tHe oTter ePistle

 Famous First Words: In a hole in the ground... J R R Tolkien The Hobbit (In honor of Hobbit Day)

It is Sea Otter Awareness Week (22-28). Sadie Seal came to the party with her significant otter. / Please don't confuse me with someone who builds dams.

..........Our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.........Tevye …..Traditions

I greatly fear some of America's greatest and most dangerous enemies are such as think themselves her best friends. --Nathan Hale

It is rainy Friday morning. There is thunder and lightning and the sound of raindrops on the chimney that echo down into our hallway. There is no birdsong and everything looks wet. We need the rain, I love the rain, but it doesn't make a very good opening for the ePistle. So, I'm going to stop here and just say what a great morning I think this is – rain and all.

Hope your weekend glitters like gold, ePistliers.

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Chong: How strong do you like your coffee? Cheech: I want it to show up on a drug test.

Oscar Otter had terrible vision and wore glasses. He was the see-sea otter from the song. / I otter be ashamed of that joke, but I'm not.

..........Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum.........Tevye …..If I Were A Rich Man

Trivia Questions: Happy Autumnal Equinox!

• ^ When does the first day of fall take place?
• ^^ What is the Autumnal Equinox anyway?
• ^^^ How did the Mayans mark the fall equinox?
• ^^^^ What Celtic Festival celebrates the autumnal equinox?
• ^^^^^ What is the famous Greek myth that “explains” the equinox?

Big Hello: Ave - Latin https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Shameless Self Promotion of the Week: This is the article about the Tom and Anne Moore Peace & Justice Award that appeared in this morning's Lawrence Times: https://lawrencekstimes.com/2023/09/21/peace-justice-awards-2023/ There are more pictures and quotes in the body of the article.

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Traffic Sign: Drive As Slowly As It Takes Faulkner To Get To The Point.

Image of the Week: Me and Joyce (Frass) Khan with her daughter Mandy (center) and friends.

Fake Library Statistics of the Week: 27% of librarians shushing is because you noise is making their hangover worse. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts

A new guy moved into the neighborhood. He has a wand and a hat. I think it's Harry Otter. / Sammy Seal married Beverly Beaver because she wasn't like all the otters.

..........Find me a find, catch me a catch.........Tzeitel …..Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Moonbeam: I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. --Bilbo Baggins

Question of the Week: What does it mean to be human? (From Google most asked questions)

Puzzle of the Week: From a frequent contributor, Joseph Young, who conducts the blog Puzzleria! Name a creature that has a world capital in its name. Replace the capital with another creature and you'll get another world capital. What was it? NPR Sunday Puzzle 8/17/23

Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I miss the way I viewed the world before I knew too much about it. --Submitted by aeb of kc

You otter be kind to semi aquatic animals. / An otter with a cold is called a snotter.

..........What do we leave? Nothing much..........The Chorus …..Anatevka

^ The autumnal equinox typically takes place on the 22nd or 23rd of September, but there are some exceptions. The equinox occurred on Sept. 21 in 1931 and the year 1000, and it’s set to land on the 21st again in 2092. Don’t hold your breath for a Sept. 24 equinox, though; fall won’t officially begin on that date until 2303. In 2023 fall begins on September 23 at 2:50 EDT in the Northern Hemisphere.

Almanac: It is Friday, September 22, 2023. The moon is in the first quarter and is in Sagittarius. American Business Women's Day, Autumn (Autumnal Equinox), Car Free Day, Chainmail Day, Dear Diary Day, Elephant Appreciation Day, Hobbit Day, Ice Cream Cone Day, International Day of Radiant Peace, Mabon, Mali Independence Day (1960), National Centenarian's Day, National Doodle Day, National Legwear Day, National Rock n' Roll Dog Day, and National White Chocolate Day. Because it is the fourth Friday it is also American Indian Day and Love Note Day.

Among those born on this day were Bilbo Baggins (2890 Third Age) and Frodo Baggins (2968 Third Age), Lord Chesterfield (1694), Michael Faraday (1791), Erich von Stroheim (1885), Paul Muni (1895), Chen Ning Yang (1922), Junko Tabei (1939), Joan Jett (1960), and Scott Baio (1960).

On September twenty-second the last person in the US was hanged for witchcraft (1692), Nathan Hale was executed (1776), Russia established a colony on Kodiak Island (1784), the office of Postmaster General was established (1789), the French Republican Era began (1792), the first US built auto rolled out of the garage (1893), the ice cream cone was patented (1903), Southern Methodist University held its first class (Dallas, 1915), Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway (1964) and Man for UNCLE debuted of tv (1964).

Night Sky, 922: It's equinox night; fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere tonight at 2:50 am. EDT (11:50 pm. PDT). That's when the Sun crosses the equator heading south for the season. The days are getting shorter. Coincidentally, when summer turns to autumn is about when Deneb takes over from brighter Vega as the zenith star after nightfall (for sky watchers at mid-northern latitudes). http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: Boys in Legoland

This Week: Saturday, September 23 – International Day of Sign Language & National Snack Stick Day

Sunday, September 24 – Punctuation Day!!!!!!!!

Night Sky, 9/24: The starry W of Cassiopeia stands high in the northeast after dark. The right-hand side of the W (the brightest side) is tilted up. Look along the second segment of the W counting down from the top. It's not quite horizontal. Notice the dim naked-eye stars along that segment (not counting its two ends). The brightest of these, on the right, is Eta Cassiopeiae, magnitude 3.4. It's a remarkably Sun-like star just 19 light-years away, and it has an orange-dwarf companion, magnitude 7.3, making it a lovely binary in a telescope (separation 13 arcseconds)

Monday, September 25 – Math Storytelling Day & World Lung Day & National Daughters Day

Tuesday, September 26 – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons & World Body Painting Day

Wednesday, September 27 – Ancestor Appreciation Day & National Day of Forgiveness & Crush A Can Day

Night Sky, 9/27: Mercury is very low in the east at dawn, as shown near the top of this page. Starting around September 18th, look for it about 45 minutes before sunrise very far to the lower left of bright Venus. Mercury brightens fast: from magnitude +0.2 that morning to –0.5 on the 23rd. That's a doubling of its light in just five days.

Thursday, September 28 – Remember Me Thursday & Fish Tank Floorshow Night

You may be hot, but I'm otter. / Orley and Opal, the Otter twins, took up mysticism and palm reading. But Opal also got into necromancy. She was the odder otter.

..........walked him through the lion's den.........Motel …...Miracle of Miracles

^^ The word equinox is Latin for “equal night” and it is the date when, on most of the earth, daylight lasts just about as long as the nighttime.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: These days, I get most of my exercise from shaking my head in disbelief. --Submitted b y ss of kc

Moonbeam: A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones. --Lord Chesterfield

Video of the Week: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts: I Love Rock 'N' Roll (2:58) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5ecqUhec-s

Classic Not So Late Night Snacks of the Week: That woman was one of the many Wisconsin Democrats who wanted to get rid of Republican Governor Scott Walker, in a recall election. As it turned out, by slapping the losing candidate, Tom Barrett, she became the only Democrat in the state of Wisconsin who actually made an impact. --Peter Sagal Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 6/9/12

I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. --Nathan Hale

Olivia Otter actually wrote that famous Ry Cooder song, Crazy “Bout An Ottermobile. / Owen Otter joined NASA and became the first aquatic mammal in otter space.

..........To see a daughter wed, Mazel Tov, Mazel Tov..........Tevye …..Tevye's Dream

^^^ At Chichén Itzá on the Yucatán peninsula, the Pyramid of Kukulkán (also known as El Castillo) is a pyramid with 365 steps—that’s one for each day of the year. On the fall and spring equinoxes, a shadow appears on the pyramid’s surface that looks like a serpent descending the steps toward a stone head at the bottom.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: If you just assume Ronald Reagan is the cause of any bad thing you encounter in life, you'll be right way more often than you'll be wrong. --Submitted by Anti-Capitalist Education

Weird Word of the Week: Bezoar – hard ball of fiber that occurs in the stomachs of ruminants. http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-bez1.htm

Dragon of the Week: Otter Dragon by Sam Perin

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Make a pillow for back support. Cut rectangular sheets of Bubble Wrap and stuff into an empty pillowcase of a gallon sized Ziploc Freezer Bag. Place the Bubble Wrap pillow behind the small of your back when sitting in an office chair, when driving the car, or on long airplane flights. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/bubblewrap.html

Did you hear that some of the aquatic animals escaped from the zoo? It was otter chaos. / I waited in line for over an hour to get an ottergraph.

...........Here's to our prosperity........The Chorus …..To Life!

^^^^ Mabon is the name of the Celtic festival that celebrates the autumn equinox and takes place when the summer heat gives way to the crisp air of autumn. This event is held every year as a part of the traditional Celtic festivals, which trace back to ancient times

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: This might come across as anti-capitalism but.......i want to enjoy life. --Submitted by aeb of kc

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: Spooky Spectacle 2023 (23-24, Granbury, TX) A kick-off to the Halloween season! https://www.visitgranbury.com/event/spooky-spectacle-2023/19083/

Actual Science Conference of the Week: DeafBlind Taste of Technology (22, Overland Park, KS) Services and resources that benefit the DeafBlind community https://www.facebook.com/KansasRelay/

Answer to Puzzle of the Week: Mosquito → Moscow

Oscar went to law school and became one of the best otterneys in the bay area. / ...And then I said, “Otter, I don't even know her.”

..........I don't remember growing older.........The Chorus …..Sunrise, Sunset

^^^^^ In Ancient Greek mythology, the onset of fall is closely linked to the story of the abduction of Persephone, also called Kore or Cora. She was a goddess who was abducted from her mother, harvest goddess Demeter, and taken to the underworld to become the wife of Hades, the god-king of the underworld. After a period of mourning and struggle, Demeter eventually got her daughter back from Hades, but only for nine months of the year. Every fall, Persephone would return to the underworld to spend three months with Hades. During these months, Demeter refused to use her divine skills to make plants grow, explaining why we have three months of winter every year.

Saying of the Jewish Buddha of the Week: The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao is not Jewish.

Quote of the Week: Every advance in this half-century: Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education... one after another- came with the support and leadership of American Labor. --Jimmy Carter

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Ah fall – pumpkins, changing leaves, a tire pressure warning in your car. --Submitted by INRITH

Today's Peace of History, September 22, 1985: The first Farm Aid concert, organized principally by Willie Nelson, was held with more than 50 musicians raising $9 million for debt-ridden U.S. farmers.

Admit it, they're otterly cute. / Olivia Otter failed her driving test because the car was a manual instead of an ottermatic.

..........Who could imagine I'd be wand'ring so.........Cast …..Far From Home

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle September 22, 2023, The oTter ePistle. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: Whatever you did, you've been officially labeled a Disturber of the Peace. --Frodo Baggins

Cost of War:

• As of 09/21/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $217,254,497,440.
• As of 09/14/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $216,692,302,407
• As of 09/21/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,165,917,848,346.
• As of 09/14/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,161,347,518,928.
• As of 09/21/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,147,690,304,980.
• As of 09/14/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,147,079,664,226.
• As of 09/21/23 Veterans Care since 2001: $3,263,217,853,548.
• As of 09/14/23 Veterans Care since 2001:$3,251,315,227,047.
• As of 09/21/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,044,919,268,869.
• As of 09/14/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,043,727,071,375.
• As of 09/21/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,839,001,639,680.
• As of 09/14/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,823,163,978,213.

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

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. --Nathan Hale

Famous Last Words: ...manifest your future. --Mabon Blessing

..........May you be deserving of praise.........Tevye …..Sabbath Prayer

One way or the otter, you will grow to love otter puns. / We otter stick together; wanna be my otter half?

May Peace protect you

And Joy promote you

prairie mama

christine

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