Happy frozen day. Language.
20221220
The use of the language – verbal ability – is one of the major compliments of intelligence tests and also course of the fairly closely related Scholastic Aptitude Test college admission. Just using this anecdotal reference as a measure of the intelligence of people 120 years ago certainly supports Edward Dutton's thesis that we are getting dumber by the generation
I'm very pleased that Eddie likes the stories from that era. Mark Taylor, when he left Ukraine several years ago, left his collection of books in our attic. He has given us permission to go through them. One that I took out was O. Henry, a collection of short stories written all about the turn of the 20th century.
The introduction gives about biography of O. Henry. His real name was Potter he was a convicted thief, embezzling $5000 from a bank. The author of the introduction gives evidence both of guilt and innocence. Whatever the story he was a model prisoner. He taught himself story writing listening to his fellow prisoners. Once out he became an immediate success.
What's interesting about these stories is that the introduction claims he was writing for a lowbrow readership. That lowbrow readership had a wider vocabulary by far than most people today. They knew their biblical history and enough Greek mythology that Henry’s references to these canons didn’t go over the head of his average reader.. We have come down a long ways. And yet we presume to be smarter.
When I came downstairs yesterday morning grandma wished me happy birthday (norozhena) and I misinterpreted, as I often do with the combination of deafness and language, as happy frozen day (morozhena)..
Frozen day is appropriate. My bedroom is 50 degrees as I write this. The temperature outside is in the low 20s. The Russians apparently started yesterday with an attack of 25 drones targeting our electrical system again. We had had electricity briefly in the middle of Sunday. I woke up at 2:30 to turn the lights off. By the time I got up again it was gone.
Yesterday morning (Monday) they struck again. We had electricity only for two hours in the afternoon. It is on now at 2:30 AM Tuesday. I’m using this chance to catch up.
The Russians seem convinced that we will give up if they destroy our infrastructure and make us freeze. By my calculation we are more than 20% of the way through the winter and although are annoyed we are not frozen.
Eddie and I researched the question as to how to stay warm out of academic interest. How do Eskimos use fire when their houses might melt away? The answer is that they make very parsimonious use of it. Since all they have is animal fat, probably a good idea. They have a fire for cooking, but they don't let it run all night, and they never get the indoor temperature up to freezing where it might melt the igloo. They mostly rely on warm clothing.
I reflect that at 50° we are halfway down between the temperature of the average American home freezing. Still surviving. This time to make a few adjustments. Oksana insists I sleep close to her, my tossing and turning notwithstanding.
The birthday party was a success. Good friends, good company, good conversation, quite a bit of dancing. Oksana loves to dance. I will post a picture shot with the timer. I only took one shot because photographs interrupt the festivities we were having a good time. There will also be a picture of one present, a gag gift, my favorite kind. A frame containing 80 hryvnya, given with the statement that 80 means nothing.. Considering that the 80 Hryvnia that is worth two dollars today was worth $10 ten years ago, 80 really is nothing. By the same token, a hundred will be truly nothing when I get there.
All five of us were home yesterday. Zoriana has a hacking cough although she doesn't feel terrible. The kids are just like Eskimos – the temperature even downstairs is just over 60°. Their main problem is cabin fever.
I snuck off to the bedroom to dictate this and although she knew very well I wanted to get away, Zoriana came in to tell me that she wanted something. All she wants is a piano. This morning she wanted bananas so we could make banana fritters.
I'm putting together a speech entitled “I need you.” One of my topics is “what women want.” Anybody studying that theme needs only to have daughters. They want everything, and the wants are unrealistic. Doesn't matter, they ask anyhow. My main point will be that women want their somethings from men. They can ask for whatever. If men want something they have to come up with a way to earn the money to buy it. That's a totally different proposition. My conclusion is that women have evolved to be this way, both culturally and biologically, since the rise of patriarchy at the dawn of agriculture.
That brings me to 3:20. A quick edit – please excuse the typos. This may be all the news from Lake WeBeGone for a while if the electricity continues this way.
Graham