Yesterday night the girls were clowning around on the lawn. I thought that this short video would work better than a still photo.
As I slowly finish my review of "Male – Female: The Evolution Of Human Sexual Differences" I reflect on how lucky I am to have my own laboratory here at home.
These are girls. They like dolls. They like frilly pink dresses. They like impractical shoes. They like mirrors. They have their own peculiar logic, which sometimes drives Eddie and me a little crazy.
I am happy to put up with it all. I have lived in two countries – the United States and Germany – in which the little girls were more practical minded, more unfeminine. I raised two like that. One now dead, in my opinion largely because she could not reconcile her feminist career aspirations and her female aspiration for a family.
Zoriana is conscious of her looks. She is proud of her trim body and is given to commenting to me when she sees somebody fat. I'm glad she cares, though I tell her to be careful not to hurt people's feelings by talking about them in a loud voice or saying anything to them about their weight. We both notice, and she will whisper to me, when a plump mom and equally plump kid walk by eating ice cream. To me that is as it should be. Like it or not, the mating game involves real, serious competition. She needs to be ready to present herself well.
The hardest part for her will be just being kind and ladylike. She is alternately maternal and protective of her little sister and then fighting cats and dogs over nothing. Every family seems to have what the Germans call a pechvogel, the one who magnetically attracts criticism. Though all three kids are guilty of starting fights, the most noticeable, the one who collects more of the blame is Zoriana. She needs to learn to tone it down.
When Zoriana alternately hugs and kisses me and acts extremely expressive, then turns to frown and pout and pretends she doesn't want to see me, for the most part I tolerantly put up with it. When she takes a long time getting dressed, borrows my hairbrush and doesn't return it, and acts a little silly around the men when we have a party, I am not displeased. The whole world will be pushing her to prepare for a career. Oksana and I will be among the few who want to prepare her for romance, marriage and motherhood. Wish us luck.
Gary gives me news from flooded Hola Prystan. The people we know there report that more than a few of their neighbors are taking the Russians up on an offer to give them $30,000 or so to accept Russian citizenship and resettle there. It is not an easy decision to leave Ukraine, but it does put a roof over their heads and remove them from the battlefield.
What with Ukraine, Covid and the financial seen one would think that the global warming alarmists would give up. Nope! One of you readers sent me a link to this piece of fear porn this morning, entitled "We just had the two hottest days ever recorded on the planet." I looked to see if the previous records from Furnace Creek had been broken. First I find "Death Valley National Park's Furnace Creek Visitor Center hit an astonishing 130.0 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4°C) on Friday afternoon, July 9, 2021, beating the previous world record of 129.9 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4°C), set there on August 16, 2020."
Of course, they are fudging. Remembering that the record had been set in 1913, I searched on that date and found "On July 10th, 1913, the highest recorded temperature on earth was observed at Furnace Creek (formerly Greenland Ranch) at 134°F. On July 12th and 13th, 1913, other observations of 130°F and 131°F were recorded at Furnace Creek, respectively." They did know how to make thermometers a hundred years ago. NASA et. al. use records that old all the time. Don’t lie to us.
I sent the following short message as a "reply all."
It's amazing how much I miss. If I commuted in an air-conditioned car, listening to the news, I would be fully aware of the impending climate catastrophe.
Alas, as a lifetime cyclist, with no radio, I haven't noticed a thing. Poor me.
I won't get any response to the short message. Newspapers are fanning the flames of terror to the effect that there will be waves of heat related deaths in European capitals this summer. Kyiv is at the same latitude as London, Amsterdam and Warsaw. In my opinion we get along fine without air conditioning. The three old folks in the house don't complain, but the kids find 80° temperatures unbearable. They have to get used to reality.
That's the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the strong man has his computer back and now has to get on with a long-delayed book review and movie.
The temp stats at death valley only show that statistics are primarily used to mislead us as a matter of government policy.
I should have specified the "coastal counties", where most of us don't have ac.