Tradwives & Arabica

Morning all! The last days of January and already I am noticing the days getting longer.

I’ll shorten the Ramblings (slightly) this week. I’ve taken note that some of my readers have, Benjamin Franklin style, been required to light more than one beeswax candle to get through the recent page-burners. Part of that is due to the short winter days and long nights thus requiring artificial light; the longer days are a good thing.

Coffee is on our minds this week, especially Marcia as she faces a couple of days of absolute intimacy with an, as yet to be introduced, CD Holter Heart Monitor. No coffee when ‘Mr.’ CD Holter is with her. Excited with anticipation she’ll join me momentarily in our morning, coffee fueled, moments.

This week’s ‘Ramblings’ is written by me, Dirk; pronoun “his-they” (satire, just mentoring you through the bizarre state of our currently woke societal world). What follows are a few quotes/insights gathered this week. I thought I’d post to allow a bit of a ‘peeling-back-the-curtain’ on my interests, reading habits, and patterns. I hope you too will expand your own horizons perusing them and use these as a pathway entry to your own expanding horizon.

This/these also satisfies my keeping the contrarian in me pleasantly cheerful.

Eleanor Roosevelt – “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

The Blizzard of 1978 – (Friday January 27) occurred while I was making my weekly Friday/Saturday trip to Louisville working on my Graduate Studies. The day of the blizzard had me arrive at school only to find out everything had been canceled due to the incoming storm (where was my iPhone?). I turned around and left for home. This was around 5:00pm.

By 10:00 I was whipped and decided to pull off at Carrolton, KY and look for lodging. The exit ramp was completely blocked by 18 wheelers and the entrance ramps blocked by police – I just continued. I plodded on ever so slowly.

Eventually, around Florence, KY I got ahead of the snow and was driving on ice. At the crest where I-75 drops down to the river the road was completely blocked by stalled traffic. I kept on driving on the shoulder working the parking brake handle between the seats. Eventually was the only vehicle approaching Ohio (a cop passed me heading the wrong way to officially close the Interstate). It was after 3:00am when I walked in the front door. And that’s how I remember The Blizzard of 1978.

‘Tradwife Movement’ — “It’s an acronym for “Traditional Wife.” So far, it resides especially among millennial and Gen Z women. These young women would prefer being stay-at-home wives, keeping house, and raising kids as depicted in ’50s and ’60s movies, TV series — Leave it To Beaver, The Dick van Dyke Show, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, I Love Lucy, etc.”
I quoted L. Reichard White, who taught physics and served two terms on the Libertarian National Committee. He emphasizes a change in feminism as espoused a decade ago which highlighted that to be fulfilled women needed to grow and thrive in the workaday world. He posits that the outside working ‘need’ has come about due to the growth of government and therefore the need for a growing tax pool. Thus, for the most part, it has meant the end of the single breadwinner household.

Woke Business Fails – ”Sports Illustrated competes with Bud Light as “Most Woke Corporation” goes broke, and the owner lays off the entire staff. Thank God there are still some business owners left in America who understand that in order to succeed in business one must please one’s customers, not make them want to throw up.”
This quotes Thomas DiLorenzo, President of the Misis Institute, past Professor of Economics at Loyola University – Maryland.

Federal Powers run Amok – “The intensity of our division springs from a federal government operating far beyond the limits of the Constitution — fueling a fight for control over powers that were never supposed to exist at the national level.”
So writes Brian McGlinchy -StarkRealities.substack.com, Journalist. The Founding Fathers were worried about this happening. James Madison wrote at length about the subject; “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

All of the growth arose with a 1937 US Supreme Court ruling was due to an ‘overreaching’ reinterpretation of the Constitution’s language, especially two words: “General Welfare” [Article 1, Section 8]. Thomas Jefferson warned/worried on exactly this point.

The resultant wild government expansion is pretty well unconstitutional! Let that sink in.

Audio – Meanwhile, I had a great listen to a Joe Rogan Experience podcast on my walks this week. A whole world of subjects was discussed between Rogan and Sex Neuroscientist Dr. Deborah Soh. Many of the subjects that find me shaking my head in disbelief were explored. From Politics having ruined Academia to debunking Gender Science Spectrum denial.
On audio it’s Podcast number 2082. Here is a short video intro on the current state of Academia:

Did I see plumes of White Smoke waft from:

The Texas flag waving in the wind.

A. The Texas Governor’s office telling his Guard to continue protecting the Texas border.
B. over the two largest, filled, event halls in Edmonton and Calgary to hear Tucker Carlson who told the crowd he was going to rescue them from Trudeau. (watch full speech here)
C. Our capitol building where the Ohio Legislature told our Governor that they were the people’s representatives and that the unborn also had full access to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
D. From the office of Arizona Senatorial candidate Keri Lake who told the Republican Party head that even for a Billion $$ she couldn’t be bought – he was forced to resign.
E. And from the halls of a University where I learned that, according to the DNA of the coffee I drink, it all comes from one or the other of two species, ‘Coffea Canaphora’ or ‘Caffea Arabica’, and am delighted with both.

Looking back, it was a very good week.

Aging — Last week’s Ramblings mentioned aging as ‘traversing a path’. Next Saturday I’ll try and post early since I’ll ‘traverse a path’ by participating in a 5K with a route running alongside the Ohio river and around the Bengals and Reds stadiums. This winter’s event, the “Cincinnati Cyclones Frozen 5/10K” will benefit youth hockey and will be the fifth time I join in.

A new book – signed by the author, Peter Bronson, no less. I am just starting his latest read; The Man Who Saved Cincinnati. Laying the book’s foundation, he presents a few facts which I had not heard before, and which blew me away.

The importance of this city during the Civil War (1862) cannot be underestimated for two reasons. First, we were positioned with one foot in the North and the other in the South (even though Ohio was and stayed a Northern State).

Secondly is this series of factoids which made having control of Cincinnati critical to the war effort since at that time we were the 6th largest city in the nation. We were: 4 times bigger than San Francisco and twice as big as Chicago, five times bigger than Detroit, Pittsburgh, or Cleveland. Also realize that Indianapolis, Columbus, and Atlanta were mere towns of fewer than 10,000. Even the small city of Covington across the river (and thus in the South) was larger than Toledo or Sacramento.

Control of ‘Zincinnati’ was critically important since we had Medical facilities, a major river route port, manufacturing – including ammunition, clothing, tobacco, meat processing, food stuffs, rail, beer. This area had everything required to fight a war – successfully. And it was all fully operational, including a well-established Underground Railway route providing escape to slaves. Anyway, it’s going to be a great read.

Question? On walks I continue to see yard signs displaying an array of, basically meaningless, feel good progressive, slogans. One that jumps out is the “Trust the Science“.  Reality dictates that Science is meant to be questioned. The Covid (especially the mRNA) jabs are quickly becoming an issue (click on link). But it goes on and on. Remember thalidomide? While in school I worked in a psychiatric facility and assisted patients who had been the recipients of a pre-frontal Lobotomy.  Bottom line — never stop questioning!

Mid-week Cathy enjoyed adding another year to her lengthening list. Happy Birthday Cathy.

And, TODAY, it’s Kirstin’s birthday. While she is seeing U2 in Vegas I hope they sing her; HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

May Peace prevail! Shalom.

PS. Our local Dairy Queen spring re-opening is in 34 days!
Dirk

BONUS POINTS:
Which is the official state dish of Texas?

1) Chicken Fried Steak
2) Chili
3) Barbeque
4) Pecan Pie
5) Texas Gulf shrimp
6) Sopaipilla and Strudel