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I Had to Buy a Corded Phone but I'm Not an Ipad Addict the Beauty of Giving Thanks

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I Had to Buy a Corded Phone but I'm Not an Ipad Addict the Beauty of Giving Thanks November 26, 2019 The Our 26th Year of Publishing FREE (979) 849-5407 PLEASE Weekly mybulletinnewspaper.com © 2019 TAKE ONE LAKE JACKSON Bulletin• CLUTE • RICHWOOD • FREEPORT • OYSTER CREEK • ANGLETON • DANBURY • ALVIN • WEST COLUMBIA • BRAZORIA • SWEENY The beauty of I had to buy a giving thanks corded phone By Janice R. Edwards The old one finally broke, The Bulletin I looked up. At first, I couldn’t only to be replaced with see anything, but then I turned and a new one just like it. looked up-river, and they appeared By John Toth - hundreds of Snow Geese and The Bulletin If you had trouble getting through Memories are made of this to The Bulletin by phone the other day, blame the phone - it broke. Blues hanging from the heavens It was one of those old landlines and flying in ever-changing multiple I bought many years ago. You know V formations. They were the only it’s time to replace the phone when things in the crystal blue sky with the you can’t remember when you sun glinting off their white wings; the bought it - or when it breaks. beautiful sight took my breath away. I whispered, “Thank you for this, God.” I looked around with renewed Ramblings joy – I have a lot to be thankful for. A group of White and Brown Peli- It tried to work, but something cans were preening and hunting for inside it was not right. The little breakfast across the river. Roseate screen became garbled and made Spoonbills were seining for shrimp. no sense. It was still ringing, but would not answer calls, which then (Continued on Page 7) went to voicemail. I concluded with A good ole’-fashioned family Thanksgiving get-together great sadness that it would have to be thrown away and replaced. By Jase Graves mothers, sisters, brothers and national overpopulation of giblets. I wasn’t attached to the phone - it But I’m not an Special to The Bulletin creepy uncles gathered with Native Moving ahead to the 20th century, a was attached to the wall. I just didn’t Today, too many Americans Americans for The First Thanksgiv- staple of the modern Thanksgiving want to spend money buying a new iPad addict consider Thanksgiving as a mere ing. Unfortunately, this harmonious dinner emerged with the invention one. But down to the store I went By Ernie Williamson speed bump on the way to Christ- occasion ended in a heated argu- of green bean casserole, ensuring and looked for one of those phones The Bulletin mas, a chance to fuel up for Black ment over immigration policy and that American children would be that plug into the wall. Four hours and 28 minutes. Friday, when they’ll need their Wishing everyone a even less likely to eat their veg- I asked a millennial clerk where That’s how much daily screen time energy to cage-fight each other for Happy Thanksgiving and etables. I may find one. “What’s wrong with I averaged last week on my iPad. an Instant Pot shaped like R2-D2 a quick recovery from Now that I’ve provided a compre- cell phones?” or a television the size of Guam. hensive historical survey, I’ll offer an (Continued on Page 6) That, thanks to the calculator app gravy overdose on my you-know-what, means I will In an effort to adjust our perspec- overview of a modern Thanksgiving tive, let’s pause for a moment to whether the cranberry sauce with in a family that truly appreciates the INSIDE THIS ISSUE The View from My Seat reflect on the history of this special or without berries is the real stuff. deeper meaning of the holiday. The holiday, intended as a celebra- A couple of centuries later, Presi- celebration in my own household Dickens on the spend more than two months this tion of America’s many blessings dent Abraham Lincoln proclaimed begins each year in typical fashion, year on my iPad. And that doesn’t (including expandable waistbands). Thanksgiving as an official holiday with everyone dragging out of bed Strand free ticket include iPhone time. In 1621, the Pilgrim fathers, in a valiant attempt to control the (Continued on Page 14) As depressing as this sounds, winners I don’t think of myself as an iPad SEE PAGE 2 addict. I don’t, after all, know how to use most of the apps, I am not on speaking terms with Siri, and I don’t Dec. 7 High school play video games. Those screen time figures, students race on however, jarred me into researching iPad addiction just to make sure I MSR track (Continued on Page 5) SEE PAGES 8-9 Page 2 THE BULLETIN November 26, 2019 (979) 849-5407 www.mybulletinnewspaper.com www.mybulletinnewspaper.com (979) 849-5407 November 26, 2019 THE BULLETIN Page 3 Dickens on the Strand ticket give-away contest winners Strange but True The Bulletin is sending eight you for entering the contest. As this Toth. By Bill Sones dard fingerprint-lifting techniques 30% professing a belief in astrology. lucky readers to Galveston Island’s busy contest year is winding down, This is the Bulletin’s 25th year and Rich Sones, Ph.D. ineffective, it “may make it easier to Yet in Western countries, both Dickens on the Strand. work has already begun on free of publication.Toth said the paper Ghost guns recover DNA from skin cells, blood groups are united in their belief in The Dickens ticket give-away ticket give-aways for 2020. has given away a record amount of Q. What are “ghost guns,” and or sweat left on the gun.” science. “Two-thirds in the U.K. contest is the latest in a series of “We appreciate our readership tickets this year. how might they impact forensics? Concludes Wilke, “Knowing how agree that ‘the scientific method is events to which The Bulletin has and want to help them have a great “That’s how we celebrated our A. The technology for three- to analyze the evidence 3-D printed the only reliable path to knowledge,’ given away thousands of dollars experience,” said Publisher John silver anniversary,” Toth said. dimensional printers has been guns leave at a crime scene may versus 46% of the general popula- worth of tickets this year. evolving rapidly, and some plastic one day become an important skill.” tion.” Dickens takes place Dec 7-8. It printers are now inexpensive What atheists believe Dr. Seuss would be proud is a world-famous Victorian holiday enough for home use, says Carolyn Q. When researchers interviewed Q. Picture the scene: Former festival that attracts thousands of Wilke in “Science News.” As early thousands of self-identified atheists Genesis front man Peter Gabriel visitors to the island each year. as 2013, 3-D designs for plastic and agnostics from Brazil, China, jamming with two bonobos at a The winners are: handguns appeared on the Internet, Denmark, Japan, the UK and the primate research center some years Brenda Donehue of Angleton, and designs for fully functional US, what surprising discovery did ago. The experience, he said, blew Mary Miller of Lake Jackson, five-shot revolvers are now avail- they make? him away. And from this experience Kathy Rawlings of Rosharon, able, posing new challenges for law A. “A majority believe in at least has come an initiative to build an Darlene Perry of Alvin. enforcement. Such guns have no one supernatural phenomenon or Interspecies Internet. What exactly Each winner has been mailed two serial numbers for tracking and slip entity,” says Graham Lawton in is that? tickets each to the festival. The tick- unnoticed through metal detectors, “New Scientist” magazine. Globally, A. It aims to provide intelligent ets can be used either on Saturday which is why they are sometimes beliefs in fate and in the underlying animals such as elephants, dolphins or Sunday. called “ghost guns.” And plastic forces of good and evil are most and great apes (like bonobos) with Congratulations to all, and thank barrels are too soft to leave telltale prevalent, with 20-30% of atheists a means to communicate online markings on bullets, rendering the and around 40% of agnostics in the with one another and with humans, extensive U.S. National Integrated U.K. and U.S. agreeing. In addition, says Elie Dolgin in “IEEE Spectrum” Ballistic Information Network use- among atheists in the U.K., about magazine. For the past six years, less. 12% believe in reincarnation and two small pilot projects have been Researchers are currently inves- nearly 20% in life after death. “All undertaken. In New York, cognition tigating new forensic approaches. told, 71% of atheists hold one or psychologist Diana Reiss has devel- Since discharging a plastic firearm more such beliefs. For agnostics, oped a touch pad for dolphins and, tends to leave plastic residue on the figure is 92%.” with a biophysicist colleague, has bullets and below the bullet’s trajec- Least susceptible to the supernat- created “an aquatic touch screen tory, it may be possible to trace ural are Japanese atheists, “scoring through which dolphins can play residual chemical signatures to single digit percentages for most specially designed apps, including known materials and manufacturers. beliefs and about 20 for fate and one dubbed Whack a Fish.” And though a plastic gun’s rough good/evil.” Chinese atheists are the In the United Kingdom, Gabriel surface texture can render stan- most susceptible, with more than and Alisa Cronin, director of an ape rescue center, are working on the feasibility of using FaceTime with chimpanzees.
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