Famous
First Words: Pretty, huh?....Pinocchio (Disney's movie,
that is)
Curling
Is Cool Day: Curling...all the excitement of
skipping rocks plus the majesty of sweeping the floor at 27° F. /
What do you call a curler with insomnia? Sweepless
..........mind
it's strictly rhythm..........Dire Straits …..Sultans of Swing
50
Ways to Promote Peace #29: Volunteer at a domestic violence shelter
It
is a cold (33°) Friday morning. The sky is a universal gray with
only a hint to texture from grayer grays under the thick upper level.
Ploppy drops of water fall from eaves and down drainpipes; it sounds
like wind playing some strange instrument made of rosebush stalks and
small stones. Birdsong comes to us now and again, from the little
wood across the street and from a murder of crows flying high
overhead. But there are no birds at the feeders. From the bare
limbs of redbud hang tiny drops of water that shine like diamonds.
Those limbs support a lone bird, large and black with a bar of yellow
across the wing. She is silent and very still. Puck chased the only
squirrel into the neighbors yard and now lectures him at great length
and with much gusto. The ice is melting around grass blades and
fence posts leaving a lacework of crunch. A step on it snaps –
more a feel than a sound – and leaves a fractured footstep of
white snow. Underneath the ground is not frozen but muddy and
squishy. There is little traffic and the sound of distant machinery
seems muted. Finally, Puck's paws complain of cold and we return to
our warm rooms. The smell of brewing Moose Munch with a hint of left
over mint fills our lungs. It makes me feel comfortable and at home.
But the best part, so far anyway, is sitting down with a cup of
sweet goodness and a chance to write to you.
Hope
your weekend rocks, ePistliers.
Curling...as
much of a sport than twirling around on the ice in a tutu. / I
understand Swiffer is sponsoring the curling team./ If a man makes
fun of "women's sports", ask him about curling.
..........I
got a dragon at noon.........Dire Straits …..Angel of Mercy
Trivia
Questions: Guantanamo became our (the US') responsibility 115
years ago today.
^
What is the rent we pay to Cuba for the base?
^^
Which song is favored as torture for the prisoners at Gitmo?
^^^
More or less, how much does it cost to keep a prisoner at Guantanamo
Bay?
^^^^
What concessions does Gitmo make for prisoners who are Muslim?
^^^^^
Altogether about how many people are there at Guantanamo Bay?
Funniest
Thing I Read of the Week: Schrodinger's Immigrant:
Simultaneously stealing your job and too lazy to work. --Submitted
by both sd of ks and sb of ak
FYI
of the Week: TAKE
OUT – Curling - removal of a stone from the playing area by hitting
it with another stone.
Fake
Library Statistic of the Week:
If
it allows them to read, 48% of librarians pick a longer commute.
https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts
Curling...prepare
yourself for disappointment. / Curling Shakespeare: Sweep, you fat
and greasy citizens. --As You Like It
..........said
let it rock and let it roll.........Dire Straits …..Tunnel of Love
Moonbeam:
Strange
to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.
--Samuel Pepys
Something
to Think About of the Week:
Next
Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Cat
Valentines: I tolerate you so much! --submitted by sd of ks
Big
Hello: lǫkwe –
Marshallese (Micronesia)
https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm
Week
of the Week: National Engineers Week
(February 18-24) – Fake Engineer Statistics: 71% of engineers don't
trust the first answer their calculator gives them.
Curling...throwing
stones is okay, but all that sweeping is too much like housework.
--Maxine / I should exercise more. Is there WII curling?
..........Turning
all the night time into the day.........Dire Straits …..Walk of
Life
^
The
United States has leased Guantanamo Bay from Cuba for $4085 a month,
but Cuba has only cashed one check in the past 5 decades
Almanac:
It is Friday, February 23, 2018. The moon is first quarter today and
it is Gemini. In addition to being Curling is Cool
Day, it is Digital Learning Day, Diesel Engine Day, Iwo Jima Day
(flag raised), National Dog Biscuit Day, National Tile Day, Single
Tasking Day, and Women in Blue Jeans Days. In Brunei it is National
Day and in Guyana it is Republic Day (1970). Because it is the
fourth Friday it is Skip The Straw Day.
Among
those born on this day were Paul II, (1417), Samuel Pepys (1633),
John Blow (1649), Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1734), Emma Willard
(1787), Istvan Ferenczi (1792), William E B Du Bois (1868), Karl
Jaspers (1883), William L Shirer (1904), Margaret Farrer (1914), Tom
Wesselman (1931), Peter Fonda (1940), Johnny Winter (1944), and Too
Tall Jones (1951).
On
February twenty-third the Humane Society of Massachusetts
incorporated (1792), Haydn's 94th Symphony
in G premiered (1792), William III was
proclaimed king of England (1689), the College of Apothecaries was
organized as the US's first pharmacy school (1821), Boston
incorporated (1822), Texas seceded (1861), Mississippi was
re-admitted to the union (1870), Alabama became the first state to
enact antitrust laws (1883), the first college student government was
established (Bryn Mawr, 1892), Cuba leased Guantanamo to the USA
(1903), the US acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone ($10
million, 1904), the first transcontinental airmail arrived in NYC
(from San Francisco, 1921), Disney's Pinocchio
was released (1940), the Salk vaccine was first used on a mass scale
(Pittsburgh, 1954), demolition began on Ebbets Field (opened 1913,
1960), Charlies Finley signed a 4 year lease to keep the A's in KC
(1964), the 25th amendment was ratified (presidential succession,
1967), Wilt Chamerlain became the first NBAer to score 25,000 points
(1968), the Holy Eucharist was first given by women (1970), and Dire
Straits began their first US tour (1979).
Night
Sky, 2/23:
First-quarter
Moon (3:09 am EST). For North America this evening the Moon shines
left or upper left of Aldebaran, and farther upper right of Orion.
The Moon occults Aldebaran in daylight or twilight.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
Science
Fiction Convention of the Week:
Escapade 2018: The Slash Slumber Party! (2/23-25, Los Angeles)
...Escapade
is a weekend-long con attended mostly but not exclusively by women,
all of whom are slash fans of many fandoms and flavors.
https://escapadecon.net/
'Nother
Funniest Thing I Read of the Week:
Ronald Reagan was surrounded by Secret Service agents when he was
shot. I guess they just needed a few armed math teachers.
--submitted by ra of ks
Actual
Science Convention of the Week:
The RAAS: Emerging Interactions with the Microbiome, Immune and
Nervous System (February 18023, Ventura, CA)
https://www.grc.org/angiotensin-conference/2018/
This
Week: Saturday, February 24 –
National Dance Day & Forget Me Not Day & World Bartender
Night
Sunday,
February 25 – Brotherhood Sunday
Night
Sky, 2/25: Under
the feet of Orion, and to the right of Sirius now, hides Lepus the
Hare. As with Canis Major, you can connect Lepus's dots to make it
look like what it's supposed to be. He's a crouching bunny, with his
nose pointing lower right, his faint ears extending up toward Rigel,
and his body bunched to the left. His brightest two stars, Beta and
Alpha Leporis, form the front and back of his neck.
Monday,
February 26 – Museum Advocacy Day & National Cupcake Day
Tuesday,
February 27 – International Polar Bear Day & Travel
Africa Day
Wednesday,
February 28 – Pink Shirt Day & Floral Design Day &
National Tooth Fairy Day
Night
Sky, 2/28: Sirius
blazes high in the south on the meridian by 8 or 9 pm now. Using
binoculars, examine the spot 4° south of Sirius: directly below it
when on the meridian. Four degrees is somewhat less than the width of
a typical binocular's field of view. Can you see an irregular little
patch of gray haze? That's the open star cluster M41, about 2,200
light-years away. Sirius, by comparison, is only 8.6 light-years
away.
Thursday,
March 1 – National Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day &
Peace Corps Day & Pig Day
Curling...just
about the only winter sport you can compete in and win while drinking
massive quantities of beer and lighting up whatever it is you like to
smoke. / Curling the bible: He that is
without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.
(John 8:7)
..........There's
a bird up in a tree sitting up high.........Dire Straits ….. Water
of Love
^^
At
Guantanamo Bay the children’s song “I Love You” by Barney the
Purple Dinosaur is used as a form of torture.
Third
Funniest thing I read of the Week: A Neighborhood Watch
sign really means “you are being judged by old people and cats”.
Moonbeam:
Only as an individual man can become a philosopher. --Karl Jaspers
Classic
Late Night Snacks: Organizers for the Sochi
Olympics have had trouble filling seats for the biathlon. This is
because Vladimir Putin is warning people away from any event
containing "bi." --Conan O'Brien, 2/10/14 / Before the
games, a lot of people were worried that hotels in Sochi wouldn't be
ready. For the most part, things seem to be working well. The only
problems occur when people try to do something crazy like, you know,
open a door. --Seth Meyer 2/10/14 / One Sochi elevator has two up
buttons. If you want to go down, you have to stand on your head.
--Jimmy Kimmel 2/10/14 / We're halfway through the Winter Olympics.
The American speed skaters say there's a reason their times are off.
They're blaming it on their suits, and I thought maybe I should do
that. It was my suit. --David Letterman / At the Olympics, the
Russian men's hockey team was knocked out by Finland. Vladimir Putin
was said to be furious. He was yelling, waving a sword around,
threatening to send people to Siberia. Then the game started.
--Craig Ferguson
Not
So Late Night Snacks: Basically, on the
gubernatorial ballot in Kansas is one 16-year-old, five 17-year-olds
and a dog. So at the moment, Kansas law has no age restriction on
candidates running for statewide office - which explains why the
current comptroller is just a zygote who showed an early aptitude for
accounting. Nobody knew this was a problem, and then these six
teenagers figured it out. They all filed to run. They're running on
platforms as varied as marijuana legalization and marijuana even more
legalization. --Peter Sagal Wait,
Wait Don't Tell Me.
50
Ways to Promote Peace #28: Reduce your carbon footprint.
Curling...It's
serious business, eh? / Curling remains steroid-free, apparently
steroids ruin the taste of beer.
..........of
toulouse and dauphine.........Dire Straits …..The Planet of New
Orleans
^^^
Guantanamo
Bay spends $800,000 per year on each detainee.
Worthless
Fact of the Week: On
February 23, 1893, Rudolf Diesel received a patent for his diesel
engine. Instead of gasoline, this engine burns fuel oil and uses
compressed air in the cylinder instead of a spark to ignite the fuel.
Weird
Word of the Week:
Yedsirag – head man, foreman
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-yed1.htm
Wicked
Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The
2 white actors in Black Panther also played Gollum & Bilbo
Baggins. Meaning, they are the two Tolkien white guys of the movie.
--Submitted by abf of ks
Worthlesser
Fact of the Week:
The USA men's curling team will play Sweden for the gold medal on
Saturday afternoon. The Korean team plays the Swedish team for gold
in women's finals on Friday evening. Canada took gold, Switzerland
took silver and the Olympic Athletes from Russia won bronze in mixed
doubles.
Wacky
Uses for Common Products:
Make a stress ball. Fill a Trojan Condom with sand or flour, and tie
a knot in the open end. http://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/trojan.html
Curling...in
Canada it's a sport; in the US it's a snack food. / You know you're
having a bad game when the sweepers burst into laughter as you
release your rock.
...........We've
got to move these colour Tvs.........Dire Straits …..Money for
Nothing
^^^^
Guantanamo
Bay provides its Muslim prisoners with a copy of the Quran, a chess
set, and an arrow pointing towards Mecca.
Word
Shakespeare Made Up of the Week: Swagger – walk or behave in
a very confident , arrogant or aggressive way. A Midsummer
Night's Dream Act III, Scene 1
Puck: What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, so near the
cradle of the fairy queen?
Christine
Update:
I finally got over my dizziness. I went to the chiropractor who
adjusted my neck and I stopped being so dizzy I could hardly walk
immediately and over the course of 4 days, it went away completely.
I was amazed. But mostly, I just sit around feeling not dizzy.
Penultimate
Funniest Thing I Read of the Week:
Apparently, he's as faithful to the country as he is to Melania.
Science
on the Internet of the Week:
Dry Ice Bubble – an experiment you can try at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CNkxizQuc
Puck
the Brave
Episode of the Week:
Here's our fearless Puck pulling a dramatic pose in the case of the
Modeling Moyen.
The
curling team had a garage band on the side; it was called Asweep at
the Wheel. / Their hit song was Sweeping Beauty. / I won an Olympic
gold medal in curling but the only job I'm qualified for is maid.
..........rain
come down wash away my tears.........Dire Straits …..Hand in Hand
^^^^^
Around
2,000 troops and civilians are stationed at Guantanamo to staff the
prison. There are currently 80 detainees, which amounts to roughly 25
staff members to one detainee held.
Month
of the Week: February is Love The Bus
Month –Bus: a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it
than when your are in it.
/ Eels get around town on the octobus
Most
Beautiful Thing in the State:
Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota --Bison,
elk, and other wildlife roam the rolling prairie grasslands and
forested hillsides of one of America's oldest national parks. Below
the remnant island of intact prairie sits Wind Cave, one of the
longest and most complex caves in the world. Named for barometric
winds at its entrance, this maze of passages is home to boxwork, a
unique formation rarely found elsewhere.
https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm
Rumination
of the Week: There were 4 million
13-year old kids in the USA in 2010. They turn 18 this year. The
midterms are in 250 days. Spread the word. Get Registered.
Register everyone you know. Fight back. --Submitted by rhb of ks
Final
Funniest Thing I Read of the Week:
People defending the 2nd
amendment seem awfully scared of teenagers armed only with the 1st
amendment. --Submitted by dr of oh
Today's
Peace of History, February 23, 1982:
Wales declared itself a nuclear weapons-free zone. Its last nuclear
power plant, Wylfa at Anglesey with two reactors, was shut down
completely in 2015.
Curling...And
if hell freezes over, I'll curl there too. / The
Israel Curling team's motto is taken from Isaish 14:27: I will sweep
with the besom of destruction.
..........I
wish I'd never been tattooed.........Dire Straits …..Fade to Black
Masthead
of the Week:
fRiday ePistle February 23, 2018, ePistle Take Out. Online at:
http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/
Peace and Stones. Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. 1800 Goodell Ct.
Lawrence, KS 66046
Moonbeam:
No
class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of
responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the
advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed
Nazism was their failure to unite against it. --William L Shirer
Cost
of War: Tax dollars spent in Afghanistan: as
of 2/22/17: $798,926,562,826.
Tax
dollars spent in Afghanistan: as of 2/8/17: $797,963,235,911.
Tax
dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 2/22/17:
$821,281,680,217.
Tax
dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 2/12/17:
$821,253,525,681.
Tax
dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 2/22/17:
$1,818,230,988,701.
Tax
dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 2/12/17:
$1,816,219,195,003.
50
Ways to Promote Peace #27: Hang Tibetan prayer flags.
http://uncustomary.org/50-ways-promote-peace/
..........In
my peace of mind..........Dire Straits ….Ticket to Heaven
The
Olympic committee banned head shots from hockey and tequila shots
from curling. / When proposing to his girl friend the curling stone
promised he wouldn't take her for granite.
Famous
Last Words: ...the assurances of its consideration. --Lease
of Guantanamo
May
Peace cast your rock
And
Joy sweep its path
prairie
mama
christine
Last
Laugh:
