What I Heard This Week 04-04-2024
A VERY good person sent me a thank you card last week for some love that I had extended to help prepare a proper send-off for friends leaving town. The card was unnecessary, but very much appreciated. The cute quote on the card said: A good person is a gift to the whole world. Heidi Wills.
My daughter finishes graduate school in about a month. I’m excited on several different levels. Money… I hope she can make some really soon. Expertise in her field of environment. We need people like her to help us save ourselves and our world. Graduate school has been hard, but I see she has grown so much in the past two years, both personally and intellectually. I’m so excited for her as she starts this new chapter in her life… BUT… in today’s mail at my office, she received a pamphlet announcing the new 2025 National Geographic Expeditions – travel around the world on a private jet. Yes, I opened it – the word JET got my attention. Yep, it’s a customized Boeing 757 with VIP accommodations. An Around the World 24-day Trip starting at just $107,995. That’s less than $5,000 per day. Hmmm. AE, I’m listening. Is there something you want to tell me? And all this time I was worrying she wouldn’t be able to pay her phone bill after she graduates…
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home. – Gary Snyder
According to a new study by nonprofit Carbon Mapper, more than half the landfills in the U.S. are “super-emitters” of methane.
Question: How can I change my party affiliation? After affiliating with a party by voting in a party’s primary or by taking an oath of affiliation with a party, a voter cannot change their party affiliation during the calendar year. (§162.010) However, affiliation will automatically expire at the end of the calendar year…
Have you seen the Joe Namath hearing aid commercial? It made me sad. I was young but I remember Broadway Joe in his controversial pantyhose commercials stating with a chuckle, “Now, I don’t wear pantyhose. But if (Hanes) Beautymist can make my legs look good, imagine what they’ll do for yours.”
April 8 • Partial Solar Eclipse at BASF Planetarium: Local skywatchers are invited to observe the solar eclipse at BASF Planetarium from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Monday, April 8. This event is FREE and open to the public! The eclipse will begin locally at 12:18 PM when the moon will first touch the sun’s edge. At 1:38 PM, viewers will experience the maximum eclipse when the moon will be closest to the center of the sun. The eclipse will conclude by 2:59 PM when the moon will leave the sun’s edge. Eclipse glasses will be on sale for 2/$5 at the planetarium during the event. Please remember that it is never safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection designed for solar viewing. 979-265-7661
A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. Henry Ward Beecher
There is discussion about Kathie Lee Gifford being a perfect candidate for “The Golden Bachelorette” set to premiere sometime in Fall 2024. Hoda and Jenna of the Today show. unofficially nominated Kathie Lee on the air. Hoda said, “The storyline would be really good because, first of all, you’re not someone who would ever go sucking face with someone in a hot tub…” Hmmm. That already sounds more appealing than what I saw with The Golden Bachelor. Those women were sometimes a touch on the trashy side.
Walmart plans to remodel 650 stores across 47 states creating thousands of jobs. In addition to improved layouts, the remodel will be part of its Store of the Future concept with new paint, new signs, shopping carts, expanded product selection, technology, and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. The pharmacies will be moved closer to the entrance and vision centers will be upgraded. I guess they are working on the Walmart in LJ because I saw new paint and designs on the outside of the building as I left the dry cleaners this morning. I will add that I’ve started ordering online from Walmart instead of Amazon (they tend to be gobbling up small businesses), plus Walmart has superfast delivery and you can get almost anything you need online. FYI
Back in November, a 70-year-old woman in Uganda gave birth to twins, (a boy and a girl) after in vitro fertilization. Each twin weighed 3lbs., 7oz. and were just recently last week, discharged from the hospital. I wish I knew the back-story on this. One report said that she also has a daughter born in 2020 with the help of IVF. Interesting that the same report says that her partner abandoned her when he realized she was having twins. Now, I’m scratching my head because the woman’s eggs were donated but the doctors used the father’s sperm and in order to have that happen, he really had to agree to the whole procedure. I’m just a little confused. I try to fact-check but always remember, just because you read or hear it, doesn’t make it true.
I am so lucky people can’t hear what I’m thinking.
Dicephalus Conjoined twins, Abby & Brittany Hensel, who had their own TLC reality series about their journey as they prepared to graduate from college and travel to Europe, revealed that three years ago, twin Abby (34) secretly married Josh Bowling, a nurse, US Army veteran and divorcee with one daughter. The twins are now fifth grade teachers. Nice, I bet that when they were born, all their parents wanted for them was a healthy, normal life. Against all odds, it sure looks like they’re getting their wish. Then today, I read that a paternity case was filed by Josh Bowling’s ex-wife. What?!? – but he acknowledges he has a daughter. What? Yep, a normal life in today’s world.
A rare Rothschild’s giraffe was born at Chester Zoo in the UK. The yet-to-be-named six-foot tall baby giraffe was delivered by Orla, his mom, after just a 3-hour labor which was captured by video. Punxsutawney Phil, famous mostly on Groundhog Day, is now a dad, welcoming 2 healthy groundhog babies with his wife, Phyllis. It was a surprise because no one knew Phyllis was expecting.
What is a popular social activity that can help ward off dementia? Bingo played often. It can help improve memory, thinking, orientation and even language.
Police found a hidden camera under a bathroom sink at a California Starbucks, then the search began for who put it there. They found him… along with about 20 firearms, an assault rifle, unregistered firearms, high-capacity magazines, and many more micro cameras. From just one-day of footage, police have identified more than 91 victims that the camera caught using the bathroom, as young as 4 and as old as 85, in graphic detail. How disturbing.
A veterinary tranquilizer, Xylazine, a powerful horse sedative, is being mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl and related illicit lab-made drugs, in order to increase profits. Injecting xylazine can lead to skin wounds that cause necrosis which often requires amputation or limb removal. Addiction is scary and can be deadly.
As I sat at my computer writing this column, the words “selling goods” seemed necessary in order to explain something in a new paragraph, but selling just wasn’t the word I was looking for. I thought of the word hawking or hocking but just wasn’t sure which was the right spelling to use. According to Grammarist; as a verb, hawk means (1) to sell goods, especially noisily or aggressively on the street, and (2) to clear the throat of phlegm. One definition of hock is to pawn. Because hock and the first sense of hawk both have to do with selling things, the words are easily confused.
Trump has sold much merchandise with his name on it; steaks, vodka, neckties, furniture, digital trading cards, Victory 47 cologne, mug shot t-shirts, mugs, sweatshirts, coolers, posters, gold champagne glasses, jellybeans, gold sequined pillows, $399 gold sneakers, (actually now that I’m researching it I realize there is not enough room in the column to list it all) and now a $60 God Bless The USA Bible complete with copies of the U.S. Constitution. My initial thought: Perhaps it should come with copies of the Ten Commandments. Just saying. Have a great week and thank you for reading and shopping with us.
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
