Spatter

Friday Fact - Leap Year

Today is February 29th, a day that only shows up during leap years. Yup, 2008 is a leap year...one additional day to have Bush/Cheney running things. 

Most people know that leap years were added to the calendar to keep it in alignment with the solar year...the actual time it takes the Earth to travel around the sun: 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.   

These added hours and minutes may not seem like much of a difference, but after a few years, they begin to add up.  After four years, it adds up to about a day, but if left unchecked...say a hundred years...the difference would amount to about 25 days.  That would mean that instead of summer beginning in June, it would start almost a month later, in July.  This wouldn't do so every four years a leap day is added to the calendar to allow it to catch up to the solar year. 

The Egyptians were the ones that came up with the idea, and I'm still amazed that they figured it out. Later, the Romans adopted this solution for their Julian calendar, and they designated February 29th as the leap day. 

Done.

But wait, it seems that adding a day every four years didn't quite do the trick.  It turned out that this simple formula eventually adds too many days. Things still got out of alignment.  Enter the Gregorian calendar in 1582.  With the Gregorian calendar leap years were omitted three times every four hundred years.  Again, I'm wondering how they figured this all out. So here's the actual "rules" for leap years:

1. Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year.
2. But every year divisible by 100 is Not a leap year
3. Unless the year is also divisible by 400, then it is still a leap year.

Got all that?  No matter. Thankfully, it's all done for us. 

And that's a Friday Fact!

Post Note

In 5th century Ireland St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait so long for a man to propose.  According to the legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could do the proposing on this one day in February during the leap year.  They called it St. Bridget's Complaint.  Of course, here in the U.S. we call it Sadie Hawkins Day... when unmarried women have the "right" to run after unmarried men and propose to them.

 

 

 

The Bees Are Back

Remember our bee problem that I posted about in December?  Well, as the movie line goes:  "they're baaack." We've never stopped seeing bees hovering around outside, but we just figured those were some tenacious stragglers trying to get back in the hole that got plugged.  But in the past week or so I started finding bees inside.  First on my bedroom blinds...then in the loft...a couple of others here and there.  I still thought it likely that they had slipped in while the door was open (a tad long sometimes because of Shaynee), but then I heard and saw clear evidence that they were coming in through the attic:  dead bees in my shower light fixture and one dying.

To make a long story not quite so long, it turns out that the dusting and plugging done back in December may have chased off the honey bees but apparently a honeycomb remained inside our wall. Now carpenter bees  have found it and taken it over. Here's a picture of what I'm finding in the house:   

They're smaller than this might make it seem...about half an inch.  And from what I read, aren't too aggressive.  In fact, the males don't even have a stinger.  Still, I'm not a happy camper.

So, it looks like we're going to have to endure the noise and disruption of having a piece of our exterior wall removed to get to the honeycomb and the colony.  Jeez...we've hardly gotten over all the ruckus from repairs after Hurricane Wilma! 

Wordless Wednesday - Flamingos

(click photo for larger view)

"Flamingos"
From the Wings gallery @ by damanti

Shingles

This isn't a post about roofs.  It's a post about a virus.  It's got a scientific name, but people call it "shingles". A friend's husband just came down with it.  You can get it at any age, but people over 60 who have had chicken-pox and/or have weakened immune systems are the most likely candidates. For those who may not know, it can be very, very painful.   

At the same time we heard about our friend's husband, Judy's doctor happened to have strongly urged her to get the shingles vaccine. Why? Judy's over 60, has had chicken-pox, and also has enough medical issues to make her more susceptible to getting them.

What the doctor and the FDA is saying is that without the vaccine, about 20 percent of people who've had chicken-pox will eventually get shingles and a person who lives to be 85 has about a 50 percent chance of getting it.  Then, in about a third of the cases where it's contracted, it turns into an excruciatingly painful disease.  The vaccine (usually needed only once  in a lifetime) is said to be more than 60 percent effective in reducing shingles symptoms...and perhaps more importantly, it reduces the more painful versions from happening by at least two-thirds.

Now I know there's a lot of horror stories out there about the FDA in general, and vaccines in particular, but Judy got her shot.  She was a classic candidate. And I decided to get one too. I'm closing in on 60;  I've had chicken-pox; I read the links below; and I found out that my insurance would pay for it.  Since everyone I knew (prior to our friend's husband) who had had shingles were in their 40s or younger, I figured why wait. 

Do I worry some about who's giving what to whom and under what circumstances?  For sure. But generally, I think vaccines do more good than bad and are mostly given with good intent. 

You can click here and here for further reading.

 

 

 

 

Small Things

I consider myself someone who notices the small things in life around me, so you can imagine my surprise when Bonnie shared this about my car's gas gauge: there's an arrow next to the gas pump icon on your gas gauge and it points to the side of the car that the gas tank is on.

I never even noticed it.  Now, be honest...did you?  I went out to my car to check.  Sure enough...there it was.  Then I looked in Judy's car...several years older...and sure enough, she had one too.  Go check and see about yours. 

I'll never need to spend another moment wondering why all cars don't have tanks on the same side!

 

Photo Hunt - Wooden

"Tug Hull"
From the Seeing Things gallery @ bydamanti      

 

 

 

Fashion Statement

Today I tried to find a pair of dress slacks.  It was exhausting, not to mention frustrating. Every one I tried on were very long and had a very wide boot cut...so wide, I'd even call them bell-bottoms.  Now, I'm 5 feet 7 inches tall and most of that height is in my legs.  I've never had to hem pants up...ever.  But these puppies draped well onto the floor, I'd say about 6 inches worth. I couldn't believe I'd see the day when slacks made me feel short. 

Did I miss something?  Are high-heeled boots back in style?  I'm just wondering.

Post Note

I never did find anything that I liked well enough to think about getting and then hemming up...and to tell the truth...I think that hemming that much would change the natural line of how the material was meant to drape.

Friday Fact- Political Mascots

I actually got a Friday Fact topic request! That was fun.  This first request was for me to write about the origins of the two major political party mascots. So here it is.  I write it with some trepidation, knowing full well that EHP at History Is Elementary would be the more knowledgeable author on this topic.  EHP, if you're reading, feel free to add to or correct the record.    

Let's start with the Democrats. Just so you know, initially the Democratic Party was known as the "Republican Party". The name "Democrats" came later, when these Jeffersonians were  labeled "Democratic" by the opposition Federalists in the hope of stigmatizing them as purveyors of democracy and mob rule. 

As for its mascot, the Democratic donkey was actually never officially adopted as such by the party itself.  The origins of this symbol aren't known for sure, but according to one theory the donkey...in its original form of jackass...was born in the intense mudslinging that occurred during the presidential race of 1828 in which Andrew Jackson was sometimes called a jackass by his opponents. Surely you didn't think partisan politics just started! 

Anyway, in 1828, Jackson co-opted the "jackass" and turned the donkey's stubbornness, strength, and unpolished manners into political virtues.  Then, in 1870, famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast  published a cartoon in Harper's Weekly using that donkey to symbolize the Democrats. As a result, the symbol stuck.  Nast used  the donkey motif in subsequent cartoons, and by 1880 it was widely recognized as the unofficial mascot of the Democrats.  Here's that cartoon:

Here's a bit of trivia for you:  in the early 20th century, the traditional symbol for the Democrats in the mid-west was not a donkey, but a rooster (juxtaposed against the Republican eagle).  In fact, this symbol still appears on Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Indiana ballots.  Here's more: for most of the 20th century, Missouri Democrats used the Statue of Liberty as their ballot emblem. This is why when the Libertarian candidates received ballot access in Missouri in 1976, they couldn't use the Statue of Liberty as their national symbol.  As a result, the Libertarians chose to use the Liberty Bell.

Now for the Republicans.  As noted above, the original Republican Party were today's Democrats.  What we know as the Republican Party was only established in 1854 by a coalition of parties that had been on the political scene: the Whigs, Northern Democrats, Liberty Party, and the Free Soilers. 

The new party's founding members chose the name "Republican Party" in part as an homage to Thomas Jefferson...echoing republican values of opposition to aristocracy and corruption.  Wait...wasn't Jefferson sort of affiliated with the first Republicans who turned Democrats?  Yes, but by this time these folks thought they had strayed from the originating principles...there was this little thing called states rights and slavery being talked about and the Democrats were pretty much in favor of both.   

Like the donkey, it was Nast and Harper's Weekly that dubbed the elephant as the Republican Party mascot.  This time in 1874.  Nast depicted a Democratic donkey wearing a lion's skin frightening other "political animals", including an elephant. Nast used the elephant in later cartoons, and eventually, the Republicans adopted it as its official symbol. Here's the cartoon:

And that's a Friday Fact!

Post Note

Let me extend the invitation to everyone: if there's something you want me to make into a Friday Fact, just say so.

She Sees Old People

The other evening I noticed an elderly woman sitting alone, apparently deep in thought. These words came to me:

I see old people
(I'm becoming one of them)
lost in reflection
of what was and what could have been...
a moment's pause
then on to living.

Knew, But Didn't Do

I knew better, but didn't think to do it.  I didn't think to take my iPod and cables out of my car when I went to get it washed...something I did to try to conserve water since they recycle theirs.  I didn't notice at first because I kept it in my console and seldom would use it around town. But gone it is: stolen. I'm more than a little perturbed, both at the culprit and at me!   

At the moment I'm not rushing out to replace it.  Having just bought a camera, et al, I figure I've spent enough money.  It'll be interesting to see how I feel come May when I make my return trip to Floyd...it sure was nice having non-stop, non-repeat, and all favorites music for 14 hours!