Sunday Musings

I love to learn interesting things from NPR Sunday shows: Such as:

01. A new search engine has been developed in Israel for the use of Orthodox Jews who want to input in Hebrew and also avoid pornographic sites. It's called KOOGLE!

02. Conservative Episcopal churchpeople, still angry about the ordination of a gay bishop, are on the verge of seceding and forming another "church". This is the history of Christianity, isn't it? As each "church" becomes older, people split off from it and form a new "church"... like Roger Williams did in Rhode Island. It is a "life cycle"..( I read a book about this phenomenon recently, but I'll be darned if I can recall it's title. ) This situation is a bit different I think.. usually the more liberal break off from the more conservative.

03. AARP had a Spelling Bee Contest! This was a little different than the one I mentioned yesterday, won by a 9 year old girl. This was won by a 64 year old man! Her winning word was LAODICEAN, his was WOAD. He also could be considered a "ringer" because 40 or more years ago he had been a runner-up in a Spelling Bee for younger folks.

I'm always amazed at the fact that AARP can get involved in things like Spelling Bees and has lost interest in much more important functions like supporting TRIAD, which is concerned with protecting senior citizens from criminal exploitation. I have devoted many years of my life to AARP, so I feel that I am eligible to criticise it when I feel like it.

04. This is the 50th anniversary of the visit to the U.S. by Nikita Kruschev. He finagled a tour from the State Department. To commemorate his visit... kind of... Peter Carlson has written a book about the visit. He includes some comic newspaper headlines of the times, including "K BLOWS TOP", which became the book's title.

I remember (since I'm one of those "old guys") when Nikita took his shoe off at the U.N. and banged it on the table. He famously yelled: "We will bury you!".. which he later qualified by saying that of course he didn't mean "with a shovel".

While in the U.S., everywhere he went he said that what he saw was not as good as it was in the USSR. However, he did find one thing that he was greatly interested in: Railroad Station lockers. Apparently, in the USSR, people have to check things with an attendant, and wait in long lines to do so. He liked the idea of being able to stick your things in a hole in the wall and keep it locked with a key that you control.

I'm told that Nikita was very upset that he did not get to see Disneyland!

Old Nikki must be rolling over in his grave, now that the U.S. has buried the USSR.