Famous First Words: Through the power given him from God... Papal Encyclical excommunicating Martin Luther
It is Someday We'll Laugh About It Week (2-8). In the 1970s, as manager of Baskin Robbins', my mom was tasked to create new flavors related to Richard Nixon. Her choices, as she told me, were 'ImPeachments & Cream' and 'Watermelon-Gate' (as a sorbet). Both were denied. This is actually true.
..........Singing songs and a-carryin' signs.........Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) …..For What It's Worth 1966I
The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of women the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source. --Lucretia Mott
It is cloudy Friday morning. The sky is slate and without texture. The temperature is 24°F with a light breeze. The media (local, national, weather.com, etc) are predicting a big snow storm starting tomorrow afternoon and running all the way through Sunday morning. So I'm staying the weekend with Jo who doesn't want to face a winter storm all alone just days before her surgery. (By the way, the Physical Therapist said to me, you can do anything but fall.) Other than that, things are fine. For now, I'm sipping that wonderful toasted almond decaf and nibbling some butter sourdough toast. But best of all, writing to you. That is one of the constant goods in my life. Happy New Year.
May your weekend give you much to laugh about for years to come, ePistliers
Challenge of the Week: Create recipes and names for ice creams of the Biden and Trump presidency. Send them to me and they'll be in the next ePistle.
First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: I'm getting to that age where it is considered rude to pull out a bottle of ibuprofen, if you don't have enough for everyone. --Submitted by INRITH
"Fidel is being replaced by a younger, sexier Castro: his younger brother Raul. Is this even possible? Can you imagine a country run by one family for years and years and years? That could never happen here." --Craig Ferguson ++ "But his retirement will not change the relationship Cuba has with the United States. Cubans will still not legally be allowed to enter the United States unless they have an overpowering fastball." --David Letterman
I don't wanna say it's hot in my room but two hobbits just came round and threw a ring into it.
..........Though the other side is just the same.........Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) …..On the Way Home 1968
Trivia Questions: Happy Birthday to Alaska! 66 years
Of the 20 highest mountains in the US, how many are in Alaska?
How many volcanoes does Alaska have?
On which 3 seas does Alaska have coastline?
Can you name the two largest forests both of which are in Alaska?
What does the word Alaska mean?
Big Hello: Olá - Portuguese https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm
Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: It's so important to stay a little feral. @savage memes
Image of the Week:
Coffee Joke of the Week: I told my shrink that I did not have a problem with coffee. I had a problem without it.
What was the weather like during the French Revolution? Storm and Terrorble Reign ++ The most popular game during the revolution was Head-over-heels.
Lord of the Rings would have been much shorter if Lelolas had an AR-15.
..........They are one person, they are two alone.........Stephen Stills (CSN) …..Helplessly Hoping 1970
Moonbeam: Silence is one of the great arts of conversation. --Marcus Tullius Cicero
Blasphemy of the Week meets Conspiracy Theory of the Week: The Atheists are using Satellites to intercept prayer to Jesus and turn them Evel (sic). https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-rumor-suggests-mtg-224800758.html
Classic Puzzle of the Week: Take the following 5-word sentence: "THOSE BARBARIANS AMBUSH HEAVIER FIANCEES." These 5 words have something very unusual in common. What is it? NPR Sunday Puzzle 1/4/15
Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: May you be as happy as a seagull with a french fry.
At a roast for vice president Cheney, Joe Liberman said something to the effect that we're all at the Plaza instead of in cages after some war crimes trial. ++ Scooter Libby, everyone's favorite, brought down the house with jokes about that wacky time he was imprisoned for obstructing a federal investigation into outing a CIA agent.
Little Known Fact: The dwarves really left Erebor because of the pollution...too much Smaug.
..........Tin soldiers and Nixon coming.........Stephen Stills (CSNY) …..Ohio
1. 17 of the 20 highest peaks: 1: Denali (20,320 ft) 2: Mt Foraker (17,400 ft) 3: Mt Fairweather (15,325 ft) 4: Mt Hubbard (14, 951 ft) 5: Mt Blackburn (16,391 ft) 6: Mt Hayes (13,832 ft) 7: Mt Saint Elias (18,009 ft) 8: Mt Marcus Baker (13,176 ft) 9: Mt Redoubt (10,197 ft) 10: Mt Vancouver (15,787 ft) 11: Mt Meacola (10,253 ft) 12: Mt Torbet (11,414 ft) 13: Mt Iliamna (10,016 ft) 14: Mt Sanford (16,237 ft) 15: Mt Bona (16,552 ft) 16: Mt Bear (14,831 ft) 17: Mt Alverstone (14,500 ft)
Almanac: It is Friday, January 3, 2025. The moon goes into the first quarter on Monday (1/6) and is in Aquarius. Today is Drinking Straw Day, J.R.R. Tolkien Day, Memento Mori "Remember You Die" Day, and National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.
Among those born on this day were Cicero (106 BCE), Lcuretia Coffin Mott (1793), Father Damien (1840), John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892), ZaSu Pitts (Parsons, KS 1898), Ngo Dinh Diem (1901), Ray Milland (1905), John Sturges (1911), Betty Furness (1916), George Martin (1926), Van Dyke Parks (1942), Stephen Stills (1945), John Paul Jones (1946) and Mel Gibson (1956).
On January third Martin Luther was excommunicated (1521), the Truce of Andrusovo was signed (1667), British seized the Falkland Islands (1833), Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco (1847), the first deep sea sounding was taken (1840), construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge (1870), the first waxed drinking straw was patented (1888), Washington requested statehood (1889), Turkey made peace with Armenia (1921), Tutankhamun's sarcophagus was discovered (1924), the March of Dimes was established to fight polio (1938), Dragnet premiered (1952), Alaska was admitted as the 49th state (1959), Reactor in ID exploded killing 3. (1961), Castro was excommunicated (1962), Carl Wilson (Beach Boy) indicted for draft evasion (1967), Apple Computers was incorporated (1977), Bush & Yeltsin agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warhead by nearly half (1993), and Brazil canceled 12 new fighter planes to spend the money on the poor (2003).
Night Sky, 1/3: Quadrantids Meteor Shower https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-quadrantid-meteor-shower/
Fraternal Picture of the Week: Christmas Peace Books
This Week: Saturday, January 4 – National Play Outside Day & Tom Thumb Day & World Braille Day
Earth at Perihelion --Perihelion is the point in Earth's orbit when it is closest to the sun.
Sunday, January 5 – National Bird Day & National Screenwriters Day & Twelfth Night & Whipped Cream Day
Night Sky, 1/5: As we enter serious winter in January, the bowl of the Little Dipper hangs straight down from Polaris sometime around 8 or 9 pm, as if (per Leslie Peltier) from a nail on the cold north wall of the sky. The brightest star of the Little Dipper's dim bowl is Kochab, marking the bowl's lip. It's the equal of Polaris. Kochab passes precisely below Polaris around 8 pm, depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone.
Monday, January 6 – Bean Day & Epiphany aka 33 Kings Day & I Am A Mentor Day & National Technology Day
Tuesday, January 7 – Harlem Globetrotter's Day & Old Rock Day & National Bobblehead Day
Wednesday, January 8 – Argyle Day & Bubble Bath Day & Midwife's Day
Night SkY 1/8: Mercury, magnitude -0/4 for most of the week, is having one of its best apparitions. Look for it low in the southeast about 60 minutes before sunrise. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
Thursday, January 9 – National Cassoulet Day & National Static Electricity Day
Napoleon: He introduced lasting legal reform, revolutionized military tactics, and was a catalyst for the transition to the modern years. Remembered for being short. ++To think, Louis and Marie-Antoinette almost won the French Revolution. They were neck and neck
Hobbit valentines: Beards can be red, Blades can glow blue, There is only one Precious and that must be you.
..........If you can't be with the one you love.........Stephen Stills (CSNY) …..Love the One You're With
2. Alaska has more than 1000 volcanoes and volcanic fields.
Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Anxious? Depressed? Burnt out? You might be suffering from Capitalism. --Submitted by Films for Action
Moonbeam: My greatest pleasure is to serve the Lord in his poor children rejected by other people. --Father Damien
Fun Fact of the Week: On January 4, 2002 The Mars Rover, Spirit, landed. Therover is about the size of a golf cart. It carried Panoramic cameras, navigation cameras, miniature thermal emission Spectrometers. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mer-spirit/
Video of the Week: He Needs Me from the movie Popeye. Written by Van Dyke Parks and sung by Shelly Duvall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUWNVoGm4T4
If our princip;les are right, why should we be cowards? --Lucretia Mott
Industrial Revolution...because children need to be taught about a hard day's work. ++ How many Microsoft executives does it take to change a light bulb? None. They just redefine “darkness” as an industry standard.
Saruman's arm has grown so long he can't read his wrist watch any more.
..........Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mnd.........Stephen Stills (CSN) …..Marrakesh Express
3. Alaska has coastlines on the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Coffee – because sarcasm needs to stay hydrated.
Weird Word of the Week: Xenotransplantation – Using the organs of other species to transplant into humans. https://www.worldwidewords.org/tp-xen1.html
Dragon of the Week: Baby 2025
Wacky Uses for Common Products: Prevent hair coloring from dying your skin. Rub ChapStick along your hairline before coloring your hair. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/chapstick2.html
When I hear that someone is very Catholic, I assume that person favors a very high toddler to priest ratio. ++ Lapel Button: My Pedophile Priest Supports Traditional Marriage.
Was Frodo also the ring bearer for Aragorn and Arwen's wedding?
...........I see you in the morning.........Stephen Stills (CSNY) …..Dark Star 1977
4. The two largest forests in Alaska are the Tongass in the southeast and the Chugach in the south central.
Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Lord, please grant me the confidence of a white dude who's about to become the head of a federal agency he doesn't understand. --Lauren Kelley
Science Fiction Convention Joke of the Week: One of the best things about conventions is the costumes (called Cosplay). My personal favorite is my Ranch hand-blacksmith-barber-barbarian-insurance-salesman.
Actual Science Conference of the Week: International Conference on Solar Power at Technology (4th, Florida City, FL) ...practical challenges encountered... https://www.allconferencealert.com/event/1305458
Answer to Puzzle of the Week: The letters in the odd positions in each word name part of the body: TOE, BRAIN, ABS, HAIR, FACE.
Did you hear, the government evacuated all the Branch Davidians in a single school bus. 20 in the seats and the other 74 in the ashtray. ++ David Koresh's last word, “Is it hot in here or is it just me?” The FBI's last words, “Did anyone bring marshmallows?”
62% of Americans believe that second-breakfast should be a real meal.
..........We found things to do in stormy weather.........Stephen Stills (Still-Young Band) …..Long May You Run 1977
5. The name comes from the Aleut word Alyeska which means great land.
Classic Late Night Joke of the Week: The Alabama Supreme Court has just outlawed burning the dictionary, because all the words in the Bible are in there. --Shaun Eli, freelance late night joke writer ~~This was not a good week to start a late night section since they were all on holiday break.
Presidential Quote of the Week: America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, human rights invented America. --Jimmy Carter
Quote of the Week: Greed, in the end, fails even the greedy. --Cathryn Louis
Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: There are literally NO rules saying your new year resolutions can't be for evil. --Linda Hopkins
Today's Peace of History: January 3, 1971: On her first day as a member of Congress, Bella Abzug (D-New York) introduced a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Southeast Asia.
I wasn't going to make jokes about mass shootings, but then I thought, why not take a shot. ++ Why do Americans hardly ever make jokes about mass shootings? Because it's always too soon. ++ I knew we had gotten over covid when there started being a couple of school shootings a week in the papers.
I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. I'm just saying that it looks a bit odd. The only one in this fellowship who doesn't want Aragon to become king gets shot.
..........like yours, milady, like yours.........Stephen Stills (CSN) …..Guinevere 1971
Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, January 3, 2025, ePistle Summary. Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.
Moonbeam: Short cuts make long delays. --J R R Tolkien
Cost of War:
As of 01/02/25 State Department Costs: $254.531,714,210
As of 12/26/24 State Department Costs: $253,961,920,474
As of 01/02/25 Homeland Security: $1,188,181,030,223
As of 12/26/24 Homeland Security: $1,187,562,290,640
As of 01/02/25 Interest on War Debt: $1,270,037,031,805
As of 12/26/24 Interest on War Debt: $1,268,446,208,874
As of 01/02/25 Military Costs: $3,123,972,648,300
As of 12/26/24 Military Costs: $3,122,764,814,780
As of 01/02/25 Veterans Care: $4,052,467,727,763
As of 12/26/24 Veterans Care: $4,040,409,245,368
As of 01/02/25 Total Cost of Wars: $9,889,191,873,044
As of 12/26/24 Total Cost of Wars: $9,873,146,765,243
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
Let our lives be in accordance with our convictions of right, each striving to carry out our principles. --Lucretia Mott
Famous Last Words: Mark VII Limited --Ending of Dragnet on television
..........And there's so much time to make up everywhere you turn.........Stephen Stills (CSNY) …..Wasted on the Way 1989
Whoopie Goldberg said a second Trump presidency feels like she is having periods again. ++ I'm surprised that Trump doesn't want to colonize Denmark. Then he could build his wall out of Legos®. ++ “Now, as a late-night host, people often say to me, ‘Come on, part of you has got to want Trump to win because he gives you so much material to work with,’” Colbert said. “No, no. No one tells the guy who cleans the bathroom: ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea. There’s so much material for you to work with.’” --Stephen Colbert
christine
Last Laugh:
Remember: Love is literally the whole point...
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