Presidents Day 2025

skinny-dipping in the Potomac

jimmy carterFor Presidents Day 2025, or whatever, a couple of articles and a lot of trivia. 

Fresh Air– 14 interviews with Jimmy Carter

CBS News interviewed Nathan Raab, president of The Raab Collection and author of The Hunt for History, to get expert analysis on the rarity and value of presidential autographs. “You’re touching a piece of history, and it’s the only way we have to directly connect with someone who we may admire. It’s something that we know they touched because they signed it,” Nathan said. 

Now I Know: When New York Tried to Take Away a W

Review of The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity from 2013

JEOPARDY! clues

These are from October 2024 and later. The answers are at the end. I got them all except the last one.

THE PRESIDENT’S SIBLING: Neil Bush; Prescott Bush; Sam Houston Johnson; Elliott Roosevelt

FOIA & FIND OUT: A photo of President Obama laughing at the meme “Sorry it took so long to get you a copy of” this document–“I was too busy killing Osama”

THE CONCH REPUBLIC: Key West’s Little White House was a winter residence of this president, whose middle name was simply the letter “S”

LINCOLN: THE BIO: At 6’4″, Lincoln still ranks as the tallest POTUS; this president, who took the oath in 1963, comes in second

NAME THAT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: A 1921 newspaper article says, this “Former president… realized his life’s ambition to head the Judicial Branch.”

PEOPLE ON U.S. MONEY: First elected president in 1896, he was on the $500 bill from 1928 to 1945

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD: In 1881, James had a dream that this VP of his drowned & James couldn’t save him; months later, it was James dead & this man, President

3-LETTER RESPONSES: Allen Dulles & President Eisenhower laid the cornerstone for its original headquarters building in 1959

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT $400: Grover Cleveland, at an 1886 dedication: “Light shall pierce the darkness… until” this “enlightens the world.”

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT $800: His 1920 telegram accepting a Nobel Prize said, “The cause of peace & the cause of truth are of one family.”

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT $1200: At his second inaugural on March 4th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln eloquently called for malice toward none & this for all

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT $1600: He wrote, “A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral.”

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT $2000: Truman, on criticism from this general: “When an egotist is punctured, a lot of noise and whistling always accompanies the escaping air”

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT $400: Ulysses S. Grant

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT $800: George Washington

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT $1200: JFK

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT $1600: Harry Truman

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT $2000: Theodore Roosevelt

More quiz questions

The only First Lady on U.S. currency

Which President enjoyed skinny-dipping in the Potomac River?

Which former US president was an accomplished wrestler?

Which president received a black belt in judo?

Who was the first president to travel by plane?

This president’s whole family had the same initials.

Which President was born in Nebraska?

Which President had twin children?

Which president loved squirrel soup? 6 Foods Loved by U.S. Presidents

7 Terms Coined or Popularized by U.S. Presidents

JEOPARDY! answers

THE PRESIDENT’S SIBLING: George W. Bush ; George H.W. Bush; Lyndon Johnson; Teddy Roosevelt 

FOIA & FIND OUT: His birth certificate

THE CONCH REPUBLIC: Harry Truman

LINCOLN: THE BIO: Lyndon Johnson

NAME THAT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: William Howard Taft

PEOPLE ON U.S. MONEY: William McKinley

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD: Chester A. Arthur

3-LETTER RESPONSES: CIA

QUOTH THE PRESIDENT: liberty; Wilson; charity; Teddy Roosevelt; Douglas MacArthur

THE BRITISH MONARCH WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT:

Ulysses S. Grant – Victoria

George Washington – George III

JFK – Elizabeth II

Harry Truman – George VI

Theodore Roosevelt – Edward VII

First 12 of the 36 questions

1977

Here are the first 12 of the 36 questions posted by my friend Sarah.
The 36 Questions That Lead to Love. A study by the psychologist Arthur Aron (and others) explores whether intimacy between two strangers can be accelerated by having them ask each other a specific series of personal questions. The 36 questions in the study are broken up into three sets, with each set intended to be more probing than the previous one.
Set I
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
Every time I’ve ever answered this question in the past I assume that the person would probably be somebody deceased, such as Thomas Jefferson or MLK Jr. It occurred to me that that doesn’t necessarily follow. I’m going to pick somebody who is still alive but very old. That would be Dick Van Dyke.
I saw this quiz somewhere which said you had to give talk about something and you didn’t have time to prepare for it. What would the topic be? The answer would be either comparing the British and American Beatles albums or The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66). Not only did I watch it when it was first on, I bought the DVD of it, and I watched all the episodes with my daughter in the early 2010s.

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

I probably don’t, but if I were, it’d be based on my (purported) wisdom.
On the phone
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?
Personal calls, I don’t. Business calls, especially dealing with the bureaucracy that screwed up my bill, I almost always rehearse because if I don’t, they sometimes take the question far afield from what I wanted to get addressed.
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
Do you mean things that I would put in a blog post? I get up without the alarm, specifically my wife’s alarm. Someone would come over and make us or bring us breakfast. I go upstairs, listen to music, and write a blog post that flows quickly and is brilliant. I’d read the newspaper. We would go out to the movies and eat popcorn. I would get a massage, then go home and take a nap. We go out to dinner at a nice but not gaudy restaurant. Go home, watch JEOPARDY, and read a chapter of the book. Go to bed.
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
I sing to myself constantly and to my wife frequently, usually asking questions like, “When do you want to eat?” or “Where’s the cottage cheese?”
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?
The mind, for sure.
7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
Yes.
Match
8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.
Political leanings, church attendance, appreciation for Alison Krauss.
9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
Besides the kid? Probably an appreciation of music.
10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
Nah, if I changed the way I was raised, it would affect other events that I would never want to forget. It is what it is.
11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.
I was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1953. I was named after no one, though my father, Leslie, named his first daughter Leslie after himself, which always confounded me. We have a baby sister, Marcia. We lived in a two-family house. My paternal grandparents, McKinley and Agatha, lived upstairs. She died in 1964, the first important person in my life to die.
Because my mother worked at McLean’s department store, our address to go to school was where my maternal grandmother lived at 13 Maple St. We would go home at lunchtime. As a result, I went to Daniel Dickinson School, where I met several people, at least three of whom I’m still in touch with: Carol, Karen, and Bill.
Sis boom bah
I went to Binghamton Central High School, where I was student government president and sang in choir. Then, I went to New Paltz for college as a political science major. I was in student government.
In 1977, I  bounced around all over the place, including to Charlotte NC, where my parents and Marcia had moved in 1974. Then, New York City, crashing at Leslie’s apartment, and then back to New Paltz.
I ended up in the Capital District in late ’77 and lived in Schenectady for a little over a year, working at the Schenectady Arts Council. I went to grad school at SUNY Albany in public administration and hated it. I worked at the comic book store FantaCo for 8 1/2 years, a significant part of my life to this day. After working at Blue Cross for a difficult year, I worked the Census and then went to library school at SUNY Albany. I worked as a librarian for 26 years and 8 months.
I have a wife and daughter. I grew up in Trinity AME Zion in Binghamton but then fell away. I attended the United Methodist Church in Albany in the 1980s and First Presbyterian Church in 2000.
{It’s interesting what makes it under time pressure.]
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
Remembering names. I suck at it.

February rambling: We Are All Immigrants

Do Not Obey In Advance

Henry Louis Gates Jr. On The Message Of ‘Finding Your Roots’: ‘We Are All Immigrants’ | The View

Can Characters Come Alive Without People?  Hank Azaria; recommended with your sound on

A directory that connects veterans with rehab facilities and recovery services across New York

The Best Anti-Fascist Films of All Time

Tony Roberts, Woody Allen sidekick, and Broadway stalwart, Dies at 95

Fay Vincent, who served as 8th MLB Commissioner, dies at 86

Olga James, ‘Carmen Jones,’ Actress and Singer, Dies at 95

Dick Button, Icon of Olympic Figure Skating, Dies at 95

9 Fascinating Facts About Food Allergies

Now I Know: A Prankster With a Legacy of Love and When Cardboard Art Goes Sledding and The Life-Saving Power of a … Jump Rope? and Why Do Nigerian Email Scammers Still Claim to Be From Nigeria? and The Place Where You’re Not Allowed to Die

The new normal?

The Path to American Authoritarianism

Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Dept. & Other Agencies

The Musk-Altman Feud Is Kendrick-Drake But With a Lot More Impact on Our Lives

Elon Musk Is Hacking German Politics, and the Berlin Film Festival May Pay the Price

This is a full-frontal assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If the agency can no longer effectively represent the American people, FOTUS’ favorite billionaire will have much to gain personally.

The World’s Richest Men Take On the World’s Poorest Children; Shutdown of USAID ‘Would Have Deadly Consequences for Millions’

They dismiss the national archivist.

CDC Researchers Ordered to Retract Papers Submitted to All Journals — Banned terms must be scrubbed from CDC-authored manuscripts

Rubio skips G20 summit due to South African ‘DEI’

He dismisses the Kennedy Center chair and plans to make himself the head

FOTUS taps televangelist kook to run new White House ‘faith’ office.
Man who loves to build walls demolishes the wall between church and state.

Reactions to the madness

Jamil Smith, the Emancipator: Along with a copy of the 13th Amendment, I typically carry a copy of historian Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” in my satchel when I’m headed out of the door in the morning…  Snyder’s book aims to help citizens of every nation learn from history and it’s filled with needed lessons on how to resist those who seek to exploit those faults for power and profit… Snyder’s first bit of advice in the book has successfully entered the national lexicon: Do not obey in advance.

I Refuse to Be a Good German

We Are All Gazans Now

Just Security keeps a continuously updated litigation tracker to help the rest of us stay current. 

The Fagin figure leading Elon Musk’s merry band of pubescent sovereignty pickpockets

Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug implores you not to call them Nazis!
Don’t call that Nazi a Nazi—you’ll hurt his feelings!

Don’t Believe Him| The Ezra Klein Show; What He’s Doing

Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God– Rabbi Morris Panitz | Vaera 5785 / 1.25.2025

Music

Singer Marianne Faithfull Dies at 78; Broken EnglishThe Ballad of Lucy Jordan; As Tears Go By (2018)

The Mynah Birds – It’s My Time w/ Rick James & Neil Young

Elizabeth Mitchell: Little Liza Jane

Wood Notes by William Grant Still

Lucy Dacus – Ankles

Coverville 1520: Billy Ocean Cover Story and Listener-Submitted Set and 1521: The INXS Cover Story III

Teddy Swims: Lose Control

Marcel Tyberg’s Piano Trio in F major

Japanese Breakfast – Orlando In Love

Indiana Jones: The Raiders March by John Williams

A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Postmodern Jukebox ft. Nathan Chester

Hamilton Leithauser – Knockin’ Heart

American Pie – Don McLean.

Frank, Dino, and Bing perform Style from their 1964 movie, Robin and the Seven Hoods

Khruangbin: May Ninth

This Magic Moment – The Drifters

Dreamgirls title song from Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon (1983)

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, Sandy Duncan (1980), and Cathy Rigby (2009) performing a number from Peter Pan

Valentine’s Day songs

At Last

Oh, wait. It’s Valentine’s Day. Around Christmas time, my wife had intimated that she wanted a certain type of chocolate, so I went out and bought some. But I’d forgotten that a couple of weeks earlier, my daughter and I had purchased the same brand, albeit with a different flavor combo.

So, I guess I’ll give her this chocolate for Valentine’s Day. I should also buy a card, though, shouldn’t I?

Here are 17 Valentine’s Day songs—seventeen because that’s what came to mind, not including the Steve Earle song. I went through several other lists and picked these because some of them were too sappy. This isn’t to say these aren’t sappy also. I don’t think I’ve done this before. If I were to do it five years from now, it’s unlikely that the final two would change.

Just The Way You Are – Billy Joel – I like the sax and the notion of “don’t go changin’.”

Come Away With Me -Norah Jones

Make You Feel My Love – Adele. I own four different versions of this song, by Garth Brooks from the Hope Floars soundtrack, Billy Joel, Adele, and the songwriter Bob Dylan.

Someone To Watch Over Me – Linda Ronstadt. I sang this to a person I was seeing, and she thought it was too clingy. Whatever.

My Funny Valentine -Ella Fitzgerald. I mean, it’s Ella.

Cupid – Sam Cooke – Sam has such a great voice

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner. I’m a sucker for the choir in this song.

Not really…

Let’s Stay Together – Al Green. Cousin Al!

Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney. Possibly the most romantic song in the Beatles/post-Beatles oeuvre.

Stand By Me—Ben E. King. This list includes many songs that were oldies when I was a teenager.

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Such tension.

Sea of Love – The Honeydrippers. Robert Plant and friends.

Let’s Make More Love – Nat King Cole. There’s no songwriter designation.

At Last – Etta James. This was the first dance at our wedding, so I suppose it should be the finale

God Only Knows -the Beach Boys. I’ve loved this song from the first time I heard it.

Still, the #1 favorite has to be:

I Only Have Eyes For You – The Flamingos can make me a bit teary when actively listening.

What is on your list? If you have it on your blog or something similar, you can share the link to the location. (This means you, J. Eric Smith.)   

Meanwhile, here’s A course of studies in the heart by Jessica Kantrowitz.

Ramblin' with Roger
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial