Happy Flag Friday

Today's Friday post is meant to teach you some important stuff.
Flag stuff.

June 14th is Flag Day, which is one of those holidays I knew nothing about until I had a chat with my dear friend wikipedia.

Way back in 1777 the US adopted our flag by a congressional resolution.

I'd be lying if I told you that I have long felt some kind of profound connection to American flag. But recently I had the chance to visit the Smithsonian to see this on display there:

It's the flag.  As in The Flag.  The one our National Anthem is about.  The museum spent a lot of time restoring the cloth (people were suspended over it to clean the fabric by hand, a process that took 6 years) and detailing the process that Mary Young Pickersgill went through to sew and construct the flag that ended up being larger than her own house.

So when I say that I didn't feel a profound connection to the flag, it was the story of restoring the flag that hit me a bit that day we went to see it.  It was hearing about the people who were committed to saving and restoring something that they treasure so deeply that really struck me as profound.

For me, that kind of devotion is what sticks and turns something so old and fragile into something immortal and timelessly relevant.

image from here.

Happy Beware the Ides of March! Friday

During my Sophomore and Junior years of high school, I had the BEST English teacher.  Mr. West was strange and rebellious.  He played Pink Floyd for us on vinyl, had us write insults about each other on slips of paper and seal them in a jar he hung from the ceiling to “loom over” us for an entire semester. 

But the best thing about Mr. West was the fact that he went out of his way to scare the hell out of us.

When we read Moby Dick, he came to class for that entire unit wearing one white shoe, limping, and yelling at us like Captain Ahab.

The insults in a jar event was intended to teach us that we shouldn’t want to spread rumors about each other after we read The Crucible. (That one didn’t work though.  They may have “loomed,” but we were still 15)

Then there was the time that we read Julius Caesar when Mr. West started telling us to “Beware the Ides of March.” 

It wasn’t until we got to the part in the play when the soothsayer warns Caesar of his own impending death courtesy of his BFF, Brutus on March 15^th (a.k.a. the Ides of March) that we really started to get nervous. 

As it turns out, the “bewaring” was just that we spent weeks being afraid of nothing, but it was admittedly pretty effective for the week leading up to the breathless moment when the bell rang and nothing happened on March 15th.

Happy Ides of March were yesterday Friday everyone!  I hope you bewore (? Bewared?) them.

Image from here.

Happy Oreo Friday!

On March 6^th (Tuesday) the Oreo cookie turned 100 years old!  You can use the link below to read the real, “official,” version of the cookie’s history.

But let’s be honest.  The question that matters is: do you dunk or twist?

Personally, I’m a twister.  When I was a kid, my grandpa taught me how to twist Oreos apart and stick the two sides with the most frosting together to make one giant Awesome-eo.  I certainly inherited my sweet tooth from him.

Celebrate Oreo’s birthday with some serious milk-and-cookie indulgence.  Out of respect for such an important institution, I am officially giving you permission to break whatever cleanse/diet/no sugar thing you are currently working on.

Images from here and here.

http://bites.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10587326-chefs-celebrate-the-oreo-on-its-100th-birthday

Happy Pre-Leap Day Friday

It’s a Leap Year everyone.  On Wednesday, we are getting the “gift” of an extra 24 hours this year.  It sounds like something amazing and lovely and… gift-y.  But reeeeeeeeeally, it’s because when they made our calendar and broke it into 24 hour days and 365 of them in a year, it didn’t break down evenly, so every so often we have to make up for it with an extra day in order to avoid having our calendar “drift”.  Questionable math and planning skills I think.

HOWEVER.

It has me thinking about what I would like to do with an extra 24 hours.  I know that I should plan on doing something like this.  But if I’m honest, I’d rather play this videogame for hours with my roommate while we drink Diet Dr. Pepper and eat popcorn or Baked Ruffles.

Image from here.

Happy Science Friday

Hello Friday!

I’ve always liked science.  Not the kind I had to take in school though.  I hated dissecting worms in Biology class, and Physics will never be something I fully grasp (though, if I’m honest, that might be because I spent all of those class periods screwing around in the back of the classroom with my buddies).

I remember taking field trips to OMSI with my grade school class.  We’d get a chance to play in the water shed exhibit and the earthquake house assuming it was all in the interest of fun.  We would stare up at the enormous animatronic dinosaurs (before they were sadly obsolete) while learning that they were really closer to birds than snakes or lizards and other gross slimy things.

On Wednesday, I went to see Body Worlds at OMSI After Dark with some friends.  I had never seen the exhibit and frankly, didn’t quite know what to expect.  While I was there, I was struck by the incredible strength and power of the human body.  Even the most delicate pieces, like our capillaries, and spinal column are so tiny but do so much. I am amazed how, even when our body hurts or when we are battling illness, our bodies respond and try to save us.

However, the best part for me was the fact that, in true Portland form, the whole place was FULL of grown-ups playing with science toys.  That water shed exhibit?  Still there.  And this time, it was surrounded by people my age and older learning about the water cycle.  The earthquake room?  Full of adults bracing themselves against the walls and laughing as “I Feel the Earth Move” by Carole King played. 

Go to OMSI.  Go play for the sake of science and learning and playing.

Happy Friday!

Image from here.

Happy What I Learned about Friday the 13th

Hi Friday-ers,

Sometimes, I like to teach you guys, like, stuff.  You know, important stuff.  Like the things I learned this week about Friday the 13^th:

1)     There’s an actual phobia, with a real name, for the fear of Friday the 13^th.  Friggatriskaidekaphobia.  Yep, you read it here folks.  It might be named after a Norse goddess and/or the word for the fear of the number 13 (triskaidekaphobia), and/or Greek words for Friday, 13, and fear.  (Really, I don’t think it matters where the term comes from.  I think it’s amazing there even is a name for that phobia.)

2)     In some cultures, like many who speak Greek or Spanish, Tuesday the 13^th is the day that is considered bad luck

3)     Here are my favorites. 

a.     The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that 17-21 million people are affected by some level of fear of Friday the 13^th.  There is even an estimate that the US loses $800-900 million in business on the day.

b.    The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics indicated that there are fewer accidents, fire, and theft on Friday the 13^th because people are more careful, or more people simply stay home.

c.     BUT the British Medical Journal said (way back in 1993) that there are more traffic accidents on Friday the 13^th than on other average weekdays.

Overall, I think all of these things are completely silly, but endlessly amusing.  If you suffer from Friggatriskaidekaphobia, my honest apologies if I am offending you.

Image from here.