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Call me a "prepper" if you want. I've been called much worse. I am proud to say I am uniquely prepared for any doomsday scenario. I can survive any form of natural disaster you can imagine—earthquake, fire, flood, famine, pestilence, volcanic eruptions, the rogue planet Nibiru nearly colliding with Earth... The latter is believed by some evangelical Christians to be the event that triggers the Rapture, the second coming of Christ that ushers in the end times. And they think the planets and stars are aligned just right for that to happen today. We'll see what happens. They could be right. What—me worry? I'm confident that even when the world ends, there will still be leftovers I can pick through for sustenance. They didn't give me the nickname "garbage gut" for nothing. I've also heard that Armageddon could be nigh because Federal Communication Commission rules will take effect today that eventually will nullify the so-called "Net Neutrality" regulations that haven't really quite gone into effect themselves. (A convoluted, government-inspired sentence, that last one.) There are some who believe the death of Net Neutrality will signal doom for the internet. Yet, somehow the internet survived, prospered, and fostered innovation for a over quarter century with minimal government interference and without Net Neutrality.
Musical link by Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street, 1970.
Yesterday's post featured both poetry and history. Today's post combines the two. On this date in 1775, colonial rebels fought British redcoats at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in the opening skirmishes of the American Revolutionary War. The Patriots were the surprise winners, even without Tom Brady. In the course of learning the historical significance of April 19, 1775, generations of American school children memorized the verses of "Concord Hymn," by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Again we reach into the proverbial mailbag for a Fun Fact Friday question. (However, I have been unable to find any proverb on the subject of mailbags.) This week's question was submitted by D.B. from Jupiter, Florida, and it's appropriate for Friday the 13th: "Geo, please tell me, do you have any superstitions?" The answer is easy. No, I do not. Now, can I go home for the weekend? I do have to admit, if Fun Fact Friday #13 had coincidentally landed on today's date, I might have hedged a little in my answer. However, I am neither a friggatriskaidekaphobe nor a paraskevidekatriaphobe. I do not let the calendar dictate how I live. I am more concerned about where and when I'll find my next meal. By the way, did you leave a few French fries for me? Some Cheez-Its, maybe?
To submit your potential Fun Fact Friday question for Geo, just click or tap the Comments link in the top right corner of this post.
Be sure to say "please" if you really expect Geo to answer your question. These winning Seagulls did it way back in 1989. That's when the small town Raymond High School girls basketball team, from the small western Washington town of the same name, took the state title and went on to win almost everything the next year, for a record winning streak. Almost 30 years later, I finally found out about this Seagull achievement, in an archived Seattle Times article.
Here's another one from the Better Late Than Never Department:
Anyway, the title game took place almost a month ago, and I just found out today.
Here's how it was reported at dailyastorian.com: To paraphrase the concession speech Richard Nixon gave in 1962, when he failed to unseat Pat Brown for the governorship of California, "You won't have Geo to kick around anymore." It's not that I have been running (or flying) for anything, and then lost. But I do have a terribly sad announcement to make today. I have been diagnosed with Degenerative Adult Dork Syndrome (DADS). And there is no known cure. So I'm afraid this is going to be my last blog post. Please don't cry! APRIL FOOLS! Okay. That's the story of my life—a day late and a punchline that falls short of its mark. Let's go out on a serious note. Today is World Autism Awareness Day. That's what all the blue is about. Musical link by Fats Domino, 1956.
Just think—in a month or so, more seagulls!
And because today also happens to be April Fools Day, some wise words on the subject from one of my all-time favorite humans: "The man who lies down a fool at night, hoping that he will waken wise in the morning, will rise up in the morning as he laid down in the evening." —Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) No foolin'! March 29 is the first date on the Geo Taylors calendar. Every year about this time, we seagulls get busy and help perpetuate our kind. When Mrs. Seagull and I began that mission many years ago, on this very day, it brought us together, and we never will part. That's the seagull way. That’s the way things ought to be. And it's a sneak preview of tomorrow's Fun Fact Friday topic. Musical link by Chet Petty and the Playboys, 1959.
I'm highly skilled at grabbing a bag and getting away with it. But I'm not the only one, as you can see in this video from my ancestral homeland.
IT'S POPSICLE® STICK RIDDLE SLIDESHOW #4 Yes, it is the official first day of spring, which doesn't mean that much in parts of the Midwest and Northeast, where winter weather persists. Be that as it may, I've been looking for any excuse for giving away free stuff. So in honor of the Vernal Equinox, and because a lot of you seemed to like the way I looked in green on Bandon Day, balancing act is giving away...
Funny thing—nobody knows who came up with this special day. But they had the best of intentions. Laughter, you see, is alleged to relieve tension, boost your immune system, exercise idle abdominal and facial muscles, and offer relief from everyday stress.
I'm not sure what this is all about. My webbed editor told me to post this picture and take the day off. But I decided I should look up Aden on Wikipedia first, and this is what I read:
"Aden may be as old as human history itself." In that case, somebody must be having one heckuva historic birthday! So, as I've said previously, and am guaranteed to say again... Please save a piece of cake for me! And the candles. And even that doily thing that the cake is sitting on. I can digest or eject all of it. At least I know enough to stop short of eating the cake plate. Unless it's cardboard. Biodegradable, y'know. Meaning—fit for a seagull. ;^) Squawk to you tomorrow!
Douglass earned a reputation as an inspirational author and dynamic orator, and he became a leader in the anti-slavery movement and an early proponent of women's rights. Living for a time in the British Isles, he earned worldwide fame as a critic and public speaker who took his country to task for its hypocrisy. Returning to America, he grew to appreciate the ideals in America's founding documents:
"The American Constitution is a written instrument full and complete in itself. No Court in America, no Congress, no President, can add a single word thereto, or take a single word thereto. It is a great national enactment done by the people, and can only be altered, amended, or added to by the people." As a practitioner of the spoken and written word, Frederick Douglass especially emphasized the role of the First Amendment in assuring a free society: "Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, founded in injustice and wrong, are sure to tremble, if men are allowed to reason... Equally clear is the right to hear. To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker." After the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves, Douglass continued to write and speak about inequality and injustice. He gave advice to presidents and was the first American of African descent to hold high government positions, serving several years as U.S. Marshal for D.C., heading the Freedman's Bank during Reconstruction, and later representing his country as a diplomat in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Throughout his adult life, Douglass was an imposing figure—both intellectually and physically—who became the most-photographed American in the 19th century. Steeped in Biblical teachings, Frederick Douglass preached a message that stressed hope, self-reliance, the power of persistence and hard work, and the uniqueness of American ideals, saying, "What is possible for me is possible for you." Is it possible that on the bicentennial of his birth Frederick Douglass still lives...on social media? Click @FredDouglassNPS to find out. And you can learn more about this great American and his influence on our history by reading his story in his own words, or his biography in the words of others. This week's posts have been a little different, and today's is no exception. Usually, Fun Fact Fridays provide factual answers to readers' questions about me or about seagulls in general. I suppose today's post actually does that in a roundabout way. When this blog was launched, just over three months ago, some early readers understandably thought my name—"Geo"—was short for "George." Well, it wasn't then, and it isn't now. As I pointed out at the time, my full name is Geo Logic Taylor, and I'm widely known as Geo the Seagull.
I know some of you are really into genealogy or American history or following subliminal instructions disguised as hypertext links in web logs. You know who you are, and you will want to click here or here or here to learn as much as anybody knows about George Taylor.
And if you're ever in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, you might want to tour the carefully restore George Taylor House, which he originally built in 1768. Or at least take a selfie there and send it to me.
Washington was keenly aware of preserving and protecting the natural rights that he and his fellow revolutionaries had fought for. “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter,” he observed.
Washington was a believer in universal truths and timeless principles. And he was sensitive to humanity's imperfections, saying, "When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly." That was true in the 18th century, and it's even more true today. The organization that maintains Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia estate provides a wealth of information about our first president and his heritage on its website. Biography.com offers a good overview of Washington's life, as does its partner, the History Channel, where you'll find this note that counters some of the current mythology: "At the time of his death in 1799, George Washington owned some 300 slaves. However, before his passing, he had become opposed to slavery, and in his will he ordered that his slaves [were] to be freed after his wife's death." America's founders were as imperfect as the rest of us, yet probably more honorable than a lot of us. Sure. Your wall calendar says it's Presidents Day. The calendar app on your smartphone calls it Presidents' Day. The official federal government name for this holiday is Washington's Birthday. Except...George Washington wasn't born on February 19. No American president was born on this date. But the Uniform Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971, shifted Washington's Birthday, along with a number of other holidays, onto Mondays, to create popular three-day weekends. Because the new Washington's Birthday holiday eliminated the Lincoln's Birthday observances in many states, the third Monday every February has become widely accepted as an occasion to honor both Washington and Lincoln, and perhaps any and all of the other presidents. And a ski holiday for government workers and teachers. I prefer to honor George on George's own birthday, and Abraham on his own day, and President Reagan on his February 6th birthday. And today? For me, it's just another day at the beach.
Humans never seem to stop looking for a reason to celebrate. I'm pretty much okay with that, as long as they don't leave their litter behind on the beach. But this time the celebrating humans in Bandon have gone over the edge as far as I'm concerned. Tomorrow through Sunday, they are having something called the Gorse Blossom Festival. Of all the things to celebrate—gorse! Yes, it does rhyme with horse.
Once I had to make an emergency landing in a thicket of gorse. Believe me, I lost a few prize plumes trying to escape their clutches.
Apparently they love their gorse in Ireland. I suppose they swill a few pints of Guinness and don't seem to notice they're stumbling around in the gorse. When they come to, their limbs full of holes like Swiss cheese, they probably pen some annoying poem glorifying the greatness of gorse. I wish they had kept it to themselves. Speaking of alcoholic beverages, that seems to be the main reason the Bandon town gentry are gathering in the name of gorse. Either last year's event was a big hit, or else they didn't get the hint, because 2018 is the second year they've turned all festive at the sight of blooming gorse. If you're looking for an excuse to celebrate this Presidents' Day weekend—beyond paying respects to Washington, Lincoln, et al—then you won't find a better place than Bandon, no matter the occasion. Be sure to look for me, on or near the Park Host sign at the beach, and say "Hi, Geo. Here's my lunch. Help yourself!" You'll be my best friend. For a few seconds.
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Meet the AuthorHi. I'm Geo the Seagull.
I'm the distinguished Park Host on South Jetty Beach at Bandon, Oregon, USA. I'm a firm believer in First Principles: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Your Lunch. Archives
August 2018
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