:(

I have been thinking about one of my beloved professors, my undergraduate professor and my graduate advisor in the mediaeval history programme at UK, Dr. E. Randolph Daniel, all this past month. I knew him all told for about fifteen years. Of course that was many years ago, and I knew he was quite elderly and today I put in his name and 'obituary', and sure enough, his memorial service was earlier this month. He'd died on February 23rd.  I am so sorry I missed his service. He really stood up for me in the department when I was having problems due to undiagnosed health issues, as well as a nasty marriage and the resulting divorce. Many years ago I sent him a card thanking him, but I hadn't spoken with him since shortly before he retired in 2000. But he taught me so much and he put up with a lot from me, and I so appreciated it. Requiescat in pace, Dr. Daniel. Here is a link to his obituary. 

 

Note to self - it's not always the techie solution that's needed

So, when your perennial issue of one earbud is so much quieter than the other comes up and you're messing with the balance on your phone (but resetting it for any other device) and Googling how to reset your Tozo T6 earbuds because you always forget, and you just try it five times to be sure and it still doesn't work....

It's the ear wax and dust, stupid. Now I've never been able to get the mesh cover off with tweezers like some geniuses out there, but I've soaked the mesh in alcohol (not the earbud, just a bit of alcohol off a pad), blown through the mesh pretty strongly when dry, knocked it a couple of times, and used a tiny brush, and it's all better. I wish I could get the mesh off, because I suspect it's icky back there, but there you go.

One suggested way of dealing with it is to suck it and get the crap out that way. It was useful, worked, and utterly something a guy would try. I was almost there, but mine worked, and I didn't have to spit out or swallow nasty stuff from my ear.

Anyway, I am posting this in case I remember to search my blog for this next time, it comes up on a Google search, since it's public, or if it helps someone else.

Beyond the Amazon boycott

I participated in the recent one-week boycott, but I'm sure that was a drop in the bucket for the company and Jeff Bezos. So I'm trying to dial back on my reliance on Amazon due to some of their policies and the fact that really, I'd rather support good than line the pockets of billionaires at cost to employees if I can. I have a Kindle, so I can't extricate myself completely, but I'm trying to find things locally or on other websites as I can and only buying from Amazon when I can't find it elsewhere or where the cost really is too prohibitive for me to go elsewhere. For books, I think I've found a solution. There is a seller on Amazon that often sells used books, but they also sell new books as well. [A competitor in the used book field, AbeBooks, is owned by Amazon]. The one I found is called Better World Books, and I've gotten books from them through Amazon before with no problem. But directly, for each book sold, they donate a book. They also have a literacy fund you can donate to support libraries and literacy programmes. I found a book that's been sitting in my wishlist on Amazon used for a quarter of what I would have paid in very good condition (I didn't need it new) yesterday and got two more for less than the original would have cost, with shipping free and tax included (less than $20). But there are new ones, too. You might want to check them out. Here is a link to their mission.

Grr...

I was complaining at work the other day about how dark it would be in the mornings with Daylight Saving Time and was assured that no, it would actually be lighter. It is now 7 AM. Behold... The DARK. 1) I have seasonal affective disorder, and i use a light on dark mornings to prevent depression, 2) I have experienced DST coming up on 58 times in my life, and 3) the whole point of DST is to have sunlight in the afternoon. But since my anxiety makes me question everything I think and say, I shut up. Fortunately, it's a temporary setback, and the light part of the year will prevail in general. But I hate Daylight Saving Time, and these next couple of the weeks will be hard. 😢😡

What a blessing from sadness

Nazis stole this Holocaust victim’s books. How his grandson unexpectedly got them back: Project in Germany aims to return books to their rightful owners

Quote for the Day

In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on and uninhabited planet.

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

Eighty years, and what have we learned?

This haunting memorial is found in Budapest, Hungary. It is called 'Shoes on the Danube Bank'. Conceived of by film director Can Togay and created in conjunction with sculptor Gyula Pauer, it commemorates and honour the memories of the Jews and others who were massacred by fascist Hungarian militia during the Second World War. Men, women, and children were told to take off their shoes, which were valuable and could be resold by the militia afterwards, whereupon the people were shot at the edge of the water so their bodies fell into the water and were carried away.  These represent the shoes that were all that were left of the lives lost. 60 pairs of period shoes made of iron are attached to the ground. Sometimes you will see pebbles or stones stacked atop the shoes. This is not part of the sculpture. It is an act of grief often found in Jewish cemeteries.

Most of the shootings took place in a period of only a month, between December 1944 and January 1945.  During that time the Arrow Cross Party police also took as many as a further 20,000 Jews from the Budapest ghetto and executed them along the river bank.

These acts were not carried out by hard-core German Nazis. They were radicalised Hungarians in a society already inured to the ideas of anti-Semitism. Pogroms were popular in Eastern Europe. And Hungary had been part of an empire cut up like a steak after WWI by the victors. There was the same resentment and feeling of powerlessness there for the taking as in Germany, and Jews were a historically convenient scapegoat because they were different

So, as long as we're talking about the 14th Amendment

-- 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

--United States Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, Section III

This made me smile

A co-worker who has worked for our company several years longer than I have (and I'm coming up on 28 years!) brought me a photo she'd uncovered from back in the day at the old building at work. It's from Halloween 2006, so nearly 20 years ago, can you believe that? I honestly do not remember dressing up as the Tin Man, but looking at it from the distance of time, I did a pretty darn good job. 🙂

More snow

 

Look at the snow between the pickets. We got about three more inches on top of 6 and ice.