Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Forum to Jack, Forum to Jack - everything OK? you stopped on the cusp... "Now about St Nik... "  

"So there are lots of things out there that don't make sense at first, but are absolutely true."  "And that's the truth."  We can't lose our sense about what is "right" and "wrong".  Doing the right thing can be hard.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Good to know. 👍

Scott Mermel

When I was in Ecuador years ago to visit my daughter on her semester abroad, we visited the equator at a natioanl park located along the line (Ecuador, in fact, was named for the equator which bisects the country.).  There are street vendors who have the water and bowls that drain (like commodes) and for a buck or two, you can test the direction standing just one foot on either side of the equator.  The direction of the swirl does change when you move only a step or two.  Right on the equator it actually depends on whether you are just north or south of the line -- it's impossible to be right over the equator as  (this gets geeky) it's a plane coming out of the earth and has no dimension.  Hope that settles this controversy!

Stewart Myrent

Scott, I aappreciated the story about Ecuador & the Equator.  I have not experienced anything like that, but it must have been totally freaky!

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Jack,  Toilets and time zones.  I would not have thought to associate the two, but your stories are a hoot.  I look forward to more of them. Thanks for sharing.  Bev

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

As usual, I agree with you, Carol.  I enjoy Scott’s stories too; also, Paul’s.   I’m not a voracious reader, so find Stewart’s book reports a good series of “Cliff Notes”  on his selections.  Thank you all for sharing.   Would also like to hear  from our professional story teller, Doug Lipman.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Today is Friday, the 13th.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

👍   
G'day, mate.  What time is it down under?

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jack, please translate into Aussie lingo:
This girl has game.  Knock me down, I'll get back up.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

All this talk about time reminds me of the words to a song the Kingston Trio used to sing:

“I started on a journey about a year ago, to a little town called Morrow, in the state of Ohio.  

I’d never been much of a traveler, and I really didn’t know, that Morrow was the hardest place I’d ever try to go.  So I went down to the station for my ticket and applied, disregarding Morrow not expecting to be guyed.

Said I, ‘my friend, I’d like to go to Morrow and return, no later than tomorrow for I haven’t time to burn.’

Said he to me, ‘now let me see, if I have heard you right.  You’d like to go to Morrow and return tomorrow night. You should have gone to Morrow yesterday and back today, for the train today to Morrow is a mile upon its way.

If you had gone to Morrow yesterday, now don’t you see, you could have gone to Morrow and returned today at 3:00, for the train today to Morrow, if the schedule is right, will go today to Morrow and return tomorrow night.’  

I was so disappointed, I was mad enough to swear.  The train had gone to Morrow and had left me standing there.  The man was right in telling me that I was a howling jay.  I could not go to Morrow, so I guess in town I’ll stay.”

(There are a few more verses in there somewhere which I don’t remember.)   

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

🎼
For the train today to Morrow, if the schedule is right, today it goes to Morrow and returns tomorrow night."

***a few more of those Kingston Trio verses... ***🚂

Said I, "My friend, it seems to me you're talking through your hat.  There is a town named Morrow on the line now tell me that"

"There is," said he, "but take me a quiet little tip.  To go from here to Morrow is a fourteen hour trip.

The train today to Morrow leaves today at eight thirty-five.  At half-past ten tomorrow is the time it should arrive.

So if from here to Morrow is a fourteen hour jump, can you go today to Morrow and get back today, you chump?"

Said I, "I'd like to go to Morrow so can I go today and get to Morrow by tonight if there is no delay?"

"Well, well," said he to me, "and I've got no more to say.  CAN YOU GET anywhere tomorrow and get back again today?"

Said I, "I guess you know it all but kindly let me say, how can I get to Morrow if I leave this town today?"

Said he, "You cannot go to Morrow any more today 'cause the train that goes to Morrow is a mile upon its way."

***back to all the Kingston Trio verses you remember***🚂

🎼
I was so disappointed. I was mad enough to swear...🙂🙃🙂

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Sooo Australia is 14 hours ahead of Chi Town (?)
Thanks for checking on the prattle when you're back in Sydney.***
Do you find any "language barrier" speaking English with Aussies?***

Where are you now?
What took you down under 15 years ago?

Have you spent time in New Zealand?  

Enjoy.  Be well.

***stuff like "sheila" is a woman and ***pronunciation of "G'day mate"... thanks

David Steinberg (Noel)

Yes, Carol.  If I remember, we kissed in Connie Lowes' basement during a SPIN THE BOTTLE game....

David Steinberg Noel

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Out and about in Oshkosh -- lots of holiday cheer and greetings...

One friend to another friend: "We're not having our party this year.  If you didn't get an invitation that would be why."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Carol, I hate to disappoint you, but kids today are not spending a lot of time in the basement.  American teenagers and young adults are having less sex than previous generations did at their age.  Premarital sex became a big thing post WWII.  Anxiety about a man shortage led teen girls in the late 1940s and 50s to pursue more serious romantic relationships than had been customary before the war.  "...turns out 1957 has the highest rate of teen births in American history."  People have been overestimating how much casual sex high school and college students are having.  Since the 1990s teenagers have being having sex later, and the pregnancy rate keeps inching down.  Today, teen romantic relationships are less common than in previous generations.  Teens have always been most likely to have sex in the context of a relationship, and in the past 25 years, adolescence has changed a lot...

The percentage of teens who report going on dates has decreased alongside the percentage who report other activities associated with entering adulthood, like drinking alcohol, working for pay, going out without one's parents, and getting a driver's license.

These shifts coincide with another major change: increased concern about educational and economic prospects of young people.  There's been a big change in what's expected of teens - teens these days have busy schedules - they have very little unsupervised free time.  Teens today feel less pressured into sex they don't want to have, thanks to changing gender mores.  Many young adults prioritize school (or work) over love and sex, at least for a time, or maybe they're just extra deliberate in choosing a life partner and marry later, or not at all.

Believe it or not, broadband internet access has decreased sexual activity.  Young adults and teens are in touch and connect via social media.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

👍

I am pleased too, Carol.

Though life in many ways is too serious today for kids and young adults.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"The United States was founded on idealistic, positive principles: human worth and dignity, the inevitability of progress, and the goodness of the human collective.  The roots of our belief in human progress trace back to Enlightenment philosophy, whose major thinkers believed civilization would progress toward perfection if humans were free to use their reason.

"Optimism is a coping mechanism that can buoy us during suffering - clinging to a better future can help us carry on.  Optimism is not always healthy, though.  It can make us complacent, and detached from our reality.  Positive thinking, when misplaced, is unhelpful; when things are not OK, we feel beaten down again.  Sadly, there are times when optimism is not appropriate or possible."

"Hide me till the storm is past, let the healing streams abound."

Have you watched "The Crown",  season 3, episode 3?  Aberfan

Stewart Myrent

Janis, I liked your quote, "Optimism is a coping mechanism that can buoy us during suffering... Optimism is not always healthy, though."  The reason I am curious about this concept of "optimism", or "hope", is twofold.  First, there is a church not far from me, the Hope Evangelical Presbyterian Church, & I have to say, the predominant thing you take away from their outdoor sign, is the word "Hope".  And I've always thought that that is what religion offers, "hope for a better future", & even better, "hope for eternity" .  But, that's a discussion for another day.  The other reason I have been thinking about hope, is that once I finish my current book of choice, "The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders and the Dawn of the American Century", I have already checked out my next book, "The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel", by Howard Reich, a long-time Chicago "Tribune" writer, whose father, Robert, was liberated from the Buchenwald death camp, the same day as Wiesel, April 11, 1945 (less than 2 yrs. before I was born - here in the U.S., thank God).  I am fairly certain that Wiesel will have some pointed observations about "hope" & "optimism", & I am expecting to finish it in 3 or 4 days, as it is less than 170 pages total, & the chapter titles seem promising.  Will let you know.