Who Wants Chowder? - 19 October 2021 - Plague Journal Day 586

Micah 6:8

Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Here we are on a beautiful Autumn day - and that reminds me of a Labor Day just over 39 years ago. The Sunday of that weekend had  been a glorious, sunny, warm day (and that was most happily received, as it was our wedding day, and we had an outdoor reception to host!), while Labor Day itself turned out to be one of those foggy, chilly, gray days we sometimes get in the Fall.
That year, in order to accommodate our wedding plans, the annual Gin & Chowder party hosted by family friends was moved from the (beautiful) Sunday to the (foggy) Monday. Well, it seemed quite appropriate to me - Gin  & Chowder seems like a New England thing, so why not a veritable pea-souper, right?

Interestingly, by the time we got to the party there was no chowder left! We were stuck with only the Gin & Tonic part of the menu (and cheese plates, crudites, etc.) - the which only I of our newly struck matrimonial unit was willing to imbibe. Still, what a nice gesture of them to move the party for us, right?

"So," I hear you ask,"why did you think of all this today?" Ah, I'm glad you asked. You see, today is International Gin And Tonic Day! That's why.
Interestingly, it's also Evaluate Your Life Day. One wonders if the gin & tonics mightn't be the chaser to some unhappy evaluations, eh?

Speaking of Chowder ... (yes, it's gross, but the payoff at the end is priceless.)

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Feeling Like Tommy Roe - 01 October 2021 - Plague Journal Day 568

Micah 6:8
Isaiah 22:17-18
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is International Coffee Day. (Didn't we just have National Coffee Day a few days ago?) Here's my big coffee tale.
I was in grad school and having some health issues. I had cold hands, ringing in my ears, and bouts of vertigo. I remember sitting in a lecture hall and holding tightly to the desk as the room rotated around an axis that seemed to go through my navel. It was, shall we say, an uncomfortable experience.
So ... I finally actually went to see my doctor back home, getting an early morning appointment, no less. I went in, described my symptoms, and was asked how much gin I drank. "None," was my truthful answer, but I asked why he asked that. Apparently juniper berries are bad for the inner ear, so excessive gin drinking can lead to vertigo, dizziness, and the like.
That being cleared up, he moved on to the next candidate, asking how much coffee I drank. "Oh, only one and a half or two pots a day," was my again-truthful reply. "OK," he replied, "no more coffee for three months, and then you can start drinking decaf." He added a vaso-dilator medication to the mix and sent me on my way.
I remember thinking as I walked to my car, "But I didn't even get a cup yet today." I would say that I was well and truly addicted.

01 October 1968 marked the premiere of the original “Night of the Living Dead.” I first saw it at a free screening at a science fiction convention (probably in 1977?), and I know I enjoyed it; but my strongest memory of that film was its dubbed version we caught on an old program called "Mad Movies with the LA Connection" on USA Network (or at least I think that's where it was). This was a great show where they dubbed movies to make them into comedies. The (originally) horrifying scene where the zombies are storming the house where the young woman is cowering was morphed into something very different. As the zombies approached, they were all chanting, "Party! Party!" while the poor blonde woman inside was berating herself: "I forgot to buy the chips!" What a fun show that was.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

25 April 2020 - Plague Journal Day 44

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

We're all being told "Don't touch your face" more times than we can even hope to register.
Have you noticed that you feel more agitated when you don't touch your face?
Why do we touch our faces all the time anyway?

Let me explain both of those things.

It's not really that you're touching your face, rather it's that you're smelling your hands. Why? Because our hands let us know if there's some foreign DNA in our system based on how they smell.
Think about it:

• Mothers know the smell of their children, and when it changes, they know something is amiss. 
• Babies know the smell of their parents - when they smell someone else, they get a bit agitated.
• Mary Katherine Gallagher from SNL knew the smell of her armpits and used that to calm herself down.

The examples are endless, but I hope you get the picture by now.

Further, one of the less well known symptoms of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) is a loss of the sense of smell. Likely that's a survival mechanism for the virus - if we don't smell the difference in our hands' emanations, we're less likely to take anti-viral precautions and are thus more likely to spread the contagion. A very clever virus. (Clever is probably not the right word, diabolical is more to the point!)
So - you're agitated because you can't check your health by smelling your hands. 
(N.B.: That may be why people wearing gloves often have sweaty palms. That can be caused by subconscious worry about not being able to smell their hands, along with an attempt to be able to smell them in spite of the gloves. This is pure conjecture on my part, but clearly matches all the facts.)

At any rate, today's commemorations are perfectly timed to celebrate this amazing bit of design: today is DNA Day and it's also National Sense of Smell Day.

Remember to thank the Lord for your sense of smell.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

Here's a bonus celebration-in-place for you today. In addition to the commemorations noted above, this is also Bob Wills Day and World Malaria Day. I suggest we all listen to a bit of classic Western Swing while enjoying a fragrant gin and tonic (the tonic has quinine - protects from malaria).
Cheers!