sWeaty ePistle

 

Famous First Words: Between the people of the United State and the Republic of Cuba... Lease of Guantonamo by the USA.

It's National Sauna Week! Hey, it's a stressful world, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the sauna. / Face it, the sauna is the only appropriate place to let off steam.

..........So baby, what's the story..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....What It Takes

Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States. --W E B Du Bois

It is a bright, beautiful, 40°F Friday morning. The sky is pale blue with neither clouds nor jet streams. Birds are up early greeting the day with song or discussion agendas over breakfast. Ducks are on the move leaving a wake of quacking noise behind as the fly west; but I don't think it can be used to predict the weather. I take a long swig of doctored decaf and search through my backyard window for the source of high pitched chirping but I see no movement except the wispy willow branches moving in the light wind. Last night's incense left a hint of jasmine in the air. The only thing missing is a morning sauna where we all tell each other our dreams. Ah, the old hippie days...

Hope your weekend is too hot to handle, ePistlers, in a good way.

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: So many village idiots. So few dragons. --Submitted by FTLOD (For the Love of Dragons)

The sauna was so hot that I broke wind just for a little breeze. / Saunas are so relaxing I call mine sweat escape.

..........Got to get back to the real nitty gritty..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Last Child

Trivia Questions: Happy Skip The Straw Day

• ^ How old is the drinking straw?
• ^^ The stalks of what kind of grain became popular as drinking straws in the 1800s?
• ^^^ When were paper straws first introduced?
• ^^^^ What, exactly, is the problem with plastic straws?
• ^^^^^ How many plastic drinking straws are used in the US annually?

Big Hello: Moghrey mie – Manx (Gaelic, Isle of Man) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Schrodinger's Jerk: A guy who says offensive things and decides whether he was joking based upon the reaction of people around him. --Submitted by FNOG

Image of the Week: February 23 is Curling Is Cool Day

Fake Library Statistics of the Week: Only 2% of librarians are surprised when they're informed about a conspiracy theory they didn't know existed. https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts

The sauna is so powerful we installed a ceiling fan. / A sauna is like a mini vacation only a lot hotter.

..........Run away, run away from the pain, yeah yeah..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Janies Got a Gun

Moonbeam: To decide to become a philosopher seemed as foolish to me as to decide to become a poet. --Karl Jaspers

Best Protest Sign of the Week: Make the NRA get a background check BEFORE they buy a Senator. ~~From the Moms Demand Action Gun Control Vigil in Kansas City 2/15/24 Runner up signs were Arms are for Hugging and Protect Kids Not Guns

Blasphemy of the Week: If prayer worked, they wouldn't allow it in casinos.

Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Grandma was a union woman; she began all her stories with Once upon a time and a half...

The sauna is so hot Optimus Prime turned into an air conditioner. / I once challenged a sauna to a game of Scrabble. Ironically she couldn't handle heated competition.

..........It ain't easy living like a gypsy..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Mama Kin

^ The oldest drinking straw was discovered in a Sumerian tomb from roughly 3,000 B.C. It was made of gold and the precious stone, lapis lazuli.

Almanac: It is Friday, February 23, 2024. The moon will be full (Snow) tomorrow (2/23) and is in Leo. It is Curling is Cool Day, Digital Learning Day, Diesel Engine Day, Iwo Jima Day (flag raised), National Dog Biscuit Day, National Tile Day, and Single Tasking Day. Because it is the fourth Friday it is also Skip The Straw Day.

Among those born on this day were Pietro Barbo (Pope Paul II, 1417), Samuel Pepys (1633), John Blow (1649), George Frideric Handel (1685), Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1734), Emma Willard (1787), Istvan Ferenczi (1792), William E B Du Bois (1868), Karl Jasper (1883), William L Shirer (1904), Margaret Farrer (1914), Tom Wesselman (1931), Peter Fonda (1940), Johnny Winter (1944), Brad Whitford (Aerosmith, 1952), and Too Tall Jones (1951).

On February twenty-third the Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated (1792), Haydn's 94th Symphony in G premiered (1792), William III was proclaimed king of England (1689), the College of Apothecaries was organized as the US's first pharmacy school (1821), Boston incorporated (1822), Texas seceded (1861), Mississippi was readmitted to the union (1870), Alabama became the first state to enact antitrust laws (1883), the first college student government was established (Bryn Mawr, 1892), Cuba leased Guantanamo to the USA (1903), the US acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone ($10 million, 1904), the first transcontinental air mail arrived in NYC (from San Francisco, 1921), Disney's Pinocchio was released (1940), the Salk vaccine was first used on a mass scale (Pittsburgh, 1954), demolition began on Ebbets Field (opened 1913, 1960), Charlies Finley signed a 4 year lease to keep the A's in KC (1964), the 25th amendment was ratified (presidential succession, 1967), Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBAer to score 25,000 points (1968), the Holy Eucharist was first given by women (1970), and Dire Straits began their first US tour (1979).

Night Sky, 2/23: Full Moon tonight (exactly full at 7:30 am Saturday morning EST). At sunset the Moon is already rising in the east. By nightfall you'll see that the Moon is almost straight between Regulus 3° to its right and lesser Gamma Leonis 5° to the Moon's left. Binoculars will help you spot them through the moonlight, especially if there's any haze in the sky. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: The Kings of the Mountain playing King of the Stump

This Week: Saturday, February 24 – International Sword Swallowers Day & National Dance Day & Open That Bottle Night

Sunday, February 25 – Hockey Day & Rubber Ducky Day

Night Sky, 2/25: It's not spring for another month, but the Spring Star Arcturus seems eager to thrust itself into view. It rises above the east-northeast horizon soon after dusk now, depending on your latitude. To see where to watch for this, find the Big Dipper as soon as the stars come out; it's high in the northeast. Follow the curve of its handle down and around to the lower right by a little more than a Dipper-length. That's the spot on the horizon to watch. By 10 or 11 p.m. Arcturus dominates the eastern sky.

Monday, February 26 – Carpe Deim Day & Museum Advocacy Day & National Cupcake Day & Play More Cards Day

Tuesday, February 27 – International Polar Bear Day & National Kahlua Day

Wednesday, February 28 – National Tooth Fairy Day & Pink Shirt Day & Inconvenience Yourself Day

Night Sky, 2/28: Venus, magnitude –3.9, rises in the southeast as dawn gets under way. It's still hanging low there when dawn grows too bright for it. Mars, magnitude +1.3, remains deep in the sunrise.

Thursday, February 29 – Leap Day & International Toast Day & National Chili Day

Why isn't Leap Day also World Frog Day?

The sauna is so hot a family of macaws have moved in. / There's a sauna out in LA that has become a life coach. He calls himself heatotherapist.

..........Can't say I'll be back soon..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Seasons of Wither

^^ The ryegrass straw became popular in the 1800s because it was cheap and soft.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Witches aren't superstitious. We are what people are superstitious of. --Stirring the Cauldron

Moonbeam: I know not how to abstain from reading. --Samuel Pepys

Unfortunate Modern Necessity of the Week: This is the Mass Shooting Tracker. Mass Shooting Tracker There had been 68 so far in 2024 (as of 2/22/24). It consists of Date / City / # Dead / # Injured / Name(s) of victims / references to news stories

Video of the Week: Peter Fonda tripping in a cemetery in Easy Rider (2:36) Bing Videos

We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complaint, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong – this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty and we must follow it. --W E B Du Bois

The sauna was so powerful the termites carried fire extinguishers. / The sauna refused to participate at Woodstock because he couldn't find his sweat band.

..........I could spend my life in this sweet surrender..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

^^^ The paper straw was introduced in 1888 by Marvin C. Stone, who received the patent for it.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.

Weird Word of the Week: Mickle – much --from Shakespeare Mickle Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Dragon of the Week: Dragon Fruit

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Decorate windows with artificial snow. Rather than decorating a window with aerosol snow, mix stale Budweiser beer with Epsom Salt until the beer cannot hold any more. Apply the mixture to the glass with a sponge. When it dries, the window will be frosted. Budweiser®: Wacky Uses

The sauna was so hot that even Voldemort' s heart melted. / As saunas go, this is “sëlfsauna-ification”.

...........Come easy, go easy, alright..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Back in the Saddle

^^^^ Plastic straws are made with a variety of potentially toxic chemicals known as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). They are not biodegradable. Straws and coffee stirrers are the 7^th most plastic products found in clean up campaigns. Paper straws biodegrade but also have PFAs (Perfluorooctanoic Acid) known as forever chemicals. But the world has begun to manufacture biodegradable paper straws)

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: If Poe heard the Raven tap tap tapping at this window today, it would just be the Raven playing Candy Crush on his Android.

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: Con Nooga (23-25, Chattanooga, TN) It's Your Con... Con Nooga, ComicCon, Comic Con

Actual Science Conference of the Week: 6^th International Conference on BioMedical Technology (23=25. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Fantastic platform for researchers... ICBMT2024|BioMedical Technology 

Memorable Movie Line of the Week: I have zero interest in dying. --Richard Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) Thirteen Lives

The sauna was so hot I took off my skin and sat around in my bones. / The sauna lets you melt your stress away.

..........Singing, hey diddle diddle..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Walk This Way

^^^^^ In the US it is estimated that between 170 to 490 million disposable plastic straws are used each day, which translates to approximately 63 to 142 billion straws per year.

Last Minute Joke I Wrote of the Week: Kansas is such a red state, they use it in Sauna commercials.

Quote of the Week: The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood. --Voltaire

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Men will make fun of women who like astrology while managing a fake football team. -Toni --Submitted by 98%

Today's Peace of History, February 23, 2016: 2 peace activists with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Brian Terrell and Kathy Kelly, were arrested when they attempted to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter to drone operators at Volk Field, an Air National Guard Base in Wisconsin, which trains pilots to operate Shadow Drones over other countries. http://warisacrime.org/content/activists-arrested-entering-drone-base-loaf-bread

The sauna was so powerful it inspired a book called 50 Shades of Red. / When Chuck Norris goes into the sauna, the sauna starts to sweat.

..........Said my get-up-and-go must've got up and went..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Sweet Emotion

Observation of the Week: It's amazing how many sauna jokes are really about hot tubs or steam rooms.

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, February 23, 2024, sWeaty ePistle. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. --Emma Willard

Cost of War:

• As of 02/22/24 State Department Costs: $229,481,778,768.
• As of 02/12/24 State Department Costs: $228,700,856,173.
• As of 02/22/24 Interest on War Debt: $1,200,070,188,248.
• As of 02/12/24 Interest on War Debt: $1,197,888,696,157.
• As of 02/22/24 Homeland Security: $1,160,971,771,481.
• As of 02/12/24 Homeland Security: $1,160,123,425,669.
• As of 02/22/24 Veterans Care: $3,522,098,373,137.
• As of 02/12/24 Veterans Care: $3,505,566,123,936.
• As of 02/22/24 Military Costs: $3,070,849,500,802.
• As of 02/12/24 Military Costs: $3,069,193,583,195.
• As of 02/22/24 Total Cost of Wars: $9,183,475,099,801.
• As of 02/12/24 Total Cost of Wars: $9,161,474,735,264.

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

I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter: it has made the world human and lovable, despite all its pain and wrong. --W E B Du Bois

Famous Last Words: I think it's swell --Jiminy Cricket Disney's Pinocchio

..........You got to lose to know how to win..........Aerosmith with Brad Whitford .....Dream On ~~These are the top 10 favorite Aerosmith songs in order – according to some poll – with Dream On being #1

The sauna is so hot I bake bread while I'm bathing. / I'm starting a popcorn business. I'm going to pop it in the sauna and call it Easy Corn.

May Peace cleanse your spirit
And Joy clear your heart
prairie mama
christine

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