2021 Mixed Nuts Breaks Record

    

It's that time of year, where I take a look at the stats and see what the year was like for my blogs.  For Mixed Nuts this is the year that a record was set.  The old record of 986 was outdone in 2021, this year 2118 views were recorded.  And we are not at the end of the year!  That is an increase of 1132 compared to the 2012 count.  since the stats have been calculated. It should be noted that there is a slight variation between what statcounter.com and Blogger.com shows.  That total according to blogger is 2500.  

What I am most pleased about is the time people are taking to read the blog.  While the majority of you just come by look and leave right away there are those who are actually reading the content.  This year close to 200 of you actually dove in and read the content.  Nice, I would love to know in comments which articles interested you so I can get more content like that on the site.  The top one for 2021 is Music From Mars.  The article actually came close to topping an old article about tennis blogs.  It features audio clips from space and a link to the show Ideas by CBC that aired the piece earlier this year.

Thank you to all of those who have come by and read Mixed Nuts.  2022 is around the corner and I am looking forward to seeing this blog really take off.

On The Job? - Merry Christmas And Thanks

Today most stores some restaurants and banks are closed along with other so called non essential businesses.  But there are still plenty of people working today they also worked yesterday and they will be on the job new years eve and day.  We all know the main ones.  Police, fire and ambulance.  Doctors and nurses but there are others out there as well who will be on the job.  Some are are known and others might surprise many of you reading.  

1. Taxi and ride share drivers are on the road moving people from point A to B as are transit operators.  In fact many within the field are on the job operating planes trains and buses.  Along with them are the support teams people in ticket booths, baggage handlers and custodial, security and maintenance crews.  

2. I mentioned doctors and nursing staff, but along with them working are medical secretaries, PSWs, porters, custodial staff, members of staff are on standby to repair equipment, and security teams.  Also on the job are people who work in labs X-Ray rooms and managers who work on the wards.  

3 The media, yes TV radio, news, print and their associated support staff do work.  

4. You may be surprised to note that vets, zookeepers and staff at aquariums work during the holidays.  Animals need to be cared for just like humans.  

5. Sadly people do die on and around the holidays, staff at funeral homes do work during this time of year.  As do clergy.  In fact many professionals who work in the social work field such as case workers and other mental health professionals are on call to help when needed.  

6. Call center staff. Yes though I may be off today, many of my colleagues who work in the industry are taking calls today.  Traditionally the day is slow but it can peak up with a barrage of calls about setting up accounts and device to having to deal with that gift that flopped, the worst kind of call to get on a day like today.  

I can go on about the jobs and people working them today, the list would be quite huge.  The point here is that the fact that it is Christmas does not take away the reality that today for many it feels just like any other day.  Whether they are driving a truck or in the case of the military standing a watch each of these people has to do the job today as they would any other day, and they will do so as we move into 2022.  So I think it's important to say thank you and merry Christmas to the people on the job working to keep us safe, fed, informed and safely connected from one point to the next as we enjoy the day off with friends and family.  All of you are very much appreciated.

The 12 Days of Christmas - Phew That is A Whole Lot Of Bird And One Hefty Bill - And Other Facts

 The twelve days of Christmas is a well known Christmas song, actually it's a poem known as a cumulative verse / song.  Most people sing the 12 days before Christmas, it's actually supposed to be sung from the 25th to the 7th of January.  When you look top top to bottom you will notice one theme, birds up to the maids a milking the song is about giving birds, and what do we do with these birdies?  EAT THEM.  Yep these are supposed to be eaten.  Fun fact the five golden rings are not jewelry they are.......BIRDS!  In this case Pheasants, yes your are probably getting it the song is very bird centric.  

Some other interesting facts include:

1. Some believe the poem was a way to teach the Catholic Catechism to children.  Nope it was not. 

2. The general consensus is that the poem was a memory game played with the winner being able to recite the whole poem with no error.

3. It is also thought to be a song about a lover giving his true love wedding gifts.  Thought this would be quite difficult to do not to mention costly.

Speaking of cost here is the breakdown of what it would cost to get all the gifts in the song.

Gift 2021 Price

A partridge in a pear Tree $222.68

Two turtle doves $450

Three French hens $255

Four calling birds $600

Five gold rings $895

Six geese-a-laying $660

Seven swans a swimming $13,125

Eight maids-a-milking $58

Nine ladies dancing $7,553

10 lords-a-leaping $11,260

11 pipers piping $2,944

12 drummers drumming $3,183

GRAND TOTAL79.454.19

That is a whole lotta dogh! if you ask me. Anyway if you got the cash and you want the gal you may want to buy these items, but I would suggest maybe a car, a house or a really cool trip to go on. Jeez I wish someone would spend 80 grand on me LOL. Kidding of course. The best gift I already have, I am have survived 4 waves of COVID and actually have kept employed I even managed to move up the ladder a bit.

There is a group of unsung heroes who have braved the pandemic and I am going to pay tribute to them in my main blog Candid Conversations with a Candid Comment for now I will just wish all of you who read this all the best, Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays.


Cliff T.

The Internet Archive

Wow, I just found a really interesting site.  Have you ever wondered if there is any kind of archive on the internet for things like audio, video and even websites?  The answer is yes, there is a website that you can go to that does have a huge collection of material on it.  All of it free, of course they would love a donation to help them manage it, which is only fair.  

Visitors can join the archive or just browse the catalogued items.  For example I listened to a Bing Crosby tune recorded at 78 RPM while writing this post.  So much new content is added to the internet each day and finding things that are actually from an era long behind us is actually very cool. I decided to sign up and probably will drop some donation money to them.  There were some things I did look for but was not able to find, but really this is a well done site and you can find some really interesting content.

Check them out https://archive.org/

Photo resourced from Pixaday.com

Vancouver Presents 20 Questions With Santa

 

Christmas is almost here and for the kids and the kids at heart it is a time to be with friends, family and of course to share special memories of times gone by.  Santa Claus is gearing up for the big day and Vancouver Presents had a chat with him and they did find out some interesting things about him in the interview.

You can get in reach out to Santa in variety of ways.

You can call him, just one note though it is going to be a long distance call so you may see a bump in the phone bill in January.

You can also visit his Facebook page 

And you can send him snail mail. From anywhere in the world just drop on over to Canada Post and read the instructions.

I am sure there are other ways to reach out to Santa but these seem to be the best ones I have found and I hope you enjoy the season.  Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays.

Balmoral Castle - The Queen's Summer Hangout And Fave Place

Most people have a place that they consider a favorite spot.  It can be a restaurant or park etc.  Well the Queen is no different, she has a place that she like to hangout at and interestingly enough it is not in the capital.  Nope London just does not do it for the monarch.  

So where does the Queen like to go and just chill.  Balmoral Castle it is said is the Queens favorite place.  In a Readers Digest article recently published it was revealed that Queen Elizbeth II is most happy when she is at Balmoral.  She has gone to the castle during the summer pretty much all of her life and enjoys horseback rides and driving in her Range Rover around the estate.

When the Queen or other royals are not at the castle tourists are welcome to visit.  You can find out more about Balmoral Castle and other interesting facts related ot the Royal Family by visiting royal.uk.  Wikipedia is also a good page as always to explore and there is an article about the castle. 

Hey did you know you can sponsor an article here on the site.  Email me at candidconversations@hotmail.com and we can set something up.

Cliff T.