Monday 03/27/2023
Part 1: Quote of the Day: Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans…Jacques Yves Cousteau
Part 2: Brain Teaser of the Day:
The following limerick has had the last word of each line scrambled. Can you figure it out?
In a snowstorm the plow wasn’t TWIFS,
So Jim was decidedly FIDFEM;
His street really ENDEDE
The plow, so he DAPELED,
But the driver did not get his FIDTR.
Part 3: Books!
Current reading and listening list: Reading- Fortune Cookie by Bryce Courtenay, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, and Fair Warning by Michael Connelly. Listening to: Memory’s Legion by S.A. Corey, The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. and Slip Runner by J.N. Chaney while walking and Dance of Death by Preston & Child while in my office.
Part 4: What Happened Today?
(9 pink dandelions) 11856 steps yesterday. Weight: 167.5#
Up at 5 AM. Made a pot of vanilla-flavored coffee. Took Gizmo outside. 72 degrees. More humidity.
Feather Sound 60-minute walk. Took Gizmo for his walk.
Completed yesterday’s Journal. Reviewed new members for the Blowout Baseball Card forum. 50 new members today… highest so far!
Around noon, Kay and I put potting soil in 2 very heavy planters and transplanted the 2 flowers she bought at Home Depot yesterday.
Around 2:30 PM, I drove to Publix to buy groceries and ingredients for 3 different recipes… a breakfast casserole, apricot chicken and beef and noodles. I put together the breakfast casserole because it had to be kept in the fridge overnight. Very busy day! We watched a new reality show…Physical 100.
| Part 5… Nashville Shooting Police in Nashville are working to uncover a motive in the mass shooting that killed six people at a Christian elementary school on Monday. The shooter, identified as a 28-year-old former student, was shot and killed by police during the attack, leaving behind “drawn out” maps of the campus detailing “how this was all going to take place,” police said. Three 9-year-old children and three adults were killed in the tragedy. Two of the victims were school employees. One was the head of the school and the other a custodian, according to the school. Monday’s horror was among at least 130 mass shootings so far this year — more than this point in any previous year since at least 2013, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. Part 6… Israel Protests Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that he will delay plans to overhaul the country’s judiciary amid widespread strikes and protests throughout the country. Netanyahu said he would delay votes on the remaining legislation until after the Knesset’s Passover recess in April “to give time for a real chance for a real debate.” But it remains unclear if that will be enough to calm the protests. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has steadily scaled up its rhetoric on the situation, saying recently it was watching with “concern.” The statement, which also repeatedly urged “compromise” in the judicial reform, also marked a rare moment of the US weighing in on the domestic affairs of another country — let alone those of a close ally like Israel. Part 7… Student Loans President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief program faces a new threat from Senate Republicans after nearly 40 senators introduced a resolution Monday to overturn the plan. Additionally, the measure aims to end the pandemic-related pause on federal student loan payments, which has been in place since March 2020. If the resolution succeeds in both the Senate and House, Biden would likely step in and utilize his presidential veto power. But votes would force members of his own party, who have not all been in support of the student loan forgiveness program, to take a public stance. In the meantime, the program remains blocked as student loan borrowers wait in limbo until the Supreme Court issues its ruling in late June or early July. Part 8… Chemical Spill Philadelphia officials are set to provide an update on the city’s water safety this morning following a recent chemical spill in the Delaware River that left many residents concerned about possible contamination. City officials have said the water supply is safe to drink and use until at least 3:30 p.m. local time today, prompting many people to snag bottled water from quickly-emptying grocery store shelves. About 40 water quality tests conducted as of Monday afternoon showed no indication of contamination, a city official said. Many residents, however, have expressed frustration and confusion over officials’ repeated statements that the city’s water is safe, even after they initially asked residents to drink bottled water as a precaution. Part 9… Disney Disney is making major cuts to its workforce with layoffs set to impact about 7,000 jobs beginning this week, CEO Bob Iger said Monday. In a memo to staff obtained by CNN, Iger said the layoffs will come in waves stretching into the summer. The cuts to Disney’s global workforce are part of a multibillion-dollar cost-cutting initiative aimed at streamlining the company’s operations. A cut of 7,000 jobs represents about 3% of its global workforce of about 220,000 employees. “The difficult reality of many colleagues and friends leaving Disney is not something we take lightly,” Iger said in the memo. The sweeping job cuts were announced by Iger last month after the company released better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022. Part 10: Brain Teaser Answer In a snowstorm the plow wasn’t SWIFT, So Jim was decidedly MIFFED; His street really NEEDED The plow, so he PLEADED, But the driver did not get his DRIFT | ||