Famous First Words: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... the 23th Amendment to the US Constitution
Today is Have Fun At Work Day! … Work? Again? Didn't I just do that yesterday? » Working from home is all fun and games until your chair and your bed start turning into one.
..........Fremd bin ich eingezogen.........Franz Schubert …..Gute Nacht (I arrived a stranger)
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone. --Thomas Merton
It is a rainy Friday morning. The sky is slate gray and without texture or variance. The temperature is 39°F with little wind so the piles of snow are still melting and trickling. It has rained lightly for over 12 hours so the soil is damp and the world smells of wet dirt and foliage. Puck with but 3 feet from the door to do his business and then came back in without a single bark to the neighboring dogs. There is no rain falling at the second but the drip drip drip from the corner of the roof keeps the rhythm of the morning. I am munching a donut and sipping coffee and I am awaiting perpetually and forever a renaissance of wonder. (from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's I Am Waiting)
Hope your weekend is not all work but every minute fun, Fun Factory Flunkies.
First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Optimism: The art of being wrong about how bad things will get.
Correction of the Correction of the Week: The REAL official website of The Farm: https://thefarmcommunity.com/ ~~Thank you to tm of ks for pointing it out. So sorry
A camel can work for a whole week without drinking. But a human can drink for a whole week without working. » The boss asked me why I only seem to get sick on weekdays. So I told her about my weekend immune system.
January 29 was the Chinese New Year – 2025: The Year Of The Snake! Paula Python just gave birth to a bouncing baby boa.
..........Another season, another reason..........Eddie Cantor …..Makin' Whoopee
Trivia Questions: It's Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day!
When did social security start?
How is your social security number generated?
What number or what person received the first SSN?
How much was the budget of Social Security in 2015?
How many people receive Social Security benefits?
Big Hello: 'lorana – Rapa Nui (Easter Island) https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm
Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: No matter how many times a snake sheds its skin, it's still a snake.
Image of the Week: Year of the Snake
Coffee Joke of the Week: Feeling Slothee, Drink More Coffee.
Friday is a superhero who always arrives in time to save the week. » I'd tell you a construction joke … but I'm still working on it.
Bertha Blacksnake was the first snake confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. She became the first civil serpent.
..........It's so nice to be back home where I belong.........Carol Channing …..Hello Dolly
Moonbeam: I need this wild life, this freedom. --Zane Grey
Blasphemy of the Week: “I don't have anyone in my life who I think owes me an apology.” I couldn't get to the author's name. ~~True for me too.
Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Trump's furious because as a Bishop, Budde can move as far as she wants diagonally, but as a Russian pawn he can only move one square at a time. --Jonwensley --Submitted by gt of oh
Octogenarian Joke the Week: Back in my day there was so much toilet paper and eggs that we would throw them at the houses of our enemies. https://www.facebook.com/iheartrecipes
I proposed a meeting free day at work; they scheduled it for February 30th » Dragons sleep all day because they hunt knights.
Once in the rain forest I came upon an anaconda making love to a rusty bulldozer. And when her eggs hatched they were boa constructors.
..........It's dark and cloudy, I believe it's gonna rain.........Charlie Musselwhite …..The Blues Overtook Me
Social Security was signed into law 9/14/25 by FDR. The first taxes were collected in January 1937 and regular ongoing monthly benefits began in January 1940.
Almanac: It is Friday, January 31, 2025. The moon was new on Wednesday (1/29) and is in Pisces. Today is Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day, Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, and Street Children Day. Because it is the last Friday it is also Fun at Work Day, National Big Wig Day, and National Preschool Fitness Day. This weekend is National Toboggan Days: 31-2/1.
Among those born on this day were Francois-Xavier de Laval (1623), Robert Morris (1734), Franz Schubert (1797), Theodore W. Richards (1868), Zane Grey (1872), Anna Pavlova (1882), Eddie Cantor (1892), Tallulah Bankhead (1903), John O'Hara (1905), Thomas Merton (1915), Jackie Robinson (1919), Stewart Udall (1920), Carol Channing (1921), Joanne Dru (1923), Norman Mailer (1923), Jean Simmons (1926), Suzanne Pleshette (1937), Charlie Musselwhite (1944), Harry Casey (KC, 1951), Phil Collins (1951), Johnny Rotten (1956) and Minnie Driver (1971).
On January thirty-first the Spanish government went bankrupt (1627), Borden introduced "evaporated milk" (1851), Sirius dwarf discovered (1862), the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution passed congress (1865), Jose Marti left NYC for Cuba (1895), Three Sisters opened in Moscow (1901), Scotch Tape was first marketed (1928), Green Hornet debuted on radio (1936), Yugoslavia became a republic (1946), the Tet Offensive began (1968), Apollo 14 launched (1971) and Kroc bought the Padres (1974).
Night Sky, 1/31: The waxing crescent Moon shines under 1.1-magnitude Saturn this evening Venus, more than 200 times brighter than Saturn at magnitude –4.8, looks on expectantly from above. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
Fraternal Picture of the Week: Day at the Gym with Pole Dancer and the Ring Bearer
Week: Saturday, February 1 – Barber Day & Candy-Making Day & Freedom Day & Spunky Old Broads Day
Sunday, February 2 – Groundhog Day aka Hedgehog Day & Imbolc & Sled Dog Day & World Wetlands Day
Night Sky, 2/2 : The biggest well-known asterism (informal star pattern) is the Winter Hexagon. It fills the sky toward the east and south these evenings. Start with brilliant Sirius at its bottom. Going clockwise from there, march up through Procyon, Pollux and Castor, Menkalinan and Capella on high, down to Aldebaran, then to Rigel in Orion's foot, and back to Sirius. Betelgeuse shines inside the Hexagon, way off center. The Hexagon is somewhat distended. But if you draw a line through its middle from Capella down to Sirius, the "Hexagon" is fairly symmetric with respect to that long axis. Take the line from Aldebaran to Capella, turn it to go from Aldebaran to Betelgeuse instead, and the Winter Hexagon becomes the Heavenly G.
Monday, February 3 – Feed the Birds Day & National Missing Persons Day & Veterinary Pharmacists Day
Tuesday, February 4 – National Hemp Day & USO Day & World Cancer Day
Wednesday, February 5 – Shower With a Friend Day & Sterile Packaging Day & Western Monarch Day & Weather Forecaster's Day
Night Sky, 2/5: Mars is now shrinking and fading a bit, to about 14.0 arcseconds in diameter and magnitude –1.1. Mars comes into view in twilight as a steady orange spark low in the east-northeast. As darkness deepens, watch for Pollux and Castor emerge into view on the upper left of it.
Thursday, February 6 – National Sweater Day & Play Monopoly Day & International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation
The human resources manager brought a compass to work to make sure everyone was one the right career path. » Hard work never killed anybody, but why take the chance? --Edgar Bergen
Do you remember Vinnie the Vindshield Viper? Great sense of rhythm.
..........Is there nothing more anybody can do.........Phil Collins …..Another Day In Paradise
2. The first 3 numbers indicate your geographic region. The 4th & 5th numbers are assigned in groups of 10,000 to post offices. The last 4 digits were a serial number that increased from 0001 to 9999 within each group.
Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Florida: It's snowing. Canada: We told you guys not to mess with us.
Moonbeam: Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don't have time. --Tallulah Bankhead
Fun Fact of the Week: Remember me going on about Steve Earle and Gallway Girl. I didn't know at the time that he also wrote it. Even cooler. I listened to it again before writing this. And then I listen to it by a bunch of other people (The Kilkennys, Mundy, and the High Kings). I still don't know whether I like Earle's rendition best. But I love the song by all those people
Video of the Week: Garth Hudson –good-bye to the last of The Band: https://www.instagram.com/radiolenvie/reel/DFGRkelyZbo/
We are saved by hope for that which we do not see and we wait for it with patience. --Thomas Merton
Frida Frog took the bus to work because her car got toad. » I wanted to become a computer thief, but I just couldn't hack it.
We came across some convention of snakes. There were hundreds of them in all different kinds and sizes. We became very afraid. They were all making noise. It was hiss panic.
..........Well I was there and I saw what you did.........Phil Collins …..In The Air Tonight
3. John D Sweeney, JR of New Rochele, NY was issued the first SSN, 055-09-0001.
Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Now that I'm in my 80s, I've given up taking risks and having adventures. Now, I only have near life experiences.
Weird Word of the Week: Obelus – the mathematical symbol for division ÷ https://parade.com/1195613/marynliles/funny-words/
Dragon of the Week:
Wacky Uses for Common Products: Thicken gravy, soup, or beef stew. Grind up Cheerios in the blender and stir the powdered oats into the gravy, soup, or stew. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/cheerios.html ~~Yuck, just sayin'
The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one. » My brain works hard each day at work, so on the weekends I put my liver to work. ÷
Diamondback Emergency 911: OMG! OMG!! OMG!!! Poison Control? I just bit my tongue...again.
...........Look at the shape the nation's in.........Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop …..What The Hell
4. In 1935 the SSA budget was $0. In 2015 the SSA budget was $12.5 billion.
Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Apparently, Elon is upset that folks have started calling the Tesla swasticar. --Submitted by 98%
Science Fiction Convention of the Week: Console Room 2025 (31-2, Bloomington, MN) Rockin' Through the WHOniverse https://console-room.org/
Actual Science Conference of the Week: 24th International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference (29-31, Tokyo, Japan) Bridge to future business https://www.nanotechexpo.jp/en/
Why did the mail clerk bring a stepstool to work? So she could climb the corporate ladder. » Yeah, my boss is stress free because he delegates it to his workers.
Henretta the Hysterical Herpetologist is trying to mate garden snakes with kangaroos. She thinks she can market the offspring as jump ropes.
..........Dearie should have said so long, so long ago.........Carol Channing …..So Long Dearie
5. In December 2024 about 68 million people received Social Security benefits.
Late Night Joke of the Week: This is going to be more challenging because all of the chiefs players have to rush to the game from their day shifts at State Farm. --Stephen Colbert
Quote of the Week: What people call “standard English” is really just the dialect of the elite. --Cathleen Schine The Grammarians
Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: How many narcissists does it take to change a light bulb? None. They use gas lighting. --Submitted by UUHS
Today's Peace of History: January 31, 1993: 300,000 Berliners rallied to protest attacks on immigrants, and against racism and renewed support for Nazism on the 60th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Today is the 92nd anniversary. Less than 100 years. When will we ever learn?
I told my bosses if they want me to lean in they need to fix my desk chair. » At work several of us formed a band. We call ourselves 999 Megabytes. We haven't had a gig.
Alice Adder danced all the time, even as a child, she was always moving, always swaying; obviously she was viper active.
..........let his conscience guide him.........Eddie Cantor …..Ma
Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, January 31, 2025, ePistle sXertion. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.
Moonbeam: America may be unique in being a country which leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization. --John O'Hara
Cost of War:
As of 01/30/25 State Department Costs: $256,737,664,095
As of 01/23/25 State Department Costs: $256,184,692,725
As of 01/30/25 Homeland Security: $1,190,577,145,152
As of 01/23/25 Homeland Security: $1,189,976,515,960
As of 01/30/25 Interest on War Debt: $1,276,198,462,321
As of 01/23/25 Interest on War Debt: $1,274,653,986,850
As of 01/30/25 Military Costs: $3,128,650,732,399
As of 01/23/25 Military Costs: $3,127,478,087,992
As of 01/30/25 Veterans Care: $4,099,172,258,474
As of 01/23/25 Veterans Care: $4,087,464,648,537
As of 01/30/25 Total Cost of Wars: $9,951,337,249,022
As of 01/23/25 Total Cost of Wars: $9,935,758,035,973 https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. --Thomas Merton
Famous Last Words: ...if-you-don't-go-down-with-ME!” --A A Milne Disobedience
..........Hinunter und immer weiter..........Franz Schubert …..Wohin? (down and on and on)
I am a real fan of whiteboards. They are remarkable. » At the job interview they asked me if I could make spreadsheets. I told them I Excel at it.
May Peace grace your work
And Joy inform your leisure
prairie mama
christine
Last Laugh:
Love is the beauty of the soul. --St Augustine
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