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Ode to Charles: Friend, Neighbor

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Ode to Charles: Friend, Neighbor November 24, 2020 The Our 27th Year of Publishing FREE (979) 849-5407 PLEASE Weekly © 2020 Bulletin mybulletinnewspaper.com TAKE ONE LAKE JACKSON • CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • JONES CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY Ode to Charles: Is it COVID or friend, neighbor just the crud? By Edward A. Forbes By John Toth The Bulletin The Bulletin Thanks for the memories, Charles I woke up in the middle of the and Linda Miller. night, freezing. The thermostat read They were dear friends. During 78 degrees. Why was I shaking? a difficult time in my life, they were My joints were hurting. I jumped friends to me and my children. I into a nice, warm shower and took couldn’t have loved them more. two Advil. Home duties permitting, I always Did I catch COVID? That’s the stopped at the Millers on my way first thought that ran through my home. mind. Charles sat outside his home, I wear a mask in public, stay away or later, in the screened sun room from crowds, wash my hands, use added to their home. Charles and hand sanitizer and do everything I each had a beer - Miller Lite, of course, and he would smoke a ciga- rette. I had quit smoking in 1991 and Ramblings (Continued on Page 12) else I am supposed to. But I felt like crud, and the pandemic was the first thing I thought of. Leon Hale asked I didn’t have all the COVID symp- toms. But with this pandemic, you never know. Anything is possible. I us to write story put a mask on and slept the rest of the night in the guest bedroom. about a corn cob For editors, election night 2000 was a total nightmare The next morning I continued to By Janice R. Edwards By Ernie Williamson brink.” Or he was “on the cusp.” pers were whipsawed between take Advil. The day after, the fever The Bulletin The Bulletin We laughed as media outlets fast-changing election returns and went away, and I felt normal. I fig- Thanksgiving is fast approaching “How long does a verge last?” searched for words to declare Biden unchanging production schedules. ured it wasn’t COVID. in a year marked by political strife, my wife asked. was winning while still being careful It was the night the headlines were A few days later, the fever came way too many hurricanes and tropi- “What?” I replied. … just in case. overtaken by the news, and I wasn’t back. Here we go again with cal storms and COVID-19. “You heard me. How long does a cautious enough. COVID, I found myself thinking. I felt Now the news is suggesting that verge last?” The View from My Seat I wince thinking about it. drained, tired. I fell asleep during the I finally figured out where she I am sure many of you went to day, which I only do when I’m sick; I Memories are made of this was going with this question. For me and many other jour- bed that Nov. 7 thinking Bush had (Continued on Page 6) Starting on election day, we nalists, however, there is a more won the presidency, only to wake up toilet paper and sanitary wipes will had watched day after day as serious side. The caution most news the next morning to find that wasn’t again become scarce. I could work INSIDE THIS ISSUE carefully hedged headlines flashed outlets displayed this election in call- true. At least not for five more myself into a giant funk. But that is across the bottom of our television ing races was born out of the fiasco weeks of hanging chads and court just not going to happen. screens. that was the 2000 election between rulings. Thank you to our Since I have stories published Joe Biden was “on the verge” of Al Gore and George W. Bush. I was an assistant managing by the “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” loyal readers, the presidency. Or he was “on the That election night newspa- (Continued on Page 5) series of books, I have subscribed to Chicken Soup’s daily messages. advertisers Every message includes an inspi- CENTER FOLD rational quote. One I read recently said: “There is always, always, ALWAYS something to be thankful Latest Brazoria (Continued on Page 7) County parks Like us on Facebook facebook.com/ news and events thebulletinbrazoriacounty/ SEE PAGES 10-11 Page 2 THE BULLETIN November 24, 2020 (979) 849-5407 www.mybulletinnewspaper.com www.mybulletinnewspaper.com (979) 849-5407 November 24, 2020 THE BULLETIN Page 3 Things about weather that will amaze you • The tiny droplets of water that make up fog are so small that it would Strange but True take seven thousand million of them to make a single tablespoonful of water. By Bill Sones the New York State Lottery num- years ago. Modern protists are very • Nine out of 10 lightning strike victims survive! and Rich Sones, Ph.D. bers game popped up the numbers diverse, some being tiny stalked • In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s Just a coincidence 9-1-1. Then there were twins Lor- organisms, about .02 mm high, look- nuclear weapons combined! Q. Of all the amazing coinci- raine and Levinia Christmas, who ing in colony a little like mushrooms • The speed of a typical raindrop is 17 miles per hour. dences occurring around the world collided their cars one Christmas atop a warped straw. Nothing fancy, • The winter of 1932 in the U.S. was so cold that Niagara Falls froze every day, what would be the weird- in Fitcham, England, when driving nothing sexy, nothing photogenic - completely solid! est of them all? to deliver presents to each other. but just an early domino in the long, A. A day when there was com- But my favorite, says Myers, is that long bio-topple-lines that got bigger, plete absence of all coincidences, Psalm 46 of the King James Bible, bolder, faster and finally smart answers mathematician John Allen published in the year Shakespeare enough to write about it. Paulos. turned 46, has as its 46th word Longjump secret When one woman won the New “shake” and 46th word from the end Q. Your longjumping buddies get Jersey lottery twice, newspapers “spear.” tired of losing to you, so they decide reported it as a 1-in-17-trillion feat. In the beginning ... on a handicap: You must jump while Then, statisticians Stephen Samuels Q. Evolutionists have debated the holding a 3-kilogram weight in each and George McCabe computed that existence of an “Eve,” a common hand. “That oughtta do it,” they say. given the millions of lottery ticket female ancestor to the human race Do what? How much edge for them buyers daily, it was “practically a going back 300,000 - 400,000 now? sure thing” that somebody someday years, in Africa. How do biologists A. Incredibly, they may soon Be an angel and help would win a state jackpot twice. today go the Eve story one better? be demanding you hand over the the Salvation Army Consider: Even an event that A. Most systematists now agree weights to them! Ancient vase happens to but one in a billion that this commonality can be taken paintings showed Greek Olympic The Angel Tree Program, along people in a day happens 2000 times much farther back, to ALL OF THE jumpers holding weights, presum- with The Salvation Army’s iconic a year, says Hope College psychol- ANIMAL KINGDOM. “If we could ably to increase distance. Modern Red Kettle Campaign, is one of The ogist David G. Myers in “The Power trace all animal lineages back to sports scientists know that a slightly Salvation Army’s best-known Christ- of Coincidence” (davidmyers.org). their origin, they would converge loaded muscle springs better than mas efforts. More than 100,000 Take the random digits of the on a common ancestor,” say Neil an unloaded one, so the extra children across Texas will experi- number pi, which are about as A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece weight might be more than made up ence the joy of opening presents random as things get. Nevertheless, in “Biology: Sixth Edition.” “That by added jumping force and power, on Christmas morning, thanks to they contain some odd streaks, ancestor was most likely a colonial reports Steven Blau in “Physics generous donors and the help of such as - Myers points out - his flagellated protist that lived over 700 Today” (“A Little Extra Weight Goes The Salvation Army. birthdate of 9-20-42 beginning at million years ago in the Precam- a Long Way”). “The Angel Tree program provides the 131,564th decimal place. To brian era.” Analyses by Alberto Minetti toys and clothing to children and find yours, visit www.angio.net/pi/ Precursors to this sponge-like and Luca Ardigo of Manchester families who might be struggling to piquery. creature were probably the choano- Metropolitan University suggest afford Christmas gifts this year. With On the infamous date of 9-11, flagellates that arose about a billion the weights - called halteres by all that 2020 has brought, more fam- the Greeks, and made of stone or ilies than ever are in need of a little lead - might actually have added extra support and assistance,” said as much as 6% leap length when Captain Vincent of The Salvation 3 kilograms (7 lbs) are held in Army. each hand. It seems the weights The Salvation Army Angel were first extended backward, then Trees are located at Brazos Mall ANGUS swung up and out at takeoff, down Food Court (Theater Entrance), $ 15 and backward again at landing.
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