Presidents Deaths
Dylan, the Loggerhead
Newspapers
Moon Day
Joke Night
Transatlantic Cable
New “News”

Presidents Deaths
08/07/01

The 4th of July, Independence Day, is the most nationalistic, or patriotic, holiday in the United States of America, an appropriate time to look back over the history of this country and its leaders. Beginning with George Washington, the first president, whose term began in 1789, 42 different men have served as president, including one, Grover Cleveland, who served two unconnected terms. Eight of those presidents died while they were in office; four were assassinated. The president who served for the shortest time was William Henry Harrison, who refused to wear a jacket during his inauguration on March 4 and died of pneumonia exactly one month later, on April 4, 1841. The most famous assassinated president was Abraham Lincoln, who was shot and killed in 1865. Sixteen years later, President James A. Garfield, following a cabinet meeting on June 30, 1881, asked President Lincoln’s son, who was serving as his Secretary of War, about a nightmare his father had had shortly before his assassination. In the dream, President Lincoln had seen a dead body in the East Room of the White House. In response to his question “Who is dead,” the sentry guarding the body replied, “The President.” Two days later, on July 2, President Garfield was hit by two bullets from an assassin’s gun, but did not die until two months later. The other two assassinated presidents were William McKinley (in 1901) and John F. Kennedy (in 1963). The three other presidents who died while in office were: Zachary Taylor (1850), Warren G. Harding (1923) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945). Death, even the death of illustrious men, may come at unexpected times and we common folk also should always be prepared. (1155)

Dylan, the Loggerhead
08/07/06

The daily newspaper my wife and I read at breakfast every morning recently included an interesting article about a loggerhead, named Dylan. There were two colorful pictures that accompanied the article. The larger one showed a number of men standing along the seacoast with cameras pointed toward a large turtle moving into the ocean. The men were standing in front of hundreds of observers, one of which was in a smaller picture with a sign that read, “Swim, Dylan, Swim.” The gist of the article was: “Dylan, the loggerhead, returns to life in the wild.” In this case, “loggerhead” does not signify the head of a “logger,” or “lumberjack.” Rather, it is the name of “a marine turtle, having a large, beaked head.” This loggerhead had been rescued as a hatchling in 1998 when it failed to join the migration of other turtles out to the sea. It was then raised in an aquarium in southern Georgia, where it attracted the attention of many local residents as well as tourists. It was given the name “Dylan,” a Welsh name meaning “son of the waves,” the name of “a legendary sea-god, for whom all the waves of Britain and Ireland wept when he died.” It was uncertain whether this Dylan, which was raised in captivity, would survive in the strange new life in the wild. In front of “the hundreds of well-wishers,” Dylan began to swim into the ocean, but soon turned back to the shore. Staff members of the Sea Turtle Center then lifted the 150-pound turtle, turned it around and it swam out to sea. It is difficult for us human beings also to suddenly change from the culture in which we were raised to an entirely different one, but change is also a necessary element in continuing maturation. (1156)

Newspapers
08/07/12

In industrialized countries today, most people are informed of “recent events and happenings, especially those that are unusual or notable” by means of radio, television or computers, but daily “newspapers” are still popular. The English word “news” is composed of four letters, the first letters of the four directions (north, east, west and south) from which the “news” may come. In my childhood in a small town north of the city of Chicago, the most popular newspaper was The Chicago Tribune. I did not know the meaning of “ tribune” until I checked the dictionary while composing this message and discovered that there are two different words listed. One means “a protector or champion of the people” and the other signifies “a raised platform or dais from which a speaker addresses an assembly.” I am not sure which one was in the mind of the originator of that name. The name of the newspaper that is now left daily at our backdoor is The Florida Times-Union. As is the case with other newspapers that include a hyphen in their title, the Times-Union, “the major daily newspaper in northeast Florida,” is the product of a combination (in 1883) of two earlier papers: Florida Daily Times and Florida Union. In the list of the “Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the United States,” I find 9 that include the word “Times,” including The New York Times, which has the third largest circulation, (following The USA Today and The Wall Street Journal). The word “gospel,” meaning “good news” refers to “the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.” It is also the name given to “the first four books of the New Testament, describing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1157)

Moon Day
08/07/16

In traditional Western calendars, the first day of the 7-day week is Sunday, the day of the sun, and the second day is Monday, the day of the moon. Regardless of the day of the week on which it falls, however, the 20th day of this 7th month (July) is now recognized as Moon Day in certain countries, for it was on that day in 1969 that a spacecraft landed on the surface of the moon. Six hours after the landing, an astronaut stepped out of the spacecraft, onto the moon’s surface and uttered these historic words: “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Another astronaut followed him and they planted an American flag made of metal on the lunar surface, stepped back and saluted. They also left a plaque on which the following words were written: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” It is significant that their coming “in peace for all mankind” was noted, but I cannot imagine who, when and how anyone will read those words, written in English. It was four days earlier, on July 16, that a rocket with two space modules, named Columbia and Eagle, attached, was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. After reaching the moon’s orbit, Eagle separated from Columbia, which continued to circle the moon. When Eagle had landed on the moon and accomplished its mission, it rejoined Columbia for the return trip to the earth. In the collection of poems found in the Old Testament book of Psalms, the moon is said to be “the faithful witness in the sky” (89:37) that “marks off the seasons” (104:19). Looking at the moon on Moon Day may stimulate many different ideas. (1158)

Joke Night
08/07/20

People living in a retirement community realize that all the residents are headed in the same direction. We are all getting older. Obviously some residents are progressing more rapidly and manifest more evidence of aging than others, but we are all “on the way.” There are various ways, however, to keep our bodies and minds active, whether through physical exercise or mental stimulation. Recently, for the first time in our retirement community, we had “Joke Night.” A “joke” is “a brief, amusing story.” In Japanese, it is a joudan, literally meaning “empty talk,” but all jokes need not be meaningless. Some may be stimulating and communicate important truths. Also, according to certain medical authorities, having a sense of humor and laughing may slow down the aging process. All who attended the “Joke Night” meeting were instructed to prepare a joke to be told to the group. At each of the tables where eight residents sat, each resident told a joke and those at that table decided which of the jokes was the best one to be told to the entire group. Then, when the joke of each table was announced to the audience, a team of four judges determined scores for each one and decided which joke was the best. Needless to say, there was much laughter, both around the tables and in the entire meeting place. There was also a table in the middle of the room on which were various kinds of refreshments, made and brought by residents, along with some drinks, so that our bodies might be refreshed as well as our minds. It was an enjoyable and stimulating time for all who attended. (1159)

Transatlantic Cable
08/07/25

One hundred and forty-two years ago, on July 27, 1866, following years of anticipation, experimentation and exertion, a transatlantic cable was successfully laid connecting the North American continent with Great Britain. Since that day, telegraphic communications between these two locations on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have been uninterrupted. After successful underwater connections had been made between France and England in 1845, and between England and Ireland, in 1853, it was thought that the same kind of connection could be made across the ocean even though the distance was much greater. A strong, long cable with good insulation was required and the navies of both the United States and the United Kingdom were involved in the process, but the key figure in this endeavor was an American merchant, named Cyrus Field. His first four attempts to accomplish the objective were unsuccessful, but the fifth attempt was successfully completed when he was 47 years old. At a banquet in New York, held in his honor, he said: “It has been a long struggle. Many times on the decks of ships on dark and stormy nights, alone and far from home, I have almost accused myself of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace of my family and all the hopes of life for what may prove, after all, but a dream. It has taken nearly 13 years of ceaseless anxious watching and toil. I have seen my companions falling by my side one after another and feared that I might not live to see the end. And yet one hope has led me on and I have prayed that I might not taste death until the work was finished. That prayer was answered and now, beyond all acknowledgment to me, is the feeling of gratitude to Almighty God.” (1160)

New “News”
08/07/29

It is interesting how the irregularities of the pronunciation and spelling of English words attract my attention as I compose these messages. Two weeks ago, as I composed the message about “newspapers,” I again recognized the different spellings of words pronounced “nu.” The most common word with that pronunciation is spelled n-e-w, but if a “k” is added to the beginning of that word, another word with the same pronunciation is formed. Another word, which many people are not acquainted with, has the same pronunciation; spelled g-n-u, it signifies an African antelope. In the previous message, relating to the “transatlantic cable,” I read about the easternmost province of Canada, an island called “Newfoundland,” which is pronounced differently by different people, and I thought about place names in the United States of America beginning with “New.” The northeastern area of this country is called “New England.” How many of the six states in that area can you name? (One of them begins with “New.”) Of the fifty states in the U. S. A., four begin with “New.” How many of them can you name? There are also many cities beginning with “New.” Some of them are very important and are often in the news, such as New York and New Orleans, but others are just ordinary towns or villages and in some cases, the letters “n-e-w” are not a separate word, but are simply added to another word, such as Newark, Newport, Newhaven and Newberry. In the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verses 34-35, Jesus gave his disciples “a new commandment:”“ Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (1161)