ePistle eRRor

 Famous First Words: Oh, sh*t, NO! --Christine: It is Wednesday afternoon (8/7 – also I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon) and I just realized that I (with decades of computer experience of one kind or another) managed to delete the entire aug9 ePistle by saving the “last laugh” picture on top of select all (a mistake lower on the scale than rookie). So these are the first words to bless this ePistle.

Me: What a great day. My computer hasn't crashed once. My Computer: Now that I have her confidence, I'll crash when she tries to save her work. / I hear witches use hexberts to fix their computers.

..........A doll that other fellows cannot steal.........Mills Brothers …..Paper Doll

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. --Henry David Thoreau

It is a cool (62°F) Friday morning, The sky is covered in thin white clouds and decaying jet trails. A 7 mph breeze moves the mulberry just enough to compliment the bright sunflower waving to the rising sun. Puck and Veronica have been out and Puck now sleeps on this bed. He's making little pouty noises as if trying to purr his contentment. Veronica has disappeared up the stairs. I have traveled out to the pharmacy to purchase medihoney which is a special honey from New Zealand that is supposed to help my incision heal a little faster. The world out there is full of people rushing about – I assume to work. But I'm home now and my wound is honeyed and bound and I listen to the bird song as I type. Chirp, chirp chirp, chiiiirrrrp. In here I nibble at a chocolate chip muffin and admire the majesty of the willow dancing for nature's enjoyment. A cone of red incense sends white smoke curling around my monitor in an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the clouds outside. It fills the room with the scent of cedarwood. Wow, a rich, full morning and it's not even 9 am yet.

Hope your weekend has no error messages, ePistliers

First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I really love New York. I got a hotel room so small the bedbugs were hunch backed. No, seriously... --B Kliban

Me: Computer error. My Computer: Human error. / It was after three attempts to decipher the CAPTONA that Rachael Rosen began to suspect she might be an automaton.

..........Light the path below, above.........Mills Brothers …..Glow Worm

Trivia Questions: It is Kool-Aid Weekend!

• ^ Who invented Kool-Aid?
• ^^ What product(s) evolved into Kool-Aid?
• ^^^ When did the “Kool-Air” man burst onto the scene?
• ^^^^ How many of the original flavors can you name?
• ^^^^^ Who owns Kool-Aid now?

Big Hello: Bures – Northern Sámi (Norway, Sweden, & Finland) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Will Walz only work three quarters time? --Submitted by dr of oh ~~Opps! I've been told it is pronounced walls.

Image of the Week: This week I have seen people fly.

Writer's Jokes of the Week: Your first name + your last name = your struggling writer name. Gentlemen, Regarding the recent rejection slip you sent me. I think there might have been a misunderstanding. What I really wanted was for you to publish my story and send me fifty thousand dollars. --Snoopy

Error 54552 User error – Replace user / A bug is just an undocumented feature.

..........When the summer sun decides to settle low.........Mills Brothers …..Across The Alley From The Alamo

Moonbeam: Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. --Izaak Walton

Blasphemy of the Week: When Christians become convinced that we are the only authority on truth...we are worshiping ourselves. --Submitted by MMS

Puzzle of the Week: From Adam Aaronson, of Deerfield, IL.: Think of a classic movie title in which the initials of all the words up to the last one, in order, spell the number of letters in that last word. The number of words in the title is for you to discover. What film is it?

Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: My brother, Fletcher, has been placed in hospice. Here is just one of the stories: My mom asked me if a waxed paper bag could be recycled. My dad sat up in bed and said "Throw it out." My dad will rise from his deathbed to make sure we don't contaminate the recycling. ~~He is a wonderful brother, a fun husband, a great father, and, apparently, an environmental activist.

Any user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good. / Autocorrect can go straight to he'll.

..........When there's joy in living you just never grow old.........Mills Brothers …..Be My Life's Companion

^ Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid in Hastings, NE in the 1920s. Perkins ran a mail order business for all sorts of products.

Almanac: It is Friday, August 9, 2024. The moon will enter its first quarter on Monday (8/12) and is in Libra. It is Nagasaki Memorial Day. 40,000 people died in Nagasaki on this day and another 60,000 were injured. To date, the United States is the only nation that has used nuclear weapons against civilians.

Among those born on this day were Izaak Walton (1593), Jean Piaget (1896), William A. Fowler (1911), Harry Mills (Mills Brothers, 1913), Bob Cousy (1928), Sam Elliot (1944), Melanie Griffith (1957), and Whitney Houston (1963).

On August ninth Walden was published (1854), Betty Boop debuted (1930), South African women demonstrated against Pass Laws (1956), Robert Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan (1962), and Richard Nixon resigned (1974).

Night Sky, 8/9: Look west-southwest in late dusk to spot Spica just 4° or 5° upper left of the crescent Moon. Very high above or upper right of them is Arcturus, brighter and pale yellow-orangish. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/

Fraternal Picture of the Week: Smoke, Minors, and Marshmallows

This Week: Saturday, August 10 – Agent Orange Awareness Day & National Bowling Day & World Lion Day

Sunday, August 11 – Global Kinetic Sand Day & National Hip Hop Day & Popsicle Day

Night Sky, 8/11: Perseids meteor shower peaks tonight. Better after the moon sets around midnight. Could yield 100 meteors per hour. Perseid meteor shower 2024 — When, where and how to see it | Space

Monday, August 12 – Middle Child Day & World Elephant Day

Tuesday, August 13 – International Left Handers Day

Wednesday, August 14 – National Lizard Day & National Navajo Code Talkers Day

Night Sky, 8/14: Saturn (magnitude +0.8, near the Aquarius-Pisces border) rises in the east around the end of twilight. Watch for it to the lower right of the Great Square of Pegasus, which is balancing on one corner. The Square's top-right edge points diagonally down nearly to Saturn, two fists at arm's length away.

Thursday, August 15 – Best Friends Day & National Relaxation Day

Most issues can be fixed by replacing or simply removing the failed component located between the keyboard and the chair. / Error: An error occurred while displaying the previous error.

..........Linger in the shade of a kind old tree.........Mills Brothers …..Up A Lazy River

^^ Originally Perkins sold flavor concentrates known as Fruit Smack. However, it had to be shipped in bottles subject to breaking and higher shipping costs, Taking jello as an example, he figured out how to dehydrate Fruit Smack and produced Kool-Ade. But in 1934 the Ade turned to Aid – because ade implied fruit juice and Kool-Aid has no fruit or fruit juice or fruit pulp. It is fruitless.

Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: There are more airplanes in the ocean than submarines in the air.

Moonbeam: Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful at anything you put your mind to. --Bob Cousy

Video of the Week: Dizzy Dishes: very first betty boop cartoon - Google Search (6:18)

Interesting Fact of the Week: Thoreau had a “job” at his father's pencil factory. He designed pencils. I personally feel like the design of the pencil hasn't changed much since the 1560s.

But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. --Henry David Thoreau

He screamed, “Damn this operating system!” and then jumped. Now I know why they call it windows. / Go to the Preferences File, click on the pull-down menu, find the option that says “Nothing Works Right” and uncheck it.

..........drifting to and fro.........Mills Brothers …..Chinatown, My Chinatown

^^^ While a generic anthropomorphic pitcher was used as far back as the 1950s, Pitcher Man burst through his first wall in 1975. He has his own comic book.

Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: 3 of the 4 voices in my head want to sleep...the other wants to know if penguins have knees. --Submitted by INRITH

Weird Word of the Week: Recessionista – a fashionista who is decisively on trend in these straitened times and dresses exclusively in black (it's grim), vintage (It's all we can afford), and long skirts (going short during bad economic times is as frowned on in hemlines as it is in hedge funds). Recessionista (worldwidewords.org)

Dragon of the Week: This is the model of a dragon by Niki de Saint-Phalle. The sculpture is in a Tarot garden in Tuscany. It represents the Strength card. The model is (or was) on exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins in KC. --Submitted by ml of ks The Tarot Garden | Official Website (ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it)

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Clean a vase. Place one teaspoon of Cascade in a dirty glass vase, fill with water, and let sit overnight. The next morning, simply rinse clean. Cascade®: Wacky Uses

Error: Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue. DEL to enter Setup. / User Error: It was an internal PEBCAK issue that you understand.

...........What do I care how much it may storm.........Mills Brothers …..I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

^^^^ Original flavors: Grape, Orange, Cherry, Root Beer, Lemon-Lime, and Raspberry. There have been many, many flavors since. Kool-Aid/List of products and flavors | USA Store Fanon Wikia | Fandom

Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks. --Calvin & Hobbes

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: Monsterama 2024 (9-11, Atlanta, GA) ...When Monsterama Ruled The Earth... Monsterama Con August 9-11, 2024 Atlanta, GA

Actual Science Conference of the Week: Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting (4-9, Long Beach, CA) ...supporting ecologists throughout their careers. Ecological Society of America (ESA) 2024 Annual Meeting | Department of Energy

Answer to Puzzle of the Week: The Wizard Of Oz

Me: I need a more user-friendly computer. My Computer: I need a smarter human. / Windows XP: Task failed successfully.

..........those circles of blue and white.........Mills Brothers …..Smoke Rings

^^^^^ General Foods purchased Kool-Aid in 1953. In 1989 Kraft merged with General Foods. Kraft merged with HJ Heinz in 2015. (So, maybe, Mitt Romney owns Kool-Aid.)

Conspiracy Theory of the Week: The best man for the job may be a woman.

Quote of the Week: In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business. --Gov Bob Walz

Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. --Mark Twain

Today's Peace of History, August 9, 1987: Hundreds were arrested in an all-day blockade of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Golden, Colorado. Protests at Rocky Flats had been going on for some years.

Oscar never empties the Trash file and the blue Monster never deletes the cookies. / My computer says I need to upgrade my brain to be compatible with its new software.

..........You sit all alone like me.........Mills Brothers …..Yellow Bird

Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, August 9, 2024, ePistle eRror. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.

Moonbeam: The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create people who are capable of doing new things. --Jean Piaget

Cost of War:

• As of 08/08/24 State Department Costs: $242,838,690,675.
• As of 08/01/24 State Department Costs: $242,282,845,667.
• As of 08/08/24 Homeland Security: $1,175,479,986,906.
• As of 08/01/24 Homeland Security: $1,174,875,222,740.
• As of 08/08/24 Interest on War Debt: $1,237,377,198,440.
• As of 08/01/24 Interest on War Debt: $1,235,824,654,552.
• As of 08/08/24 Military Costs: $3,099,175,336,321.
• As of 08/01/24 Military Costs: $3,097,996,550,721.
• As of 08/08/24 Veterans Care: $3,804,897,367,206.
• As of 08/01/24 Veterans Care: $3,793,128,785,792.
• As of 08/08/24 Total Cost of Wars: $9,528,309.356.738.
• As of 08/01/24 Total Cost of Wars: 9,559,769,740,710.

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

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. --Henry David Thoreau

Famous Last Words: Always a hoot. --Jerry Garcia who died on August 9, 1995.

..........Low or highbrow, they all cry now.........Mills Brothers …..Tiger Rag

Me: Can't you do anything right. My Computer: Can't you do anything right? / My computer has a fast modem, a Pentium, increased RAM, a huge hard drive, and broadband net connections. The problem – slow finger.

May Peace renew your soul
And Joy refresh your heart
prairie mama
christine

Last Laugh: