Warning Political Commentary
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm angry and appalled by the murders committed in Minneapolis. It's quite scary that the victims are being blamed. Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17 year old punk, can bring an AR-15 to a protest, kill two people, wound a third, be acquitted, and be thought of as some kind of hero gun rights activist. It's ok for him, but it's not ok for an ICU nurse, who had a license to carry, to bring a holstered pistol, a pistol that was removed from his person (which he was NOT brandishing) before he was shot dead (executed) in the street.
32 people died while in ICE custody in 2025. There have been at least six deaths in January alone. The medical examiner for Hennepin County has ruled Renee Good's death as a homicide.
How many more deaths by ICE are we going to accept?
Venezuela update. You know that Russian tanker our pirate navy "captured?" Do you know where they took it? It's off the southern coast of Puerto Rico near the city of Ponce. That puts Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands squarely in the bull's eye should Russia decide to retaliate or recapture the ship. That whole situation is making my family and friends in PR and the VI very nervous.
Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a weird word or odd phrase. I am also adding a new category for rare or obsolete words that are no longer used but which I think should be brought back.
Today's Odd Phrase is: Skating on thin ice So we had a bit of a deep freeze here in the Texas Hill Country. Got down to 15 degrees. No snow, but we did get a thick coating of ice on all the roads which even shut down Interstate 10. The hills around here make for some treacherous driving.
All that ice got me to thinking about the phrase, skating on thin ice, which as we all know means to be in a dangerous or precarious situation. There are plenty of origin stories, but I think this phrase could have arisen independently in any place that has a winter where ponds, lakes, or rivers freeze over.  |
| Dutch ladies on skate around 1914. |
One of the oldest usages may be from Confucius when he said, "Be cautious! as when near a deep whirlpool, as though walking on thin ice." But who knows if the translation is true to what he wrote or said.
Although there is evidence the Finns used bones to skate over ice some 4,000 years ago, the invention of "modern day" skates is generally given to the Dutch who, between the 13th and 14th centuries, added edges to their steel blades. The Netherlands has plenty of ponds and canals that freeze over and being a practical people they would have cautioned against skating on thin ice.
The Oxford English Dictionary says it originated in the US when Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his 1841 essay "Prudence," "In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed."
No matter what, take care.
Today's Obsolete Word is: Gelicide
I chose this word like I chose the phrase, skating on thin ice, because of the cold weather we had here at the end of January.
There was quite a bit of gelicide and ice.
Gelicide was, apparently, only around for a short time in the 1600s. It comes for the Latin, gelicidium. It's a fancy word for frost.
"The flowers were killed by an early gelicide."
"There's gelicide on the car's windshield!"
"She gave him a gelicidal look." I rather like this use of the word.
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This month's question is: Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?
I have reread some of my early stuff. I'm more often surprised and pleased than horrified. Sometimes I'm even amazed. I wrote that?
Quotes of the Month
“We cannot be too cautious, Hannelore. Just because someone knocks on the door doesn't mean you have to open it. Sometimes, sweet girl, there are wolves at the door.
"Social change occurs when the gap between the ideals that people hold and the reality that they see every day gets too large."
Our world is constantly in change and the great change is always toward freedom. When we speak of freedom we speak of equality. Nations will rise and fall but equality remains the ideal.
A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.
Being Thankful
Today I'm thankful that the January freeze wasn't nearly as bad or as long as the one 2021.
What are you thankful for? Ever reread any of your old writing, what were your thoughts? Have you ever ice skated on a real, in the wild, frozen pond? I did once. My feet got so cold that by the time we "got home" I had to be carried into the house and have my feet soaked in cold water. Quite the experience accompanied by my feet feeling like they were on fire.
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