ABC Wednesday Archives - Page 10 of 91

Alaska: Last Frontier, 49th state

Alphabetically among the states, Alaska is second, after Alabama.

Map of USA In case you missed it amidst your New Year’s revelry, Alaska was granted statehood on as the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Back in 2011, when my mom died, my daughter, one of her older cousins and the cousin’s boyfriend were asked what’s the largest state in size, and only my seven-year-old daughter knew it was Alaska.

Upon attaining statehood, Alaska increased the size of the United States by nearly one-fifth. I think Americans are confused by the vastness of the state because most maps of the United States look like the one above, with Alaska (and Hawaii) relegated to the lower left corner of the map, usually with no scale. Hawaii usually appears larger than it is in relationship to the contiguous states, but Alaska almost appears MUCH smaller.

“The Last Frontier” is “the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude” in the country because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Canada, specifically British Columbia and Yukon, border the state to the east. It has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. The state has a longer coastline than all the other U.S. states combined.

Yet Alaska is also the most sparsely populated U.S. state with a population of only 739,795 (2017). Denali National Park is home to Denali (formerly called Mount McKinley), North America’s highest peak. Alphabetically among the states, it’s second, after Alabama. In terms of postal codes, AK is first, before AL.

You may know why Russia gave up Alaska. The territory was difficult to defend and “Russia was short on cash due to the costs of the war in Crimea” in the 1850s.

But why the US want to buy it? “In Alaska, the Americans foresaw a potential for gold, fur, and fisheries, as well as more trade with China and Japan. The Americans worried that England might try to establish a presence in the territory, and the acquisition of Alaska – it was believed – would help the U.S. become a Pacific power. And overall the government was in an expansionist mode backed by the then-popular idea of ‘manifest destiny.’

So a deal with “incalculable geopolitical consequences was struck,” and the Americans seemed to get quite a bargain for their $7.2 million, approximately two cents per acre.

For ABC Wednesday

Z is for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (sleep)

When children don’t fall into a regular pattern of sleep, parents aren’t sleeping much either.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. oh, phooey…

This is true: I am writing this at 2:30 a.m. a couple weeks ago. I went to sleep, but woke up.

This time, I know it’s because I ate too late. I realize, from experience, that me eating after 7 p.m. is a recipe for nocturnal interruptus.

To put me back to sleep – which usually works for me – I got up and just looked for sleep-related articles, all from the CBS News This Morning program, just to show how significant the topic is.

How lack of sleep affects health and tips for a good night’s rest – October 11, 2017

It’s “frightening” how few young people get enough sleep, expert says – June 25, 2018

New data suggests lack of sleep early in life can raise the risk of heart disease later. Research in the journal Pediatrics connects insufficient sleep in young teens to cardiac risk factors, including high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, and obesity.

In the book “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams,” published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster (a division of CBS), Matthew Walker says sleep is underestimated as a means for preventing disease.

“For example, even if you’re getting eight hours but are waking up many more times throughout the night or you’re not getting that deep sleep, what we’ve discovered recently is that deep sleep provides the very best form of natural blood pressure medication that you could ever wish for.”

Parents are hiring coaches to get their babies to sleep better – December 1, 2018

New parents face a host of challenges, but one of the most common is dealing with sleep issues. When children don’t fall into a regular pattern of sleep, parents aren’t sleeping much either.

A recent study in the journal Pediatrics found that at six months old, only 43 percent of babies were sleeping 8-hour stretches and at 12 months old, only about 57 percent.

To train their infants to sleep when they do wake in the night, some parents won’t go to their baby’s crib, or may delay feeding. But for others, it is too difficult to ignore the crying.

Also, I heard about Bose Sleepbuds which cost about $250, a bit pricey. Here are some reviews:
New York Times – “tech probably isn’t my solution”
Engadget – helpful but needs improvement (4 stars out of 5)
Techradar – (4 stars out of 5)
Tom’s Guide – They Ruined My Sleep (2 stars out of 5)
PC Magazine (3 stars out of 5)
390 customers on Amazon reviewed it. 5 star 35%, 4 star 16%, 3 star 11%, 2 star 15%, 1 star 23%

AMAZINGLY, 40 minutes of reading about sleeping has made me tired again and… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

For ABC Wednesday

Year 2019: those turning three score and ten

Shelley Duvall, Shelley Long, and Michael Richards have the same birth date!,

I really can’t wait for 2019. I anticipate that the first quarter will be a pain, the second chaotic, the third mildly uncomfortable, but the fourth quarter inspiring. If that isn’t cryptic, I don’t know what is.

I’ve actually started figuring out what I’m going to write about. Not surprisingly, as I begin my (slow) approach towards 70, there is an increasing number of famous people who will be hitting three score and ten. I’m going to write about nearly two dozen of them.

But here are some other folks ALSO turning 70 in 2019 – or would, if they were still alive – that I decided NOT to write about. Well, unless you force me to by invoking Ask Roger Anything. Then I WILL write about that person, BUT I maintain the right to postpone it to a date near their actual natal day.

January:
17 – Mick Taylor, first substitute in the Rolling Stones after Brian Jones’ death
22 – Steve Perry, former lead singer of the band Journey. Don’t expect a reunion
28 – Gregg Popovich, NBA basketball coach

February:
9- Judith Light, actress- best known on the TV show Who’s The Boss. I last saw her on a short-lived TV lawyer show Doubt (2017)
20 – Ivana Trump, ex-wife of Donald

March:
16 – Erik Estrada, actor – best known for playing the California Highway officer Ponch on the TV show CHiPs (1977–1983)
17 – Patrick Duffy, actor – from the TV show Dallas, in which his character apparently died, then didn’t

April:
13 – Christopher Hitchens, author – since he died in 2011, I passed, but I AM writing about folks who died earlier
20- Jessica Lange, actress – in a LOT of worthy material, but I believe I’ve only seen her in Tootsie, Cape Fear and All That Jazz

May:
26 – Pam Grier, actress- the film Jackie Brown, among many credits
28 – Steve King, United States Representative (R-IA) – blowhard

July:
8 – Wolfgang Puck, chef, restaurateur

August:
23 – Rick Springfield, TV soap opera actor, singer (Jessie’s Girl)
25 – Gene Simmons, musician – from the rock group KISS

September:
10 -Bill O’Reilly, talk show “personality” – formerly with FOX

October:
3 -Lindsey Buckingham, singer, musician- until fairly recently, in Fleetwood Mac
4 – Armand Assante, actor
21 – Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

November:
3- Anna Wintour, magazine editor, fashion journalist
30 -Shelley Duvall, film Actress, television actress – best known from the movie The Shining (1980)
30 – Shelley Long, actress -best known as overeducated barmaid Diane Chambers in the TV comedy Cheers (1982-1987, 1993)
30 – Michael Richards,, television actor, comedian – best known as Kramer on the TV comedy Seinfeld

December:
1 -Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord) – died in 1993
15 – Don Johnson, actor – I did watch him as Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice (1984–1990), but eschewed his music career

What will YOU write about, or not, in 2019?

For ABC Wednesday

Christmas music in November

A typo augers a special appearance, for naughty boys and girls

The Boston Globe had a story in mid-November: Are you crazy for Christmas music in November – or does it make you crazy?

“Is there anything that can summon the Scrooges quicker than early-onset Christmas music? ‘If you listen to Christmas music in November, you are a psychopath,’ one person recently wrote on Twitter.

“Yet, for a small but dedicated contingent, the jeers and eye rolls offer little deterrence. Yes, the jack-o’-lanterns might still be perched on doorsteps. True, Thanksgiving might be weeks away. They just can’t help themselves.”

I’ll admit being in the “made crazy” category for much of my adulthood. But I’ve found that finding my own soundtrack, in my own mind if necessary, works reasonably well so that I’m not totally bored by seasonal music by the Ides of December.

Still, the fact that Thanksgiving in the United States in 2018 is the earliest it can be is slightly problematic. It seems to invite turning to the “all-Christmas music all the time” radio station in the car. Not by me, and not by my daughter. Fortunately, the Hamilton soundtrack or some K-pop usually wins the day, at least until December 1.

That said, the fact that Arthur posts Christmas ads in his blog in November, from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. I find interesting and charming because I don’t tend to see them otherwise.

Here’s something I’ve known for decades: Santa’s Elves Live in … Schenectady? Schenectady is near Albany, so this is required information. But this story about the Christmas transit transfer was new to me.

A typo augers a special appearance, for naughty boys and girls.

Finally, frankincense has been proven to be a psychoactive antidepressant. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I hear too much Christmas music in November. Or October, fercryinoutloud.

(X is for wanting to X out Xmas music in November, for ABC Wednesday)

V is for vanilla extract and imitation vanilla

Vanilla extract is the only flavoring deemed important enough for the federal government to officially define standards for

My daughter had taken some course in middle school that involved cooking. Yes, the class had BOTH boys and girls. One of the things the students could NOT bring to school was vanilla extract. But they COULD bring imitation vanilla.

Vacationing with my wife’s family this past summer, one of my in-laws wondered whether imitation vanilla contained alcohol. I surmised that it did not. If it did, why allow it and not permit vanilla extract in school?

But I had not looked it up util the next day, when I found an intriguing 2015 article called Why Don’t You Buy Vanilla Extract in a Liquor Store? The subtitle notes it is “the same proof as vodka or rum, yet we buy it at the supermarket. Here’s why.”

“You have to go back to the years just before Prohibition, when trade groups and manufacturers… realized that the only way to save their industries was to lobby politicians to write in legal loopholes that would allow them to continue operating.

“Vanilla extract doesn’t just rely on alcohol to extract the essential flavors and fragrances from the vanilla bean and suspend them in a stable solution—it’s also required by law to have an alcohol content of at least 35 percent. (Vanilla extract is also the only flavoring deemed important enough for the federal government to officially define standards for.)

“In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment was made the law of the land, and the U.S. was, at least on paper, now an alcohol-free country. But the actual legal mechanisms for enforcing the amendment weren’t in place yet.

“Seeing their last chance to avert disaster, [the Flavor and Extracts Manufacturers Association] flooded congressmen with telegrams… By the time the Volstead Act went into effect the following year, it included a clause that made an exemption for flavor extracts—as long as they were deemed non-potable and a reasonable person wouldn’t want to drink them straight.”

The story has more fun facts, especially about money, but also concerning what a “reasonable person” means.

Imitation vanilla is made from synthetic vanillin, which is the compound that naturally occurs in vanilla beans and gives it that distinctive flavor.” It is cheaper and contains no alcohol.

Those are the rules in the United States. How does the rest of the world treat vanilla extract?

For ABC Wednesday