eMpty ePistle

 Famous First Words: Pippin looked out from the shelter of Gandalf's cloak. --J R R Tolkien LOTH: Return of the King

It's Meditation Week (15-21)! OK, so these mindfulness jokes are likely to be bad, please, don't roll your third-eye at me. / Clara the Cow told Jenny the Jersey, “That guy over there sitting zazen is saying his prayer backwards.”

..........And all the vampires walking through the valley.........Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers …..Free Fallin'

I always wanted to get into politics, but I was never light enough to make the team. --Art Buchwald

It is a gorgeous Friday morning. The blue sky is without clouds or jet trails but full of birds. Joyce and I sat on her front porch and watched the morning roll in. Crows and sparrows added vocals to the wall-of-sound hum of cars taking people to work, or school, or home. 59°F is a nice temperature when there is no wind to set the leaves dancing or stir the flag to life. A small white puppy defied its walker and ran towards us barking greetings or threats – hard to say which. I hope the dog felt brave and heroic; we certainly did enjoy the show. Each person that passes us comments on the beauty of this day. Often Joyce and I sit without talking and kind of meditation in itself – just being together. Welcome, ePistliers, no mind.

Hope your weekend transcends the mundane, ePistliers

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: A wreath made of $100 bills is called Aretha Franklins.

I went to my dharmatologist last week. She said “As I remove this mole, remember, pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. / Are you not thinking what I'm not thinking?

..........In a world that keeps on pushing me around........Tom Petty …..I Won't Back Down

Trivia Questions: Happy Alaska Day!

• ^ How many of the USA's highest mountains are in Alaska?
• ^^ Alaska has more volcanoes than any other state; how many do they have?
• ^^^ How about rivers, would you like to estimate how many?
• ^^^^ How many lakes does Alaska have?
• ^^^^^ What is Alaska's largest lake?

Big Hello: Hallo – Limburgish (Netherlands, Belgium, & Germany) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I don't think it's fair that only roosters are allowed to start the day screaming. --Submitted by bc of tx

Fake Library Statistics of the Week: At any given moment 15% of librarians are covered in glitter of unknown origin. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts

Daryl the Dog maintained that the key to meditation is learning to “stay”. / Jesus and Buddha were sitting on a cloud conversing. Buddha said, “I should've made one of those rules about nobody-can-depict-me. They always make me fat.” Jesus replied, “Tell me about it; I've been a blond white dude for, like, 2000 years.”

..........Everybody's had to fight to be free........Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers …..Refugee

Moonbeam: If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. --Mickey Mantle

Question of the Week: Could frozen astronaut feces spawn life on other planets? Quora

Puzzle of the Week: From listener Andrew Chaikin, of San Francisco. Think of a mammal, an insect, and a bird, in that order —six, three, and four letters, respectively. Say them out loud and you'll name something often seen around this time of year. What is it?

Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The day is not going well when I find myself arguing with Alexa. --Submitted by sb of ar

I didn't believe yoga would fix my posture but I stand corrected. / Master Maria took disciple Drake aside and said, “I've never met anyone so thoughtless in my life. Keep up the good work.”

..........After all it was a great big world........Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers …..American Girl

^ Of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S., 17 are in Alaska, including the highest peak in North America (20,320 feet above sea level), Denali. According to a National Park Service article nine Alaska Native groups and five Athabaskan languages have had unique names for Denali that all translate to some form of “The Great One” or “The Tall One.”

Almanac: It is Friday, October 20, 2023. The moon will be in the first quarter on Tuesday (10/22) and is in Capricorn. It is Miss American Rose Day and National Pharmacy Buyer Day. Because it is the third Friday it is also Mammography Day.

Among those born on this day were Christopher Wren (1632), Austin Flint (1812), Thomas Hughes (1823), John Dewey (1859), Charles Ives (1874), Wayne Morse (1900), Arlene Frances (1908), Will Rogers Jr (1911), Art Buchwald (1925), Grandpa Jones (Louis M, 1930), Mickey Mantle (1931), Roosevelt Brown (1932), Martin Landau (1934), Jerry Orbach (1935), Wanda Jackson (1937, Connie Chung (1946), and Tom Petty (1953).

On October twentieth Maria Theresa became ruler of Austria, Hungary, & Bohemia (1740), the US purchased Louisiana (1803), the first showboat on the Mississippi left Nashville (1817), the border between US & Canada was established at 49th parallel (1818), the first 6 day international bike race began (NY, 1891), the US won disputed boundary between the District of Alaska & Canada (1903), the Great Strike in Russia began and lasted 11 days (1905), the Bayshore Highway opened (SF, 1929), the Durham Manifesto called for fundamental changes in race relations (1942), workers and students banded together to revolt in Guatemala (1944), Jackie married Ari (1968), the OPEC oil embargo began (1973), and Nixon fired watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox (Saturday Night Massacre, 1973).

Night Sky, 10/20: The Moon, a day short of the first quarter, shines low in the south right at the end of twilight. Before the Moon gets any lower, use binoculars to see that it's sitting almost smack on the four-star handle of the Sagittarius Teapot. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: Max and Ollie and Sweets On Sticks

This Week: Saturday, October 21 – American Frog Day & Sloth International Day & Sweetest Day

Sunday, October 22 – Make A Dog's Day & Smart Is Cool Day & International Stuttering Day

Night Sky, 10/22: This is the time of year when the Big Dipper lies down horizontal low in the north-northwest after dark. How low? The farther south you are, the lower. Seen from 40° north (New York, Denver) even its bottom stars twinkle nearly ten degrees high. But at Miami (26° N) the entire Dipper skims along out of sight just below the northern horizon.

Monday, October 23 – National Mole Day & the Day the Swallows Depart from San Juan Capistrano

Tuesday, October 24 – Accountant's Day & Food Day & United Nations Day

Wednesday, October 25 – International Artists Day & Sourest Day & World Pasta Day

Night Sky, 10/25: Saturn (magnitude +0.6, in dim Aquarius) is the brightest "star" in the southeast in twilight. It's highest in the south around 10 pm. Fomalhaut twinkles two fists at arm's length below it.

Thursday, October 26 – Mule Day & Read for the Record Day & Howl a the Moon Night

Meditation: It's slightly better than sitting around doing nothing all day. / Rumors persisted that Sage was using spiritual growth hormones.

..........I just might need you........Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers …..Don't Do Me Like That

^^ Alaska has more than 100 volcanoes and volcanic fields. Alaska contains more volcanoes and volcanic fields than any other state in the U.S. Don’t worry, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska volcanoes have produced one or two eruptions since 1900.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: My smart phone just drove off in my smart car and both of them were laughing at me. --Submitted by PsyDe

Moonbeam: Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. --John Dewey

Video of the Week: Jerry Orbach (of Law and Order fame) as one of the chorus in the movie Guys and Dolls (The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhXJT-c8p5M (2:20)

Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television? --Art Buchwald

Meditation: Because some answers can only be found on the Inner Net. / Don't just do something; sit there.

..........And I couldn't see the sun that warmed me........Tom Petty & the Traveling Wilburys ….Heading For The Light

^^^ There are more than 3,000 rivers in Alaska. Whether you like to kayak on peaceful waters or hit the rapids in a raft, Alaska has it all.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: 'The Onion' Stands With Israel Because It Seems Like You Get In Less Trouble For That. Bit.ly/45tjnGr

Weird Word of the Week: Fescennie – adjective for matters considered licentious, obscene, or scurrilous https://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-fen1.htm

Dragon of the Week: Kiseru pipe --Submitted by vr of TH

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Repel deer. Lay sheets of Bubble Wrap –held in place with stones on the ground around the outside of your garden. Deer will not walk on Bubble Wrap. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/bubblewrap.html

Beginning Meditation: Take three deep, slow breaths...now put down your phone. / I love meditating in my herb garden...good thymes,

...........We better keep tryin' til we get it right........Tom Petty & the Traveling Wilburys ….Margarita

^^^^ There are 3,000,000 lakes in Alaska. I am struck dumb and have no comment.

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Every morning I get up and look cautiously out the patio door to see which chapter of Revelation we're doing today. --Submitted by MMS

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: WorldCon 2023 – (18-22, Chengdum China) ...the heavyweights, the employed, and idea-filled... https://www.worldcon.org/

Actual Science Conference of the Week: 7^th International Conference on Communication and Information Systems (ICCIS 1012) {20-22, Chongqing, China) ...Antenna & Propagation... https://www.clocate.com/international-conference-on-communication-and-information-systems-iccis/59539 /

Answer to Puzzle of the Week: Jackal, ant, tern or erne --> Jack-o'-lantern

Mindful wolf is aware wolf. / Reese wanted to start a meditation class at the library but it was fully booked.

..........Everybody's got somebody to lean on........Tom Petty & the Traveling Wilburys ….Handle Me With Care

^^^^^ Alaska’s largest lake is Lake Iliamna. At 77 miles long, that’s about as wide as Connecticut. Depending on who you believe, it’s also home to a legendary monster (or maybe just a sleeper shark).

Saying of the Jewish Buddha of the Week: The Torah says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Buddha says, “There is no self”. So, maybe we're off the hook. ~~This is the final entry in the sayings of the Jewish Buddha website. I'm sorry there aren't more. https://www.tikkun.org/sayings-of-the-jewish-buddhist/

Apology of the Week: There are some sections missing from tHe ePistle this week. This is because I had two days of being not-quite-sick. A couple of months ago my doctor gave me two new prescriptions. The pharmacist told me that one of them had a side effect of muscle ache and it could become permanent. One of the problems of getting old is that muscles, joints, whatever else, just ache. We don't know why, sometimes it goes away fast, sometimes it hangs on for a while. How will I know if the pain is old age or medicine? Well last Saturday I ached everywhere. My fingers felt like I'd been typing for hours for days in a row. My ankles hurt. My hip always hurts and it didn't stop for the rest of my body to have a turn. I never had a fever. I tested for COVID, negative. Anyway, I stopped taking the medicine and my pain has been slowly draining away. My hip is still the same. I plan to be back up to full content next week.

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The opposite of formaldehyde is casualdejekyll.

Today's Peace of History, October 20, 1947: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened public hearings into alleged Communist influence in Hollywood. To counter what they claimed were reckless attacks by HUAC, a group of motion picture industry luminaries, led by actor Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Bacall, John Huston, William Wyler, Gene Kelly and others, established the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA).

I was going to teach you how meditation can help with time-travel, but you didn't like it. / Descartes showed up at my mindfulness class. I told him to simply breathe and let go of his thoughts. He disappeared.

..........We went up to her room and she lowered the boom........Tom Petty & the Traveling Wilburys .....Last Night

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, October 20, 2023, empty ePistle. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: Architecture aims at Eternity. --Christopher Wren

Cost of War:

• As of 10/19/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $219,481,717,556.
• As of 10/12/23 State Department War Costs since 2001: $218,909,644,897.
• As of 10/19/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,172,138,673,505.
• As of 10/12/23 Interest on War Debt since 2001: $1,170,540,840,576.
• As of 10/19/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,150,109,419,105.
• As of 10/12/23 Homeland Security since 2001: $1,149,488,175,152.
• As of 10/19/23 Veterans Care since 2001: $3,210,372,897,466.
• As of 10/12/23 Veterans Care since 2001:$3,298,262,369,038.
• As of 10/19/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,049,642,476,484.
• As of 10/12/23 Military Costs since 2001: $3,048,429,441,605.
• As of 10/19/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,901,747,117,920.
• As of 10/12/23 Total Cost of Wars since 2001: $8,885,632,656,719.

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

You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it. --Art Buchwald

Famous Last Words: Herein rests the chance to reveal our greatest weakness or our greatest strength. --The Durham Manifesto

..........Well, it's all right, as long as you can lend a hand........Tom Petty & the Traveling Wilburys …..End of the Line

Come on inner peace, I don't have all day. / tHe ePistle … using meditation to kick life in the butt.

May Peace ease your mind
And Joy release your soul
prairie mama
christine

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