Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, March 13, 2022
through
Saturday, March 19, 2022
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It’s Saturday, March 19, 2022
Welcome to the 1,386th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
The Raven
An Illustration of Poe's "The Raven" by Gustave Doré
Gustave Doré - http://dore.artpassions.net/ http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore/dore_raven_earthp.jpg
Illustration 11 of Edgar Allan Poe's Raven
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Commentary
Lindsay Graham, ultra-conservative Republican, issued a call to Russians to take out Putin.
The latest indication that Trump’s love affair with Putin might be the wedge moderate Republicans need to splinter-off and marginalize Trump and get the party back to health.
As a moderate American I applaud and support the emergence of the Trump-Putin ticket.
May this wing of the party attract and hold the 25% of Republicans who are hard-core fruitcases and keep them separated from the Republican mainstream.
And I love the recent scientific study describing people like me as ‘elite sleepers’. See below.
All my life I’ve been told my sleep habits (4 to 6 hours nightly) are very bad for me. Up until today, I’ve believed it. Intellectually.
But realistically, experience has taught me differently. I’ve always performed well. I’ve always worked long and hard and had my share of creativity, sometimes after only 2 or 3 hours sleep.
Even before this study, I was satisfied with my health, even if once or twice a day I relish a nap. Like I’m going to do right now.
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Wellness
Finally.
After an entire lifetime worrying that I do not get enough sleep.
Finally.
I discover that I am in fact, an ‘elite sleeper’, one of a group who get by on just four to six hours of ZZZs a night.
Thanks to our genetic makeup we have a higher chance of beating dementia and mental disorders, according to new research published Tuesday in the journal iScience.
Public figures such as Donald Trump, Richard Branson and Theresa May are among those who practice this method of slumber — and have become known as “elite sleepers,” according to SWNS and the Sydney Morning Herald.
A study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, has shown that “elite sleepers” have rare genes that put the benefits of sleeping into a structured time window.
These folks are shown to have increased psychological resilience and resistance to mental decline because of their minimal sleeping habits which could help fend off Alzheimer’s and other age-related neurological diseases, according to the findings.
Other famous faces who were found to have shorter sleeping schedules included Barack Obama, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Bill Clinton and Elon Musk, SWNS reported.
UCSF professor and expert on neurological disorders Louis Ptacek, who led the study, explained why the number of hours that people need to sleep is fallible.
“There is a dogma in the field that everyone needs eight hours of sleep,” Ptacek said in a press release. “But our work to date confirms the amount of sleep people need differs based on genetics.”
He added, “Think of it as analogous to height. There is no perfect amount of height, each person is different. We have shown that the case is similar for sleep.”
“When it comes to sleep, it is quality over quantity,” the research team concluded.
The study was conducted over a decade with researchers tracking people with Familial Natural Short Sleep (FNSS) and genes associated with the sleep pattern. They determined that people who get just four to six hours can still fully function during the day and these patterns were also seen to run in their families.
Ptacek and his team identified five genes across the genome that affect sleeping patterns — and predict many more will still be discovered. “Every mutation we find is another piece. Right now we are working on the edges and the corners, to get to that place where it is easier to put the pieces together and where the picture really starts to emerge,” he stated.
But those who have the power of FNSS have the genetic makeup to accomplish sleep tasks in a shorter time. That means less time spent catching dreams may not necessarily equate to a lack of sleep, Fu noted, since an absence of sleep does not actually expedite the loss of neurons.
Fu hopes that improving people’s sleep could help “delay and possibly prevent a lot of diseases.”
“Our goal,” she said, “really is to help everyone live healthier and longer through getting optimum sleep.”
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Understanding aging
My shoulders are slumped most of the time.
It’s unattractive.
I decided to do something about.
So I bought this on sale for $21.00 because it seemed easy to fasten.
VANRORA Posture Corrector for Women and Men, Back Brace Fully Adjustable & Comfy, Support Straightener for Spine, Back, Neck, Clavicle and Shoulder, Improves Posture and Pain Relief S/M
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JGXTYVJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The contraption works. My posture instantly improved from poor to very good.
Let’s see if it creates too much stress for my body.
Awesome.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I got a new dog.
He’s a paranoid retriever.
He brings back everything because
he’s not sure what I threw him.
~Stephen Wright
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
It’s been a while since I had a steak.
I bought one today, dry-aged.
The price has jumped from 23.00/lb to 25.00.
I like my steak MR, instead, cooked it to MW.
It was still delicious.
I fried thinly sliced bell pepper and red onions in a bit of olive oil and that was the sauce for the steak.
Yumm.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Blue Bottle Crew
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Short Essay*
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust people.
Literary historian J. A. Cuddon defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing".
Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader.
Horror is often divided into the psychological horror and supernatural horror sub-genres.
Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society.
Prevalent elements include ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, the Devil, witches, monsters, extraterrestrials, thieves, dystopian and post-apocalyptic worlds, serial killers, cannibalism, psychopaths, cults, dark magic, Satanism, macabre, gore, fights, and torture.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, March 18, 2022
Welcome to the 1,385th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Mystery
Mystery, 1934 mystery fiction magazine cover
A Tower magazine - Scanned cover of pulp magazine
Cover of the pulp magazine Mystery (January 1934) featuring The Affair of the Green Lantern, Impossible Alibi by Dorothy Sayers and Murder on the Wall by Mignon G. Eberhart.
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Commentary
A query letter is a formal letter to an agent or publisher to propose writing ideas.
Could be approximately 200–400 words.
It’s an author's first step toward getting his or her manuscript published.
Part of the preliminary negotiation of establishing a relationship is the Synopsis, a summary of the book in about 400 words.
This is an important piece of the agency-seeking phase of publishing.
Today, we hammered that out.
Tomorrow I’ll do more work on the Query letter.
And I think tomorrow will see me complete the editing of the manuscript, Conflicted, Volume 1, Filling Hell.
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Reading and Writing
I am reading the third book of the Dragon Tattoo series.
I like the way Larson constructs the rising of the protagonist.
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Screen time
The Gilded Age concludes its first season next Monday.
While I wasn’t enthralled with the first episode, it grew on me.
I’m sorry to see it end.
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Understanding aging
I always thought I would be candid.
I started this blog to report honestly on my aging.
And yet Tuesday evening I was victimized by a natural and predictable event too gross for me to report.
In a way, it bore testament to my successful alteration of my diet.
Hopefully, it will never happen again.
No questions, please.
I am fine.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I almost broke both my arms
trying to hold open a revolving door for a woman.
~Stephen Wright
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
From what I’ve read about querying literary agents (from probably at least one newsletter or blog post per week coming into my inbox), your friend Howard is spot on. You are blessed to have knowledgeable and experienced friends like him!
Cheers!
Sally
Blog meister responds: No one knows that or appreciates it more than I do.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
What a disappointing dinner. I bought a pizza crust that was consonant with my trying to pull away from white flour. I forget what it was made of. But it didn’t work for me. Fortunately, I had some slices from W Foods in my freezer. They rescued me.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Tie selection
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Short Essay*
Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story.
Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime.
The central character is often a detective (such as Sherlock Holmes), who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader.
Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
Mystery fiction can involve a supernatural mystery in which the solution does not have to be logical and even in which there is no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, whose titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery offered what were then described as complicated to solve and weird stories: supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol.
That contrasted with parallel titles of the same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in that sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the later part of 1933.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, March 17, 2022
Welcome to the 1,385th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Cover for the first edition of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.
Originally published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. - http://www.collectors-club-of-great-britain.co.uk/userfiles/image/Book%20magazine/4.%20Buchan%5B1%5D.jpg
Permission details
The book was published before 1923 and the author has been dead for over seventy years. Thus, this image is in the public domain in the United States, Australia, the European Union, and a multitude of other countries.
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Commentary
Tuesday is the first day since winter started that I have gone for two long walks.
My first, the one I never miss, starts at about 8.30am. I walk from 60 to 90 minutes at an average+ clip. The second, which I drop when nighttime comes early and it’s cold, is about an hour at a fast clip.
I do love to walk and dread the inevitable day when that pleasure is taken from me.
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Screen time
Monday night is great TV: the Gilded Age and My Brilliant Friend.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and
you turn on the headlights,
does anything happen?
~Stephen Wright
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
A debate has been raging re: the Synopsis.
The current view is that 400 words must be enough.
That agents don’t have time to read more.
Blog meister responds: To have so many intelligent, knowledgeable people involved inmy project makes the project worth while.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night our friend Ann H and I celebrated our birthdays as we’ve been doing for the last 35 years.
Thirty-five years.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Elephant Walk on Washington St in the South End.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Grace and Dom
People having a nice time
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Short Essay*
Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Thrillers generally keep the audience on the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is often a villain-driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.
The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) is a swashbuckling revenge thriller about a man named Edmond Dantès who is betrayed by his friends and sent to languish in the notorious Château d'If. His only companion is an old man who teaches him everything from philosophy to mathematics to swordplay. Just before the old man dies, he reveals to Dantès the secret location of a great treasure. Shortly after, Dantès engineers a daring escape and uses the treasure to reinvent himself as the Count of Monte Cristo. Thirsting for vengeance, he sets out to punish those who destroyed his life.
The first recognizable modern thriller was Erskine Childer’s The Riddle of the Sands (1903), in which two young Englishmen stumble upon a secret German armada preparing to invade their homeland.
The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) is an early thriller by John Buchan, in which an innocent man becomes the prime suspect in a murder case and finds himself on the run from both the police and enemy spies.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by John le Carré is set in the world of Cold War espionage and helped to usher in an era of thriller fiction based around professional spies and the battle of wits between rival spymasters.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Welcome to the 1,384th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Suspense (1919)
Suspense (1919) - 2
Frank Reicher Productions - Moving Picture World (Jan. - Feb. 1919) at the Internet Archive
Still from the American film Suspense (1919) with Mollie King, on page 794 of the February 8, 1919 Moving Picture World.
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Commentary
Very proud of the Republican Party as it appears that the majority of Republican senators have rejected a Trump-Putin ticket for 2024.
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Screen time
I enjoyed watching The Adam Project. No one embarrassed themself.
I love Monday nights. We’re treated to new episodes of the Gilded Age and My Brilliant Friend.
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Wellness
I am a master at exercising when tired. Recently my sleep has become so erratic that I can never be sure I will feel energetic enough to go through my lifting routine. But the routine, the regularity, for me is more important than the weights I lift. Monday a case in point. Maybe I got 4 hours sleep. I doubt that much. But Monday was a lifting day so I went to the club without feeling at the top of my game. Far from it.
I went through my entire routine but only doing half the usual repetitions on each machine. Despite the cheat, I consider that I lifted that day.
Following the schedule I laid out for myself is often the psychological push I sometimes need to stay on rhythm, eve if I don’t cross every T.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
You can't have everything.
Where would you put it?
~Stephen Wright
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
I sent a proposed Query letter to a dozen friends who have been helping me through the manuscript stags. This is Howard D’s response:
Generally, there’s a certain unnecessary formality and punctiliousness to this in places, and it makes it sound a little uncomfortable and distancing.
I know I changed this, and you’ve changed it back, but I changed “beginning” to “rising” (the first usage I ever heard was my dear friend Paul’s reference to his daughter—now a PhD candidate in oceanography—when she was at the Burroughs School in St. Louis; one of the few other times I heard it, because I don’t know that many teenage children, was with reference to your usage regarding Kat’s status at the time), because one usage is idiomatic, and the other usage, though obviously accurate and descriptive, I’ve never heard used idiomatically… not these days.
Really trivial, but “toney” is defined by Merriam-Webster (the dictionary you prefer in your come-backs to me) as a less common spelling of tony, and the example they give, I swear to you, is “tony private schools.” Again, relax with this kind of prose, and make it more casual and friendly, even down to the spelling.
You’ve injected very precise details where they’re not called for. You can put the length of the manuscript in words in the same paragraph, in a separate short sentence, even make it parenthetical, at the very end, e.g., “(The book is 83,000 words).”
When you give a short précis of your publishing ventures, I’d omit all but the essentials. It doesn’t help you that the first book, is not only self-published, not only unprofitable, but is a cookbook. Your experience writing a finished book in publishable form is more important than these specifics, which you should leave to the correspondent to ask further about. Put in too many details and you are not making tiny invitations to ask more questions of you, and further engagement. That is, let them ask about “these other books you published… what were they like?” Professionals in publishing know there are all sorts of reasons that books, especially in the PIY market, fail. You’re trying to engage their serious professional interest.
Similarly, instead of “1400 days” (in essence, you’re challenging them to stop and quickly figure out how long that is in time units people actually use; I’m not trying to take away from your achievement, just suggesting it flows better, and keeps them reading if you say “nearly four years”). Also, similarly, “I have a thousand subscribers following me” (the important word is “subscribers”)…
That’s enough I think, either to piss you off, as usual, or illustrate my point.
Take it either way. It’s not personal for me.
xo
H
Blog meister responds: I’m appreciative of having such knowledgeable friends. I feel that with their
guidance I will present myself in the best light. Thanks to all of you.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday my friend of fifty years, Cindy O, took me to dinner at the Union Oyster House.
It was satisfactory.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
café nyc
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Short Essay*
In literature, films, television, and plays, suspense is a major device for securing and maintaining interest. It may be of several major types:
in one, the outcome is uncertain and the suspense resides in the question of who, what, or how; in another, the outcome is inevitable from foregoing events, and the suspense resides in the audience's anxious or frightened anticipation in the question of when.
Readers feel suspense when they are deeply curious about what will happen next, or when they know what is likely to happen but don’t know how it will happen.
Even in historical fiction, with characters whose life stories are well known, the why usually brings suspense to the novel.
An adjunct to suspense is foreshadowing, as found in hints of national crisis or revolution in Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits (1991).
Examples
In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (429 B.C.), suspense is achieved through a withholding of the knowledge that Oedipus himself has killed Laius, his father. During the play, the spectators, aware that Oedipus will eventually make the discovery, share the hero's uncertainties and fears as he pursues the truth of his own past.
In George Washington Cable's story "Jean-ah Poquelin" (1875), the reader wants to know the cause of the strange smell and the unexplained disappearance of a brother.
In Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson (1895), the reader anticipates the outcome of the switching of a black infant with a white infant.
In Ernest J. Gaines's A Gathering of Old Men (1983), the reader waits for the court's decision at a murder trial.
The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
*Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Welcome to the 1,383rd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
The Violet Fairy Book (1906)
Internet Archive Book Images - https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14730388126/ Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/violetfairybook00lang/violetfairybook00lang#page/n224/mode/1up
Identifier: violetfairybook00lang (find matches) Title: The violet fairy book Year: 1906 (1900s) Authors: Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912 Ford, H. J. (Henry Justice), 1860-1941, ill Subjects: Folklore Fairy tales Publisher: London New York : Longmans, Green Contributing Library: New York Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ries seemed gayer. And all this hadbeen caused by the three kisses Petru had given the Fairyof the Dawn. He passed everything safely by, and was soon seatedin his saddle again. Faster than the wind, faster thanthought, faster than longing, faster than hatred rodePetru. At length he dismounted, and, leaving his horsesat the roadside, went on foot to the house of Venus. The goddess Venus knew that he was coming, andwent to meet him, bearing with her white bread and redwine. Welcome back, my prince, said she. Good day, and many thanks, replied the young man,holding out the flask containing the magic water. Shereceived it with joy, and after a short rest Petru set forth,for he had no time to lose. He stopped a few minutes, as he had promised, withthe Goddess of Thunder, and was taking a hasty farewellof her, when she called him back. Stay, I have a warning to give you, said she.* Beware of your life; make friends with no man; donot ride fast, or let the water go out of your hand ; believe Text Appearing After Image: THE FAIRY OF THE DAWN 197 no one, and flee flattering tongues. Go, and take care,for the way is long, the world is bad, and you hold some-thing very precious. But I will give you this cloth tohelp you. It is not much to look at, but it is enchanted,and whoever carries it will never be struck by lightning,pierced by a lance, or smitten with a sword, and thearrows will glance off his body. Petru thanked her and rode off, and, taking out histreasure box, inquired how matters were going at home.Not well, it said. The emperor was blind altogethernow, and Florea and Costan had besought him to give thegovernment of the kingdom into their hands; but hewould not, saying that he did not mean to resign thegovernment till he had washed his eyes from the well ofthe Fairy of the Dawn. Then the brothers had gone toconsult old Birscha, who told them that Petru was alreadyon his way home bearing the water. They had set out tomeet him, and would try to take the magic water fromhim, and then claim as th Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
Permission details
At the time of upload, the image license was automatically confirmed using the Flickr API. For more information see Flickr API detail.
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Commentary
For the next nine days our temperature will be around 50*.
Count me in.
Two more birthday celebrations coming this week on Monday and Tuesday.
So, with days greatly extended and the temperatures warming, I will be resuming my evening walks, 2.5 miles added to the 3 miles earlier in the day.
The issue for me is not the distance but the time.
I barely get my editing and the blog done as it is, and now I’ll be losing an hour to the evening walk.
I’m hoping that I find that I’ve not used my night time hours efficiently and take the time from sloth.
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Screen time
Looking forward to Downton, the movie opening this week.
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Wellness
While I’m back to battling for a good night’s sleep, I’m otherwise well.
I’m questioning the need for so much sleep since i seem to do okay without it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have it.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I kept a diary right after I was born.
Day 1: Tired from the move.
Day 2: Everyone thinks I'm an idiot.
~Stephen Wright
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I made a lentil casserole. It was delicious.
I chopped an ounce each of celery, carrots, onions and bell peppers.
And a bit of garlic and jalapeno.
I softened the aromatics in olive oil and then added a cup of lentils and four cups mixed of stock, white wine, and water, and a 14oz can of Italian tomatoes.
I simmered the casserole for an hour. The lentils were soft.
To serve, I added small shells.
It was delicious.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Toni Lee on Squaw Island
My wife, many years ago.
Deceased.
Not sure, but I think Howard Dinin owns the copyright to this photo.
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Short Essay*
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animated movies and video games.
Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, though these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings of a medieval nature. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works.
Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic, magic practitioners (sorcerers, witches and so on) and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds.
An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy the author uses worldbuilding to create characters, situations, and settings that may not be possible in reality.
Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration; and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case.
Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, March 14, 2022
Welcome to the 1,383rd consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Ignatius Loyola
Anonymous - http://www.spiritual-exercises.com/images/ignatius2.jpg
Permission details
Public domain
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1927.
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Commentary
I’m still glowing in the joy of the prospect of my family reuniting again in late June.
We’ve had two such reunions recently, in Philadelphia and NYC.
Both were brilliant.
On this occasion, we should have the warmth of summer full bore on us.
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Reading and Writing
I am four days away from completing the last major editing of the manuscript.
Next, I will make a last pre-submission run through.
Then focus on a submission to my first agent.
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Screen time
the Marvelous Mrs. Maisell is a great TV series.
No episodes better than the most recent, Episode 8 of Season 4.
Emotionally enthralling. Brilliant.
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Wellness
I’ve had a couple of poor nights of sleep.
Nothing to be done but learn to live with it.
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Understanding aging
I’m unhappy with my posture: my shoulders are slumping.
I ordered a shoulder brace.
Coming on Monday.
Hoping that it’s use will tweak my muscle memory and lead to better posture.
I hate to stand by and let age take a toll without fighting back.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards.
I got a full house and four people died.
~Stephen Wright
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Dear Dom,
RE: Eisenhower: I remember as a child, during the 1960 presidential campaign, singing this ditty, to the seven dwarves’ tune in Disney’s Snow White:
Whistle while you work
Nixon is a jerk
Eisenhower lost his power
Whistle while you work.
There were no other verses. I may not be remembering the last line correctly (or I may never have heard it correctly in the first place) – it seems that to complete the theme, there should have been something in there about Kennedy. We children were careful not to sing this in the presence of our parents – regardless of their political leanings, they frowned on such blatant disrespect of our elders.
Around this same time, air-raid drills were an accepted part of our school day. Certainly not every day, but regularly, on a signal we’d queue up and march down to the basement of the school and kneel on the floor, up against the interior brick wall of the furnace room, far away from windows, and huddle there with our arms over our heads for a few minutes until the “all clear” signal was given. No doubt this is when my next-older brother and I, while in the Saturday night bathtub, recited this bit of doggerel, another piece that the parents discouraged, as we played with our toy boats:
Order in the court:
The judge is eating beans.
Order in the bathtub:
Khrushchev’s sinking submarines.
Speaking of signals, this was the time when the town’s fire department blasted its whistle twice at noon every day. (Our house was two miles out of town, but we could hear the hoots clearly.) If we heard more than two and it wasn’t noontime, we knew to count the number of whistles. This number informed the volunteers, elsewhere at their jobs around town, what part of town to go to directly, where the fire truck with their gear would meet them. This was typical in all of the places (mostly small towns) I lived in during my childhood and well into my adult years. It is likely still true for many small communities.
There’s probably a reason why these tidbits keep cropping up – maybe it’s just so I keep writing them down. (Somebody’s got to!)
Sally
Blog meister responds: Totally love Sally’s pen.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Speaking of Sally, I’ve been using her recipe (amended) for Fire Vinegar.
Today I sprinkled it on Duck Legs, faux-confit (i.e. fried in duck fat.)
Sally’s Fire Vinegar
(a/k/a Four Thieves Tonic
dating from the 14th Century, the days of the black plague)
Chop coarsely (no peeling necessary) about equal quantities of:
Whole hands of garlic
Ginger root
Horseradish root
Jalapeno peppers
Hot chili peppers
Place in a pot for mixing.
Add:
Whole juniper berries (dried or fresh) (I bought mine online)
Rosemary (dried or fresh; chop the fresh)
Toss all together and place in a large, wide-mouth jar with a water-tight lid. (I use a large pickle jar, about a half-gallon in size.)
Pour over all a quart of organic apple cider vinegar (or enough to cover).
Place lid and shake thoroughly.
Set aside to “percolate” for one month. Shake once a week.
Strain liquid and discard the solids.
Consume one tablespoon per day, diluted in water, as a tonic (to cleanse the system), and/or add to salad dressing or other foods.
(I’ve used it in my coleslaw, which is a great addition!)
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Dom’s Sauna
Totally love it, even if I avoid sweating in it.
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Short Essay*
Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; Basque: Ignazio Loiolakoa; Spanish: Ignacio de Loyola; Latin: Ignatius de Loyola; c. 23 October 1491 – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, who, with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits), and became the first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, in Paris, in 1541. He envisioned the purpose of the Society of Jesus to be missionary work and teaching. Unlike members of other religious orders in the church who take the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, members of the society, Jesuits, also take a fourth vow of obedience to the Pope, to engage in projects ordained by the pontiff. Jesuits were instrumental in leading the charge of the Counter-Reformation.
As a former soldier, Ignatius paid particular attention to the spiritual formation of his recruits and recorded his method in the Spiritual Exercises (1548). In time, the method has become known as Ignatian spirituality.
Ignatius of Loyola was beatified in 1609 and canonized saint, on 12 March 1622. His feast day is celebrated on 31 July. He is the patron saint of the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as of the Society of Jesus. He was declared patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, March 13, 2022
Welcome to the 1,382th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
I Like Ike
1945 portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Unknown author or not provided - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
General notes: Use War and Conflict Number 745 when ordering a reproduction or requesting information about this image.
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Commentary
Trump is the power in the Republican Party and the most likely nominee.
A Trump -Putin ticket is disastrous for the Republican Party and the country.
There are a lot of other wannabe-candidates. Too many. Too splintered. Too lacking national support.
Wondering out loud: what about picking out an American of national prominence, of impeccable credentials and draft her/him to run for the Republican nomination?
It worked for the Republicans with Dwight Eisenhower.
It can be done.
Yesterday, sixty-nine House reps voted against aid to the Ukraine.
These are the hard-core Trump-Putin supporters.
It's a group of substantial size but not nearly as big as those in opposition to a Trump-Putin Republican ticket.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
What a nice night for an evening.
~Stephen Wright
_____________________________________
Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Got a flurry of family texts related to a communal birthday gift to me: a four-day family get-together in Washington DC in June. What a hoot!
The idea is to replicate the successful Christmas family get-together last December.
Blog meister responds: It’s great to be king. Of course, you’ve got to get to be king, first. How do you do that? Hang out with children who love you. Their love makes you regal.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I love Clam Chowder.
I am reluctant to make it because of the white potatoes and the heavy cream: foods that add calories and flavor but no fiber.
Yesterday I made a new creation of mine: Healthy New England Clam Chowder substituting cauliflower for the potatoes and Oat Milk for the heavy cream.
The recipe worked splendidly.
Going forward, I will definitely make this recipe my choice for clam chowder.
The taste is as good as the heavy cream and white potatoes version and much healthier.
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Community Photos**
Shells are on the river.
Spring is here.
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Short Essay*
The Draft Eisenhower movement was a widespread political movement that eventually persuaded Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Chief of Staff of the United States Army, to contest the presidency of the United States.
During the 1948 presidential election, despite being asked repeatedly by various organizations and politicians, including former president Franklin D. Roosevelt's son James, Eisenhower rejected all requests to enter politics. Even after his refusal, Democratic state organizations in Georgia and Virginia openly endorsed him. A week before the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Roosevelt sent telegrams to all 1,592 delegates voting for the party nomination, asking them to arrive in Philadelphia two days early for a special Draft Eisenhower caucus attempting to make a strong joint appeal to Eisenhower. Despite attempts by several prominent Democratic politicians, Eisenhower refused to accept the nomination, which went to incumbent President Harry S. Truman.
Amid Truman's low popularity, the Draft Eisenhower movement re-emerged in 1951 in both the Republican and Democratic parties, as Eisenhower had not yet announced any political party affiliation. Several Republican politicians endorsed him, while Democrats continued to assure him that he could win the presidency only as a Democrat. Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. became the campaign manager for the Republican Draft Eisenhower movement and placed Eisenhower's name on the New Hampshire Republican primary ballot. Eisenhower agreed to contest the presidency and subsequently won the New Hampshire primary. Nominated by the Republican Party as their presidential candidate, Eisenhower defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson to become the 34th president. The Draft Eisenhower movement has been referenced in later draft movements, including the 1992 Draft Perot movement and the 2008 Draft Condi movement.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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