the Long and the Short

Happy Saturday – Me coming straight out of the gate; “please don’t ever get me a coffee mug like this one!”

Thanks.

Ok, let the Ramblings get started.

It’ll be a bit short due to a short/quiet week, and today I’ll be running around.

Never before – Yesterday afternoon I got involved in an absolute, without question, very first.
Kirstin was scheduled to arrive in town on a 3:47 arrival time flight.

I left for the airport at 2:50 and the 20-25 or so minute drive to the place. As one who enjoys seeing aircraft this would allow me to park at a ‘nearly’ secret spot almost exactly alongside the main runway immediately across from the spot where the landing gear touches down and watch for a bit. Perfect!

Here is what really happened. Just past the exit where I-74 peels away from I-75 all the lanes ground to a halt. I mean, complete stop, with an every so often inch or two forward.

But hey, I live in the 21st century and I have GPS. The GPS advised that sitting in traffic where I was was still the quickest route to the airport, 31 minutes.

I believed the GPS, even when it moved the ‘needle’ from 31 minutes to 37.

Reaching a point where it would be impossible to try and get off I-75 to find an alternate route and a subsequent river crossing would be even more problematic. I was left with little to no choice.

Without milking this story any further, let me just blurt out that the drive to the airport took exactly TWO HOURS! Much of it sitting dead still in six lanes of traffic. Never saw a reason for it other than too many vehicles on too few lanes. TWO HOURS is now my fifty year’s first and absolute record for airport travel.

Could it be that everyone experiencing the higher priced gas now wanted to check as to the exact dollar difference this was making?

Opening Day – Last Thursday was our unofficial city holiday, Red’s Opening Day. But that’s not what I wanted to mention, it was the weather. Opening day was 81 degrees with blue skies and perfect sunshine.

This day was ‘bookended’ by 40 degree windchilled days.

All of this is so typical of our Springtime weather patterns. In fact, we are the weather equivalent of what the Bering Sea is to open ocean sailing.

Quotation – “The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d.” Walt Whitman, Poet (who died March 26, 1892)

d’Artagnan – A stone’s throw from home is Xavier University. The mascot for the University whose teams are referred to as ‘The Musketeers’ is one of the three musketeers, d’Artagnan All made popular by Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel “The Three Musketeers.” In fact, in front of the school’s arena, Cintas Center, stands a life-sized statue of d’Artagnan.

Now it seems that possibly the remains of d’Artagnan (whose birth name was; Charles de Batz de Castelmore), and who was a member of France’s Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV royal bodyguard has been found. He served before being killed in the 1673 siege of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Recently during a church renovation in Maastricht was found a skeleton under what had been the altar. Everything points to d’Artagnan including the chest-high markings of a bullet wound. Currently a DNA analysis is happening.

I’ve loved the Dumas book, live near the home of the ‘Musketeers’, and have serious Dutch roots, so yes this whole bit interests me.

Quotation on Home Life – Marcia can make “Oh Dirk, can you come here please?” sound absolutely terrifying.

Starting the Day – Not long after breakfast I’ll get going on a grocery shopping venture. Then at 11 I’ll be meeting up with Cathy at Findlay Market for fresh fruit and veggies, plus fresh (still warm) fancy bread and maybe some cheese.

While I am doing that Marcia will get ‘coiffured’ by Kirstin.

The weekend is off to a good start.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

The spotlight this week in Bonus Points mentions several women in US history who helped expand the idea of participation in civic life. One should not be on the list

1. Sojourner Truth
2. Abigail Adams
3. Eleanor Roosevelt
4. Florence Welch
5. Carrie Nation
6. Rosa Parks

Last week answer – #5

Chicane

Happy Saturday – I might as well admit that after watching Shaun, I am still snorting in my coffee.

For years I’ve had a thing for Shaun-the-Sheep animation videos – LOVE them! Once again, I just had to watch Shaun as he spotted an opportunity to do an Irish Dance. It was St. Patrick’s Day after all. Here is a snippet:

Chicane – In reality, my week was one strong (i.e. uneventful) straight line. Marcia, physically, is getting stronger. We’ve had daily walks around the building, and we’ve also started heading towards the nearby side street. Having said that, I felt that I had to get started on adding a curve or two onto that ‘straight’ line.

Add, that our pantry was getting low on food stuff, and that as yet I can’t leave Marcia to her own wiles. It was Adrianne who came up with the idea. Marcia loves Aldi’s as her go to grocery place. Soooo, yesterday I quickly set up an Aldi account. She and I worked on a list of grocery items. I placed the order and selected a two hour out pick-up time window.

With a little cajoling I managed to talk Marcia to join and take a grocery pick-up drive with me. The drive magically included a few twists and turns through a couple of nearby neighborhoods and then ended up at the local Aldi. Minutes later they loaded the groceries in the car and home we went.

By 7:00pm last night she was in bed. The ‘adventure’ tired her out and that was a good thing.

Afroman – This week in the rural county adjacent to ours, Adams County, a trial was settled. Settled in favor of free speech and the right to mock. The whole business blew across the ‘media-sphere’. From CNN to NPR, from the NY Times to the LA Times, it was all wild times. Our radio was filled with an Afroman rap called; “Moma’s Pound Cake” featuring a leering Deputy in on the Police raid on Afroman’s home eyeing the glass covered Moma’s Pound Cake that was sitting on the kitchen table, all while carrying an AK style rifle.

Rapper Afroman said this after winning the Police Deputies’ lawsuit; “I got the right to kick a can in my backyard, use my freedom of speech, turn my bad times into a good time yes, I do, and I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors, flip them off on their surveillance cameras, then try to play the victim and sue them.”

Fun times. A massive ‘thank-you-very-much’ for Free Speech!

Racing – I’ve mentioned that my week was quite linear and that I needed a chicane to break up the time.

So, instead of only watching a long line of British vintage, sports, and touring car races, and Paris to Nice bicycle races, which I did, I watched some races held at the Goodwood Festival in West Sussex, England.

Among the races held at Goodwood was one comprised of over thirty early MG-B sports cars. Many years ago, I owned one. My MG-B I never fully restored but got running well enough to drive back and forth the 100 miles to Louisville and back a few times when I was working on my degree.

Aah, for the memories, memories of throwing that little shifter and punching the accelerator, cleaning the spoke wheels, messing with the dual Stromberg carburetors, even pulling the clutch successfully. The electric fuel pump though was a piece of misery.

Quotation on Time – “Time is what happens when nothing else happens” Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988) American theoretical physicist known for pioneering work in quantum electrodynamics.

But, there had to be more than just watching vintage car races. With that in mind I started on some of the thinking of one Dr. Jim Al-Khalili (Sep 20, 1962) Iraqi-British theoretical physicist on the subject of Time. It’s not that I am some sort of a nerd that I came across his thinking. It’s just that Al-Khalili is frequently seen as a broadcaster in the UK on a subject I find interesting.

Also, he’s got a number of YouTubes and an uncanny ability to make the difficult sensible to a ‘bloke’ such as me. I’ve attached an interview I thought you might find interesting (be prepared, it’s a solid hour plus long).

Irish goodbye – Mid week it was the day where most everyone became Irish for the day. Is it just me or am I correct in that we in the USA have the uncanny ability to take any type of event, historical, religious, or one the English and Canadians refer to as “Bank Holiday” and turn it into a major money grab. Anyway, hope you had a fine St. Patrick’s Day.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

The Secret Service has a fascination with the use of code names when referring to the president, vice president, their family members. The following names are the code names of several first ladies. All are correct except for one. Which name was never used as a Secret Service code name for a first lady.

1. Muse
2. Dancer
3. Rover
4. Sunnyside
5. Auntie
6. Lace

Last week answer – #5

‘Para..….’ whatever?

Happy Saturday – glad Friday the thirteenth is in the rearview mirror? Were you aware that in Italy, Friday the seventh holds a similar status (and most Italians did just fine the last time that day flew by).

Just in case you need to know. Friday the 13th worry even has a name; paraskevidekatriaphobia. Feel wiser yet?

But now, Saturday morning, we’re back into a bit of a temperature dip as our Spring creeps along. The Bradford pear trees lining our side street have begun to bloom. By mid-week it’ll look like this as in the photo I took last year.

OK, the coffee pot just got louder alerting me to the fact that all is ready in the kitchen. First mug of Peets roast is coming up.

The Corner – seems active 24/7. Early this week Marcia needed to get up in the middle of the night – 2:15am to be exact. Once she got settled again, I walked about the living room to stretch my legs more than anything else. That was the exact time that, without any sirens, a Fire Truck and EMT ambulance rolled on by. They pulled over about two buildings down. The angle wasn’t great and I wasn’t about to head on out to check on things. All I know is that after 15 to 20 minutes the mini caravan of emergency equipment headed on out.

All of this made me wonder what else goes on during the ‘wee’ hours?

National Pi Day – since I’ve been a bit on a nerdy bend, please be advised that today, March (3rd month), the 14th is officially Pi Day. It celebrates the, (pause here and say “ahem”) “the mathematical constant ? (pi), which represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter” – 3.14. It gets better. Hence, if you’re so inclined, celebrate Pi Day at exactly 1:59pm to mark the next three digits of the ratio – 3.14159.

There is more – Last week I shared the story of ‘Science Girl’ Dianna Cowern, her trials, and her description of the Neutrino. What I was trying to convey was how our world, solar system, and the Universe itself is beyond comprehension.

Today, here for those who still weren’t convinced, is another fragment that will amaze you. To a weak-minded character such as myself all of this provides proof that none of this can come about as happenstance. With all the magnificence around us there is no doubt that this cannot be a mere collection of ‘stuff’. There has to be order. There has to be purpose. There must be premeditation in the design of it all.

Enjoy watching the stunning life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly and then reflect on the preceding paragraph while you wrap your mind around what you’re seeing on screen:

Irish goodbye – with many celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this week (here in town we’re all Irish during the week and a large St. Patrick Day parade is held) I’ll close this week’s Ramblings with a warm and friendly Irish goodbye, “craic”.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

This week Marcia had a doctor’s appointment. It struck me that he wasn’t wearing a white coat. He entered the exam room in kaki slacks and a polo shirt, hmmmm, the time’s they are a-changing. Which leads me to ask the question; what year was the modern Hippocratic oath written?

1. 1908
2. 1953
3. 1877
4. 1923
5. 1964
6. 1857

Last week answer – #6

What me Know?

Happy Saturday – and even though, on occasion, it might seem like I’m standing in my own dung – you would be very wrong.
Opinionated, yes.
Stubborn, yes.
Doctrinaire, yes!
Even Cocksure, yes!
And on occasion, Pigheaded, yes!

But standing in dung, NO!

There, now that is out of the way I’ll take a moment, head for the kitchen, and pour my first mug of coffee. I suggest you do likewise (but do come back to enjoy these Ramblings).

National Anthem Day – is a minorly celebrated day, celebrated last Tuesday March 3rd. Nevertheless, for many of us it is an important day.

About six years ago U.S. Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant violinist Peter Wilson (of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band) played the anthem at the start of a university basketball game. His rendition is stunningly beautiful! I immediately locked in on this rendition because of its beauty by only using the violin. I too took violin lessons as a kid. And although I loved ‘playing’ the instrument it never took hold, sadly.

WOW, what a Universe – Part 1 (Dianna Cowern story)
Quite a while ago I began watching a YouTube show narrated by an outgoing, vivacious young woman who seemed to have amazing insight into many things touching on physics. The show? ‘Physics Girl’ begun, developed, and content created by Dianna Cowern.

Dianna is a grad from MIT (2011) and “a research fellow at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center forAstrophysics.” It wasn’t that long before awards and top prizes in video creation began pouring in. That was about the time I made her video output part of my regular fare. Even her early works are both a joy to watch as well as a serious learning experience – I’d urge you to look them up.

Fast forward to that horrible bug-a-boo, Covid.

In July 2022, Cowern developed long COVID. She was “hospitalized in March 2023 as her symptoms, similar to ‘myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome’, continued to worsen.” Bottom line, she was bedridden for 2 years.

July 2025, her health again declined, leading to her being bedridden again. As of January 2026, she has improved somewhat, and hallelujah, again was able to produce wonderfully her first new science video for 2026. Below you’ll find her first release.

WOW, what a Universe – Part 2 (what is a Neutrino?)
We are so smart. Especially during the last 75 years the acceleration of our knowledge universe has blossomed. It’s almost to a point where we believe we understand every nook and cranny of our world, our solar system, our Milky Way, and the universe in its totality. Not just all of that, but we’re ‘uppity’ enough to believe we understand it all, from the bottom of the ocean to the smallest particle of grey matter inside our skull.

Let me posit that in the grand scheme of things we’ve hardly scratched the surface of all of that which is under, in, and above us; billions of years, trillions of stars, our body’s cell count almost too numerous to count, and it goes on and on. Even with tools such as Lasers, space-based observatories, management of plant life, Ai, and self-driving vehicles to name a few we’re not yet on the cusp of truly grasping and understanding all that is about us.

Ever heard of something called a neutrino? It’s a recently identified particle a billion of which pass through an area the size of a fingernail every second. Watch Dianna Cowern explain and whet your appetite for more.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Tomorrow morning our clocks will adjust for summertime – Daylight Savings Time. Much water cooler discussion will take place on Monday morning with complaints about the loss of sleep. However, one location will adjust their time for the last time. After the time change tomorrow morning they’ll stay at that new time forward. Which one location has said, “enough” and will be done with this twice a year event.

1. Luxemburg
2. Monaco
3. Nepal
4. Prince Edward Island
5. Croatia
6. British Columbia

Last week answer – #1