I got to see my grandson yesterday for the first time in weeks!
Elannah, Sophia, Little Gary, and I went to visit Sian and Tyler yesterday. We used the excuse that we needed to pick up a keyboard that Sian no longer needs (and that Elannah wanted), but it was really about seeing Tyler. We all needed a Tyler fix.
I would show you pictures, but I was way too busy playing with Tyler to take any. He will randomly yell, "M, N, O, P!" because that's his favorite sequence of the alphabet, though he isn't quite two years old yet. He had us all in stitches, and he loved being the center of attention. We got our Tyler fix, and life was good.
With gas prices so low, I wish we could take longer road trips right now. Obviously, that's still a tricky proposition with the Pandemic Panic and all--and Husband and I are still working, even if it's at home, and even if I'm not being asked to do much to earn my pay at the moment. For several reasons, it's not the right time to be gallivanting off to parts yet unexplored. Missed opportunities...
Speaking of earning my pay, however, I got to substitute as the driver on a school lunch delivery today. I picked up a number of lunches--along with two lunch ladies, Candy and Kaylynn--from the local junior high, and we headed out to one of the far-flung small rural towns that is in our school district. I parked the bus at the tiny town hall, and the three of us had a friendly conversation while waiting for people to come and pick up lunches for their kids.
I cannot over exaggerate to you how beautiful it was out there. The town is sprawled along the valley floor between mountain ranges, but you could miss it if you didn't know it was there. There is nothing taller than a two-story house, and there are a limited number of roads, some of them dirt, leading through the main part of town and then out to ranches and farms.
The temperature today was perfect: sunny and warm, but not too warm. There were no traffic noises at all, unless you strained your ears for the very occasional car going down the distant highway. All I could hear was the sound of chirping birds and the light, refreshing wind in the trees.
Bucolic. Peaceful. Lovely. Serene. I bet you can see all the stars at night.
Candy lives in this town, so Kaylynn and I asked her what it was like to live there and how much land costs. I did some looking when I got home, and it varies between dirt cheap ($200K for five acres) to more expensive for a customized, high-end three-bedroom house on ten acres, though that listing is still under $700K. It's still cheaper than most places out in the Mountain West.
The town has no commercial entities. You have to drive all the way into my burg to shop or get gas, so you'd have to plan ahead for your needs; but the amazing view and the country quiet would make up for all of that.
All of the firefighters are volunteers, but Candy says that if there's a fire, most of the town's people also show up and help however they can.
I recently stumbled upon a magical building method called barndominiums (or barndos, for short), and my imagination got fired up thinking about buying some land and building a steel-frame barn-turned-spacious home. Oh, I have such dreams!
Here's one of my favorites because I really like how the owner planned out the space and the materials she used:
I won't bore you right now with my ideas about how I would configure the space, but the options are pretty endless when you have such wide spans without the need for supporting columns or walls.
Anyway, when we got back from our lunch deliveries and I dropped Kaylynn back at the school, the head lunch lady begged me to take all the extra lunches from all the lunch routes--about thirty lunches total--plus two crates of leftover milk cartons. If I didn't take them, the lunch ladies would be forced to disassemble all of the lunches and put all the components into separate places (some being refrigerated or frozen), and some of the items would go bad before the next lunch delivery on Monday. That would be tragic. I happily took all of the lunches off their hands and distributed most of them and the milk around to neighborhood families with kids. We kept five of the lunches, but I have way too much milk in my fridge now. We are not heavy milk drinkers. I will need to give away more milk.
Husband and Joseph have been helping my FIL build a new wooden deck to extend the concrete patio in his backyard. The new deck covers the patch of lawn that just can't seem to keep grass growing (I'm sure the dogs don't help). They have all learned a lot of new skills, and they've all become a little sunburnt, but they've done a great job.
This is how we're rolling.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Sunday, April 26, 2020
"Weakness" Cover (Partial)
Elannah recorded this and got up the nerve to post it to a couple of social media platforms. She was really nervous to put this out there, which is funny for a girl who can ham it up on the stage. She's doing part of one of Lennon Stella's newly released songs, "Weakness."
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
That's What She Said
Little Gary said, "Imagine there's a law-themed horror movie and it's called 'Cease and Deceased.'"
I laughed for a long time.
Last night, Elannah and I were jamming--me on the piano, her singing. We've been practicing a particular song she's going to record, but we'd finished practicing that and were just messing around. It was after 11pm, so, you know, we were a little giggly.
I laughed for a long time.
Last night, Elannah and I were jamming--me on the piano, her singing. We've been practicing a particular song she's going to record, but we'd finished practicing that and were just messing around. It was after 11pm, so, you know, we were a little giggly.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Poorly...
I experienced an unexpected and very stressful situation this morning, and suddenly my chest started hurting and I got a stabbing pain in my right shoulder blade (my body's particular stress center) along with an urgent need to sell my house and quietly move out into the middle of nowhere where no one can talk to me or want anything from me or expect me to be in charge of anything.
I don't want to brag, but I think these physical and emotional responses show how much I've grown during this time of weirdness. I didn't curl up into the fetal position, and that is an improvement.
Most of my worst stress comes about as a result of the difference between what other people expect from me (or my perception of same) versus what I can actually do or what I am actually willing to do. There's still that people-pleaser part of me ready to castigate myself for not living up to all expectations, realistic or otherwise. Also, my ability to deal with stress has greatly diminished over the years. Instead of rolling up my sleeves and getting things done, I find myself paralyzed and overwhelmed with indecision and despair over even the stupidest and smallest of stresses--never mind the big, urgent stresses! That might be my shattered adrenal glands talking, or it might be that, as I've aged, I have less confidence. Being young means you're much more confident because you don't know what you don't know, and not knowing what you can't do leads to doing the impossible. I happen to know that I don't know very much of anything at all by now.
What I am ironically perfect at is second-guessing myself.
Also ironic is that the older I've grown, the better I am at faking confidence. Some people I know are convinced I'm a competent adult. Joke's on them!
I take some comfort in Zig Ziglar's quote, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly--until you can learn to do it well," as a counter to what Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, notably penned in 1746, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well," which has been the perfectionists' mantra for centuries.
Doing something poorly means that at least you're doing something rather than nothing. While I do acknowledge the fact that, in some cases, doing something poorly screws things up worse than doing nothing at all (which is the basis of some of the most hilarious and heart-breaking book and movie plots), the overall implication is that doing something is better than doing nothing at all because at least you're taking an action; and allowing yourself to do something poorly--at least the first time or two or three--gives you the room to grow and learn and begin to do it well.
This is what I teach my kids, even while I struggle with it myself: that every thing they do will come with a learning curve, but that they can overcome the curve every single time. Sometimes the curve is low and things are easy, and sometimes the curve is really steep and hard, though it's ultimately climbable. The key is to take the first step, to do something poorly at first, if that's what it takes.
We never watch our infants learning to walk, and when they fall, tell them that they're failures for not knowing how to walk right away. No, we tell them to get up and try again, knowing they will eventually succeed. How do we know? Because we were each toddlers at one time learning to walk. We know it can be done. We know they will eventually figure out their balance and gain small motor control, and then their chubby little bodies will work in coordination with their growing brains and they'll get it. In fact, we know they'll get it so well that they'll soon be able to run.
Why is it so hard to feel that sure of our adult selves?
I like to imagine our Heavenly Father, who is all-loving and perfectly aware of every single one of us and our struggles and triumphs, watching me continually falling on my butt (harder and more painfully now than when I was less than two feet tall) and saying, with infinite love, "Look at you! You got so much farther that time! You're getting it, my girl!" Well, I don't have to imagine if I'm praying. I get that encouragement whenever I pray, along with advice for how to do things better, if I'm prepared to ask and then listen.
That's my sermon to myself today. Thanks for coming along. I write things out as a way to order my thoughts, and this is one of the sermons I want to remember for later because I know I'll need it.
I don't want to brag, but I think these physical and emotional responses show how much I've grown during this time of weirdness. I didn't curl up into the fetal position, and that is an improvement.
Most of my worst stress comes about as a result of the difference between what other people expect from me (or my perception of same) versus what I can actually do or what I am actually willing to do. There's still that people-pleaser part of me ready to castigate myself for not living up to all expectations, realistic or otherwise. Also, my ability to deal with stress has greatly diminished over the years. Instead of rolling up my sleeves and getting things done, I find myself paralyzed and overwhelmed with indecision and despair over even the stupidest and smallest of stresses--never mind the big, urgent stresses! That might be my shattered adrenal glands talking, or it might be that, as I've aged, I have less confidence. Being young means you're much more confident because you don't know what you don't know, and not knowing what you can't do leads to doing the impossible. I happen to know that I don't know very much of anything at all by now.
What I am ironically perfect at is second-guessing myself.
Also ironic is that the older I've grown, the better I am at faking confidence. Some people I know are convinced I'm a competent adult. Joke's on them!
I take some comfort in Zig Ziglar's quote, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly--until you can learn to do it well," as a counter to what Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, notably penned in 1746, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well," which has been the perfectionists' mantra for centuries.
Doing something poorly means that at least you're doing something rather than nothing. While I do acknowledge the fact that, in some cases, doing something poorly screws things up worse than doing nothing at all (which is the basis of some of the most hilarious and heart-breaking book and movie plots), the overall implication is that doing something is better than doing nothing at all because at least you're taking an action; and allowing yourself to do something poorly--at least the first time or two or three--gives you the room to grow and learn and begin to do it well.
This is what I teach my kids, even while I struggle with it myself: that every thing they do will come with a learning curve, but that they can overcome the curve every single time. Sometimes the curve is low and things are easy, and sometimes the curve is really steep and hard, though it's ultimately climbable. The key is to take the first step, to do something poorly at first, if that's what it takes.
We never watch our infants learning to walk, and when they fall, tell them that they're failures for not knowing how to walk right away. No, we tell them to get up and try again, knowing they will eventually succeed. How do we know? Because we were each toddlers at one time learning to walk. We know it can be done. We know they will eventually figure out their balance and gain small motor control, and then their chubby little bodies will work in coordination with their growing brains and they'll get it. In fact, we know they'll get it so well that they'll soon be able to run.
Why is it so hard to feel that sure of our adult selves?
I like to imagine our Heavenly Father, who is all-loving and perfectly aware of every single one of us and our struggles and triumphs, watching me continually falling on my butt (harder and more painfully now than when I was less than two feet tall) and saying, with infinite love, "Look at you! You got so much farther that time! You're getting it, my girl!" Well, I don't have to imagine if I'm praying. I get that encouragement whenever I pray, along with advice for how to do things better, if I'm prepared to ask and then listen.
That's my sermon to myself today. Thanks for coming along. I write things out as a way to order my thoughts, and this is one of the sermons I want to remember for later because I know I'll need it.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Non-Americans: All Your Most Pressing Questions Answered
Elannah and I were laughing about these questions, so I thought I'd answer them. Answering the questions kept me busy for a while and made me think about things other than continual earth tremors and house arrest quarantine aggravations.
These are from a Buzzfeed article where non-Americans are wondering if we really do these things or if it's only something done in movies or on TV.
1. Why do Americans on TV always swallow pills without a drink?
TV characters are usually insane to some degree and enjoy gagging on dry pills. That is the only explanation I have.
2. Do Americans really decorate their lockers w/ posters and mirrors and pictures of their crush (bit noncy) or is that just in the movies?
No, we really do liven up our lockers with paraphernalia. Well, if you go to a small enough school where you get an entire locker to yourself, or if you actually have time to get to your locker between classes when you go to a huge school, or if your locker is actually big enough to provide enough real estate to decorate. I went to a small school, so I had an entire full-sized locker to myself, and I did tape up a picture of me and my friends and a few other things. In my school, we even left them open all day, and it was incredibly rare if anyone stole anything.
Btw, I would never have taped up pictures of my crushes.
3. Do Americans really eat chips on sandwiches like on tv?
Yes, and it's delicious. Salt-and-vinegar chips on a tuna sandwich, yum. Some people like regular potato chips on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or on a savory meat sandwich, like, say, a roast beef and cheese. Chips give the sandwich a pleasing crunch.
A variation of putting chips on your sandwich is to have your hamburger loaded with onion rings.
4. Americans in movies always have a big bowl of mixed lettuce in the middle of the table with their dinner
This is a throwback to the 50s, and it does still happen today. Traditionally, the salad greens are put into a wooden bowl, and if you're really classy, you'll rub the cut edge of a fresh garlic bulb around the insides of the bowl so the greens get just a touch of garlic flavor.
I, myself, frequently set out a big bowl of salad greens for family dinners (though I don't own a wooden bowl), with extra salad ingredients in separate bowls so people can build the salad they like.
5. do americans really have red cups all the time at parties or is that just in movies? someone let me know thanks
Red Solo cups are nearly mandatory for all parties. They're inexpensive, sturdy, and large enough to hold plenty of liquid. We use them all the time, even if we don't drink alcohol.
Fun fact: the Solo brand now offers a wide array of cup colors other than red.
6. Do Americans really carry groceries in paper bags or is that just in movies only?
Yes, we do carry groceries in paper bags, but not all the time, and not in every part of the country. Most grocery stores have baggers who do the bagging for you (at no extra cost), and they'll ask if you want paper or plastic bags. Most people choose plastic because they're a little sturdier; but some parts of the country have banned plastic bags altogether, so they either use paper bags or reusable bags. When I was a kid, all groceries were bagged in paper bags--ironically, back then, people clamored for plastic because it would save the trees. Now they're clamoring to ban plastic bags to save the environment. Whatever you use, you'll be wrong.
7. According to the movies, all Americans have a bag of frozen peas in their fridge, but they never use it while cooking.
I don't know about all Americans, but I certainly have frozen peas in my fridge, and I do use them for cooking. They're also handy when you need a flexible ice pack. Using a bag of frozen peas for dinner is definitely not a sexy movie look, though, so I'm not surprised no one in TV land grabs their frozen peas, rips it open, and dumps the contents into a pot of boiling water unless the director wants to portray the character as a delightfully inept cook in a rom-com.
8. Why do Americans on tv shows / films rarely say goodbye when they hang up the phone? They just hang up. It's just...rude.
We agree. We also comment on that. It is rude! Almost 100% of Americans will say goodbye when hanging up the phone.
9. Why do Americans on tv hand someone a gift and tell them what it is before they open it. Surprise ruined.
No arguments here. Most Americans love watching the look on the person's face when they open the gift. The only time I can think of that you would ruin the surprise is if you're not entirely comfortable with the person you're giving a gift to and are giving them a sort of warning so they can control their reactions or you aren't sure of the person's reaction to that specific gift and feel the need to explain before they see it.
10. Why do Americans name their dog Buster?? Like...what's he busting?
He's busting your heart in two with your love of him, that's what he's busting. But seriously, the names "Buster" and "Buddy" are common generic names Americans call each other in certain social contexts, but they wouldn't be capitalized unless they're the actual proper name (not likely except for pets).
Buster and Buddy can be used for affectionate correction (i.e. a mother to her son: "Where do you think you're going, buster (or buddy)? You haven't finished your vegetables!") or non-affectionate correction (i.e. "Hey, buster! You just hit my car!") or just as a general term of endearment. They're generally used for males. It's unlikely that someone would name a female dog "Buster."
"Buddy" is also another word to denote friendship status, so it wouldn't be uncommon to say, "What's up, buddy?" to a friend, but you would not use "buster" in the same way unless you were angry.
Naming a pet Buster or Buddy is just elevating this general term to name status.
11. do americans actually have an obscene amount of throw pillows on their beds or is that just another lie told to us by movies/tv shows
Only those who have tried to make their bedroom look like a glossy magazine photo.
12. Do Americans really hang out in parking lots or is that a TV trope?
I'm trying to think of any reason why I or anyone I know would ever hang out in a parking lot, and the only things I can come up with are a) when you're having a tailgate party before a big sporting event, or b) when teenagers have nowhere else to go on a Friday night, as is the case in my burg (that's when you see the teens hanging out at Walmart or in the Walmart parking lot).
13. Do Americans actually have a school assignment where they have to take care of a bag of flour like it's a kid with another student or is that just something in movies and tv shows?
Yes, that's an actual school assignment; and yes, students are usually paired off to share in the care of the bag of flour. Actually, these days, the bag of flour has been replaced with a fake baby that cries and demands food and needs diaper changes. The assignment is to help students understand what actual babies require. It can be an assignment for a child development class or in classes where kids are learning life skills as a way to help them understand the responsibility of being a parent and encourage them to keep from getting pregnant out of wedlock or before they're ready.
Not all students have to do this--just the students who take that particular class.
14. Do Americans eat as many of those bear claws at work as TV and movies would have us believe?
Yes.
15. Do Americans actually have their funerals in graveyards with wooden chairs set up beside the grave? Or is that just a movie thing? Genuine question.
I have never been to a funeral that is conducted graveside, but maybe there are some who do that. It's certainly more dramatic to have a movie funeral at a cemetery.
My experience is that the funeral is held in a church or funeral home, after which the casket and invited family members leave and have a short graveside service at the cemetery.
16. In the movies: why do Americans always crumple their money...is this actually a thing in real life because I don't get it...
This is not actually a thing unless you're a kid who doesn't have a wallet, or a slob. Crumpled money in movies is often used to denote an emotion such as desperation or confusion, to denote a lack of care, or to highlight the youth of the character.
17. Do Americans actually eat pb and j or is that like a fake movie thing?
My friend, there is little else in the world as satisfying as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread when you really, really need one. It reminds you of your childhood; but even more than that, it's the delicious combination of salty peanut butter with sweet jelly that makes this an iconic American food. We love the combination of salty and sweet.
You have to remember that jelly in America is like jam, not like gelatin desserts. More specifically, jelly is gelled fruit juice, so it has no chunks of fruit. We also eat jam, which has the chunks of fruit. It is perfectly acceptable to use either jelly or jam in your pb&j, and you can also use white or wheat bread, but it would be unusual to use a strongly flavored bread like sourdough or rye (though I love the combination of flavors in a sourdough pb&j). Grape jelly and strawberry jam are the two most commonly used counterparts to the peanut butter.
18. Do Americans sleep in shoes like in movies ?!
What? Who would sleep in their shoes? Maybe drunk people.
19. Do Americans always leave their keys in the car or is just only in the movies?
Maybe in decades past, when people honestly expected the people around them to act with decency, did they leave their keys in the car or their front doors unlocked. My family, for instance, never locked the front door when I was growing up--even at night. You just didn't expect anyone to break in. But even then, we never left the keys in the car.
These days, who leaves their door unlocked at night or their keys in the car? No one! In the movies, the desperate protagonist jumps into a random car and scrambles madly around for the key and finds it tucked up in the sun visor just in the nick of time. THAT IS A LOAD OF CROCK! No one leaves their keys in the car, even in fleet vehicles. I don't leave my keys on my school bus, either. When I see that in a movie, I start yelling at the screen (but only if I'm at home). It's a cheap plot trick and is not true to life.
20. do americans really wake up and drink milk from the carton like that or is it just a movie aesthetic thing
If anyone does that, it better be their own personal carton of milk they're drinking from!
If you're buying milk in a cardboard carton, you probably live alone or with only one other person, or you're sharing a fridge with roommates. I'm sure some Americans do that, but it's pretty much a movie aesthetic thing for the most part.
21. wait do americans actually call older people ma'am and sir? or is that just a movie thing
Yes, we do that.
22. Do Americans go to batting cages as much as movies think they do?
No. But I bet we would if there were more of them. Unless you are part of a baseball or softball team, you probably aren't visiting the batting cages very often.
23. Do Americans actually like purchase fake IDs or is that just a movie thing???? Confused
Yes, it's a real thing. With the American drinking age set so high at 21, a lot of kids under 21 will purchase a fake ID to get into bars and clubs that serve alcohol. You can drink at 16 in Europe, so I can see why people from Europe would be surprised by the need for a fake ID. There's quite an industry for quality fake IDs for kids under 21 in this country.
Did I have one when I was young? No.
24. do americans ACTUALLY have photo shoots for homecoming, birthdays etc??? or is that made up for movies?
Yes, this is real.
25. Do Americans really eat potato chips on a plate with their lunches like they do in the movies? It's just weird.
Yes, we do that. Usually it's because you're taking chips from a large bag, so you're taking just some and leaving the bag for others to take from. The easiest place to put those chips is on your plate.
26. Do Americans actually take high school football games really seriously or is that just something in the movies?
Oh, we take high school football games very seriously, indeed! I know it's hard for Europeans to grasp just how seriously both the students and the parents take these games because there isn't that same sense of loyalty to school drummed into European students as it is in American students. Sports teams play a huge part in that "school spirit," as that loyalty to your school is called. My British husband was very surprised by this and thought it was all very stupid until we had kids in high school. That pride in your school lasts into adulthood, as even alumni of a high school will come and attend the games and cheer for their team just as heartily as the current students.
American high school students can be involved in many extracurricular activities that are sponsored by the school--sports teams, clubs of all types, theater, music, etc.--and when your team or group performs well, you boost the reputation of your group and your school, and you're proud of that. There is a lot of rivalry (mostly friendly, though it can get tense) between high schools, and the sense of competition is fierce.
There's more to it than just competition, as well. Top high school performers get to compete in larger regional, statewide, and even national competitions, and that equals recognition, and recognition can equal more funding to the school or to the particular sports or academic program. The best students can be offered scholarships to universities, as well. That's a huge deal because a university education can be very expensive. The best university athletes might be offered professional contracts, which is also lucrative.
But more simple than the all the money and recognition is the ingrained American cultural emphasis on excellence, on striving to be the best at what you do. That can be both a blessing and a curse, of course, but it explains our obsession with competition and our fierce loyalty to our schools, because we want to believe that our school is the best one (speaking in general, of course. Not every American teenager cares about their school that much or feels school spirit).
27. Do Americans really have 5 minutes conversations at the door or is it just in the movies?
Yes, we do. I didn't know that was weird.
28. wait so do americans actually call hot chocolate hot cocoa or is that just a cheesy christmas movie type thing?
"Hot chocolate" and "hot cocoa" are interchangeable terms, and yes, both are used. Which one you use most might be determined by personal preference and/or the region in which you live (different regions of the country tend to use different terms for things), but I've used both terms on a regular basis.
29. wait do. americans have a whole class dedicated to trig? or like? why in movies do people be saying they are going to trig class?
Yes, we do. Oh, I could tell you harrowing stories about my trigonometry class in high school or my calculus class in college, but that's mostly because I am so terrible at math. In high school and university, higher math classes are generally separated into specific areas like algebra, geometry, statistics, trigonometry, calculus, etc. In my last year of high school, I had signed up for physics, but I only got through two classes before dropping it and taking finite math instead.
30. so do americans actually leave a spare key under their doormat or is that a movie/book/au type of thing bc if they do that's rlly mf dumb tbh.
It's very dumb, but some people do that. Others are much more creative about how they hide a spare key. My family, for instance, hide our spare key at my in-laws' house just down the street--and not under their doormat, either.
31. do Americans actually care as much about homecoming as the movies make out?
Absolutely. For most schools (and this is true for both high schools and universities), Homecoming lasts an entire week and culminates in a big football game with a rival school followed by a formal dance. A Homecoming Queen is crowned (sometimes a whole court is crowned, including a queen, a king, and courtiers), and some cities have floats and parades. It's a big deal.
32. do Americans actually have lab partners or is it something from movies?
Yes, some teachers assign lab partners. How else would Bella have gotten to know Edward? My own lab partner experience was significantly less romantic, however.
33. do americans actually have yellow school busses or is that a movie thing?
As the driver of a yellow school bus, I can tell you they are very, very real. And not that you asked, but I'll tell you why we have school buses and why they're yellow.
I'm not being condescending at all, but when I went to England and Europe, a lot of people couldn't grasp the sheer geographic scale of where I live here in the States. Places are a lot closer to each other in European towns and cities. Plus, European public transport is excellent, so even if you were too far away to walk to your school, you could easily catch a bus or train.
Here, students can live miles and miles from school, and in most cases, there is simply no option for public transportation. There are students in my school district who live more than 50 miles (80 km) from their school, so buses that are dedicated to transporting students are essential. Granted, my school district includes a lot of very rural areas, but even districts located in large cities cover dozens of square miles.
American school buses are yellow because it is a highly visible color and the yellow makes it easy to read the black lettering on the sides denoting which district the bus drives for. In 1939, a national standard was agreed upon to paint all school buses a specific yellow: National School Bus Glossy Yellow. Before that, they were painted all kinds of colors by different cities or schools. I'm willing to bet even most Americans don't know that little fact.
34. americans i have a question: is it common for parents to put away money specifically for their child's future wedding that may or may not even happen like they seem to do in the movies bc im confused
Yes and no. If parents are smart and have the financial means, they might consider saving up money for a future wedding.
There are a couple things to consider here: unlike the trend in most European and Scandinavian countries, in America, marriage is still preferred in most cases. There are plenty of couples who live together and plan their lives together without being legally married, but a legal marriage is still preferred by a majority of American couples. Therefore, it is highly likely that, as an American parent, at least one of your children (and probably more) will choose to get married, and if you've saved money, the expense of a wedding will take less of a toll on your bank account.
Second, the bride's family traditionally pays for the wedding. This tradition has weakened over the decades, and in an increasing number of cases, the couple will finance their own wedding, or the happy couples' parents family will pitch in equally; but, for the most part, the bride's family is on the hook for the majority of the wedding expenses. Depending on how much of a diva your daughter is, that could get expensive, so saving for a future wedding--especially for a daughter--is something some American couples definitely take upon themselves.
35. quarantine got me having after midnight thoughts at 11pm but do americans actually have white eggs like they do on tv?
Yes. The color of the egg shell depends on the breed of the chicken. Where I live, white eggs are the norm.
36. Why do americans in films always sit on their counters to read newspapers or drink coffee its so ??
I'm going to assume the question is about sitting at counters and not on counters, because I have not seen a lot of movie characters sitting on their counters to drink coffee or read a paper.
Many American kitchens include an island that has seating. The kitchen island takes the place of a breakfast table in these cases. I have a dining table, but I also have an island in the kitchen. If my dining table was in another room, I would probably just sit on one of the stools at my island to eat breakfast.
37. do americans actually have mailboxes or is that just in films
Yes, we do have mailboxes. I have one out by the street so the mail delivery person can drive right up to it in their truck and slide the mail in. I've also lived in a house that had a mail slot in the front door. Whether you have a mailbox or a mail slot depends entirely on how your city's postal service wants to deliver mail. Also, you can buy a mailbox that locks, but in most neighborhoods around where I live, it's highly unlikely that your mail would get stolen out of an unlocked mailbox.
38. why in shows/films do americans always go to the fridge and get a bottle of water and dramatically drink it in an argument
For the drama. And that only happens in shows/films.
39. Do Americans have fish fingers? I've never seen them in any American media / films etc
Oh, we have them, but they're considered pretty lowbrow as far as food goes. I'm sure they pop up on movies or shows where the characters aren't wealthy. I'm certainly not above eating them when I want something quick and easy from the freezer.
40. Why do Americans always eat meatloaf in films and tv? What is meatloaf?
This one made me laugh.
Meatloaf is a very iconic American food, and yet hardly anyone makes and eats it on a regular basis anymore. There are a lot of jokes that surround meatloaf, so the nuances of movie and tv characters having meatloaf are sometimes blunt and sometimes subtle: how horrible your mother-in-law/wife's meatloaf recipe is; how it symbolizes women's traditional place in the kitchen; how it's just a loaf of meat; how meatloaf symbolizes what a typical American family would eat at the dinner table; etc. For many, you either love it or your hate it. I think that the history of meatloaf as both a traditionally popular dinner entree and as a source of spousal contention is the reason it shows up in so many movies and tv shows.
I love meatloaf. A good meatloaf is a thing of beauty. Essentially, it's ground meat (most often ground chuck or hamburger mixed with ground sausage) mixed gently with bread crumbs as a binder, seasonings (like garlic, salt, and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, cheese, and herbs), and a beaten egg or two. The resulting mixture is patted into a loaf shape or put into a dish or mold, topped with a tomato-based sauce, and then baked until the meat is cooked through. It's often served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Leftover cold meatloaf slices were once a very popular sandwich filling (I like it reheated but not in a sandwich).
If you want to make meatloaf, this is one of my favorite recipes. If you don't have an InstantPot, cook the meatloaf in the oven at 350 deg. F (177 deg. C, or gas mark 4) for 45 minutes or more until cooked through, depending on how thick the loaf is.
41. I wish Americans in movies would just stop comparing the length of things to that of a football field. I have no idea how long that is.
Yeah, that would be irritating. I'm not a huge football fan, but as an American, I can hardly help but mentally visualize the general length of a football field, so creating mental images in my head based on the size of something compared to a football field is definitely easier for me than for someone who didn't grow up immersed in American football culture.
A football field is 360 feet long (about 110 meters). Hope that helps.
These are from a Buzzfeed article where non-Americans are wondering if we really do these things or if it's only something done in movies or on TV.
1. Why do Americans on TV always swallow pills without a drink?
TV characters are usually insane to some degree and enjoy gagging on dry pills. That is the only explanation I have.
2. Do Americans really decorate their lockers w/ posters and mirrors and pictures of their crush (bit noncy) or is that just in the movies?
No, we really do liven up our lockers with paraphernalia. Well, if you go to a small enough school where you get an entire locker to yourself, or if you actually have time to get to your locker between classes when you go to a huge school, or if your locker is actually big enough to provide enough real estate to decorate. I went to a small school, so I had an entire full-sized locker to myself, and I did tape up a picture of me and my friends and a few other things. In my school, we even left them open all day, and it was incredibly rare if anyone stole anything.
Btw, I would never have taped up pictures of my crushes.
3. Do Americans really eat chips on sandwiches like on tv?
Yes, and it's delicious. Salt-and-vinegar chips on a tuna sandwich, yum. Some people like regular potato chips on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or on a savory meat sandwich, like, say, a roast beef and cheese. Chips give the sandwich a pleasing crunch.
A variation of putting chips on your sandwich is to have your hamburger loaded with onion rings.
4. Americans in movies always have a big bowl of mixed lettuce in the middle of the table with their dinner
This is a throwback to the 50s, and it does still happen today. Traditionally, the salad greens are put into a wooden bowl, and if you're really classy, you'll rub the cut edge of a fresh garlic bulb around the insides of the bowl so the greens get just a touch of garlic flavor.
I, myself, frequently set out a big bowl of salad greens for family dinners (though I don't own a wooden bowl), with extra salad ingredients in separate bowls so people can build the salad they like.
5. do americans really have red cups all the time at parties or is that just in movies? someone let me know thanks
Red Solo cups are nearly mandatory for all parties. They're inexpensive, sturdy, and large enough to hold plenty of liquid. We use them all the time, even if we don't drink alcohol.
Fun fact: the Solo brand now offers a wide array of cup colors other than red.
6. Do Americans really carry groceries in paper bags or is that just in movies only?
Yes, we do carry groceries in paper bags, but not all the time, and not in every part of the country. Most grocery stores have baggers who do the bagging for you (at no extra cost), and they'll ask if you want paper or plastic bags. Most people choose plastic because they're a little sturdier; but some parts of the country have banned plastic bags altogether, so they either use paper bags or reusable bags. When I was a kid, all groceries were bagged in paper bags--ironically, back then, people clamored for plastic because it would save the trees. Now they're clamoring to ban plastic bags to save the environment. Whatever you use, you'll be wrong.
7. According to the movies, all Americans have a bag of frozen peas in their fridge, but they never use it while cooking.
I don't know about all Americans, but I certainly have frozen peas in my fridge, and I do use them for cooking. They're also handy when you need a flexible ice pack. Using a bag of frozen peas for dinner is definitely not a sexy movie look, though, so I'm not surprised no one in TV land grabs their frozen peas, rips it open, and dumps the contents into a pot of boiling water unless the director wants to portray the character as a delightfully inept cook in a rom-com.
8. Why do Americans on tv shows / films rarely say goodbye when they hang up the phone? They just hang up. It's just...rude.
We agree. We also comment on that. It is rude! Almost 100% of Americans will say goodbye when hanging up the phone.
9. Why do Americans on tv hand someone a gift and tell them what it is before they open it. Surprise ruined.
No arguments here. Most Americans love watching the look on the person's face when they open the gift. The only time I can think of that you would ruin the surprise is if you're not entirely comfortable with the person you're giving a gift to and are giving them a sort of warning so they can control their reactions or you aren't sure of the person's reaction to that specific gift and feel the need to explain before they see it.
10. Why do Americans name their dog Buster?? Like...what's he busting?
He's busting your heart in two with your love of him, that's what he's busting. But seriously, the names "Buster" and "Buddy" are common generic names Americans call each other in certain social contexts, but they wouldn't be capitalized unless they're the actual proper name (not likely except for pets).
Buster and Buddy can be used for affectionate correction (i.e. a mother to her son: "Where do you think you're going, buster (or buddy)? You haven't finished your vegetables!") or non-affectionate correction (i.e. "Hey, buster! You just hit my car!") or just as a general term of endearment. They're generally used for males. It's unlikely that someone would name a female dog "Buster."
"Buddy" is also another word to denote friendship status, so it wouldn't be uncommon to say, "What's up, buddy?" to a friend, but you would not use "buster" in the same way unless you were angry.
Naming a pet Buster or Buddy is just elevating this general term to name status.
11. do americans actually have an obscene amount of throw pillows on their beds or is that just another lie told to us by movies/tv shows
Only those who have tried to make their bedroom look like a glossy magazine photo.
12. Do Americans really hang out in parking lots or is that a TV trope?
I'm trying to think of any reason why I or anyone I know would ever hang out in a parking lot, and the only things I can come up with are a) when you're having a tailgate party before a big sporting event, or b) when teenagers have nowhere else to go on a Friday night, as is the case in my burg (that's when you see the teens hanging out at Walmart or in the Walmart parking lot).
13. Do Americans actually have a school assignment where they have to take care of a bag of flour like it's a kid with another student or is that just something in movies and tv shows?
Yes, that's an actual school assignment; and yes, students are usually paired off to share in the care of the bag of flour. Actually, these days, the bag of flour has been replaced with a fake baby that cries and demands food and needs diaper changes. The assignment is to help students understand what actual babies require. It can be an assignment for a child development class or in classes where kids are learning life skills as a way to help them understand the responsibility of being a parent and encourage them to keep from getting pregnant out of wedlock or before they're ready.
Not all students have to do this--just the students who take that particular class.
14. Do Americans eat as many of those bear claws at work as TV and movies would have us believe?
Yes.
15. Do Americans actually have their funerals in graveyards with wooden chairs set up beside the grave? Or is that just a movie thing? Genuine question.
I have never been to a funeral that is conducted graveside, but maybe there are some who do that. It's certainly more dramatic to have a movie funeral at a cemetery.
My experience is that the funeral is held in a church or funeral home, after which the casket and invited family members leave and have a short graveside service at the cemetery.
16. In the movies: why do Americans always crumple their money...is this actually a thing in real life because I don't get it...
This is not actually a thing unless you're a kid who doesn't have a wallet, or a slob. Crumpled money in movies is often used to denote an emotion such as desperation or confusion, to denote a lack of care, or to highlight the youth of the character.
17. Do Americans actually eat pb and j or is that like a fake movie thing?
My friend, there is little else in the world as satisfying as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread when you really, really need one. It reminds you of your childhood; but even more than that, it's the delicious combination of salty peanut butter with sweet jelly that makes this an iconic American food. We love the combination of salty and sweet.
You have to remember that jelly in America is like jam, not like gelatin desserts. More specifically, jelly is gelled fruit juice, so it has no chunks of fruit. We also eat jam, which has the chunks of fruit. It is perfectly acceptable to use either jelly or jam in your pb&j, and you can also use white or wheat bread, but it would be unusual to use a strongly flavored bread like sourdough or rye (though I love the combination of flavors in a sourdough pb&j). Grape jelly and strawberry jam are the two most commonly used counterparts to the peanut butter.
18. Do Americans sleep in shoes like in movies ?!
What? Who would sleep in their shoes? Maybe drunk people.
19. Do Americans always leave their keys in the car or is just only in the movies?
Maybe in decades past, when people honestly expected the people around them to act with decency, did they leave their keys in the car or their front doors unlocked. My family, for instance, never locked the front door when I was growing up--even at night. You just didn't expect anyone to break in. But even then, we never left the keys in the car.
These days, who leaves their door unlocked at night or their keys in the car? No one! In the movies, the desperate protagonist jumps into a random car and scrambles madly around for the key and finds it tucked up in the sun visor just in the nick of time. THAT IS A LOAD OF CROCK! No one leaves their keys in the car, even in fleet vehicles. I don't leave my keys on my school bus, either. When I see that in a movie, I start yelling at the screen (but only if I'm at home). It's a cheap plot trick and is not true to life.
20. do americans really wake up and drink milk from the carton like that or is it just a movie aesthetic thing
If anyone does that, it better be their own personal carton of milk they're drinking from!
If you're buying milk in a cardboard carton, you probably live alone or with only one other person, or you're sharing a fridge with roommates. I'm sure some Americans do that, but it's pretty much a movie aesthetic thing for the most part.
21. wait do americans actually call older people ma'am and sir? or is that just a movie thing
Yes, we do that.
22. Do Americans go to batting cages as much as movies think they do?
No. But I bet we would if there were more of them. Unless you are part of a baseball or softball team, you probably aren't visiting the batting cages very often.
23. Do Americans actually like purchase fake IDs or is that just a movie thing???? Confused
Yes, it's a real thing. With the American drinking age set so high at 21, a lot of kids under 21 will purchase a fake ID to get into bars and clubs that serve alcohol. You can drink at 16 in Europe, so I can see why people from Europe would be surprised by the need for a fake ID. There's quite an industry for quality fake IDs for kids under 21 in this country.
Did I have one when I was young? No.
24. do americans ACTUALLY have photo shoots for homecoming, birthdays etc??? or is that made up for movies?
Yes, this is real.
25. Do Americans really eat potato chips on a plate with their lunches like they do in the movies? It's just weird.
Yes, we do that. Usually it's because you're taking chips from a large bag, so you're taking just some and leaving the bag for others to take from. The easiest place to put those chips is on your plate.
26. Do Americans actually take high school football games really seriously or is that just something in the movies?
Oh, we take high school football games very seriously, indeed! I know it's hard for Europeans to grasp just how seriously both the students and the parents take these games because there isn't that same sense of loyalty to school drummed into European students as it is in American students. Sports teams play a huge part in that "school spirit," as that loyalty to your school is called. My British husband was very surprised by this and thought it was all very stupid until we had kids in high school. That pride in your school lasts into adulthood, as even alumni of a high school will come and attend the games and cheer for their team just as heartily as the current students.
American high school students can be involved in many extracurricular activities that are sponsored by the school--sports teams, clubs of all types, theater, music, etc.--and when your team or group performs well, you boost the reputation of your group and your school, and you're proud of that. There is a lot of rivalry (mostly friendly, though it can get tense) between high schools, and the sense of competition is fierce.
There's more to it than just competition, as well. Top high school performers get to compete in larger regional, statewide, and even national competitions, and that equals recognition, and recognition can equal more funding to the school or to the particular sports or academic program. The best students can be offered scholarships to universities, as well. That's a huge deal because a university education can be very expensive. The best university athletes might be offered professional contracts, which is also lucrative.
But more simple than the all the money and recognition is the ingrained American cultural emphasis on excellence, on striving to be the best at what you do. That can be both a blessing and a curse, of course, but it explains our obsession with competition and our fierce loyalty to our schools, because we want to believe that our school is the best one (speaking in general, of course. Not every American teenager cares about their school that much or feels school spirit).
27. Do Americans really have 5 minutes conversations at the door or is it just in the movies?
Yes, we do. I didn't know that was weird.
28. wait so do americans actually call hot chocolate hot cocoa or is that just a cheesy christmas movie type thing?
"Hot chocolate" and "hot cocoa" are interchangeable terms, and yes, both are used. Which one you use most might be determined by personal preference and/or the region in which you live (different regions of the country tend to use different terms for things), but I've used both terms on a regular basis.
29. wait do. americans have a whole class dedicated to trig? or like? why in movies do people be saying they are going to trig class?
Yes, we do. Oh, I could tell you harrowing stories about my trigonometry class in high school or my calculus class in college, but that's mostly because I am so terrible at math. In high school and university, higher math classes are generally separated into specific areas like algebra, geometry, statistics, trigonometry, calculus, etc. In my last year of high school, I had signed up for physics, but I only got through two classes before dropping it and taking finite math instead.
30. so do americans actually leave a spare key under their doormat or is that a movie/book/au type of thing bc if they do that's rlly mf dumb tbh.
It's very dumb, but some people do that. Others are much more creative about how they hide a spare key. My family, for instance, hide our spare key at my in-laws' house just down the street--and not under their doormat, either.
31. do Americans actually care as much about homecoming as the movies make out?
Absolutely. For most schools (and this is true for both high schools and universities), Homecoming lasts an entire week and culminates in a big football game with a rival school followed by a formal dance. A Homecoming Queen is crowned (sometimes a whole court is crowned, including a queen, a king, and courtiers), and some cities have floats and parades. It's a big deal.
32. do Americans actually have lab partners or is it something from movies?
Yes, some teachers assign lab partners. How else would Bella have gotten to know Edward? My own lab partner experience was significantly less romantic, however.
33. do americans actually have yellow school busses or is that a movie thing?
As the driver of a yellow school bus, I can tell you they are very, very real. And not that you asked, but I'll tell you why we have school buses and why they're yellow.
I'm not being condescending at all, but when I went to England and Europe, a lot of people couldn't grasp the sheer geographic scale of where I live here in the States. Places are a lot closer to each other in European towns and cities. Plus, European public transport is excellent, so even if you were too far away to walk to your school, you could easily catch a bus or train.
Here, students can live miles and miles from school, and in most cases, there is simply no option for public transportation. There are students in my school district who live more than 50 miles (80 km) from their school, so buses that are dedicated to transporting students are essential. Granted, my school district includes a lot of very rural areas, but even districts located in large cities cover dozens of square miles.
American school buses are yellow because it is a highly visible color and the yellow makes it easy to read the black lettering on the sides denoting which district the bus drives for. In 1939, a national standard was agreed upon to paint all school buses a specific yellow: National School Bus Glossy Yellow. Before that, they were painted all kinds of colors by different cities or schools. I'm willing to bet even most Americans don't know that little fact.
34. americans i have a question: is it common for parents to put away money specifically for their child's future wedding that may or may not even happen like they seem to do in the movies bc im confused
Yes and no. If parents are smart and have the financial means, they might consider saving up money for a future wedding.
There are a couple things to consider here: unlike the trend in most European and Scandinavian countries, in America, marriage is still preferred in most cases. There are plenty of couples who live together and plan their lives together without being legally married, but a legal marriage is still preferred by a majority of American couples. Therefore, it is highly likely that, as an American parent, at least one of your children (and probably more) will choose to get married, and if you've saved money, the expense of a wedding will take less of a toll on your bank account.
Second, the bride's family traditionally pays for the wedding. This tradition has weakened over the decades, and in an increasing number of cases, the couple will finance their own wedding, or the happy couples' parents family will pitch in equally; but, for the most part, the bride's family is on the hook for the majority of the wedding expenses. Depending on how much of a diva your daughter is, that could get expensive, so saving for a future wedding--especially for a daughter--is something some American couples definitely take upon themselves.
35. quarantine got me having after midnight thoughts at 11pm but do americans actually have white eggs like they do on tv?
Yes. The color of the egg shell depends on the breed of the chicken. Where I live, white eggs are the norm.
36. Why do americans in films always sit on their counters to read newspapers or drink coffee its so ??
I'm going to assume the question is about sitting at counters and not on counters, because I have not seen a lot of movie characters sitting on their counters to drink coffee or read a paper.
Many American kitchens include an island that has seating. The kitchen island takes the place of a breakfast table in these cases. I have a dining table, but I also have an island in the kitchen. If my dining table was in another room, I would probably just sit on one of the stools at my island to eat breakfast.
37. do americans actually have mailboxes or is that just in films
Yes, we do have mailboxes. I have one out by the street so the mail delivery person can drive right up to it in their truck and slide the mail in. I've also lived in a house that had a mail slot in the front door. Whether you have a mailbox or a mail slot depends entirely on how your city's postal service wants to deliver mail. Also, you can buy a mailbox that locks, but in most neighborhoods around where I live, it's highly unlikely that your mail would get stolen out of an unlocked mailbox.
38. why in shows/films do americans always go to the fridge and get a bottle of water and dramatically drink it in an argument
For the drama. And that only happens in shows/films.
39. Do Americans have fish fingers? I've never seen them in any American media / films etc
Oh, we have them, but they're considered pretty lowbrow as far as food goes. I'm sure they pop up on movies or shows where the characters aren't wealthy. I'm certainly not above eating them when I want something quick and easy from the freezer.
40. Why do Americans always eat meatloaf in films and tv? What is meatloaf?
This one made me laugh.
Meatloaf is a very iconic American food, and yet hardly anyone makes and eats it on a regular basis anymore. There are a lot of jokes that surround meatloaf, so the nuances of movie and tv characters having meatloaf are sometimes blunt and sometimes subtle: how horrible your mother-in-law/wife's meatloaf recipe is; how it symbolizes women's traditional place in the kitchen; how it's just a loaf of meat; how meatloaf symbolizes what a typical American family would eat at the dinner table; etc. For many, you either love it or your hate it. I think that the history of meatloaf as both a traditionally popular dinner entree and as a source of spousal contention is the reason it shows up in so many movies and tv shows.
I love meatloaf. A good meatloaf is a thing of beauty. Essentially, it's ground meat (most often ground chuck or hamburger mixed with ground sausage) mixed gently with bread crumbs as a binder, seasonings (like garlic, salt, and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, cheese, and herbs), and a beaten egg or two. The resulting mixture is patted into a loaf shape or put into a dish or mold, topped with a tomato-based sauce, and then baked until the meat is cooked through. It's often served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Leftover cold meatloaf slices were once a very popular sandwich filling (I like it reheated but not in a sandwich).
If you want to make meatloaf, this is one of my favorite recipes. If you don't have an InstantPot, cook the meatloaf in the oven at 350 deg. F (177 deg. C, or gas mark 4) for 45 minutes or more until cooked through, depending on how thick the loaf is.
41. I wish Americans in movies would just stop comparing the length of things to that of a football field. I have no idea how long that is.
Yeah, that would be irritating. I'm not a huge football fan, but as an American, I can hardly help but mentally visualize the general length of a football field, so creating mental images in my head based on the size of something compared to a football field is definitely easier for me than for someone who didn't grow up immersed in American football culture.
A football field is 360 feet long (about 110 meters). Hope that helps.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Silver Linings of the Apocalypse
1. For good or ill, we received our stimulus money yesterday (I honestly didn't think that would actually happen, and I wasn't holding my breath) and went on a wild paying-off-debt spree that will now free up quite a bit of cash each month. For one thing, that albatross of a Volvo we have had sitting unusable in our driveway is now paid off, so now we can sell it. This has given us a great boost in snowballing debt payoff.
2. Little Gary has been able to play online games with his British cousin, Toby. They're about the same age, and it's been fun watching him be able to bond with a cousin he otherwise has very little hope of speaking to and getting to know. They've become good friends, which makes me happy. Little Gary gets online in the mornings, and Toby is online after his tea (supper), and it works out great even with the time difference.
3. I taught Elannah and Sophia the basics of the keto diet, and they've really taken to it. Neither of them is at all fat or can afford to lose much weight, but each of them was worried about eating like crap during this time. It's given me a chance to teach them some cooking techniques, which makes me happy, and Elannah, especially, is thrilled that she doesn't feel deprived while still being able to become less bloated and take off a couple pounds.
This has been good for all of us, actually. We had to take Joseph to get some new clothes because he has been shrinking out of his trousers. He has had a weight problem for a while, which makes him very self-conscious (and which is why I don't post photos of him, because it makes him uncomfortable), but he's getting taller, which helps, and eating better, which also helps. He's also been taking daily walks to get sunshine and exercise, and that has been all his own idea. It makes me so happy because I can see his anxiety and depression lifting. For him to be excited to go outside and take walks is a huge step for him. The dog loves it, too.
You're asking yourself if I'm a slim thing by doing keto. Let me answer that with a quote from Alice in Alice in Wonderland: "I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it." But I'm actually sticking with it much better this time, so I'll keep you updated. Every time I do keto--even if it's lazy, dirty keto--I get positive results in a very short space of time. You'd think that I'd be better at it, right? I'm surprisingly stupidly stubborn, even when doing a thing is in my own best interest.
4. Husband enjoys watching home improvement shows with me. He's not even pretending. He was the one who used some Amazon credit he'd accumulated to buy the second season of Home Town because he liked the first season so much.
He blames me for changing him in two significant ways: he was never a reader before he married me, and I helped turn him into a bookworm and a writer. And he never would have thought he'd like home improvement television shows, and now that's a thing we love doing together during a quiet evening. Hey, he doesn't seem upset about it, so I'm happy to take credit. Really, though, I was just encouraging and nurturing traits he already had, but I'll still take credit.
2. Little Gary has been able to play online games with his British cousin, Toby. They're about the same age, and it's been fun watching him be able to bond with a cousin he otherwise has very little hope of speaking to and getting to know. They've become good friends, which makes me happy. Little Gary gets online in the mornings, and Toby is online after his tea (supper), and it works out great even with the time difference.
3. I taught Elannah and Sophia the basics of the keto diet, and they've really taken to it. Neither of them is at all fat or can afford to lose much weight, but each of them was worried about eating like crap during this time. It's given me a chance to teach them some cooking techniques, which makes me happy, and Elannah, especially, is thrilled that she doesn't feel deprived while still being able to become less bloated and take off a couple pounds.
This has been good for all of us, actually. We had to take Joseph to get some new clothes because he has been shrinking out of his trousers. He has had a weight problem for a while, which makes him very self-conscious (and which is why I don't post photos of him, because it makes him uncomfortable), but he's getting taller, which helps, and eating better, which also helps. He's also been taking daily walks to get sunshine and exercise, and that has been all his own idea. It makes me so happy because I can see his anxiety and depression lifting. For him to be excited to go outside and take walks is a huge step for him. The dog loves it, too.
You're asking yourself if I'm a slim thing by doing keto. Let me answer that with a quote from Alice in Alice in Wonderland: "I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it." But I'm actually sticking with it much better this time, so I'll keep you updated. Every time I do keto--even if it's lazy, dirty keto--I get positive results in a very short space of time. You'd think that I'd be better at it, right? I'm surprisingly stupidly stubborn, even when doing a thing is in my own best interest.
4. Husband enjoys watching home improvement shows with me. He's not even pretending. He was the one who used some Amazon credit he'd accumulated to buy the second season of Home Town because he liked the first season so much.
He blames me for changing him in two significant ways: he was never a reader before he married me, and I helped turn him into a bookworm and a writer. And he never would have thought he'd like home improvement television shows, and now that's a thing we love doing together during a quiet evening. Hey, he doesn't seem upset about it, so I'm happy to take credit. Really, though, I was just encouraging and nurturing traits he already had, but I'll still take credit.
Monday, April 13, 2020
From a Credible Doctor: How Death Statistics for Covid-19 Are Incorrect and Highly Inflated
This will be long. Most of it is a transcription I made of a video, so if you want to watch the video itself, this post will be much shorter for you. The video is on the longer side, so some people prefer to read what is said rather than watch it.
I'm not terribly confident in myself, and if you don't know me well, dear reader, understand that anytime I sound like I'm bragging or being arrogant, I'm doing it tongue-in-cheek (meaning that I'm being sarcastic and making fun of myself, for those who don't understand the English idiom).
However, I study and read and learn all the time. Knowledge is my drug, and I've been reading and thinking and learning as much as I can about some specific areas of interest for years. I don't have a college degree, but I also don't feel that a lack of a degree makes me less intellectually worthy if I'm willing to put in time and effort to further my knowledge. This doesn't mean I think I'm The Authority in any of these areas, but I do feel like I'm more knowledgable than someone whose primary form of research is simply regurgitating sound bites from the MSM mixed with virtue signaling.
So it was with some trepidation that I posted something slightly controversial on Facebook yesterday about the reported numbers of Covid-19 deaths vs. actual numbers. I haven't posted anything even slightly controversial in a very long time, so I was nervous because I am terrible at debate, and I get very flustered in any situation of conflict, which interferes with my ability to think and answer rationally in order to make my points (it's a weakness I don't love about myself). I didn't say Covid-19 is a made up disease, and nor did I say that anyone who unquestioningly swallows the official stories is an idiot. I just want people to think. I want people to ask questions when there are obvious discrepancies in what we're being told versus what we're actually seeing. We've been gaslighted by the MSM for decades into not believing evidence right in front of us, into thinking that we're somehow so dumb that the people who parade around on news shows and speak like they know everything should do our thinking for us and that we don't have any responsibility to hold them accountable for the information they're giving us.
I just wanted people to take some comfort in the idea that Covid-19 isn't nearly as horrible as we're being told, that maybe the cure we're getting is worse than the disease. It was the only reason I would ever post anything on Facebook.
I posted the video below, and the first response I got was from an old friend--who is an intelligent woman--whose first line was, "I didn't watch the video (too long)..." and then proceeded to write a very long response about where she gets her information and that she'd looked up the uploader of the video (there are actually numerous channels and websites that have uploaded and/or mirrored the video) and was informed that it wasn't a credible website. She didn't even watch the video. She had no idea what was said, but she still felt she should correct the information within the video. Which she didn't watch.
Sigh.
So I'm going to take the time to transcribe the video because I feel the person speaking in it, her thirty (30!) years' experience in the medical field, and her thoughts on the subject AS A MEDICAL AUTHORITY are very valid and should be considered.
(I can't get either Safari or Chrome to let me embed the video, so HERE IS THE LINK to the YouTube video).
INTRODUCTION: Dr. Annie Bukacek is a board-certified internal medicine physician and sole proprietor of her medical practice in Kalispell [Montana, USA], named Hosannah Healthcare. She's been practicing medicine for over thirty years, most of those years in Montana.
She got her medical degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago, [and] did her internship and residency of internal medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University.
Dr. Annie is a council member and fellow of the American College of Physicians, Montana chapter, and in 2019 won the ACP Laureate Award for "commitment to excellence in medical care--as well as service--to their community and the ACP."
She is a member of the Montana Medical Association legislative committee. She was voted Best Family Physician in Flathead County [in] 2012 and 2019, and she is a member of the Flathead County Board of Health.
Dr. Annie has been a president of Montana Pro-Life Coalition since 2008 and is a member of the board of directors of the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA). She is a mother of five and a grandmother of twelve.
[instructions to tech person]
Please welcome to the podium Dr. Annie Bukacek.
[Applause]
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK: Thank you! And thank you for the introduction.
At a time where telling the truth is considered a threat to national security, we're very blessed to have a pastor who tells us the truth. We are blessed beyond measure.
So, I'm going to read this so that I make sure I don't give excessive commentary. So, I'm going to talk about death certificates today.
The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdowns is based on the alleged death rate of Covid-19. Is this death rate based on truth?
I posted the following question on Facebook yesterday (this is the question): know anybody personally with baseline good health who has been hospitalized for Covid-19 alone or allegedly died from Covid-19? That was my question.
I asked the question this way because if you know someone personally, you may know their baseline health status and some details of the case. And being tested positive for Covid-19 does not mean you have "the disease."
Even asking the question this specifically, I still got some people saying their spouse knows a friend of a friend of a nephew in New York, and some who answered "yes" but didn't give the details even though I asked them, "Could you please submit some more details?"
I got over three hundred and fifty comments and received dozens of "no" answers--if not scores. Last I counted, there were three or four who answered "yes" and said their case fit the criteria, and they gave me some details. But even those three or four--giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were answering honestly, to the best of their knowledge--does that mean the person they described was actually stricken with Covid-19?
Inquiring minds want to know: are the reported deaths from Covid-19 truly deaths from Covid-19?
To address this question, we need to discuss death certificates, since death certificates are the basic source of information about mortality. The discussion of death certificates is not a fun one. We have all grieved so many losses in our lifetimes. Still, we need to talk about it because they are the basis of the so-called death rate of Covid-19. History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate.
Few people know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician, coroner, or medical examiner signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I've been filling out death certificates for over thirty years. More often than we want to admit, we don't know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. That is just life. We are doctors, not God. Autopsies are rarely performed; and even when an autopsy is done, the actual cause of death is not always clear. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form. Then, that listed cause of death--whatever we list--is entered into a vital records databank to use for statistical analysis, which then gives out inaccurate numbers, as you can imagine.
Those inaccurate numbers then become accepted as factual information, even though much of it is false.
So, even before we heard of Covid-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to Covid-19, there's the additional data skewer that is--get this!--there is no universal definition of Covid-19 death. The Center for Disease Control, updated from yesterday, April 4th, still states that "mortality data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of Covid-19." That's from their website. Translation: the CDC counts both true Covid-19 cases and speculative guesses of Covid-19 the same. They call it "death by Covid-19." They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission.
Prior to Covid-19, people were more likely to get an accurate cause of death written on their death certificate if they died in the hospital. Why more accurate when a patient dies in the hospital? Because hospital staff has physical exam findings, labs, radiologic studies, etc., to make a good, educated guess.
It is estimated that 60% of people die in the hospital, but even those in-hospital deaths, the cause of death is not always clear, especially in someone with multiple health conditions, each of which could cause the death. Clear-cut causes of death might include traumatic brain injury (say from a car accident), intractable seizures or asthma, sepsis from overwhelming infection, respiratory arrest from a COPD exacerbation, ruptured aneurysm, metastatic cancer, massive acute heart attack, stroke, or pulmonary embolism. I will talk more in a little bit about why accuracy in the cause of death has declined for hospital deaths with the introduction of Covid-19 testing.
There are also unclear causes of death in ambulances. That's a reality. An example would be someone with multiple deadly conditions who gets short of breath and dies before evaluation can be done. Was it the patient's underlying lung disease or heart disease that caused the shortness of breath that caused them to call the ambulance? Or was there a concomitant pneumonia or other problem? We don't know because the patient died before the incident could be evaluated.
So, an estimated 60% of people die in the hospital. As to the other 40%, it is estimated about 20% of people die at home and 20% in nursing homes in this country. The true cause of death in these situations usually remains unknown. The death certificate is filled out with the best educated guess. Unknown causes of death include elderly people or younger people with known heart disease who die peacefully in their sleep.
It is not acceptable to list "old age" as a cause of death, even though that may be more accurate than the cause of death we often list on the death certificate. We are allowed to state as a cause of death "atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease," and that may be our best guess in a lot of these cases. But is it truly the cause? Who knows? Only God in heaven knows. Amen?
So allow me to give a real-world example. One of my patients' fathers died about seventeen years ago. He was old and in the final days of terminal cancer. He also had heart disease, but was too old and too sick to get heart bypass surgery. As he got near the end of his life, he came down with what appeared to be pneumonia. As my patient, this man's son, stood by his father's sick bed at home, the man died. No one else was there. The mortician was called and removed the body at about two in the morning. The next day, the funeral home called and asked my patient, the son of this man, what time did he die, and what was the cause? The death certificate listed the man's son's best guess. The cause of death, made my the deceased man's son, was made official. He was cremated, so there was no second opinion. This man didn't even have any medical training that gave the diagnosis to the mortician. This happens all the time, especially in poor urban areas, casual country towns, and rural areas.
In the case of my patient's father, did an accurate cause of death matter? Not really. But today, when governments are making massive changes that affect our constitutional rights, and those changes are based on inaccurate statistics, it does matter.
There's a U.S. standard for death certificates that includes a line for "immediate cause of death," followed by two to three lines of "antecedent causes" giving rise to the immediate cause, then one to two lines "other significant conditions" contributing to the death but not causally related to the immediate cause. For an example, immediate cause of death: sepsis; antecedent cause: pneumococcal pneumonia; other significant conditions: COPD.
Okay, let's combine the information I've given you so far about the guesswork involved in filling out death certificates and apply it to Covid-19. The analysis that follows requires the presupposition that in today's medical climate, many--if not most--patients sick enough to be hospitalized will be checked for Covid-19. It also requires an understanding of what we know, at this point, that most people who test positive for Covid-19 have mild or no symptoms. Therefore, testing positive for Covid-19 does not mean a person is sick with it, or, if the person died, that they died from it. To drive this home, we need to understand how the CDC and National Vital Statistics system are instructing physicians to fill out death certificates related to Covid-19.
Brace yourselves and please pay attention, and let what I am about to tell you sink in.
The assumption of Covid-19 death could be made even without testing. Based on assumption alone, the death can be reported to the public as another Covid-19 casualty. The March 24, 2020, National Vital Statistics system memo states, and I quote, "The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in Covid-19 being the underlying cause more often than not."
The CDC report of cases in the U.S. memo from yesterday [April 4, 2020], states the death numbers are "preliminary" (quoted) and have not been confirmed. So "the results are preliminary and have not been confirmed." It's from the CDC website.
Here's a quote even more laden with meaning. Stephen Schwartz, national director of the Division of Vital Statistics, says in answer to the question as stated in the organization's Covid-19 alert "Should Covid-19 be reported on the death certificate only with a confirmed test?" Check out his answer (and I quote from this memo, of which I have a copy): "Covid-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused--or is assumed to have caused or contributed to--death. Certifiers should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc."
I'm sure you all feel so reassured the government is asking doctors to provide their very best guesswork. Not.
Fact: "Covid-19-caused death" and "assumed death by Covid-19" are not the same thing; and for those who died from something else and had an incidental finding of Covid-19 positivity, dying with Covid-19 is not the same as dying from Covid-19.
I'm almost done, but want to clarify the process with another patient example. This is something that could happen commonly. It's not a specific patient I'm thinking of. Let's say it's a sick patient who goes into respiratory arrest at home. He is intubated at home by EMTs--they put a tube down his throat to help him breathe. He's taken to the hospital by ambulance, put on a ventilator in the ICU, put on antibiotics for presumed sepsis, given IV fluids because his blood pressure has bottomed out. The bacteria Pneumococcus is found in the blood and sputum cultures, pneumonia is seen on the chest x-ray. Despite the staff's best efforts, he dies two days after admission. (Like I said, this is not an uncommon scenario.) The patient was found to be Covid-19 positive, and the doctor has the option of listing on the death certificate that Covid-19 is the immediate or antecedent cause because the doctor theorizes that Covid-19 contributed. Either way, it goes into the databank as caused by Covid-19.
To reiterate, if a patient tests positive for Covid-19 and dies from another cause such as pneumococcal sepsis, it may be considered accurate to say that that person died with Covid-19 and not from Covid-19. Yet the CDC guidelines list is one more--they list this case as one more Covid-19 death, and they go to the next questionable death, they label that as Covid-19, and it goes on and on.
You could see how these statistics have been made to look really scary when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. Those false numbers are sanctioned by the CDC, as of their memo yesterday, April 4th [2020]. I have made physical copies of those memos in case more people start looking at their website and they decide it's too much truth for us.
I hope I was able to make my point: the real number of Covid-19 deaths are not what most people are told, and what they then think. How many people have actually died from Covid-19 is anyone's guess. Again, God only knows. But based on how death certificates are being filled out, you can be certain the number is substantially lower than what we are being told. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fearmongers into relinquishing cherished freedoms.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Oh, and I have a little p.s. I forgot about: you can't have a true case fatality rate without testing massive numbers of people, but that is another topic. What is that old saying? Something along the line, "Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure."
Thank you.
[Applause]
I'm not terribly confident in myself, and if you don't know me well, dear reader, understand that anytime I sound like I'm bragging or being arrogant, I'm doing it tongue-in-cheek (meaning that I'm being sarcastic and making fun of myself, for those who don't understand the English idiom).
However, I study and read and learn all the time. Knowledge is my drug, and I've been reading and thinking and learning as much as I can about some specific areas of interest for years. I don't have a college degree, but I also don't feel that a lack of a degree makes me less intellectually worthy if I'm willing to put in time and effort to further my knowledge. This doesn't mean I think I'm The Authority in any of these areas, but I do feel like I'm more knowledgable than someone whose primary form of research is simply regurgitating sound bites from the MSM mixed with virtue signaling.
So it was with some trepidation that I posted something slightly controversial on Facebook yesterday about the reported numbers of Covid-19 deaths vs. actual numbers. I haven't posted anything even slightly controversial in a very long time, so I was nervous because I am terrible at debate, and I get very flustered in any situation of conflict, which interferes with my ability to think and answer rationally in order to make my points (it's a weakness I don't love about myself). I didn't say Covid-19 is a made up disease, and nor did I say that anyone who unquestioningly swallows the official stories is an idiot. I just want people to think. I want people to ask questions when there are obvious discrepancies in what we're being told versus what we're actually seeing. We've been gaslighted by the MSM for decades into not believing evidence right in front of us, into thinking that we're somehow so dumb that the people who parade around on news shows and speak like they know everything should do our thinking for us and that we don't have any responsibility to hold them accountable for the information they're giving us.
I just wanted people to take some comfort in the idea that Covid-19 isn't nearly as horrible as we're being told, that maybe the cure we're getting is worse than the disease. It was the only reason I would ever post anything on Facebook.
I posted the video below, and the first response I got was from an old friend--who is an intelligent woman--whose first line was, "I didn't watch the video (too long)..." and then proceeded to write a very long response about where she gets her information and that she'd looked up the uploader of the video (there are actually numerous channels and websites that have uploaded and/or mirrored the video) and was informed that it wasn't a credible website. She didn't even watch the video. She had no idea what was said, but she still felt she should correct the information within the video. Which she didn't watch.
Sigh.
So I'm going to take the time to transcribe the video because I feel the person speaking in it, her thirty (30!) years' experience in the medical field, and her thoughts on the subject AS A MEDICAL AUTHORITY are very valid and should be considered.
(I can't get either Safari or Chrome to let me embed the video, so HERE IS THE LINK to the YouTube video).
INTRODUCTION: Dr. Annie Bukacek is a board-certified internal medicine physician and sole proprietor of her medical practice in Kalispell [Montana, USA], named Hosannah Healthcare. She's been practicing medicine for over thirty years, most of those years in Montana.
She got her medical degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago, [and] did her internship and residency of internal medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University.
Dr. Annie is a council member and fellow of the American College of Physicians, Montana chapter, and in 2019 won the ACP Laureate Award for "commitment to excellence in medical care--as well as service--to their community and the ACP."
She is a member of the Montana Medical Association legislative committee. She was voted Best Family Physician in Flathead County [in] 2012 and 2019, and she is a member of the Flathead County Board of Health.
Dr. Annie has been a president of Montana Pro-Life Coalition since 2008 and is a member of the board of directors of the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA). She is a mother of five and a grandmother of twelve.
[instructions to tech person]
Please welcome to the podium Dr. Annie Bukacek.
[Applause]
DR. ANNIE BUKACEK: Thank you! And thank you for the introduction.
At a time where telling the truth is considered a threat to national security, we're very blessed to have a pastor who tells us the truth. We are blessed beyond measure.
So, I'm going to read this so that I make sure I don't give excessive commentary. So, I'm going to talk about death certificates today.
The decision for unprecedented government-mandated lockdowns is based on the alleged death rate of Covid-19. Is this death rate based on truth?
I posted the following question on Facebook yesterday (this is the question): know anybody personally with baseline good health who has been hospitalized for Covid-19 alone or allegedly died from Covid-19? That was my question.
I asked the question this way because if you know someone personally, you may know their baseline health status and some details of the case. And being tested positive for Covid-19 does not mean you have "the disease."
Even asking the question this specifically, I still got some people saying their spouse knows a friend of a friend of a nephew in New York, and some who answered "yes" but didn't give the details even though I asked them, "Could you please submit some more details?"
I got over three hundred and fifty comments and received dozens of "no" answers--if not scores. Last I counted, there were three or four who answered "yes" and said their case fit the criteria, and they gave me some details. But even those three or four--giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were answering honestly, to the best of their knowledge--does that mean the person they described was actually stricken with Covid-19?
Inquiring minds want to know: are the reported deaths from Covid-19 truly deaths from Covid-19?
To address this question, we need to discuss death certificates, since death certificates are the basic source of information about mortality. The discussion of death certificates is not a fun one. We have all grieved so many losses in our lifetimes. Still, we need to talk about it because they are the basis of the so-called death rate of Covid-19. History-changing decisions are being made due to these figures despite the fact that they are flat-out wrong, based on data that is insufficient and often inaccurate.
Few people know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician, coroner, or medical examiner signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I've been filling out death certificates for over thirty years. More often than we want to admit, we don't know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. That is just life. We are doctors, not God. Autopsies are rarely performed; and even when an autopsy is done, the actual cause of death is not always clear. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form. Then, that listed cause of death--whatever we list--is entered into a vital records databank to use for statistical analysis, which then gives out inaccurate numbers, as you can imagine.
Those inaccurate numbers then become accepted as factual information, even though much of it is false.
So, even before we heard of Covid-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to Covid-19, there's the additional data skewer that is--get this!--there is no universal definition of Covid-19 death. The Center for Disease Control, updated from yesterday, April 4th, still states that "mortality data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of Covid-19." That's from their website. Translation: the CDC counts both true Covid-19 cases and speculative guesses of Covid-19 the same. They call it "death by Covid-19." They automatically overestimate the real death numbers by their own admission.
Prior to Covid-19, people were more likely to get an accurate cause of death written on their death certificate if they died in the hospital. Why more accurate when a patient dies in the hospital? Because hospital staff has physical exam findings, labs, radiologic studies, etc., to make a good, educated guess.
It is estimated that 60% of people die in the hospital, but even those in-hospital deaths, the cause of death is not always clear, especially in someone with multiple health conditions, each of which could cause the death. Clear-cut causes of death might include traumatic brain injury (say from a car accident), intractable seizures or asthma, sepsis from overwhelming infection, respiratory arrest from a COPD exacerbation, ruptured aneurysm, metastatic cancer, massive acute heart attack, stroke, or pulmonary embolism. I will talk more in a little bit about why accuracy in the cause of death has declined for hospital deaths with the introduction of Covid-19 testing.
There are also unclear causes of death in ambulances. That's a reality. An example would be someone with multiple deadly conditions who gets short of breath and dies before evaluation can be done. Was it the patient's underlying lung disease or heart disease that caused the shortness of breath that caused them to call the ambulance? Or was there a concomitant pneumonia or other problem? We don't know because the patient died before the incident could be evaluated.
So, an estimated 60% of people die in the hospital. As to the other 40%, it is estimated about 20% of people die at home and 20% in nursing homes in this country. The true cause of death in these situations usually remains unknown. The death certificate is filled out with the best educated guess. Unknown causes of death include elderly people or younger people with known heart disease who die peacefully in their sleep.
It is not acceptable to list "old age" as a cause of death, even though that may be more accurate than the cause of death we often list on the death certificate. We are allowed to state as a cause of death "atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease," and that may be our best guess in a lot of these cases. But is it truly the cause? Who knows? Only God in heaven knows. Amen?
So allow me to give a real-world example. One of my patients' fathers died about seventeen years ago. He was old and in the final days of terminal cancer. He also had heart disease, but was too old and too sick to get heart bypass surgery. As he got near the end of his life, he came down with what appeared to be pneumonia. As my patient, this man's son, stood by his father's sick bed at home, the man died. No one else was there. The mortician was called and removed the body at about two in the morning. The next day, the funeral home called and asked my patient, the son of this man, what time did he die, and what was the cause? The death certificate listed the man's son's best guess. The cause of death, made my the deceased man's son, was made official. He was cremated, so there was no second opinion. This man didn't even have any medical training that gave the diagnosis to the mortician. This happens all the time, especially in poor urban areas, casual country towns, and rural areas.
In the case of my patient's father, did an accurate cause of death matter? Not really. But today, when governments are making massive changes that affect our constitutional rights, and those changes are based on inaccurate statistics, it does matter.
There's a U.S. standard for death certificates that includes a line for "immediate cause of death," followed by two to three lines of "antecedent causes" giving rise to the immediate cause, then one to two lines "other significant conditions" contributing to the death but not causally related to the immediate cause. For an example, immediate cause of death: sepsis; antecedent cause: pneumococcal pneumonia; other significant conditions: COPD.
Okay, let's combine the information I've given you so far about the guesswork involved in filling out death certificates and apply it to Covid-19. The analysis that follows requires the presupposition that in today's medical climate, many--if not most--patients sick enough to be hospitalized will be checked for Covid-19. It also requires an understanding of what we know, at this point, that most people who test positive for Covid-19 have mild or no symptoms. Therefore, testing positive for Covid-19 does not mean a person is sick with it, or, if the person died, that they died from it. To drive this home, we need to understand how the CDC and National Vital Statistics system are instructing physicians to fill out death certificates related to Covid-19.
Brace yourselves and please pay attention, and let what I am about to tell you sink in.
The assumption of Covid-19 death could be made even without testing. Based on assumption alone, the death can be reported to the public as another Covid-19 casualty. The March 24, 2020, National Vital Statistics system memo states, and I quote, "The rules for coding and selection of the underlying cause of death are expected to result in Covid-19 being the underlying cause more often than not."
The CDC report of cases in the U.S. memo from yesterday [April 4, 2020], states the death numbers are "preliminary" (quoted) and have not been confirmed. So "the results are preliminary and have not been confirmed." It's from the CDC website.
Here's a quote even more laden with meaning. Stephen Schwartz, national director of the Division of Vital Statistics, says in answer to the question as stated in the organization's Covid-19 alert "Should Covid-19 be reported on the death certificate only with a confirmed test?" Check out his answer (and I quote from this memo, of which I have a copy): "Covid-19 should be reported on the death certificate for all decedents where the disease caused--or is assumed to have caused or contributed to--death. Certifiers should include as much detail as possible based on their knowledge of the case, medical records, laboratory testing, etc."
I'm sure you all feel so reassured the government is asking doctors to provide their very best guesswork. Not.
Fact: "Covid-19-caused death" and "assumed death by Covid-19" are not the same thing; and for those who died from something else and had an incidental finding of Covid-19 positivity, dying with Covid-19 is not the same as dying from Covid-19.
I'm almost done, but want to clarify the process with another patient example. This is something that could happen commonly. It's not a specific patient I'm thinking of. Let's say it's a sick patient who goes into respiratory arrest at home. He is intubated at home by EMTs--they put a tube down his throat to help him breathe. He's taken to the hospital by ambulance, put on a ventilator in the ICU, put on antibiotics for presumed sepsis, given IV fluids because his blood pressure has bottomed out. The bacteria Pneumococcus is found in the blood and sputum cultures, pneumonia is seen on the chest x-ray. Despite the staff's best efforts, he dies two days after admission. (Like I said, this is not an uncommon scenario.) The patient was found to be Covid-19 positive, and the doctor has the option of listing on the death certificate that Covid-19 is the immediate or antecedent cause because the doctor theorizes that Covid-19 contributed. Either way, it goes into the databank as caused by Covid-19.
To reiterate, if a patient tests positive for Covid-19 and dies from another cause such as pneumococcal sepsis, it may be considered accurate to say that that person died with Covid-19 and not from Covid-19. Yet the CDC guidelines list is one more--they list this case as one more Covid-19 death, and they go to the next questionable death, they label that as Covid-19, and it goes on and on.
You could see how these statistics have been made to look really scary when it is so easy to add false numbers to the official database. Those false numbers are sanctioned by the CDC, as of their memo yesterday, April 4th [2020]. I have made physical copies of those memos in case more people start looking at their website and they decide it's too much truth for us.
I hope I was able to make my point: the real number of Covid-19 deaths are not what most people are told, and what they then think. How many people have actually died from Covid-19 is anyone's guess. Again, God only knows. But based on how death certificates are being filled out, you can be certain the number is substantially lower than what we are being told. Based on inaccurate, incomplete data, people are being terrorized by fearmongers into relinquishing cherished freedoms.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Oh, and I have a little p.s. I forgot about: you can't have a true case fatality rate without testing massive numbers of people, but that is another topic. What is that old saying? Something along the line, "Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure."
Thank you.
[Applause]
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Awkward Phase
I'm now living on Hawaii Standard Time. While that may be awkward for everyone else around here, it's working for me.
Speaking of awkward, I thought I'd share a photo.
My profile floats, eerily transparent, behind my mulleted head.
A mullet! At one agonizing period, I had a mullet! I know it wasn't a hairstyle that I asked for. My mom let one of the neighbor ladies cut my hair, and this was the result.
I was twelve in this photo--all gangly and shooting up so fast I remember that I couldn't do a headstand in gymnastics for a while until I got used to my height and figured out my balance. An awkward phase.
It could have been worse: it was the early 80s (the above was taken in early 1984), and the mullet was pretty common, so it's not like I was out of place. In Northern Minnesota, however, we didn't use the word "mullet." We just called it "hockey hair." The shorter hair in front hid conveniently under a hockey helmet and stayed out of the player's eyes, and the longer hair at the back curled fetchingly out from under the helmet at the nape of the neck. When I got a little older, I really appreciated that little curling bit on the neck of the cute male hockey players.
Here's that same mullet grown out in the summer of that year:
Yes, it was an awkward phase both physically and stylistically. Don't worry, twelve-year-old Eva. It gets better in a few years.
Speaking of awkward, I thought I'd share a photo.
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A mullet! At one agonizing period, I had a mullet! I know it wasn't a hairstyle that I asked for. My mom let one of the neighbor ladies cut my hair, and this was the result.
I was twelve in this photo--all gangly and shooting up so fast I remember that I couldn't do a headstand in gymnastics for a while until I got used to my height and figured out my balance. An awkward phase.
It could have been worse: it was the early 80s (the above was taken in early 1984), and the mullet was pretty common, so it's not like I was out of place. In Northern Minnesota, however, we didn't use the word "mullet." We just called it "hockey hair." The shorter hair in front hid conveniently under a hockey helmet and stayed out of the player's eyes, and the longer hair at the back curled fetchingly out from under the helmet at the nape of the neck. When I got a little older, I really appreciated that little curling bit on the neck of the cute male hockey players.
Here's that same mullet grown out in the summer of that year:
Yes, it was an awkward phase both physically and stylistically. Don't worry, twelve-year-old Eva. It gets better in a few years.
Friday, April 3, 2020
A Birthday and a Memory
Time has no meaning anymore. I'm sure you feel the same, unless you're still going to work outside your house. Even then, time is weird.
We celebrated Elannah's 19th birthday yesterday by taking the day off and staying in. Haha. But we did try and make it as much of a birthday as possible. Husband set up his recording microphone and amp near our electric piano, and I played accompaniment while she sang. She has such a lovely voice. In the evening, we ordered Panda Express (her choice) and I made chocolate lava cake and we sang happy birthday. Later, we watched the fifth Harry Potter movie with her.
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| Sophia took Elannah for a photo shoot on her birthday. I love this photo of Elannah. |
Husband got special permission directly from the author Jonathan Stroud to audio record the last few chapters of The Screaming Staircase, the first book in Stroud's brilliant Lockwood & Co. series. He had been reading it to his fifth grade students, and they were desperate to hear the end of the book, and Husband reads aloud so well and can do all the right accents. It was very kind of Mr. Stroud to give Husband that permission, so everyone should go and buy the book immediately--plus all the others in the series. I personally love it.
When Husband isn't recording from Stroud's book, he's been recording his own book, Shade Salazar and the Last Magician of Midgard. He's also planning out the third book in that series (The Ragnarok Cycle) because so many kids have been begging him for more of the story.
I haven't been writing, but I've reread all of The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, and am halfway through A Wise Man's Fear. I think I'll reread Leigh Bardugo's Crooked Kingdom duology after that, since Rothfuss has yet to produce a third book in The Kingkiller Chronicle, much to the dismay of so many fans, including myself. There's always Brandon Sanderson's books, as well.
Today I was struck so hard by a memory that I thought I would share it.
About a year into my mission in England, I got a Swedish companion (work partner) named Sister Ronström. She was a great person, but she was a little awkward, and it was really hard for her to fit into the tight-knit group our district had become. For about a week, she tried to fit in, and while none of us was antagonistic at all, she just couldn't seem to mesh.
One day, our district was all together in our house (where we lived with our landlord and landlady) doing something at the dining room table. Sister Ronström had been in the next room for a couple minutes before she marched into the dining room with a determined air and said with her Swedish accent, "Do any of you beggars have a stamp?"
There was a long, surprised pause, and then the rest of us burst out laughing. It was such an uncharacteristic thing for her to say, and the word "beggar," in particular, was a word one of the elders was always using in jest. The shock of it was enough to finally break the ice--especially as it was obvious she'd thought really hard about what to say to fit in. She just looked so relieved when we laughed. After that, she was part of the group.
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| This is one of the photos she glued into the pages of my T-book (testimony book), which was a mission tradition. Every missionary had a book in which companions, other missionaries, and friends could write something before either they or you left an area. |
She was a very hard worker. She nearly killed me by the time I sent her off home (I was her last companion on her mission), and I have fond memories of our two months serving together.
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| Christmas 1993, Erdington, Birmingham, Warwickshire. I had been really sick, and I might have still been recovering when this photo was taken. I'm sure she took good care of me. |
I'm friends with her on Facebook. She married a very nice guy, and they live in Luxembourg and have three cute boys. She's an amazing baker and bakes all kinds of Swedish pastries that she sells for extra cash.
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| Pre-Christmas 1993 with the district. |
I just remembered that incident today and had a happy chuckle over it.
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