Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #500

yeah I know you did not ask!

I am currently watching a Great Courses series (we have a streaming subscription) called: Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed. I was utterly fascinated by the unit on Mayan math. They used a based 20 system and only needed 3 symbols to represent all the possible numbers.  It was a positional system like our decimal system and unlike Roman numerals. The professor said the joke was that they counted on their fingers and their toes.  He then reinforced that it was a joke and went on to say that no one was quite sure why they came up with a base 20 system.

Obviously we all work with base 10, more or less daily. As a programmer I worked extensively with a base 16 system of math and symbology.  I occasionally also worked directly in base 8 and base 2.

All which started me thinking about an Okie I once knew who invented a base 21 system.  Of course, he was skinny dipping at the time he had this brain storm.

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Race on Census Forms Starting 1790

To state the obvious, race continues to be fractious subject in this country and worldwide.  It has all too often in history, including recent history, morphed into a reason for genocide. In my conversations with folks in Central and South America,  I find interesting their perplexity with how racist a country the United States is.  They  tend not see skin color as a reason to exclude, minimize or even hate another person… then I think of the history of many of these countries and how they have mistreated their indigenous populations and continue to mistreat them. And racism becomes a story without end.

I forget what I was reading or listening to, but whatever it was, it claimed that Jews and Italians were not considered “white” until very recently.  So to Google I went to research that statement a bit.  I stumbled across this Pew Research article listing the race question on all census forms since 1790.  I found it interesting.

What Census Calls Us

 

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Strange Bedfellows

We just celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day this third Monday of January , the 17th, which started me thinking about an anecdote I have been telling for years.

In the fall of 1983, much against the desires and better judgment of my now ex-spouse, I weaseled – and weasel is the operative word – my way back into her abode after a very long separation.  I don’t remember exactly how long this particular separation had been, probably somewhere around 18 months. While we stayed together, more or less,  for another dozen years, the marriage had been a tumultuous relationship nearly from day one.  At one point in my life I spent a lot of time ruminating Continue reading “Strange Bedfellows”

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Word of the Day – Fugacious

  • Adjective: Fugacious
    1. lasting a short time
  • Synonyms:
    1.  brief
    2. ephemeral
    3. evanescent
    4. fleeting
    5. impermanent
    6. momentary
    7. passing
    8. short-lived
    9. temporary
    10. transient
  • Usage:
    1. The Fed is still of the view that a lot of recent inflation is tr-tr-transit- … OK, we can’t use the T-word anymore, so maybe say that it’s fugacious?”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Krugman’s newsletter in the NYTimes: Wonking Out: What Would a Hard Landing Look Like?

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

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,163

yeah I know you did not ask!

Señora and I were together in my pick-em-up truck this chilly morning, running errands. I’m not sure how it got started, but we got into a playful contest trying to out “smart-ass” each other.  After a few minutes of this Señora threw her hands in the air  towards the headliner of my vehicle mirthfully conceding, “you win, you are king of smart-asses.”

All of which got me to wondering, does that make me the better smart-ass or the worse smart-ass?

Inquiring minds want to know, and me too.

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Gift Idea for Yours Truly

I see the above sign often around the St. Louis area.  Sometimes instead of Student is reads Permit. It just a small cautionary signal to other drivers about an inexperienced driver who may need a little slack.  Sometimes I have wanted one with the not so original saying: “Please Be Patient, I’m from out of town”

So I started wondering if that they made such signs/bumper stickers for “Senior Drivers” as it might be a good gift idea for someone I am intimately acquainted with.  No drum roll please, they do.
Do I need to put one  on all three vehicles, I drive all of them differently?  I pick and chose my places, but I drive my Miata, well, like a sports cars.  I drive my Tacoma fairly staidly, and Señora’s Outback even more so.  I about have the leaving the blinker on for miles and miles down pat.  I am not so prone to push right on red like I used to.  I’ve  recently quit looking at speed limits simply as suggestions.  Wonder if I could get an insurance discount if I had one of these on each of our vehicles.  Or maybe I should just be content that I am still driving at my advanced age…

Of course, I might need another sign that reads “I brake for rest stops.”

And so it goes.

 

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Camp Wild, Camp Covid

Robin has a very good friend, Viki, who is an artist.  An example of her art would be an older van that she bought, and then decorated the entire vehicle with her amazing art. To see the van coming down the street is a real show stopper, it definitely grabs your attention.  Viki and her husband Tom live in a very nice house, the yard of which falls sharply away to a small stream.  Generally the stream has a very low level of water and flow, but certain times of the year it can get out of its bank.  For this reason they have left a big swath of their property behind the fenced portion of their yard au naturale. Well sort of… Tom keeps the undergrowth Continue reading “Camp Wild, Camp Covid”

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Daffodils

This just ain’t right…

Here it is the 31st of December, 2021  in St. Louis, Missouri and our daffodils are trying to come up.  At least part of our yard of northern grasses looks like a pass with the mower would do it some good. The temperature currently is 65. Most of the week has been mild and rainy.

But wait, there is about to be a major beat down of our poor, confused flowers.  Sunday is going to be a high of 24 with an overnight low of 10. Later in the week snow might be here with lows in the single digits.

I once heard someone describe Mother Nature as a pissed off biker bitch with a bad attitude.  And yet we keep messing with her.

And so it goes.