Billionaire philanthropist, MacKenzie Scott, has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, a global organization that partners with communities to build or improve housing. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated $2.7 billion last year (2021) to 286 groups supporting a variety of causes. In July 2020, she donated more than $1.7 billion to diverse organizations including historically Black colleges and universities. Brazosport College received one of her gifts. Later in 2020, Scott announced she donated an additional $4.2 billion to 384 organizations including food banks, emergency relief funds, and debt relief. What a woman.

“Good Food. Good Life.” Russia is being punished by taking away their chocolate. Facing growing pressure from critics to exit Russia, Swiss food company Nestle is suspending sales of Kit Kat bars, Nespresso pods, and San Pellegrino bottled water in Russia, but will continue to sell essential items like infant food and medical nutrition. Yogurt maker Danone and Pepsi said that they will suspend some business but will continue to sell essential products like milk and baby formula in Russia. Food companies are having a tough time as they weigh access to food as a basic human right, but respond to pressure from critics who say pulling out completely is necessary for sanctions against the Russian economy to succeed. It could have a real impact on how their brands are now perceived, and their bottom lines. Staying in that country and paying taxes to the budget of a terrorist country is perceived as killing defenseless children & mothers in other countries. Hmmm. It is up to us.

Humans are so reliant on technology now. Laptops, computers, smart phones. Some of us… hmmm, I wonder who they’re talking about… have not developed particularly good back-up habits to ensure that information and personal data, pictures, and videos, are secure and safe. When my son was young, I lost years of pictures when I handed him one of my old phones, and he immediately wiped it clean. Could you call any of your family if your phone died? In 1998, before the release of Toy Story 2, someone entered a command on the drives where Pixar stores the film’s files, deleting 90% of the film. Broken hard drives, hacked computers, erratic phones, we have all had it happen at least once. March 31st is National World Backup Day. In 1956, an IBM engineer came up with the idea of the external hard drive and in the 1960’s a computer scientist is believed to have invented cloud storage.

Most all of our personal information is already out there on the web, so our job is to prevent criminals from using it for their own benefit. And they will, it is just a matter of time. One step you can take is to change your passwords often. Set aside a couple of hours at least once a year, to change all your passwords on your accounts… do it more often for critical accounts like banks or health care providers. Yes, then do it again in 6 months. If you have accounts like retailers and restaurants that make you set up an account in order to purchase from them, and they now email you constantly, then close them out. Remember to upgrade the quality of your password, and never, never, never use the same password twice. One article said that if the world stopped reusing passwords for multiple sites, we would cut cybercrime in half overnight. Don’t just change one letter or number. That makes it way too easy for the bad guys. The longer and more random the password, the more power is required to hack it. If you use passphrases, use words that don’t seem to make sense together. The example they used was RedEnginesEatPurpleDust%!*. Get you a password journal – I use an address book – then print the name of the account, the login, the password, and the date you created it. Do it for every account, then put your journal in a safe place. Or you can get an online password manager. They store the information in the cloud so all you have to do is change the master password about every 6 months. There is more. Just remember that there are so many evils out there right now.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Craig T. Nelson is 77. Parenthood. Singer Steve Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers is 70. Writer-producer David E. Kelley is 65. Doogie Howser, M.D., Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Harry’s Law, Goliath, Big Little Lies, Mr. Mercedes, Big Sky, and Nine Perfect Strangers as well as several films. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 56. Actor Nancy McKeon is 55. Magician David Blaine is 48. Country singer Tommy Cash is 81. Singer Allan Clarke of The Hollies is 79. Country singer Pat Green is 49. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 84. Actor Marilu Henner of Taxi is 69. Actor Paul Rudd is 52. Country singer Bobby Bare is 86. Singer Charlie Thomas of The Drifters is 84. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 83. Singer-guitarist John Oates of Hall and Oates is 73. Singer Janis Ian is 70. Society’s Child and the 1975 Top Ten single At Seventeen. Actor Jackie Chan is 67. Actor Russell Crowe is 57. Comedian Shecky Greene is 95. Original Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie is 80.

Madeleine Albright, American politician and diplomat who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, died of cancer at the age of 85. She was the first female secretary of state in U.S. history. Taylor Hawkins, drummer for Foo Fighters died at 50. According to a forensic report, his heart weighed double the average for a man his age. They think that this may have played a part in his death, along with a cocktail of 10 drugs found in his system.

On Google Earth, someone spotted a mountain of stolen bikes in a man’s backyard. I saw the picture and bikes were stacked high and covered the entire backyard property. Hundreds of bikes. The neighbors said the bikes had been there for years. Did the neighbors not scratch their heads and wonder why?

It’s the last stop of our tour, and it’s the last show for Genesis,” Phil Collins told the concert crowd. “After tonight we all have to get real jobs.” The Genesis drummer has suffered from poor health since 2007 when he dislocated the vertebra in his upper neck during a concert. The 71-year-old began using a cane to walk in 2017 and performed all of the tour’s gigs seated in a chair.

Former President Donald Trump released an official statement announcing that he had a hole-in-one at his golf course. He said, “It took place at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the 7th hole, which was playing 181-yards into a slight wind. I hit a 5-iron, which sailed magnificently into a rather strong wind, with approximately 5 feet of cut, whereupon it bounced twice and then went clank, into the hole.” “I won’t tell you who won because I am a very modest individual, and you will then say I was bragging – and I don’t like people who brag!” I bet Saturday Night Live has already written a skit about it for this weekend.

The safety harness and seat of the 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from an amusement park ride in Florida last week, were still locked at the end of the ride that is described as the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower, where 30 riders rise to the top, tilt forward and plunge nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching over 75 mph. There is speculation that the teen may have been too heavy for the ride. He was only 14 years old but already 6 feet, 5 inches tall, 340 pounds, with aspirations to make it to the NFL, but had been turned away from other rides because of his size. Dollywood has temporarily closed their drop tower ride that was made by the same manufacturer.

This is a story that needs to be shared. All Chick-fil-A locations throughout the US and Canada are partnering with DAR PRO Solutions, a Texas-based manufacturing company that will convert all the fast-food restaurant’s used cooking oil into cleaner burning renewable transportation fuel. More than 700 million gallons of renewable diesel are expected to be produced in 2022 as a result of the companies’ joint venture.

The University of Houston announced that it has created the Energy Transition Institute after receiving a $10 million gift from oil giant Shell. The institute will focus on production and use of reliable, affordable, and cleaner energy for all and will focus on three core areas: hydrogen, carbon management and circular plastics. The iconic koalas are now listed as endangered in several states and territories in Australia. Climate change and habitat loss had led to dramatic declines in their population. This comes after the black summer fires of 2019 and 2021, which some estimate may have left as many as 60,000 koalas dead or injured. A sad day for their nation.

Shanghai is beginning China’s largest and most extensive Covid lockdown in two years, to conduct mass testing and to control a growing outbreak. Blue Origin is set for their 4^th crewed sub-orbital space flight on Thursday, two days later than planned because of expected high winds. One of Blue Origin’s first employees and architect of the New Shepard program, was added to the crew, replacing comedian Pete Davidson. Blue Origin and its customers do not discuss the cost of a New Shepard seat, but prices are thought to be in the half-million-dollar range or more. An Indiana man was arrested after murdering his wife by striking her in the face with a gallon-sized cement flowerpot after having fought about divorce because he was having an affair. The woman had just finished chemotherapy for breast cancer just days before the murder. Two teenage girls in New England were fortunate because their mothers loved them enough to turn them in to police after they assaulted, by kicking and punching, homeless people on the streets. The two girls are 14 and 16, as well as a 15-year-old boy who filmed the incident while egging on the attack. There are other videos circulating that appear to be the same situation.

Last night while I was making ramen soup, I watched the movie, Rescued by Ruby on Netflix, a real-life true story about an Australian shepherd/border collie mix rescue dog with behavioral problems (clever but naughty), trained by a state trooper who dreams of joining the K-9 Search & Rescue team. It was so good… and sweet. It is 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and nothing gets 100%.

Will Smith and Chris Rock. Sigh. It is always a bad sign when you have to announce at the Academy Awards or family reunions that we do not condone violence. What we really want to see in our society, are good, positive role models from our athletics, politicians, actors, parents, school officials… you know what I’m saying. I always told my children that some individuals are put on this Earth and in their lives, not as a good example, but as a healthy guide or blueprint of what NOT to do. This gets to be a harder sell as human behavior seems to get more hostile and frightening.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity (thanks to Bonnie & David Novosad) to take my daughter to see Come From Away at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston. The story is so incredibly good. On September 11th, 2001, 7000 people are stranded in the tiny, charming town of Gander, Newfoundland after all flights into the US are grounded. While stranded, the people of Gander house, feed and entertain the “come from aways” as they find love, loss, and hope in the aftermath of terror. I have to say that it is one of the BEST musicals I have ever seen. I cried and I laughed. I bet there are still tickets left for this weekend. You have to mask which is fortunate because it helps catch the water from your eyes.

On the way to the office this morning, the bumper sticker on the car in front of me said, “I brake for Frogs.” The light took a long time to change but gave me time to think. I pivoted from thinking how silly it was to wondering about what kind of world would it be if everyone braked for frogs! I decided that it is definitely a world I want to live in.

LISA