thE trEk Epistle

 Famous First Words: He was an old man... Ernest Hemingway The Old Man And The Sea

Happy 57^th Birthday to Star Trek! Little Known Fact: Captain Kirk had 3 ears; one on the left, one on the right, and a final front ear. / Spock had pointed ears and Scott had engine ears.

..........Worry, why do I let myself worry.........Patsy Cline …..Crazy (written by Willie Nelson)

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." --Jean-Luc Picard

It is another beautiful Friday morning. The 65°F is nearly perfect for a morning walk. The sky is constantly changing as the billowy clouds are moved about by a gentle 6 mph wind that also sets the willow to dancing and the mulberry to grudgingly exercise its top branches. The local murder of crows is in the neighborhood. I can hear their caws and calls but I cannot see them. The rising sun is notably further south these days, the shadows on the storage shed have shifted their positions. The need for rain is also beginning to show; lawns have newly browned spots and the leaves on the sunflower plant are dying around the golden flowers. I watch out my window as the morning drifts by sipping decaf and thinking how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends to write to on this fine day.

Hope your weekend is crazy – in a good way, ePistliers

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: You seem genuinely happy at this job. I've scheduled you for a drug test. --Bill Abbott

Bumper Sticker: My other vehicle was assimilated by the Borg. / Romulan frogs use a croaking device as camouflage.

..........Time only adds to the flame.........Patsy Cline …..I Fall To Pieces (Hank Cochran / Harlan Howard)

Trivia Questions: Blessed Banana Day !

• ^ What is a cluster of bananas called?
• ^^ If bananas don't grow on trees, what do they grow on?
• ^^^ What are the leaves used for?
• ^^^^ When were bananas introduced to the United States?
• ^^^^^ How does the banana propagate?

Big Hello: Hau – Lakota Sioux https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. --Robert M Pissig

Image of the Week: Video of a flying dragon made of drones: It only takes 20 seconds and is beautiful. Thank you, lr of tl https://www.facebook.com/markmweston/videos/1398605697654877 This is the first of 3 dragons in today's ePistle.

Fake Library Statistics of the Week: A decade later 99% of librarians will still feel guilty about a reference question where they gave out incorrect information. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts

The final line of the Klingon classic Gone In The Storm is, “After all, tomorrow is another good day to die”. / Blonde Borg has the same fun.

..........And everything went wrong.........Patsy Cline …..Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray (Eddie Miller / W Stevenson)

Moonbeam: The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius. --Sid Caesar

Question of the Week: I made Jesus shaped pancakes but I burnt them. Am I going to hell? https://www.buzzfeed.com/ishabassi/questions-people-have-asked-on-yahoo-answers

Puzzle of the Week: From listener Mary Springhorn, of Bellingham, Wash. Think of a noun in six letters. It sounds like a two-word phrase (2,6). And the thing named by the noun can have a seriously bad effect on what's named by the phrase. What was it?

Shameless Self Promotion of the Lifetime: I am a recipient of the Tom and Anne Moore Peace and Justice Award for 2003. I am unable to stop all the emotions that are swirling around to get a handle on any one of them. I am exhilarated and humbled, honored and unworthy. The award will be presented on Thursday, September 21 (International Day of Peace) in the ECM Building at 7 pm. C J Janovy, author of No Place Like Home will be speaking. See you there.

How many Borg does it take to change a light bulb? All of them. / How many Klingons does it take to change a light bulb? None. Real warriors don't need light bulbs. / How many Klingons does it take to change a light bulb? Two, one to change the bulb and another to defend the empty socket with a bat'leth.

..........I've got your class ring.........Patsy Cline …..She's Got You (Hank Cochran)

^ A cluster of bananas, called a “hand,” consists of 10 to 20 individual bananas, also known as fingers. In fact, the word banana comes from banan, the Arabic word for “finger.”

Almanac: It is Friday, September 8, 2023. The moon went into the last quarter yesterday (9/7) and is in Cancer. The UN has declared this International Literacy Day (UNESCO 14/C/Resolution 1.441). It is also National Ampersand Day, National Dog Walker Appreciation Day, Pardon Day, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses Day, World Physical Therapy Day, Banana Day, Iguana Awareness Day, International Literacy Day, and Star Trek Day.

Among those born on this day were Richard the Lionhearted (1157), Ludovico Ariosto (1474), Frederic Mistral (1830), Antonin Dvorck (1841), Robert A Taft (1889), Jimmie Rodgers (1897), Queenie Smith (1898), Lyndon LRouche (1922), Sid Caesar (1822), Peter Sellers (1925), Patsy Cline (1932), Peter Maxwell Davies (1934), and Ann Beattie (1947).

On September eighth the first known circumnavigation of the globed completed (1522), the first new world settlement settled in St. Augustine (1565), the Pledge of Allegiance first appeared in print (1892), US air mail service began (1920), the first Miss America was crowned (1921), The Blondie comic stirp first appeared (1930), Old Man and the Sea was published (1952), Star Trek debuted (1966), Uganda abolished tribal kingdoms and became a republic (1967), and the JFK Center for the Performing Arts opened (1971).

Night Sky, 9/8: With September well under way, the Great Square of Pegasus is high in the east after dark, balancing on one corner. From the Great Square's left corner extends a big line of three 2nd-magnitude stars, running to the lower left, that mark the head, backbone and leg of the constellation Andromeda. (The line of three includes the Square's corner, her head.) Upper left from the foot of this line, you'll find W-shaped Cassiopeia tilting up. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: Poor little lambs who would never go astray.

This Week: Saturday, September 9 – International Buy A Priest A Beer Day & National Hollerin' Day & Prairie Day

Sunday, September 10 – Grandparent's Day & National Hug Your Hound Day & Swap Ideas Day

Night Sky, 9/10: With the evening sky moonless, this is a great week for the Milky Way under a dark sky. When Deneb crosses your zenith (two hours after Vega does, meaning around 10 or 11 pm.), the Milky Way does too — running straight up from your southwest horizon and straight down to your northeast horizon.

Monday, September 11 – Libraries Remember Day & Patriot Day & National Day of Service and Remembrance

Tuesday, September 12 – National Day of Encouragement & National Police Woman's Day & Video Games Day

Wednesday, September 13 – Bald Is Beautiful Day & National Peanut Day & Scooby-Doo Day

Night Sky, 9/13: Neptune, magnitude 7.8 at the Aquarius-Pisces border, is fairly high by 10 or 11 pm, 23° east of Saturn. Uranus, magnitude 5.7 in Aries, is nice and high in the hours before dawn, 7° or 8° east of Jupiter.

Thursday, September 14 – National School Picture Day & Live Creative Day

Signs that Star Trek is taking over your life: Arguing with your chemistry professor because neither dilithium or tritanium are listed on the periodic table. / You've figured out the Stardate System.

..........That's the time I'll come on home to you.........Patsy Cline …..Anytime (Herbert Lawson)

^^ Bananas are actually massive herbs related to palms, lilies, and orchids. Bananas are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. The “trunk” is made up of sheaths of overlapping leaves, wrapped tightly around each other. They reach their full height of up to 30 feet during their first year of growth.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: "A library serves no purpose unless someone is using it." --Mr. Atoz

Moonbeam: He's evil. I believe in redemption, but I haven't seen any redeeming qualities in Henry Kissinger. --Lyndon LaRouche

Video of the Week: Hilarious Draw-Bridge scene with Peter Sellers (3:09) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL-FfePxRL0

Not So Late Night Snacks of the Week: Nobody pays any attention to COVID anymore; so, clearly COVID needs a better PR strategy. Maybe, COVID could get photographed making out with Pete Davidson. --Peter Sagal Well, everybody else has. --Roy Blunt, Jr Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 9/2/23

"Compassion: that's the one thing no machine ever had. Maybe it's the one thing that keeps men ahead of them. “ --Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy

Signs that Star Trek is taking over your life: You have 5 separate pairs of Spock ears “stored” in 5 separate places in your house. / Phrases like “make it so” and “I'm a doctor, Jim, not a...” have crept into your casual conversations.

..........Can't you see I'm sorry for each mistake I made.........Patsy Cline ….Have You Ever Been Lonely (Billy Hill / Peter De Rose)

^^^ A single banana leaf can grow up to 12 feet in length. In Southeast Asia, Central America and much of Africa, food is wrapped in banana leaves for storage and cooking, much like aluminum foil in the West. The leaves lend a subtle flavor to dishes cooked in them, and their hardiness allows them to be used time and again.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The 2 unwritten rules of life: 1) …............ 2) …........... --Submitted by INRITH

Weird Word of the Week: Zemblanity – the opposite of Serendipity http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-zem1.htm

Dragon of the Week: For Banana Day – Banana Dragon

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Cushion your tools and prevent them from clanking together when you carry your toolbox. Line the bottom of your toolbox with a sheet of Bubble Wrap. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/bubblewrap.html

Why has the Enterprise never run into an energy field of a type it has encountered several times before? / Has anyone ever used the holodeck where it worked properly?

...........I'm back where I belong.........Patsy Cline …..Back In Baby's Arms

^^^^ Bananas were first brought to the United States in 1876, for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. The exotic fruits were wrapped in foil and sold for 10¢ apiece (roughly $1.70 in today’s dollars).

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Buying groceries is starting to make me wonder what a pine cone tastes like. --Submitted by sb of kc

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: PhileFest 2023 (8-10, Mall of America) Celebrating Science Fiction while supporting the SAG-AFTRA strike. https://philefest.com/

Actual Science Conference of the Week: Generative AI in the Classroom (8, Ann Arbor, MI) This training course is designed to equip faculty with the necessary skills and knowledge to begin integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence into the classroom setting... https://events.umich.edu/event/111418

Answer to Puzzle of the Week: Miasma – My asthma

Signs your Klingon warrior has no honor: Nerf bat'leth / Drinks decaf Raktagino / Always the designated driver

..........Filled with dreams that might have been.........Patsy Cline …..Leavin' On Your Mind (Wayne P Walker / Webb Pierce)

^^^^^ Bananas are grown and harvested year-round. They grow from a bulb, not a seed. A perennial crop, each bulb sprouts new shoots every year.

Saying of the Jewish Buddha My Own Writing of the Week: There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that? https://www.tikkun.org/sayings-of-the-jewish-buddhist/

Quote of the Week: Intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I was hoping to age like a fine wine but I sort of feel more like an avocado. --Submitted by Thoughts From Aisle 4

Today's Peace of History, September 8, 1965: Table grape pickers, mostly Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong, went on strike for higher wages in Delano, California.

I've got a brother at Starfleet Science Academy. Great, what' he studying? Nothin. They're studying him. / Spock attended a Science Officers Meeting but the whole thing turned into a giant argument. The headline read: Science Friction.

..........Night winds whisper to me.........Patsy Cline …..Walkin' After Midnight (Alan Block / Don Hecht)

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, September 8, 2023, thE trEk Epistle. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: There used to be a me behind the mask, but I had it surgically removed. --Peter Sellers

Cost of War:

• As of 09/ 7/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $216,140,074,895.
• As of 08/31/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $215,587,284,431.
• As of 09/ 7/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,162,805,123,010.
• As of 08/31/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,161,261,212,729.
• As of 09/ 7/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,146,479,828,765.
• As of 08/31/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,145,879,434,279.
• As of 09/ 7/23 Veterans Care since 2001: $3,239,623,848,117.
• As of 08/31/23 Veterans Care since 2001:$3,227,920,428,812.
• As of 09/ 7/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,042,556,009,983.
• As of 08/31/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,041,383,912,791.
• As of 09/ 7/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,807,606,681,939.
• As of 08/31/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,792,035,937,819.

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

"You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, and irrational fear of the unknown. There is no such thing as the unknown. Only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood." James T. Kirk

Famous Last Words: Isn't she cute, Dad. --Dagwood in the first ever Blondie comic strip (9/8/1930)

..........Why can't I forget the past.........Patsy Cline …..Sweet Dreams (Don Gibson)

Star Trek was so successful because it had good Genes. / Where were you born? Earth. What part? All of me.

May Peace guide your journey

And Joy steer your way

prairie mama

christine

Last Laugh: The Ampersand Dragon for Ampersand Day