Still too hot to work outside

During last week’s heat wave, I stayed inside. Also, I was under a deadline to enter a regional writers conference contests. I entered seven—three prose pieces and four poems. And I even made it BEFORE deadline. Now, I’m facing two more sets of contests with mid-August deadlines.

Another inside activity that has taken more of my time is reading the current news, both online and in print. It’s not that I don’t have things to do in this house, but I feel a compulsion to keep up with EVERYTHING going on in the country and the world. I credit Dr. Richard Yates at Hendrix College during the late ‘50s when I took American and World Governments. Made Ds in both, but I cared not then nor now.

I’m learning, too, as I read. Just today, I looked up the word, “exculpatory,” a word used by Mr. Giuliani. That’s an adjective for “exculpate,” a verb meaning to show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrong doing.

Puzzles educate now and then: I didn’t remember (if I ever knew) that Zimbabwe was once Rhodesia. And that a “cure-all” is E-L-I-X-I-R. I had the last letter wrong; no wonder I couldn’t figure it out. “Salient” was the answer to “conspicuous,” and “vera” means “truth.”

A prison cellblock can hold approximately 60 inmates, according to an article by C. Turnage in the  state paper last week. And the U. S. Forest Service was created in 1905. So wrote F. Lockwood, ADG.

For the longest time, I’ve heard—but never used—the word “inflation.” Now, I know what it means to inflate a tire, but I’ve never grasped the concept of inflation except that it’s not necessarily a good thing. But an ADG editorial last week, had an actual definition, which I quickly wrote down: “A hidden tax that destroys the value of our currency.”

Bing Online defines it this way: “In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over … time. When the price level rises, each [dollar] buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy.” OK, inflation is when our cash buys less now than it used to. Got it.

“Hegemony” is another mystifying word. Two pronunciations are listed online:” həˈjemənē,” and “hejəˌmōnē.” It means: “leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.” I’ll never use it in conversation, but I can now pronounce it in my head when I read it.

Finally, another F. Lockwood article elucidates a bit of government information: “Under the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, lawmakers are supposed to pass a dozen separate spending bills by October 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

“But that hasn’t been done by deadline in more than two decades. Some years, they fail to pass any of the 12—late or otherwise. Instead, they pass a series of stop-gap spending measures, known as continuing resolutions, or they pass a single, massive spending package.” Hmm. By October 1, we’ll see what this year’s Congress has done/ will do.

            Stay cool, folks.

c 2018, PL d/b/a lovepat press, Benton AR USA