Famous First Words: In a hole in the ground... The Hobbit JRR Tolkien
Happy Read Tolkien Day! Did you hear? Copies of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion are considered one-of-a-kind when sold and traded. They're Non-Fungible Tolkiens
..........As grey traces of dawn tinge the eastern sky.........Rush …..The Necromancer
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. --JRR Tolkien
It is a cloudy Friday morning. The sky is curtained with thin, lacy mists that allow the sunshine through here and there, now and again. There is no breeze and the grass that has recently begun to green up is stretching its blades in a morning greeting. Birds are singing to one another across the neighborhood and into the tiny wood at the end of the street. The trees are still bare and the birds are obvious as the dart about. The ground is still wet with yesterday's rain and it smells of dampness and spring. Puck stands a moment just outside the door to take in the loveliness of the day before sending out a barked message asking who is up and out already. (The answer is Bruno, the beagle from the adjacent backyard. I stand at the open door for a while but the 42°F feels cold and I do not last long. I fix myself a cup of vanilla nut decaf and select a doughnut from the box. Gee, the only thing left is to sit down and write to you. What a great morning.
Hope your weekend is your best adventure yet, ePistliers
First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I saw a woman that sells batteries by the playground. Yes, she sells C cells by the seesaw. --Adelaide's Coast --Submitted by mja of ks
My partner had a go at me because at night, unaware, I go on about Hobbits, Rings and Orcs. They think I'm Tolkien in my sleep..
..........Where once was light now darkness falls..........Emiliana Torrini …..Gollum's Song
Trivia Questions: Happy 338th Birthday to Maryland
^ Do you have any idea why Maryland is called The Old Line State?
^^ Maryland is one of the small states, would you care to estimate its size?
^^^ We know Rhode Island is the smallest state, where does Maryland rank?
^^^^ Not the same: What are the capital and the largest city?
^^^^^ Can you guess the state bird of Maryland?
Big Hello: Mίyaxwen – Ivilyuat (Southern California) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm
Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I wish pets lived longer & life wasn't so expensive & cake didn't make you fat & people weren't idiots. --Submitted by ab of kc
Max Picture of the Week: This is What-Take-Your-Kid-To-Work day looks like if you work on a submarine.
Fake Library Statistics of the Week: There is only a 7% chance that all the library furniture is in the same place at closing as it was at opening. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts
One hobbit asks another:, “Don't you feel like we're just a figment of someone's imagination?” “I have no idea what you're tolkien about.”
..........'T was in the darkest depths of Mordor..........Led Zeppelin …..Ramble On
Moonbeam: You never know what events will transpire to get you home. --Astronaut Jim Lovell
Meditation of the Week: Why don't they make Tupperware spaghetti colored right there at the factory.
Puzzle of the Week: This week's challenge comes from Tyler Hinman, of San Francisco. Think of two four-letter words that complete the phrase "___ in the ___." Move the first letter of the second word to the start of the first word. You'll get two synonyms. What are they?
Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Finally, my winter fat is gone; now I have spring rolls.
Week of the Week: Shakespeare Week (21-27) Chickens never go to Shakespeare plays. They were threatened with murder most fowl. / Will's favorite breakfast is a cheese hamlet. / Lady Macbeth was really disciplining the dog, Out, damn Spot, out.
Tolkien may have had a wife and children but he also made a good batch o'lore.
..........Demons worry when the wizard is near.........Black Sabbath …..The Wizard
^ Maryland is called the Old Line State to honor the heroic fighting of a Maryland regiment, or line, in the American Revolution. George Washington was an early source of reference to the “old line” that protected his retreat from the Battle of Long Island.
Almanac: It is Friday, March 25, 2022. The moon is in its last quarter starting today and it is in Capricorn. It is United Nations: International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, United Nations: and International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, National Day of Celebration of Greek & American Democracy, National Medal of Honor Day, Old New Year's Day, Pecan Day, Tolkien Reading Day, Vaffeldagen (Waffle Day), and World Marbles Day. In Greece they celebrate Independence Day (1821).
Among those born on this day were Henry II (1122), Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher (1594), Carl Friedrich Ebers (1770), Gutzan Borglum (1867), Rudolf Rocker (1873), Josef Capek (1887), Edward Hart (1893), Ed Begley (1901), David Lean (1908), Patrick Troughton (1920), Simone Signoret (1921), Flannery O'Connor (1925), James A Lovell, Jr. (1927), Gloria Steinem (1934), Hoyt Axton (1938), Aretha Franklin (1942), Elton John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight, 1947), Mary Gross (1953), Sarah Jessica Parker (1965), Jeff Healey (1966), and Pavel Andreivich Chekov (2184).
On March twenty-fifth March 25th is the origin of the Dionysian Incarnation of the Word (year 1). the city of Venice was founded (421), Constantine became Catholic Pope (708), the first Domesday Survey of England began (1133), Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland (1306), the Council of Pisa opened (1409), Maryland colony was founded (1634), the first recorded horse race in the colonies took place (1668), railway passenger service began in England (1807), Parliament abolished the slave trade (1807), Coxey's Army of unemployed sets out from OH for DC (1894), the first modern Olympic games began (Athens, 1896), the US Socialist Pary was formed (Indianapolis, 1900), the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory burned (1911), Billboard introduced the hillbilly music chart (1939), the Selma march reached Montgomery, AL (1965), the Who and Cream made their US debut (1967), John & Yoko held their first bed in for peace (1969), and Gretzky scored 200 points in a single season (1982).
Night Sky, 3/25: Once dawn begins to brighten, catch Venus in the east-southeast forming a nearly isosceles triangle with Saturn lower left of it and Mars to Venus's right. The long side of the triangle, the Saturn-Mars side, is 7° long. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
Image of the Week: Stacy Abrams as United Earth President on Star Trek: Discovery
This Week: Saturday, March 26 – Be Mad Day & Legal Assistants Day & Purple Day & Support Women Artists Day
Sunday, March 27 – National Scribble Day & World Theatre Day
Night Sky, 3/27: Uranus (magnitude 5.8, in Aries) is low in the west right after dark.
Monday, March 28 – Barnum & Bailey Day & Weed Appreciation Day
Tuesday, March 29 – Smokes & Mirrors Day & World Piano Day
Wednesday, March 30 – Doctors Day & Pencil Day & World Bi-Polar Day
Night Sky, 3/30: Pollux and Castor in Gemini pass nearly overhead around nightfall this week if you live in the world's mid-northern latitudes. The "twin" heads of the Gemini figures are fraternal twins at best. Pollux is visibly brighter than Castor and pale orange to Castor's white. And as for their physical nature, they're not even the same species.Pollux is a single orange giant. Castor is a binary pair of two much smaller, hotter, white main-sequence stars, a fine double in amateur telescopes. Each Castor star is closely orbited by an unseen red dwarf — a marble in our scale model just a foot or so from each of the two bright primaries.
Thursday, March 31 – Bunsen Burner Day & Cesar Chavez Day & National Crayon Day
The Tolkien fruit bearing tree should be a Pear Ent.
..........Fear is like the wilderland, stepping stones or sinking sand.........Joni Mitchell …..I Think I Understand
^^ Maryland is 12,407 square miles or 7.9405 million acres with a population of 6,046,000.
Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Are you ok? Oh, my god, no, but for the purposes of this conversation, yes, I'm fine. --Submitted by gr of oh
Moonbeam: The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. --Flannery O'Connor
Strange Fact of the Week: Dear paranoid people who check behind their shower curtains for murderers ... if you do find one, what’s your plan?
Video of the Week: Leonard Nimoy singing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3fZhJN4Tdc ~~No, apparently I have no taste or shame.
Not So Late Night Snacks of the Week: ...the host gave her a bill for $20. ... She paid it, she later wanted to go back over to her friend's house to ask what the whole deal was, but she couldn't get a reservation. --Peter Sagal Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 3/19/22
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. --JRR Tolkien
There's a new Tolkien based fighting game called Mordor Kombat.
..........Slow down and I sail on the river.........Blind Guardian …..Lord of the Rings
^^^ There are actually 8 states smaller than Maryland: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawai'i, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: It's interesting growing up and learning that most adults are not smart. I had my suspicions as a kid but I didn't think the situation was this dire. --Gennette Cordova
Weird Words of the Week: Two words were added to the language from Tolkein's books 1) Hobbit 2) Mithril. He also introduced dwarves as a plural of dwarf (dwarfs). https://getproofed.com/writing-tips/tolkien-reading-day-j-r-r-tolkien-in-the-dictionary/
Ollie's Very Own Picture of the Week: Ollie meet's Ferdinand's American cousin.
Wacky Uses for Common Products: Maintain the proper alkalinity in a swimming pool. Add 1.5 pounds of baking soda for every 10,000 gallons of water in the pool to raise total alkalinity by 10 ppm (parts per million), keeping the total alkalinity of the pool within the range of 80 to 150 ppm. Maintaining a proper level of total alkalinity minimizes changes in pH when acidic or basic pool chemicals or contaminants enter the water, reducing chloramine formation and the corrosivity of water, consequently reducing eye irritation and unpleasant odors while improving bactericidal effectiveness. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/armhammer2.html ~~Just a note I have skipped and will be skipping in the future many Arm & Hammer uses that begin with Deodorize... Check the website if you have a particular thing you want to deodorize.
Clarke, Lewis and Tolkien walk into a bar arguing about how characters should travel. Clarke says they should take a spaceship and Tolkien says they should walk. Lewis says they can just step through a wardrobe. When asked how that's possible Lewis says "Narnia business"
...........Peace of mind and sanctuary by loud water's flow.......Rush …..Rivendell
^^^^ Annapolis is the capital and Baltimore is the biggest city in Maryland.
Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: When a billionaire dies, who inherits their senators? --Amier Talai
Science Fiction Convention of the Week: HelioSphere 2022 (25-27, Piscataway, NJ) Sci-Fi and Fantasy with an edge. https://heliosphereny.org/?page_id=48
Vintage Players One Liner of the Week: The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement. And how many Phillips-head screwdrivers have you bought in the last 2 years?
Actual Science Conference of the Week: Grain Elevator & Processing Society (GEAPS) Exchange (26-29, KCMO) I am excited to see all the exhibits... https://www.world-grain.com/articles/16639-geaps-exchange-returns-to-kansas-city ~~Excited about the latest grain elevator technology. Sigh.
Answer to Puzzle of the Week: Hole in the Wall --> Whole and All
Before they were famous, Tolkien and Samuel Beckett collaborated on a play called Waiting for Frodo.
..........To heal my heart and drown my woe.........Billy Boyd & Sean Bean …..Merry & Pippin Drinking Song
^^^^^ The Baltimore Oriole is the state bird of Maryland.
My Own Writing of the Week: We went to the large upstairs room of the United Ministries. It was noisy and happy. A crowd filled with congratulations and pride. I don't know how many of us there were, a hundred or more, a mixed crowd. Dean Taylor was there and Professor Stokstad and all the sisters. I don't think that even at this gathering every sister was in the room. There may have been women absent even then. Women still working, women phoning, typing, copying. The February Sisters may have never all been in one place at one time. We are legion.
There were explanations of the deal, speeches, etc. There were already lists of meetings some of us would have to attend, Student Senate Executive Committee (StudEx) met Sunday evenings, for instance; we needed to talk to them about Day Care. Women volunteered; someone assigned them to meetings. No doubt food was offered. This meeting too was electric with energy running very high and spirits soaring.
We were the February Sisters and we prevailed. We had no idea anyone would remember us even a couple of years down the line. But for that moment we were power personified.
I gathered up my children and my baggage and went home.
Quote of the Week: White supremacy is kinda like high fructose corn syrup. Very few people would purchase a bottle of it for themselves, but it's cheap, palatable, effective, unhealthy, and is an ingredient in just about everything. --Submitted by aeb of kc
Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The key to looking amazing is looking like crap most of the time so it's more of a surprise. --Submitted by INRITH
Today's Peace of History, March 25, 1916: Women were first allowed to attend boxing matches.
Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) were the tolkien white guys in Black Panther.
..........Hey! Come merry dol! Derry dol! And merry-o.........Nicholas Creek …..In the House of Tom Bombadil
Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle March 25, 2022, Middle ePistle. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. 2511 Morningside Dr. Lawrence, KS 66047
Moonbeam: If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along with them as we do with people. --Josef Capek
Cost of War:
As of 3/24/22 State Department War on Terror Costs since 2001: $173,877,225,693.
As of 3/17/22 State Department War on Terror Costs since 2001: $173,320,867,291.
As of 3/24/22 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,044,760,222,905.
As of 3/17/22 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,043,205,933,167.
As of 3/24/22 Homeland Security Costs since 2001: $1,100,573,474,401.
As of 3/17/22 Homeland Security Costs since 2001: $1,099,358,969,494.
As of 3/24/22 Veterans Care since 2001: 2,344.811,607.345 .
As of 3/17/22 Veterans Care since 2001: 2,333.028,139.126 .
As of 3/24/22 Military Costs of War since 2001: $2,952,292,238,972.
As of 3/17/22 Military Costs of War since 2001: $2,951,749,238,618.
As of 3/24/22 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $7,616,955,599,473.
As of 3/17/22 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $7,601,281,711,387.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost... --JRR Tolkien
Famous Last Words: May the hair on your toes grow even longer. --A Hobbit Blessing upon parting company
..........I will go there and back again.........Howard Stone …..The Breaking of the Fellowship
Doctor: We had to remove your appendix. JRR: But that's where I explain why elves hate dwarves.
May Peace be your map
And Joy be your guiding star
prairie mama
christine
Last Laugh:
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