Former President George H.W. Bush (41) was a prolific letter-writer, considered by some to be the “World’s Best Letter Writer.” Over the years, he wrote several hundred letters a month marking military retirements, approximately 149,700 congratulatory letters to Eagle Scouts, roughly 43,500 letters for births, weddings, birthday and anniversaries along with countless letters sent to family, friends and others that he met. Wow. The U.S. Postal Service has now issued a postage stamp to honor him. His wife, Barbara, chose the portrait before she died. The first day of issue was what would have been his 95th birthday. What a great birthday gift.
Canada joined a growing global movement with a plan to ban single-use plastics. Trudeau said he plans to “reduce pollution, create 42,000 jobs and protect the environment” with this move. Some retailers in Canada have become creative in encouraging shoppers to bring their own bags. Not only will they charge you for your bag, but written on the front of the bags will be embarrassing logos like “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” or “Dr. Toews Wart Ointment Wholesale” or “The Colon Care Co-Op.” In 2015, the British Government introduced a charge for most plastic bags when it was announced that it could take 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose.
In Alabama, a bill has been signed that will require people convicted of certain sex offenses after September 1st, to undergo chemical castration (testosterone-suppressing drugs) as a condition of parole. Offenders can choose at any time to stop getting the medication and return to prison to serve the remainder of their term. Hmmm. I wonder if this will make a difference. I would bet if they announced plans to surgically castrate the individual in these same situations, it might actually make a difference as to whether these people ever even become perpetrators.
The California National Guard has announced the appointment of Brig. General Laura Yeager who will take command of the 40th Infantry Division on June 29th and will be the first woman to lead a U.S. Army infantry division.
A former minister at First Baptist Church in Houston was sentenced to 10 years in prison after stealing at least $823,937 over a 6-year period. The 40-year-old minister used the money for overseas trips, groceries and a doctorate degree in divinity from a bible church. Hmmm.
If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. – Vincent Van Gogh
A study announced by the Houston-Galveston Area Council Clean Rivers Program, states that fecal bacteria (poop) levels in Chocolate Bayou need to be reduced to make it safe for recreational use and to provide a healthy ecosystem for those that rely on it for habitat. Hmmm. Chocolate Bayou runs through Houston, Fort Bend county and central Brazoria county in a 174-square mile watershed. It empties into Chocolate Bay to the east of the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. I’m sure that the fish enjoy this.
Quote: “When your founder doesn’t have one, it kinda says a lot of what people can do without a college education.” Apple CEO discussing the fact that about half of the company’s 2018 hires did not have a four-year college degree.
Quote: “Deniers of climate change, I want them to go to the Antarctic where the sea ice is melting faster than ever before and dump them in the middle of it.” Jane Goodall, 85-year-old conservationist challenging people to use their ability to think big to come up with a bold plan to conserve the earth’s limited resources and species – and fast.
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS: Actor Harvey Keitel is 80. Taxi Driver. Late Show host Stephen Colbert is 55. Actor Robert Pattinson is 33. He IS the next Batman with 42 percent of those in the 18-29 age bracket in favor of the casting. International Motorsports Hall of Fame Jackie Stewart is 80. The “Flying Scot.” Actor Roscoe Orman is 75. Since 1974, he’s been Gordon Robinson on Sesame Street.
Rock musician Frank Beard is 70. ZZ Top. Songwriter Richard M. Sherman is 91. Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Parent Trap, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Happiest Millionaire and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Magician Siegfried is 80. Siegfried & Roy. Singer Dennis Locorriere is 70. Dr. Hook. Actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are 33.
Pop artist Peter Max was married to Mary Max in 1997. Mary (52) was found dead last week in a suspected suicide. For the past several years, she has been involved in disputes with her stepson over her husband’s art, wealth and legacy. Peter Max (81) lives with dementia. There are even allegations that art signed by Peter Max in recent years was actually a team of artists – art that was sold through a cruise line and in galleries around the country, raking in millions of dollars. I would hate to be THAT art collector that finds he has a fake Peter Max.
Gloria Vanderbilt “poor little rich girl” died. The first thing I thought of was my jeans – there’s not a woman out there, over the age of 50, that hasn’t turned around in front of a mirror wearing her white swan labeled jeans and think to herself. “Dang, these jeans sure make my rear-end look good.”
“I would rather have 30 minutes of ‘wonderful’ than a lifetime of nothing special.” Julia Roberts
I called my ‘almost’ 84-year-old Mom to check on her, so she was telling me all about her boyfriend having to help her get up off the ground so she wouldn’t fall, after she had planted some flowers. During this conversation, a long-ago memory flooded into my little brain. “Weebles Wobble but They Don’t’ Fall Down.” My little brother played with tiny egg-shaped, bottom-heavy toys. I told Mom what I was thinking, but she couldn’t remember the toys. I googled it. Weebles are now 48 years old. It’s official. I’m old. But, not so old that I couldn’t pull a Weebles memory from my old harddrive. 😊
Maine has become the 8th state to allow terminally ill people to end their lives with prescribed medication.
Last week my daughter and I wanted to sit outside to eat while the humidity was still low, so we headed over to Wursthaus after the flood zone meeting. Wednesday evening wasn’t very busy, and the weather was beyond perfect. While we sat there, I remembered seeing a gift card the last time I cleaned out my purse, so I searched and sure enough, there it was. ‘Happy Birthday to Lisa, from Tom.’ As you may recall, Tom Aucoin died a few months ago after being a part our Source Weekly family for over 19 years. So, Tom…we had a super nice waitress, a delicious meal and a lovely evening, along with a toast to YOU. We miss you.
According to Earth Day Network: Wildlife populations living on land have fallen by 40% since 1970.
Starbucks will introduce a first-of-its-kind trial of reusable cups in London’s Gatwick airport. If just 250 customers a day opt for a reusable cup, more than 7,000 cups will be saved in the month-long trial.
“We are used to cleaning the outside house, but the most important house to clean is yourself – your own house – which we never do.” Marina Abramovic
Twenty-five years ago, O.J. Simpson went from Hall of Fame football hero to murder suspect the night that his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death. Simpson was acquitted of the crime in what was called “The Trial of the Century.” Last week, Simpson was interviewed and said he is happy and healthy, lives in Las Vegas, and plays golf nearly every day. Hmmm. This morning on the news, they said he now has launched a Twitter account and his posts have been quite controversial. Knife emojis and threatening messages. According to the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Simpson is still on parole and the Division of Parole and Probation “takes threats or acts of violence against public safety very seriously and is looking into the alleged complaints.” Grow up.
“It’s unfortunate that we live in such a panicked, dysmorphic society where women don’t even give themselves a chance to see what they’ll look like as older persons. I want to have some idea of what I’ll look like before I start cleaning the slates.” Julia Roberts
For the second time in recent weeks, I have found a receipt left at the drive-thru ATM at FSB. Yikes. I think that’s a bad idea, but I decided that I should look it up and know for sure. Well, it’s not just bad, it’s super bad. Your receipt can include the last four digits of your account number and your account balance. Adam Levin, author of Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers and Identity Thieves, describes it as “dropping breadcrumbs that can lead back to you. Thieves are experts at piecing together seemingly small bits of info. Why let them know an account ending in these four digits has $10,000 in it?” ($10,000. Hmmm. Immediately, that took me away from any life-threatening thoughts about my own account, ha-ha) So, remember to take your receipt with you when you leave your bank, rip it up, cross-shred it and always make sure you use two trash receptacles when you throw away items like this.
You don’t have to be self-sufficient in everything. Just be self-sufficient in something…
New Jersey became the first state to mandate that hotels provide their room cleaning people with wearable panic buttons to help protect workers from sexual harassment and other dangers.
Did you know if you Google, “Chernobyl Tours,” TripAdvisor has ten tours listed on their site from $88 to $797? Yikes. After a fire, explosion and reactor meltdown destroyed the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in June 1986, more than 100,000 people were permanently evacuated. It killed 50 people and another 4,000 deaths have since been linked to radiation exposure from the site. Radioactive fallout from the plant spread across Europe because the explosion released radioactivity high into the atmosphere where it was spread by the wind. Is it safe now? I guess it just depends on your definition of safe. (It is still a question whether humans cause more environmental damage than a nuclear disaster.) China is now planning to build a huge solar park inside the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone which would be a source of clean, renewable energy. One-gigawatt which would light 100-million LED bulbs.
“We should get a Roomba for our Roomba. I feel bad for it because it works tirelessly, and at night I can hear it cleaning, and I just feel bad for it.” Ryan Gosling
Thank you for picking up a copy of The Source Weekly each week. We so appreciate our readers AND our advertisers. If you saw something worth repeating this week, be sure to tell your neighbors or friends. Remember that garage sales are always FREE. If you need to give something away, then that’s also a FREE ad. You can’t get a better deal than that! Have a great weekend.
Lisa
