Othello the Fine Fellow by KimB

Othello is nearing 2 years old now. We got him from the local shelter a year ago and he's a wonderful but quirky addition to the house.

He is really attached to Allen and follows behind as Allen does chores. He likes to keep an eye on things to make sure everything is "just so".

He has a play toy that he carries around and brings to Allen when he wants to play chase. When he was younger, Othello did all the chasing but now, he runs just a short way then stops to wait for Allen to come and pick up the toy to toss again. I think, he wants Allen to have "fun" chasing the toy too.

He loves to run up the stairs with me in the morning to my computer room. He has a cat tree with a box on the top that sits under a window. In the mornings, I pick him up to put him in the box and we snuggle together looking for the morning birds flitting outside the window.

He's learned to sleep on our new recliners. At first, he was a bit scared of the motor sounds, even though they are quiet. I think he was perplexed by the movement more than the sound though.

Like most cats he loves snoozing in the sun and we learned he likes bath towels so snuggle up in. So, we put one on each recliner so he can have his "blankies" as he moves from chair to chair.

Like our previous kitty, Zazu, he's learned all the places the sun hits and he heads there for long naps. Like her, he knows what time the sun will be at the top of the stairs and when it is at the bottom. He even knows when it is time to move to the recliners for optimal sun bathing.

His quirkiness shows up from time to time by getting into "attack mode". It seems to overcome him occasionally. He gets a hard look in his eye and fixates on something: usually Allen. In a flash it's a hard grab with all 4 paws and enough teeth to make sure you know, "I've got you!!!" He's very strong and you can hardly unwind him. Allen has a rattle-bottle nearby in case of "pending attack". We've learned to short circuit most of these episodes but once in a while he gets through. When Allen spots him starting to have "that look", he scolds Othello and the episode often passes with a hop into his lap and a snuggle and head rub.

While we still miss our Zazu, Othello has brought a lot of joy and a fair amount of mischief to our house. We wouldn't want it any other way.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]

Othello the Fine Fellow
2 years old

The Big Six O

A few days ago I started wondering how we determined that sixty minutes made an hour. Why wasn't the number fifty or seventy chosen? We could have chosen any number, so how did it happen that it was 60? When we learned to count why did we pass ten and chose a higher number?

Our lives are divided into segments determined by hour units of 60 minutes each, which in turn measure 60 seconds. Our circadian sleep rhythms adjust to 'daylight saving' in springtime by moving the hands of the clock forward an hour and in the fall by moving the hands of the clock back an hour.

Our activities are determined by the 24 hours of clock time. Jobs are measured by hours spent at work. We plan school semesters around calendar days of 24 hours. Television programing is scheduled in hours of clock time.

My knowledge of math is shallow at best, but at some time in my past, I learned that zero did not exist in ancient numbering systems, but does that fact have anything to do with The Big Six O? It's a mystery to me. So... I did what computer users do...I went to the internet to search for the answer. I googled.

There are bones and other artifacts with cuts in them suggesting tally marks that date back to 30,000 BC, but the beginning of counting is speculative. The invention of number forms occurred in India and transmitted thru Arab cultures into Europe.

The Babylonian numbering system started about 1800 BC but it was developed from the much older Sumerian civilization. Babylonians used only two symbols representing the number one and number ten. They did not have a zero.

They used two ones for 2, three ones for 3, four ones for 4, etc. They could use these two symbols to count to 59 but the number 60 looked like the number 10. The Babylonians never had a symbol for zero, but they used the idea of zero by leaving a blank area or space or a small wedged apostrophe between number characters. Using only two symbols, Babylonians could represent any whole number, however big.

Babylonian numerals

We use nine characters, plus the symbol for zero. We do not have a symbol for ten. They developed a positional system listing numbers in columns with the power of 60 rather than ten like we use. Base 60 is a very good system. Many numbers will divide into it, 2 3 4 5 6 10 12 15 20 30. We use base 60 for hours, minutes, degrees in a circle, etc.

Phoenicians who originally used cuneiform script later invented the alphabet which is the basis of our modern alphabet.

Our modern numbers derive from the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. The designs of the numbers have changed over time to the ones we currently use.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0 (zero)

Window Washers

What a wonderful surprise patients at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee got when three window washers, dressed in Spider Man costumes, waved to them while washing windows.

The men spent four hours waving and shooting silly sting at the children as they cleaned the windows on each floor of the building. Smiling children waved back; the distraction a momentary forgetfulness of their problems and illnesses.

A similar event took place at the Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida when Spider Men window washers made several trips from the top to the bottom of the high rise building waving to patients as they worked. What a lovely gesture bringing smiles to patients and staff alike.

Patients in Pittsburgh were barely awake one morning when Spider Men window washers, rappelling down the facades of the building from roof tops 12 stories high, started waving to those inside.

Super hero window cleaners deserve a medal for bringing a little fun and pleasure into the lives of sick children.



Spidermen suiting up

Spiderman on the Job

The "New" have arrived! by KimB

Our new Bodie Power Rocker Recliners have arrived and we've been giving them a good workout.

We bought the rechargeable batteries, 1 for each chair.  The batteries are about the size of a 1lb block of butter. The charge lasts about 2 weeks and it takes 4-5 hours to recharge. The battery has a cord that you plug into wall outlet so you can use the chair while it's recharging. The batteries have a LED light that changes to green when the battery is fully charged.

The batteries also make a "beep" when they get low on power so you know to plug them in.

The first time though, I thought it was a smoke detector low battery warning beep! We were running around the house trying to spot the failing smoke detector. We couldn't figure out why the smoke detector was going off as we had recently changed all the batteries.  We figured it might be a bad battery, so we ran around looking and listening. When we couldn't find which one was failing, we went to sit in our new chairs and the "smoke detector" went off every time we sat down.

Pretty soon, we figured out: It's coming from the CHAIRS! Allen and I, both had a great laugh about it.

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]



Allen in his chair