Class Links - Roaring Twenties - July 27, 2020

Some of the fun things to explore today!

Cookbooks

Mary Ronald's Century Cookbook on Archive.org
https://archive.org/stream/cu31924003579038#page/n1/mode/2up

Perry Ladies' Cookbook
http://www.kancoll.org/books/perry/index.html

A simple fruit shrub (fruit vinegar for drinking) - there are lots of recipes, some of them take months to make.  This one doesn't.

https://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/how-to-make-shrub

And since it's summer, a cherry-balsamic shrub 

https://www.kcet.org/food/recipe-cherry-balsamic-shrub

Or how about "water pie"

https://www.southernplate.com/water-pie-recipe-from-the-great-depression/

Tents and campers of 1920-1930 (in case you want an adventure)

https://mobilehomeliving.org/tents-of-the-1920s-and-30s/

Short filmsBabe Ruth, King of Swat in "Perfect Control"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4llAK8_o4GU&list=FLddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g

Link to Citizen Archivist for National Archives

https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist

Chautauqua Society

https://www.mdhumanities.org/programs/chautauqua/

2020 Bingo

Because things are just so strange this year - a collection of odd news stories that made people ask:

News links included.  Updated when I run across stuff.

"Zombie cicadas" infected with mind-controlling fungus return to West Virginia

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zombie-cicadas-infected-mind-controlling-fungus-west-virginia

This River Of Black Sludge Recorded In Arizona Is The Stuff Of Nightmares

https://allthatsinteresting.com/arizona-ash-flash-flood

07/18/2020 Giant swarm of flying ants spotted from space over UK 

https://news.sky.com/story/giant-swarm-of-flying-ants-spotted-from-space-over-uk-12030835

07/13/20 2020 adds "plague squirrels" to its apocalypse bingo card 

https://z100radio.iheart.com/content/2020-07-13-2020-adds-plague-squirrels-to-its-apocalypse-bingo-card/

07/01/20 Part of Lassen Volcanic National Park closed after angry otter bites swimmer - 

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/California-lake-closed-after-angry-otter-bites-15380136.php

07/01/20 - National coin shortage has retailers pleading for exact change 

https://nypost.com/2020/07/01/national-coin-shortage-has-retailers-pleading-for-exact-change/?fbclid=IwAR3Z7D3c-sp0x_NAojNnfWpoDhq7wQiRNy4IINj2QAHm9Xc00jK4WMMvYsY

06/14/20 Locusts Are A Plague Of Biblical Scope In 2020. Why? And ... What Are They Exactly?

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/14/876002404/locusts-are-a-plague-of-biblical-scope-in-2020-why-and-what-are-they-exactly

05/29/20 Monkey steals COVID-19 blood samples from a lab technician in India  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/monkey-steals-covid-19-blood-samples-from-a-lab-technician-in-india/ar-BB14MhGm

05/27/20 More Than 100,000 People Have Now Died From COVID-19 In The U.S. - 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/100000-us-coronavirus-deaths_n_5ebd9b0bc5b66e2790db0a8b

05/25/20 George Floyd protests 

https://web.archive.org/web/20200602235547/https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-protests-timeline.html

05/18/20 Freshwater river turns blood-red ‘like a biblical plague of Egypt’

https://nypost.com/2020/05/18/freshwater-river-turns-blood-red-like-a-biblical-plague-of-egypt/

05/04/20 'Murder Hornets,' with sting that can kill, land in US 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/murder-hornets-sting-kill-lands-us-70495354

04/07/20 Record-size hole opens in ozone layer above the Arctic 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/07/record-size-hole-opens-in-ozone-layer-above-the-arctic

04/07/20 Chernobyl radiation levels spike as forest fires rage - 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/06/europe/chernobyl-fire-radiation-scli-intl-scn/index.html

01/10/20 Enormous 'Megafire' In Australia Engulfs 1.5 Million Acres 

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/10/795169417/enormous-mega-fire-in-australia-engulfs-1-5-million-acres

Back in Cairo

The ship's Internet turned out to be too unreliable to upload posts, which means that I will be uploading various posts and notes later this week.  I burned up ALL of my International data usage (not hard to do when you're the Geek Princess) and was left with the occasional small bits of free Internet via the ship's satellite.  It was slow... almost as slow as some of the fast modems of 30 years ago.

A good story needs photos, don't you think?

So here we are, back in Cairo, at the Mena House Hotel.  It's just after sunset, and that's Khafre's pyramid sitting on the plateau behind us, dividing the dark land from the indigo sky.  We can't see the Sphinx from here, but I know it's watching us.  The hotel sound system is playing classical music with an oriental theme.  I can't identify either the piece or the composer, but it's a violin arabesque that flits and echoes around the walls of the 2nd floor lobby balcony where I'm sitting and typing.

The grounds of the hotel are green and lush - there's several pools and the walks are lined with flowering plants.  Big fat bumblebees stumble and buzz contentedly here, and I saw the familiar pale green-white of a cabbage butterfly ghosting across the lawn.  You can even see the occasional scarab beetle, looking just like a piece of jewelry, trundling along on its way to an unknown destination.   There's not much traffic this weekend -- it's a four-day weekend here in Egypt and everyone who can has gone out of town.  The hotel grounds are quiet and fairly cool, although the temperature is hovering at 100.

The hotel, like all hotels and public places, has guards (discretely armed) who control the gates as fiercely as any guardian in the ancient books called The Book of Gates.  We don't feel threatened here -- the sense is that since military service is compulsory for young men, that they have to be given something to do while in the military, and keeping the flocks of trinket-sellers away from tourist hotels is one of the things that they do.  More about that later.

Night has fallen while I was writing this blog and downloading my homework from the University of Manchester.  I need to go back to the room and dress for dinner, leaving Khafre's "mansion of millions of years" to watch the brilliant night skies for me.

I Know Ten Words In Arabic and I'm Not Afraid To Use Them

I spent six months trying to learn Arabic (fairly unsuccessfully), but I've been using the few phrases and words that I learned on everyone.  I'm trying to learn (or re-learn) a new one every day.  Sadly, one of the necessary phrases is "get away from me" - every charm seller and trinket seller along the Nile is desperate to see tourist money, and some of them get rude and aggressive and won't take "no."  There were two women today who managed to irk many of us.  They sold scarves, and the "hook" was "by women, for women, won't you support a sister?"  They wanted to sell as many as they could, so they got impatient with some of the women who were trying to buy (they wanted to make a 3 second sale and then run to "hassle" (that's what the Egyptians call it) another woman.)  I would have bought a scarf on the way back but their aggressive approach turned me off.

The ship itself has a little store with a vendor who will haggle for prices.  He lets you come in (really, you're a captive audience since you're on the ship and he's there, too) and look and ask questions.  Our tour guide mentioned him, and Bruce bought a gabeyaah (man's robe) from him.  I've gone in to look at things, and others have also bought from him.  Those of us on the tour understand that these little vendors are eager to sell and do need the income, but when they flock around you and won't take "no" for an answer, it's off-putting.

The first day (at Giza) it was amusing.  By now, it's not.

Bruce has acquired souvenirs, including the now-famous "one eared cat."  Someone bought a large-ish (1 foot tall) statue of Bast, but when they tucked it in their bag, it knocked against something and lost an ear.  The husband and wife were on the bus with Bruce (I think I was off climbing around a pyramid at the time) and the husband held it up and in best vendor manner called, "I have nice cat for sale!  Only one dollah!"

Bruce yelled "20 cents!"  ... and ended up with the one-eared cat, which he gave to me (I think we may need another suitcase!)  He added "buyer of one-eared cats" to his self-inflicted persona name on his name tag (he calls himself "Abu Abyad' (Grandfather White))

I have also acquired souvenirs... mine are more expensive.  I have a silver amulet of Sekhmet, who wards off plagues, and a book by Hawass that's basically a catalog of items on display in the Cairo Museum (which I can excuse as a book for my classes.)

The Great Pyramid and beyond

Today we woke up early (5am our time) to head out to see the Great Pyramid and hear the dawn lecture by Zahi Hawass.  We arrived just as the sun rose and turned the limestone of the Sphinx (where he was standing... eternal showman that he is) into gold.  The old monument regarded the rising sun as it has done for the past 4,500 years while we small ones walked around its huge paws and learned its history.  Up close, you can see chisel marks on some of the facings where restoration had been done hundreds of years ago.

And then it was off to the Great Pyramid.  As we all know, my ambitions are great but my body is not so great.  "We can see all three chambers," they said.  "Cell phone photos are okay but no cameras."  We climbed up to the thieves' entrance, about a 6th of the way up and entered.  "We'll go up to the middle chamber but if you want to see all three rooms, start with the bottom chamber.

We all know where this is going, right?

Yup.  I went down all 300 meters below the earth, into the subterranean chamber.  The passageway is low (even short little me had to walk bent over down the slope), and the "footing" is actually a series of boards nailed together with slats across each (think of a railroad and railroad ties.  There were only a few lights along the way, so Geek Princess here grabbed out her cell phone and used the flashlight function as we went farther and farther from the light.  The last little dot of light at the top winked out and we kept on going.

At the bottom, we reached a small square passageway and had to crawl to go forwards for about 30 feet to reach the unfinished bottom chamber.  I took a photo, and one of the guards said "no photos."  So much for that.

And then it was back up the slope.  Sadly, there's no quick way out -- only the long slope up in the deep darkness.  Then we hauled ourselves to the second level.  "The main chamber's straight ahead," Bruce said.  Two ramps merged, sloping upward, that led to the Queen's chamber.

Yes, I went.  More slopes in the darkness.   I was only able to stay a short time (I move so slowly that it takes me a longer time to get someplace.)  After making my way down, I took the turn (and the crawl) into the main chamber and stared at the granite sarcophagus.  Although I'm making this sound anticlimactic, the truth here is that the wifi is rather unreliable and even my phone drops signal frequently.  So I'm typing in haste, but I have notes and pictures to follow.

This was not the end of my adventures, but it's the end of my typing for the moment.  It's dinner time and believe me, I have earned this meal!

Adventures in Language Land

Too tired to type up adventures today (I will type them tomorrow while we are on the plane.)  But today's episode included a trip on a boat AND getting around Frankfurt with three women from Costa Rica who spoke only a few words in English.  I speak about 100 words of Spanish and about 500 words of Germany.  It was hilariously ... but very strange.

Also, it seems we have landed in Frankfurt on the weekend of a very big festival.  Our hotel is full of police!

Chapter 2 - to Gelnhausen

We made it to Germany!

The flight on Lufthansa was pleasant -- we seemed to have more room than on ordinary flights, and the service was wonderful.  The flight attendants spoke both German and English (and probably several other languages); I practiced my bad German on them.  Frankfurt airport is immense, and a trip from any place in the airport to any other place is like an adventure to an alien land.  We got off the plane and were escorted to buses, which then took a full 20 minutes to wind through various buildings to the place where we could pick up our luggage.  Getting to the rental car place was another long hike.

I was far too amused to find out that "rental car place" in German is "mietwagen"...which I promptly mangled into "meat wagon."  Our "meat wagon" is a huge Mercedes SUV with all the bells and whistles.  It's a rather intimidating beast, and the gear shift is very different from American cars.

At any rate, having acquired our personal "Meat Wagon", we fired up the GPS (another interesting experience since it's not a brand we use) and headed to Gelnhausen, the place where I spent about 4 years of my childhood.

It has changed considerably.  I remember the drive being through farmland, where everyone farmed the land up to the edge of the road.  Now it looks more like America, with a grassy strip between the farmland and the Iroad.  When I lived there, the only high school was in Frankfurt, an hour's trip one way.  It's still an hour's drive from Frankfurt to Gelnhausen but the drive has changed.  It's no longer a small 4 lane highway bordered by farms, but a very large 6 lane highway with concrete walls separating small towns from the roads, and a lot of graffiti.  It looks less tidy.