Two beginnings

Beginning of the Introduction

"Are we alone?"  This short but profound question has been repeatedly posed by us on Earth as we attempt to discover if there is life on other planets.

Beginning of Chapter One

Has human history been influenced by extraterrestrials for up to 12,000 years?  There are a group of authors and academics who say there is strong evidence this is the case, and aliens have walked the Earth, helping to build the iconic pyramids in Egypt, the holy site of Puma Punku in Bolivia, and even had a role with the Ark of the Covenant.

World of the Unexplained: Alien Encounters ~ by Sam Pilger and Leo Moynihan, 2024, unidentified flying objects, 176 pages

Take a journey into the world of the unexplained to discover the extraterrestrial mysteries of history:  tales of alien encounters across the centuries, from those who have witnessed mysterious lights in the sky to those with tales of time spent on alien spacecraft.  Whether you are a doubter, a believer, or simply curious, here you will find accounts that explore ancient tales of aliens before tracking the many UFO sightings that have been reported across the world.

The book is divided into four themed chapters:  (1) Ancient Aliens, (2)  UFO Conspiracies, (3)  UFO Sightings, and (4)  Alien Abductions.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Is "supposably" a word?

AI tells me, "Yes, 'supposably' is a real word listed in major dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary.  However, it has a different meaning from the much more common word 'supposedly,' even though the two are frequently mixed up in daily speech."  Here are the differences:

• Supposably:  Means conceivably or potentially possible (e.g., We could supposably finish today).
• Supposedly:  Means reportedly or by reputation, often with doubt (e.g., He is supposedly rich).

Two kinds of people

"There are two kinds of people in the world — those who walk into a room and say 'There you are' and those who say, 'Here I am!'" ~ a quote from Abigail van Buren

A book and a review of my blogging week

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life ~ by Arthur C. Brooks, 2022, aging, 272 pages

This #1 New York Times Bestseller is a roadmap for finding purpose, meaning, and success as we age.  This bestselling author is a Harvard professor and the Atlantic's happiness columnist.

Many of us assume that the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that frequently accompanies aging.  But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs.  So what can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and success?

At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress.  This book is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.

By drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks shows us that true life success is well within our reach.  By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn (such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress), we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.  You, too, can go from strength to strength.

Week in Review

• On Monday, HERE, I mused about butt dialing (also called pocket dialing).
• "Negative Nellie" were the words I chose for Wednesday Words, HERE.
• Book Beginnings on Friday was from a book showing a black cat, HERE.
• Saturday's post, HERE, was full of cats to celebrate International Cat Day.  So it really WAS Caturday that day!

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Today is International Cat Day

Clawdia at her window, and Kiki kissing me.  They are my most recent cats, so I have photos of them online (and on the sidebar to the right).  I'm also celebrating Duchess, the gray cat I rescued from a mud puddle when she was a kitten and I was only nine years old.  And then there's Jack, the gray and white cat who lived on the mountain with us.  I don't have a photo of him to share.  Sorry.  If you have (or ever had) a cat, please share a name or something about your cat in the comments.

Beginning ~ with the black cat superstition

Beginning

I can't think of a better way to kick things off than with a discussion of black cats and all the superstitions swirling around them.  Whether you are a cat person or a dog person, super religious or a stone-cold atheist, you've probably heard that seeing a black cat is a bad omen.

The Book of Superstitions: Black Cats, Yellow Flowers, Broken Mirrors, Cracked Sidewalks, and More Cultural Behaviors and Myths Explained ~ by Shelby El Otman, 2023, folk lore, 192 pages, 10/10

You'll learn the cultural histories behind some of the world's supernatural beliefs with this book:  things like Friday the 13th, rabbit feet, knocking on wood, walking under a ladder, and the curse of the evil eye.  I guess we all have a superstition or two.  The author unveils the origins of some of the most universal and and the little known superstitions that have influenced cultures around the world for centuries.  These include beliefs that gained a foothold in African and European folklore, notions from ancient Greece, and legends of the British Isles.  It's a captivating read that shows how superstitions vary from country to country.

I guess this could be called Caturday, a day early.  Clawdia would disagree with the idea that black cats are a bad omen, if she were still alive to still blog on Caturdays.  Click HERE to read about my little black cat named Clawdia (and what she posted on our blog).

Added later:  If you run into me today, you'll see I'm wearing black cat socks.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

My negative neighbor

al·lit·er·a·tion /əˌlidəˈrāSHən/noun = the occurrence of the same letter or

sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

One of my neighbors is a Negative Nellie.  Whenever she sees me, she likes to point out every negative thing about me that she can think of, from how I look to how I walk.  That's why I usually find another way to go if I see her.  She caught me at the elevator on Monday.

I've decided I need to learn how to be rude (sorry, Mom) and walk rapidly away from her, even when she is talking to me.  As I fumed in bed that night, I came up with the negative Nellie alliteration.  Looking for an illustration for this post, I learned I am not the first to notice that "negative" goes nicely with "Nellie."