eXtra iNnings ePistle

Famous First Words:  I saw the best minds of my generation...   Howl  --Allen Ginsberg

Today is the anniversary of Casey At The Bat:  Bob didn’t believe that Fred’s dog could talk. So Fred asked his dog, “What’s on top of a house?”  “Roof,” the dog barked.  Bob wasn’t convinced. So Fred asked the dog how sandpaper feels.  “Rough.”  He still wasn’t convinced.  “OK, who was the greatest baseball player of all time?” Fred asked the dog.  “Ruth.”  With that, Bob walked away, shaking his head in disbelief. The dog turned to Fred and asked: "Was it Hank Aaron?”  --Submitted by Emily S., Oswego, Ill.

.........."Strike three", the umpire said.........Bob Dylan  .....Catfish

The weight of the world is love...the weight, the weight we carry is love.  --Allen Ginsberg

It is a beautiful (57°F) Friday morning with a golden sunrise.  The sky is streaked with pink strings of cotton candy.  A cacophony of birds serenade the rabbits silently munching their way through the dawn.  As we enter the backyard (decorated with a sail which is laying out sunning and mooning itself) the unseen little dog behind the privacy fence is already swearing a blue streak at squirrels which are everywhere and Puck must repeat the Not-In-My-Backyard message to each one, loudly.  The birds take away their matins hymns and then only the sound of the city recycling truck makes it through the anti-squirrel noise.  The world is so beautiful and lush and green and other colored.  Flowers scent the air and clog my nose so that I cannot smell them.  There is little breeze to spread the aroma but it still comes in gusts and wafts - honeysuckle, tea rose, mown grass.  I love to stand and watch the morning while the earth takes me 100 miles or so farther around the sun.  The clouds have paled past pink to white and  the squirrel lecture has begun to wear so Puck and I retreat to the indoors, the quiet, the creamy Moose Munch decaf and you.

Hope your weekend hits it out of the park, ePistliers.

I will never have a heart attack.  I give them.  --George Steinbrenner. / Baseball is not boring.  You are.

We've had so much rain in Kansas, Puck has stopped worrying about squirrels in the backyard and has become concerned about fish.

..........Don't let anybody say that it's just a game.........Eddie Vedder  .....Go All the Way

Trivia Questions: Casey and his poem...

^ Who wrote Casey at the Bat?

^^ For what baseball team did Casey play? ^

^^^ Who (by name or base they reached) hit before Casey?

^^^^ Can you quote the last line?

^^^^^ Without talk shows, how did the author promote the poem?

Fake Library Statistic of the Week: 35% of the pleasant dream of librarians involve patrons pushing in their chairs.  https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: British Fest...Bringing the best from across the pond to Omaha, NE.    http://britishfest.weebly.com/

    

Moonbeam: What thoughts I have of you tonight...  A Supermarket in California  --Allen Ginsberg

Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sun past a rooster.  / Baseball is like church, many attend, few understand.  --Leo Durocher

The winds have been so powerful lately, Puck's favorite watering hole, the IsoBar, is closer than ever.

..........Our ball club may be minor league, but at least it's triple A.........Alabama  .....Cheap Seats

Something To Think About of the Week: Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!”  --Allen Ginsberg

Big Hello: Hello - English (US, UK +)

Week of the Week: Great American Brass Band Week (June 2-5) --Brass Bands: Strange groups of people who get very drunk, or not depending on their moral stand point, who then attempt to play music on long metal tubes of different sizes that have been twisted round to make the almost portable.

Quote of the Week: The only way to deal with an unfree world is to be so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.  --Albert Camus

There have been only two authentic geniuses in the world, Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare. --Tallulah Bankhead / Baseball is the belly-button of our society.  Straighten out baseball, and you straighten out the rest of the world.  --Bill Lee

It's so wet all the dogs and cats are indoors; it's raining ducks and geese.

.......... He runs the bases like a choo-choo train.........The Treniers  .....Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)

^ Casey at the Bat was written by Ernest Lawrence Thayer born in Lawrence, MA in 1863.

Almanac: It is Friday, June 3, 2016.  The moon will be new tomorrow and is in Taurus.  In the Bahamas it is Labor Day.  Because it is the first weekend of June it is also Doughnut Days or Donut Days  [Salvation Army], Horseradish Days, and Positive Power of Humor and Creativity Days. 

Among those born on this day were Richard Cobden (1804), Jefferson Davis (1808), Ransom Olds (1864), George V (1865), Maurice Evans (1901), Charles Drew (1904), Josephine Baker (1906), Paulette Goddard (Marion Levy, 1911), Tony Curtis (1925), Allen Ginsberg (1926), Colleen Dewhurst (1926), Chuck Berry (1929), Curtis Mayfield (1942), Michael Clarke (1944), and Ian Hunter (1946). 

On June third De Soto claimed Florida for Spain (1539), baseball players first wore uniforms (1851), John Lynch became the first black major party national convention chair (R, 1884), Casey at the Bat was published (1888), the Supreme Court ruled child labor unconstitutional (1918), the Gila Wilderness Area was established by the Forest Service (1924), the first negro was graduated from the US Naval Academy (1949), Dragnet debuted on radio (1949), the Rolling Stones began their first US tour (1964), and Gemini 4 was launched (1966).

Tonight's Night Sky: Watch the east now. The rich Cepheus-Cygnus-Aquila stretch of the Milky Way starts rising up all across the east late these nights, earlier and higher every week.  Dawn Planet: Mercury;  Morning Planets: Uranus and Neptune: Evening Planets Mars and Jupiter: Saturn is visible all night.

This Week: Saturday, June 4 - Drawing Day aka Pencil Day and Wicket World of Croquet Day

Sunday, June 5 - Festival of Popular Delusions Day and National Moonshine Day

Monday, June 6 - Atheist Pride Day and Drive-in Movie Day and Yo-yo Day

Tuesday, June 7 - World Pet Memorial Day

Wednesday, June 8 - World Oceans Day and Upsy Daisy Day

Thursday, June 9 - Toy Industry Day and World Archives Day

I watch a lot of baseball on radio. --Gerald Ford / Little League Baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.  --Yogi Berra

Puck is saving for a rainy day.  So far he has a slicker, two towels, and canoe.

..........We'd pick out captains and we'd choose up the teams.........Peter, Paul & Mary  .....Right Field

^^ The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day...

Funniest thing I read of the Week:  If 666 is considered evil, then 25.8069 must be the root of all evil

Moonbeam: Sappho's 26 centuries of cadenced breathing...  5 A.M.  --Allen Ginsberg

Late Night Snacks: It's being reported the Obama family is planning to move into a nine-bedroom mansion in Washington, DC after the president leaves office. I guess he wants to be close enough to drive by the White House every morning and shout, "Sucks, doesn't it?” --Jimmy Fallon / The Secret Service had to sweep our building for the second day today. I've had so many pat-downs this week, one of the Secret Service guys told me to get checked because I had a lump.  --Jimmy Kimmel / Beverage maker Capri Sun has announced that it will be releasing an all-new line of organic juice pouches. No word on how it tastes, because nobody's been able to get the straw into one yet.  --Seth Meyers / This is a crazy election. But, of course, you know that, unless you have been in a coma. And if you were in a coma, you might want to slip back in for the next six months.  --Stephen Colbert / The extremist militant religious group the Taliban has appointed a new leader. So congratulations, Ted Cruz!  --Conan O'Brien / The electronics company LG identified a new phenomenon called low-battery anxiety. People become nervous, distracted, and frustrated when their phones are about to die. If you are not familiar with low-battery anxiety, it's a real condition that primarily affects people with no actual problems.  --James Corden

Everything is holy! everybody's holy! every day is in eternity! Everyman's an angel.  --Allen Ginsberg

Beethoven can't really be great because his picture isn't on a bubble gum card.  --Charles Schulz / A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.  --Earl Wilson

Puck stores his rain in a cloudbank.

..........He started baseball's famous streak..........Les Brown  .....Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

^^^ But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,

And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;

And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,

There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Worthless Fact of the Week: FYI: the baseball teams didn't play naked before uniforms were introduced.  The straw hats, blue full-length trousers and bloused white shirts that the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City wore on June 3, 1851--the first recorded use of baseball uniforms--are a far cry from the form-fitting, synthetic fiber uniforms of today.

Weird Word of the Week: Kludge: A work of computer programming that was done hastily and inelegantly.  German klug, smart or witty, presumably also being influenced by bodge and fudge.  http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-klu1.htm   ~~We used to call it spaghetti code.

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Steam-proof mirrors.  Spam can be used to keep the condensation off the bathroom mirror when showering, also according to the New York Times Magazine.  http://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/spam.html  ~~I feel like I should be looking up the original source.

I never took the game home with me.  I always left it in some bar.  --Bob Lemon. / A manager uses a relief pitcher like a six shooter, he fires until it's empty then takes the gun and throws it at the villain.  --Dan Quisenberry

Puck says, it's raining so much because God is listening to too much Drake again.

...........He could throw that speedball by you.........Bruce Springsteen  .....Glory Days

^^^^ But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.

Second Funniest Thing I Read of the Week: 

Word Shakespeare Made Up of the Week: Amazement - a feeling of great surprise or wonder.  --King John  Act V Scene I (Bastard)

Puck the Brave Episode of the Week: Here's our fearless Puck doing the two step in the case of Haggard's Harrier.  

You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth.  --Mickey Mantle  / In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.  In practice there is.  --Yogi Berra

Rain is just a bunch of humidity that's tired of living a lie.

..........Swings his bat all the way around.........Kenny Rogers  .....The Greatest

^^^^^ Over nearly five decades Thayer recited "Casey at the Bat" as many as fifteen thousand times in theaters and at other public and private gatherings throughout the country, and he played Casey himself in a brief silent film of the poem made in 1914.

Month of the Week: June is International Surf Music Month --Here is a live version of Jan and Dean's Surf City.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6dJO8nAoYY

Reflections on Reflections of the Week: In case you were still wondering, it has been determined that the Art Exhibit** had 66 dogs and 2 cats rather than 67 dogs and 1 cat. One thing was obvious, the rich and powerful are pretty much jerks whenever they live. Apparently the decision of whether to put the portrait of the prostitute in with the middle (i.e. working) class or with lower class was a concern. The prostitute had no status in the community as did the lower class but hookers had money. There was a portrait of man. I don't know who painted it. The man looked like every other portrait I've seen in every museum I've been to. He was dressed all in black (it was the most expensive material to be found, apparently), all in the same shade of black and yet it was possible to tell what part of his outfit was satiny and what part cotton and what part leather. All that from the way light reflected off of it. It was impressive. I loved the Vermeer which was exquisite, but the enjoyed the pictures of people working most of all.

**Reflecting Class in the Age of Vermeer and Rembrandt

Famous Kansans: Douglas Youvan was born in Frontenac in 1955.  Along with Mary M. Yang, Youvan developed instrumentation to study the spectra of bacteria directly from a petri dish. This technology was later employed by NASA.  He also wrote Questions of a Christian Biophysicist.  http://www.youvan.org/  ~~You have no idea how many times I had a petri dish full of bacteria and no way to study the spectra.

Today's Peace of History: June 3, 1900: The International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), a consolidation of seven smaller east coast needle trades unions, was founded.

     

I think I throw the ball as hard as anyone.  The ball just doesn't get there as fast.  --Eddie Bane / I don't want to play golf.  When I hit a ball I want someone else to go chase it.

Puck's benediction: For all of you who prayed for rain, I hope you're happy now.

..........It went zoomin' cross the left field wall.........Count Basie  .....Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?

Month of the Week Too: June in National River Month - One day three men were walking along and came upon a raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but couldn't figure out how to cross it.  The first man prayed saying, “Please God, give me the strength, courage and ability to cross this river.”  Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours.  Seeing this, the second man prayed saying, “Please God, give me the strength, courage, and ability to cross this river.” Poof! God gave him the skill to chop down a tree and fashion it into a rowboat; he was able to row across the river in about three hours.  The third man had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed saying, “Please God, give me the strength, courage and ability to cross this river.” Poof! God turned him into a woman, and he walked across the bridge.

Moonbeam: I'm immortalizing your exhaust, Avenue A bus...   Fourth Floor, Dawn, Up All Night  --Allen Ginsberg

Cost of War:

Tax dollars spent in Afghanistan: as of 6/2/16: $738,355,802,178.

Tax dollars spent in Afghanistan: as of 5/26/16: $737,690,673,879.

Tax dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 6/2/16: $819,511,425,548.

Tax dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 5/26/16: $819,491,988,384.

Tax dollars spent on Daesh conflict as of 6/2/16: $9,860,974,368.

Tax dollars spent on Daesh conflict as of 5/26/16: $9,758,740,289.

Tax dollars spent on the Pentagon Slush Fund as of 6/2/16: $121,062,686,978.

Tax dollars spent on the Pentagon Slush Fund as of 5/26/16: $120,493,873,983.

Tax dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 6/2/16: $1,691,737,333,681.

Tax dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 5/26/16: $1,690,348,362,810.

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

To gain your own voice, forget about having it heard.  Become a saint of your own province, and your own consciousness.  --Allen Ginsberg

..........Especially Willie, Mickey and the Duke.........Terry Cashman  .....Talkin' Baseball

The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up.  --Bob Uecker / The game isn't over until it's over.  --Yogi Berra

Famous Last Words: O children of Wichita!  --Wichita Vortex Sutra # 3  --Allen Ginsberg

May Peace be your pitcher

And Joy your runner

prairie mama

christine

eDucational ePistle

Famous First Words:  What hath God wrought?  --first telegraph message

May is Homeschooling Awareness Month. --You can tell if people are home schooled if you ask them what grade they are in and they aren't sure ... if they call their pajamas school uniforms.

..........Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist.........Bob Dylan  .....Blowin' in the Wind

Diversity is the magic.  It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity.  The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.  --Thomas Berry

It is a cloudy Friday morning.  The sky is completed covered with a thick layer of gray without seam or texture.  The sidewalk is streaked with twigs and straw and small decorative gravel that was left by water thickly and rapidly answering gravity's call to the wetlands.  Each tree and clump of grass hides diamond raindrops at the tip of each leaf and the underside of each branch. The air is filled with the feel ...humidity and a need for extra power to take in enough oxygen... and smell of dampness ... soaked soil, damp cement, tattered flowers.  Puck loudly stops 2 rabbits in their tracks; rabbits, no doubt, headed for the grounds beneath the feeders or the neighbor's garden.  But we are safe from them for now and only have to endure Puck's sharp, angry voice in return.**  Birds are out in surround-sound greeting the sunless dawn and assessing last night's storms.  There is no wind left over but the cool (61°F) still begins to seep into the body and we retreat to warmth and light and sweetened, creamy Moose Munch.  What a morning, huh?

** The joys of dog ownership; he should watch it, it Hug Your Cat Day. 

Hope your weekend passes all the standard tests, ePistliers.

The worst thing about homeschooling - made fun of the teacher, grounded for life.  The best thing about homeschooling - everyone made the cheerleading squad.

..........Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline.........Bob Dylan  .....Girl of the North Country

Trivia Questions: Happy Birthday, Dashiell !

^ Any idea where Dashiell Hammett was born?

^^ What do you know about Hammett's wife and children?
^^^ Do you know where he's buried?

^^^^ Hammett wrote 4 screenplays, how many can you name?

^^^^^ He wrote 5 novels, how many can you name?

Fake Library Statistic of the Week: 82% of libraries use pages ripped out of #50shades instead of paper towels in the break room.  https://www.facebook.com/FakeLibStats/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

Moonbeam: The past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another.  --Ibn Khaldun

Sending your child to public school to learn about socialization is like sending them to the candy store to learn about nutrition.  --Brenda Rufener

..........I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests.........Bob Dylan  .....A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Something to Think About of the Week: The design of the mandala is supposed to be visually appealing so as to absorb the mind in such a way that irritating thoughts are unable to get through and a spiritual essence surrounds the individual observing the mandala, which in turn allows the individual a higher consciousness or awareness, almost as though being hypnotized.

    

Big Hello Correction: Last week the hello was mckcm which is from the language of Efik spoken in Nigeria.  I failed to mention the language which is so like elfish.  Sorry.

Big Hello: Hej - Elfdalian (Sweden)  ~~Another actual elf language

Week of the Week: National Backyard Games Week (May 23-30) --Seriously, the Olympic badminton players were apparently trying to lose on purpose.  But really, if you trained day and night for 4 years to be in the Olympics for badminton, in a way haven't you already lost?  --Conan O'Brien

Quote of the Week: Solutions nearly always come from the direction you least expect, which means there’s no point trying to look in that direction because it won’t be coming from there.  --Douglas Adams   (For Towel Day, May 25th)

Five minutes after Mindy died trying, Brice finally understood fractions. / My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school.  --Margaret Mead

..........I'm a thinking and a wonderin' walking down the road.........Bob Dylan  .....Don't Think Twice

^ Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, MD

Almanac: It is Friday, May 27, 2016.  The moon will be last quarter on Sunday and is in Aquarius. It is Cellophane Tape Day.  Nigeria celebrates Children's Day.  In Turkey they remember Freedom & Constitution Day (1960, 1961).  Because it is the 4th Friday it is also Heat Awareness Day and National Title Track Day.  Because it is the Friday before Memorial Day it is Don't Fry Day (see also Heat Awareness Day). Finally because it is the last Friday it is Hug Your Cat Day.

Among those born on this day were Ibn Khaldun (1332), Bonaventura Furlanetto (1738), Francis Beaufort (1774), Cornelius Vandrebilt (1794), Amelia Bloomer (1818), Julia Ward Howe (1819), Henry Wylde (1822), Josef Joachim Raff (1822), Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler, 1837), Blind Tom Bethune (1849), Arnold Bennett (1867), Louis Durey (888), Dashiell Hammett (1894), John Douglas Cockroft (1897), Hubert Humphrey and Vincent Price (1911), John Cheever (1912), Sam Snead (1912), Herman Wouk (1915), Henry Kissinger (1923), John Barth (1930), Harlan Ellison (1934), Lee Meriwether (1935), Louis Gossett Jr. (1936), Rene Koering (1940), and Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Volkov (1948).

On May twenty-seventh Denmark and Sweden signed a ceasefire (1660), McLean patented his piano (1796), Samuel Morse completed the first telegraph line (1844), the first Preakness Stakes was run (Survivor, 1873), bubonic plague broke out in San Francisco (1907), Afghanistan achieved sovereignty (1921), Austria banned the Communist Party (1933), the Federal Securities Act was signed (1933), the golden gate bridge was dedicated (1937), the US forbade racial discrimination in the war industry (1943), Huis Clos premiered (1944), the first black light was sold (1961), Kennedy announced the US goal to reach the moon (1961), Bob Dylan released Free Wheelin (1963), construction began on Disney World (1969), Trujillo became president of Colombia (1990), and Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia (1994).

Tonight's Sky: visible Planets -- Morning... Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.  Evening... Jupiter, Mercury.

This Week: Saturday, May 28 - International Jazz Day and Sierra Club Day

Sunday, May 29 - Learn About Composting Day and Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

Monday, May 30 - Mint Julep Day and Memorial Day

Night Sky, May 30: Mars makes it closest approach to Earth for the year.

Tuesday, May 31 - World No-Tobacco Day

Wednesday, June 1 - Oscar the Grouch Day and National Go Barefoot Day

Thursday, June 2 - Leave the Office Early Day and National Bubba Day

Lecture in the car on the way to a play date with other homeschooled children: Now don't mention that we didn't get up till 9:30 or that your little brother can't read...or that we buy our bread from a store...or Disney movies...and whatever you do, try not to say the words Batman or Power Rangers...and for goodness sakes try to act SMART!!!

..........Two men died 'neath the Mississippi moon.........Bob Dylan  .....Oxford Town

^^ Hammett spent time in the Army hospital where he met Josephine Dolan, whom he married.  They had two daughters, Mary Jane and Josephine.  Health Services nurses informed Dolan that due to Hammett's TB, she and the children should not live with him full-time. Dolan rented a home in San Francisco where Hammett would visit on weekends. The marriage soon fell apart, but he continued to financially support his wife and daughters with the income he made from his writing.

Moonbeam: Disarm, disarm. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.  --Julia Ward Howe

Art Exhibit of the Week:  This week Marilyn (the Bread Ladye) and I went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum (KCMO) to see the exhibit Reflecting Class in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.   She summed it up quite well, " Wow, those Dutch painters painted SO well!"   The exhibit is all Dutch painters, some I'd heard of some I hadn't.  I am still reflecting but I have some gossip and a few stray facts.  There are 67 dogs and 1 cat (or 66 dogs and 2 cat, with one figure it's hard to tell) total in all the pictures.  The Netherlands in the 1600s was protestant and therefore allowed women to serve in political office and in commerce.  But the famous "Dutch Masters" painting of a bunch of men sitting around a table is because the women had their pictures painted separately from the men.  So the city council portrait is two - one for the men and one for the women. 

I loved all of it...even the table cloths.  Gossip:  The exhibit opened in Boston and KC is the only other museum to display it.  Boston had a second Vermeer but the Louvre wouldn't let it be gone that long and Boston had a third Rembrandt which the Queen Elizabeth wanted back.  It was the director (or curator or some other title) who suggested the exhibit to the woman in Boston and that's why KC got it, we think.  Sunday is the last day.  http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/rembrandt-vermeer/

Late Night Snacks: The Wall Street Journal just reported that America has a surplus of cheese and that every person in the country would have to eat an extra three pounds of cheese this year to get rid of it. So the next time the pizza guy judges you for ordering extra cheese, just say, "I'm doing this for America."  --Jimmy Fallon / Now, some car companies might focus on making cars that don't hit people. Not Google. No way. So if one of these cars hits you, you will be spread-eagled, stuck to the hood as the car slowly rolls to a halt, because that was the problem with getting hit by a car before: It just wasn't embarrassing enough.  --James Corden / The National Parks Service is so desperate for cash that they just announced that, for the first time, they are going to solicit corporate sponsorship. Pretty soon, those sequoias could be brought to you by Viagra. Remember, if your redwood lasts more than 2,000 years, call your lumberjack!  --Stephen Colbert / American Express is suing Charlie Sheen for an unpaid credit card balance of over $200,000. How did he blow that much money? Oh, right. Answered my own question.  --Seth Meyers

We live now in a global village and we are in one single family.  It's our responsibility to bring friendship and love from all different places around the world and to live together in peace. --Jackie Chan

There's no such thing as an atheist homeschooler...after a week, students,  teachers and the family cat are crying out to God.

..........Please don't take away my highway shoes.........Bob Dylan  .....Down the Highway

^^^ As a veteran of two wars, Hammett was buried at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 12 Site 508).

Worthless Fact of the Week: Approximately 1.3 million cats are adopted from shelters each year.  Hug Your Cat Day !!

Weird Word of the Week: Jafaikan - a new multicultural dialect in London.  It is a blend of Jamacian and African.  http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-jaf1.htm

Wacky Uses for Common Products: Polish Furniture. Spam purportedly makes good furniture polish, according to the New York Times Magazine.  http://www.wackyuses.com/wacky/spam.html

...because I have seen the village and I don't want it raising my children. / I am not talking to myself; I'm having a parent teacher conference.

...........Is just lookin' for a needle that is lost in the sand.........Bob Dylan  .....Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance

^^^^ Screenplays by Hammett include After the Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man, The Glass Key, and Watch on the Rhine.

Word Shakespeare Made Up of the Week: Advertising - the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements.  Measure for Measure Act V Scene I  (Duke Vincentio)

 Puck the Brave Episode of the Week: Here's our fearless Puck scanning the skies in the case of Yossarian's Yoranian.

For homeschooled families you can call your family reunions high school reunions on odd numbered years.

..........Gal, where you been so long.........Bob Dylan  .....Corrina, Corrina

^^^^^ Hammett's novels are Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key and The Thin Man.

Month of the Week: May is National Barbeque Month --Experience is simply the name we give our barbeque mistakes.  --Oscar Wilde

Famous Kansans: Samuel Wendell Williston was born in Boston (1851) but raised in the Kansas territory.  He was the first to propose that birds developed flight cursorially (by running), rather than arboreally (by leaping from tree to tree).  http://www.jstor.org/stable/30063514?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Today's Peace of History May 27, 1940:  The US Supreme Court ruled a sit-down strike was not a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act even if it interfered with interstate commerce.  The Court said that if the strike were found to be a restraint of trade, then “practically every strike in modern industry would be brought within the jurisdiction of the federal courts under the Sherman Act.”

When Johnny misbehaved at home school, his mother sent him to Public School for a 3 day suspension.

..........Like Judas of old,  you lie and deceive.........Bob Dylan  ......Masters of War

Science Fiction Convention of the Week: 47: ConQuest Prime - May 27-29, KCMO Sheraton KC Hotel at Crown Center.  http://www.conquestkc.org/   ~~Where The Bull  Really Flies !

    

Week of the Week Too: Old Fashioned Player Piano Weekend (May 27-29) --He would make a good lamp post if he'd weather better and didn't have to eat.  --Kurt Vonnegut      Player Piano

Moonbeam: It will not do to say that it is out of woman's sphere to assist in making laws, for it that were so, then it should be also out of her sphere to submit to them.  --Amelia Bloomer

Cost of War:

Tax dollars spent in Afghanistan: as of 5/26/16: $737,690,673,879.

Tax dollars spent in Afghanistan: as of 5/19/16: $737,012,219,977.

Tax dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 5/26/16: $819,491,988,384.

Tax dollars spent on the Iraq war since 2001 as of 5/19/16: $819,472,157,518.

Tax dollars spent on Daesh conflict as of 5/26/16: $9,758,740,289.

Tax dollars spent on Daesh conflict as of 5/19/16: $9,654,461,708.

Tax dollars spent on the Pentagon Slush Fund as of 5/26/16: $120,493,873,983.

Tax dollars spent on the Pentagon Slush Fund as of 5/12/16: $119,913,597,604.

Tax dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 5/26/16: $1,690,348,362,810.

Tax dollars spent on all wars since 2001 as of 5/19/16: $1,688,931,333,101.

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

Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality, or religion.  --John Comenius

..........Oh, there ain't no use in me workin' alla time.........Bob Dylan  .....I Shall Be Free

The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.  --Albert Einstein .  / Warning!!  Unsocialized Homeschooler  Communicate at your own risk!

Famous Last Words: 15 F.R. 3175, 64 Stat. 1265.  --Securities Act of 1933

May Peace be your curriculum

And Joy your text book

prairie mama

christine