I’m not exactly sure how many double-reverse hexes I’ve put on the New York Yankees so far this year, but rest assured I do talk about how terrible they are on this Friday’s episode of Math and Musings. I recorded the show Sunday morning, hours before their incredible 13th-inning victory after being no-hit for the first 10. And two days before their doubleheader sweep at Fenway Park last night.
You’re welcome?
Most of the people I encounter every day are 12 years old, and therefore have only a vague idea of what “September 11” means. That day in 2001 we were calling it “Attack on America” and we probably should have stuck with that. Just the date kind of masks what really happened.
Twenty-two years later I look back and think, well, at least it wasn’t worse. Crazy as it sounds, it could have been worse. In retrospect I got off easy. Many people lost their lives that day and many more lost loved ones. So I have to wait in line at the airport a little longer these days? I can imagine worse.
Most of all I think back and say, Thank God that didn’t turn into World War III. The previous time there was such a catastrophic event (Pearl Harbor) it led to four years of world conflict. I tip my cap to those fighting overseas the past 20-plus years, I suppose keeping hostilities from escalating and coming to our shores.
As I often find myself saying… I’m lucky.
At the risk of being upstaged, I’ve invited a guest to this week’s episode of Math and Musings. We were having so much fun we lost track of time, hence the “special guest” and “extended episode” distinction.
You’re welcome.
The global pandemic that resulted from the Covid-19 virus was one of the most heinous and wicked events of the past half century or so. Beyond rampant illness and death there was the social costs of isolation and anxiety perhaps unparalleled in the 21st century. In my own field of education I’ve seen an entire generation of students with what I would call irrevocable “learning loss.” No amount of “catching up” will ever take the place of missed classroom learning.
I’ve said previously that I don’t think the pandemic will truly be “over” until everyone who was a K-12 student in 2020 and 2021 has graduated from high school.
Even then, I’m still going to point to where they used to have those bins of free cookies at Harris Teeter and say, “Right there. That’s why the pandemic will never really be over.”
My local Target has started selling pumpkin-pie-flavored Pop-Tarts.
One, it’s barely September, and two… seriously? Pumpkin pie?
(Pretends to be offended.)
They were delicious.
At the top of every episode of Math and Musings I promote the proceedings as 15 minutes of “science, politics, news, and opinion.” On today’s episode (called simply “Science Lesson”) I stick to the first one.
You gotta hand it to the folks at Kellogg’s.
Just when you thought that Oreoification couldn’t stretch any further, Kellogg’s, in collaboration with Apple TV and the estate of Charles Shultz, have created a Charlie Brown Halloween-themed cereal. Called simply “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” this vanilla-flavored “cereal” includes orange and green corn puffs and pumpkin-shaped orange marshmallows.
No word on whether the toys inside are actually rocks.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, the event everyone knows by its highlight, remarks by Dr. Martin Luther King that included the phrase “I have a dream.” Apparently it wasn’t even part of the original speech; sort of worked out though, no?
This past Saturday I happened to be on the Mall in D.C., in the place where Dr. King spoke those words. Sort of by happy accident I witnessed a commemoration of the 1963 event, which included, among others, remarks from Martin Luther King III. Sometimes you just get lucky in seeing these things.
Case in point the following morning, as I’m still in D.C., this time at the National Zoo. Whom do I see but Tian Tian, better known as “one of the pandas” on loan from China. Yeah, on loan, apparently, and 20 years later now China is getting him back. Sunday was his birthday (26–God I’d love to be 26), and once again I stumbled upon a celebration marking an occasion. Last birthday in America. Tian Tian seemed as surprised as I.
Sometimes you go looking for entertainment, and sometimes it finds you I guess. If you’re going to be good or lucky, choose lucky.
On today’s episode of Math and Musings I put the old MAM jinx on the ballteam of my youth, the former Bronx Bombers now Bronx Flounderers. My Yankee description no longer makes sense but the rest of it does, so now that you’ve been warned, just click and enjoy.
‘Round these parts today’s the last day of “summer vacation,” a quaint 20th-century phrase describing the months plowing the corn fields or whatever we did before smartphones.
There’s another quaint phrase from one of this century’s great philosophers, Craig Williams. You know him as Craig… of the Creek.
Craig once opined that Summer’s over but we still have the weekend.
Wise words. Actually we have weekends, holidays, and every single evening. Heck, school can be fun sometimes too.
Every time you get home from being out of town you think How can I make my regular life more like vacation?
Exactly.
This is the year we never turn off the fun of summer.
To borrow another 20th-century phrase…
this is the Endless Summer.