The Flag of the UK - "The Union Jack"

My replacement American and Italian flags came today; the ones out on the pole are weatherworn and need to be replaced. The new American flag is built like it'll last forever, but my actual topic here is The Union Jack, and it's the topic because Deb noted that's her favorite flag design. So I got curious about why does it look like that?

The present design of the Union Flag dates from a Royal proclamation following the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. The flag combines aspects of three older national flags: the red cross of St George for the Kingdom of England, the white saltire of St Andrew for Scotland (which two were united in the first Union Flag), and the red saltire of St Patrick to represent Ireland.
Notably, the home country of Wales is not represented separately in the Union Flag, as the flag was designed after the invasion of Wales in 1282. Hence Wales as a home country today has no representation on the flag; it appears under the cross of St George, which represents the former Kingdom of England (which included Wales).

Note that the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK (Northern Ireland is), and is thus not represented on the flag.

Footnote: it may look like the flag can be turned upside down, but no. Note the position of the red cross stripes inside the white cross stripes (they are not in the middle of the white stripes). If you turn the flag upside down, they will not be in the correct position.

Spring Emerges (kind of)

Yard cleanup & pickup started .... stuff like that up here.

Deb and I went to the Boston MFA for two exhibits: "Gender Bending Fashion" and "Toulouse Lautrec". Both were so-so, but Deb really liked the fashion exhibit. After an espresso and coconut something, I went to a men's room and the sign said "Men / self-identifying". I was half tempted to walk into the room that said "Women / self-identifying" and watch the rush of screaming girls and ladies dialing 911 on their cell phones. But . . . civility and reason prevailed.

Then we Greenlined to Newbury St. for salads and wine. It was a nice easy-going day.

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Book Report

This book got high marks in recent internet commentary and whatever, so I bought the e-edition. Am into it for a few chapters now and am motivated enough to comment on it.

The author is a history teacher, and does in truth know his history. It is a very factual, well-referenced book, and I find no fault in his facts. In fact, what he has to say on each specific topic that he covers is very interesting.

Generally he demonstrates how our high school history texts (he uses the top 12 to extensively reference his comments) very effectively make perfect heroes of our country's historical "heroes" (C. Columbus, G. Washington, H. Keller, etc etc). They do this by leaving out most of the real stories surrounding who exactly they were and what exactly they did and how exactly it made "history".

As three quick examples: (1) Hellen Keller was a lifelong, passionate, active communist. But you never hear that about her - her status as an American hero needs to ignore that reality. (2) Betsy Ross never sewed an American flag in her life. Her family invented that story to popularize a gift shop they owned. (3) Christopher Columbus was in fact a brutal imperialist who initiated the extinction of several indigenous societies in the Americas.

But it's not my point here to smudge our high school history heroes, what I mean to do is smudge this books basic viewpoint. He says that our history books and teachers don't put these facts on the table. They whitewash history so that us white Americans can feel good about the heroes that made America. But that point is not really true.

It's true that history (as taught in American high schools) is "Americanized", with 20-30 "who-gives-a-shit" kids per class, no time for incisive discussions, low critical thinking abilities, and parents and local politicians who would get nose bleeds if you told kids the truth.
But it is not true at the college undergraduate or graduate levels.

So ... yeh, your high school history teacher fed you a pile of whitewashed BS - you probably knew that anyway.

Good book, but should have been titled "Lies my high school history teacher told me". But then I would not have paid $$$ for it, right?

Bees

Turns out our new neighbor is a beekeeper. This is unusual in that we are in a highly populated area, he is on a very small lot, only one mile from the center of town. But "unusual" isn't so bad.
Is it?

I read up a bit on backyard beekeeping. They write it up easy as gardening, with a few precautions about the local law, your neighbors and bee sting allergies. I guess that he checked up on all that. He looks like he knows what he's doing. His hives are right out there on his front lawn, which probably has to do with the path of sunlight and what the bees like.

I've had lots of various bees buzzing around my shrubs for the last 25 years, and never had anyone of them take an interest in biting or buzzing me. In fact, I've had 100 of them on 2 bushes and stuck my face right down into them. It is strangely a very relaxing feeling, and they just fly around me.

I am looking forward to a summer of lots of flowers around here. If not, I have to wonder "why bother keeping bees?"

Luka has settle on the porch like his name's on the deed.

Why be a beekeeper ? .... it's obvious ...... Honey

It's obvious, but Mike had to remind my why people do this. The guy below has a neat Youtube video about his hobby and wicked neat hive setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z54bL6kjyOI .
I am amazed how much honey he gets out of that hive.

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The Boomer Gen Vote Just Fading Away

I've been promoting the idea that a person's voting rights should be taken away when he/she turns 65. My thinking is that it's not our world to face in the future - that worry belongs to younger generations. Come to find out that GenX and The Millenial voters have just "vertaken" the Boomer generation anyway.

There's this anxiousness going around that the younger voters are more liberal. Yeh, it's always been that way. I remember talking this with older engineers back in the 1960's. All the old guys were "right wing" all the young guys were "left wing". Probably always been that way.

Violating the warranty

The choice was either have custom laundry room (basement) doors made for $400 or cut down the standard $100 hollow core doors, so I watched some good Youtube videos and took out the circular saw. As always, the cutting part is the easiest part of the job. Taking repetitive dimensions of hardware and the crooked door frame (it's not rectaungular) is the agravating part. Now I need to ripcut pieces to fill in the hollow spaces with structure to hold the door up.

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Crazy Lady Cardinal Attacks the Window Every Day

Robert Oppenheimer

Famous for being "The Father of the Atom Bomb" and for quoting "I have become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds".

I watched a documentary on The American Experience (PBS) last light on this tortured, confused physicist. Truly a guy who did not understand people, governments, how the world works. So deeply lost in the physics of atoms, he never understood the real-world future they were creating (until it was too late).

Most of his life was sad. Last decade of his life was very sad.

Footnote #1: The US has been criticised for developing nuclear bombs. In fact, we did that because Germany was preparing to build one. In 1942 or '43 a German scientist published a paper describing the physics behind an A-bomb. It was obvious what the Germans would do if they had that capabolity. That was the incentive for the US to get a working A-bomb built first. Ironically, Germany surrendered just a few months before our bomb was finished.

Footnote #2: I have often complained that, instead of dropping the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing countless civilian men, women and children, we should have first exploded one over a mountain in Japan as a threat to encourage a surrender. Well, turns out they did consider detonating the first A-bomb very high in the atmosphere above Tokyo, for that purpose. But they opted instead for an event that would force an immediate end to the war, so they bombed the cities. Still (IMO), they could have dropped a demo first.

Apr.19.2019 Miscellaneous Ramblings

Sitting on the porch today watching two little kids climb about a tree across the street, I had a flashback to our backyard (actually Grandma Leo's backyard where we rented the 2nd floor) and a cherry tree out back there. I can still vividly remember the bark on that tree. It amazed me as a little kid. It was sticky too with sap and the open cuts were red. That was somewhere between 1950 (my best guess) and 1954.

And I remember now (that I am on a memory binge here) the head of a puppet frozen in the water in a wheelbarrow. It was the head of either Snap, Crackle or Pop, I cannot actually recall at the moment. But I can still see his face staring up at me frozen in the ice. Poor guy. I felt bad for having forgotten him in the wheelbarrow over the winter, but what could I do now?

Next: I am reading a "foodie" book that is actually very enlightening, and learning a lot. It goes against the flow of conventional "wisdom" (salt and fat are not categorically bad for you .... read on). It is clearly making sense to me, as it describes the best uses of salt, fat and acid foods. I am enjoying it and it's changing how I plan to cook food. But.... I am a sentence junky and I love extracting sentences out of context and here is my favorite of today: "Few things are tastier than potatoes fried in duck fat".
Your cadiologist just fell over dead.

As The World Turns

Naps for Lunch

While waiting for my (don't laugh) "Medicare Wellness Checkup" today, I sat humming the 1972 song "I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in". I got a kick out of remembering that in the Dr's office.

Anyway, I think I'm fine (blood test results next week to confirm that).

Also picked up a glossy travel magazine, and read about ..... people apparently no longer nap at their desks for lunch (like we sometimes did). Some folks opt for places like The Dreamery, where you can get 45 minutes of bedtime solitude for $25. And get free on-loan pyjamas! (they sell for $172 retail).

"There were free healthy snacks like almonds, fruit, and energy bars, as well as free drinks - I grabbed a cold brew coffee after my session. Once it was time to begin my session, I headed back to the 'refresh rooms.' Here, you can change into your PJs, wash your face, and apply any of the various creams and serums included in your goody bag.
The lighting inside each nook is warm and inviting, and you can ask Casper to wake you at the end of your session by turning on the lights gradually, like a sunrise.
My nook had a little personalized placard wishing me 'sweet dreams.' "

Some people treat themselves very well these days. But my head still has a flat spot from napping at my desk all those years.

Footnote: Before the doctor enters the room, the nurse took my 'vital signs'. She says "Hmmmm ". I say "Hmmmm...???" She says "Your blood oxygen level is low."
I think about it and notice that I do feel kind of weak, maybe even dizzy. "Is that why I am breathing so hard?", I thought.
She leaves, I wait, Doctor comes in. Says my blood oxygen level is fine, the nurse misread the meter. I suddenly feel good enough to play basketball.

Art in Bloom

Comes every Springtime, the art museum likes to help out by arranging flowers here and there to compliment the pictures, and we went there yesterday. Place was packed, food lines were long, but it was a nice trip.

Statue on the right seems to be listening intently to the tour guide.

Deb's favorite painting ...... (Boston winter, 1890's)

More people on line than at the cafe tables !