Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

Posted on

My 11th Great Aunt – Pocahontas

A while back I signed up on the Mormon genealogy site, FamilySearch.org.  It is free, and has a ton of contributors.  Of course, like any crowd source data, it is not free of errors…and on occasion I have thought wishful thinking.   However, both sides of my family have been in this country since Europeans first step foot on these shores.  This is especially true on my father’s side that has many tentacles traceable to very ancient European and British Isle ancestors.

I had stumbled across this connection by myself, but FamilySearch sent me an email about connections to famous people, including Continue reading “My 11th Great Aunt – Pocahontas”

Posted on

Word of the Day -Nonplussed

  • Adjective: Nonplussed
    1. unsure about what to say, think, or do : perplexed
    2. chiefly US : not bothered, surprised, or impressed by something
  • Synonyms:
    1. dazed
    2. bewildered
    3. confounded
    4. confused
    5. disconcerted
    6. muddled
    7. stupefied
    8. at a loss
    9. awestruck
    10. uncomprehending
    11. wonderstruck
  • Usage:
    1. “Can you be plussed?
      Interestingly, there is no word plussed. You can only be nonplussed. People are nonplussed when they’re astounded, exasperated, or at a loss. “I’m nonplussed,” you say when your mother tells you she’s marrying her 25-year-old personal trainer..”
  • Encountered:
    1.  Actually what happened was that I was going to use nonplussed in a sentence, and thought I, “am I using the word correctly?” Turns out I was if you go by the second definition that is chiefly US.  So I was, depending on my audience.  But then I stumbled on the little piece above.  I just love the sentence in red, two entirely different meanings depending on which definition you go with.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Quote of the Day – King Solomon

“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”  ~~ King Solomon in  Ecclesiastes 1:18

While attributed to King Solomon the actual author is unknown. The language in Ecclesiastes points to a time much later than Solomon would have lived.

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

Posted on

3rd Time is the Charm    

If you have ever studied any human anatomy, you will know we are pretty much the same under the hood.  However, there are a multitude of recorded variations and abnormalities from the standard model.  I once had a physician, a D.O., who would frequently give shots and draw blood himself.  He called the veins in the antecubital fossa – the area where they normally draw blood – in one of my arms, alien veins. He went on to state that only about five percent of the population had my particular venous configuration.  Heaven forbid I should adhere to a convention like bilateral symmetry.

Several years ago I was in a doctor’s office and they needed Continue reading “3rd Time is the Charm    “

Posted on

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,135

yeah I know you did not ask!

I suppose another one you could file under ironic. Certainly something to ponder on.

I was working with one of my Spanish tutors when somehow the subject of George Floyd and Michael Brown came up.  My Mexican tutor who lives in Tijuana told me that in Mexico the American police have the reputation of being brutal.  I had no real argument with that, but said, “and the police in Mexico?” To which he replied, “they are not brutal, simply corrupt.”

What a world we live in when those who should be serving and protecting are frequently doing neither.

And so it goes.

Posted on

Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5783.066

“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”

Almost out of the blue Señora said to me, “You would not make a very good MC on a game show.”

“Oh?,” said I, arching one eyebrow, a perplexed expression crossing my charming, handsome countenance, “why is that?”

“You get annoyed by people too easily,” she went on.

“So you think I am annoyed with you right now,” I echoed, dropping into my best active listening mode and reflecting back to her what I thought she had just said.

“Clearly that is true, my dear, dear sweet man,” Señora commented, only a little sarcastically.

“Well come on down and see if the Price is Right, your turn to spin, vowels are worth double, What is sarcasm, Alex?” for some reason seemed to be the necessary, if absolutely not the appropriate response.

Growing up with four brothers, I became very good at ducking.

And so it goes.

Posted on

Day of the Dude – March 6, 2023

Gather round all you Dudes and Dudettes, today is The Day of the Dude, a celebration of our favorite Lebowski Dude,  and one of our favorite movies The Big Lebowski, one of the few movies I actually own.

From the website National Today:

“Day of the Dude is celebrated on March 6 every year to commemorate the North American release of the movie ‘The Big Lebowski’ in 1998. The movie portrays a protagonist with a laid-back attitude to life who chooses simplicity, peace, and happiness. The idea is to enjoy life’s little moments such as bowling or drinking with some friends. The holiday looks to promote ease and simplicity in society. Being able to easily let things go and go with the flow is a big part of the lifestyle. The lifestyle portrayed in the movie inspired the birth of the religion/philosophy known as ‘Dudeism.’”

To read more: Day of the Dude – March 6, 2023

The Dude truly abides.

Posted on

I Want To Live by Helen Imagene (Jean) Jones Felfe

This was an easy book to read.  This was a hard book to read.

It was an easy book to read as it was well written.  The first part of the book started off a little slow for me, but persevere, it picks up quickly.  After reading the whole book those initial chapters almost seem written in a different style.  Perhaps that was intentional.  Once I got into the meat of the memoir I found it to be a real page turner.  It was an easy book to read as there was Continue reading “I Want To Live by Helen Imagene (Jean) Jones Felfe”

Posted on

Southpaw – I never knew

Once again during my regular regal ruminations I was perusing the book, Dictionary of Word Origins by Jordan Almond when I came across an entry for Southpaw:

“All major league baseball diamonds are laid out so that the batter will face east, thus putting the afternoon sun behind his back and making it easier for him to see the ball. Therefore, when the pitcher faces the batter he’s facing west and his left arm is to the south. So if he pitches left-handed, he’s pitching with his ‘south paw.'”

It makes sense that they would construct ball parks this way – aligned with the compass, but I had never thought about it before.  I had never really considered why left-handed pitchers are called south paws.  I had just heard it all my life and accepted it without thought.

As my son-in-law has informed me a couple times ( I had forgotten the answer from the first time I asked him) that the stadium space in center field without seats, and usually green, is to help the batters see the ball also.

Don’t you feel so  much smarter now…

Posted on

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #3,726

yeah I know you did not ask!

File this under ironic.

When I first moved in with Señora around 2012 in this St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield (population 49,703), there was a big discussion going on in the media about racial profiling, The city of Chesterfield was listed as one of the most egregious cities in Missouri for profiling of black drivers. A quick search on Google did not bring up any current articles, however.  Chesterfield is 77% white, 13% Asian, and only 3.5% black. Hispanics are 2.9% and the rest vary.

Continuing through the pandemic until now, home deliveries of whatever has become and remains massively popular.  There seems to be delivery vans constantly driving down our street.

The ironic part… the vast majority of the folks driving these vans are exactly the type of persons that the Chesterfield PD was accused of profiling a decade ago. Apparently it is okay if these folks are delivering your goodies and wearing a corporate uniform.