Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Also,

Friday, August 9, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3461 - Happy Birthday to My Sister!!

Lori Marie - birthday - 1971 two years old

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3461 - Happy Birthday to My Sister!!


Happy Birthday to my sister!! Today is her birthday. I won't tell you all how old she is as she might not want me to, but since I have dates on some of the photos below from the 1970s, you all can get a sense.

I decided to reprint all the Lori birthday posts, but apparently I have not done one every year.

I have listed all the posts below. Seems I did the first one in 2017, which was the year when we had our last lunch before I moved out west from Michigan. Then after one in 2018, I skipped 2019-2021, and then I have had posts the last two years in a row.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023


Tuesday, August 9, 2022


Thursday, August 9, 2018

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

I love my sister.

Happy Birthday Lori Marie!


1973


1973

ALL MORE 1973







1971

VARIOUS YEARS







No, Lori is not scared to death in the pic below, she is showing her missing tooth.




This one below I remember as Lori is trying to put scream the motor on the boat we're riding on.



ALL THE REPRINTS


Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #758 - Lunch with Lori

Hi Mom,

Lori and I have been meeting frequently for lunch. I am rally going to miss my sister. It's been a wonderful thing to lunch with here more often, and we have grown close again, like we always were when we were kids.

We're been through so much together because of you, Mom, but also just in living our family life. It's been great.

Today is our last schedule lunch, though we may try to do another before I leave on August 20th.

We're meeting for her birthday dinner next week.

Aren't these beautiful pictures?

Lunch with Lori - Arcadia Brewing Company - 1708.03

So, things are proceeding.

I have hired a hand, who will do a lot of lifting for me Saturday and Monday in taking books to Goshen and stuff to Dad's. Expect blog posts to illustrate these things.

I have an answer about packing records, too, so I am pleased.

Here's some recent photos: a good sign and a fortune that seemed apt and meaningful.

Stacks of comics. I had to stare at them for days until I decided to keep them, for now, though some will go to Dad's.

Then pictures of the second big load that went to Fanfare. I am building quite the credit.

Lori and I had a nice lunch.

We miss you, Mom.



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A Sense of Doubt blog post #2730 - Happy Birthday to My Sister - Reprint  of SoD #1634


Happy Birthday to my sister, which I celebrate with this reprint!

FROM -  Sunday, August 11, 2019





A Sense of Doubt blog post #1634 - Happy Birthday to my sister Lori

I am a couple of days late posting something in honor of my sister's birthday. It's a milestone birthday, but I won't divulge the number. Instead I am going to post links to the last two tributes for her birthday from 2018 and 2017.

Lori starts a new job Monday, and I couldn't be more proud of her.

The picture above shows how wonderful our childhood vacations were. Lori just spent an extended weekend in our preferred childhood vacation spots: Traverse City and Mackinac Island.

I am so happy for her.

I am keeping this short. Links to the last two birthday posts with a little text reposted here. And then a couple more photos.

Happy Birthday Lori!!

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1106 - 2018 - My sister's birthday - Throwback Thursday for 1808.09

Lori's birthday today, but I am not at liberty to divulge the number because I checked, and she does not have the age posted on her Facebook page. But I can share that I am in Michigan to celebrate, and since I am finishing this entry tomorrow, I can already report that we had a great meal at Salt of the Earth in Fennville, which is probably the one area restaurant that Liesel and I did not make it to before we moved out west.

It was a GREAT dinner, right up there on par with any dinner I have had out west and just about one of the best I have ever experienced in west Michigan, though I do qualify as "one of the best."

Pictures exist, and I will add them when I get them from the source.

This one's mostly a reprint of last year's post devoted my sister, Lori Marie's, birthday.

Events like this make me miss you even more, Mom. You would have loved that restaurant and that dinner.

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #764 - My Sister Lori's Birthday - 2017

I love my sister very much.

Good choice in having her, Mom!

Lori and I are very close and have regular lunches, which will not be something we can continue with me moving out west.

Fun fact: Lori was born at 10:19 p.m. ( I think that's right... I may be a few minutes off). At that precise time, on most of her childhood birthday, she would scream out the door at the top of her lungs how old she was at the precise moment of her birth. We actually would do a count down sometimes.


Here's Lori trying to scream louder than the sound of the motor. I love this photo.

https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2017/05/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-668-my.html from 8/10/1973

Lori in front of our church for her birthday in 1973.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1908.11 - 10:10
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Lori - 2007 - Taken by her husband Noel

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1106 - 2018 - My sister's birthday  - Throwback Thursday for 1808.09


Hi Mom,

Lori's birthday today, but I am not at liberty to divulge the number because I checked, and she does not have the age posted on her Facebook page. But I can share that I am in Michigan to celebrate, and since I am finishing this entry tomorrow, I can already report that we had a great meal at Salt of the Earth in Fennville, which is probably the one area restaurant that Liesel and I did not make it to before we moved out west.

It was a GREAT dinner, right up there on par with any dinner I have had out west and just about one of the best I have ever experienced in west Michigan, though I do qualify as "one of the best."

Pictures exist, and I will add them when I get them from the source.

This one's mostly a reprint of last year's post devoted my sister, Lori Marie's, birthday.

Events like this make me miss you even more, Mom. You would have loved that restaurant and that dinner.

I am back out west now; I flew home this morning, Friday, which is tomorrow from this blog's perspective.

I have essentially been awake since 1:30 a.m. my time and it's 8:40 p.m. Pacific right now.

I am tired.

Enjoy this tribute to my sister, and Happy Birthday Lori.

updated 1808.11 - Here's the dinner photos.






Lori Marie Tower's second birthday - August 9, 1971

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #764 - My Sister Lori's Birthday - 2017

Hi Mom,

Today is Lori's birthday. You know, my sister? I am sure you remember... :-)

If I had more time, I would write more about Lori's birthdays over the years and what Lori means to me.

I love my sister very much.

Good choice in having her, Mom!

Lori and I are very close and have regular lunches, which will not be something we can continue with me moving out west.

Fun fact: Lori was born at 10:19 p.m. ( I think that's right... I may be a few minutes off). At that precise time, on most of her childhood birthday, she would scream out the door at the top of her lungs how old she was at the precise moment of her birth. We actually would do a count down sometimes.

Happy birthday, Lori. I am going to miss seeing you more regularly, so you have to come visit.

The pic above is from Lori's second birthday. Lori is in the high chair. The girl to my left is the neighbor girl, Sue McCrumb.

Here's some pics of Lori...

Me and Lori reading 8/9/71

Lori's 11th birthday 8/9/1980

Lori and Tipper - 1973
yes, that's the front yard!

Lori and Amber Marie - 1993

Lori graduating from UofM - 1991

Lori and Mom - 1973?





lunch with Lori - 1708.03

lunch with Lori - 1708.03

Lori's new chef coat - 2014

Lori - Easter - Eight years old (1978)

Lori and Mom - 2009
Lori - 2007 - Taken by her husband Noel
Lori and Noel Beard - wedding photo
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Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
I miss you so very much, Mom.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
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- Days ago = 766 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1708.09 - 10:10
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2408.09 - 10:10

- Days ago = 3325 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Thursday, August 8, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3460 - Why The Radical Right Wants to Shutdown the Federal Department of Education



A Sense of Doubt blog post #3460 - Why The Radical Right Wants to Shutdown the Federal Department of Education

As it goes in our country, there's a group of paper who blame others for what they themselves are doing or want to do.

The GOP, Trump especially, claiming that the democrats want to "burn it all down" and destroy our country is the transparent projection of what they themselves want and HAVE WANTED since Reagan's terms.

The new grievance motivating eliminating the Federal Department of Education is Critical Race Theory and supposed "DEI" policies/lessons, such as teaching the realities of gender in our culture -- like "trans" people exist.

I have to admit that like much of what's in Project 2025 I was very freaked out at the thought of the GOP getting in control of all branches of government and clearing house, eliminating many agencies including the Federal Department of Education.

It's unlikely to happen, thankfully.

In fact, many of the plans in the Project 2025 document are unlikely to be carried through. Not that this is any reason to go ahead and vote for people who align with the Radical Right outlook of the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025.

Here's some of my research on the Department of Education elimination.

Thanks for tuning in.



https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/07/11/project-2025-explained/

  • Eliminating the Department of Education. The plan explicitly proposes, "Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated." The report also calls for bans on so-called "critical race theory" (CRT) and "gender ideology" lessons in public schools, asking for legislation that would require educators who share such material to register as sex offenders and be imprisoned. 

Cries to shutter the U.S. Department of Education have grown louder and more constant as the 2024 presidential race heats up. Announced and potential candidates are already on message: The department has devolved into a lobbying platform for a continuously more expensive and expansive federal role in support of a heavily unionized education system, with tragic results for the nation and its students.

One difficulty in closing the Education Department is that the agency has become ingrained in the minds of policy-makers and the law. For more than 40 years, Congress has willingly assigned most K–12 and postsecondary funding and rulemaking



The Education Department has been on Republican hit lists since it was created in 1979. President Ronald Reagan campaigned on getting rid of it in 1980 and tried to kill it off while he was in office, but didn’t succeed. Instead, in 1983 a landmark federal report called “A Nation At Risk” argued mediocre education was endangering the United States. That report made improving education a national priority, and the argument that there should be no federal role receded for more than a decade.


The Education Department is basically a giant grant-making agency. About 95 percent of the department’s $67.3 billion budget is devoted to grant-making, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The department gives out K-12 grants to states for educating low-income children and children with disabilities and for training teachers. It makes K-12 grants to school districts for children who live on military bases and other federal land. Those federal funds make up about 12 percent of all education spending.

In higher education, the department doesn’t give out massive grants but rather individual vouchers to students with financial need.

The Education Department also makes all new federal student loans and, through contracts with private companies, ensures those loans are serviced and paid back.


Getting rid of any Cabinet-level agency, even if the functions are simply transferred to another department, is a long shot. Only five Cabinet-level departments have ever been eliminated, and four of those were combined into the Department of Defense in 1949. (The fifth is the Department of the Post Office, an independent executive agency since 1971.)

Getting rid of federal grants entirely is even more unlikely. It would be disruptive and almost certainly unpopular. The federal government provides only about 12 percent of K-12 education funding nationally, with the rest provided by states and school districts. And only about half of that money is from the Education Department; the rest comes from the Department of Agriculture for school nutrition programs, the Department of Health and Human Services for Head Start, and other agencies.


Eliminating an agency is not the only option. If an agency is dissolved, it is usually reorganized into something else.

For example, the Department of Education was created when then-President Jimmy Carter signed a law that separated it from a bigger agency, known as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Similarly, the Department of Homeland Security was created after the 9/11 attacks by combining 22 different agencies — including the Coast Guard, FEMA and Secret Service.


Trump on Wednesday outlined several other education priorities for a potential second term, including introducing prayer in public schools, teaching children to “love their country” and increasing access to internships for students. Trump has said he wants to allow parents to control where their child goes to school and give parents and local school boards the ability to hire and fire school principals.


Spoiler alert: The Education Department is unlikely to be eliminated, particularly by a bill that declines to specify who or what would take over its $68 billion annual budget and the functions of data collection, oversight, civil rights enforcement and student aid, among others.

"Whatever you think about the Department of Education, the idea you could eliminate it with a one-sentence bill is just posturing," Schoenbrod says. "Posturing is not something that's just done by Democrats or by Republicans. It's done by both."

BEHIND PAY WALLS


https://www.businessinsider.com/abolish-education-department-thomas-massie-doesnt-address-student-loans-2023-2



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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2408.08 - 10:10

- Days ago = 3324 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3459 - Stephen King on Twitter about the 2024 Election



A Sense of Doubt blog post #3459 - Stephen King on Twitter about the 2024 Election

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, and his Twitter thread (won't call it that other thing) is always entertaining.

Here's a sampling and some news item about it.

I am post from the future so this post contains material not yet available online before it was published.


Thanks for tuning in.



There's a video at the link:

https://www.newsweek.com/stephen-king-post-trump-election-1936718


Stephen King's Post on Trump Potentially Losing Election Goes Viral


Author Stephen King is asking how conservative-leaning network Fox News might handle former President Donald Trump losing to Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

King, an outspoken Democrat who often criticizes Trump on social media, pondered the network's coverage of a second consecutive Trump election loss on Thursday in a post viewed more than 300,000 times on X, formerly Twitter.

"It will be interesting to see how Fox News handles Trump's bulls*** if he loses," King wrote.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Fox News via email on Thursday.

While King did not specify what he meant by "Trump's bulls***", he could have been referring to the fact that the former president has frequently and falsely claimed that massive fraud was to blame for his loss to President Joe Biden. Trump has also hinted that he might contest a loss this year.

Fox News may be reluctant to entertain further baseless claims of a "stolen" election in the event that Trump loses to Harris, having last year settled a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million after false claims about Biden's win were repeated on the network in 2020.

Some of those who responded to King's post on Thursday assumed that the author, who penned classic horror novels like The Shining and It, was referring to potential future election fraud claims from the ex-president.

"**When he loses. They'll be careful," wrote @YourAnonNews, an account associated with the hacker group Anonymous. "The last time they promoted unfalsified [sic] conspiracy theories they lost $1 billion dollars."

"Maybe they'll end up owing another $787M," @BlueATLGeorgia wrote.

Last week, King called out bizarre election remarks from Fox News opinion host Jesse Watters, who claimed during a discussion on The Five that men willing to vote for women who are political candidates have "mommy issues" and transition into women.

"To be a man and vote for a woman, just because she's a woman, is either childish, that person has mommy issues or they're just trying to be accepted by other women," Watters said. "I heard the scientists say the other day that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman."

"This is weird," King wrote in response to a video clip of the moment shared on X.

Also last week, King urged Republican voters to "hold your nose" and vote for Harris, warning that Trump is "dangerous" and comparing the former president to "a child doing a tantrum."

"Republicans: If you have to hold your nose to vote for Harris, please do so," wrote King. "Trump is dangerous; a child doing a tantrum. There's only one adult in this contest. It's Harris."

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung previously said that "Stephen King is a dumbass" in a statement to Newsweek.




An older one; there's a short video here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/stephen-king-election-remark-takes-internet-by-storm/vi-BB1n8eKP



S. King VP post



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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2408.07 - 10:10

- Days ago = 3323 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3458 - Satellite imagery reveals hidden monastery at Buddhist holy site


The Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. It is one of the Buddha's holy sites and is the location where he is said to have received enlightenment. (Image credit: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)


A Sense of Doubt blog post #3458 - Satellite imagery reveals hidden monastery at Buddhist holy site


This news item caught my eye, and so a straight share today as I am a couple of days behind.

Thanks for tuning in.


https://www.space.com/buddha-mahabodhi-temple-satellite-imagery-buried-monastery

Satellite imagery reveals hidden monastery at Buddhist holy site: report

By 

"Archaeological treasure" is ripe at the Mahabodhi Temple Complex.


A buried monastery may be lurking underneath one of the sacred sites of the Buddha.

Satellite imagery revealed hidden structures in the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, according to a July media report in Indian news agency PTI, picked up by The Hindu and others. The temple is of the sites associated with the Buddha's life and said to be the location where he obtained enlightenment.

"The study has unearthed evidence of the presence of archaeological treasure beneath the soil of the [...] site and its surrounding areas," Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, additional chief secretary of India's art, culture and youth department, told PTI in The Hindu report.

Earth-gazing images obtained by satellite show "an alignment of structures to the north of the temple, buried underground," Bamhrah added. For example, the images suggest a now-buried monastery that centuries ago, was surrounded by both a moat and a settlement. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, but work is ongoing.


The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is today dominated by a temple soaring 180 feet (55 meters) into the sky, slightly higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York City. It forms one of six sacred sites linked with the Buddha's life and enlightenment, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

"This is one of the earliest brick Buddhist temples still standing in India, dating back to the 5th or 6th century CE," UNESCO added in a statement. "The complex is centered around a descendant of the original Bodhi tree under which the Buddha meditated and attained enlightenment."


The Mahabodhi Temple Complex as deipcted in an engraving by Augustin François Lemaître after Gaucherel from Inde, by Dubois De Jancigny and Xavier Raymond. First published in 1845. (Image credit: De Agostini Editorial via Getty Images)

The new research is being led by M. B. Rajani from the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) at the Indian Institute of Science Campus in Bangalore. Space.com asked Cardiff University, a collaborator on the research, about the availability of satellite imagery at this time.

 "They are preparing a paper on the results and will be happy to share this and the satellite images when published," a Cardiff spokesperson told Space.com. 

Cardiff did not specify which satellite or satellites were used to obtain the imagery, but archaeologists commonly use archival data or open-source data to reduce project costs.

The archaeologists are examining the temple as part of a study of Xuanzang, a 7th-century Buddhist monk who made a pilgrimage from today's China to India in search of Buddhist scriptures, the Hindu reported. Xuanzang's travels included visiting Mahabodhi.

"He is best known for his journey to India from 629 to 645 CE and his efforts to bring over 657 Indian texts into China. His writings had a significant impact on the development of Buddhism in China," the Hindu added. 

Xuanzang's work also influenced Alexander Cunningham, a British army engineer who created an organization later known as the Archaeological Survey of India. Cunningham managed excavations in 19th century British-occupied India that included Sārnāth and Sānchi, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. India later obtained its independence in 1947 after about two centuries of subjugation under the British, detailed in this Britannica article.


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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2408.06 - 10:10

- Days ago = 3322 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.