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Buggy Kid in Kentucky 14 September 2019

Posted by KentuckySerendipity in News, People.
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Kentucky is the place of many significant first events, and to the list we can now add that Kentucky is the first place where a toddler helped discover a new species of insect. I can’t say much about this story without infringing on copyrighted news stores, so I’ll just give the gist and interested readers can click on one of the links for details. In a nutshell: Laura Sullivan-Beckers is planting flowers and her daughter, Sylvie, helps by watering them. However, she accidentally over-waters and some insects float up. The mother investigates and later it is determined that the insects are a new species. Since Sylvie was two years old at the time of the watering, I wager that she is the youngest person ever to co-discover a new species. Are you listening, Guiness Book of World Records? Here are links to news stories with details and photos:

Bushels of Fun 7 September 2019

Posted by KentuckySerendipity in Kentucky Events.
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Festivals are big business across the USA in small towns as well as large cities. Festivals can have a huge economic impact on a community as well providing social benefits to both residents and visitors. Compared with other economic projects, festivals are not hard to create and manage, and don’t cost a lot to produce. These benefits are largely due to the significant use of volunteer labor in running festivals. In addition to the immediate financial gains from tourist dollars spent at a festival, a festival can create recurring revenue by encouraging people to return to the area over the years.

Festivals have social as well as economic benefits. A festival can help bond people of the community through working together a toward common goal. Additionally a festival can improve (or create) civic pride within the community.

Of course, all those benefits assume that one’s festival is successful. Kevin Langston, deputy commissioner for the tourism division at the Georgia Department of Economic Development has some advice for those who are contemplating hosting a festival: “Do something that’s authentic to the community. Take advantage of something that’s local and something that can celebrate the sense of place of the community.” (Small Towns, Big Impacts) In other words, be yourself.

apple-2788616_1920Kentucky is home to people with rich backgrounds which provide ample raw material for a festival theme or focus. As a result, Kentucky is home to festivals which celebrate everything from bourbon to horses to burgoo to pumpkins to barbeque and all manner of other things (see calendars at Kentucky Tourism and Kentucky Living). Oh, yes, and apples. Kentucky, in fact, is home to five apple festivals:

These events feature a wide range of apple and non-apple related activities. One can dunk for apples, eat apple pie or apple butter, pick apples, pet animals, listen to music, dance, and much, much more. Visit the web sites to get more information on activities and then plan a trip to one of these festivals or one of the many other Kentucky festivals. Whatever your interests, it’s almost certain there is a Kentucky festival which matches. There’s a rich variety of activities across the Commonwealth.

Wish You Were Here 27 August 2019

Posted by KentuckySerendipity in Technology.
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The humble postcard will be 150 years old on 1 October. (You can read the history of postcards here.) When I was a boy, postcards were the currency of summer. Whether sending a greeting from vacation or a missive from summer camp, a postcard was a cheap and easy way to provide a succinct update. In addition to the message the recipient (usually) also got a picture even if it were only of a hotel being used by the vacationers. Most hotels and motels provided free postcards for use by their guests, an amenity which I haven’t encountered for twenty or twenty-five years. More recently I did stay at a motel had a rack of postcards for sale which featured local scenery and attractions but these are such racks are more and more scarce. Postcards apparently have gone the way of newspapers and snail mail party invitations.

46256369592_010eff3c02_bPlaces of lodging giving free postcards to guests was good advertising. In pre-Internet days people traveling on vacation or to visit relatives would generally drive until tired and then pick a place which looked okay. But if one had neighbors or relatives who had traveled the same path then one might have a place to stay already in mind: “Kim and Edward stayed here and they said it was nice — let’s try it.” There were few ways for motels and hotels to make their existence known outside of the immediate area. Yellow Pages ads (remember those) didn’t circulate widely and people didn’t usually request travel brochures before setting out on a trip. Some people kept the postcards they received from vacationers just in case they traveled the same way at a future date.

I also remember being at summer camp, and on the second day being handed a stamped postcard and a pen with instructions to “write your mother and tell her you’re okay”. Presumably fathers didn’t care whether one was okay or not. These were not picture postcards, but standard issue postal service postcards — a buff colored rectangle of cardboard with a printed stamp on the front. It had a reasonable amount of space on the rear for a message but most of us had trouble composing a note so we would write in large letters to take up a lot of space. The messages were quite unimaginative and comprised of phrases like “I am okay,” “it is fun here,” “the food is okay”, or the very informative “it is hot.” Even the cards lacked literary or news merit I am sure parents were glad to receive them. I suppose these days kids are told on the second day of camp to pull out their phones and send a text and perhaps to include a selfie with their new camp bestie.

Some of us still send postcards (and snail mail invitations). I have several friends with whom I regularly exchange postcards — and these are real friends, not just Facebook “friends”. We find the postcard exchanges to be a helpful aspect of our relationship and much more valuable than a text or email. Many folks still enjoy sending, receiving, and collecting postcards, and there are many companies which still print them. In addition to postcard exchanges with my friends, I participate in international exchanges through Postcrossing. Signing up with Postcrossing enables one to connect with other deltiologists around the world. It’s easy to use: you send a card to a user selected by Postcrossing, and then Postcrossing asks a different user to send a card to you.

Finding postcards to send is fairly easy — eBay and Etsy have many available. One can usually find a group of postcards for sale at fifty cents or so each. Bulk lots often go as cheaply as ten cents each. Several companies print postcards and sell direct; one which I’ve used and been very happy with is Christopher Arndt Postcard Company. They have brightly colored cards with striking images at reasonable prices and they ship very quickly. They offer a “Welcome Pack” of ten cards for five dollars to give you an idea of what they have. In addition, they created a card to celebrate the 150th anniversary — view it here. Another source for new postcards is Pomegranate Publishing. They have books of 30 postcards featuring works of art and other themes for $12.95. (I have no relationship to any of these vendors except as a satisfied customer.)

If you miss the old currency of summer, or you want to try something different, send a postcard. You’ll learn that many people are impressed and pleasantly surprised to receive a snail mail picture card with a handwritten message. You may also discover an enjoyable hobby. And if you don’t — well, it hasn’t cost you much.