March 29, 2022

As I was returned home after encountering the nesting pair of bald eagles last week, I came across the city of Altus.  While I have ignored this area while zooming down the interstate, this time I approached the town driving the winding roads coming up from the south.  I have always enjoyed looking at old architecture, and even filled a short tenure as an architectural historian in Utah.  I wound thorough the historic (but small) downtown and then started the climb up the hill toward the wineries.  As I reached the crest of the hill, I saw a large stone church and cemetery that dominated the summit.

When I looked online, I found Altus is the site of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (St. Mary’s Catholic Church), which is on the National Register of Historic Places.  St. Mary’s was built in 1902 and is known for its beautiful paintings, ornate gold leaf walls, and Roman Basilica-style architecture.  Father Placidus Oechsle began his tenure as St. Mary’s pastor at the turn of the century, and the stone church was built at that time from sandstone dug from the hillside on which the building sits.  Father Placidus and immigrant painter Fridolin Fuchs extravagantly decorated the church.  Donations from parish members enabled the acquisition of the four large bells that grace the bell tower and the purchase of a first-class organ to fill the interior with music.  Placidus’s 38-year tenure was the longest of any priest at St. Mary’s.

Altus is the epicenter of the Altus American Viticultural Area (AVA) within Arkansas Wine Country.  Although founded as a coal mining community, the wine industry has driven the Altus economy since the first vineyards were planted in 1872.  Altus took off in 1875 when the railroad was extended to that point.  Altus station was the highest elevation point on the track between Little Rock and Fort Smith, so the station was originally known as “Summit”.  The town’s early development was driven by the railroad’s effort to encourage German immigrants to settle lands adjacent to the railroad.  In 1903, the railroad mainline was shifted to a more favorable alignment along the Arkansas River, and the track through Altus was removed in the 1930’s.  Altus is now home to four wineries

THOUGHTS:  The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the US.  From 1840 to 1880 Germans were the largest group of immigrants.  As the railroads expanded west the tide of German immigrants took refuge on the land opened by the rails.  That included my ancestors (Illinois and Kansas) and those who settled in Altus.  Historians credit these German emigrants with invention of the American weekend, as they change the Puritan pious Sunday to the revelry we now appreciate.  Each successive wave of immigrants each added a touch to the celebrations and festivals we celebrate.  Rather than melting pot, America is a stew where new waves of immigrants add to the broth.  That is who we are, and always have been.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 28, 2022

Being a child of the 1970’s means I grew up with the beanbag.  I believe my every apartment during the decade was equipped with a beanbag, and that was true for my friends as well.  As we grew older and began to have children, the beanbag shifted from inexpensive furniture for a single male to the go to furniture for a small child. These were great to flop in after work, as an extra chair to watch the ball game, or a way to keep a young son occupied.  The best part was they were inexpensive and light enough to easily move.

When I looked online, I found the Sacco chair (“Sacco” is Italian for “bag, sack”), also called a beanbag chair or simply a beanbag, is a large fabric bag filled with polystyrene beans.  The Sacco was introduced in 1968 by three Italian designers, Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro, and was created in the Italian Modernism movement.  Italian modernism’s design was inspired by the new available technology.  The idea of mass-produced goods made within an inexpensive price range appealed to consumers and created the need for a revolution in the creative and manufacturing process.  The beanbag was marketed as the ‘shapeless chair’, as the beanbag conformed to whatever user happened to plop down.  The target user of the chair was the laidback hippie community and their non-conformist household.  In an era characterized by the hippie culture, apartment sharing, and student demonstrations, the thirty-something designers were said to have created a nonpoltrona (non-chair) that launched an attack on good bourgeois taste.  Here I only thought it was comfortable.

This week I did something I had never done before and washed a beanbag chair.  I unzipped the bag and poured the contents into two large trash bags.  The beans came out easily enough but were so full of static they flew around the garage.  We popped the cover in the washer, and when it came out the inside of the machine was covered with polystyrene beans.  We put the bag over the patio fence to dry to keep from filling the dryer as well.  Getting the beans back in the bag was not so easy.  I started outside and wound up with beans covering the patio.  I brought the bag inside, but it did not get any better.  The only time the beans easily spilled from the trash bag was when they fell to the floor rather than inside the beanbag.  Between the two of us we were able to refill the beanbag, but probably lost a third of the beans “somewhere”.

THOUGHTS:  The foam polystyrene used in beanbags, and as protective packaging for other products, is not biodegradable.  Previously manufacturers have tried making it environmentally friendly by incorporating cellulose and starch, or by adding light sensitive polymers that degrade in sunlight, but these methods have serious disadvantages.  A team of scientists from China has developed an approach that embeds water-absorbing resin particles throughout the styrene before it is formed into polystyrene.  When the resulting solid encounters water, the polymer particles expand, reducing the polymer structure to a powder that is biodegrade.  By altering the ratio of ingredients, it is possible to control the rate of disintegration.  The foamed polystyrene is cheaper than conventional materials and is readily adoptable by cost-conscious companies that want to be environmentally responsible.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 26, 2022

The puppy we picked up yesterday was in Northwest Arkansas in a town about 75 miles away.  Melissa was excited to share our new addition to the family and had made plans to drop by both her sister’s and our friends in Fort Smith.  When we arrived at the puppy’s house the owner told us she had not eaten and wanted to know if we wanted to wait.  There was a huge pan of food which three of the siblings were feeding from.  Melissa declined, even though we still had an hour and a half drive, plus the two stops.  That turned out to be a good decision.  Melissa thought it would be good for me to bond with the puppy by letting it sit in my lap on the way home.  Her sister did not live far so we loaded up and went to see her.  After the oohs and aahs, we loaded again and started the next leg.  The puppy is a black Great Parenesis mix who we decided to name Zena, the Warrior Princess.  As a mix we hope she will be smaller.

When I went online, I found The Pyrenean Mountain Dog (French: Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées) is a breed of livestock guardian dog from France, where it is commonly called the Patou.  The breed comes from the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains that separate France and Spain.  It is recognized as a separate breed from the closely related Pyrenean Mastiff, which is from the Spanish side of the mountains.  The breed is widely used throughout France as a livestock guardian, particularly in the French Alps and Pyrenees, protecting flocks from wolves and bears.  The breed is known as the Great Pyrenees in the United States, where it is also used to protect flocks from various predators.  Hopefully Zena will be able to protect our bird flocks from the “vicious” squirrels.

For millennia dogs like Zena were used by shepherds to protect their flocks and were usually fitted with a heavy iron wolf collar studded with long nails for protection.  They were often used in combination with the smaller Pyrenean Sheepdog, the former guarding the flocks and the latter herding them.  They were also used to smuggle contraband between France and Spain, carrying packs over the Pyrenees on routes impassable to humans to avoid detection by customs officials.  The Pyrenees today is used in its original role as a livestock guardian for shepherds in the French Pyrenees and the French Alps, as well as in the US.  Beginning in the late 1970’s, US sheep farmers began employing guardian dogs to protect their flocks from predators.  Several factors influenced the move to integrate dogs into farming operations, including federal restrictions on poisons to control predators.  A 1986 survey of over 400 farmers employing 763 livestock guardian dogs in the US found 57% of them used Pyrenean Mountain Dogs. 

THOUGHTS:  When we left Melissa’s sister, we did not get two miles before Zena became sick.  The bonding began quickly as she went through several episodes during the ride home.  While the owner said Zena had not eaten, that did not appear to be the case.  Getting sick on a puppy’s first ride is not uncommon, and at least one other puppy from the house had the same.  This is one of many firsts we look forward to over the years.  Bringing new babies (human or pets) into the household cause a shift in “the way we have always done things.”  The pandemic brought a similar shift that we are still trying to work through.  Being different does not mean worse, just different.  Follow the science.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 25, 2022

It took a long time after we lost Bella to work through our stages of grief.  I always liked dogs but enjoyed playing with other’s puppies more than the responsibility of raising one myself.  Melissa always had dogs and cats in the house growing up, and usually in multiples.  She has been testing the water for the last year wondering when we (I) might be ready for a puppy.  Melissa has combed the rescue sites and pound notices looking for the “right” dog.  Dogs have been scarce during the pandemic as everyone seemed to be wanting a companion to replace their office mates.  Several weeks ago, she found what she thought might be the dog for us.  We plan to pick up the 8-week-old puppy this evening.

When I went online, I found that animal welfare advocates are warning scarce adoptable pets in some US states corresponds with a break in the supply chain, and that other shelters continue to face floods of stray animals.  While northern states have seen a surge in pet adoptions that have cleared some shelters, southern states face the same annual influx of new animals.  Matthew Bershadker, CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) told NPR that on average about 45,000 southern animals are transported north each year to states with emptier shelters.  The northern carpetbaggers after the Civil War have been switched to the southern flea-baggers of the pandemic.

The pandemic has led to varying domestic travel restrictions and hindered the transportation networks to move animals to more scarce population shelters.  There has been a decline in donations to shelters as millions of Americans file for unemployment and emptied shelters do not have the resources to obtain more animals.  Jean Shafiroff, an ambassador for the American Humane Society, said she’s happy some shelters have been cleared but she is concerned that once social distancing guidelines are scaled back some will decide to return their pets.  She also worries reports of scarce shelter animals could deter people from adopting animals.  “To say that there is a shortage of adoptable dogs and cats when between one and two million are euthanized every year makes no sense,” Shafiroff said. “A lot of dogs have been adopted now but not that many.  It does not appear that we’ll ever have a shortage.”  Like other supply chain issues, it is just a matter of getting adoptable pets to available owners.

THOUGHTS:  While many consider monetary donations to a local pet rescue shelter, there are other ways to help.  Donating your time is one of the most impactful, as many shelters need help cleaning, caring for the animals, and keeping the facility in good condition.  If you have a talent or hobby like photography or videography you may help by highlighting one of the available pets.  Gently used items from previous pets can be donated to provide extra supplies.  General cleaning supplies are always in need (especially newspapers!).  Always check with your local shelter for their donation needs and how you can best use your time and talents.  Follow the science.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 24, 2022

When I pulled up my NY Times feed yesterday it reported the rising number of mass shootings in the US.  Crime experts define a mass shooting as an event where four or more people are shot.  Last weekend, there were at least nine mass shootings across the US, including one in my home state at a car show.  Ironically, the annual car show is held against gun violence.  The burst of weekend crime violence continues a trend that began in the outset of the pandemic and shows no sign of easing.  Reporter David Leonhardt wrote there is no good answer for the crime wave, and it appears to be a distinctly American response to the pandemic.  Historians point out crime waves often occur when people feel frustrated with society, the government, and their fellow citizens.  This frustration can feed a breakdown in societal norms and a rise in what sociologist Émile Durkheim (1893) called “anomie.”

When I went online, I found Anomie is a social condition defined by a breakdown of moral values, standards, or guidance for individuals to follow.  Anomie was thought to evolve from a conflict of belief systems and causes a breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community.  Personal alienation can progress into an inability to integrate with normal situations of the social world, like finding a job or a successful relationship.  Durkheim used anomie to refer to the effects of industrialization in Europe.  The contemporary understanding of anomie accepts greater flexibility in the “norm”, and some have used the idea of normlessness to reflect a situation like the idea of anarchy.  However, for Durkheim and later theorists’ anomie is a reaction against the social controls of society, while anarchy is a state of disorder due to absence or rejection of authority or other controlling systems.

In the 1950’s Robert Merton extended the theory of anomie to the US and argued anomie is not simply about unregulated goals, but a broken relationship between cultural goals and legitimate means of accessing them.  Merton argued everyone in the US is socialized to believe that their possibilities, regardless of their circumstances, are limitless and that they should desire success on a large scale.  However, society restricts or eliminates access to approved ways of acquiring these symbols of success for a considerable part of the population.  Those in lower economic classes may share the goal of success but are limited by lack of education and job opportunities. The mismatch between goals and opportunity creates anomie and can result in increased crime.

THOUGHTS:  According to Gallup, nearly 80 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the country’s direction and feel frustrated with the government, the economy, and fellow citizens.  Many consider people with opposing political ideas are so wrong they do not deserve to express their views.  Polls show an alarming degree of skepticism about democracy and an openness to political violence.  Along with alienation, a wide range of behavior has deteriorated.  Alcohol abuse and drug overdoses have increased, blood pressure is up, measures of mental health are down, and vehicle crashes have surged.  The anomie created by the shift to industrialization has been replaced by the anomie brought on by globalization.  This turmoil will continue to rise until society (and individuals) decide to make opportunity available for all.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 23, 2022

Melissa has a friend who has been texting her about the crappie run along the Arkansas River bottoms.  She sent me the link and suggested I see if this was an accessible location for us to fish.  Many areas along the river have steep banks and others are overgrown with trees which make it difficult for fly fishing.  The location was an hour and a half away, but I decided to check it out.  I followed the directions along a levee road and ultimately to a small boat launch.  This area did not seem accessible for bank fishing.  As I prepared to leave a bald eagle flew across the river.  I waited and moments later it flew back with a fish grasped in its talons.  The eagle circled and then flew to its nest (aerie) located in a tree just 100 yards from me.

When I looked online, I found it takes the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) four feather shedding’s (molt) and almost five years to obtain their white head.  Both the male and female eagle have their distinctive white heads when they reach maturity at five years and will start breeding.  A bald eagle spends most of its juvenile years covered in dark feathers, anywhere between brown and black.  With each yearly molt the eaglet comes closer to its definitive color, but its plumage goes through four different stages during these molts.  The head stays mostly brown before maturity, while the rest of the feathers go from dark to light and back to brown again.  The eagle mates for life and the pair will often return year after year to the same nest.  While nesting, the pair continuously adds to the structure.  After many seasons the nest can assume gargantuan proportions and stands as a symbol of their fidelity.

As I watched the nest, I noticed the eagle sharing the fish with another bird.  I thought it might be a chick, but the bird was too large, and it was too early in the season for eaglets.  It did not look like the second bird had the characteristic white head and I thought it must have been a younger eagle coming into maturity.  While eagle courtship rituals are spectacular displays of aerial acrobatics, it is nest building that cements the bond between male and female.  The male stays with the female to help incubate the eggs and feed the offspring.  According to Wayne Mones, “monogamy is advantageous only when nesting and parenting responsibilities demand an extraordinary investment of energy by both parents.  When the two flew over to a nearby branch I saw they both had white heads.  They were a mated pair reclaiming their nest for the spring.

THOUGHTS:  Contrary to popular legend, there is no evidence that Benjamin Franklin publicly supported the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) rather than the bald eagle as a symbol of the US.  However, in a letter written to his daughter in 1784 he stated his personal distaste for eagle behavior.  “For my own part.  I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country.  He is a bird of bad moral character.”  Franklin believed our founders focused on perception when choosing the national bird.  Human prejudice also relies on perception rather than actions.  Looking the “right” way does not imply good character.  Character is determined by how we treat each other.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 21, 2022

The Nation & World section in yesterday’s newspaper blared the headline, “Antarctica, Artic 70 and 50 degrees above normal”.  The AP reporter went on to say what made this unique was that both the earth’s poles were hotter at the same time.  Weather stations in Antarctica shattered records Friday as the region neared autumn.  The two-mile high (3,234 meters) Concordia station was at 10F (-12.2C), which is 70 degrees warmer than average.  The even higher Vostok station was barely above 0F (-17.7C), beating its record high by 27F degrees (15 degrees Celsius).  Officials at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, were surprised as they had been monitoring the Arctic where temperatures were 50F (30C) warmer than average and areas near the North Pole were nearing or at the melting point.  These high temperatures occurred as the northern hemisphere entered spring and the southern hemisphere entered autumn.

When I looked online, I found the Earth’s tilted axis causes seasons.  During the year different parts of the Earth receive the Sun’s most direct rays.  When the North Pole tilts toward the Sun, it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and when the South Pole tilts toward the Sun, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere.  There is a common (incorrect) belief that the Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer (hotter) and is farther from the Sun (cooler) in the winter.  The Earth’s orbit is lop-sided and during part of the year the Earth is closer to the Sun than other times.  In the North, we have winter when Earth is closest to the Sun and summer when it is farthest away.  This change in the Earth’s distance through the year does not have a perceptible influence our weather.  The seasons are the result of the tilt of the axis, rather than distance to the sun.  The Earth has seasons because the axis does not stand up straight.

When I read newspaper reports I try and find corroborating reports from other online sources.  When I typed in my request, I found a (nearly) identical story by the same author dated today titled, “Hot poles: Antarctica, Artic 40 and 30 degrees above normal”.  What I realized was the Sunday article was written for the Associated Press (AP) and was directed toward a US audience.  Today’ report was picked up by Connected TV (CTV) which is internet based for a global audience.  Both articles were saying the poles were getting hotter but hidden within the articles were correlations of Fahrenheit to Celsius.  The Antarctic is 70F above normal, or 40C, while the Arctic is 50F above normal, or 30C.  Either way it is not good, but the difference may affect the perceived urgency of the problem.  

THOUGHTS:  How we collect, and report information can dramatically change interpretation by the public.  Melissa and I watch local broadcast news during the evening (6 and 10 pm) and alternate between two stations.  Both reports each station are essentially the same during their early and late broadcast, but one seems to focus on Northwest Arkansas and the other on Fort Smith.  We alternate to get a broader perspective.  This difference is marked between the 24-Hour news stations and seem based on political ideology.  When we exclude any viewpoints other than our own, we can miss the urgency of the problem.  This only makes the dialogue hotter.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 19, 2022

I am playing the NCAA Men’s Tournament Challenge again this year.  Last year I filled out one bracket and then completed the bracket I found in my local paper.  This year I got excited and filled out five brackets online, as well as my hard copy.  The site allows each person to complete 25 brackets.  I stopped at five because I could no longer keep track of what I had predicted.  As the first round ended on Friday it did not seem to matter as I had losses in all six of my brackets.  I was comforted by the fact that in 10 of the 32 games the lower seed defeated the higher seeded team.  While many of these games were not considered upsets, there were two games where the 12 seed knocked off the 5 seed (common) and one where the 2 seed lost to a 15 (rare).  When I checked the stats, out of 17.3 million brackets, they all had at least one wrong prediction.

When I looked online, I found there have been 52 upsets by 12-seeds since the NCAA expanded the tournament brackets in 1985.  Going into 2022, the lower seed was 51-93 (35.42%).  That percentage went up again this year, as two of the four 12 seeds won round one games.  The average margin of victory in 2 verses 15 matchups since expansion has been just over 17 points per game, and that includes the eight times a 15 seed has beaten a 2 seed.  The games are not typically competitive, but the lower seed comes in knowing they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  It happened again this weekend, as Saint Peter’s defeated a 2 seed Kentucky team many had picked to win it all.  There is always hope.

The only 1 seed to lose to a 16 happened in 2018, when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers defeated the Virginia Cavaliers and became an overnight sensation.  By the end of this weekend there will be 16 teams left in the brackets.  Of these 16, I potentially have 15 teams that could move on, and all my selections for the elite eight are playing well.  Even as I write, another 1 seed fell to an 8.  As always, it will be a long three weeks.  Maybe I should just go fishing.

THOUGHTS:  I enjoy picking tournament brackets even though I am not very good at it.  The other side of the tournament is the billions of dollars expected to be wagered by Americans.  The American Gaming Association estimates 45 million people could combine to wager $3.1 billion on the NCAA tournament through bracket pools and wagers with sportsbooks and friends.  The $3.1 billion is approximately three times more than was estimated bet on the 2022 Super Bowl.  I would bet most of these people were not very good at it either.  While a 1 can defeat a 16, the house will always win.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 18, 2022

One of the articles on the inside of my newspaper this morning addressed the use of driverless vehicles.  Americans have been told for years that autonomous technology was improving and driverless vehicles were just around the corner.  Now the first fully automated vehicles are set to roll out by the end of the year.  These are not improvements to the current crop of driverless cars or even full sanction of the semi-trailer trucks that drive across the southwest.  The driverless age is coming to the farm.  This fall the John Deere factory in Waterloo, Iowa, is rolling out green 14-ton tractors that can plow day or night with no one sitting in the cab, or even watching.  The age of driverless farming is here.

When I looked online, I found the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines six levels of driving automation.  In Level 0, the automated system issues warnings and may momentarily intervene but has no sustained vehicle control.  Level 1 is “hands on”, where the driver and the automated system share control of the vehicle (cruise control or automatic emergency braking).  Level 2 is “hands off”, where the automated system takes full control of the vehicle, but the driver monitors and is prepared to intervene immediately.  Level 3 is “eyes off”, where the driver can safely turn their attention away from driving but must still be prepared to intervene when required.  Level 4 is “mind off”, where no driver attention is required for safety, but self-driving is only supported in limited areas (geofenced) or special circumstances.  Level 5 is “steering wheel optional”, where no human intervention is required at all.

It is no surprise driverless tractors are beating cars.  One problem faced by autonomous systems is humans doing foolish things in their path.  There are fewer obstacles (and humans) in a field to avoid.  If something unexpected present itself, the system is designed to stop until it is cleared.  Given that less than 2% of Americans work on farms and rural populations have dwindled for decades, the autonomous tractors are expected to help with chronic labor shortages.  The shift to more sophisticated tractors is part of a movement that emphasizes planting, fertilizing, and harvesting during narrow time windows when conditions are perfect.  A driverless tractor can work around the clock and complete the task before bad weather.  That could be worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars every year.  CNH Industrial is developing driverless capabilities for its Case and New Holland tractors, and other companies are exploring smaller autonomous machines to handle other farm work.  Jobs are not lost if no one will do the work.

THOUGHTS:  There are 80 companies researching driverless capabilities on 1400 vehicles.  While fully autonomous vehicles are not available in the US, some cars already operate with minimal human assistance and others are expected to run without human drivers in the future.  Automobile accidents (with human drivers) are the leading cause of death among healthy people in the US.  Statistics show 40,000 people are killed in vehicle accidents every year and nearly 2.5 million are seriously hurt or permanently disabled.  Even with driverless vehicles there will be accidents resulting from human error.  In our litigious culture, who do you sue when a driverless car is in an accident?  Do the work.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

March 17, 2022

I woke early this morning with the “ding” of my phone letting me know I had received a text message.  I paid no attention and tried to go back to sleep, but five minutes later received the follow-up “ding” letting me know I had ignored the first one.  This was the start of a lively back and forth conversation (and dings) between my sibs concerning the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.  Today’s chat was a continuation of last night when my brother-in-law (part Irish) sent a reminder that we needed to celebrate Patrick.  I would like to blame him for my early rise, but apparently Melissa had finally gotten around to looking at the feed and started this morning’s conservation.  Since I was constantly being dinged anyway, I decided to get up. 

When I looked online, I found Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland.  Patrick died before the formal canonization of saints began in the 12^th century.  He instead became a saint by popular acclaim, probably with the approval of a bishop.  Much of what is known about Patrick comes from the Declaration, which he allegedly wrote.  It is believed he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family.  His father was a deacon, and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church.  He was kidnapped at the age of 16 by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland.  Patrick spent six years working as a shepherd, and it was during this time he found God.  God told Patrick to flee to the coast where a ship was waiting to take him home.  Patrick became a priest after making his way home.  Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity, and spent his remaining years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland.

Saint Patrick’s Day is held on March 17^th, the traditional date Patrick died (c. 385 – c. 461), to honor Ireland’s patron saint.  The day was made an official Christian feast in the early 17^th century and is observed by many liturgical Christian denominations.  The day commemorates Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrating Irish heritage and culture.  Celebrations involve parades, festivals, social gatherings with traditional Irish or Scottish music, dancing, and storytelling (called céilís), and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.  Christians attend church services, and as a feast day the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, encouraging, and propagating the day’s tradition of alcohol consumption.

THOUGHTS:  Patrick’s efforts toward conversion turned into an allegory in which he drove “snakes” out of Ireland, even though snakes were not known to inhabit Ireland.  Patrick became a saint as the “people’s choice” rather than canonization.  Over the following centuries, legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland’s foremost saint.  The hold of Patrick and his celebration still seems to exist today.  What other day would tempt you to pinch your mother and drink green beer?  Do the work.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.