View on December 8, 2017, from our front door

I know today is August 31st. But don't you feel cooler now?

More minutiae of my life you can't live without

I don't live in the city, but I don't live in the country either, although a city dweller might say that I do. Nor am I a suburbanite. I live where the outer fringes of suburbia morph into what some call exurbia and some call semi-rural (as opposed to full-blown rural which to me, having grown up in Texas, means huge ranches, wide open spaces with people few and far between, farms with big herds of swine or sheep or cattle. That is not where I live). Using the latest figures, our county has 421 square miles of land (water doesn't count) and 266,000 human residents. The human residents, if spread evenly over the land mass (they aren't, of course), equal a population density of 631 persons per square mile. By way of comparison, the population density of the city of London, England, is 7,700 persons per square mile. The population density of the island of Manhattan in the state of New York (that is, New York City without the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island) is 74,309 persons per square mile. Compared to those places, I suppose where I live might be considered the wide, open spaces, proving once again that everything is relative.

I have written previously that the eastern part of beautiful Cherokee County, Georgia, where I live is like the hem of the high priest's garment in ancient Israel. If you went around the hem of the high priest's garment in ancient Israel you would have seen a bell and a pomegranite, a bell and a pomegranite, a bell and a pomegranite. If you go around the eastern part of beautiful Cherokee County, Georgia, where I live you will see a farm and a subdivision, a farm and a subdivision, a farm and a subdivision. Semi-rural, like I said. Lots of houses, but also lots of horses.

We also have little clumps of commercial enterprises every few miles so that we don't have to drive all the way into the city or even the suburbs for the necessities of life. These clumps were once little country crossroads that have metastasized into pseudo-mini-suburbs.

Five miles to the north of us the clump includes a Kroger supermarket (groceries, household goods, and pharmacy), three gasoline stations, a dental office that was once a bank, an Ace hardware store, a Subway sandwich shop, a veterinarian's office, a Mexican restaurant, a dry cleaner's, a pizza place, a Taco Bell, a Chinese food take-out, an automobile parts store, an Anytime Fitness Center, a funeral home and crematorium, a McDonald's, a Waffle House, a fire station, an elementary school, and, as Andy Griffith used to say, I don't know what all.

Five miles to the south of us the clump consists of two supermarkets (Kroger and Publix), two stand-alone drugstores/pharmacies (Walgreens and CVS), a library, two banks, an urgent-care facility, an assisted-living and memory care facility, a dental office, an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a car wash, a cemetery, a Wendy's, a Waffle House, a McDonald's, a Burger King, a Bojangles, a Taco Bell, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, a Zaxby's, a Chick-fil-A, a fire station, a barbecue restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, a pizza place, two automobile parts stores, two gasoline stations, another Anytime Fitness Center, even a Dunkin Donut. Everything one's heart could desire.

Hardly.

What don't we have? A lot of things. A hospital (though a large regional one is about 10 miles west of us). A post office. Clothing stores. Shoe stores. Jewelry stores. Department stores. Florists. Theaters. Music stores. Art galleries. Museums. Bike paths. Sidewalks.

Our subdivision does have sidewalks, but the only place they go is to other parts of our subdivision.

Our county grew 24% between 2010 and 2020, from 214,000 human beings to 266,000 human beings. Several more traffic signals have been added and there are even a couple of roundabouts now.

I forgot where I was going with this post. I'm almost sure I intended to make some sort of point, but it's too late to worry about that now. If I think of it, I will certainly let you know.

Until then, and as everyone says and nobody really knows why, so long* for now.

*To find out more about the phrase "so long", read this very interesting article written in 2018 by etymologist Anatoly Liberman. You'll be glad you did.

Things Berlitz probably won’t tell you

If you tend to fly off the handle easily and say things you later regret, there are some words you probably ought never to say to anyone. On the other hand, if you don't mind the occasional fist coming in contact with your nose and you happen to find yourself in Germany, either accidentally or on purpose, here is an excellent article from Mental Floss that you may find useful:

"30 Hilarious German Insults You Should Start Using Immediately" .

You'll have to look them up yourself because I'm not going to list them for you like I did a couple of posts back with the 10 words The Simpsons made famous. I will tell you that schweinehund is in there but dummkopf, a particular favorite of my father, is not.

Okay, you twisted my arm. I will list them for you:

1. Arschgeige
2. Bananenbieger
3. Erbsenzähler (also ameisentätowierer)
4. Lustmolch
5. Arsch mit ohren
6. Evolutionsbremse
7. Einzeller
8. Hosenscheißer
9. Dünnbrettbohrer
10. Spargeltarzan
11. Kotzbrocken
12. Heißluftgebläse (also labertasche)
13. Gehirnverweigerer
14. Teletubbyzurückwinker
15. Schluckspecht
16. Stinkstiefel
17. Tratschtante
18. Rotzlöffel
19. Speichellecker
20. Lackaffe
21. Schweinehund
22. Trantüte
23. Backpfeifengesicht
24. Blockflötengesicht
25. Socken-in-sandalen-träger (also sockenschläfer and sockenfalter)
26. Weichei
27. Warmduscher
28. Jeansbügler
29. Tee-trinker
30. Schattenparker

but to find out what they mean, you're simply going to have to click on the link.

I have lost 45 pounds (more than three stones) since 2019, so I am no longer a trantüte but at certain times of year I am guilty of being a sockenschläfer. There might even be one or two others that could be applied to me, but I'm not going to help you with finding those.

I do have it on good authority (himself) that Tasker Dunham is not only a jeansbügler, but he is proud of it.

More fluff

When I told you in the previous post that the 1970s television series Rhoda was the first spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I meant to tell you that two other series also had their origin in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. One was a comedy and one was a drama. Can tou name them?

One character in Mary's world who didn't get a series of her own was Sue Ann Nivens, the star of "The Happy Homemaker" program on the fictional WJM-TV in Minnapolis. Sue Ann was played by Betty White, who will be 99 years old on January 17, 2022 (Note. I had to look that fact up because I don't carry celebrities' birthdays around in my head; I just knew she was very old). Betty White went on to play Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls and Elke Ostrovsky on Hot in Cleveland.

Folks, that knowledge and four or five dollars American will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, where they call Small Tall, Medium Grande, Large Venti, and Extra Large Trenta. For your information, venti and trenta mean 20 and 30, respectively, in Italian, and they are the number of ounces of liquid refreshment your money can buy at Starbucks.

I maintain that this blog is not mere fluff; it is educational.

Today's Fun Fact: Back in the 1980s the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila in the Philippnes, whose name was Jaime Sin, was elevated by the Pope to a higher position in the church's ecclesiastical structure and became Cardinal Sin.

It's true.

It's time to close as I can't top that one.

Why is the English spelling system so weird and inconsistent? plus a few other things

If you have ever wondered why the English spelling system is so weird and inconsistent, I would like to recommend for your reading pleasure and mental edification the following article entitled, strangely enough, "Why Is The English Spelling System So Weird And Inconsistent?" (3,400 words).

Next, if your unquenchable thirst for reading has not been assuaged (and it plainly wouldn't be, would it, if it were unquenchable?), you might like this one, "10 Words The Simpsons Made Famous" .

If you don't care to click on the link because you don't like to get bogged down in details and backstories but you are still curious about the ten words themselves, here they are listed alphabetically:

Chocotastic
Craptacular
Cromulent
D'Oh!
Embiggen
Jebus
Kwyjibo
Meh
Unpossible
Yoink

We aim to please.

I don't think I have ever watched an entire episode of The Simpsons because (a) I prefer real people to animation and (b) the supposed humor (British, humour) is pretty much lost on me. Nevertheless, today's bit of trivia/show-biz minutiae is the fact that Julie Kavner, the actress who provides not only the voice for the Marge Simpson character, wife of Homer and mother to his children, but also the voices of Marge's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier (I kid you not), and both of her older twin sisters, Patty and Selma Bouvier -- that Julie Kavner -- is the same actress who played Brenda Morgenstern, the younger sister of Valerie Harper's Rhoda Morganstern on the television series Rhoda, which was the first spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show back in the 1970s.

I realize (British, realise) that the last sentence was very long, but it simply could not be helped. While writing it I naturally thought of Natalie Wood in the film Marjorie Morningstar because Marjorie Morningstar was the name Natalie's character, Marjorie Morganstern, adopted as a stage name when she decided to become an actress.

I'm doing all of this from memory and I hope you appreciate that.

Perhaps I should have called this post "Rabbit Trails" (which reminds me of the film Rabbit Test which starred Billy Crystal and was written (at least partially) and directed by Joan Rivers, whose real name was Joan Molinsky Rosenberg).

Perhaps I should have called this post "Unforeseen Connections (British, Connexions)" and looked for an article called "Why Is The American Spelling System So Weird And Inconsistent?" instead.

And finally, perhaps if I could get all this fluff out of my head, I might have done something really important with my life.

Figures never lie, but liars often figure

I want to say here at the outset that I am not a liar. I just needed a catchy title.

I read an article this week reporting the result of a poll taken here in the United States. One statement in particular caught my attention. When asked "Have you a friend or family member who has died of COVID-19?" a response of "yes" was given by 29% of the respondents to the poll.

This number seemed rather large to me and remembering that President Ronald Reagan once said on another topic, "Trust, but verify," I resolved to do a little research of my own. Here are some facts I learned:

1. The number of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States is 600,000 to date. (Note. This figure may be higher than the actual number since in our ever-changing national discussion about COVID-19 little differentiation has been made between those who died OF it and those who died WITH it, which are not the same thing at all, not at all. --RWP)

2. The population of the United States in round figures is 332,000,000 as of the 2020 census.

3. The average number of persons per household in the U.S. is 2.53 as of 2020. The "number of persons per household" category has been getting smaller in recent years.

I began my figuring. The total U.S. population (332,000,000) divided by the number of deaths from COVID-19 to date in the United States (600,000) means that 1 in every 553 Americans has died of COVID-19 to date.

Despite the number of "friends" some people have on Facebook and other social media sites, I think it unlikely that the average person (you, me) has 553 people in his or her circle of family and friends. Acquaintances, yes. Friends, no.

Since 29% of the respondents to the poll said a friend or family member had died of COVID-19, I needed to pare down the pool accordingly. Twenty-nine percent of the U.S. population of 332,000,000 is 96,280,000 people, so the FAFLRDTC (Family And Friend Loss Rate Due To COVID-19) is not 1 in 553 but only 1 in 160 (that is, 96,280,000 divided by 600,000).

That is more believable but still a pretty large group of friends and family.

But since nobody (or very few) lives in a vacuum but in households, we can do some more figuring and determine that the number of households among the 96,280,000 people (29% of the U.S. population) who reported having lost a friend of family member to COVID-19) live in 33,055,000 households (96,280,000 divided by 2.53), so the FAFLRDTCPHH (Family And Friend Loss Rate Due To COVID-19 Per Household) becomes 1 in 55, a much more believable number even if the respondents to the poll do not map exactly to the make-up of the overall population (in other words, if the poll is biased).

There is one important exception to my findings, however. If you are from Tennessee, none of this applies to you. For example, our pastor's wife's mother, who is from Tennessee, is one of 27 siblings. Given all the cousins and in-laws, our pastor's wife may have 553 in her family alone without even including any friends.

We ourselves (Mrs. RWP and I) had two friends who died from COVID-19 and at least 10 more who had it but survived.

What has been your experience? Have you had friends or family members who died of COVID-19?

I would like to mention in closing that since the pandemic started a year and a half ago we have moved, for good or ill, from being told "everybody is going to die" to "the survival rate is 99%."

A little test on August 6th

What movie does today make you think of most?

1. Hiroshima mon amour
2. The Long, Hot Summer
3. Dog Day Afternoon
4. The Whales Of August
5. Some other movie

Why? Give reasons. Be specific.

Stockholm memories, scattered and smothered

First things first, or Loose Ends Tied Up While-U-Wait Department:

I arrived at Arlanda airport in Stockholm early in February 1969 without a coat but my condition did not last long. On my first day at the IBM building in Lidingö I met the colleagues with whom I would work for the next month. There was Herman Holm who managed the department, Conny Evborn (Conny is a man's name in Sweden), Lars-Öve Hultgren, another Lars whose last name I don't remember, and Gunnar Göhl (pronounced Goo-nar Yul). All of us were under 40. Gunnar spoke to his wife by telephone and then invited me to his home for dinner that evening. When Gunnar and his wife realized that I didn't have a warm coat with me, they let me use one of Gunnar's coats for the entire month I worked in Sweden. I returned it to him a month later with profuse thanks for their generosity.

Gunnar's wife, whose name I also do not remember, helped me learn a few more Swedish words. She said upon greeting me, "So you work with elvah trettio too?" and I, uncomprehending, cast a quizzical look at Gunnar. "Eleven thirty," he explained, and I realized his wife was referring to the IBM 1130 system I had come to Sweden to learn more about. I made a mental note to learn numbers in Swedish as quickly as possible, as well as how to make change and how to tell time, and I did. Those things are almost as important to know as how to find a toilet.

Knowing that Gunnar's wife also worked outside the home (not that common in the 1960s), I asked her what she did and her reply sounded like "I am Jeannie Kellogg," which drew more blank stares from me. I asked her to say it again, only slower. I listened very closely and heard "jee-nee-co-log." I made a gesture indicating I still did not understand what she did for a living. Only when she told me she was a doctor for women did the light dawn. Gunnar's wife was a gynecologist! This was probably the most embarrassing, awkward moment of my month in Sweden.

I remember going to the cinema one evening to see Franco Zeffirelli's new film Romeo and Juliet. The signs out front said Romeo och Julia. It was in English with Swedish sub-titles, and although I enjoyed the film it was a little strange to see Shakespeare's words in Swedish.

I remember watching episodes of the American program The High Chaparral on the TV set in my hotel room. Like Romeo och Julia, it was in English with Swedish subtitles. It was a western, set in Arizona in the 1870s, and it featured both Anglo and Mexican characters. It was a bit jarring to hear someone say "Si, señor" and read the Swedish equivalent (not "Jawohl, mein herr" exactly, but something close to it) displayed on the bottom of the screen

One afternoon Herman Holm invited me to join him for an evening meal and offered to drive. He had learned that I was a pianist and organist, and he stopped at the Lutheran Church he attended to show me their pipe organ. When he asked if I would like to play it I jumped at the chance [this is an Americanism meaning I said "Yes, definitely!" with enthusiasm; no actual jumping occurred]. The instrument was more than 100 years old. The keys one would expect to be white were brown, and the keys one would expect to be black were white. I think I played the old hymns "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (Martin Luther's Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott) but I could be mistaken; memory is a strange thing and can play tricks on you. After dinner he delivered me to my hotel on Strandvägen in the Östermalm section of the city. Strandvägen is a broad avenue alongside a major canal. I told you in an earlier post that Stockholm is called "the Venice of the North".

Stockholm is about 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and at the time of year I was there daylight lasted from about ten o'clock in the morning (klockan tio) until three or four o'clock in the afternoon (klockan femton, klockan sexton using a 24-hour clock). The place probably would have seemed cheerier, less dreary, in June or July when there is much more sunlight, but I am glad to have had the experience I had.

I visited such places as Drottningholm and Konserthuset and Hötorget and Kaknästornet and Stadhuset and Gamla Stan, each of which you may look up for yourself if you are curious. One day I witnessed the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, and one day I went shopping at NK (pronounced En-Ko), an abbreviated way of referring to Nordiska Kompaniet, the big department store, where I bought Swedish toys for my children and had six crystal water goblets (Kosta's Gustav VI Adolph pattern) shipped home for my wife in Florida. Fortunately, they arrived in perfect condition.

I left Sweden a bit poorer, but also quite a bit richer.