Famous First Words: One is not born, but rather becomes a woman. --Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex
Ah, January, the month of the new year, new starts, new everything. The city of Lawrence has many new projects. There's improved roads and new shopping areas and steam shovels and mud and pavement. Everyday I pass by it and think, I probably should have buried those bodies someplace else. [] I got T-boned by a construction delivery truck the other day. It was a literal ton of bricks.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. --President Dwight D Eisenhower
..........He'll go a-roving plundering no more.........Joan Baez …..Lowlands
Violence is black children going to school for 12 years and receiving 6 years worth of education. --Julian Bond
It is a chilly (33°F) Friday morning. The sky is a clear blue without even a hint of clouds. The sun is rising over rooftops and trees making clear the shapes and colors of deep blue houses and brown, bare branches. Even the robin's breast picks up the light and shines it forward. The robin makes no sound but from a distance a crow calls to its murder. Both Puck and Veronica have been out. Now Puck sleeps and snores on his pillow and Veronica silently prowls the house watching me pour a cup of coffee and doctor it up...silently watching me type at my desk. My coffee is sinful delight; it brings a smile to my mouth and a sigh of satisfaction to my soul. And now it's time to write to you. What a wonderful day this is shaping up to be.
Hope your weekend is free of foreign kidnappers, dear readers. ~~Sorry, I'm trying to think positively about being suddenly insinuated into an international criminal organization in the midst of committing a crime with our money and no accountability.
First Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Earth received a cease and desist order from the universe for excessive drama. --Submitted by Club42
The 6 Phases of a New Project: 1) Enthusiasm 2) Disillusionment 3) Panic 4) Search for the guilty 5) Punishment of the innocent 6) Praise and honors for the non-participants [] To the Optimist, the glass is half full. To the Pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the Project Manager, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal. --John Steinbeck
..........How the winds are laughing.........Joan Baez …..Donna Donna
Trivia Questions: January is National Conscience Month.
What is the mission of National Conscience Month?
How can we begin educating our conscience?
How do we expand our perspective?
What are steps we can take to develop empathy?
From where might the conscience arise?
Big Hello: sà-wàr-dee – Thai https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/hello.htm
Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: At three days old, 2026 was still young enough for Donald Trump to fu*k it. Witches Against Maga
Image of the Week: Scrabble Shoes
Let's face it, if I had 8 weeks to do this project, I'd still start 2 days before the deadline. [] That new hospital construction project has this gross looking vehicle. They call it the Icky Bod Crane.
Poverty, privation and want are the school of the good soldier. --Napoleon Bonaparte
..........Oh, look now Joseph, I have cherries by command.........Joan Baez …..Cherry Tree Carol
Moonbeam: If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly...very slowly. --Gypsy Rose Lee
Blasphemy of the Week: What do you call a system that leaves people one paycheck away from being #homeless? Christian Nationalism. But, as a consolation, you do get eternal life. --Submitted by MMS
Coffee Joke of the Week: This coffee is so strong it's brew-tally honest.
Next Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Shark Week used to be a pagan holiday until Constantine rewrote history at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. --Submitted by Wittenburg Door
Craft stores should issue tickets to patrons who begin a new quilting project before finishing the last one. [] The first 90% of a new project takes 90% of the time. The remaining 10% of the project takes the other 90% of the time.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell. --General William Techumseh Sherman
..........Watch them jugs a-fillin' in the pale moonlight.........Joan Baez …..Copper Kettle
1) National Conscience Month is observed annually by the American Meditation Institute to encourage people to use their conscience as a guide for better decisions, promoting personal wisdom, peace, and creativity.
Almanac: It is Friday, January 9, 2026. The moon enters its third quarter tomorrow (1/10) and is in Libra. Today is Play God Day, Balloon Ascension Day, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, National Cassoulet Day, and National Static Electricity Day. And because it is the second Friday it is also National Hockey Mom Day.
Among those born on this day were Johann Weichmann (1620), Thomas Warton (1728), William Jackson (1815), Lizette Reese (1856), Joseph B. Strauss (1870), Simone de Beauvoir (1908), Dr. Hepcat (1913), Gypsy Rose Lee (1914), Les Paul (1915), Judith Krantz (1928), Algis Budrys (1931), Bob Denver 91935), Joan Baez (1941), Jimmy Page (1944), and William Cowsill (1948).
On January ninth the first women's golf tournament was held (1811), NYC's Astor Library opened (1854), Fisk University was established (1866), Wind Cave National Park was established (1903), the US invaded Honduras (1912), the first helicopter (autogiro) was flown (1923), and construction of the Aswan Dam began (1960).
Night Sky, 1/9: Jupiter is incredibly bright; it's near the Gemini twins. Saturn is low in the southwest after sunset. The beehive cluster will be visible in the night sky throughout January! The beehive cluster, more formally known as Messier 44, or M44, is made of at least 1,000 stars. It's an open star cluster, meaning it's a loosely-bound group of stars.
Fraternal Picture of the Week: Robin Hood and Legolas
Extra Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: This morning I coughed up a pawn, a knight, and a bishop. I must have a chess infection. --Home Groan Puns
This Week: Saturday, January 10 – Houseplant Appreciation Day & National Cut Your Energy Costs Day & National Save The Eagles Day
Night Sky, 10/10: Jupiter will be at its most brilliant of the year.
Sunday, January 11 – Learn Your Name In Morse Code Day & National Human Trafficking Awareness Day & National Sunday Supper Day
Night Sky, 10/11: Since the moon is waning, Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and the dazzling Sirius are all visible.
Monday, January 12 – National Clean Off Your Desk Day & National Hot Tea Day & Plough Monday
Tuesday, January 13 -Korean American Day & National Poetry At Work Day & PRB Day
Night Sky, 1/13: Sunrise: 7:38 am Sunset: 5:20 pm (9 hr & 42 minutes of daylight) Moonrise: 10:52 am Moonset: 9:15 pm
Wednesday, January 14 – International Kite Day & Organize Your Home Day & World Logic Day
Thursday, January 15 – Humanitarian Day & National Hat Day & Thank Your Mentor Day
Night Sky, 1/15: It is near the new moon which means the sky is dark. This is an excellent time for viewing faint objects like galaxies. You need a telescope, minimal light pollution and a star map.
Do you know what they call an engineer without a degree? Project Manager [] Any project can be accurately estimated once it's complete.
War is, by its definition, an inhumane act. --President Ulysses S Grant
..........What will your mother think, pretty Peggy-o.........Joan Baez …..Fennario
2) Ground judgments in facts. Learn relevant facts before moralizing. Use simple fact-checking.
Preantepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Misery might love company but so does joy. And joy throws much better parties. https://www.facebook.com/TheHippiePeaceFreaks
Moonbeam: I never stop being amazed by all the different ways of playing the guitar and making it deliver a message. --Les Paul
Fun Fact of the Week: Play God Day is a day to perform simple acts of kindness, like offering blessings or help to others, rather than miracles, to make someone's day better.
Video of the Week: Gypsy Rose Lee: Put the Blame on Mame (1:30) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=479616561524084
There is a thin line between politics and theatricals. --Julian Bond
It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we would grow too fond of it. --General Robert E Lee
My boss just told me she was assigning me to a new project. I was excited. Then she said, “It started a month ago”. [] Just when you finish idiot-proofing your project, the company hires a new, improved idiot.
..........And the choirs kept singing Freedom.........Joan Baez …..Birmingham Sunday
3) We can expand our perspective by exposure. Read diverse voices (literature, journalism, biographies) and by seeking dialogue with people who hold different views. (Per last week's ePistle – share a meal.)
Antepenultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: Nothing is more dangerous than a shallow thinker with a deep vocabulary. --Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Weird Word of the Week: Solivagant: rambling alone : marked by solitary wandering https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/beautiful-useless-obscure-words
Dragon of the Week:
Wacky Uses for Common Products: Clean milk stains from clothes. Saturate the milk stains with a can of Coca-Cola, let the garment sit for five minutes, and then launder in your regular wash. https://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/cocacola.html
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. --General Douglas MacArthur
A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected. A well planned project will take twice as long. [] I set out to learn cooking in the new year. I began with beef stew. But my parsley, basil, and rosemary all turned against me. Thyme is on my side though.
...........it's a still life watercolor of a now late afternoon.........Joan Baez …..The Dangling Conversation
4) Develop empathy in disciplined ways. Use perspective-taking or combine empathy with tempering. Emotional responses inform but do not override factual assessment.
Penultimate Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: An injury sustained in a pillow fight is known as a concushion. --Andrey Bratus
Science Fiction Convention of the Week: OrcaCon 2026 (9-11, Seattle, WA) ...a cozy inclusive tabletop games convention. https://www.orcacon.org/
Static Electricity Appreciation Video of the Week: A video of the student whose hair stands on end. (:20) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sqKhxQkMotg
Spark of Joy of the Week: At Scrabble on Monday a discussion arose about kidnapping leaders of foreign countries. (Nobody wanted to kidnap poor Charles III.) It started with a cartoon: A map of southern Florida with a circle around Mar-a-lago. There was an arrow from Cuba to Florida with a note 325 miles. I think it would be so righteous somehow for Cuba to kidnap the Don. The idea of him trying to talk the Cubans into giving him land for a hotel in Havana, priceless. The conversation spread out...the medieval king's ransom...kidnapping actual kids...and arrived at a wife swapping scenario: we kidnap all the leaders of the world and each country picks a flag out of a hat...
Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. --President George Washington
Our new project manager thinks that nine women can make a baby in one month. [] Elon Musk's 2026 project is to build giant sunglasses for the Earth. The planet will be so cool, it will solve global warming.
..........Una poca de gracia.........Joan Baez …..La Bamba (One little bit of grace)
5) While some religious perspectives argue conscience requires a spiritual soul, atheists typically attribute it to complex, unconscious computations in the brain, emergent properties of intelligence, or innate human social behaviors, though the exact mechanism of subjective consciousness remains a scientific puzzle.
Protest Sign of the Week: Less Fascism More Cowbell
Quote of the Week: Dear Future Generations, please accept our apologies, we were rolling drunk on petroleum. --Kurt Vonnegut
Final Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: What I love about cats is thow they collectively, as a species, have never once been fed. --Submitted by UUHS
Today's Peace of History: , January 9, 1967: Julian Bond, elected more than a year before, was finally sworn in as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. The legislature had refused to allow him to take his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and specifically his endorsement of a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) statement accusing the United States of violating international law in Vietnam. Bond had been the director of SNCC.
War is a racket. --General Smedley D Butler
True story: my org is discussing the new name for our next project... Our current project "Servicing 2" is finishing soon. There is discussion around naming the next version, and "Servicing X" came from a "trendy" exec. I mentioned a good abbreviation would be "ServX". I'm waiting for either a commendation or a write-up. [] My daughter came home with her high school art project the other day. It was a painting she titled "Raining Cheerios". I asked why she would do a painting of cheerios falling from the sky. She said: "Because I'm a cerealist"
..........I became a slave to the wind.........Joan Baez …..Tumbleweed
Masthead of the Week: Friday ePistle, January 9, 2026: Projected ePistle . Online at: http://fridayepistle.blogspot.com/ Exclusive editor: Christine Smith. Lawrence, KS.
Moonbeam: You know, I have no worst experiences. --Bob Denver
Cost of War:
As of 01/08/26 State Department Costs: $283,989,129,547
As of 01/01/26 State Department Costs: $283,431,727,533
As of 01/08/26 Homeland Security: $1,220,177,897,700
As of 01/01/26 Homeland Security: $1,219,572,461,971
As of 01/08/26 Interest on War Debt: $ 1,352,314,797,214
As of 01/01/26 Interest on War Debt: $1,350,757,968,320
As of 01/08/26 Military Costs: $3,186,442,854,218
As of 01/01/26 Military Costs: $3,185,260,814,791
As of 01/08/26 Veterans Care: $4,676,154,123,058
As of 01/01/26 Veterans Care: $4,664,354,201,478
As of 01/08/26 Total Cost of Wars: $10,719,081,458,923
As of 01/01/26 Total Cost of Wars: $10,703,380,813,758
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
The war in Iraq has as much to do with terrorism as the administration has to do with compassion. --Julian Bond
Famous Last Words: I've already paid. --Joan Baez Diamonds & Rust...legend has it being about her and Dylan.
..........Hearts starve as well as bodies.........Joan Baez & Mimi Farina …..Bread And Roses
Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. --Norman Schwarzkopf
On time, on budget, on spec – pick 2. [] Remember, if you can't convince them, confuse them.
May Peace be your resource
And Joy be your inspiration
prairie mama
christine
Last Laugh:
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