Technologically Challenged

I am a dinosaur.  I don't own a cell phone.  I've never sent a text.  The only reason that I joined Facebook three and a half years ago was so that I could connect with other writers.  However, it's been a great forum for my blog.  Now, I'm looking for more blog followers and hits.  This week, therefore, I decided to become a full fledged member of the social media world.  My teenage son can do these things in his sleep, but for me, it's a monumental task.  But I was bound and determined to do it.

I started out with Twitter.  I signed up and opened an account -- without any tears!  I sent my first tweet, successfully.  Then I went crazy and sent several other tweets.  Next I turned to Pinterest.  I signed up, opened an account and pinned my first photo.  I even tried Google +, but Thomas told me that it was a waste of time, so I gave up on it.

My next task was to sign up for Google Adsense (http://www.google.com/adsense/).  I've been blogging for three and a half years, why not make a bit of money at it?  Once again, I signed up successfully.  Now I just have to wait up to a week to be approved.

I have always wanted to write more articles.  I discovered Hubpages on the Internet.  Why not sign up to write Hubs?  So, I gave them a list of information as well as my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts and signed on the dotted line.  I wrote my first Hub, "Open Adoption:  Uncharted Territory", which took an hour and a half to complete.  Then I pressed a button -- and it disappeared!  I didn't cry, I didn't throw anything.  I just calmly started to rewrite the article.  This time, however, I saved it in Microsoft Word, just in case.  The second time around I was able to successfully submit the article. I was told it would take 24 hours to proofread before it would be published.  I don't care -- I'm a Hubber!

Besides Social Media, another way I can increase my blog hits is to use tags.  Again, how hard can it be to learn? So, I googled it.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out how simple it was.  Each time I write a new blog post, I have a box to the right of the text with the word Labels at the top.  I click on it, a box opens, and I list the words that I would like highlighted from that particular post.  Then, when I publish my post, voila!  The highlighted words appear in orange at the bottom of my post as "tags".

I thought, I wonder if tags are the same as "hashtags"?  I guess they are.  I was so proud of myself that I bragged to my daughter Jacqueline that I had learned how to use hashtags.  She laughed and explained to me that a hashtag is something you use when you text.  She said:  "Stick to Facebook, Mom.  It's more your speed."  

Nonetheless, I am still pleased that I have navigated through the Social Media world successfully. My next task is to set up an official website which will provide links to my writing (blog, newspaper articles, short stories).  Can I do it?  Will I succeed?  We'll see.  If I'm successful, you'll see me doing a happy dance. Thomas and Jacqueline, however, will not bat an eyelash.  I'm still their "dinosaur" mother.

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Christmas Decorating chez Jonasson

I always said that the person I married would have to be tall, intelligent and make me laugh.  Of course, it also went without saying that he would have to make a good father.  One of the things I love about Rob is his joy for Christmas and the Advent season.  With snowflakes falling outside, today is the perfect day to put up the Christmas tree.

The tradition is that Rob puts up the Christmas tree (http://www.bhg.com/christmas/trees/how-to-decorate-a-christmas-tree/).  When we were first married he did it himself.  It was particularly sad sixteen years ago when, after six and a half years of marriage, we celebrated another Christmas without children.  That all changed when we adopted Thomas, and brought him home only three weeks later.

Now, Rob and Thomas put up the tree.  Four and a half years later, we were joined by another baby, Jacqueline.  At first she just got in the way when Rob decorated the house.  She actually undid the work that Rob did, taking off every last candy cane that Rob hung on the branches, taking each one behind the chair and eating it.  But after a few years, Jacqueline started to help, too, hanging ornaments on the branches of the tree.

Then our black cat with mint coloured eyes named Midnight Mint joined the family.  And like Jacqueline, she hinders the decorating process.  After Rob carefully hangs all of the ornaments, she proceeds to climb up the middle of the tree and hang from the top, knocking every last one off.

So, today the tradition continues.  Rob will put on an eclectic mix of Christmas music, everything from "Give This Chrismtas Away" from the Veggietales Story of St. Nicholas to the Motown Christmas CD.  Thomas will stand with branches in his hand.  Jacqueline will sift through the cardboard boxes for her favourite ornaments.  And Midnight will hide under the couch ready to pounce.  It's Christmas chez Jonasson.

Swastikas, U-boats & Bulletproof Cars

Here are ten facts you may not know about World War II.

1.  World War II was the bloodiest conflict ever.  It cost more money, damaged more property and killed more people than any other war in history.

2.  For every five German soldiers killed, four died on the Eastern Front.

3.  It is estimated that 1.5 million children died in the Holocaust.  Approximately 1.2 million were Jews and tens of thousands were Gypsies.

4.  Eighty percent of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War II.

5.  Over 2 million German women were raped by the Red Army.

6.  Max Heiliger was the fictitious name the Nazis used to establish a bank account in which they deposited Jewish money, jewelry and gold.

7.  The word Nazi derives from a Bavarian word meaning "simple minded".  The word, originally used as a term of derision, was coined by journalist Konrad Heiden.

8.  The swastika derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "hooked cross".  Symbolizing fertility and good fortune, it has been found in the ruins of India, Egypt, Greece and China.

9.  Out of the 40,000 people who served in U-boats during World War II, only 10,000 returned.

10.  More Russians (civilians and military) lost their lives during the Siege of Leningrad than did American and British soldiers combined during World War II.

11.  The SS ran a brothel in Berlin for foreign diplomats and VIPs called The Kitty Salon.  Twenty prostitutes were hired and trained specifically to glean information from their clients through innocuous conversations.

12.  After the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested a bulletproof car.  However, presidents were only allowed to spend $750 on a car.  The only one available at that price was Al Capone's limousine, absconded when he went to jail for tax evasion.

Source:  facts.randomhistory.com

Siege of Leningrad photo courtesy weebly.com.

TNT, Blood Banks & Canaries

Here are ten facts you may not know about World War I, the Great War or the "War to End all Wars".

1.  An explosion on the battlefield in France was heard in England.  Over 900,000 pounds of explosives were detonated simultaneously in 19 tunnels.  The British Prime Minister heard it at 10 Downing Street in London.

2.  Twelve million letters were delivered to the Front every week.  It only took two days for a letter from Britain to reach the Front in France.

3.  "Canaries" were women who worked in factories with TNT, which gave them toxic jaundice and turned their skin yellow.

4.  World War I sparked the invention of plastic surgery.  Harold Gillies, a surgeon, saw how shrapnel could damage a soldier's face beyond recognition.  He pioneered techniques in facial reconstruction.

5.  The youngest British soldier was only 12 years old.  Sidney Lewis was one of thousands who lied about his age to enlist in the army.

6.  World War I nearly caused financial ruin in Britain.  In 1918, the cost of bullets fired in one 24 hour period was four million pounds.

7.  Blood banks were developped during World War I.  A U.S. Army doctor established the first blood bank on the Western Front in 1917.  Blood was kept on ice for up to 28 days, used in life-saving surgery.

8.  Nine out of 10 British soldiers survived the trenches.  The typical life of a British Tommy was one of boredom and routine.

9.  It cost the U.S. 30 billion dollars to finance World War I.  And they didn't even officially join the war until 1917.

10.  Sixty five million soldiers served in the First World War.  Ten million soldiers lost their lives in the conflict.  Almost seven million civilians died in the war.

Secret tunnelers of World War I courtesy www.bbc.co.uk.

Blood Swept Lands & Seas of Red

This Armistice Day, the Tower of London moat was a sea of red (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/532317/eBay-stops-sale-Tower-of-London-poppies-online).  To honour the 880,000 plus British soldier swho served in the First World War, the same number of ceramic poppies was placed in the moat over the past few months.  The display, titled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" was created by artist Paul Cummins and theatre designer Tom Piper.  Prince William and Princess Kate visited the display when it first opened this past August.  It remains open until November 11 to honour the soldiers.  Each night, people gather at the Tower of London to do a roll call of honour followed by the playing of the Last Post.  After Armistice Day the display will be taken down.  All of the poppies have been sold to raise money for military charities.  What a great way to honour the sacrifice of these brave soldiers!

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/590x/tower-of-london-poppies-532317.jpg

Kristallnacht

"It did not take long before the first heavy grey stones came tumbling down and the children of the village amused themselves as they threw the stones into the many coloured windows.  When the first rays of a pale and cold November sun penetrated the heavy dark clouds, the little synagogue was but a heap of stone, broken glass and smashed up woodwork." (Eric Lucas, Kristallnacht)

Shattered shop windows courtesy https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005201.

Shards of broken glass lay in the streets.  Storefronts were shattered.  Synagogues were stripped. Schools were vandalized.  Homes were ransacked.  Cemetery headstones were toppled.  The date? November 9 & 10, 1938.  The place?  Nazi Germany and Austria.  The event?  Kristallnacht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht).

Murdered German diplomat Ernst Vom Rath courtesy en.wikipedia.org.

It all started over the murder of a German diplomat in Paris by a Polish Jew whose parents had recently been deported from Germany.  Hitler gave the order to Gauleiters and Stormtroopers to riot in German and Austrian cities.  Dressed in civilian clothing, they wielded sledgehammers, destroying 7,500 businesses, hundreds of synagogues, 29 department stores, countless Jewish schools and homes.  Local police and fire departments were told not to interfere.

Damaged berlin synagogue courtesy en.wikipedia.org.

Thirty thousand Jewish men were arrested and jailed.  At least 100 Jews (and some mistakenly identified non-Jews) were murdered and dozens of others committed suicide.  German newspapers were ordered to downplay "The Night of Broken Glass".  However, as for the foreign correspondents, "no German Jewish event between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported" as Kristallnacht.

en.wikipedia.org

Most of the arrested Jews, who were sent to Concentration Camps, were let go on the condition that they leave Germany and Austria.  The Nazi government fined the Jews one billion marks for the death of the German diplomat.  They used it as an excuse to seize Jewish property and insurance settlement money received after damaged incurred on November 9 and 10.  Many historians consider Kristallnacht to be the start of the Holocaust.

Shop owner cleaning up broken glass courtesy en.wikpedia.org.

The U-boat: That Dastardly Villain

Here are ten facts you may not know about the U-boat.

1.  Germany turned out over 1000 U-boats during the Second World War.  Most of these were built between 1941 and 1945.

2.  Hamburg turned out a third of Germany's U-boats.  The city was heavily targetted by Allied bombers.

3.  Seventy percent of German U-boats were lost, missing in action or scuttled at sea.  The Allies' organized convoys and improved submarine tactical countermeasures caused this high percentage.

4.  The first ship to be sunk by a U-boat during World War II was the HMS Indomitable.

5.  U-boat stands for the German word Unterseeboot.  Winston Churchill declared:  "Enemy submarines are to be called U-boats.  The term submarine is to be reserved for Allied underwater vessels.  U-boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs."

6.  Karl Donitz, "The Father of the U-boat Weapon", was instrumental in organizing Operation Hannibal, evacuating hundreds of thousands of East Prussians across the Baltic Sea fleeing the Red Army.

7.  Most U-boats were sunk not by ships but by aircraft.

8.  British Commandos hijacked a German U-boat which had an enigma ciphering machine on board.  This gave them vital information about the Nazis which helped them invade the Normandy beaches  on June 6, 1944.  Without this information, D-Day likely wouldn't have taken place until 1945.

9.  U-boats were under the jurisdiction of the Kriegmarine, the German Navy.

10.  Boom nets, mines and waves were just some of the obstacles faced by U-boats.

Source:  funtrivia.com

German U-boat later sunk in Churchill River, Labrador courtesy http://padiprosnorthamericacaribbean.com/2012/10/12/sunken-wwii-nazi-u-boats-found-in-canada/.