Black History Month begins February 1, 2023. There are many learning resources available and activities available.
Websites include:
African American Museum of Iowa (Building is closed for renovation although online collections are available for viewing)
Last night on the KCCK Big Mo Blues Show I listened to something I haven’t heard since the mid-1970s. It was a radio commercial for the Green Beetle and Frank’s Liquor Store. It ran right after the song, “Memphis Women and Fried Chicken.”
I think I first heard this radio ad while I was a student at Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Texas in the mid-1970s.
I heard it early on in the evening in my sweltering college dorm room. Later on, I heard a stirring rendition of the opening song, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” for another radio program, the name of which I can’t recall. I don’t know who sang it, but her voice was breathtaking. I have not heard a better version of it since.
The contrast between the “Old Crow Boogie” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was striking. No matter what race, culture, gender we are, we struggle to reconcile these opposites.
I have been diligently practicing the juggling behind the back trick daily and may have just turned the corner. I started practicing the behind the back trick along with the under the leg trick because the throws, mistakes, and corrections are similar.
I usually throw the trick ball too far out and the video will reveal it. I throw the left-hand ball (the one just before the trick ball) a little too high or too low. Both throws have to be darn near perfect.
The behind the back throw is difficult to get just right. I start off by practicing what I’ve seen described and shown as the trick and catch, which means I don’t try to incorporate the trick throw back into the 3 ball cascade. On the other hand, I’m sometimes able to sneak an extra throw or two in the game.
I also found out that my juggling balls glow in low light. They’re advertised to do so (UV reactive), but I just found out that it actually works today.
One thing is clear—this is still ugly juggling!
The FDA VRBPAC 178th annual meeting on future Covid-19 vaccine regimens includes two main discussion topics:
“Future periodic vaccination campaigns:
Simplification of COVID-19 vaccine use:
Among the members attending the web conference is University of Iowa Professor Stanley Perlman, MD, PhD, Departments of Microbiology and
Immunology, Professor of Pediatrics, Mark Stinski Chair in Virology.
The meeting is today from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM ET.
Update: Dr. Stanley Perlman MD, PhD from the University of Iowa will be the acting voting chairman of today’s meeting.
Update: Dr. Jerry Weir gave a clarifying and practical bird’s eye view of the issue at hand which began at 2:30 PM on the live play today (the meeting is being recorded). The questions and comments for Dr. Weir by Offit, Levy, and Chatterjee were also helpful to hear.
Update: Voting Question is:
“VRBPAC Voting question
Simplification of current COVID-19 vaccine use:
Voting Result: Unanimously upvoted.
As we were listening to the Mike Waters Wake Up Call radio show on KOKZ, we were disoriented when he gave the temperature as “83” degrees and that it’s “Wednesday evening”. The more he talked, the more bizarre he began to sound and I wondered if KOKZ was for whatever reason broadcasting a past recording of his show.
Then he announced that it’s National Opposite Day, which occurs on January 25th annually. It’s not a holiday on any calendar, and when I looked it up on the internet, I found out it arose from a kids game. It dates way back to the turn of the 20th century.
You get the idea. What would be opposite goal of a game of tag? You’d have to try to catch each other, of course!
This holiday creates a paradox for itself. You’re supposed to declare that it’s Opposite Day, but that would imply you would have to not observe it. Huh?
We had pot pie for breakfast today. Does that count?
Remember, the 178th Annual Meeting of the FDA Advisory Committee on the future of Covid-19 Vaccination Regimens is this Thursday from 8:30 AM-5:30 ET.
The details so far include the voting question:
“Simplification of current COVID-19 vaccine use:
Here are crucial announcements.
Sena bought me Bigfoot pajamas. They clearly show Bigfoot doing the Patty walk, which refers to the historic sighting of Bigfoot caught on video decades ago in the Patterson-Gimlin film.
The Amaryllis leaves have grown to about 11 inches! There is no flower.
Cattle ranchers are now putting diapers and masks on their cows to reduce methane emissions. Soon there will be statutes requiring humans who fart and belch in public to take Beano gummies several times daily. You know who you are.
We always thought of Robins as birds who are the harbingers of spring. On the other hand, we’ve seen Robins in the middle of winter. We saw them today.
I realize that you technically can’t call a Robin a Sunbird. There is a species of Sunbird. It’s a small tropical forest bird. And you could call a person who travels from hot, humid parts of the country to cooler parts a sunbird—sort of the opposite of snowbirds; those who migrate from the cold north to the warm south in the winter months.
And so, I think you could call the Robin a sunbird—sort of. They’ll stick around all winter as long as the berries hold out.
The FDA 178th Meeting of the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet in open session January 26, 2023 to discuss future Covid-19 vaccination regimens. The meeting will run between 8:30 AM-5:30 PM ET.
It had been around 3 years since I actually made a pizza (see YouTube video “The Path to Pizza.”) rather than just sticking a frozen one into the oven. Yesterday, Sena and I put together a video of me (with more than a little coaching from the boss) making a whopper pizza.
Sena bought a new pizza pan for the occasion. In fact, she got a few new cooking pans, saying firmly it was high time for a change. We used to call the old pizza pan “well-seasoned.” But it was out with the old and in with the new.
Because I’m a guy, it was safer to let me use a ready-made pizza crust mix. I was sort of used to that, anyway. It’s a Great Value brand and it was pretty good—after Sena jazzed it up with a few things like a little sugar, sea salt, garlic powder, and Himalayan Pink Salt preferred by all the Yeti chefs.
We used Classico Spicy Tomato & Basil spaghetti sauce, which I understand is legal.The spices we used were garlic powder, basil, fennel, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, along with a couple dozen other things. You use what you like.
Sena also “suggested” different kinds of cheeses (“I woke up feeling the cheesiest!”) There was a shredded Italian variety made up of 3 different cheeses including parmesan, mozzarella, provolone, romano, and asiago. and we topped that with a different brand of provolone. Sena really likes added provolone.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 