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7 Things Learned in October

These month-end learned posts are for people with curious minds, but not necessarily short attention spans. Welcome to my world. 

  1. Do you live in “a bubble“? A friend (Joy Cromwell) had something about this on her website. I took the PBS quiz and scored 44. This means I am very insulated from mainstream American culture. Wish the score was even lower.
  2. Knapheide is a word and a brand completely foreign to me. I saw this on the back of a utility truck.When I looked it up, this is what I learned: “Knapheide is North America’s most popular manufacturer of work truck bodies and truck beds”. They started out building wagons in 1848! Their mailing address is a P.O. Box in Quincy, Illinois. This is a town along the Mississippi River where a lifelong friend of mine lives. How did I never hear about this company??
  3. Some friends told us they are having solar panels installed for their home electricity. This led to quite a discussion where we all confirmed that we are probably too old to recoup the costs of the panels and installation in SCE savings. However, they are tired of trying to conserve, getting hammered by large bills anyway, and being uncomfortable in the summers. Our conclusion is that solar is a luxury item that is being misrepresented in advertising, not only as a way to save money, but as a way to “save the environment”. Those panels take an enormous amount of resources to build, and that is not necessarily “environmentally friendly”. (Truth is very hard to come by, but I do my best for you here.)
  4. Feijoa is a green fruit that I found at a farmers market in Morro Bay.  After peeling and slicing one, I tasted it. It ended up in my compost bucket because it is just weird. I read about it here (#25) and contrary to the seller at the market, this article says it isn’t usually eaten raw. I can’t remember how to pronounce it, but it doesn’t matter since I won’t be buying it again. It is also called “pineapple guava”, which I think might be a plant in my yard. Wait, that might be “strawberry guava”. Doesn’t matter, because my shrubs don’t make fruits, and if they did, the deer would eat them.
  5. A “malthusian” is a person who believes there are too many people in the world. (Is there a word for people who think there are too many people in California? in cities? visiting Three Rivers on a weekend?)
  6. This is something I knew but hadn’t followed through: I don’t like social media. It is a grind to stay current, and very little (if any) business or true friendships result. A. LinkedIn is helpful if a stranger contacts you about business and you need a clue before returning a phone call. B. Facebook is a sewer and Twitter is for birdbrains. C. I have neither posted nor looked at Instagram for several (6?) months, so I deleted it from my phone. So there.
  7. When asked which brand of colored pencils is the best, I usually say that Polychromos are the best quality, Prismacolor have the best colors, and never waste your money on Crayola. I think they don’t have enough pigment; besides, art supplies easily found at a grocery store probably aren’t professional quality. Here is a helpful comparison of Crayola and Prismacolor.

And thus we conclude another month-end Learned List, in which your Central California takes you down various side roads of often irrelevant and vaguely amusing topics.

(This is Charles-Eugene, a cat I have not met yet.) Clearly, he didn’t find this list vaguely amusing.

 

 

8 Comments

  1. Wonderful list this week, Jana–Does my opinion indicate it’s a list in tune with ancient people such as I?

    • Louise, we are both in tune with reality, and that is a main item that bonds us.

  2. I scored 42 on the quiz—I guess our living in, and being raised in, a rural area isolates us from mainstream culture, but that’s how I like it too. I don’t think we are missing anything! I have gotten comments from friends to the effect that it would make it easier (for THEM) to correspond if I was on Facebook. I have never been on social media and never will. If they can’t be bothered to even write an email once in a while, I guess that friendship is not that valuable anyway.

    • Marjie, your comment feels as if you pulled my thoughts straight from my brain. I also had friends who pushed me into email and then were no better at replying than they were at snail mail. When I tried FB, I was bombarded by acquaintances who welcomed me. In the 3-week experiment, I quickly learned how shallow the communication in those “friendships” was. Not for me, and not for you, and that is one of the many reasons you and I connect in spite of having never met in person! (or wait, we did once, but it was on a busy studio tour weekend, a stressful time for this introvert.)

  3. 1. I scored 32 points, whatever that means. I found the questions . . . fascinating!
    3. Solar panels can save money on electricity costs, assume you live in a sunny climate and your roof is not shaded. But “saving the environment?” Quite the opposite. Ditto for electric vehicles!
    5. A “theologian” is one who believes God is sovereign in all things, even down to the number of people in this world, California, and Three Rivers on a weekend!
    6. Social Media can stimulate the brain. It can also be a time-sucker. It is what you make it. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but none of the others (not for lack of trying, though).
    Addendum: Happy Reformation Day!

    • Sharon, I always learn from you – thank you!(Reformation Day? Sounds better than Talk Like A Pirate Day)

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