What Shall We Bake Today?

Hubby likes pineapple upside down cake, so I thought I’d look for a version for Filly…our resident peach lover! And I found one…Peach Upside Down Cake!

Ingredients

For the Topping:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch slices, (or 1 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, left frozen)

1 cup fresh raspberries

For the Cake:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.

For the topping, melt the butter over medium-low in a small saucepan. Add the sugar and ginger and stir until smooth and the butter is incorporated with the sugar, about 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture will be very thick, like melted caramel.

Remove from heat. If the butter separates from the sugar as it cools, simply stir it back together (a little separation is OK). Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, then spread it in a thin, even layer, stretching all the way to the edges of the pan. I found it worked best to use the back of a spoon, then once the caramel was cool enough, gently press it with my fingers.

Arrange the peaches and raspberries in a single layer on top of the caramel.

To make the cake, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed in a large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy.

Add in the honey, egg, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla and stir until completely combined. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed.

With the mixer running on medium speed, gradually mix in the first 2/3 cup of flour, then the milk, then the remaining 2/3 cup of flour, incorporating completely between additions and stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. Once the last of the flour is added, mix very briefly, just until smooth. Do not overbeat. The batter will be very thick.

Transfer the batter to the top of the fruit in the pan, spreading it to the pan’s edges. The cake will seem thin but will rise as it bakes.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The top of the cake will spring back lightly when touched. Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Run a sharp knife along the cake’s edge to loosen it from the pan, then invert the cake onto a serving plate. Let the pan rest upside down on the plate for 1 minute, then gently lift the pan away. Let cool on the plate for 10 additional minutes. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

The black-backed dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca), also known as the three-toed kingfisher, is a pocket-sized bird in the family Alcedinidae. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the rufous-backed dwarf kingfisher and together the species complex was known by the English name “oriental dwarf kingfisher”.

This tropical kingfisher is a partial migrant that is endemic to parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Mainland Southeast Asia. It resides in lowland forests, typically near streams or ponds, where it feeds upon insects, spiders, worms, crabs, fish, frogs, and lizards. It is easily distinguishable from other birds in its range due to its red bill, yellow-orange underparts, lilac-rufous upperparts, and blue-black back.

The black-backed dwarf kingfisher is one of the smallest known kingfisher species. It is only slightly larger than a medium-sized hummingbird and measures 4.9–5.5 inches in length (including bill and tail). Females typically weigh 14-16g and males 14-21.5g, making the males slightly larger. The two sexes are otherwise alike and sexual dimorphism is not present. Both males and females have a black spot on the forehead; blue and white patches on the side of the neck; a lilac-rufous crown, rump, and tail; a dark blue back and wings; a white chin and throat; pale yellow-orange underparts; a dark brown iris; and red legs, feet, and bill. Juveniles are duller and have less lilac coloring; a white chin, throat and belly; yellow-orange bill with pale tip; and blue scapulars and wing-coverts. This species of kingfisher has three toes, explaining why it is sometimes called the three-toed kingfisher, however, there are other kingfishers which also have three toes. The toe-count in these kingfisher species does not appear to be adaptive. The vocalization is a high pitched, shrill “tsriet-tsriet” or soft “tjie-tjie-tjie” in flight.

The black-backed dwarf kingfisher is a forest and wetland-dwelling species that is endemic to parts of the Indian subcontinent and Mainland Southeast Asia. The breeding range includes eastern Bangladesh, northeastern India, Myanmar, the extreme south of China, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. There is a disjunct population in the Western Ghats of western India and in Sri Lanka. During winter some birds migrate south to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.

It is most commonly found in deciduous and evergreen primary and secondary forests, but also in alluvial forests, mangroves, overgrown rubber gardens, or in dense aggregations of palms, bamboos, or shrubs. They tend to keep near forest streams and ponds, but their nests are often well away from water. They keep low to the ground and are known to perch and fly within 1-2m of the forest floor. Their preferred habitat is densely shaded forest lowlands near small streams or ponds. The lowlands they are present in typically do not exceed 1000-1300m in elevation.

Their diet consists primarily of insects, including mantises, grasshoppers, flies, water beetles, winged ants, mayflies; but also includes spiders; worms ; and small crabs, fish, frogs and lizards.

Black-backed dwarf kingfishers forage solitarily and perch in low vegetation or on rocks before flying out to capture prey from the ground or from among foliage. They can take spiders from their webs and catch insects in flight. They can also dive into water for prey at or just below the surface, without submerging themselves. Larger prey are typically brought back to a perch, where the bird will strike it repeatedly with its beak before swallowing.

Breeding

Egg laying occurs from July to September in southwest India, February to July in Sri Lanka, April to May in northeast India, March to July in peninsular Malaysia, March in Sumatra, and from December to May in Java. Nests are built in stream banks, road cuttings, terrestrial termitariums, or in soil near roots of a fallen tree, often well away from water. Together, the male and female excavate a horizontal tunnel that is 5.9–39.4 inches long, 1.5–1.8 inches in diameter, and ends in an unlined egg chamber. One pair dug 9.8 inches of their burrow, in sand, in about 40 minutes. The unlined chamber is 3.9–5.9 inches wide and 2.0–2.8 inches high. Both the tunnel and egg chamber are inclined upwards, which is thought to minimize water entry into the chamber and to help the flow of waste material out of the nest. The generation time is approximately 4.2 years. A typical clutch size is 3-7 eggs, averaging to around 5 eggs per clutch. The eggs are laid in the morning with a one day interval in between. Incubation begins after the final egg is laid and the incubation period lasts 17–18 days. Both the male and female incubate the eggs, however, the female has a larger role in the incubation period because she is responsible for incubating the eggs at night. The fledging period is 18–20 days and chicks typically fledge out in the morning.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

Hawaii State Flower: Yellow Hawaiian Hibiscus

The Hawaii State Flower is a beautiful ornamental known as yellow Hawaiian hibiscus. It is distinguished by its large and full bright yellow flowers with a reddish center, and leaves that resemble a maple leaf.

Visitors to Hawaii will enjoy numerous colorful species of hibiscus growing prominently across the Big Island. There are seven varieties of the plant known as Hawaiian hibiscus, referring to the flowering plants considered native to Hawaii. There are other varieties that are similar in appearance to the Hawaiian hibiscus that are often used as ornamentals in homes and gardens, but most of these have been introduced from Asia and other parts of the Pacific.

The hibiscus flower, in all its varieties and colors, had been designated as the official flower of the Territory of Hawaii since way back in the early 1920’s. The particular species of yellow Hawaiian hibiscus, called ma`ohauhele or hibiscus brackenridgei, was specified as the newly official State Flower in 1988.

Ma’ohauhele (mah-oh-how-hay-lay) is the Hawaiian term for yellow Hibiscus. It literally means “green traveling introduced hibiscus”, perhaps due to the way the flowers turn green as they dry out. Blossoms are typically 5-6 inches across with a long yellow stamen and reddish center. The blossoms form as single flowers, but are sometimes seen in clusters at the end of the branch. There are sharp spines around the base of the plant.

Domestic hibiscus plants in gardens and around homes generally grow as shrubs anywhere from 3-12 feet tall. In their natural habitat they will sometimes grow into trees as high as 30 feet! They grow best in areas with an abundance of sunlight and need very little water.

Blooms are most prominent in spring and early summer, but flowers can be seen throughout the year. Due to the warm Pacific climate and rich volcanic soil, many tropical flowers grow in abundance in Hawaii. Visitors will enjoy a multitude of colorful flowers of Hawaii on display throughout the year.

The yellow Hawaiian hibiscus is found only in Hawaii. While it grows on all the main Hawaiian Islands, it is extremely rare. Because there are so few remaining in the wild, it is considered an endangered species.

Look for the beautiful yellow Hawaiian hibiscus growing in gardens and along roadsides across the The Big Island, particularly on the west side of the island where there is plenty of sunshine

SOURCE: EXPLORETHEBIGISLAND.COM

125 Interesting Facts About Everything Part 2

Fact: McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli

This crazy McDonald’s fact will have your taste buds crawling. Unsurprisingly, the attempt to get kids to eat healthier didn’t go over well with the child testers, who were “confused by the taste.”

Fact: Some fungi create zombies, then control their minds

The tropical fungus Ophiocordyceps infects ants’ central nervous systems. Once it has been in an insect’s body for nine days, it has complete control over the host’s movements. According to National Geographic, it forces the ant to climb trees, then convulse and fall into the cool, moist soil below, where fungi thrive. Once there, the fungus waits until exactly solar noon to force the ant to bite a leaf and wait for death.

Fact: The first oranges weren’t orange

The original oranges from Southeast Asia were a tangerine-pomelo hybrid, and they were actually green. In fact, oranges in warmer regions, such as Vietnam and Thailand, still stay green through maturity.

Fact: There’s only one letter that doesn’t appear in any U.S. state name

Can you guess the answer to this random fun fact? You’ll find a Z (Arizona), a J (New Jersey), and even two X’s (New Mexico and Texas)—but not a single Q.

Fact: A cow-bison hybrid is called a beefalo

You can even buy its meat in at least 21 states.

Fact: Johnny Appleseed’s fruits weren’t for eating

Yes, there was a real John Chapman who planted thousands of apple trees on U.S. soil. But the apples on those trees were much more bitter than the ones you’d find in the supermarket today. “Johnny Appleseed” didn’t expect his fruits to be eaten whole but rather made into hard apple cider.

Fact: Scotland has 421 words for snow

Yes, 421! Some examples: sneesl (to start raining or snowing); feefle (to swirl); and flinkdrinkin (a light snow).

Fact: Samsung tests phone durability with a butt-shaped robot

People stash their phones in their back pockets all the time, which is why Samsung created a robot shaped like a butt to “sit” on their phones to make sure they can take the pressure. Believe it or not, the robot even wears jeans.

Fact: The Windy City nickname has nothing to do with Chicago’s weather

If you live in Chicago, you might already know this random fact, but we’re betting most other people don’t. Chicago’s nickname was coined by 19th-century journalists who were referring to the fact that its residents were “windbags” and “full of hot air.”

Fact: Peanuts aren’t technically nuts

They’re legumes. According to Merriam-Webster, a nut is only a nut if it’s “a hard-shelled dry fruit or seed with a separable rind or shell and interior kernel.” That means walnuts, almonds, cashews, and pistachios aren’t nuts either. They’re seeds.

Fact: Armadillo shells are bulletproof

In fact, one Texas man was hospitalized when a bullet he shot at an armadillo ricocheted off the animal and hit him in the jaw. That’s a totally true animal tidbit. These animal “facts,” however, are wrong.

Fact: Firefighters use wetting agents to make water wetter

The chemicals reduce the surface tension of plain water so it’s easier to spread and better soaks into objects, which is why it’s known as “wet water.”

Fact: The longest English word is 189,819 letters long

We won’t spell it out here, but the full name for the protein nicknamed titin would take three and a half hours to say out loud. While this is, by far, the longest word in English, the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary has 45 letters, and the longest made-up word has just 28.

Fact: “Running amok” is a medically recognized mental condition

Considered a culturally bound syndrome, a person “running amok” in Malaysia starts with a period of brooding and then commits a sudden, frenzied mass attack.

Fact: Some octopus species lay 56,000 eggs at a time

On average, a giant Pacific octopus will lay 56,000 eggs at the end of a pregnancy, over the course of about a month, NPR reports. At first, these new babies float through the surrounding water unattached to one another or their mother. But then the mother gathers each egg—which is about the size of a grain of rice—and weaves them into braids, allowing her to keep an eye on everyone at the same time.

Fact: Cats have fewer toes on their back paws

Like most four-legged mammals, cats have five toes on the front, but their back paws only have four toes. Scientists think the four-toed back paws might help them run faster.

Fact: Kleenex tissues were originally intended for gas masks

When there was a cotton shortage during World War I, Kimberly-Clark developed a thin, flat cotton substitute that the army tried to use as a filter in gas masks. The war ended before scientists perfected the material, so the company redeveloped it to be smoother and softer, then marketed Kleenex as facial tissue instead.

Fact: Blue whales eat half a million calories in one mouthful

Just try to wrap your brain around the second part of this animal fact: Those 457,000 calories are more than 240 times the energy the whale uses to scoop those krill into its mouth.

Fact: That tiny pocket in jeans was designed to store pocket watches

The original jeans had only four pockets: that tiny pocket, plus two more on the front and just one in the back.

Fact: Turkeys can blush

When turkeys are scared or excited—like when the males see a female they’re interested in—the pale skin on their head and neck turns bright red, blue, or white. The flap of skin over their beaks, called a snood, also reddens.

Fact: Most Disney characters wear gloves to keep animation simple

Walt Disney might have been the first to put gloves on his characters, as seen in 1929’s The Opry House, starring Mickey Mouse. In addition to being easier to animate, there’s another reason for the gloves: “We didn’t want him to have mouse hands because he was supposed to be more human,” Disney told his biographer in 1957.

Fact: The man with the world’s deepest voice can make sounds humans can’t hear

The man, Tim Storms, can’t even hear the note, which is eight octaves below the lowest G on a piano—but elephants can.

Fact: The current American flag was designed by a high school student

It started as a school project for Bob Heft’s junior-year history class in 1958, and it only earned a B-minus. His design had 50 stars, even though Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states yet; Heft figured the two would earn statehood soon and showed the government his design. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower called to say the design was approved, Heft’s teacher changed his grade to an A.

Fact: Cows don’t have upper front teeth

They do have molars on top, in the back of their mouths, but where you’d expect upper incisors, cows, sheep, and goats have a thick layer of tissue called a dental pad. They use that with their bottom teeth to pull out grass.

Fact: Thanks to 3D printing, NASA can basically email tools to astronauts

Getting new equipment to the Space Station used to take months or years, but the new technology means the tools are ready within hours.

SOURCE: Reader’s Digest: Elizabeth Yuko

Goldadors

Our daughter and her family recently got a puppy to replace the hole in the family left by the death of their beloved dog Jamison. Jamison was a rescue dog—a Boxador—a large lovable sweetheart of a dog. Their new puppy is also a rescue but a breed I hadn’t heard of before—a Goldador—a Golden Retriever and Labrador mix. I wanted to find out more about this breed and searched PETGUIDE.COM.

From PETGUIDE:

It’s always difficult to decide which breed of dog to bring home. There are too many amazing pooches out there to choose from and every single one of them has amazing qualities. In particular, many people find themselves torn between the equally beloved Golden Retriever and Labrador Retriever. If you find yourself facing this impossible choice, you should know that there is another option. Why not have the best of both worlds and get yourself a Goldador?!

Also known as Golden Labradors, the Goldador is a hybrid of two of the most popular dogs in North America. A wonderful family pet, an amazing service dog (they’re even used as bomb sniffing dogs) and a superb hunting companion, sometimes we wonder if there’s anything the Goldador can’t do well. Known for its trainability and willingness to please, this designer breed is a breeze to train, as he just wants to make you happy. Having a Goldador in your home guarantees constant smiles.

The Golden Retriever and Lab mix is a large, athletic dog that will do best living in a house with a big backyard. However, with enough exercise, they can adapt to apartments as well. These dogs can be happy just about anywhere. Their versatility and easy-going attitude are just some of the many things people love them for!

Ideal for a wide range of families and lifestyles, this hard-working dog would be a joy to any household. Whether they are playing, working, or relaxing, your Goldador’s favorite place will be by your side. Their affectionate behavior and loyalty to owners is truly something special: the Goldador is the living embodiment of the phrase ‘man’s best friend’. While their many impressive qualities make these mixed breed dogs a popular choice for pet owners, they might not be the best match for everyone. There’s only one way to be certain that this is right dog for you. Keep your eyes glued to this page and read on to learn everything that there is to know about the Goldador and find out if you’ll be bringing this adorable doggo home anytime soon.

Also known as Golden Labradors, the Goldador is a hybrid of two of the most popular dogs in North America.

First introduced as a designer dog over a decade ago, the Goldador was bred for the purpose of creating a sensitive and tolerant working dog. To say that breeding was a success would be an understatement. This dog is now used as guide and assistance dogs, search and rescue dogs, therapy dogs, and police and bomb-sniffing dogs. They can be trained to do just about anything! However, beyond the breed’s many day jobs, the Goldador has proved itself to be a loyal and loving companion as well. These pups are valuable to both families and hunters alike. while it’s not as popular has other hybrid breeds, there’s no doubt that once the word gets out on the Goldador, more people will appreciate its fine qualities. It’s only a matter of time before this extraordinary hybrid matches the popularity of his famous parents.

SOURCE: PETGUIDE.COM

How to Soften Hardened Brown Sugar

Nothing is more frustrating than getting out the ingredients to bake something and find out one of your brown sugar has turned into a rock. The Pioneer Woman has these tips forsoftening that rock into a useable ingredient again.

From The Pioneer Woman website:

Every home cook has been there: You’re getting ready to bake, you reach into your pantry to get your ingredients and you realize your brown sugar is hard as a rock. Don’t worry! Once you know how to soften brown sugar, you can get back to business—and back to making treats like Ree Drummond’s brown sugar oatmeal cookies or her favorite turkey brine for Thanksgiving. Don’t just toss your brown sugar and use granulated instead—brown sugar has a unique molasses flavor and adds tons of moisture to baked goods.

So what went wrong? The main reason your brown sugar is super hard is because it dried out. After you open a package of brown sugar, you instantly release some of the natural moisture in the sugar. The exposure to open air dries and hardens both the sugar crystals and the molasses in the sugar, making the sugar crystals stick together. The end result: brown sugar that feels more like stone than damp sand! But the good news is your brown sugar is still totally usable. The even better news is that reviving your solid brown sugar is simple—just restore the moisture. Read on to learn how to soften brown sugar in a few different ways. And to keep your brown sugar from hardening in the first place, store it in a tightly-sealed food storage container that isn’t prone to rust (don’t just fold down the top of the bag and hope for the best). You can also add a brown sugar saver to your container, like a brown sugar bear, which can help maintain moisture in brown sugar for up to six months.

How to Soften Brown Sugar in the Microwave:

This is the fastest and easiest way to soften hardened brown sugar. Just place your block of brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Wet a paper towel and squeeze until just slightly damp. Lay the paper towel over the brown sugar and microwave it in 20-second intervals, loosening the sugar with a fork between each interval, until the sugar has returned to its normal texture.

How to Soften Brown Sugar Without a Microwave:

This method will take a little longer, but it’ll do the trick! Place your hardened brown sugar in a secure plastic container or bag. Then, lay a slice of sandwich bread on top of the brown sugar and cover the container with the lid or seal it if using a bag. Let sit for at least 12 hours (or overnight). This method works like magic—the moisture from the bread is transferred to the brown sugar, helping it get back to its normally soft texture. You can also use the same method with apple slices. All you have to do is lay an apple slice or two on top of the brown sugar and apply the same technique as with the slice of sandwich bread.

How to Soften Brown Sugar in the Oven:

To soften brown sugar in the oven, place the hardened pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the brown sugar in the oven and warm at 250 degrees. Check on the brown sugar every couple minutes or so and break it up with a fork until soft. Allow the brown sugar to cool slightly before trying to use it in a recipe. Remember, you don’t want to cook or melt the brown sugar, you just want to soften it—so don’t try to speed up the process by raising the temperature of the oven.

How Do You Keep Brown Sugar From Hardening?

Store brown sugar the right way to keep it from hardening after you’ve opened the package. Chances are, your brown sugar came in either a plastic bag or a box with plastic packaging inside. In either case, once you’ve opened the sugar, you should transfer it to an airtight container to keep it moist, or stick the whole thing in a large resealable plastic bag. This way, your brown sugar will maintain as much moisture as possible and be “scoopable” and ready for baking. That way, you won’t have to resort to using a brown sugar substitute.

SOURCE: THE PIONEER WOMAN

Candle in the Wind

Today, June 1, is the birthday of Norma Jean Mortenson aka Marilyn Monroe. She was born in 1926 and died in 1962. The song, Candle in the Wind, by Elton John was a tribute to her. When I researched the song, I found an interesting article on Songfacts detailing many things I didn’t know about the song that I loved so much including the fact that the song wasn’t so much a tribute to only Monroe, but more a statement on how fame impacts people. Elton John rededicated the song a few times since he wrote it.

From Songfacts:

This song is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, a famous actress and sex symbol who died of a drug overdose in 1962. The “candle in the wind” represents her short, but eventful life.

The song makes various references to the press coverage of Monroe. The famous opening line, “Goodbye Norma Jeane,” refers to her birth name: Norma Jeane Mortenson, and how she gave up both her name and her privacy for the sake of celebrity.

The lyrics were written by Elton’s writing partner, Bernie Taupin, who got the idea for the title from a quote he read about Janis Joplin. According to Taupin, the song is more of a take on fame and celebrity than an ode to Marilyn Monroe. Said Taupin: “I think the biggest misconception about ‘Candle In The Wind’ is that I was this rabid Marilyn Monroe fanatic, which really couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not that I didn’t have a respect for her. It’s just that the song could just as easily have been about James Dean or Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain. I mean, it could have been about Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf. I mean, basically, anybody, any writer, actor, actress, or musician who died young and sort of became this iconic picture of Dorian Gray, that thing where they simply stopped aging. It’s a beauty frozen in time.

In a way, I’m fascinated with that concept. So it’s really about how fame affects the man or woman in the street, that whole adulation thing and the fanaticism of fandom. It’s pretty freaky how people really believe these people are somehow different from us. It’s a theme that’s figured prominently in a lot of our songs, and I think it’ll probably continue to do so.”

When Elton got the lyrics, he had no trouble writing the music. He understood the stress caused by constant media attention, and felt Monroe must have been in terrible pain her whole life.

From Songfacts:

On April 7, 1990 Elton dedicated this to Ryan White, one of the first high-profile AIDS patients, when he performed it at Farm Aid 4. White, who got the disease from a blood transfusion, died the next night at age 18.

He rededicated it again in 1997 to Princess Diana, calling it Goodbye England’s Rose.

From Songfacts: Elton’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin, rewrote the lyrics to this song after Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident on August 31, 1997. The 36-year-old princess had divorced Prince Charles, but remained a beloved celebrity, revered for her humanitarian efforts and grace. Diana was friends with Elton John and also a big fan – she identified with the sentiment in “Candle In The Wind,” especially the lyrics, “They made you change your name, never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in” and “even when you died, the press still hounded you.”

With the song rewritten, most notably with the first line changed from “Goodbye Norma Jeane” to “Goodbye England’s Rose,” Elton played it at Princess Diana’s funeral on September 6. The global TV audience for the funeral was estimated at 2.5 billion, and Elton’s heartfelt performance provoked an outpouring of support for the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. The new version of the song, which was produced by Sir George Martin of Beatles fame, was released as a single as “Candle In The Wind ’97,” this time dedicated to Princess Diana and with proceeds going to the fund.

(snip)

After performing the song at Diana’s funeral, Elton never again sang it with those lyrics. When the song fell off the charts, most radio stations also retired it, going back to the original version of “Candle In The Wind.”

SOURCE: SONGFACTS

Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would’ve liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hollywood created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you died
Oh, the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would’ve liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
Goodbye, Norma Jeane
From the young man in the twenty second row
Who sees you as something more than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would’ve liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

The Long Journey of the 27th Amendment

I have always wondered about Congress voting for their own salary increases and so I researched the 27^th Amendment. Here’s what I found at the constitutioncenter.org website:

The Twenty-Seventh Amendment has one of the most unusual histories of any amendment ever made to the U.S. Constitution. Congress passed the Twenty-Seventh Amendment by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, in 1789, along with eleven other proposed constitutional amendments (the last ten of which were ratified by the states in 1791, becoming the Bill of Rights). The Amendment provides that: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened.”

During the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, congressional pay was a central topic, one that took up several days of discussion. Benjamin Franklin’s initial speech to the Convention was on the topic of public salaries: he was against them. Public servants should not get paid at all, Franklin argued, or we would get representatives with “bold and the violent” personalities, engaged in “selfish pursuits.” Franklin’s extreme argument did not prevail because the Framers wisely did not want only the wealthy to be able to afford to hold federal offices. This is a very good thing.

Nonetheless, Franklin’s comments caused the Framers at the Philadelphia Convention to focus on the problem of making sure that people did not go into public office to make a lot of money. In England, at the time, the biggest problem of English democracy was the phenomenon known as “placemen.” Placemen were members of Parliament who the King simultaneously appointed to lucrative executive branch offices to buy their loyalty on votes in Parliament. The King had built up his power by corrupting these office holders, giving them easy and well-paid civil office jobs so that they would support him in Parliament. To prevent this problem, the Framers added Article I, Section 6’s Incompatibility Clause. That Clause says that “no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.” The Framers described the Incompatibility Clause as being “The Cornerstone of the Constitution.” But as to salaries for congressmen themselves, the Constitution simply said those salaries should be provided for by law—in other words, that Congress would set its own pay. This did not sit well with the general public, or with James Madison—it seemed like a big opening for Congress to pay itself too much.

In 1789, Madison proposed twelve amendments to the federal Constitution, the first ten of which were ratified in 1791 and became the federal Bill of Rights. One of the proposed amendments, which was not ratified at that time, was an amendment that became the Twenty-Seventh Amendment and which forbade congressional pay increases from taking effect until there had been an intervening election of members of Congress. Madison did not want Congress to have power over its own pay without limitation. But he also did not want the President to control congressional salaries, since that would give the President too much power over Congress. So instead, he proposed that an election had to happen before any pay raise could take effect. If the public opposed an overly generous congressional pay raise, the public could throw the offending congressmen out of office when they ran for re-election.

The congressional pay amendment was only ratified by 6 states initially. But the First Congress, which had passed the Amendment in 1789, had not attached a time limit within which the Amendment had to be ratified by the states. (Some subsequent constitutional amendments have provided for such time limits.) In the nineteenth century, one state joined this small group, and others in the twentieth, but no one thought it was going anywhere—or thought about it much at all.

In 1982, the Amendment was languishing before the states with only a tiny fraction of the number of states needed to ratify having ratified it. That year Gregory Watson, a sophomore at the University of Texas, was assigned to write a paper about a government process. He came across a chapter in a book on the Constitution, listing proposed constitutional amendments that had not been ratified. He wrote his paper on the congressional pay amendment, arguing that there was no time limit on when it could be ratified, and that it could be ratified now. He got a C on the paper. Maybe if he had received a better grade on his paper, the story would have ended there, but Watson was sure it was a better paper, so he appealed his grade, first to his T.A., then to his professor; and when he was unsuccessful, he decided to take the issue to the country. In an NPR report in May 2017, he said that after his teacher affirmed the C, “I thought right then and there, ‘I’m going to get that thing ratified.’”

Watson sent letters around the country to state legislators, who mostly ignored his idea. But Maine Senator William Cohen liked the idea—and he pushed it and it passed in Maine in 1983. After that, Watson kept pushing, and the Amendment picked up steam.

The fact of the Amendment’s passage through Congress in 1789 and of its non-ratification by the states came to public attention in the 1980s when there was tremendous popular disapproval of the performance of the Congress and the exorbitant salaries and fringe benefits members of Congress enjoyed. As a result, a campaign was launched to get three-quarters of the states to ratify the Amendment over the totality of the period between 1789 and the present day. In 1985, five states passed it, and by 1992, the 38 states needed for full ratification had all passed the Amendment. Thus, the three-quarters of the states’ consensus required by Article V of the Constitution was finally reached in 1992—more than 202 years after Congress had proposed the Amendment. The Archivist of the United States declared the Amendment to be legally ratified, and, subsequently, Congress on May 20, 1992, declared the ratification to be legal and the Amendment to be part of the Constitution. As of today, forty-six states have ratified the Twenty-Seventh Amendment while four have not.

The main objection that has been made by scholars to the legality of the ratification process of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment is that Article V contemplates some kind of simultaneous approval of a proposed amendment between when Congress votes on it and when three-quarters of the states ratify it. Proponents of this view point out that the size of the Senate and House of Representatives and the number of states in the Union have changed significantly between 1789 and 1992. Scholars who reject the Twenty-Seventh Amendment do so on the structural constitutional ground that there was never a “magic moment” consensus of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states when a national and federal supermajority agreed to add the Amendment to the Constitution. Speaker of the House Tom Foley initially called for litigation to challenge the legality of the Amendment’s ratification process, but he quickly changed his mind on that point once he saw how popular the Amendment really was.

Moreover, these scholars add that there are a number of constitutional amendments that Congress has approved but that the states have not yet ratified, which could become law if the Twenty-Seventh Amendment process were to be held valid. In an effort to avoid the outbreak of the Civil War, Congress passed a constitutional amendment called the Corwin Amendment, which would have forever preserved slavery in those states where it was legal in 1861. Could this horrible old amendment, to which Congress attached no time limit for its ratification, be resurrected and ratified in the future simply by state action and with no new attempt to get two-thirds of both Houses of Congress to ratify it?

The argument in favor of the validity of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment’s ratification is that Article V’s text only requires: 1) two-thirds of both Houses of Congress pass the proposed amendment, which happened here in 1789; and that 2) three-quarters of the states ratify the amendment as it passed in Congress, which they did here in 1992. From a strictly textual viewpoint, the terms of Article V were satisfied, and Congress had no choice but to accept the Amendment as being a valid addition to the Constitution.

It is important to note here that the “precedent” that was set when Congress “approved” of the unusual process by which the Twenty-Seventh Amendment was ratified meets not only the textual requirements of Article V; it also met the structural argument about the need for a “magic moment” when there is a popular national consensus of super-majority proportions. Congress on May 20, 1992 voted by a unanimous vote of the Senate and by a vote of 414 to 3 in favor of “accepting” the Twenty-Seventh Amendment as having been validly approved. Forty-six out of fifty states ratified the Amendment, and no state that had once ratified the Amendment tried to “unratify” it. Both the textual and the structural concerns that underlie Article V had been satisfied. There was an Article V consensus in 1992 to ratify this most unusual amendment.

It goes without saying that there would NOT be such a national supermajority consensus for many other “dead” constitutional amendments that have been ratified by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and sent to the states for ratification. In the unimaginable situation in which a state might try to ratify the Corwin Amendment constitutionalizing the right to own slaves, Congress would immediately rescind its approval of the Amendment as would most of the states, which had ratified it. It is thus important to note that the case of the 202 year-long ratification process of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment is really sui generis: It deals with a situation, which is very unlikely ever to rise again.

One final question is raised by the odd ratification process of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment: What role, if any, should the U.S. Supreme Court play in passing on the validity of the ratification of constitutional amendments? Such amendments are the supreme law of the land, as is Article V, and Chief Justice Marshall said in Marbury v. Madison (1803), “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is.” In Coleman v. Miller (1939), Justice Hugo Black wrote a concurrence joined by Justices Roberts, Frankfurter, and Douglas arguing that cases that go to the validity of the ratification of a constitutional amendment should be said to raise a political question and that only Congress can resolve that question.

Professor Calabresi agrees with Justice Black on this point because over the last 228 years of American history the federal courts have never been in the business of reviewing the legality of the process by which an amendment was ratified, and there is no reason they should get into that process now. There were serious questions about the legality of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment since the eleven rebel states were compelled to ratify the Amendment before they were allowed back into the Union. Congress declared this was legal and that the Fourteenth Amendment had been validly ratified, and Professor Calabresi heartily agrees. Suffice it to say that no court has ever or should ever question Congress’s judgment and decision on that measure.

The Twenty-Seventh Amendment was accepted as a validly ratified constitutional amendment on May 20, 1992, and no court should ever second-guess that decision. Constitutional amendments are one of the few checks and balances that “We the People” have on the Supreme Court, and it would thus be unconstitutional for the Supreme Court to adjudicate the legality of the ratification of an amendment that might be overturning a Supreme Court decision. That would violate a fundamental axiom of Anglo-American law, which is that no man should ever be a judge in his own cause.

SOURCE: CONSTITUTIONCENTER.ORG

Georgia State Mammal: White Tailed Deer

Appearance

The coat of the White-tailed deer is a reddish-brown in the spring and summer and turns to a grey-brown throughout the fall and winter. The deer can be recognized by the characteristic white underside to its tail. It raises its tail when it is alarmed to warn the predator that it has been detected. An indication of a deer age is the length of the snout and the color of the coat, with older deer tending to have longer snouts and grayer coats. A population of white-tailed deer in New York is entirely white (except for areas like their noses and toes) – not albino – in color. White-tailed deer’s horizontally slit pupils allow for good night vision and color vision during the day. Males regrow their antlers every year. Males without branching antlers are often termed “spikehorn”, “spiked bucks”, “spike bucks”, or simply “spikes/spikers”. The spikes can be quite long or very short. The length and branching of antlers are determined by nutrition, age, and genetics. Spiked bucks are different from “button bucks” or “nubbin’ bucks”, which are male fawns and are generally about 6 to 9 months of age during their first winter. They have skin-covered nobs on their heads. They can have bony protrusions up to a half inch in length, but that is very rare, and they are not the same as spikes. Males shed their antlers when all females have been bred, from late December to February.

Habits and Lifestyle

White-tailed deer are usually considered solitary, particularly in summer. Their basic social unit is mother and fawns, although sometimes they do graze together in herds that can number hundreds of individuals. Bucks and does remain separate from each other except during the mating season. Bucks usually live alone or within small groups alongside other bucks. Deer living in deserts often migrate from summertime elevations down to warmer areas where there is more food available. White-tailed deer are crepuscular, and mainly feed starting before dawn until a few hours after the sun has risen, and again in the late afternoon until dusk. They use a number of forms of communication, such as sound, odor, body language, and marking with scratches. When alarmed, a White-tailed deer will raise its tail to warn other deer.

Diet and Nutrition

Whitetails are herbivores and feed on twigs, bark, leaves, shrubs, the nuts and fruits of most vegetation, lichens, and other fungi. Plants such as yucca, huajillo brush, prickly pear cactus, ratama, comal, and a range of tough shrubs can be the mainstay of a whitetail’s diet if it lives in a desert area. Though almost entirely herbivorous, White-tailed deer may opportunistically feed on nesting songbirds, field mice, and birds trapped in mist nets, if the need arises

Mating

Whitetails are polygynous, and bucks fight fiercely during the mating season, with winners able to mate with does in the area. The season runs from October to December. The gestation period is about 6 months. A female usually gives birth to one fawn in her initial year of breeding but 2 are born subsequently. Fawns can walk as soon as they are born and only a few days later are able to nibble on vegetation. When seeking food, mothers leave their offspring hidden amongst vegetation. A fawn starts to follow its mother as she goes off to forage when it is about 4 weeks old. At 8 – 10 months old, they are weaned. At one-year-old, young males leave their mothers but young females will often stay with them for two years. Most of them (particularly males) will breed in their second year.

Fun Facts for Kids

When White-tailed deer gather together and trample down snow in a particular area, this is called a “deer yard.”

White-tailed deer can jump vertically more than 8.2 feet and horizontally 354 in, which is almost the length of a school bus.

White-tailed deer swim well and can escape from predators through large streams and lakes.

Only the males grow antlers, and they shed them each year.

White-tailed deer are the shyest and most nervous of deer. When they are startled and run away, their tails wave from side to side.

Deer can smell human odor on underbrush for days afterward. Bucks will stay away from areas that have been visited by humans for weeks afterward.

Bucks usually lie on their right side when they go to sleep, and they face downwind, enabling them to employ their nose, ears, and eyes to detect danger in any direction.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

This song, by Billy Joel, was one of my favorites back then. The lyrics and explanation of the origins of the song are from the GENIUS website. It reminds me that the world has always been in turmoil.

From GENIUS:

This monster hit of a song was created in 1989, when Joel turned 40. The idea spawned from a conversation he had with a friend of Sean Lennon. The friend just turned 21 and was complaining about how crazy it was to be living in his era, therefore undermining any other time before his. This encouraged Joel to write a song that would prove that any time is filled with extremes.

Starting from 1949 (the year in which he was born), he chronicled the major events that occurred during that time in a rapid fire delivery of names, places, and cultural works.

These are his words on the subject:

I started doing that as a mental exercise. I had turned forty. It was 1989, and I said, “Okay, what’s happened in my life? I wrote down the year 1949… It was kind of a mind game. [It’s] one of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.

Passage taken from the book, In Their Own Words by Bill DeMain (Chapter 14) where he interviewed Joel about his thoughts on the song.