Unexpected Topics - Part 1

*Here is the curious unexpected topics meme. If you wish to participate let me know in the comments, and I will give you three topics, or spheres of interests, which I think you are not interested in, or maybe you'll surprise me with your interest and/or knowledge. Then you talk about those subjects in your journal. It's interesting to see who knows what about what.*

maju01 gave me these:

1. Lego: I think I had some lego blocks when I was a kid, but all they had in those days were basic ones in bright primary colors. I don’t have any specific memories of them. I did later get some lego kits that had something to do with pirate ships. I believe I got them free from some offer or other. I know I gave some of them away.

I do know that the name comes from the Danish for "play well."

2. Bricklaying: I admit to not having thought much about bricklaying, though my great-grandfather, Schachne Fainstain, was a contractor in bricks. Now that I think of it, I wonder how much or how little bricklaying has been mechanized / automated. I definitely think of it as a skilled trade, with people slathering mortar and arranging bricks by hand.

3. Ice fishing: In order to go ice fishing, you need to be near a body of water that freezes over in the winter. Presumably, that means a pond or a smallish lake. And it definitely means fresh water. My image is of little huts where men sit around holes in the ice for hours, more as an excuse for drinking beer than in hopes of actually catching fish. I like saltwater (and fish that live in it) and being warm and not worrying about falling into a hole in a frozen body of water and dying of hypothermia. In other words, no thanks.

Unexpected Topics - Part 2

*Here is the curious unexpected topics meme. If you wish to participate let me know in the comments, and I will give you three topics, or spheres of interests, which I think you are not interested in, or maybe you'll surprise me with your interest and/or knowledge. Then you talk about those subjects in your journal. It's interesting to see who knows what about what.*

zhelana gave me these:

1. Fastpitch Softball: Isn’t this just softball? As opposed to slow pitch softball, which is what they used to relegate girls to playing?

2. Butterflies: Many of them are pretty. As a child, I favored monarch butterflies. As an adult, my favorite is the blue Morpheus. I have some pretty cool pictures of them resting on rusting World War II planes on Guadalcanal. I’ve also been to a couple of walk-through butterfly houses. There’s one in Westminster, Colorado and another in Key West.

3. Ukraine: I haven’t been to Ukraine, but it is on my list. The problem is that I specifically want to go to places in the Crimea, which has been taken over by Russia. I suspect that if I do go there, I will be singing the song "Djankoye" for weeks after. (If you go to Sebastopol, it’s not far from Simferopol, just a little further on …) Fortunately, I don't know any songs about Odessa.

Also, why does Joe Biden spell the name of Ukraine’s capital "Kiyiv," while everyone else seems to stick to "Kiev?"