Have you ever used any of these words?

The only two I don't think I've ever heard used (or read) are these three:

Word of the Day #1

ker·fuf·fle / kərˈfəfəl / noun / INFORMAL•BRITISH = a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views.  Example:  "There was a kerfuffle over who was in charge."

Word of the Day #2

din·gle·ber·ry / ˈdiNGəlˌberē / noun / INFORMAL•US = a foolish or inept person.  Example:  "He's a real dingleberry."

Word of the Day #3

cods·wal·lop / ˈkädzˌwäləp / noun / INFORMAL•BRITISH = nonsense.  Example:  "I think that's a load of codswallop."

I love dark pumpernickel bread, like this.  Have you ever eaten any?

International Day of the Girl Child

Girls face unique challenges.  Today we promote the empowerment of young girls everywhere and advocate for the attainment of their basic human rights, like education and bodily autonomy.  As Malala Yousafzai says:  "We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back."

Clawdia at her window ~ three years apart

Clawdia at her window 10/10/2020

Clawdia at her window 10/6/2017

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra ~ at Crown Center

SLSO on the Go performed outdoors at the Crown Center recently, with interviews on YouTube of our Executive Director and Miriam, a resident.

Gratitude ~ try some of these ~ it feels good

Coincidence ~ real life and fiction

I've always been fascinated by coincidences.  I wrote about coincidences in January 2020, in the last paragraph of an August 2020 post, in January 2019, in February 2015, and many other times.  I'm back to do it all over again.

I watched part of the vice-presidential debate last night (see photo above, where Kamala Harris tried to stop an interruption by Vice President Mike Pence by saying "I'm speaking").  Then I went to sleep, and this morning picked up my book to read another short story from the very thick book on time travel I wrote about in my last post.  The next story was "The Final Days" by David Langford, first published in 1981.  It's VERY short — only four pages (pp. 257-260).  Here are some words I highlighted:

• "a nation of watchers" (p. 257).
• "What would be your first act as President, Mr. Ferris?" (p. 257).
• "a mugger came up to me. One of those scum who will be swept from the streets when our program of police reform goes through" (p. 258).
• "a Presidential campaign" (p. 258).
• "newspaper predictions of opinion polls ... we politicians ... today's voters" (p. 259).
• "In four days you will be President" (p. 259).
• "He refused to draw the car's shades, of course, preferring to remain visible to the public behind his bullet-proof glass" (p. 259).
• "Soviets ... China ..." (p. 260).
• "ready to risk even his reputation for the good of Democracy" (p. 260).
• "The Good Of The Nation" (p. 260).
• "The eyes of time were upon him.  He knew he would not fail them" (p. 260).

The quotes are like sound bites from today's news.  The story is about "watchers" from the future who would come back to watch events like presidential debates of those who would one day be very famous. That's an amazing coincidence, to be reading that immediately after watching a vice-presidential debate that was trying to repair the ridiculously childish recent presidential debate.  About that earlier debate, John Pavlovitz posted today,  this president "has fallen to the occasion."

Books on time travel and paradoxology

The Time Traveler's Almanac ~ edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer, 2013, science fiction

I'll start this one today.  This thick volume is the largest and most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled.  It compiles more than a century's worth of literary travels into the past and the future, with beloved classics and contemporary innovations. It includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu's Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers). The book itself is like a time machine, covering millions of years of Earth's history from the age of the dinosaurs through to strange futures, spanning the ages from the beginning of time to its very end.

Paradoxology ~ by Miriam Therese Winter, 2009, science and religion, 8/10

I just finished reading this one today.  Here are a couple of quotes I like:  "A quantum universe is telling us that we are all connected, that the God of one is the God of all, that the suffering of any of Earth's people or any part of the planet is a desecration to us all" (loc. 94).  "How would our lives have been different, how would the world and the church have evolved, if women had been praised, not blamed, for taking the initiative, for wanting to know good from evil, for wanting to be more like God?  We might have had peace on earth by now if women had been applauded, rather than berated, for choosing to be fully human" (loc. 224).