, survived all five events. You can also be consoled by the fact that these five events have taken place over a very long period of time. The rough speculation of when the earth was created is around 4. 5 billion years ago. However, undisputed scientific evidence dates the first life on earth at 3.5 billion years ago
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​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Earth
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WHAT IS A MASS EXTINCTION?
A mass extinction is considered as the event or period of time when an “overwhelming majority of the species living at that time is wiped out.” i.e. become extinct. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-5-major-mass-extinctions​

That’s simple enough to understand, but pretty harsh. To grasp the full concept, first we need to put the five extinctions into perspective and, to do that, we need a simple timeline for the earth’s development.

EARTH’S TIMELINE
Since there is indisputable fossil evidence of rudimentary life existing 3.5 billion years ago, it makes sense to begin measuring earth’s timeline from that point. Presumably giving life a billion years to develop, the measurement starts at 4,500 billion years ago. Most of the Eras are divided into smaller amounts of timer called Periods.
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Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/536069161898856599/
● Archeozoic Era [4500-1500 million years ago]
During the earliest era of earth’s evolution, the surface changed from molten to rock and the continental plates formed. The atmosphere was composed of 75% nitrogen & 15% carbon Dioxide, known as prokaryotic cells, which have free-floating DNA and no nucleus, and lack membrane-bound organelles -- any of a number of organized structures within a living cell -- associated with higher forms of life.
 

● Proterozoic Era [2500 to 542 million years ago]
Nearing the end of this era, soft bodied organisms appeared such as jellyfish.


● Paleozoic Era [542 to 151 million years ago]
Vertebrate animal forms, arachnids, and wingless insects developed. Breakup of supercontinents and reformation of continents may have caused the earth to be unstable and mass volcanoes appeared which destroyed the oxygen level balance.


● Mesozoic Era [3 Periods]
    1. Triassic period [252 to 201 million years ago]
Many primitive dinosaurs and marine reptiles evolved. Some of the first species of dinosaurs were the Plateosaurus, Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus, Pisanosaurus, Saturnalia, Staurikosaurus.

    2.
 Jurassic Period [201to 145 million years ago]
Dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Apatosaurus, and carnivores such as Allosaurus flourished on the earth. The first reptiles with primitive abilities to attempt flight appeared.

    3. Cretaceous Period [145 to 66 million years ago]
The Ceratopsidae family begin to form which included plated dinosaurs with defense body features such as spikes such as the Triceratops. At the end of this Period and Era, there is a large dinosaur extinction that completely wiped out all dinosaurs living on the earth.


● Cenozoic Era [65.5 million years ago to today]
The oldest known modern mammals diversify and radiate across the continents. The appearance of the first elephants, horses, and other mammals existed in this Era. Homo Sapiens evolved.
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CAUSES OF MASS EXTINCTIONS
There are numerous theories about the causes for those periods when a large percentages of all living species went extinct, including climate changes, geologic catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions and movement of tectonic plates, even meteor strikes onto Earth’s surface.

Because so many species died off during these catastrophic events, there were opportunities for surviving species to spread out and fill in places in the environment that need to be filled: i.e. more space plus less competition for food and resources. These events were followed by a period of rapid speciation -- the formation of new and distinct species -- in the course of evolution.

As surviving species spread out and became adjusted to their new environmental conditions, they became reproductively isolated from their original populations, "and eventually became new species.”  
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-5-major-mass-extinctions

THE FIVE EVENTS…SO FAR
The five mass extinction events differed as to the cause and the impacts but each ravaged the biodiversity on the earth at the time. There are several explanation given by various sources, and some sources combine the first mass extinction with the second because it came so quickly in geologic and evolutionary time. The article treats them as separate events.

● Ordovician Mass Extinction [Paleozoic Era]
By the Ordovician period [roughly 485 to 444 million years ago] larger aquatic life forms existed and some scientists speculate that there were even some land species. Nonetheless, the earth was still in its formative stages and the land masses had not taken their current shapes. Still today, our land masses continue to move very slowly. 
The causes of this mass extinction are considered two.

1. Gamma Ray Burst
“Some scientists believe that the initial extinction resulted from the gamma-ray burst that originated from a hypernova [a very energetic supernova also called a collapsar]. The burst which lasted about 10 seconds may have caused the earth's atmosphere to immediately lose about one-third of its ozone, exposing the organisms to extreme ultraviolet radiation.” 
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-ordovician-extinction.html


2. Continential Drift and Glacial Period
Until the Ordovician period, there had been period of somewhat stable conditions and temperatures. Approximately 440 million years ago the supercontinent Gonwanda began to drift significantly which contributed to the onset of an ice age with spread rapidly over the earth. With the seawater captured in ice, the sea levels were significantly lowered.

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This limestone is full of bryozoa, crinoid, and brachiopod fossils/ Devonian period.
Image Credit: Nehring / Getty Images
Image Source:
https://www.thoughtco.com/mass-extinction


The specific causes that ended the ice age are unknown although volcanic action would make sense in light of the continental drift. What is certain is that it was back to the drawing board for life on earth.
Another 80% of surviving and new species, land and sea, were again wiped out in this subsequent mass extinction.
 

● Permian Mass Extinction
Approximately 250 million years ago, at the end of the Paleozoic Era, the Permian Mass Extinction killed off an estimated 96% of all species living then.

This is largest of all known mass extinctions and is dubbed “The Great Dying.” Aquatic and terrestrial life forms alike perished relatively quickly as the mystery event took place. In other words, scientists don’t know for certain what happened, but there are numerous hypotheses. The most likely was massive volcanic activity paired with asteroid impacts that sent deadly methane and basalt into the air and across the surface of the Earth.

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Dimetrodons went extinct in The Great Dying.
Image Credit: Stephen J Krasemann / Getty Images
Image Source:
: https://www.thoughtco.com/mass-extinction


These could have caused a decrease in oxygen that suffocated life and brought about a quick change in the climate. Recent research points to a microbe from the Archaea domain that flourishes when methane is high. These extremophiles -- organisms able to live in extreme environments with conditions approaching or expanding the limits of what known life can adapt to -- may have “taken over” and choked out life in the oceans as well.

When the time frame is compared to that of the breakup of the supercontinent Gonwanda and the formation of Pangaea and its mountains had a tremendous impact on global climate and sea levels, which resulted in glaciations and continent-wide sedimentation. These changes contributed to the Permian extinction event and left large deposits of hydro-carbons, coal, evaporate -- a natural salt or mineral deposit left after the evaporation of a body of water -- and metals.
The Permian Mass Extinction killed off an estimated 96% of all living species.

● TRIASSIC-JURASSIC MASS EXTINCTION
The fourth mass extinction occurred about 200 million years ago at the end of the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era, in which only half of all living species were obliterated.

In the seas, the entire class of conodonts and 23–34% of marine genus disappeared. Survivors were plants, the ancestors of crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and mammals, which allowed these species to become the dominant land animals for the following 135 million years. Statistical analysis of marine losses suggests the decrease in diversity was caused more by a decrease in speciation than by an increase in extinctions.

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                                                    About half of the known species on Earth perished
                                                              during the Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction.
                                                                       Image Credit: Scientifica / Getty Images
                                     Image Source:
https://www.thoughtco.com/mass-extinction

Cause is attributed to gradual climate change,  sea-level fluctuations, and changing environ-ments. Also, a pulse of oceanic acidification during the late Triassic may have also reached a tipping point.

How these possible processes affected the Triassic animal and plant groups is not well understood. Studies show a clear trend towards increased aridification towards the end of the Triassic. Although high-latitude areas like Greenland and Australia actually became wetter, most of the world experienced more drastic changes in climate as indicated by geological evidence. The world gradually got warmer over this time as well as mean annual temperatures rose by 7 to 9 °C.

Extraterrestrial impact
Climate change was the only reason. Several Impacts from asteroids or comets are also serious possibilities contributing to the Jurassic extinction. These occurred in the late Triassic, including the second-largest confirmed impact in the Mesozoic. The Manicouagan Reservoir in Quebec is one of 
the most visible large impact craters on Earth, and at 62 miles in diameter it is tied with the event that created the fourth largest crater on earth located in Siberia.

Volcanic Activity
The leading and best evidenced explanation for this mass extinction is massive volcanic activity in the central Atlantic, specifically from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, as indicated by dating with uranium-led and argon-argon dating processes, and paleomagnetism 
-- magnetism in rocks induced by the earth's magnetic field at the time of their formation. 
Fortunately, this mass extinction only killed off 50 % of the living species.

● CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY (OR THE K-T) MASS EXTINCTION.
The K-T extinction is the most-studied and well-known extinction event in the history of the Earth, partly because it is the most recent. The K-T extinction is responsible for the elimination of at least 75% of all life forms on earth during the period.


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The K-T extinction was responsible for the end of the dinosaurs.
Image Credit: Richard T. Nowitz / Getty Images
Image Source: : https://www.thoughtco.com/mass-extinction

The extinction affected both marine and terrestrial organisms in all the continents. The extinction was greater among the animals that lived in the water column – an oceanogragphic concept to describe the temperature, salinity, light penetration, and chemical characteristics for a defined geographical point in the oceans -- than those that lived in the sea or seafloor. Among many species that died out, no amphibians became extinct.
The primary cause for this extinction is well known from the evidence of a large number of asteroids impacting the earth in many parts of the world.

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                                    Image Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/cretaceous-extinction
Thus, the main cause of the event is well known. The evidence is the high number or large asteroid impacts found in many parts of the world. One such asteroid impact is the huge crater measuring 112 miles in diameters which was discovered buried under the sediments in the Yucatan Peninsula near Chucxulub in Mexico. Another smaller crater that predates the one found near Chucxulub was discovered in Boltysh, central Ukraine, in 2012.

The rock layers contain a high concentration of iridium, a rare element on the Earth’s crust but found in plenty in space debris. The residual effects of the rocks were devastating. A phenomenon known as “impact winter” was caused by the asteroids hitting the Earth. The amount of dust and debris released to the atmosphere blocked the sun for days. The plants began dying, leaving animals with no food, causing them to starve to death.
This forced into extinction 75% of all life forms on earth.

ARE WE LIVING DURING MASS EXTINCTION NUMBER SIX?
Fortunately, there hasn’t been a Mass Extinction since Homo Sapiens came on the scene, but we could be living in the era or period of the next one. While it is true that for human these extinctions happened a very long time ago, in evolutionary time they did not occur spread through the formation and evolution of the earth. All five took place in a span of 378 million years. Maybe it’s about time.


For the last 10,000 years, Earth has seemed to be in yet another extinction event that is rapidly removing animals from our planet. It’s slow, by human perception, so we don’t see it so much but the rate of extinction is increasing rapidly.

Scientists define a mass extinction as around three-quarters of all species dying out over a short geological time, which is anything less than 2.8 million years, according to The Conversation, and right now we are at the beginning of the next mass extinction. Since 1970, the populations of vertebrate species have declined by an average of 68%, and currently more than 35,000 species are considered to be threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). During the 20th century alone, as many as 543 land vertebrates became extinct, according to a research article in the journal PNAS.  https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-ordovician-extinction.html
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It is moving faster than any of the others, and the cause is no mystery as it is with some of the earliest events.

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Pogo, Last of the “Okefenokee Eleven”
Posted by saveourstream.blogspot.com.au
Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/173107179401612809/

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As cartoon character Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

We may possibly go down in Solar System History as the cause of the sixth Mass Extinction. Man had taken the habitat for farming and building, we have taken away food sources, we have polluted the environment, we have killed because the animals interfere with our way of life, and we have killed just for the fun of it.

No doubt humans will prevail, but it's not something to be proud of, and certainly something to think about.


JUST SAYIN’ !

Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-5-major-mass-extinctions-4018102#:~:text=These%20five
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-ordovician-extinction.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/continental-drift-theory-4138321
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Earth
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/ordovician
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-cretaceous-paleogene-extinction-event.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/continental-drift-geology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana
https://www.scifacts.net/eras/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triassic%E2%80%93Jurassic_extinction_event#:~:text=The%20Triassic%E2%80%93Jurassic%20%28Tr-J%29%20extinction%20event%20%28TJME%29%2C%20often%20called,affecting%20life%20on%20land%20and%20in%20the%20oceans.

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“DON’T FENCE ME IN”* -- Walls And Fences"

10/2/2023

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WHY DO HUMANS BUILD WALLS AND FENCES?
The reasons why homo sapiens build walls and fences hasn’t changed much since the first known wall was built in the 8th millennium BC around the city of Jericho on the West Bank.
 

Ruins of Walls of Jericho - Image Credit: Dr. John DeLancey  (2015)
Image Source:biblicalisraeltours.com/2015/


Walled Cities followed in various locations from the Middle East to Europe and to China and Africa in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. No one knows when the first rudimentary fences might have been built, or if they do, they’re not saying.

It is true, however, that although the purposes for which fences are still built are primarily the same, the priority of importance of those reasons has shifted substantially over time.
Wall and Fences still serve two primary purposes: To keep things in, and to keep things out.

There are, in more modern times, other secondary reasons for building walls and fences, but it is basically “keep in”, “keep out”, or both at the same times.  All the reasons for this spring from the six basic human emotions and combinations of those emotions, that all homo sapiens share: Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger, and Surprise.

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The Six Types of Basic Emotions --  https://www.verywellmind.com/types-of-emotions
According to current theory, these most basic emotions act something like building blocks. More complex emotions are blendings of these more basic ones. For example, basic emotions such as joy and trust can be combined to create love.

EVOLUTION OF THE SPECIES
During the development of homo sapiens on this earth, our species had to fight for survival for millennia and basic emotion fear played a rather large role in that survival. Anything that was unknown and unfamiliar was feared because it could mean life or death. It is easy to see why this powerful emotion eventually led to hiding, not being seen, and erecting barricades to keep strange, unknown things out and to keep the known community inside where it was safe, and they had the ability to defend the space.

We have evolved as social creatures who want to protect their tribes because they, in turn, protect us as well. Evolution has led us to adopt the custom of building fences around our property because it creates a safe space for our nuclear family. It sends a signal to passersby that they’re not welcome without an invitation.

In ancient times, in agrarian areas or where no one lived very close to others, improvised walls and fences, usually stone, were used to keep cattle and farm animals in, and wild animals out. The rulers of cities built walls around them for protection from invaders or strangers from the outside, human as well as wild animals. Although walls were primarily for protection and defense, the idea of decorating those structures soon became popular as the ancients discovered some of the more civilized benefits of walls.


THE AMERICAN WAY
Based on human development as social animals who have built walls since ancient times, an amazingly frequent question on the internet asks, “Why don’t Americans fence their yards?”

They don’t? Who knew?

Actually, preference for fencing tends to be localized in the US, with notable differences between rural and urban, East coast and West coast, Southwest, Midwest and East Coast, South and everywhere else. There is no one characteristic housing type or fencing preference, although generally speaking most Americans fence, wall, or otherwise separate their back yards or portions of them.

Regardless, most Americans homeowners think of their outdoor space as an extension of their indoor space, and they intend to use it how they want.

The standards for fences and walls are controlled by local laws. In addition, the nature, size, and orientation of the site, the terrain and slope, the density of the housing, the weather and rainfall, fire hazards, etc. all come into play when making the laws for development.

Typically, California houses have fenced or unfenced front yard, walls or fences which separate each side of the house from the neighbors up to the setback, and fenced or walled back yards.
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Typical California house with no fencing in front                                                                Typical California house with no fencing in front
Image Source: Zillow.com                                                                                                      Image Source:                                         
               
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The local laws affecting height, setback, and sometimes materials of walls and fences in front yards (including the lots lines that separate the individual lots) are based on safety issues. People driving in and out of driveways, those driving on the street, and pedestrians, children playing, animals, and others who use sidewalks (bikers, etc.) all
Typical California house with planting in front                                                         need to be able to see each other.                               Image Credit: silahsilah.com -- Image Source: pinterest.com/pin/688980442973965131/                  

In New Mexico, it is not uncommon to find houses which are heavily walled around the front of the residential property. It is the local, southwestern style, possibly influenced by the Native American cultures and the weather. The photos below show that the front yards have a healthy setback for the walls.
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Santa Fe County, NM --   Scott Rivers / Philip Marks contributors                           Source of Images: quora.com/Why-do-American-houses-have-no-fences
Older homes in a community may look quite different from new development because they were most likely build under a different set of development laws and a different mindset.

Some planned communities (Planned Unit Developments or PUDs), small-lot subdivisions, single family homes built as a condominium or cooperative, etc. have no fencing or walls separating the houses from each other, primarily for fire safety reasons. This sort of development often occurs where the need for housing is great and the cost of the land and/or construction is high.
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Some of these developments are “condominiums” -- a legal type of ownership, not a specific style of building -- where the owner owns the house and lot, and a percentage of the common space that serves the entire development. These have Homeowner Associations responsible for the common space and that is what homeowner fees go to support.  In those cases, HOA’s have different legal requirements and responsibilities, one of which can be aesthetic controls.
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Credit for Images: Фото: Depositphotos  --  Sources of Images: https://www.forumdaily.com/en/osobennosti-amerikansko
THE PURPOSE OF WALLS AND FENCES
In the 21st Century, the purposes of walls and fences are the same as they have been since ancient times, but the priorities have shifted more to aesthetics and environment. However, according to several national fence builders and manufacturers, safety/security is still the most predominant reason. The next most important reason is privacy. After that, the purposes of fences are listed below are not in any particular order or priority.

● Protection/ Safety
Assuming the worst from our neighbors or people in general isn’t the healthiest mindset, but it is one of the best ways for humans to guarantee their safety. Fences theoretically provide a 24/7 barrier to keep out unwanted visitors given the off chance someone attempts to invade our property. This custom seems to have endured the test of time, although history shows that most walls, ultimately, can be breached, even the ones surrounding whole cities.

● Better Security
While this can mean the same as safety from intruders, here it is more oriented to better and more sophisticated surveillance techniques or situations such as a swimming pool in the back yard or something on the property that might hurt someone if they trespass unknowingly.

● Increased Privacy
Just because people may like feeling a part of a community and don’t want fences, does not mean they don’t have an inherent need for privacy. Whatever basic emotions have to combine, nearly everyone has a need for privacy; some people more than others, but we all need it sometimes.

One of the most important psychological tools that fencing provides is a sense of privacy. Homeowners want to achieve a high level of privacy in their yard or pool area, so that they can relax and feel free to be themselves. For additional privacy, plant trees near your fence. A fence evokes an overall sense of safety which gives us the freedom to let go and relax without constantly worrying about our surroundings.

● Noise Mitigation
Noise mitigation is another reason for walls and fences. Regardless of where one lives, there are noises all around. Sometimes this noise doesn’t create bother or irritation, be it chickens or the man in the next apartment playing the violin. Sometimes it brings to mind the urge to kill and a least causes a headache. Frankly, you really do not want to hear your neighbors’ conversation and telephone calls.

One of the best mitigations is running water. Not a faucet, but a fountain which can mask unwanted noise with white noise. Be sure the fountain has a recirculating pump. You don’t want to waste the water. Keep in mind that flowing water becomes louder the farther it falls and the more tiers it travels over. 

Walls and fences can cut down on noise, particularly if you pay attention to design and materials. Also hedges and planting the correct plants can effectively cut noise.


● Easier To Contain Pets
Anyone with wandering pets will understand the stress of keeping them confined. Most jurisdictions in urban areas do not permit dog to wander around without being on a leash, preferably one with a human at the other end. The simple solution is an appropriately fenced backyard.

Unlike privacy or security fences that require height, backyard fences to contain pets only need to be high enough to remain out of reach. Dog-proofing fencing can also be a smart move to prevent them digging underneath it or trying to get through it.
Picture
There is also cat fencing if you want your cat to get some fresh air and not run away. The image shown isn’t very attractive, and I wouldn’t want my neighbor putting one up I can see from my yard, but there are other more attractive models and totally enclosed jungle gyms that looks like a play place for children…if you have a very spoiled cat.
​
image source: https://www.bing.com/search

● Better For Child Safety
Keeping pets in is only one concern. Wandering children can also be a problem, especially if your backyard is positioned close to a road or an alley. With a backyard fence in place, your kids can play outside with reasonable freedom for both you and them.

Picture
Backyard fences are not only beneficial for your kids, but other kids in the neighborhood too. If you have a backyard pool or any dangerous objects in your garden, fencing will limit the chances of accidental harm from children wandering onto your property.
                             Image Source: https://www.gametime.com/funding/playground-grant

● Protects Your Garden From Unwanted Wildlife
If you live in a part of the US where large wildlife and deer are moving about, you will have a different need for fencing than in California or the Southwest US. In California where I live, the wildlife problem isn’t something you can address with a fence (except Coyotes) because rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons come over and under them unless you have a very deep footing.  In other parts of the US, deer are frequent visitors and a common problem for gardeners, but certainly not the only wildlife to be aware of. Fencing your backyard keeps your plants protected from many of these creatures, avoiding any accidental mishaps. You don’t want to injure the wildlife, either.


● Aesthetic Reasons
Aesthetic reasons can vary including trespassing weeds, concealment of unattractive sights in the next yard (such as the retired policeman weighing over three hundred pounds who mows his lawn wearing shorts and his service weapon), accumulating trash, inoperable car in neighbor’s driveway for the last seven years, and patchy grass and an old couch on the porch, a dumpster across the street, and so on. Whatever the case may be, if you don’t want to see these unattractive sights from your yard, you can conceal them with a fence. Look for a tall, opaque fence that will hide anything you find unappealing.

Occasionally someone artistic just wants an aesthetic element to look at even if the surroundings are pristine.

● Establishing Boundaries (Property Lines)
Going right along with security, a fence is also a great way to establish the boundaries of your property. Sometimes people trespass on land accidentally, not realizing that they’re upsetting the owner. Other homeowners might be frustrated that their neighbors aren’t respecting the line that separates their properties. In situations like this, a fence will create a clear, hard-and-fast boundary.

Be sure you put the wall or fence in the right place if you want to identify a property line. Get a survey. Most people assume the property line is where the fence is, but often that is not correct.  It must be totally on your property but may touch the property line.  There are plenty of court cases over the difference between where the property line is located and where the fence is located.


​● Curb Appeal
Whether or not your version of the American Dream is a charming house with a white picket fence, most fences are built for a utilitarian reason. Some homeowners choose to erect a fence primarily for its curb appeal. For that you are talking about fencing your front yard or the portion facing the street. Most people think of the back yard when someone talks about fencing the yard.


● Habit
Fences and walls have been a part of human society for millennia and aren’t disappearing anytime soon. A famous psychologist named Erik Erikson once said there’s a strong association between identity and ideology. If our ideology changes, so does our identity. Humans feel very uncomfortable when they experience an “identity crisis,” which is why we avoid changing our ideology at all costs.


WHY SOME NEIGHBORHOODS/ COMMUNITIES DON’T ALLOW FENCES/ WALLS
Going back to the Homeowners Associations for certain types of housing development, it is true some of these groups do not allow fences. Generally, this problem of fences and walls relates to front yards, and it could be because of conditions of approval imposed by the approving jurisdiction for planning reasons. On the other hand, communities and neighborhoods are worried about curb appeal, aesthetics, and “the feel” of the neighborhood, all of which translate into something they believe affects property values.

In fact, most of these fears are without merit, since property value is assessed by professional assessors based on other factors. However, what the buyer first sees sets an impression that will affect their interest in purchase, and the better it looks, the more likely they will make a higher offer.

Some of the most common reasons why some HOAs don’t allow front-yard fences is because people believe they:
● Reduce the aesthetic appeal.
● Decrease property values.
● Can be difficult or costly to maintain.
● Can be an eyesore/ particularly front yards.
● Can make a neighborhood appear closed off.
● Can cause accidents.
● Limit visibility of pedestrians (meaning people inside the houses can’t see who is lurking out there).
● Create physical barriers between neighbors and make it more difficult to communicate/ cooperate.
● Can block access to public areas.
● Can limit the amount of space available for recreational activities.
● Can create a sense of isolation and barriers between neighbors.

ALTERNATIVES TO WALLS AND FENCES
Privacy is a high priority after security and safety. Everyone understands how walls and fences can achieve privacy, but a myriad of other ways also exist which can create privacy in a yard (not just a backyard) without a fence.


● The Privacy Screen
Privacy screens can consist of a trellis, lattice, wood panels, ornamental ironwork, or even synthetic materials.                                                                    Image Credit: Michael Glassman & Associates
                                                                                                                                                                         Image Source:
thisoldhouse.com/yards/add-privacy
Picture
Screens made from lattice, shutter like louvered wood panels, or sections of ornamental iron with anchoring posts can be set into the ground to enclose a cozy corner or make a U-shaped structure that preserves desirable views. For maximum flexibility, consider placing the post ends in lightweight planters with wheels; to anchor them, add concrete plugs to the feet or set the posts in gravel. That way, they can be moved around to create more open space when you’re entertaining.
​
Semitransparent structures may not provide complete privacy, but they add a lot of visual interest to a landscape and allow natural light and breezes in. “They create a comforting sense of containment and a psychological buffer,” says landscape architect Stephanie Hubbard.


● Hedges and Living Walls
The hedges or other plantings can provide year-round screening and are typically not restricted by municipal ordinances limiting their height. This is something to check before you invest in planting one. Where space is tight, as in a side yard, fast-growing columnar evergreens like Italian cypress and arborvitae or a sheared privet hedge can provide a simple solution for separating adjoining yards or blocking sight lines out a kitchen window.
Select the type of hedge appropriate for the climate and soil; also, different types grow at different speeds. All of them require trimming, so be aware.

Picture
Picture
         Image Credit: Nancy Andrews                                                                                        Cypress between houses
           Image Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/
                                                   Image Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/      
Picture
​● Layered Privacy Plantings
In larger yards, planting a mix of deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and perennials creates a more naturalistic look, especially if you layer plants, grouping them in odd numbers. “Stagger evergreens in the background, and in the foreground step down the height with deciduous material to provide texture, depth, and color,” says landscape architect Elliott Brundage.

                                                                                                           Image Credit: Nancy Andrews
                                                                      Image source:
thisoldhouse.com/yards/add-privacy
,

Picture
● Panels and Pergolas
Defined areas like small patios, outdoor kitchens, and decks are easier to screen than a whole yard, By building an enclosure around them, you can recreate the intimate feeling of eating or entertaining indoors, while still enjoying beautiful weather.

Image Credit: Trellis Structures
Image source:
thisoldhouse.com/yards/add-privacy 
​

Enclosures may take the shape of a slatted-top wooden pergola covered with climbing vines on a patio or a pair of fixed lattice panels along two sides of a raised deck. Prefab iron gazebos can be set right on the ground and surrounded with potted vines and hanging baskets to fill some of the gaps.

Let's not hear anything more about Americans not building fences and walls. We do just fine in this department.

JUST SAYIN' 


​* NOTE: “Don’t Fence Me In” is the title of a poem written originally by cowboy poet Robert H. Fletcher, the initially uncredited co-lyricist of Cole Porter's song "Don't Fence Me In" which was sung by Roy Rogers in the 1944 Warner Bros. movie Hollywood Canteen. Many people heard the song for the first time when Kate Smith introduced it on her radio broadcast of October 8, 1944. It was very popular and sung by many singers.

Sources:

https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-types-of-emotions-4163976
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201601/what-are-basic-emotions
https://www.homesandgardens.com/gardens/should-i-fence-my-backyard
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812004831
https://yardlifemaster.com/why-do-some-neighborhoods-not-allow-fences/
https://mmcfencingandrailing.com/reasons-for-a-fence/
https://soundproofcentral.com/best-plants-to-block-noise/
https://www.ipl.org/essay/Psychology-In-The-Play-Fences-PKH5DCFBG5FV
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/artificial-maturity/201307/remember-the-fences
https://guadalupemountainfencing.com/2021/01/the-psychology-of-why-homeowners-build-fences/
https://thetibble.com/why-american-houses-fences/
https://mmcfencingandrailing.com/reasons-for-a-fence/
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/21018864/10-ways-to-add-privacy-to-your-yard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fletcher_(poet)
https://genius.com/Cole-porter-dont-fence-me-in-lyrics

https://www.armorfencemaryland.com/the-psychology-of-fencing-how-boundaries-impact-your-outdoor-living-experience/

https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-fear.html#:~:text=Fear%20is%20a%20basic%2C%20emotional%20response%20to%20a,mechanism%2C%20helping%20individuals%20react%20to%20potentially%20life-threatening%20situations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_wall#:~:text=Uruk%20in%20ancient%20Sumer%20%28Mesopotamia%29%20is%20one%20of,built%20in%20the%206th%20or%205th%20millennium%20BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_wall#:~:text=Uruk%20in%20ancient%20Sumer%20%28Mesopotamia%29%20is%20one%20of,built%20in%20the%206th%20or%205th%20millennium%20BC.

Pictures only
https://www.forumdaily.com/en/osobennosti-amerikanskoj-nedvizhimosti-i-pochemu-zdes-net-zaborov/
https://heald.nga.gov/mediawiki/index.php/Fence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_fencing
https://biblicalisraeltours.com/2015/09/september-2015-tour-day-5/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/688980442973965131/
ttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/688980442973965131/

https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-types-of-emotions-4163976?utm_source=pinteresthttps://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-types-of-emotions-4163976?utm_source=pinterest
​
https://www.critterfence.com/deer-fence?msclkid=1d6abe538b1a1006aecadab07bc29a39&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Deer%20Fence,%20Deer%20Fencing&utm_term=deer%20fencing&utm_content=Ad%20group%20%231

https://www.veteransunited.com/lp/dark/?src=msn&adg=1234751718805273&cmp=head&desc=eligibility&network=o&campaignid=328892424&label=&msclkid=596240da91171eb2f5a724396841adb5&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NS%20-%20Head%20Terms%20-%20B&utm_term=va%20loans%20for%20homes&utm_content=VA%20Loan%20Home%20-%20B

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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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