Fueled Up for Summer?

Welcome to May. Warm weather is finally coming — time for planting, fishing, opening doors, stowing winter gear, patio  sitting and dining, setting up grills and switching from winter to summer gas in your car.

Internet source

OK so that last item may sound confusing as it was to me this week, but it's true. As the season goes from winter to summer, car fuel changes. Usually, this semi-annual switch of winter to summer gas goes unnoticed by most motorists, except at their next fill-up.

I never understood about this seasonal gas changeover, until reading a news article this week, and learned (a lot) about it.

Filling a car's gas tank costs more in summer months (here in the U.S. I'm not sure in other countries). Today, the average U.S. gas price nationwide is up about 15 cents from the past month. That's not demand leading to higher pump prices — it's all about the gas.

Why not continue using cheaper winter gas? It's because the so-called winter gas contains a cheaper ingredient, butane, that helps cold weather starting. Summer gas contains a more costly ingredient, alkylate, which is better for hot weather driving. 

Most of us are familiar with the use of butane as lighter fluid and an ingredient in fuel for gas grills and camping. As a fuel, it's less costly than other gas components; however, its high volatility limits how much can be included in summer car fuel.

Another factor leading to the higher gas cost is that refineries are switching from the winter to summer gas supplies and doing maintenance, which, in turn, reduces the fuel supply.

Internet source

U.S. environmental regulations require that gas sold in summer months be less susceptible to evaporation. That requires refiners to replace evaporative gas components with ones that have the opposite characteristics which can be more expensive, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

This switchover happens in March and April. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires refineries to have a summer blend in their system by May 1. Gas stations must comply by June 1. Refineries produce than 14 types based on different state regulations. Because of this production takes longer, the overall yield per barrel is lower, and motorists can pay up to 15 cents more per gallon in summer months.

Internet source

Why does summer gas differ from winter gas? Here's what I learned. Winter fuel has a higher Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), a measure of how easily fuel evaporates at increased temperatures. This means that it evaporates easier in colder temps, letting cars start faster. If the fuel didn’t evaporate fast in cold temperatures, a car engine would start hard and run rough (which no motorist would like). To achieve this, refineries blend winter gasoline with butane, an inexpensive additive with a high RVP. 

Most of us are familiar with the use of butane as lighter fluid and an ingredient in fuel for gas grills and camping. As a fuel, it's less costly than other gas components; however, its high volatility limits how much can be included in summer car fuel.

Once summer temperatures heat up, high RVP gasoline can evaporate faster which can lead to increased emissions, ground level ozone and air pollution (smog). That's why U.S. federal law restricts sales of gasoline with an RVP greater than 9.0 psi from June 1 through September 15.

To comply, refiners reduce the amount of butane in the gas with pricier additives, leading to
higher gas prices in summer. This blending process also takes longer adding to the cost.

Some states set lower summer RVP standards to further limit emissions. California has a 7.0 psi limit. Due to the state’s climate, refiners can sell summer gas as early as April 1 and as late as October 31. Other U.S. cities such as Phoenix, AZ, extend summer fuels into the fall. Also, during emergencies that cause fuel shortages, the EPA has relaxed its rules. 

Internet source

So what's the good news? Better MPG. Cold weather and winter driving conditions reduce fuel economy which, in turn, can reduce mileage as gas blends in winter contain less energy than those in summer. According to the EPA, the summer blend has 1.7% more energy, so, your MPG could be better in summer months to offset some of the added cost when filling up.

Also, gas costs are expected to level off as the winter to summer gas change is done and not expected to rise much in coming weeks. The average price of gas in the U.S. today is about is $3.66 per gallon. Currently, the average price per gallon in NH is about $3.57.

These figures are well below the highest U.S. gas prices. In California, a gallon of regular gas is priced at an average of $5.40 per gallon, followed by Hawaii, Nevada, Washington and Oregon at between $4.50 and $4.81 per gallon. The country's lowest gas prices are in Mississippi, Colorado, Oklahoma Louisiana, Arkansas averaging from $3.10 to $3.20.

In case you consider these costs high,, they're not when compared to international gas costs: residents of Hong Kong pay the highest gas prices with 1 gallon averaging $11.43 followed by Iceland at $8.91 and Monaco at $8.49 per gallon just a few examples.

Summer Driving Tips. According to the Automobile Association of America (AAA), there's ways to lessen the higher cost of summer gas by following a few driving habits to conserve fuel: Keep tires properly inflated; avoid rapid acceleration and braking; use cruise control for highway driving when it’s safe to do so.

Now I know something new to me, and so do you.

Your Turn — Have you also noticed an increase in gas prices in your state?

Friday Funnies

In the past few months, I've done several posts showing vanity plates and am still finding so many new ones for future posts.

Recently, I came across this car which. although it didn't have a vanity plate. had a lot of other things from bumper stickers to window stickers.

Seems like this car owner wanted to give equal space to everyone and everything.

My car has no stickers and Patrick only has a couple related to ham radio.

How about you? — any bumper or window stickers on your car?

Thanks to all for your comments on my post about environmentally friendly laundry and cleaning products. I plan to order wool dryer balls and microfiber cloths in the next couple of weeks.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

May is here next week and flowers are starting to bloom in Nashua, NH

Ireland's Famous Cliffs

Last fall, we were in a group that traveled abroad on a Shades of Ireland tour, focused on that country. Befitting the trip name, a major portion of our travel was an 8-day motor coach tour through Ireland. A previous post highlighted a couple of Ireland's most notable features, its green colors and a few castles This one spotlights its best known cliffs..

Ireland's most famous Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher were a spectacular sight even on the overcast day we visited. The cliffs are considered among the most amazing ones worldwide. They are the most famous and popular in Ireland being consistently named as a popular visitor attraction.

That's because although many people believe the Cliffs of Moher are the most popular overall tourist attraction in Ireland, that's not true. We learned from our tour guide that in recent years, it has ranked at number two in the list of top fee-paying attractions which include the Dublin Zoo and the Book of Kells. One attraction that's been first in popularity isn't even a natural wonder, yet it's no wonder that it's so popular. The Guinness Storehouse in St James’s Gate, Dublin relates the history of Ireland's most beloved beer and includes a sampling room.

Popularity aside, seeing the Cliffs of Moher was a visually spectacular highlight of our Ireland tour. These sea cliffs are located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They tower over the rugged coast and attract millions of worldwide visitors. Their natural beauty has inspired artists, musicians, and poets also scientists, naturalists and geologists. 

The Cliffs of Moher, another view

Did I mention that the cliffs are incredibly large, rising to a height of 702 feet at the highest point and stretching over 8.7 miles. Like other visitors, we were awed by their sheer size. 

How were they formed? Rock formations that make up the Cliffs of Moher began to form during the Upper Carboniferous period from about 359.2 to 299 million years ago during the late Paleozoic Era. The term, Carboniferous, is from England in reference to rich deposits of coal there.) I'm not versed in geology. This information is from online sources. 

The formation started when the region was far closer to the equator than it is today. Around this time, a landmass was located to the southwest of an ancient marine basin. Heavy rainfall on this piece of land caused massive floods that washed sand and mud into rivers that flowed northeastward to the sea.The sand and mud was dumped into the sea at the mouth of a delta. In the millions of years that followed, the sediments became solid rock. And due to the movement of the earth’s plates, these rocks began to move further north — establishing the Cliffs of Moher as they are today.

Rock layers visible at the Cliffs of Moher

The advanced age of the cliffs is visible in bands of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Each rock layer tells its own history representing a particular event in the story of the ancient delta. These rock formations can be seen above sea level. However, without sunlight when we visited, these were more difficult to see..

Puffins at the cliffs

Since 1989, the cliffs have been designated as a Special Protection Area for birds andhosts major colonies of sea birds. Some 20 species of birds nest or live on or near the cliffs, including razorbills, puffins, kittiwakes and falcons making it one of the country’s most important bird-breeding sites. 

The Cliffs take their name from a ruined promontory fort, Mothar, demolished during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, to provide material for a signaling tower at Hag's Head. The word Mothar in old Gaelic means the ruin of a fort, so it should be named The Cliffs of the Ruined Fort, which doesn't have quite the appeal. 

Cliffs of Moher, Hags Head (Internet source)

The rocks at Hag’s Head are thought to form the profile of a woman gazing out to sea.  According to folklore, the name, Hag's head, is from a legend about a sea-witch Mal of Malbay who was infatuated with the Irish war hero, Cúchulainn. The story is that she chased her love to the cliffs and while he leapt to land safely, Mal followed, lost her footing and fatally crashed onto rocks. 

Tourism at the cliffs is not something new. Towards the 16th century, tourism was generated largely by travel promoters (not unlike today). Ireland was a less popular destination than other European locations. However, Irish travel journals from the 1780s and on have been found with entries describing the beauty and ferocity of the cliffs.

O'Brien's Castle was built in 1835

One of the cliff's popular attractions is O'Brien's Tower, a round stone tower that marks the highest point of the cliffs and is located midpoint of the cliffs. Its looks like a small medieval castle, which is deceiving as it was actually built in 1835 by local landlord and Member of Parliament Sir Cornelius O'Brien in response to a growing tourism market targeted toward English visitors who frequented the cliffs. Initially it served as a teahouse, featuring a large round table with seats of ironwork, none of which is there today.

O'Brien, a descendant of Brian Boru, the first High King of Ireland, built the tower as part of a larger investment in making the Cliffs of Moher accessible, safe and attractive to visitors. The plan was to charge visitors for a better viewpoint from atop the tower. O'Brien thought the tower might benefit the local economy. His expenditure in this venture made him popular among his tenants, who were given employment when little else was available.  

There are two paths near the visitor center, the official one being set back a little for safety, while an unofficial path runs closer to the edge. In July 2016, the Cliff Walk, outside the official Cliffs of Moher amenities, was temporarily closed because of the risk of rock falls.

Through the placement of several signs, people are now warned to stay on the official path further off the cliff edge instead of the unofficial seaside trail. Injury and even casualties from visitors straying off the trail continue to be a problem despite the caution signs and other prevention initiatives.

The visitor center, The Cliffs of Moher Experience, was built into a hillside to enable visitors to experience the cliffs without the intrusion of man-made amenities. 

The Cliffs of Moher Experience visitor center was built into a hillside

The €32 million (34,203,520 in USD) facility was planned and built over 17-years from the 1990s to 2007 when it opened. Exhibits include interactive media displays covering the geology, history, flora and fauna of the cliffs. A large multimedia screen displays a bird's-eye view from the cliffs, and video from underwater caves below the cliffs.There are two cafes and several shops. The center was planned to be environmentally sensitive in its use of renewable energy systems including geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels and grey water recycling.

Some films shot at the Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher have become a recognizable landmark on the big screen and canboast celebrity status serving as the dramatic backdrop for many movies, TV series, music videos and promotions. 

Some bigger movies filmed here include: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Princess Bride, Into the West, Leap Year, Hear My Song and The Mackintosh Man. The sea cave from Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was filmed near O’Brien’s Tower. Our DVD collection includes Harry Potter films. We may re-watch these to check out this location.

If you've come this far, Thanks for traveling along. There's a couple more future posts about our Ireland trip including — crystal and whiskey.

Celebrate Earth Every Day

Theme of 2024 Earth Day — Planet vs. Plastics

April 22, is Earth Day, a date celebrated worldwide today. This year's theme is Planet vs. Plastics, which advocates reducing plastic dependence. Earth Day includes a wide range of events coordinated globally and celebrated by up to 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. 

It seems that every day should be celebrated this way.

Gaylord Nelson

How it all began. The start of environmental activism, Earth Day, dates back 55 years. It was started by the late Wisconsin U.S. senator and governor Gaylord Nelson, a conservationist and who was recognized as one of the world’s foremost environmental leaders. Nelson organized the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 enlisting the help of Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student and activist, to organize campus teach-ins and expand the conservation movemen. The event was aimed at educating people about environmental issues and ways to conserve. The date of April 22, sandwiched it between spring break and final exams to maximize student participation. Nelson died in July 2005.

Earth Day strengthened the call for environmental activism, which led to the introduction of two laws. The Clean Air Act (1970) is a comprehensive Federal law that regulates all sources of air emissions. The Endangered Species Act (1973) provides a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats both domestically and abroad. 

This past weekend, I read several online articles about how to reduce the use of consumables especially plastics and paper as well as posts from fellow bloggers on what they're doing.

Reducing plastics in our home has been underway. In recent weeks, I've been working to reduce the use of plastics and paper as well. These have been small ways, but starting somewhere is better than not. 

Our pantry housed some reusable Rubbermaid® plastic food containers, which were purchased a number of years ago and have held up well  considering their age, but due to aging, the plastic lids were subject to cracking when pressed down. They were taking up space and hardly in use and I switched to glass storage containers, washable, reusable and non-plastic, except for the lids. The former plastic containers left the pantry and went to the recycle bin.

If anyone reading this post has good (or bad) experiences using any of these (maybe all?): wool dryer balls, detergent dryer sheets and microfiber cloths, I am interested in your comments.

Starting with wool dryer balls to replace the use of fabric softener and dryer sheets. I've been using hard plastic ball for the past few years along with limited use of liquid fabric softener and dryer sheets. Reading many recent articles, it seems that wool dryer balls, tightly woven balls of felted wool, have become very popular and when used in the clothes drying cycle can replace both commercial fabric softeners and dryer sheets.

Benefits of dryer balls  . . .

Those I've read about include: faster drying time, eliminates static, fragrance free, eco-friendly and sustainable, non-toxic, biodegradable, natural fabric softener, quieter than other types of dryer balls and, unlike dryer sheets, they are reusable so reduce the environmental impact. Best yet, once a natural wool dryer ball reaches the end of its lifespan, it takes much less time to decompose than a polyester dryer sheet. They are expected to last 1,000 or more loads and replacement is recommended when the outer layer starts to come apart

Staying on the subject of laundry, a necessary chore for all, there's laundry detergent sheets and while I bought a small packet of to use on our travels, I haven't made a switch to home use. My usual practice has been to buy a large detergent container and refill a smaller bottle, which is easier to take to the laundry room. There's no washer/dryer setups in each apartment, instead there's a central laundry rooms on each floor, thankfully, the laundry room is very close to our apartment. 

Do laundry sheets work as well as liquid detergent? There's a lot of pros to support their use. Some online stories claim they are just as effective in fighting stains, removing dirt and grime and preventing clothes from fading as their liquid or powder counterparts.They are take up less storage space, making them ideal for individuals with limited storage areas for apartment dwellers like us.

A plus is that they come in pre-measured, easily dissolvable sheets, eliminating the need for measuring and the risk of spillage. Detergent sheets seem to be environmentally friendly with reduced packaging, leading to less plastic waste compared to liquid detergent bottles. The concentrated form requires less water for production and transportation, reducing the overall carbon footprint. Detergent sheets are space-efficient occupying less storage space compared to large detergent bottles, ideal for those with limited storage.

Some cons to laundry detergent sheets. The sheets may also fail to tackle tough stains and odors as they lack space for active ingredients like enzymes and cleaning agents, commonly found in liquid detergents. Some may not dissolve in all water temperatures causing uneven distribution of detergent. Many of the detergent sheets are subscription-based, which can make it difficult for some to purchase them. While Amazon and other online shopping sites makes it easier to buy these products, many may not be available in stores. Finally, the sheets can be more expensive than liquid detergents, which often go on sale at local grocery stores or have available coupons.

Microfiber Towels. I've been using some of these limited household chores, mainly dusting furniture. But admit to buying paper towels for kitchen use. The flat-top stove is usually cleaned with soap and water and then paper towers sprayed with vodka (the least expensive brand). It really does cut grease, among other household used. It can also be used for drink mixing.

Pros to microfiber towels is that they can be washed a thousand times before losing its effectiveness, it lasts longer than cotton and is said to be more absorbent, uses less water and chemicals than cotton mops and cloths. Also, the tiny fibers pick up more dirt and food residue than most cloths.

Cons to microfiber use. The biggest concern regarding microfiber is microplastic pollution. This occurs because all microfiber products can shed the microscopic microfibers in the wash and can make their way to the ocean.

Plastic Bags. The state we're living in, NH, allows the use of plastic bags at grocery stores. In total, there are more than 500 citywide ordinances banning plastic bags in the U.S., as well as 12 statewide bans on single-use plastic bag bans — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. We have tote bags which were being used until you-know-what when stores here would not allow them. We still use cloth tote bags for short trips, especially when buying anything at a BJ's wholesale store, which doesn't provide any bags, but always has discarded boxes for customers to use.

When we do get plastic bagged groceries, we use them for trash disposal instead of buying the very large plastic trash bags. If we return to using tote bags we would need to buy trash bags.

Biodegradable more eco-friendly than compostable? 

When a packaging company says that a product is biodegradable, what's meant is that it will break down when placed in a land fill.  Compostable means something different. Often, what a packaging company means when their product is “compostable” is that it can be turned into compost. Since it’s broken down into its natural elements, it causes no harm to the environment. The breakdown process usually takes about 90 days. Composting is a faster process, but only under the right conditions. Both of these types of products are better for the environment than plastic counterparts that can take hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Your Turn — Do You have pros or cons to any of these products ?

If so, please share in the comments. Your opinions are valued vs. online reviews

Friday Funnies

Ever wonder how big box stores take inventory of so many items ?

We know how it's done at BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc., commonly referred as BJ's. This American membership-only warehouse club chain based in Marlborough, MA, operates in the eastern U.S. in addition to OH, MI, IN and TN.

BJ's recently announced an expansion of its contract to deploy Tally, autonomous mobile robots, at its warehouse stores. The robots operate within the shopping area to continually monitor product inventory levels by imaging pallets of items then reconciling data with the warehouse management system. 

At the Nashua, NH,  store, we saw Tally 3.0 created by Simbe Robotics in action. It rolls by shelves, freezers, coolers using camera and sensors to capture images and scan RFID tags on product (smart barcodes that ID a product, capturing images to help with inventory management. Data goes to the cloud, an algorithm processes information, then alerts stores on items that need restocking or that are inaccurately placed or priced. 

Unlike human clerks, Tally never gets bored.

According to Simbe's website, the sensing system in Tally is the most advanced autonomous inventory robot on the market. Claims are that it can scan entire stores up to 3X a day with 99% accuracy, as opposed to a normal, weekly audit by store employees, which the company says is only 65% accurate. Its  scan rate is reportedly 15,000 to 30,000 products an hour. A monthly subscription for Tally is from $2,000-$4,000 per store, depending on the number of stores.

There's only two words, I could think of . . . tally on; wonder if Tally gets a pay check ?

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

Last Friday night's concert in Nashua was a sold out event

Transcription by Crowdsourcing

Since my last post, I've joined over 40,000 others as a volunteer for the Library of Congress. No, it didn't involve moving, except within my own home. My involvement started after attending an intro session at the Nashua Public Library last week by someone who's been doing this a while. 

The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the U.S. 

Located in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress is regarded as America's national library, but it's the largest library in the world with a collection of 160 million items — over 37 million books and other printed materials, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, and 3.5 million recordings. Daily, over 10,000 items are added to the collection.  

My volunteer transcribing is done at home by accessing the Library 's By the People Program. It was created in October 2018 (crowd.loc.gov) and its name is from the last line of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

Myself and other volunteers are crowdsourcing to transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library's collections. At some point, machines will take over and optical character recognition (OCR) will be able to do much of the job of transcription. But that could be years away.

Crowdsourcing describes the process of obtaining information for a task or project by enlisting the services of many people, paid or unpaid, typically via the internet. In the case of By the People, it invites the public,  nonspecialists and specialists alike, to engage with collections and process information.

To volunteer for By the People it's easy for anyone with an internet connection. You can then transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library’s collections. No sign-on account is needed to transcribe. I created one as volunteers with registered accounts can review and tag transcriptions. That, in itself, has been a learning process. As of April 2024, there are 40,000 registered users.  An account also them track contributions on a profile page. 

What is Transcribing?

Typing exactly what's seen on a page to convert the material into a readable text document. Volunteer transcribe (type) digitized images of text materials from the Library’s collections, traveling through history first-hand and gaining new skills – like learning how to analyze primary sources or read cursive, which I have found quite challenging.

How is Transcribing Done?

The Library's By the People team works with a range of technical and curatorial staff across the Library to import digitized items from the main library website (loc.gov) into the crowd.lov.gov website. Volunteers type what's seen in an image, then review transcripts created by others, only if registered for an account. 

By the People is a stand-alone website not directly tied to the Library’s main website. In the past 6 years, virtual volunteers have completed over 500,000 transcriptions to improve search, accessibility and discovery for papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Walt Whitman and Susan B. Anthony and more.

The first set of publicly transcribed materials was released in early 2019. As of April 2024, over 421,300 completed transcriptions have been integrated back into the Library's online catalog, making them word-searchable and readable by anyone.

Why is Transcribing Vital?

Since I wondered as well, here's what I learned. Documents used for historical research tell an invaluable story. Transcribing and digitizing historical records helps ensure wider accessibility of crucial items of history enabling anyone to read them and better understand their history.

It seems that computers can't accurately translate without human intervention, so the volunteer transcriptions improve search, readability and access to handwritten and typed documents . Enhanced access provides better readability and keyword searching of documents for everyone.

For example, transcriptions allow universities, research scholars, historians, analysts and others reviewing historical documents to examine past events, looking for context to better understand the impact on modern society.

I learned that anyone using an internet connection can transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library collections. It's easy and you don't even need to create an account to transcribe. I created one since those with registered accounts can review and also tag other people's transcriptions. That in itself has been a learning process. An account also lets me track contributions on a profile page. As of April 2024, there are 40,000 registered users. 

The Library has released over 1,056,000 pages for transcription across 41 campaigns; over 780,000 pages have completed transcriptions. There's 19 cataloged, full-text datasets of completed campaigns now available online with more to be done. 

Transcriptions can be done and/or reviewed for these notables on By the People

Current campaigns on the By the People website include: 

• Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield
• Yours truly, Frederick Douglass
• To Be Preserved, Correspondence of James A. Garfield
• Leonard Bernstein, Writings By, From, and To
• Sheet Music of the Musical Theater
• American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.) Letters in the Progressive Era
• My Great Mass of Papers Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt
• Walt Whitman, projects devoted to his poetry, letters, speeches, and other writings
• Woman of the World: Political Thinker Hannah Arendt
• Herencia: Centuries of Spanish Legal Documents

It takes at least one volunteer to transcribe a page, another to review for completeness and mark it complete. Complex documents can pass through transcription and review several times before being completed, and then published on loc.gov. If you don't complete a transcription, just save it for completion by another volunteer. Save and Save often is important. 

Some Basic Transcription Rules

Text order - Transcribe in the order it appears on the page

Preserve original spelling, grammar, and punctuation, transcribe as seen

Preserve line breaks - Line breaks make it easier for someone to review a transcription

Page breaks - If a word breaks across two pages, transcribe on the first page. 

Illegible or unclear text - transcribe pair of square brackets around a question mark [?]

Blank pages -  Don't transcribe text anything. Check Nothing to Transcribe box and Save.

Accurate transcription of documents is essential. Careful transcription allows a search for specific words or sections of a text for further research collaborations and creates a narrative to the past. Volunteers can pick and choose a document to transcribe (or not). After checking out the Clara Barton collection, I took a pass as there's countless tables of data to transcribe. Yes, there are How-To's for table transcriptions.

Transcribing Can be Challenging and Fun

It's definitely a learning process to explore an era as seen through the document. To preserve the document's intactness, data must be transcribed as in the original record, including dates, abbreviations, names, punctuations and misspellings. Mistakes can distort comprehension. The transcript must mirror the original text including punctuation and spelling. 

A handwritten document to transcribe (left) and the resulting transcription (right)

To date, I've done some transcribing from the James Garfield campaign. Decoding documents can be challenging and often frustrating due to factors such as handwriting, spellings and abbreviations, obsolete letters and punctuation.

Spencerian Handwriting

Handwriting: Many written documents are in cursive that's very different from today's cursive font. Typical flourishes in the letters of the alphabet can pose a challenge to deciphering the correct letter. Some texts can seem illegible and require a lot of concentration for accurate transcription. If a word or phrase defines understanding, square brackets are used to enclose it.

The Spencerian handwriting example at the right dominated American correspondence until the Palmer method was introduced in the 1920s.

If a word or phrase can't be deciphered, another volunteer may be able to figure it out. And, when you can't read much of a page, save and look for another.

Spellings and Abbreviations: Variations in spelling present an issue, many words were spelled differently years ago. Understanding them in the right context is essential. Spellings are always transcribed as-is. Abbreviations are copied as written and not interpreted.

Obsolete Letters and Punctuation: Historical records often use words that are obsolete today. Punctuation like long dashes and tildes were used differently in the past and can be hard to understand in the right context.

Transcribing historical documents requires adherence to best practices. Before starting, I read and made copies of How-Tos on the By the People website. This took time, but they were very helpful, especially when looking at some completed transcriptions, it appeared that some guidelines were not followed by all volunteers.

Interested in Becoming a By the People Volunteer?

There's still plenty of documents awaiting transcription, review or tagging. Some 138,000+ pages have transcriptions currently awaiting a reviewer to check for completeness. Here's how to start helping to make historical documents more available, follow this link or copy and paste into your browser to get started: http://crowd.loc.gov

Before attending the library information session, I had no idea about this process which , so far, has been a very interesting experience. Other sites also where volunteers can transcribe documents include The Smithsonian and The National Archives.

A Taxing Day

Today is when most U.S. citizens will file their income tax return, an annual requirement.

It's also the 128th running of the of the Boston Marathon today. Managed by the Boston Athletic Association and run every April 15 (Patriots' Day) since April 1897 even during WW I and II. Ham radio operators, including Patrick, are providing communications along the 26.2-mile route. He'll also be cheering a runner on as our chiropractor is running for the first time.

Since 1954, April 15 has been the tax filing deadline with exceptions for when it has fallen on the weekend. During the pandemic, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delayed the 2020 and 2021 deadlines. According to online estimates, over 54 million returns had been filed in the first few weeks of the filing season which began on January 29. The IRS expects more than 128.7 million returns to be filed by today's deadline.

It's a task never looked forward to, even though it's a well known (but not beloved) date. Last minute filers will be hurrying to file and postmark 2023 income tax returns (or file for a 6-month extension to Oct 15) until midnight today. Earlier today, I was at the local post office and can attest to the lines of folks doing that to ensure a postmark of today.

Thankfully, I wasn't there to mail our return which was already completed and e-filed and will be getting a smallish refund. While, we could have used tax software to prepare it, our preference has been to use a local certified public accountant (CPA); per online estimates, 34 percent use a CPA or accountant, 41 percent self-file and 25 percent use an assisted service company. 

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Tax-Aide program annually provides free tax services to anyone focusing on taxpayers over 50 or who have low to moderate income. Our friends have been volunteering for the past several years. They take part in annual training to become IRS-certified to understand tax code updates. We see little of them at tax season.

While today is the deadline to file returns, there's exceptions, like here in New England, where residents of Massachusetts and Maine who observe Patriots Day today have until April 17. Residents of Washington, D.C., celebrating Emancipation Day on April 16, have until April 18 to file tax returns. 

Others who don't file today include Americans who live or do business in a federally-declared disaster zone. Those living abroad (expats) have until June 15, but must pay the IRS what's owed for tax year 2023 by April 15. Members of the U.S. military stationed abroad get a 2-month extension, and other extensions including to pay, if they are in a combat zone.

Not only federal taxes have to be filed, but state taxes too. Yes, there's exceptions for those living in a state with no state tax, which (happily for us) includes New Hampshire, also Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. While the remaining 41 states mostly adhere to the April 15 federal deadline, exceptions are Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana and Virginia which have varied filing deadlines. 

No grace period  for lateness. 

It's a legal requirement to file annual tax returns. The IRS penalizes those who fail to file on time. A failure-to-file penalty amounts to 5 percent of unpaid taxes for each month or partial month a return is overdue, with a maximum of 25 percent of the total balance due. The U.S. government can impose civil and criminal penalties for tax return skips.

Ironically, those who don't file, don't owe money, and are due a refund can't get it until a return is filed. There's a 3-year window before the refund is no longer available. If you're in this group, the IRS reported that taxpayers for tax year 2020 have until May 17 to claim nearly $1 billion in tax refunds.

Do Other Countries File Annual Taxes? Income tax is a source of government revenue globally, although some countries don't impose an income tax on residents or citizens. Instead, these countries rely on other types of taxation, such as Value-Added Tax (VAT) and property tax.

Countries with No Income Tax? Most countries have a form of personal income tax, but some countries do not have any income tax on individuals for personal income earnings. It's not all tax-free. There's other types of taxable income, like wealth taxes applied to for U.S. folks who are permanent residents and are taxed on worldwide income even if living and earning income in a no-tax location.

Thinking of relocating? Just in case, here's a list of tax-free countries or territories — Anguilla, Antiqua and Barbados, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunel, Cayman islands, Kuwait, Maldives, Monaco, Oman, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Turks and Caicos, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Western Sahara.

Filed and waiting for tax refund. Online sites let can track a federal and state return status. If it's been a while coming, reasons for the delay include common ones like the wrong Social Security number or incorrect direct deposit information. The IRS could also hold up a refund if it requires additional review or it's incomplete. 

We're glad this task is done this year, but there's always next year, unfortunately.

Friday Funnies

Since I started noticing and taking photos of vanity plates, there's been no shortage of them in Nashua, NH. Recent outings have resulted in from 5 to 8 in a parking lot. Many show a name, career or interest. Here's a few more recent ones.

These car owners like the water and show it on their plates.

It seems a certainty that these vehicles are owned by female drivers.

The owners of these vanity plate owners had a message to share with all.

Before I started looking for vanity plates, I didn't know there were so many to be seen. These plate sightings will be a continuing FF post. 

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on the previous post about my first cameras (owned or used). The Eastman Kodak Brownie camera (1900-1986) was overwhelming the first camera of many folks. I enjoyed reading about your early camera owning memories.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

Date night: country singer Josh Turner at Nashua Performing Arts Center