zZzzz ePistle

 Famous First Words: Charles the Second, by the grace of God... Penn's Charter to the Province of Pennsylvania

Peaceful World Sleep Day !! Do you think Jeff Bezos sleeps naked or in pajamazons? / The other day I woke up with a puzzled look on my face. I'd fallen asleep on my crossword.

..........I just might get some sleep tonight.........The Grateful Dead …..Friend of the Devil

Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. --St. Francis of Assisi

It is a gray Friday morning. The sky is covered with a single cloud without lumps or swirls. There is no wind to enforce the 37°F temperature and no sun to make a shadow. Even the birds outside my window are strangely quiet. It is the furnace coming alive that plays the soundtrack for my morning. I am munching a blueberry muffin and sipping regular decaf – too lazy to get my fancy coffee out of the cupboard – and watching Bruno run through his yard. Even he seems to be in slow motion. So a laid back morning filled with the smell of coffee and thoughts of you. What a morning.

Hope your weekend is filled with sweet dreams, ePistliers

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: It's actually bad luck to say MacBook inside an office. You have to call it “The Scottish Laptop”. --Nathalie Kernot --Submitted by sb of ar

The king's bed has a king-size mattress and the queen's bed has a queen-size mattress but the prince sleeps on the heir mattress. / I would love to get paid to sleep. It's a dream job.

..........People sleepin' in their shoes.........Neil Young …..Rockin' in the Free World

Trivia Questions: Happy International Bagpipe Day !

• ^ How far does bagpipe music travel?
• ^^ Piping has been outlawed twice; can you name either time?
• ^^^ Play standing or sitting?
• ^^^^ In what part of Queen Elizabeth II's routine were bagpipes central?
• ^^^^^ Why is moisture control so important for bagpipes?

Big Hello: Puiznu – Jenesch (contains vocabulary from Yiddish, Rotwelsch, Romani, and various German dialects) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I put Red Bull in the coffee this morning and now I can see noises. --Submitted by Heinlein Society

Image of the Week:

Fake Library Statistics of the Week: 18% of librarians have a hairstyle that says “tell me all your problems”. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts

Why is the urge to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” always just a whim away, a whim away? / A sleeping cow is sometimes called a bull dozer.

..........When the lion is sleeping, never, you try to wake him.........Jimmy Cliff …..The Lion Awakes

Moonbeam: In every person, even in such as appear most reckless, there is an inherent desire to attain balance. --Jakob Wassermann

Danger Alert of the Week: In my Inbox this morning (3/10) was a notice from the blogsport people that one of my ePistles has been given a warning: This post was put behind a warning for
readers because it contains sensitive content; the post is visible at
http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/2016/06/eranas-epistle.html. Your blog readers must acknowledge the warning before being able to read the post/blog. The theme is fairies and I don't know what about it is sensitive.

Meditation of the Week: What is the right way to live? --Confucius

Puzzle of the Week: From listener Jim Francis, of Kirkland, Wash. Take this equation: 14 + 116 + 68 = 47. Clearly this doesn't work mathematically. But it does work in a non mathematical way. Please explain. --NPR Puzzle Sunday 03/04/23

Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Golf – the adult version of an Easter Egg Hunt --Submitted by ja of ks

I just bought a sleep bag for $30. The problem is I have no idea how to wake it up. / I like to sleep with a bedside lamp on. My boyfriend says it's weird, but I think it makes a great hat.

..........I would be all right if I could go on sleeping.........The Eagles …..Best of My Love

^ Great Highland Bagpipe music can be heard as far as 10 miles out. No wonder they were used to spread fear among the enemy lines. Other pipes like the Border Pipe or the Irish Uilleann pipes have a more moderate volume level.

Almanac: It is Friday, March 10, 2023. The moon was full (Worm) last Tuesday (3/7) and is in Libra. It is International Bagpipe Day, International Day of Awesomeness, Landline Telephone Day, Mario Day, Salvation Army Day, US Paper Money Day, Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and World Sleep Day. In New Mexico it is Arbor Day. Because it is the Friday of the first full week it is also Middle Name Pride Day.

Among those born on this day were Ferdinand I of Germany (1503), Constantije Huygens Jr. (1628), John Playfair (1748), Willem R Foelofs (1822), Alexander III Romanov (1845), Jakob Wassermann (1873), Barry Fitzgerald (1888), Sam Jaffe (1891), Arthur Honnegger (1892), James Herriot (1916), Jethro Burns (1920 or 23, there is a dispute), Ara Parseghian (1923), James Earl Ray (1928), Gary Owens (1935), Chuck Norris (Carlos Ray, 1940), Kim Campbell (1947), Sharon Stone 91958), and Edie Brickell (1966).

On March tenth William Penn received the charter for territory of Pennsylvania (1681), Franklin College was founded (1787), the pile driver was patented (1791), Hawaii minted its first money (1847), the US issued its first paper money (1862), Purdue University admitted its first student (1874), Bell made the first telephone call (1876), Franck's Psyche debuted (1888), the multigraph duplicating machine was patented (1903), Ravel's Sonatine premiered (1906), The Pittsburgh Courier began publishing (1910), Nevada became the first state to regulate narcotics (1933), J Edgar Hoover declined the post of baseball commissioner (1951), Sweet Bird of Youth premiered (1959), James Earl Ray plead guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King, R. (1969), the Rings of Uranus were discovered (1977), and 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral (1994).

Night Sky, 3/10: Bright Sirius now stands due south on the meridian just as twilight fades into night. Sirius is the bottom star of the equilateral Winter Triangle; the others are orange Betelgeuse to Sirius's upper right (Orion's shoulder) and Procyon to Sirius's upper left. At this time of year, the Winter Triangle balances on Sirius soon after dark. AND Daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. tonight for most of North America. Clocks spring ahead an hour.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: Captain Max at the helm and First Mate Ollie at the ready

Extra Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Before perfecting his escape act, Harry Houdini studied films of cats about to go to the vet.

This Week: Saturday, March 11 – Dream 2023 Day & Johnny Appleseed Day & World Plumbing Day

Sunday, March 12 – Girl Scout Sunday & Working Moms Day & Daylight Saving Time begins

Night Sky, 3/13: More about Sirius and Canis Major. In a very dark sky the Big Dog's stick figure is fairly plain to see with the naked eye — the dog is in profile prancing to the right on his hind legs, with Sirius as the shiny dog tag on his chest. The stars of his triangular, pointy-nosed head are dim at 4th magnitude.

Monday, March 13 – Donald Duck Day & Napping Day & Smart and Sexy Day

Tuesday, March 14 – International Day of Action for Rivers & National Equal Pay Day & Save A Spider Day

Wednesday, March 15 – Ides of March & True Confessions Day

Night Sky, 3/15: Mercury is out of sight in conjunction with the Sun. Saturn is buried deep in the sunrise. Neptune is lost in the sunset.

Thursday, March 16 – Freedom of Information Day & Goddard Day & National Panda Day

You know you're getting older when Happy Hour is a nap. / Fish sleep on the river bed, Books sleep under their covers, and gingerbread men sleep on cookie sheets.

..........But sleep won't come, the whole night through.........Hank Williams …..Your Cheatin' Heart

^^ After the 1560s Reformation, the British government banned both piping and wearing the kilt. The second ban was after the 1745 uprising in Scotland.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: To make a long story short, I became an editor.

Moonbeam: Cats are connoisseurs of comfort. --James Herriot

Super Extra Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Imagine looking at the world today and thinking drag shows are the problem. --Submitted by 98%

Video of the Week: Melina Mercouri singing Je suis grecque Long Address (3:06)

Not So Late Night Snacks of the Week: Starbuck is launching a new line of coffee drinks with a spoonful of olive oil in every cup. Call me old fashioned but if I'm going to pour something weird and gross in my coffee it better get me drunk. --Josh Gondelman Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 3/4/23

Where there is despair, hope. Where there is sadness, joy. --St. Francis of Assisi

My mom used to put sugar cubes under my pillow so I would have sweet dreams. Instead I got ants. / When you dream in color, is it a pigment of your imagination?

..........I don't want to fall asleep.........Aerosmith …..I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

^^^ Most bagpipes can be played standing up and even walking around, however, Uilleann pipes must be played sitting down. There are special techniques for left=handed pipers. You need to know how to hold the pipe and where to place your fingers.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I have lost my mind and I'm making no effort to look for it. --Submitted by bc of tx

Weird Word of the Week: Exuviate – the shed or cast off https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exuviate

Dragon of the Week: Glow Wild Dragon – Kansas City Zoo

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Deodorize your home. Putting a sheet of Bounce in the bag of your vacuum cleaner before vacuuming helps eliminate the musty smell in the house. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/bounce.html

Dragons sleep during the day so they can fight knights. / Worthless fact of the week: Taller people sleep longer in bed.

...........I went to sleep last night.........Led Zeppelin …..The Lemon Song

^^^^ It's said that instead of regular alarms, England's queen preferred to wake to the shrill of a bagpipe band playing under her window. The pipe session lasted about 15 minutes.

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth.

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: MarsCon (10-12, Indianapolis, IN) At MarsCon you’ll find panel discussions, parties, guest of honor presentations, science and science fiction, our art show, film/anime room, gaming, dealers room, charity auction, and masquerade. But wait, there's more! Our Con-In-a-Con Comedy Music track attracts performers—and listeners—from across the country. https://marscon.org/2023/

Actual Science Conference of the Week: Teacher Tip Tuesday (3/15, Web Seminar) Science Teacher Special Issue on Immunology and COVID-19. https://my.nsta.org/event/teacher-tip-tuesday-the-science-teacher-special-issue-on-immunology-and-covid-19

Answer to Puzzle of the Week: The atomic numbers 14, 116, and 68 represent the chemical elements silicon (Si), livermorium (Lv), and erbium (68), respectively. The symbols for these elements spell SiLvEr, which has the atomic number 47.

Papa pig put everyone to sleep because he's a boar. / I accidentally went to bed with my contact lenses still in. My dreams had never been clearer.

..........Sleep, my child, and peace attend.........The Kingston Trio …..All Through the Night

^^^^^ Even in synthetic bagpipe setups, moisture is bound to happen since there is a flow of warm air getting condensed. Moisture control systems protest the chanter pipe wood against damage. Too much humidity can flatten out some notes, particularly B,C,E, and F. On the other hand, you shouldn't let the instrument dry out completely either.

My Own Writing of the Week: I once nearly had a raven haired Apollo who was a prolific writer. Matter of fact, he still writes a lot. He was and probably still is very tall and very spare. His arms and hands naturally lodged in places no ordinary person could reach. I certainly noticed that he was tall, but I didn't realize what that meant until I read a short story of his and a character in the story sat on a sofa and reached up and around and picked up something or moved it. I realized that I could sit on a sofa and would have to get up and lean over the back in order to reach the item in question. I began to look for these kinds of clues in everything I read.

He was given to over-thinking, perhaps a side effect of his PhD (or maybe the PhD was a side effect of his over-thinking). He had attended a Friday tea dance at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City the week before the tea dance where the balcony fell down and killed 114 people. He obsessed about it at great depth and length. It is the sort of coincidence that meant so little to me. All life is a set of coincidences, this sperm not that one and there is no raven-haired Apollo to mope around about coincidence.

He wrote short stories with skill and imagination. He could write humor that was actually funny. Several better known and more respected science fiction writers aren't able to do that. He had published stories when I met him and I collected them into a notebook, which I may still have. The books and stories he has written since I moved on have been fun and worth the time and the price, every one that I've read.

Once, in his hearing I criticized the book of another author as being 50 pages too long. The reader figures out what the protagonist is going to do but it takes 50 pages before she actually goes and does it. He said that was a scathing review. I was actually fairly forgiving of the 50 pages because it was a young writer who thought she had to tell ALL of the story. She'd learn. The extra pages weren't badly written; they were just extra. The same criticism can be said for Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, only it was many more pages and most certainly the writing on those extra pages is way better than whatever sword and sorcery the young author was writing. The raven-haired Apollo's fiction is lean and spare like his body.

He is now a professor back east somewhere. But his stories don't sound like he's a professor of English. (And that is the opposite of a scathing review). I've read too many stories that sound like they were written by English Professors. And the ones that sound like they are written by math professors are even worse.

From Always Surrender by Christine Smith

Quote of the Week: Hey all! Just found out I'm “woke” … All this time, I just thought I was good at history. --Jon Stewart

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Did you know that on the Canary Islands there isn't one canary? Same thing on the Virgin Islands. Not one canary there either. --Submitted by ja of ks

Today's Peace of History, March 10, 1968: Cesar Chavez ended a 23-day fast for U.S. farm workers in a Delano, California, public park with 4000 supporters at his side, including Senator Robert Kennedy (D-New York). Cesar Chavez led the effort to organize farm workers into a union for better pay, working and living conditions.

Learning to sleep upside down was hard for Bart the Baby Bat, but he eventually got the hang of it./ Remember, before James Bond goes to sleep he goes under cover.

..........Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry.........The Beatles …..Golden Slumber

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle March 10, 2023, ePistle zZzzz Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: There are no more worlds to conquer. --Alexander III Romanov

Cost of War:

• As of 03/09/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $201,677,824,727.
• As of 03/02/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $201,130,629,963.
• As of 03/09/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,122,410,652,165
• As of 03/02/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,120,882,202,719.
• As of 03/09/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,130,771,094,266.
• As of 03/02/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,130,176,456,706.
• As of 03/09/23 Veterans Care since 2001: $2,933,423,829,817.
• As of 03/02/23 Veterans Care since 2001: $2,921,836,915,240.
• As of 03/09/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,011,886,212,903.
• As of 03/02/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,010,725,586,606.
• As of 03/09/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,400,172,753,431.
• As of 03/02/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,384,754,176,516.

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/

For it is in giving that we receive. --St. Francis of Assisi

Famous Last Words: and the enemy, time, in all of us. --Tennessee Williams Sweet Bird of Youth

..........And I fall asleep.........Bing Crosby …..Counting My Blessings

If your iPad is making you fall asleep you can get a nap for it. / I finally got eight hours of sleep. It only took me three days.

May Peace be your pillow

And Joy your pallet

prairie mama

christine

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