Isn’t it incredible that people from all around the world can figure out how blessed we Americans are after being here for just a few days, but liberals can’t figure it out after being here for generations. Imagine if the world took a few minutes to read our bill of rights. Maybe it’s time we conservatives begin our own replacement theory!
Back in the early 90s, we had neighbors from Germany, who were here for about 5-years, before they needed to return to Germany. One evening, the had a small dinner party to which we were invited. There was a young couple there from Russia. They told us of another couple who were also from Russia & who had moved to Connecticut. When they were taken to the local supermarket, they were not only gob-smacked, but thought that it was staged to make them think that we here in America, had such stores & so many choices. It was many months before they were convinced that the grocery stores were not staged - that is how extreme the propaganda was in Russia at that time.
I completely agree, James. I often wonder too, how many even know how many signers there were to The Declaration of Independence & of those who were born or live in one of the 13-original colonies, can name the signers from their states? Every signer had a target on their back & paid dearly for their loyalty to the cause for freedom & independence. One great book I read many years ago, is "John Adams", by David McCullough (2002). I learned so much more about John Adams than I had previously known. His sacrifices for our cause were truly monumental.
Webster graduated Yale in 1778, smack in the middle of the Revolutionary War. His father handed him an $8 Continental note and, essentially, said figure it out. So Noah walked home to West Hartford—not a long journey by modern standards, maybe 40 miles, but it was wartime Connecticut.
Along the way, he encountered Continental Army soldiers returning from victory at Saratoga (the decisive 1777 battle that convinced France to enter the war).
What struck the 19-year-old Webster wasn't patriotism or martial glory—it was chaos. The soldiers, drawn from every colony, literally couldn't understand one another:
A New Hampshire farm boy and a Virginia backwoodsman might as well have been speaking different languages.
Regional dialects were so thick that orders got garbled, coordination suffered.
Even basic conversation between men from different colonies broke down constantly.
Webster was horrified. Here was a revolutionary army that had just beaten Burgoyne, and they couldn't talk to each other. He saw this not as a quirk but as an existential threat to the republic. A nation that can't communicate can't govern itself, can't fight together, can't hold together.
This experience planted the seed that became his life's work. He didn't just want a dictionary—he wanted linguistic unification. A standardized American tongue, distinct from British English, that would bind the states into a single people. The Blue-Backed Speller and the 1828 dictionary were both downstream of that walk home and those frustrated conversations with soldiers who'd just won a revolution but couldn't understand each other's words.
He wrote later—paraphrasing his sentiment—that America's political independence would mean nothing without cultural and linguistic independence. The Saratoga veterans proved it to him firsthand.
It's one of those small moments in history that sounds apocryphal but is well-attested in his own letters and journals. A 19-year-old kid, broke, walking home, sees the winning army—and all he can think about is how badly they need a spelling book.
I also am not a fan and have railed for decades against ball and pasture sports, but Merlin the duck is cute as are all the others living among the many artificial lakes in western Maryland and northeastern West Virginia. Picture a single file line of ducks marching like my military school Drum and Bugle Corps days from an adjacent lake across a golf course to a water hazard! I ask you to picture it because I was driving and couldn’t get to the camera quick enough, but it was as cute as you can imagine!
Also, and maybe more important the people to people understanding of hosting the FIFA World Cup is priceless publicity for our mostly center right nation that is being besmirched by the globalist left. I don’t plan to watch, but I will never see events like FIFA as I did.
The best observation I have seen was a Brit, who accidentally rediscovered our founder’s intent, when he observed that Americans are not as parochial as Europeans portray them since each state is different enough to be it’s own separate country and we freely travel between them. … And somewhere in the great beyond the designers of our great Republic are smiling!
"You that read wrong" happens all the time, what a hoot! Of course the animal ones are my favorites. Lovable, laughable and true. I was just thinking about Goose last night and how you must miss the silly creature...
Where excessive heat in Europe is concerned, we have friends who own a condo in Florence, Italy, where they spend at least 6-months every year. They are there now. The temperatures have been between 100-103, & will remain there for the foreseeable future. The forecast through July 4th for Florence shows more of the same & who knows how much longer beyond the 4th, as the forecast does not go beyond the 4th of July. If you go to timeanddate.com & put in Florence, Italy (or use Firenze) in the search box for the weather feature, you will see what I am talking about. YIKES!
we were in same situation a few years ago in July , and the hottest week of that year. I bought a little $45 fan that had a reservoir for water and ice. So the fan blew out the water cooled air., It helped a lot!! It did not last all night though. I could feel the temp rise when it ran out of water, so I had to get up and put in more. We did that for 3 nights It would have been difficult to move my husband a hotel and then back again, so we waited it out. I still use that fan in my small kitchen.
I wonder if you placed a freeze pack in the water reservoir, if that would work too. That way, you could keep a few in the freezer & replace them as needed. Just a thought....
That is a great idea. The fan I bought though is small. Too small for the freezer packs I have at least. I have seen little square freezer packs, I may try that and see. thanks!
Another banner crop but the dog and dropped chocolate was a been there done that for me and let me say that finding such in a lab's mouth a real challenge.
Happy Father's Day to our champ of the Homestead in Virginia, and to all our other Father's in the US and around the world!
My very fav is the wise man. Somehow over the years, quite recognizable. Along with shades of the magician.
Have personally given up on the sports things. Once it got pounded into my brain that my fav fillys were Phillys I've sorta signed out. Its likely a positive thing that sports are being tied in to our 250 celebrations.
Actually, at least in Chicago, I think they still rely on trains. Plus Chicago and NY still have subways.
Merlin is appealing. But he does remind of one who went before him.
That seal could pass for a cat... Ime cats when they do something wrong disappear. They know, but don't want to hear about it. Exception - when they bite or scratch. In that case ...
Once pet sat for 6 chihuahuas who lived 100% in a basement. Didnt leave me with any desires to own one.
For a while, owned a Kaiser and went to Kaiser Frazier shows. Can't claim achievements, but always enjoy car tales.
Yep, up there peering at the latest in AI developments. My fav tales so far are escapes from their sandboxes and evil deeds wiping out clients entire systems and admitting they knew better.
Isn’t it incredible that people from all around the world can figure out how blessed we Americans are after being here for just a few days, but liberals can’t figure it out after being here for generations. Imagine if the world took a few minutes to read our bill of rights. Maybe it’s time we conservatives begin our own replacement theory!
We lived in Houston when the NASA visiting Russians encountered Randalls supermarket. They were gob smacked
Back in the early 90s, we had neighbors from Germany, who were here for about 5-years, before they needed to return to Germany. One evening, the had a small dinner party to which we were invited. There was a young couple there from Russia. They told us of another couple who were also from Russia & who had moved to Connecticut. When they were taken to the local supermarket, they were not only gob-smacked, but thought that it was staged to make them think that we here in America, had such stores & so many choices. It was many months before they were convinced that the grocery stores were not staged - that is how extreme the propaganda was in Russia at that time.
I completely agree, James. I often wonder too, how many even know how many signers there were to The Declaration of Independence & of those who were born or live in one of the 13-original colonies, can name the signers from their states? Every signer had a target on their back & paid dearly for their loyalty to the cause for freedom & independence. One great book I read many years ago, is "John Adams", by David McCullough (2002). I learned so much more about John Adams than I had previously known. His sacrifices for our cause were truly monumental.
And Noah Webster!
Webster graduated Yale in 1778, smack in the middle of the Revolutionary War. His father handed him an $8 Continental note and, essentially, said figure it out. So Noah walked home to West Hartford—not a long journey by modern standards, maybe 40 miles, but it was wartime Connecticut.
Along the way, he encountered Continental Army soldiers returning from victory at Saratoga (the decisive 1777 battle that convinced France to enter the war).
What struck the 19-year-old Webster wasn't patriotism or martial glory—it was chaos. The soldiers, drawn from every colony, literally couldn't understand one another:
A New Hampshire farm boy and a Virginia backwoodsman might as well have been speaking different languages.
Regional dialects were so thick that orders got garbled, coordination suffered.
Even basic conversation between men from different colonies broke down constantly.
Webster was horrified. Here was a revolutionary army that had just beaten Burgoyne, and they couldn't talk to each other. He saw this not as a quirk but as an existential threat to the republic. A nation that can't communicate can't govern itself, can't fight together, can't hold together.
This experience planted the seed that became his life's work. He didn't just want a dictionary—he wanted linguistic unification. A standardized American tongue, distinct from British English, that would bind the states into a single people. The Blue-Backed Speller and the 1828 dictionary were both downstream of that walk home and those frustrated conversations with soldiers who'd just won a revolution but couldn't understand each other's words.
He wrote later—paraphrasing his sentiment—that America's political independence would mean nothing without cultural and linguistic independence. The Saratoga veterans proved it to him firsthand.
It's one of those small moments in history that sounds apocryphal but is well-attested in his own letters and journals. A 19-year-old kid, broke, walking home, sees the winning army—and all he can think about is how badly they need a spelling book.
https://a.co/d/05wryyLD
That was wonderful, Tim. Thanks so much for sharing.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day July 4th, 1826, on our 50th anniversary.
I was aware of this, but still find it so incredibly ironic & remarkable!
You nailed it again James!
I fell for it!! Waterlemons. And I that read wrong too.
. . . I was thinking:
"no wonder I had such a hard time in college. . . I was dyslexic the whole damn time!"
I was left handed. Pretty much the same thing
Can we trade some of those from the other countries for our democrats that hate our country?
I would really like to trade them!
Thanks for the Sunday laughs...
I once took a chihuahua in armor too lightly. I'll never make that mistake again.
I also am not a fan and have railed for decades against ball and pasture sports, but Merlin the duck is cute as are all the others living among the many artificial lakes in western Maryland and northeastern West Virginia. Picture a single file line of ducks marching like my military school Drum and Bugle Corps days from an adjacent lake across a golf course to a water hazard! I ask you to picture it because I was driving and couldn’t get to the camera quick enough, but it was as cute as you can imagine!
Also, and maybe more important the people to people understanding of hosting the FIFA World Cup is priceless publicity for our mostly center right nation that is being besmirched by the globalist left. I don’t plan to watch, but I will never see events like FIFA as I did.
The best observation I have seen was a Brit, who accidentally rediscovered our founder’s intent, when he observed that Americans are not as parochial as Europeans portray them since each state is different enough to be it’s own separate country and we freely travel between them. … And somewhere in the great beyond the designers of our great Republic are smiling!
Or will further fuel the envy that has governed much of the post-WW II world.
"You that read wrong" happens all the time, what a hoot! Of course the animal ones are my favorites. Lovable, laughable and true. I was just thinking about Goose last night and how you must miss the silly creature...
Thank goodness for air-conditioning being everywhere in the U.S. This is the sad situation in Europe where that is not case..https://principia-scientific.com/air-conditioning-saves-more-lives-than-climate-policies-ever-will/
Where excessive heat in Europe is concerned, we have friends who own a condo in Florence, Italy, where they spend at least 6-months every year. They are there now. The temperatures have been between 100-103, & will remain there for the foreseeable future. The forecast through July 4th for Florence shows more of the same & who knows how much longer beyond the 4th, as the forecast does not go beyond the 4th of July. If you go to timeanddate.com & put in Florence, Italy (or use Firenze) in the search box for the weather feature, you will see what I am talking about. YIKES!
The EU heat-death total is more than the total U.S. deaths annually from gun violence (44,447 for all of 2024).
THIS was an eye-opener from the article you linked.
The irony!?!
Am coping with 90° until I can get serviced. A part of the trick is fans. My summer setting is 80°+. Fans make it livable.
we were in same situation a few years ago in July , and the hottest week of that year. I bought a little $45 fan that had a reservoir for water and ice. So the fan blew out the water cooled air., It helped a lot!! It did not last all night though. I could feel the temp rise when it ran out of water, so I had to get up and put in more. We did that for 3 nights It would have been difficult to move my husband a hotel and then back again, so we waited it out. I still use that fan in my small kitchen.
I wonder if you placed a freeze pack in the water reservoir, if that would work too. That way, you could keep a few in the freezer & replace them as needed. Just a thought....
That is a great idea. The fan I bought though is small. Too small for the freezer packs I have at least. I have seen little square freezer packs, I may try that and see. thanks!
Bet they do not have 7-8ft ceilings.
Another banner crop but the dog and dropped chocolate was a been there done that for me and let me say that finding such in a lab's mouth a real challenge.
I'm with you. A sweet little duck over soccer. Always.
AI monolith strikes a cord! The new religion where man connects with their God!
All seeing! All knowing!
So good I over-brewed my coffee while reading.
Happy Father's Day to our champ of the Homestead in Virginia, and to all our other Father's in the US and around the world!
My very fav is the wise man. Somehow over the years, quite recognizable. Along with shades of the magician.
Have personally given up on the sports things. Once it got pounded into my brain that my fav fillys were Phillys I've sorta signed out. Its likely a positive thing that sports are being tied in to our 250 celebrations.
Actually, at least in Chicago, I think they still rely on trains. Plus Chicago and NY still have subways.
Merlin is appealing. But he does remind of one who went before him.
That seal could pass for a cat... Ime cats when they do something wrong disappear. They know, but don't want to hear about it. Exception - when they bite or scratch. In that case ...
Once pet sat for 6 chihuahuas who lived 100% in a basement. Didnt leave me with any desires to own one.
For a while, owned a Kaiser and went to Kaiser Frazier shows. Can't claim achievements, but always enjoy car tales.
Yep, up there peering at the latest in AI developments. My fav tales so far are escapes from their sandboxes and evil deeds wiping out clients entire systems and admitting they knew better.
Have a great one all!
Well done - smiling this Sunday morn. Thanks
Great material this week!! Hilarious!!!
I do love waterlemons tho.
The discovery channel post was really first posted by https://x.com/selene_mariposa/status/2067799139241361730?s=61&t=SyLPyFE92B8mUvw6Klqd6w