I did, did I? A post on palindromes!

In the rest of the world the date is written in the day-month-year or year-month-day sequence. Here in the US (for some peculiar reason that no one can explain but may have something to do with the document above) we write the date beginning with the month, then the day and finally the year. It doesn't make sense but unless you're doing business in other countries or traveling abroad, I guess it really doesn't matter. What it does provide is some entertainment every once in awhile like the extra special, five-digit Pi Day that occurred on 3-14-15. There's Star Wars Day on May the Fourth (... be with you) and the ever popular, 4-20. After the turn of the century, there were all those years when the date fell in sequential numbers. It was mostly noticeable back then because we used checks to pay the bills. So it was great to see that this August, from 8-10-18 to 8-19-18 there were ten whole days (ignoring the first two digits of the year, it's not a perfect art) of numerical palindromes! Now, numbers are all well and good but words that read the same backwards and forwards - not to mention whole phrases, are even better! Consequently, and in the spirit of utter nonsense, here are a few non-numerical ones, highlighted in red, that I gleaned off the internet.

I prefer pi.
Palindromes have been around since the times of the ancient Greeks and have no useful purpose beyond amusement. Although, the most famous ones, A man, a plan, a canal, Panama; A Toyota's a Toyota and Amore Roma could easily work as advertising slogans. 

No lemons, no melon.

Ok, I goofed, there's a watermelon in the photo but no lemons, ha! It was kind of a surprise to realize just how many common words, like mom, dad, sis, madam, level, rotator, sagas, noon, radar, solos, racecar and kayak, to name a few, can be read the same way backwards and forwards.    

Slap a ham on Omaha, pals!

Oh, and while you're at it, salt an atlas. Did I mention that most of these palindromes don't make a lot of sense? I couldn't even think of how to illustrate go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog!

Senile Felines.

Was it a cat I saw? Was it a rat I saw? Was it a bat I saw? Was it Elliot's toilet I saw?  

Poor kitties, they refused to cooperate for a stack cats photo so they ended up being labeled senile.

 Could this be how Dr. Seuss got started writing his books? 

Murder for a jar of red rum?

Red rum sir, is murder!

Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots!

This creep stuffing his face is the despicable governor of my state. He has taken away health care from thousands and destroyed a world renowned university system. His many transgressions against women's health and the environment are too numerous to list and his unconstitutional voter ID policy put a moron in the White House. Like Trump, he needs to be voted out of office.

Rise to vote, sir!

Burt wants you to be sure to vote in November.

Too hot to hoot.

However, it's never too hot to squawk.

Looks like Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.

'

No sir, away! A papaya war is on!

For over a century, "Able was I, ere I saw Elba." was attributed to Napoleon. It was supposedly a response to a question about whether or not he could have invaded England. According to the Quote Investigator it was actually created in 1848 by a man from Baltimore who liked playing with words and is known only by his initials. It seems obvious now that Napoleon couldn't have said it, considering he spoke French and the quote didn't appear in print until decades after his death. 

Finally, there is the one that not only reads the same way backwards and forwards but upside down!

NOW, NO SWIMS ON MON.

Jeremy will probably be playing in his pool on monday anyway, signs mean nothing to him.

  Do you have a favorite palindrome?

Thanks for stopping by and stay cool . . . like Jeremy!

Families Belong Together

As much as I like to post pictures of pretty flowers and butterflies with an occasional skeleton here and there, I can't continue to do so without commenting on the horrible treatment of immigrant families that began in April on our southern border. To me, Trump's "Zero Tolerance" policy that resulted in the separation of over 2,000 children from their parents was unspeakably heartless and cruel. I find most of the president's actions as well as his total disregard for the truth appalling but literally stealing children from their parents was a new low even for him.

The need for this sort of poster was unimaginable to me just a few months ago. Yet a month after the government supposedly stopped separating families and despite judicial rulings, there are still more than 500 children that have not been reunited with their parents!

Like thousands of other Americans HM and I wanted to do something that would stop the actions taken by our government against immigrants. So we sent emails and called our members of Congress, told Paul Ryan he was a disgrace to our state and finally took to the streets to let Trump know we think this is a horrible way to treat human beings. 

Even though June 30 was one of the hottest days of the summer, there was a crowd of around two hundred people who assembled to rally for the cause in our town. It wasn't a long march and the speeches were thankfully short (no need to preach to the choir). There was a lot of posing for  Facebook photos in the hopes of getting the word out to vote in the upcoming elections. It's the only way things will change.

Obviously, unless we are Native Americans, we are all the descendants of people who immigrates to this country at one time or another. So how much of a threat do parents seeking a better life for their children pose to our national security? Why take the children and incarcerate the parents for illegally crossing the border when, according to Federal Law, that offense is classified as a misdemeanor?  When is the last time you heard of children being taken away from people charged with drunken driving or disturbing the peace? They are misdemeanors, too.

It was nice to be among so many nice people who were standing up for treating immigrants with the respect they deserve. There are people who agree with Trump's immigration policies so it's crucial that those of us who believe differently show up on election day to vote for Congressional representatives who are willing to stop these inhumane policies.

      

Burt and Ivy are grateful for the efforts by the ACLU to reunite immigrant families. They also want to remind you that election day is just a little over three months away. Make sure you are registered and don't forget to vote on November 6th!

https://www.familiesbelongtogether.org


I hope everyone is staying cool and having a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!