Category Archives: opinion

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LOST IN SPACE?

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Several days ago, I caught the virus that has been circulating for months. I had dodged the dreaded “flu” since last fall and was convinced that my immune system was ironclad. Apparently, I was wrong. For the first few days I chalked it up to allergies – after all, I just had allergy testing that showed I am allergic to pretty much everything that is in bloom right now. But when my throat began to look like raw hamburger and my chest felt as if an elephant had taken up residence, I knew it was more serious. I know the drill – lots of fluids and rest. The fluids’ part was easy but trying resting with a four-month-old puppy. Both Dooley and I reached the limits of our patience in the last week. I’m sure he was wishing he had been adopted by a hardy twenty-something.

Nevertheless, because I needed my energy during the day, my goal was to get as much sleep at night as possible. I looked in the medicine cabinet and saw I still had some NyQuil, but probably not enough to last more than a day or two. So last Monday I did what one does when you’re sick and live alone…I ordered cough medicine from Amazon, with same-day delivery before 4 pm. I tracked the delivery mid-afternoon and saw that the delivery person was in the neighborhood across the road. The app indicated I was blessedly just five stops away. I waited for the package…and waited…and waited. When I checked the app again it said, “We have lost communication with our delivery person but don’t worry, your package is still on the way.” Okay, cell service can be sketchy in my area, so I didn’t think anything of it. But by 6 pm, when there was still no package, and the same message appeared, I began to suspect that my Mucinex was not coming. Thankfully, I dug around in my medicine cabinet and found an unopened box of NyQuil that miraculously was not out of date. By 9 pm the app indicated that something had gone wrong and I could cancel the order if I wished. How about you deliver the package, Amazon???

By Tuesday afternoon there was still not a whisper from Amazon as to where my package was or whether they were sending a replacement. So now, I don’t feel well and frankly, I am not pleasant when I’m sick, so I go on the Amazon app and ask them to call me. Five minutes later a customer service rep calls me, and I relayed my problem. I can barely speak and coughed like a seal in her ear, so she could tell I was someone who definitely needed medicine. Although she might have thought Xanax was a better choice after listening to my rant. In any event, she tells me she is on the case…and then puts me on hold. She came back after about ten minutes and said that the package had been lost in transit. LOST??? It was across the road and five stops away!!!! Was the driver highjacked? Did an Amazon Blue Origin Spaceship come down and spirit it away?

She calmly explained to me that she was only a front office person and really couldn’t tell me exactly how my package was lost. She placed another order for me and told me she would schedule it for overnight delivery. I asked that she not do that, as I can’t begin to count the landscape lights that have been victim to Amazon drivers trying to navigate out of my twisty driveway. “No problem,” she said, “I’ll schedule it for tomorrow mid-day.” Of course, I woke up Wednesday morning at 5:30 to find the package at my front door.

Maybe Bezos should spend a little less money sending celebrities into space and a bit more in delivery efficiency. As you can tell, I’m still crabby.

Posted in opinion

RESILIENCE!

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

If you watched Rory McIlroy win the Masters a couple of weeks ago, you might not have experienced such a roller coaster of emotions since the last time you watched the stock market. Rory not only produced a comeback for the ages but was the very definition of resilience. The Masters win, and the accompanying green jacket, had eluded McIlroy his entire career. It was the only major championship that he hadn’t won, and at almost 36 years old, he was beginning to lose hope that he would ever achieve the “career grand slam” of winning all four majors. But he didn’t give up, he practiced, he focused and as they say in the golf world, he kept “grinding”. And on that glorious Sunday evening when he sank the winning putt, all of his efforts and perseverance paid off. You could see the weight of the world, and the world’s expectations, lift from his shoulders. When he spoke to the crowd after receiving the green jacket, he addressed his daughter and said, “The one thing I would say to my daughter, Poppy, who’s sitting over there: never give up on your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams. Keep coming back, keep working hard, and if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.” In other words – be resilient.

Two days prior to watching Rory’s win, I attended an ASU OLLI lecture titled, “Finding Your Resilience”. It was taught by a professor who works at the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. Over 60% of the students in that college are “first gens” – kids who are the first in their family to attend college. Many of them also come from disadvantaged backgrounds and the foster care system. And yet, a great many of them not only get their degrees, but they thrive. To find out why some people overcome hardship and others don’t, the professor conducted a study of hundreds of people and found ten traits necessary to cultivate resilience. They are:

Social Support – having a good network of family and friends

Boundry Setting – the ability to disengage from unhealthy influences

Insight and Empathy – being able to understand your own adversity and understand the problems others have faced

Commitment – setting a goal and sticking with it

Creativity and Flexibility – finding multiple solutions to problems and being willing to adapt to changing circumstances

Initiative and Self-efficacy – the willingness to act and to believe that you are capable

Communication – being able to communicate both verbally and non-verbally

Humor – the ability to remain lighthearted, even in the face of adversity

Morality and Spirituality – having a belief system that provides direction

Appraisal – finding meaning in the struggles we face

Not everyone hits all ten factors, or at least they don’t hit them all at the same time, but to varying degrees, these qualities exist in people who are able to overcome whatever negative circumstances they face.

Elizabeth Edwards, the late wife of that scoundrel John Edwards, faced what some might consider more than her fair share of adversity – cancer and a husband who publicly humiliated her. When her cancer recurred, rather that wallow in her fatal diagnosis, she said the following: “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.”

Winning the Masters was a study in resilience for Rory, but whether he won or not, his life would remain magnificent on many levels. That is not the case for many people, who face adversity and possibly dire consequences from their situation. Which is why, when we can, we should lend a hand or an ear, to someone who is trying their hardest to grind it out and be resilient.

Posted in opinion

Who Has Done The Moon Walk?

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by Bob Sparrow

Michael Jackson’s Moon Walk

Yes, it’s me taking up space again; thinking about those 12 men who have walked on the moon.  Or have they?  Recently a friend and I were talking about the initial moon landing of humans in 1969, and the last landing of humans on the moon in 1972, and wondered why we hadn’t been back in over 50 years and why other technically advanced countries had never been at all.  With a wry smile, my friend said, “Maybe we’ve never been either.”  Like millions, I told him that I watched the Apollo 11 first moon landing on television when I was in the service in Japan.  He said, “Yeah, I watched it too, but now I wonder what I really watched”.  I looked at him and said, “Are you one of those conspiracy people that believe the moon landing never happened and that Oswald didn’t shoot Kennedy either?”  OK, we’re now learning that maybe he didn’t shoot him, but faking a moon landing, that’s quite a stunt?  He told me to watch ‘The Why Files’ about the moon landing, or the ‘staged’ moon landing.

I had not only never watched The Why Files moon landing, but had never heard of The Why Files.  I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the conversation piqued my interest enough to find out more about the ‘fake’ moon landing, as I did think it was unusual that we, or anyone else, hadn’t visited the moon in over five decades.  So, I went to YouTube and dialed up The Why Files

Below is the video: The Why Files ‘The Moon Landing: How NASA and Hollywood Fooled the World’

(The first 4 minutes is an advertisement, so just click at the 4-minute mark on the bottom; there are other advertisements throughout that you can click past.  The video is about 45 minutes, but I think very interesting. The ‘HeckleFish’ is sometimes funny, but mostly annoying.  Make sure you watch the video to the end.)

But there is more.  If you have the interest and the time (about 2.5 hours), this next Why File episode talks about some very strange things going on with the moon, including that it’s a hollow space ship, spying on Earth.  Yes, it sounds crazy, OK it is.

So, maybe we did land on the moon after all, but it was interesting, right?  If you enjoyed that Why Files episode, and you have nothing else to do, you can watch things like:

  • Aliens here on Earth
  • What Da Vinci really knew
  • Ancient history about the pyramids
  • The Illuminate

And so much more!

You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about the moon just following the Easter holiday.  Well, as you know, Easter moves around; it’s not always the same day, like Christmas or Independence Day.  So, how is Easter Day determined?  Simple: it’s the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.  OK, just look on your phone. Hope your Easter was over the moon.  

Posted in opinion

Tariffs Explained: Winners, Losers, and the Comedy of Errors

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

If you’re like me, you haven’t given much thought to the subject of tariffs before this month. But, boy, they have my attention now. On the surface, they seem simple enough: a tax imposed on goods imported or exported between countries. But peel back the layers, and you find yourself in a tangled web of global trade, political strategy, and occasionally, outright shenanigans.

Historically tariffs have been a major source of government revenue. Between 1798 and 1913, they accounted for anywhere from 50% to 90% of federal income. But times have changed. Over the past 70 years, tariffs have rarely contributed more than 2% of federal revenue. Last year, for example, U.S. Customs and Border Protection collected just 1.57% of total government income. As many of us are so painfully aware as we write checks tomorrow, the burden has shifted to taxpayers. So why do we want tariffs? Think of tariffs as toll booths for international trade. Countries slap them on imported goods, hoping to achieve one of three things:

Raise Revenue: Collecting money for government projects, because hey, those bridges aren’t going to build themselves!

Protect Domestic Industries: Shielding local businesses from the terrifying competition of cheaper foreign products.

Flex Political Muscle: Using tariffs to make a statement—sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle.

    For example, a tariff on imported cheese might make your locally produced cheddar look like a bargain compared to fancy French brie. Voilà! Welcome to cheese-based nationalism.

    The dramatic dance of dueling tariffs lately is reminiscent of a middle-school dance-off – two countries in a virtual breakdance, one-upping each other by imposing tariffs on steel, soybeans, and other trade goods. The music? It’s less funky beats and more the frantic scratching of economists trying to figure out the long-term effects.

    Take the U.S.-China trade war as an example. One country slaps a tariff on electronics, and the other retaliates with tariffs on agriculture. Before you know it, tariffs are flying faster than hotcakes at a pancake breakfast. The real winners of this dance? Lobbyists, politicians, and the occasional spreadsheet. Who wins and who loses when tariffs enter the picture? Well, it’s a mixed bag:

    Winners: Domestic industries that suddenly find themselves free from the competition of cheaper imports. And, of course, the government collects sweet tariff revenue.

    Losers: Consumers, who face higher prices for imported goods. So that fancy Italian espresso machine you’ve been eyeing might cost as much as a used car thanks to tariffs.

    Confused Shoppers: People trying to figure out why avocados are suddenly so expensive.

    Some consumers get creative, resorting to questionable DIY alternatives. “Who needs imported coffee beans? I’ll just roast my own acorns!” is a sentence no one should ever utter—but tariffs might drive someone to desperate measures.

    Tariffs occasionally venture into absurd territory. Case in point: In the 2018 U.S.-China trade spat, Washington imposed tariffs on items like Chinese-made toasters, refrigerators, and… urinals. Yes, you read that right—urinals. Because nothing says economic strategy like taxing porcelain plumbing fixtures.

    On the flip side, tariffs can lead to bizarre trade loopholes. For example, Canada once skirted around the “Chicken Tax” (an American tariff on imported trucks) by disguising small trucks as passenger vehicles. Picture a truck wearing Groucho Marx glasses and pretending to be a minivan.

    Ultimately, tariffs are like that friend who always insists on picking up the check—but only if you pay them back double later. They have their perks, like protecting local industries, but they come with downsides, too—higher prices for consumers and potential international conflicts.

    Next time you’re grumbling about the cost of imported chocolate or wondering why your favorite gadgets are suddenly pricier, blame tariffs. They’re a little piece of global trade magic—or madness—that keeps the world spinning. Of course, our heads have also been spinning this month. I wish we could import good humor, because I think we’re going to need a lot of it in the foreseeable future when we log into our investment accounts.




    Posted in opinion

    HELP! AI STOLE MY JOB!

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    By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

    I heard an interesting panel discussion the other day about how AI will eventually take over many common jobs. Of course, that’s nothing new – we’ve been hearing about how AI will impact our world for the past few years. But the thrust of this discussion was: we don’t know what we don’t know. In other words, we can’t imagine how AI is going to change how we work, because we can’t imagine how AI will change how we work. I remember as a kid hearing people talk about obsolete trends, like cars putting handsome cabdrivers out of business, but that seemed like ancient history to me. But I realize that with the advent of computers in general, and AI specifically, many of the jobs I remember from my childhood seem like ancient history to today’s kids. Here’s just a sampling of jobs I remember that are unfathomable today:

    • Switchboard operators: Before direct-dial telephone systems took over, and certainly before the advent of smartphones, switchboard operators were the backbone of communication. In the 1950s, the United States had approximately 342,000 telephone switchboard operators employed by the Bell System, plus a million operators working in private industry. It was a demanding job that required quick reflexes and strong customer service skills as the operators manually connected calls by plugging and unplugging cords on massive switchboards. I remember one of the first offices I worked in had a switchboard and every morning I marveled at how quickly and efficiently the “board worker” handled those calls. Unbelievably, as recently as 2023 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were approximately 43,800 people working as “Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Services,” with most of those jobs being in the medical and travel industries. Where? In Outer Mongolia????
    • Milkmen: Long before Instacart and Amazon, having fresh milk delivered to your doorstep was once a common part of American life. Local milkmen made daily or weekly rounds, leaving glass bottles on doorsteps and retrieving empty ones. In the 1950s, more than half of consumer milk sales came from home delivery services. However, the rise of supermarkets and improved refrigeration technology made milk delivery nearly obsolete. By 1975, home-delivered milk accounted for only about 7% of total milk sales, and by 2005, it had dwindled to just 0.4%. That percentage has actually grown due to the aforementioned home delivery companies, but it’s not the same as the milkman who did our route every week, lugging his wire crate from house to house, who got to know everyone on his route.
    • Elevator Operators: In the mid-20th century, elevator operators were essential for manually controlling elevators in department stores, office buildings, and hotels. At its peak, the profession employed more than 90,000 workers in the U.S., responsible for operating controls, greeting passengers, and ensuring smooth rides. I remember going to I. Magnin in downtown San Francisco as a kid and marveling at the elevator operator – her snappy uniform and lilting voice was mesmerizing to me. I wanted to be her when I grew up. Obviously, I couldn’t see too far into the future, because by 1959 more than 90% of elevators were automated. Today, elevator operators are almost nonexistent. In fact, the labor department doesn’t even track them anymore. I read that a few historic buildings, particularly in New York City, still employ operators for nostalgia or specialized service. I’d love to know where they are because the next time I visit I’d like to once again experience having someone at the controls who dressed smartly and could possibly save me if the car plunged into the basement.
    • Motion Picture Projectionists: Today’s Netflix generation would probably find it hard to believe that in 1950 there were more than 26,000 people employed as motion picture projectionists. They played a vital role in the moviegoing experience, operating and maintaining film projectors in theaters, ensuring film changeovers, managing carbon arc lamps, and handling nitrate film. But the demand for traditional film projectionists dramatically declined with the rise of digital projection technology. By 2013, an estimated 92% of movie theaters in the United States had made the switch to digital projection. By 2023 only 2,610 people still held the job. That seems like a lot of people still doing a very old-fashioned job. Maybe they work in the same place as the switchboard operators.

    I worry a bit about the future of work for the next generation, but I guess that has always been the case. Unless they are plumbers or electricians, I can’t imagine how much AI will impact their careers. I guess I just have to trust that each generation has always adapted and moved forward and that will continue to be the case. All I know is, I don’t care how smart an AI system is, it will never look as snappy as that elevator operator.

    Posted in Holiday observations • opinion

    ‘TIS A GOOD DAY TO BE IRISH

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    By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

    If you’re like millions of Americans, you will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today by consuming some spirits in honor of the occasion.  Some of us are genuinely of Irish extraction but on St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish.  Simply donning a green hat or sporting shamrock underwear gives the wearer implicit permission to get toilet-hugging drunk.  There actually are a lot of Americans with Irish bloodlines – 37 million to be exact.  That’s 12% of the population, ranking just behind Germany in most frequently reported ancestry.  Heck, we have eight times the number of Irish than Ireland itself!   Which is probably as good an explanation as any as to why the holiday is so much more popular here than in Ireland.  Twenty-five years ago, my husband’s cousin from Scotland came to San Francisco on business and we met him for dinner near our workplaces.  Unfortunately, the only night he had available was St. Patrick’s Day and to further the problem, we worked right around the corner from Harrington’s Bar and Grill.   We met at a nearby restaurant that required our cousin to walk from his hotel right by Harrington’s front door.  Or as close to the front door as he could get.  There are a lot of Irish in San Francisco and they seemingly all gather at Harrington’s each year to celebrate the patron saint.  When he finally navigated his way to the restaurant he was wild-eyed and I think just the tiniest bit shell-shocked.  He stammered, “What is with you Americans and St. Patrick’s Day?”  Well, it turns out, we practically invented the holiday.

    NYC St Patrick’s Day Parade

    Since around the ninth or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast of St. Patrick on March 17.  But the first parade held in honor of St. Patrick’s Day took place in the United States.  On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.  The parade, along with their native music, helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots.  Over the next three decades numerous groups formed to celebrate Irish heritage, each sponsoring a parade on St. Patrick’s Day.  By the mid-1800s the groups combined forces into what is now known as the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the largest in the country and the oldest civilian-sponsored parade in the world.

    Of course, all that marching is exhausting so finding a good pub to quench one’s thirst became part of the day’s tradition.  Some people take pride in finding good Irish pubs wherever they go, regardless of the time of year.  In fact, although I won’t mention names, someone I’m related to that also writes for this blog fashions himself a connoisseur of Irish drinking establishments.  He is the only person I know who could trek all the way to Machu Picchu and find an authentic Irish pub in which to have a Guinness.  But he is far from alone.  What is this obsession so many have with the Irish?  I’ve read more than one article claiming the Irish are the most beloved ethnic group in the world.  Of course, part of that affection is tied to the “happy drunk” reputation, but in fact it goes further than that.  The Irish are deemed to be some of the most sentimental souls on Earth.  One need only read the famous Irish poets to understand the truth of that.  The Irish are also known worldwide for their sense of humor and dry wit.  Oscar Wilde, the noted Irish writer, filled our world with his bon mots.  One of my favorites is:  “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious”. George Carlin was perhaps one of the funniest comedians ever with his wry observations of everyday life and Melissa McCarthy is a talented entertainer (come on, that bathroom scene in Bridesmaids is a classic!).  The Irish also have the ability to write lyrically and capture an audience, despite sometimes playing fast and loose with the facts.  One of my favorite sayings, told to me by an Irish friend who was wound-up in the middle of a fantastical yarn, is “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.  My brother and I have at times adopted that as our motto.

    There’s also the famous saying “Luck of the Irish”, although I have discovered that the phrase started as a derisive jab at the Irish immigrants who came to America in the late 1800’s.  It originated in the gold and silver mines to describe the Irish who found their “pot of gold” and became rich and successful.  The Irish were never given full credit for their accomplishments.  Instead, it was widely believed that the “Irish fools” had gained fortune only by sheer luck, as opposed to brains and hard work.  Our only full-blooded Irish ancestor, Julia Stack Billiou, came to America during this period. Her immigration gives our family claim to Irish heritage and provides cover for our love of good writing, a stout beer, and a strong Irish Coffee.  I call that lucky indeed!

    Posted in opinion

    FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

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    By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

    “When you lose a dog, where does all that love go? The routine, the way they filled the quiet spaces in your day—what happens to all of it? They may be gone, but those feelings remain, lingering like a shadow searching for a place to settle.” Robert Drake, Dog People

    Dash the Wonder Dog

    There is nothing like the love of a dog. Who else loves so unconditionally, without expectation for anything in return except a warm lap, a long walk and meals (served on time)? When I sent Dash the Wonder Dog to Rainbow Bridge on December 5th, I knew it was the right thing to do for him, but it created a hole in my life that was almost unimaginable. Just 16 months after losing Alan, the loss of Dash rocked my world. For the first time in 50 years, I had no one to care for – no one who counted on me for anything. Dash died on a Thursday, and by Saturday night I realized that I didn’t want to live the rest of my life without a dog. And specifically, I wanted another Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. And, just to put a fine point on it, I wanted a puppy. I realized that getting a puppy at my age was a triumph of hope over practicality, so I researched articles about getting a dog later in life. Almost all recommended getting a senior dog – one who was housetrained and had grown out of the puppy stage. And let’s face it, one that won’t outlive you. But then I ran across an article from the WSJ: “It Was Crazy to Buy My Aging Mother a Puppy. It Was Also Brilliant.“, by Kathie Roiphe. In it, she recounts how the puppy energized her mom, lifted her spirits every day, and brought purpose to her life.

    Bolstered by that piece, the following Monday I contacted Dash’s breeder, Kelly Collins of Spice Rack Cavaliers. She normally has a long waiting list of people who want her well-bred dogs, so I expected I would have to wait months, as we had for Dash. But such was not the case. Kelly told me that she had a litter due in two weeks and that I could have one of them. It felt like a gift from Heaven. Kelly said Alan and Dash would be happy I was opening my heart to a new dog, and I believe that. The puppies were born on December 19th, two boys and a girl. As luck would have it, I only live two miles from Kelly, and she asked me to watch them the following day for a couple of hours so she could fulfil a commitment. Holy smokes! How lucky could I get???

    Those puppy dog eyes!

    Over the next six weeks two more litters were born, and I got to watch over all of them several times. It was both fun and a blessing, as I got the know the personalities of the dogs in “my” litter. Late in January one of the boys came over to where I was standing and curled up on my shoe. I knew instantly that I’d found my guy. I had already picked out a name – Dashing Doolin, call name “Dooley”. The name is partly in tribute to Dash, and partly in memory of a fun town I visited in Ireland. Dooley has developed into a beautiful puppy, and I can tell he has already outstripped my IQ level. He was the first to learn how to get out of the pen and the first to navigate the dog door so that he could come and go as he pleased. But he is also wonderfully affectionate. One day as I was babysitting, I put all three of the puppies in their pen, with the door open. I sat on the couch around the corner and the next thing I knew, he was waddling over and asking to be lifted up onto the couch. Who could resist? He immediately cuddled up on my lap and then looked at me with quintessential “puppy dog eyes” (picture, left). I can assure you; no one has ever looked at me like that!

    Last week I took all three of the puppies to Starbucks in a stroller. If you ever want to meet people, take three puppies to Starbucks. They were good as gold, and since then I have brought them home a couple of times for an afternoon of play. But today…today is THE day that I get to pick Dooley up and bring him home forever. He is already mostly housebroken and sleeps through the night. That said, he’s a puppy and will no doubt put me through my paces over the next several months. But in just the short time I’ve been with him he has already brought me joy and my heart is once again full of love. I couldn’t be happier. Welcome home, my sweet boy, Dooley!

    My sweet boy

    Dogs provide the kind of love that finds you when you need it most, and somehow, without words, makes you whole again. Dog People

    Posted in opinion

    I CAN’T SEE!

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    By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

    My glasses, hiding in plain sight

    The other day I was struggling to read the fine print on a label in the grocery store. Don’t even get me started on why the print has to be so small – what are they hiding? I have often said that the most frustrating part of aging has been the steady deterioration of my vision. I had to wear reading glasses beginning at the age of 12 and it’s been a downhill journey ever since. Over the years I’ve made many attempts to improve my vision, including Lasik surgery in 1999. The surgery was a great success, resulting in 20/20 vision for distance but as I aged, I needed reading glasses for anything up close. Fast forward to 2023, when I complained to my ophthalmologist that my distance vision was deteriorating. And as is so often the case these days, he started with the dreaded, “Well, at your age…”. Turns out Lasik doesn’t last forever, and he suggested progressive lenses. My house is now littered with glasses: four sets of progressive, two single vision sets for computer and piano distances, and two sets of progressive sunglasses. And I still have drawers full of “cheaters” that I pull out when one of my prescription glasses are not within arm’s reach. I’m looking into cataract surgery later this year, in yet another attempt to see clearly. I’ve often wondered, as I’m reading that fine print at the grocery store, how did people survive before the invention of glasses. Turns out, hundreds of years ago people were equally frustrated by blurry vision and as is often the case, came up with some rather ingenious inventions.

    There’s not much historical evidence explaining how our prehistoric ancestors fared in the absence of visual aids, so historians have used a combination of deduction and common sense to determine how, say, a sight-impaired individual would keep up with the pack in a group of hunter-gatherers. A person with imperfect vision could still be useful to a group simply because sharp eyesight (needed to read signs or Google Maps) wasn’t necessary in prehistoric times. And they didn’t have to deal with those pesky grocery store labels. As civilization progressed, those with visual impairments could even find their condition produced certain advantages. A myopic (nearsighted) person, for example, could find themselves steered toward a craftsman role for their ability to focus on detail.

    Somewhere in the vicinity of Pisa, Italy, around 1286, an unknown craftsman fastened two glass lenses to a frame likely made of wood or bone to create the first eyeglasses. Thus, the modern notion of vision aids was invented. But there were incremental improvements for the vision-impaired even before that. Archaeological digs in the eastern Mediterranean area have uncovered the existence of plano-convex lenses (flat on one side and rounded on the other) made of glass and rock crystal that date back to the Bronze Age! While it’s unknown what these lenses were used for, some of them magnify objects between seven and nine times, rendering them useful for work on items in close quarters.  After that there came water stones, mirrors and even emeralds, which didn’t really improve vision but were thought to reduce glare. A major development in the area of visual tools came with the invention of reading stones. The concept of using curved glass to magnify print was discussed at length by an Arab mathematician in 1021. Typically made from quartz, rock crystal, and especially beryl, reading stones were fashioned in a plano-convex shape, with the flat side against the page of a book and the rounded top providing a clear view of the lettering below. Initially used to assist the elderly with faltering vision, the stones became popular among younger readers as well, especially as beryl was said to possess magic and healing powers.

    I still use one of these
    Visby lenses as a necklace

    One surviving example of reading stones are the 11th- to 12th-century Visby lenses discovered in Gotland, Sweden, in 1999. Along with providing excellent magnification of tiny text, many of these quartz lenses are mounted in silver, suggesting a decorative purpose as well. It’s unknown if the Visby lenses were the work of a local professional or somehow made their way from Muslim regions where other reading stones first appeared. Regardless, the quality of the images generated by these artifacts, and the craftsmanship that went into their creation, underscores how people were seeking help for their vision woes long before LensCrafters went into business.

    Somehow, it’s comforting to know that people struggled with vision issues from time immemorial. One can only imagine the cave people saying, “Darn it, Harriet, I can’t see the damn hieroglyphics on that wall anymore!”

    Posted in opinion

    A Story, the Dollars, and the Numbers of a Not-So-Super Super Bowl

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    by Bob Sparrow

    If you thought Sunday’s rather boring game was about football, you’ve got another think coming. The game should be called Super Buck instead of Super Bowl.  Super Bore might be a better name for Sunday’s game. The ads and who’s in the stands and maybe the halftime show were more entertaining than the game. So lets talk about the money, who’s watching, and then a story about a long-forgotten Super Bowl hero.

    Show Me the Money

    • The lowest Super Bowl ticket was priced at $4,750 and the most expensive at $17,842, NOT INCLUDING FEES!
    • The last ten 30 second ads average $7m sold by Fox, and reached a record $8,000,000. 
    • With last year’s Super Bowl going into overtime, it was estimated that CBS earned $695 million in ad revenue for that one game!
    • Tom Brady, who never fails to mention that he played in 10 Super Bowls, won 7, and this year appeared in his first as an announcer, has a 10-year contract worth $375 million!  He’s way overpaid, in my opinion.
    • By hosting the Super Bowl, New Orleans received an economic boost of over $500 million
    • Each winning team member will take home $164,000, the losers will have to get by for the day on $89,000
    • According to SB Nation, the league finally gave up its tax-exempt status in 2015, after over 70 years of being on the books as a “nonprofit.” Really??!!!

    Why do people watch the game?

    The Taylor Swift Effect
    • 43% say the game is the most important part
    • 19% say the halftime show is most important
    • 17% say the TV ads are most important

    The Taylor Swift Effect

              Last year, 58.8 million women watched Super Bowl LVIII, which was a record high. This was 47.5% of the total audience, also a record high.  It’s informally called ‘The Taylor Swift Effect’.

    OK, enough of the numbers, the next story is, in my opinion, one of the most memorable of all Super Bowl stories, and it happened in the very first Super Bowl.

    The first Super Bowl was in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and, who else, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  The night before the game, two Packer players known to have a cocktail or two, Paul Hornung and Max McGee, broke curfew and went ‘out on the town’ with two flight attendants.  Hornung had a pinched nerve in his neck and knew he would not play in tomorrow’s game.  McGee, a veteran player in the last season of his career, was a backup receiver who had only caught four balls all season and would retire after the game.  Max rolled in on the morning of the Super Bowl at 6:30 and ran into quarterback Bart Starr in the hotel hall, who remarked about Max being an early riser!  Before the game, in which Max planned to sit on the bench and nurse his hangover, he told the starting receiver, Boyd Dowler, “You better not get hurt, because I’m in no shape to play.”

    Max McGee – hungover hero of Super Bowl I

    As fate would have it, Dowler got hurt early in the first quarter of the game, so Max McGee grabbed the nearest helmet, which happened to be a lineman’s helmet with a fairly large cage on it, and entered the game.  He makes a one-handed catch for the Super Bowl’s first-ever touchdown and ends up making seven catches for 138 yards for two touchdowns. The Packers handily beat the Chiefs 35-10. Seems similar to this years’ game.

    Hope you had as good a time as Max McGee did, both the night before the game and during the game!

    Posted in Holiday observations • opinion

    SEALED WITH A KISS

    By Comments:4 Comments

    By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

    For those of you who celebrate Valentine’s Day, consider this your public service announcement: You have 11 days to buy roses, obtain a significant piece of jewelry, or at the very least, pore over the Valentine’s Day cards at Walgreens and choose something appropriately mushy/sweet/funny. My favorite story about buying cards is the one about the couple who go into Walgreen’s, each selects a card they feel best expresses their sentiment, hands it to their spouse to read, and then puts it back on the rack and walks out of the store. Gets the message across and saves ten bucks!

    Many people choose to sign Valentine’s Day cards, and all other forms of communication, with an “XO” near their signature. I recently read an article on the genesis of this habit that I thought was interesting, or at least appropriate for this holiday. The origins of “X” being associated with a kiss can be traced back to the Middle Ages. In an era when literacy rates were low and formal education was a rare privilege, people who couldn’t write would sign documents with an “X” instead of their name. When people signed with an “X,” it wasn’t merely a mark; it was a symbol that carried the weight of an oath. To validate their intentions and their “signature,” people were also known to kiss the “X”. How the letter “X” transitioned from a kiss in the name of sincerity to a kiss of romance or affection isn’t clear. Theories on its initial use range from a British naturalist to Winston Churchill. But the most likely explanation comes from Marcel Danesi, a professor of linguistics anthropology and author of The History of the Kiss! The Birth of Popular Culture. He wrote that as the Renaissance era saw an increase of secularism, and with the 18th-century rise of the concept of romantic love, the symbolic “X” gradually expanded beyond its initial utilitarian function to become a gesture of affection.

    An easier explanation could simply be the shape of the letter — that it looks like a pair of puckered lips, assuming, of course, that the sender has not had an overabundance of filler. And as for the “O” that often accompanies the “X”, even less is known about its origins as a symbol for a hug. It’s been suggested that the letter simply looks like a pair of arms wrapped around someone else; however, as with “X,” there are other theories as well. Whatever their origins, I hope you have plenty of X’s and O’s coming your way this Valentine’s Day.

    Before I close, I would be remiss in not mentioning the recent loss of one of our most dedicated and long-tenured subscribers, Pam Landon, who passed away unexpectedly last Monday. I met Pam in 1999 and despite many personal setbacks in recent years, she remained one of the most kind, funny and positive people I knew. Each week without fail she commented on Bob’s and my posts, usually with humor or a story about her own experiences. She especially loved being an armchair traveler with Bob. In her last comment to me on my post encouraging people to eat junk food she said, “I discretely nibbled on a chocolate chip cookie as I enjoyed this blog. Thanks, as always, for brightening my day.” Rest in peace, Pam. I know that you are brightening everyone’s day now and hopefully still nibbling on a cookie.