Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
message 4901:
by
Jim
(new)
Dec 08, 2014 07:25AM
I need to write & print our Xmas letter. Thanks for the reminder, Joy. I guess I'm glad you're skinnier, if you are. That's a lot of weight to lose, though. Hope all is well.
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Yes, it's a lot of weight to lose, especially because all that's left are wrinkles, at MY age anyway! LOL The wrinkles on the face and under the eyes are the worst! I've lost all resemblance to my former self.As for the Xmas letter, ours is ready but we have to bring the original to Staples because it contains photos of my 80th birthday party which took place in April. There were over 60 people consisting of my family and my 2 sisters' families. So Eddie put 16 photos on 2 pages. It's cheaper for Staples to print the pics than for Eddie to print them.
Oh my Joy, lost 40 pounds. Glad you're still here. You must have bones showing. Take Care of yourself and not overdoing for Christmas. I am sure your family wants you for Christmas.
Thanks, Nina. We didn't have the family here for Thanksgiving. So I had a rest. Now I have plenty of time to get ready for Christmas. We've done it before and it works. They all know their jobs. :)
Sounds like a good planning operation. Happy you are up to it and will enjoy the holiday. I am just recovering from having a grandson wedding combination family reunion with dinners for twenty three and then some and breakfasts to match and entertaining folks from CT, VA, CA, ID, TX, WI and assorted people from around here. Five overnighters for almost a week. But, I made it even with a painful back. And now I'm having a luncheon for twelve my bookclub members on Wednesday. And recently met a new friend, an editor of our newspaper and just recently published author. Life goes on even when you are eighty seven.
87! Nina, you are remarkable, especially with all you do.
Today I came across a cute holiday song.It's called: "THE HA! HA! HOLIDAY SONG"
You can sing along with it after you hear it a few times.
The link is: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs...
Click on the Play-Arrow.
This post is for Nina... so she at least sees a message. :) I hope that Goodreads can resolve her notification problem soon.
I'd like opinions on some candlesticks I turned offset. They're here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
I don't need compliments, but opinions on what you think worked well & what didn't. There's a dozen different ones & I don't like some of them. I didn't think they'd look good, but wanted to try & see. Actually, I don't really like any of them completely. I like bits & pieces of most of them, though. The bits that draw or repel your eye would help me turn some decent ones.
Jim, I have the same problem in commenting on these as I do in commenting on Barb's woodcarving projects (and she's typically as self-critical in that area as you are!) Not being a woodcarver myself, I don't know enough about the ins and outs of it to give you a good aesthetic critique. As is a not uncommon reaction from me, I like them all and admire the craftsmanship that clearly went into them.All of these are interesting and distinctive; the curlicue shape is highly unusual, but unusual doesn't automatically equal bad. They have a kind of graceful elegance that's visually appealing, and I like the variety of colors --solid to show the tones of the wood, or striped for color contrast. The ones where the stem of the candlestick is thin in places might be more breakable than the more solid ones. But overall, all of the designs work for me!
Thanks, Werner. None of them are particularly breakable. They thump against the lathe tool pretty hard as I'm turning them. The odd variations of the offset was fun to try.
For me, the concept of "fun" would not involve having my fingers anywhere near power tools. :-) (Though I've been known to hold boards for Barb.) But I'm glad that you enjoy it, and you certainly do great work!
LOL! My fingers have all been bitten, but are generally intact. One of my paternal grandfather & his oldest son both had issues with power tools, though. Most of my family is quite handy, though.
Jim wrote: "Most of my family is quite handy, though." Cool; that's a good trait!
My husband lost the tips of several fingers using a power tool!
PS-Jim, the "candles" are very odd. In what way are they candles. Do they light?
They're candle sticks, holders for candles, Joy.
Merry Christmas to all!Jim, thanks for the definition of candlesticks.
http://www.onelook.com/?w=candlestick...
I had never thought of candlesticks as "holders". I thought of them as the candles themselves. Live and learn! :)
Echoing the "Merry Christmas" wishes, to everyone in our group!
Thank you, Werner. Have a wonderful day!
Yes, have a Merry one and on to Happy New Year and I add Healthy New Year. from sunny, fifty degree KS today.
Happy New Year to everyone! It's New-Year's-Eve-Day right now. I'm watching all the celebrations around the world as their "midnight" arrives. Lots of fireworks!PS-Here's a link with pics of "welcoming" 2015 New Year celebrations around the world:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-ne...
Click on "View Gallery".
Happy New Year to all from the frozen streets of Omaha, Nebraska!Coldest day since March, 2014 was today. Light snow on the ground from a few days before, but terrifically cold wind chills.
May you all have a Happy and Prosperous New Year---with lots of good books to read in 2015!
Happy New Year to you too, Mary JL! Keep warm!
This is another test/wish me luck and it will come back as an email message. nina
Nina wrote: "This is another test/wish me luck and it will come back as an email message. nina"Wishing you much luck, dear Nina! Hope you get a notification email from Goodreads.
Yeah, it just came through. We'll see if I get another. Thanks for helping me.
Nina wrote: "Yeah, it just came through. We'll see if I get another. Thanks for helping me."Well, that's progress! :) Hope it keeps up! I'm happy to help.
Today at FunTrivia.com, I learned that Kentucky is a "Commonwealth" instead of a state.QUESTION: What four US states are commonwealths, not states?
ANSWER: The correct answer was Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky
There really isn't much of a difference between a commonwealth and a state, but the article linked below says: ".... one slight difference, “in a commonwealth landowners do not have mineral or oil rights to their land. They don’t actually own their land but own its use."
How do you like THEM apples, Jim and Werner? LOL
At that same web page I also learned that "Kentucky was part of Virginia until it became the 15th State."
Info was from: http://deep.mastersfamily.org/2009-06...
Actually, Joy, at the link you mentioned, the accuracy of the statement that commonwealth landowners "do not have mineral or oil rights to their land" is disputed in the comments section by someone from Pennsylvania, who is conversant with actual practices involving mineral rights there. I'd add to that the fact that here in southwest Virginia, there is a long-running class action lawsuit before the courts, involving gas company compensation to landowners for gas siphoned out from under their property. This litigation is based on the assumption that property owners DO own mineral and oil rights.According to the article author, most of the sources he consulted maintained that there is no difference between a commonwealth and a state; he got his supposed factoid from only one source, Wikianswers. My guess is that the unanimous testimony of his other sources is correct, and that Wikianswers is incorrect on that point. (I use Wikipedia a good deal myself; but it is a fact that there isn't as much quality control or verification of information there as there is on sites that aren't open to posting and editing by anybody and everybody. :-) )
This is all very interesting. Something I was never aware of/guess KS doesn't fit into this category. As you can see, it's a Happy New Year as of yesterday I'm back on Goodreads due to my poking around and trying everything I could think of to do and finally my last resort helped, along with a message sent to me by Joy.
Werner, thanks for clarifying the "commonwealth" issue. I had always wondered about it.
Joy H. wrote: "Nina wrote: "This is another test/wish me luck and it will come back as an email message. nina"Wishing you much luck, dear Nina! Hope you get a notification email from Goodreads."This time it worked, hope it lasts. I got messages this day. YEAH!
Nina, glad to hear that you got the Goodreads notifications.
Glad your updates are working again, Nina, and I hope too that it lasts!
Now that I am functioning again let's talk about weather/our wind chill is five about zero and not much better the rest of the week until Saturday when we get back into the twenties and thirties. Almost a heat wave. Otherwise, we stay home and take down Christms decorations and in the evening eat my good fruitcake(yes, it is very good/applesauce base with figs and dates and no citron;just raisins, ground walnuts and some chopped finely candied cherries and pineapple, then drenched with sherry and waiting period of six weeks in basement. I serve it with egg nog ice cream..Yummm.... says everyone.
Unfortunately it is too cold for us to go to Ikea, one of my favorite places to browse and eat/great meatballs and mashed potatoes. And I find I can't order the movie St. VIncent at Netflix as they just say Save and no record of when it is available. Joy, is it available on Streaming? If so I'll see if my daughter can order it for me.
Nina, enjoy your fruitcake!I don't know if St. Vincent is available for streaming yet. You can watch the trailer here:
http://www.amazon.com/St-Vincent-Bill...
or here
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170593/?...
(Click on watch trailer)
Thanks for your info Joy. I will see if my daughter can sreeam it for me. Sounds like a fun movie.
Very cold here today and colder tomorrow. Hope our weather doesn't go as far as KY, Jim.
It's supposed to, Nina. Not quite as bad, but it will feel like it since we were so warm.As for the commonwealth... no opinion. Big gov't & companies can & will get your land if they want it bad enough no matter what.
Our temp here currently is 16°F/-9°C It's supposed to go down to a low of 6 degrees F tonight.
I've heard arguments on both sides of eminent domain, Nina. It's certainly not right when it's my land or it isn't used for what a good public purpose. It's not right for a bridge or interstate to detour because a person doesn't want to give up their plot of land, though. As so many against fracking point out, your land can also be ruined by things that happen off your land, too. That continues to come up a fair amount in fights over water rights.As for differences between a state & a commonwealth, I think it depends entirely on the area in question & their current laws. I believe Puerto Rico is also a commonwealth. I'm not well read or particularly interested in the intricacies of gov't, but no matter what the founding papers were, later laws & provisions can render them pretty much meaningless. Here in KY, they had to modify the laws regarding the formation of counties because so many were created they were becoming too small.
Did Puerto Rico keep it's commonwealth status after all? What about Panama? I am not up on these things. One aside; the one and only time I was on a cruise we were supposed to tour Puerto Rico but because of bad weather the ship was late very late reaching that island so we toured at midnight. There is always a first for everything when you live as long as me.
No mention of commonwealth at the Panama wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama
It's "officially the Republic of Panama".
As for Puerto Rico, Wiki says it's "officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico
Even tho Wiki isn't always trusted for accuracy, I usually find facts there that I can't find anywhere else.
Panama is a country in its own right, even if we did help it get its independence from Columbia so we could build the canal. We annexed Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War & it has come close to becoming a state. Right now, it's just a territory which means it has no representative or senator, but otherwise is pretty much like a state, I think.
What Jim said about Panama is correct. However, in 1955 Panama ceded ownership of the Panama Canal Zone (a 10-mile-wide strip of land along the length of the canal) to the U.S. The U.S. governed the Canal Zone as an overseas territory. But a newer treaty ratified in 1978 provided for the return of the territory to Panama.Puerto Rico was ceded to the U.S. by Spain after the Spanish-American War (as Jim noted). Like all non-State U.S. possessions, it's subject to the governance of Congress, but its legal status is unique, and governed by a Constitution approved by Congress in 1952. It's basically self-governing, and the governor is elected by the people, not appointed by the president as territorial governors are. As Jim noted, it has no voting representation in Congress (and no electoral vote for President); and unlike U.S. states, its citizens are not subject to U.S. income tax. They are subject to military service when Congress authorizes a draft, however, and the U.S. is responsible for their defense.
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