Five Things I've Learned Recently

That 1960's maternity wards didn't want to see babies leaving without a name, so they suggested a few defaults. Darlene, Dawn, Debra, Jenny...yep, sounds like my 1970's class list. (We won't even discuss what they did to my name.)

  

That William Morris disapproved of Wagner's turning the Northern Epics into opera--he thought that was entirely too flippant.

"Many thanks for your letter and the translation of Wagner : I have not had time to read it yet : nor to say the truth am I much interested in anything Wagner does, as his theories on musical matters seem to me as an artist and non-musical man perfectly abhominable :  besides I look upon it as nothing short of desecration to bring such a tremendous and world-wide subject: under the gaslights of an opera : the most rococo and degraded of all forms of art the idea of a sandy-haired German tenor tweedledeeing over the unspeakable woes of Sigurd, which even the simplest words are not typical enough to express ! Excuse my heat : but I wish to see Wagner uprooted, however clever he may be, and I don't doubt he is : but he is anti-artistic, don't doubt it."

That you can make Cream of Wheat in the microwave. The directions are on the package. Not that that makes Cream of Wheat taste any better, because it doesn't, but at least you don't have to clean the pot afterwards.

That Charlotte Mason didn't hate Herbart's methods and musings as much as we would like to give her credit for; in fact, she practically pushed them as far as they would go within her educational reality, leaving them behind only when it came to something Herbart never had the chance to hear about, the physiology of habit. One might imagine a leisurely afterlife conversation between them, with Miss Mason explaining to Herbart that he had only known the "baptism of John" in these matters.

That belts are measured from the point where the strap meets the buckle to the middle hole of the belt. Or, if you want to know your belt size, generally add two inches to your waist measurement or pants waistband size. So I feel better about passing up a great 38" purple and teal belt.

And now you know these things too.