Weather in the Tries: Ooh, it looks like we’re in for a cold snap most of the week. Night lows down to 17, daytime highs in the low 30s. The cold will start Sunday, the day I’m leaving. Y’all bundle up, hear??
Long Lost Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech:
I subscribe to Jerry Coyne’s blog, Why Evolution is True. He puts out a prodigious number of posts—several a day. I love the first one of the day, The Hili Dialog best. Hili is a cat he met in Poland whose staff are Jerry’s Parents of Choice or his choice of Adopted Parents. Once in a while I read the others, or at least skim them. Last Monday, he had a long-lost speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in it. Well worth the listen and read (the words scroll on the screen as he speaks). Recorded in 1962 and forgotten, until people were digging through New York State Museum’s audio recordings and came across this one on a reel-to-reel tape with a piece of masking tape used for a label. It said, “Martin Luther King, Jr., Emancipation Proclamation Speech 1962.”
The speech is just shy of 26 minutes. There is a silence of a few seconds around the 15-minute mark, just keep reading, the speech resumes quickly. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Black History Month in February, than listening to one of our great orators talk about black history. I’m putting the URL here, in case the above link doesn’t work for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Jzqiqwo5A&t=1550s
To read the full story go to NPR.
Speaking of Black History Month, remember, you are, at a minimum, 4% Black African. According to the bigots, if you have a bucket of white paint and you add any amount of black, brown, red, yellow, or any other color, the paint is no longer pure white. It’s colored. There is not a human being alive today who is pure white, from Nick Fuentis to Ron DeSantis and everyone else. Even Donny J. Trump.
The Root:
For the month of February, consider subscribing to, and reading, The Root | Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude. Get a different perspective on the stories of the day. If you’re a movie buff or aficionado, you might be interested in this story, as well as some of the sub stories, Oscars 2023: Family of Emmett Till, Whoopi Goldberg React to Till Snub.
I’m not asking you to agree with everything you read, but I am asking you to read it, at least one story, every day. The subscription is free, and the language is delightful. Remember this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” Stretch your mind.
Miscellaneous news &c:
By the time you read this, I will be on the Dark Side of the Mountains to visit my Elder Brother of Choice (EBOC). I’ll be there around 10 days, so this post may be a wee bit skinny, as will the next one. I will try to post the next one from over there, unless I can get it written and scheduled before I leave, which will be optimum as far as I’m concerned.
Photos of the Week:
Entertainment:
Books Read: If I finish it, I review it: https://lenoragood.blogspot.com Have started the book for the Book Group and am abut 50% through it—Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle, Why Individual Climate Action Matters More than Ever —by Lloyd Alter. When I looked through the book, I noticed he had end notes, and you know how Auntie Lenora hates end notes. When I got to the first superscript number in the text, I went to the back, and oh, blessings upon Mr. Alter—or his publisher—they all seem to be bibliography or citation notes. Happy day! Auntie Lenora only needs one bookmark.
Movies/TV:
Still wading through Babylon 5. The protagonists are, for the most part, members of Earth Force, the military arm of Planet Earth. Bab5 is based, albeit loosely, on the Navy. But they forgot one major thing, which would not have changed the story or outcome had they used it—the military Code of Conduct and the Rights of POWs. “Article V – When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth.” There’s a little bit more, but that’s the part Sheridan, the Coptain, seems to have forgotten. Or maybe he didn’t consider himself a POW?
Sammy Brave Dog:
Wow! My human is going to be gone for a long time, at least a couple of hours. And she’s leaving me at home with Housemate Dan. He gives me treats. And I can sleep in my human’s bed and don’t have to share. Oh. Wait. How will I stay warm without my human to snuggle? But she’ll be back. She always promises. And she always gives me my chores to do whenever she leaves the house. I have to keep the Humpfolumpuses off the furniture and the Hippopotamuses out of the parking slots. And in the summer, I have to keep the Giraffes and the Alligators in the main pond, not in ours. They hibernate in the winter, so I leave them alone. I do a very good job, too. Just ask anyone here how many times they’ve come home to find a hippopotamus sleeping in their parking slot, or a giraffe or an alligator splashing all the water out of their pond? They’ll always say it never happened. That’s because I’m so brave and such a good dog.