Did you know that both Mother's and Father's Days are national holidays?  Of course they are always celebrated on Sundays, so they are not a federal holiday.  President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 designating  Mother's Day  as the second Sunday in May.  Of course motherhood has long been cherished, and the ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals in honor of mother godesses Rhea and Cybele. Mind you, the Greeks and Romans also honored fathers, and in Catholic Europe, St. Joseph's Day ( March 19 ) is a feast day dedicated to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.  But Father's Day in the USA had a rather startling beginning that few know. First, Father's Day did not become a national holiday until 1972. The reason why has everything to do with civil rights movements in the 1960s. The story starts in 1964 when a middle-aged father and mid-level federal appointee, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, dreamt a solution to America's racial conflict in his sle...

I guess this is good news.  Hawaiian Airlines merged with Alaska Air.  More specifically,  Alaska purchased Hawaiian for $1.9 billion .  We recently have been traveling a lot on both.  United Air seems to have backtracked in many ways the past few years.  Even though my loyalty program is with them, the company has so decimated the utility of using miles that it doesn't matter anymore.  In any case, when you travel in business or first class, you can always use the executive lounge of that airline. One more bit of news.   Have you noticed that Israel is killing and maiming Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon with pagers?    Yes, this is that small device you use to page people.   Apparently, what happened is that mobile phones can be tracked, so they were discarded by the Hezbollah and replaced by pagers.  You cannot talk on them.  These devices can only text a message.   The Hezbollah ordered 5,000 pag...

Have you noticed that films these days don't say  The End  at the the end?  This  turnover happened  in the 1970's.  Now, there is a rolling credit list for grips, gaffers, etc.  One annoyance I have, though, is that all those production companies want to feature themselves at the beginning, taking up so much time.  Also, have you noticed how many producers there are on each movie? Then there is the end to your life.  For many, this termination is just the beginning of a better existence in Heaven, or the equivalent.  And, boy, do Muslim male martyrs have a surprise coming:   not 72 virgins, but 72 sweet white raisins .  Not to say that other religions also will not be disappointed.  What you are promised has not actually been verified. For me, the end will be nothingness or total blackness or utter gloom.  Now and then I convince myself that it will be eternal peace.  The plus side going for people of faith...

Chances are that a lot more people in the world believe that God had some role in the creation of Humanity than the scientific version, which begins with the Big Bang.  As such, then, God is the most popular choice for First Contact, or interaction with an extraterrestrial.  Actually, he has no competition in this vote because no intelligent life form has yet ever made contact, as confirmed by any reliable source. This might well be my shortest posting, for what would be the point of confirming or refuting the title?  Well, this gives me another opportunity to compare religion with science. I start with  Global Religion 2023 , a 26-country Global Advisor survey by Ipsos. These countries were all reasonably developed, with 46% of the respondents believing in some form of Christianity.  Only 7% Buddhist, 6% Muslim, mostly Sunni, and 4% Hindu.  Interestingly enough, 29% with no religion or not religious. India, Turkey, Japan and Thailand were surveyed, but the...