The Sad Evolution of Christmas

During my childhood, Christmas was a joyous time. There were two Christmases, in a sense. At the little country school, we always had a Christmas play of some sort. I remember one year when I played the part of a shepherd. My mother made my costume from old burlap bags. I have no recollection of my dialogue... but the play was obviously the story of Jesus' birth. Every child in the school received a small box of hard candy. Loved that!

At church, Christmas was a more serious service, of course, but everyone was happy and we kids usually got another candy treat.

Those things represented one Christmas.

The other Christmas was what came to be known as the commercialization of the holiday.

At home, we had a small Christmas tree. One year my dad came up with a can of aluminum paint and my sisters made ornaments by dipping various objects in the silvery paint. A few days before Christmas, the family went "Christmas shopping" at a dime store... Woolworth's or Kresge's, I think. Each of us kids was given a dollar with which to buy eight gifts... one for each sibling, for mom and dad, and for two female cousins with whom we exchanged gifts.

Parts of the city and many stores were decorated for Christmas. Christmas music was everywhere. Everyone said "Merry Christmas".

But many were not satisfied with those joyful Christmases. The religious wanted to end, or at least contain the "commercial" part. "Put Christ back in Christmas" was their cry. That, of course, infuriated the non-religious. They fell back on the manufactured "religious discrimination" argument and insisted upon an end to bias and prejudice. After all, we had to maintain that Separation of Church and State!

The absurd took hold.

As Thomas Sowell pointed out, not the Bible, the Torah or the Koran mentions Christmas trees, yet it has been determined that a Christmas tree is a religious symbol and must be banned!

The other day I said "Merry Christmas" to an employee in a retail store. He replied, "Happy Holiday"! Dare not offend anyone!

How I long for Christmas Past!

The Big Show (December 20-21, 2010)

Today is the winter solstice. The day the tilt of the earth and the point in its rotation around the sun are such that the rays of sunlight strike us at the lowest level they will achieve during the year. Beginning tomorrow, the sun light will start to reach us at a slightly steeper angle each day.

More simply put, today is the shortest day - daylight hours - of the year. Interestingly, today is also a full moon. And, there was a total lunar eclipse shortly after midnight our time... at the very beginning of this shortest day!

At sunset on the first day of winter, the point on the horizon where the sun disappears is at its farthest point south. Beginning tomorrow, the sun will set a tiny bit farther to the north. I wanted to mark that point on the horizon, and took this picture:

Unfortunately for my original purpose, all those pretty clouds obscured the sun just before it disappeared below the horizon, so I'll try again today. But, Monday it was so colorful, I decided to zoom in a little and narrow the shot:



Big deal? You bet!

Later, the full moon lit up our yard and cast distinct shadows. I went to bed before the eclipse happened, so I missed that. But I'll bet it looked exactly like this earlier eclipse!



That's cheating, I know... but I was sleepy!

Shortly before 7:00 a.m. (MST) I sat in my kitchen watching that big moon chase the earth's penumbra toward the horizon. Some of those same sunset clouds remained in the west, and it was fun watching the moon peek in and out as though playing hide and seek with the sun which was about to rise behind the higher mountains to our east. The sun responded by turning the clouds pink, just above the setting moon.

No pictures this time. No matter how much you love photography, sometimes you just have to leave the camera and enjoy the show! Especially, when you know the performance will not be repeated in your lifetime.

Remembering Juarez, MX

I just saw a news report revealing that 3,000 persons have been murdered in Juarez, Mexico this year.

I am saddened.

I first visited Juarez, Mexico sixty years ago. At that time we walked across a short bridge over the Rio Grande river, the dividing line between Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Young Mexican boys stood in the knee deep water, facing the bridge. They had fashioned sort of paper funnels and attached them to long, bamboo fishing poles. They pointed their devices toward the bridge where passersby tossed coins. Many times the boys caught the coins with their devices. If they missed, they immediately went to their knees and felt for the coins in the muddy river bottom.

We found the people of Juarez friendly, welcoming to Americans, and anxious to sell something. We bought things. Tequila, leather goods, and all sorts of craft items. We enjoyed delicious food at unbelievably low prices.

Through the years I returned to Juarez many times. The short bridge is gone, as are the coin-catching boys. The muddy bottomed river replaced with a concrete-lined canal in which the water is swift and dangerous. There are three bridges today, long, modern bridges which carry large numbers of pedestrian and auto traffic.

News reports today describe Juarez as being "just south of El Paso". In reality, Juarez and El Paso are one large city, separated by a small river. For generations - centuries, actually - residents of the two cities have passed back and forth. Many have married persons from the other side of the border, so there are numerous families split by the border.

At one time the total metro area was entirely in Mexico. In 1854, the U.S. needed a better route through which to build a railroad toward the west. In the Gadsden Purchase, land between the then existing U.S. border and the Rio Grande were purchased from Mexico, and the border moved south. Remembering this makes it easier to understand why many local residents oppose construction of a fence along the border.

Going south you just drive into Mexico. Vehicles are selected randomly to check for what is being brought into Mexico.

On the U.S. side, U.S. Customs has a much more rigid inspection system. The state of Texas demands payment of taxes for any liquor brought into the state.

We visited Juarez to dine, shop, and just to have fun. We made friends with Mexicans at the big Mercado where we bargained for the wares of Mexican artists and craftsmen. Naturally there were some rip-offs among the many great deals. But prices were low so no one was ever hurt too badly.

I went to Mexico for Dental work performed entirely to my satisfaction at perhaps 80% lower than U.S. prices.

We can not go to Juarez today. It is just too dangerous. I often wonder about the fate of some of the people we once knew. I wonder about the many small businesses which depended on American tourist trade.

Not surprisingly, I get angry when I see Americans smile as they confess to using illegal drugs. I know they just think the are outsmarting the DEA. But there is so much more to the story.

Perhaps decriminalizing drugs would solve the problem. I don't know.

What I do know is that a tragedy has befallen a lot of good, decent people who happen to reside in the path of drugs moving north and cash moving south.

When will it end?

Stay calm...

I was going to write today about the accidental inclusion of distractions in the making of TV commercials. I have been making TV commercials for over 35 years. An ongoing dread is that your finished commercial will contain some viewer distraction that will negatively impact your commercial message. Years ago I made a commercial that included the word "gauge" (as in rain gauge) in an on-screen graphic. Today, on-screen graphics are created on a computer and are easily corrected. Back then, if you wanted an on-screen message, such as "50% off every item", an artist lettered the message on a piece of art board. In the studio, this board was shot by a video camera and the resulting video included in your commercial.

Either my artist or I misspelled "gauge" as "guage". Our sponsor received scores of calls correcting the spelling, but virtually no sales.

Currently I notice a commercial for a language learning program called Rosetta Stone. A user of the product taped a testimonial in which he said he had tried other "mediums" without satisfaction. Mediums? Did he mean media? Or had he actually tried consulting fortune tellers?

Another current commercial, for Taxmasters, asks the viewer with the help of an on-screen graphic, if the IRS is "garnishing" their wages. Garnishing? Does that mean a sprig or parsley attached to your paycheck? Did they really mean "garnishee"? Or has the accepted definition of the word garnish changed since my dictionary was published?

Doesn't matter. In both cases I was so distracted I missed the remainder of the message!

I've had commercials include a picture of a person wearing a lettered T-shirt. It is very hard to look at such a commercial and not try to read the lettering on the guy's T-shirt. Big distraction!

That is what I was going to write about. Then I heard that the President had signed into law the "CALM Act". It stands for Commercial audio loudness mitigation, or some such nonsense.

Wow! As I wrote on October 1, that concept is "Dumb and Dumber". It is also impossible. The commercials I make may air in all sorts of programs. Programs in which the audio level may range the entire gamut from a whisper to a scream. Will the TV station's engineers have to adjust the audio level of every commercial to match the surrounding programming? Should I be happy that engineers in many different stations will be tinkering with the audio level on my commercials?

Think about it! How stupid are the people who are making our laws?

Watching TV with the missus.

Watching TV with my wife is always a trip. Imagine it's a news broadcast and an important foreign diplomat is about to answer a pointed question. I strain to understand him.

Wife: "Oh, No!"

Me: "What? What did he say?"

Wife: "It's his tie! That is a horrible tie!"

I strain to focus on the tie. Looks okay to me. Nice green and pink stripes.

The TV host thanks his guest for his opinion and goes to another story. Rats. I missed his comment.

The camera cuts to the female co-anchor who will introduce a second guest.

Wife: "Finally!"

Me: "What did she say?"

Wife: "She didn't say anything, but she finally pickled a dress that makes her look slimmer!"

Me: "She's wearing a dress???"

They go into a commercial break and the commercial is for Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Me: "Now, that is ridiculous!"

Wife: "What happened?"

Me: "Nobody drives like that. Can you imagine some idiot paying thirty thousand for a vehicle then go speeding up a canyon over boulders, like he wanted to tear the suspension out of it?"

Wife: "Oh.... I wasn't watching."

Still I wouldn't miss a minute of it. Especially when she makes popcorn and scoots closer on the sofa to share!

Wikileaks

Everyone's talking about Wikileaks. Almost everyone. We are not hearing from president Obama. Does that mean he is okay with releasing restricted government documents?

My turn.

1. Foreign diplomats should confer in secret. Imagine if Saddam Hussein had confessed to Colin Powell, "Look, I do not have any WMDs, not trying to get any, but my bluff is all that protects me from hostile neighbors. Don't blow my cover and I will cause no trouble for the west." There may not have been an Iraq war!

2. There is no excuse for those confidential documents having been unguarded. During World War Two our restricted communications were encoded. Once decoded, they were heavily guarded. what happened?

3. Private Bradley Manning. As a United States soldier, he swore an allegiance which he appears to have broken. If so, he should be punished severely. When you swear to abide by certain rules, then renig, sorry isn't good enough.

4. Julian Assange. No whistle blower he. He obtained someone's private property. Was asked to return it, but refused. Who needs this guy?

Don't Ask, Don't Tell!

Operating from the position of "I was a soldier; I am a soldier; I will always be a soldier", I feel entitled to express my opinion in this current debate.

I believe we should keep the rule in place... but broadly extend it to all military personnel. Simply put, I won't ask your sexual orientation... because I don't give a damn. Don't tell me your sexual orientation... because I don't give a damn! And, my sexual orientation is none of your business.

I don't know what fantasies roar through your brain when you get horny! I don't want to know. So please don't make my knowing a part of the equation.

If we are soldiering - which at 82 I will be doing only in my own fantasy - let's think, talk and act soldiering.

If we are off on leave and you have the chance to hook up with someone, go for it, but let me do my own hooking up, according to my own orientation. I'll see you tomorrow when we fall out for reveille. I won't share my details with you. Please don't share yours with me.

The thought of an intimate encounter on my part, according to my sexual orientation, may seem very exciting, indeed. The thought of my soldier buddy having a sexual relationship with anyone regardless of gender, is disgusting. It's not something I would deny you. I just don't want to know about it... think about it!

I won't ask. Please don't tell.

Jay, meet Adolph!

I was just a little kid, not yet in school, when the Nazis staged their big 1934 book burning in Berlin. Obviously I do not remember the actual event, but I have heard it demonized all my life. Today, the very concept of book burning - the literal attempt to destroy the ideas of persons who disagree with your own ideas - is a horror to me. I don't like MSNBC, or the Huffington Post, but let them exist! They are their own worst enemy.

You can then imagine my shock and surprise this week when a United States Senator, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, actually said he wanted the F.C.C. to shut down MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Of course, he really meant to say only Fox News Channel. Comcast is about to acquire NBC - and MSNBC - so the fate of that cable network, as we know it, is already sealed.

Sure, I meet people who demonize CNN and MSNBC. But they are not United States Senators!

I think the good people of West Virginia, loyal Americans beyond a doubt, should demand that their Senator apologize for his Nazi-like comments.

Once again... Thanks, F.D.R.; Thanks, Harry!

It really began in February, 1945. In that month, Churchill, Stalin and F.D.R. met at Yalta to discuss post-war plans for the world. That was scarcely two months short of Roosevelt's death, and he was hardly well enough to travel, much less plan the fate of the world. Some diplomats in attendance reported that the American president, old, weak and senile, sat nodding, drooling, as the others talked.

The three men divided Germany amongst them, then turned to Asia. Although Russia had played no significant part in the war with Japan, they decided to give the Soviets half of Korea - the other Allies (meaning the U.S.) the lower half.

Stalin installed a puppet Communist government in Korea, and essentially washed his hands of the peninsula. Within about three years, Kim Il-Sung was North Korea's ruling dictator.

Five and one-half years after Yalta, 60 years ago this past summer, I was working at WLDY, a small radio station in Ladysmith, WI.

On June 25, 1950, the bulletin bell rang on the Associated Press teletype machine at WLDY and we received the notice that North Korean forces had invaded South Korea. What followed is well recorded. American forces then in Korea consisted in large part of young, lightly trained men and women, there to help rebuild a nation - not to fight a war. The U.S. did little to reinforce these people. Instead, General Douglas MacArthur amassed a large fighting force and invaded the peninsula far behind North Korea's front line. They quickly swept across the peninsula, trapping North Korea's forces. America easily pushed all the way to the Chinese border. Everyone thought the war was over.

The Chinese Communists owed their very existence to Harry Truman's refusal to help Chiang Kai Shek resist their revolution. They showed their appreciation by attacking the American forces by air, from bases behind the Chinese border. General MacArthur knew the Chinese were weak and wanted to take out the offending Chinese air bases. Truman refused and relieved MacArthur of his command.

Emboldened by Truman's timidity, Chinese ground troops crossed the border to help the North Koreans. Fighting dragged on, claiming 36,576 American lives, plus many lives of other U.N. member nations and multiple times that number in Korean and Chinese lives.

When Harry Truman left office and Dwight Eisenhower was elected, Ike immediately went to Korea and arranged a cease-fire. I believe that the Koreans feared that President Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces which had won the war in Europe, would bring a terrible retribution if they continued their hostilities.

And so, for 57 years, the cease-fire has held. But, again America is displaying Truman-style timidity. And again, North Korea is reaching out for their dream of a unified Korea... under their control.

NSSAR

Yesterday I was formally installed as a member of the National Society of the Sons Of The American Revolution. The SAR is a patriotic fraternal organization, membership in which is by virtue of direct lineage of descent from someone who contributed in a meaningful way to the founding of our nation. In my case, it was a French man who came to America and became a member of General Washington's Army, fighting with him at Valley Forge and beyond.

As members of SAR, we claim no credit for the accomplishments of our ancestors. Rather, we pledge to uphold the principles which led them to forsake a life in their native land, arriving in America with their worldly possessions in hand, dreaming of a society based on equality for all men.

Personally, I feel blessed to have descended from a long line of such patriots, and hope it is in my genes to protect and preserve their dream, and all they did to further that dream. I consider it my responsibility to study the Constitution those founders forged for us. I believe I should learn what was wrong with the governments they left behind and what problems they hoped they had solved by forming the government they gave us. And, I hope I will be able to share that knowledge with others.

A Gift From The Heart!

When I dressed this morning, I grabbed a printed T-shirt from the shelf. After I pulled it on, I stepped in front of a mirror to read the message it conveyed. Turns out it was from United Blood Services, and I remembered it as a gift for some landmark number of blood donations.

I started donating blood in 1964 when I was a Red Cross volunteer. Being heavily involved in promoting Red Cross bloodmobiles, I was usually first in line for each of their visits. In appreciation, the Red Cross informed me that I had been granted lifetime eligibility - whatever that meant.

In 1970, I returned to Kansas City and became a blood donor at the Community Blood Center. A friend of my wife belonged to some woman's organization and I learned that her organization would be credited if I donated blood in their behalf. I don't think I ever knew what their credit would be, but I wanted them to earn maximum benefit. I donated as often as permitted - every six weeks, I think. The Center used to mail reminders and I complied when possible. When the HIV/Aids scare erupted, I once went in for a donation and they asked if I had recently had sex with another man. That made me angry and I quit donating for a short time. Then someone told me they were required by law, or some regulation, to ask, so I relented and resumed donations.

In 1992 I moved to Phoenix and began donating blood at United Blood Services. In 1994, I moved to New Mexico, also served by U.B.S., and continued donations.

One day, while on a lounge donating blood, a nervous young college girl was brought to a lounge near mine for her first donation. In an effort to reassure her, I struck up a conversation. She asked how many times I had given blood. I told her it was some gallons, but I did not know how many.

That aroused my curiosity and I decided to see if I could learn how many pints of blood I had donated. I called the American Red Cross Blood Center in Wichita, Kansas - the people who had operated the bloodmobiles in Salina in the 1960s. They regretted they had no records of blood donations from that long ago. (Oops... I guess they also have no record of my "lifetime eligibility"). Next I called the Community Blood Center in Kansas City. Same result. No records from that period!

United Blood Service credits me with 50 donations - which would take about seven years. Since I did donate at U.B.S. for longer than that, I suppose it is possible. In reality, I am where I was during that conversation with the college girl. I do not know how many times I have donated blood.

Shortly before my 75th birthday I was refused as a donor because I was anemic! Wow, that had never happened. My doctor did some tests, agreed I was anemic and suggested I should no longer donate blood. I didn't like that, but was told they cut off donating at age 75 anyway. My nearly 40 years of donating blood were over.

During the time I promoted blood donations over the radio, I said, "Someone, somewhere, has experienced a severe accident or illness or is about to undergo surgery. Your gift of blood could save their life." I believed it then. I believe it today.

Donating blood is, truly, a gift from the heart!

About Juan Williams Comment.

Everything has been said about what NPR did to Juan Williams. Not a lot said about seeing people in Muslim garb.

In TV news reports, I see American women in Muslim countries wearing head scarves. While I do not necessarily agree with that practice, I do not fault them for trying to be agreeable. When I see Muslims in America wearing Muslim garb, I see a visitor who does not wish to be agreeable; or I see a resident who refuses to assimilate. It is that attitude that makes me nervous. Are they sending me a message? (Then again, maybe like the guy who goes into a restaurant and sits eating his dinner with a ball cap on his head, they are just ignorant.)

As for Juan Williams and the NPR CEO's psychiatrist comment, listening to Juan and Bill Kristol exchange, I sometimes think Juan needs to see a psychiatrist. And, I guess there are times when Juan thinks Bill should see a psychiatrist. Isn't that what makes Fox News Channel so great? You get to hear opposing views almost every time! Fox calls it Fair and Balanced.

Down with brevity!

When I was doing news on local radio stations, I always hated the time constraints. It you were reporting local news, you couldn't really give details on any story. No time. If you were reading news wire reporting, you shuffled through stacks of stories, selecting only those very few you would have time to use. I envied newspaper reporters who could sometimes use several columns to tell their story.

Apparently, few people share my interest in details, as brevity is urged at every turn. In blogging, or even in writing a comment letter to a television news program, you are constantly reminded to be brief. But it has gone beyond that. Using full words is discouraged. If something is real funny, we LOL. If something is shocking, we write (or text) OMG! On Facebook, the comment is often only "Like." Huh? Is it Tweets that should be limited to 140 characters?

When I was in the Army, some soldiers were drafted in the Selective Service System. Others, like me, enlisted. Enlistees were said to be members of the Regular Army, abbreviated RA. Hence, my serial number began RA171..., and we remained soldiers until the end of our term of enlistment. Soldiers who were drafted were on a status of something like "the duration of the conflict.

The other day I saw a TV commercial for some medication for RA. Thinking only of the old Regular Army, I asked my wife if she knew what the medicine was for. "Rheumatoid arthritis", she translated. Is it bad to say rheumatoid arthritis on television?

During the Iraq War reporters often talked about the 4th ID. What? The fourth identification?? No, they were talking about the Fourth Infantry Division. Americans serving in the proud Ivy Leaf Division made a significant contribution to winning World War II, and most every other American military conflict. Are they not entitled to more than "4th ID"?

In my radio days we adhered to the old code of "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em; tell 'em; then tell 'em what you told 'em". In other words, make sure your listeners knew what you said. Today, it's more like "Mumble mumble mumble and three persons were killed. Kansas State Police are investigating. Meanwhile, in Europe..." and you are saying, "What happened? Where in Kansas? Who was killed?" Forget it. You will not know until you hear it or read it from another source. Please, my friend, tell me what you told me!

Obviously the United States Congress also hates brevity. We now have laws that are thousands of pages long. Thousands of pages! Just to describe one law! William L. Shirer's "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", a complete history of Nazi Germany, is only 1140 pages and I thought it was a long book!

President Campaigns For Dems

So read the headline in many newspapers this week. Hmmmm!

Have you ever been any place where any U.S. president visited? Let me tell you about one such visit.

When President Eisenhower died he was buried in his boyhood hometown of Abilene, Kansas, location of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. Then-president Richard Nixon attended the funeral. Abilene is a small city. The airport there will not accommodate Air Force One. The president would have to land at Salina, Kansas and helicopter to Abilene, 24 miles away.

Some days before the funeral, the government commandeered the largest hangar at the Salina airport, flew in three large helicopters and put them in the hangar. All private aircraft normally hangared there were moved and a 24-hour guard was placed at the hangar.

Near the hangar, the telephone company installed a special telephone line. They placed on a table an encrypted telephone of some sort, connected to the line. Two areas were set up for reporters. One, to which I was assigned, was for reporters covering the "event"... the arrival of the president. The other was for reporters covering the president. There job was to report anything that may happen to the president. All reporters were subjected to careful background checks.

A carpet was laid out on the ground, running alongside the table with the phone. Before Air Force One landed, the three helicopters were brought out of the hangars, one parked at the end of the carpet. When the president's plane landed, the pilot taxied up to the other end of the carpet.

I stood next to a reporter from some national publication. He explained the purpose of the phone. On Air Force One, the president has extensive communications facilities. Ditto on the helicopter. But, during the walk from the plane to the helicopter, he would have neither. thus the phone on the table.

Members of the White House Press Corps deplaned first boarded two of the helicopters. Then President Nixon deplaned. He waved to the crowd, walked along the carpet, past the telephone table and boarded one of the helicopters. Why three helicopters, I wanted to know... could the reporters not make the 24-mile trip by bus. "Decoys ", I was told. I laughed. Anyone could watch which chopper the president boarded. "Watch", I was advised. Then the helicopters took off. They flew very low over the hangars and other buildings at the airport. Like a huge, airborne shell game, the three identical aircraft circled and dipped behind the buildings. One moment all were out of sight. Then you saw one. Then another... or was it the same one again? Finally they rose and all three headed for Abilene. "Now which helicopter is the president on?" my new acquaintance asked.

When the helicopters left, an armed guard surrounded Air Force One. They remained in place until the funeral ended and the three helicopters returned to the Salina airport. When the president left his helicopter, he again walked back past the telephone on the table and boarded Air Force One.

When the President's plane took off for Washington, the helicopters were returned to the hangar. I don't know how long they remained, I didn't stick around.

The point being, it costs tens of thousands of dollars to bring a sitting U.S. president in for any event. Think how that is multiplied if he is to visit multiple cities. At each point, all sorts of people are brought in to do all sorts of security checks. If the event is not at the airport, special arrangements must be made to transport the presidential party from the airport to the event.

Once, President George W. Bush visited Las Cruces. A special large plane brought the president's fully secure, communications capable limousine in to transport the president to the event. In that case, that heavy aircraft damaged the runway and the Air Force paid the city $10,000 for repairs.

How much of all this is paid by the president's political party and how much is paid by taxpayer dollars, when the event is purely partisan political in nature? I don't know. But, regardless of party, I think it should all be paid by the political party.

American Industry: R.I.P.

Have you noticed TV ads for tractors by Mahindra? For power tools by Husqvarna? The tractors come from India. The tools from Sweden.

When I was growing up on a farm we could not afford a tractor or power tools. We had horses, and In my teens, I spent many hours dragged along behind the team on a cultivator called a "go-devil" or on a wagon. For cutting firewood we used cross-cut saws and axes. For cutting tall grass, a scythe.

The tractors I did see bore the names "Farmall", "Allis Chalmers", "John Deere", "Case" and other American brands.

Now, I have nothing against India or Sweden. I am happy for them developing manufacturing capacity. But why does it make more sense for an American farmer to buy a tractor shipped from India than one from Iowa? I cannot answer that, but it saddens me! Like hearing of the death of a nice guy you once knew.

Numbers (...again)

I love numbers. Especially since the decimal system (the metric system - and our currency) is about the only place where tens play a role. We have 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 365 or 366 days in a year. That throws everything into wacky patterns.

I was born on presidential election day, November 6, 1928. In my 82 years since then, the presidential election has fallen on my birthday only twice! 1956 and 1984. The reason is leap years. In a leap year, November 6 falls on Tuesday only if January 1 falls on Sunday. In leap years, that happens only every 28 years. Next time will be 2012. (Each time the presidential election has fallen on my birthday, a Republican won: Hoover, Eisenhower, Reagan. Hmmmm!)

In non-leap years (mid-term elections) November 6 falls on Tuesday only if January 1 falls on Monday. That has happened only three times in my 82 years: 1934, 1962 and 1990. Again, once every 28 years, and, again, it is because of leap years.

Think how different things would be if the earth were a little faster and made its trip around the sun in exactly 365 days?

Math teachers love this kind of thinking. Others scratch their heads and give me a strange look. If you have decided I am a nerd's nerd, it doesn't mean I am out of the mainstream... it only proves you are not a math teacher!

Come see the Southwest!

For most of my life, I have heard people rave about the fall foliage displays in America's Northeast. One year, my wife and I spent a week in New England, and the raves were justified. The fall foliage was beautiful. At one point, my understandably proud host remarked, "You've never seen anything like this in Kansas!" Wrong. Much of Kansas is hilly and hardwood forests are abundant. Fall foliage there is as spectacular as anywhere else.

Now, I declare that foliage in the Southwest is also worth the trip. It is true that our tall mountains, (we think of New England mountains as foothills) are mostly populated with conifers that do not change colors, but there are lots of hardwoods, principally aspen, which turn beautifully gold each fall.

In this photo from New Mexico's Gila National Forest, groves of aspen in the distance leave the appearance of spilled gold paint.

In addition, New Mexico offers many other visual surprises. Like the Cliff dwellings, also in the Gila National forest:


And there is the huge Chino copper mine near Hurley, New Mexico.


Plus, such strange and wonderful geological wonders as New Mexico's City of rocks!


I have wandered and photographed New Mexico for over 60 years. This truly is "The Land of Enchantment". That is our state slogan... it is also a fact!

Remember, too, that by the time Europeans (principally from England) settled New England, other Europeans (principally from Spain) had occupied the Southwest for a century.

From Carlsbad Caverns to the oldest continuously occupied government building in America, New Mexico is a visual feast. And there are many other western states to explore.

Come see us!

Never Dos

Life has taught me things I should never do! Here are a couple of them:

1. Never buy a piece of clothing for your wife. Years ago, on a bitter cold winter day, I spotted a ladies' corduroy coat that was sheepskin lined. I thought it would keep her warm on the coldest winter day, and she would look cute as a bug in that big, cuddly coat. I bought it. She hated it and would not wear it - finally sold it in a garage sale! Another time I bought her a pair of PJs from Victoria's Secret. They truly looked fabulous. She said the bottoms were cut wrong for comfort and refused to wear them.

2. Never recommend a restaurant. Years ago, at the Kansas City stockyards, there was a restaurant called The Golden Ox. Their steaks were cooked on a real charcoal grill and they were absolutely the best. I bragged about them to a friend in Connecticut. Finally he had occasion to visit Kansas City. His plane was an evening flight and he arrived hungry. I drove like a fool to get him to The Golden Ox before they closed. Being late in the evening and near closing time, they must have run out of prime beef and butchered an aged ox. The steaks were bad and my friend was forever convinced that I didn't know a good steak from shoe leather.

Dumb & Dumber

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill ordering that TV commercials must be no louder than the programming. The U. S. House has the same thing under consideration.

This is such a stupid waste of time and money, so void of logic, that ONLY the U.S. Congress could make such an effort.

First, understand that "loudness" from your TV is dependent on several factors. First, of course, is the level of the signal on the recorded commercial - or on the live program. But, whether the audio originates from microphones in the studio, from a network signal, or from a recording of a commercial or a program, it evolves to an electronic signal sent to the station's transmitting equipment. On the way it encounters a piece of equipment called a "limiter" which controls the maximum volume. If a signal is too strong, it lowers the level. It is automatic and it is required by FCC regulation.

The next factor is the nature of the audio. If it is an announcer describing a product, that announcer will be speaking directly to his microphone as clearly and distinctly as possible. If that is not the case, believe me, the announcer will have to re-record his/her lines. His signal will come across at full permissible volume.

If it is a dramatic program, where a small voice is sobbing into a handkerchief, or an actor mumbling as he/she turns away from the microphones, that voice will be lower in volume. If it is a car chase with screaming sirens and screaming mood music, it will be maximum loudness.

Finally, and often the deciding factor, are the speaker(s) on your TV set. If the speaker(s) and their associated audio amplifier are such that they are more sensitive to higher frequencies, commercials or programming such as music, which contain predominantly higher frequencies, will sound louder on your TV.

I make TV commercials. How can I control the sound to match all the possible variations in the volume level of TV programming? I cannot. How can I control the sound to match all the possible speaker configurations of the nation's TV sets? I cannot.

Can the TV station do that? Of course not. Listening on high quality TV station monitors, the station engineer may hear something much different than you hear coming from the small, inefficient speaker(s) on your TV set.

Let's compare the audio level to the picture level on your screen. Should every twilight scene be adjusted to match every bright sunlit scene - or vice-versa? Absurd.

The last thing a TV broadcast station wants is to broadcast anything that viewers will find offensive; that may drive viewers to another channel. If the problem could be easily solved, it would have been, long ago.

Congress go home. Quit trying to fix things that are not fixable!

Blinders

Occasionally we hear reference to someone wearing "blinders". In this modern age, does anyone still remember blinders?

Well into the 1940s, horses were used to move freight short distances in large cities. Teams of two, four or more large horses pulled huge wagons. Usually this freight was moved only a few blocks from one factory dock to another. I remember, as a teen, being cautioned not to pet the horses! These were not gentle ponies. They were huge working animals and, perhaps expecting food, were inclined to bite any hand extended near their faces.

I remember a lot of noise associated with this activity... steel wagon wheels clattering on brick or cobblestone streets, teamsters shouting, and so forth. No teamster wanted his horses distracted or frightened, and efforts were made to isolate the big animals from the surrounding bustle. Blinders helped. Attached to the horses bridle, the blinders totally blocked the view to either side, allowing the horse to see straight ahead only.


People are accused of wearing blinders when they see only one point of view and are blinded to any other. It is a way of saying the person's vision is blocked by some external object, as with the horse. It is a perfect metaphor. And, it is a bit more polite than accusing someone of being too stubborn to see another point of view.