I’m up early as usual. Eileen is still resting. Today is my 66th birthday and I’m feeling unreasonably well and optimistic. I’m thinking of asking her if she is willing to drive to Grand Rapids and go to the bookstore. Yesterday I said I didn’t think I was up for it. Instead I was thinking we could have lunch at the sushi place to celebrate my birthday.

But I think she will probably be happy to visit the bookstore and probably have lunch there today. She finds it tricky to give me gifts.  So this way she will feel like we are doing something for my birthday and I will also enjoy a rare bookstore visit.

Last night was the fourth night in a row without my evening martini and subsequent snacks and wine. Combined with more exercise I think this change in behavior is having an effect on me. I feel more rested this morning and more relaxed. Dam. I hate to give up the nightly martini and probably am not doing so permanently. But once one has begun this sort of restrain, it’s tempting not to go back right away since that is so self defeating.

Yesterday after I got off the treadmill at Evergreen, a man on a tandem exercise bike (yes they make such things, weird, eh?) called out to me. He said that I had put in such a long period on the treadmill that now I deserved to over to the Evergreen coffee shop and treat myself to a donut. I told him that sort of defeats the purpose but thanked him.

I just remembered that Eileen was talking about going over for a class at Evergreen this morning. Maybe we’ll leave after that and I can treadmill while she is at her exercise class.

Origin of Zero Symbol Is Centuries Older Than Previously Thought

I do love shit like this. The commenters point out that zero is more ancient than this reporting implies. Presumably the report is about the actual symbol, “0.”.

Nestor’s Cup – Wikipedia

Speaking of ancient shit, I read the introduction to an edition of Hesiod this morning. It mentioned this cup as an example of early Greek writing. Apparently the current scholarship is that Homer and Hesiod were actually illiterate, singing their poems from memory to be transcribed by others. But that they lived at the same time as the person designated as the Adaptor who put together the Greek alphabet. Who knew? cool stuff

Chelsea Manning: The Dystopia We Signed Up For – The New York Times

Apparently the NYT (and I) think more of Chelsea Manning than the CIA.

When Junk Science About Sex Offenders Infects the Supreme Court – The New York Times

I read the novel Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks which dramatizes the extreme injustice of the laws about convicted sex offenders who have served their time. This revelation about junk science is sad.

The Free Speech-Hate Speech Trade-Off – The New York Times

Good interview with Erwin Chemerinsky. Shouting and shutting down speakers is not the way to go. The antidote to hate speech is more speech free speech.

An Old Supreme Court Dream – The New York Times

A 1982 case about Texans educating the undocumented.

Joe Biden: Reclaiming America’s Values – The New York Times

I find it interesting that at this point in time I am reading people like Biden and HRC.