Birthday Shout-Out...NE Uber Alles...Fighting Fake News

whimsical WED

Happy Birthday to the Best

It's my beloved spouse's birthday today, WED 2/8/17. [Yes, I'm keeping up with my blogs this week. This morning I can attribute it due to 3-5" of global warming, thwarting my trip to Lincoln early this morning so that I could take part in the governor's signing of a proclamation announcing FEB as Problem-Gambling Awareness Month. But I digress.] Back to Lois.

• She got to sleep in. CLS announced a late start, even though Norfolk Public & Catholic Schools did not. This is somewhat unprecedented, & I can only assume that her principal did it to honor her. KUDO's to her principal Steve!
• Birthday Trivia. Legend has it that Lois was born at 2:00p on 2/8/1952. I was born at 1:00p on 1/7/1953. That's right . . . we were born one hour, one day, one month, one year apart. Cue the theme music from "Twilight Zone!"
• Last night for one of our table prayers, I prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, & let this food to us be blessed, & thank You for Lois, 'cause she's the best." I do not think I was being flippant . . . I was totally sincere, I prayed from the heart, & it rhymed. I welcome your constructive criticism. [Just remember my ongoing, fragile, mental & emotional instability.]

There Is No Place Like Nebraska!

• Our weather forecasters have been scarily accurate lately. I shoveled 3-5" of global climate change off Lois' side of the driveway this morning, because it was her birthday, & that's just the kind of husband I am. [I also told her that we seriously need to consider buying our first snowblower for next snow season. She said that she would begin saving Menard's * SCRIP.]
• According to weather.com, at 8:38a (cst), when I finished scooping & pushing snow, the air temperature in Norfolk, NE, was 7. The wind chill was -10. I should have done a Leckband Temp Challenge, but I had things to do.
• I blogged quite awhile ago about the snit our citizens got into over our new license plates. Many people felt that the image of our sower, which adorns the top of our state capitol building in Lincoln, looked somewhat sexually suggestive. Whatever. A new license plate was designed & is now being distributed. I'll say this much . . . It is a very generic looking license plate. "Nebraska" is in white letters on a dark blue background along the top. The rest of the license plate is in white. The sower's outline is traced in blue in the background of this white, but it is so faint, that you have to get within 3-5 ft. in order to see it. As you might expect, this means you either see it on foot, or your other option is to tailgate dangerously close. Whatever whatever.
• From Omaha World Herald (2/7):  "New UNL pantry fills need, stomachs. The UNL's new food pantry is looking to provide more than a quick fix for student hunger. The Huskers Helping Huskers Pantry+ also is trying to address the root of student poverty . . . " [Yes, our students have better things to do with their time than planning & holding protest marches, &, yes, students can help themselves to more than just corn at this food pantry.]

* This is NOT a paid, product placement.

Alaska?

From Norfolk Daily News (1/20):  "(Anchorage)-59 takes toll on cars, pipes, state of mind. Cynthia Erickson woke up early, hoping her four furnaces were working. She owns a grocery store & the building that houses the post office in the village of Tanana, AK, which ranked as the coldest place in the state WED. The official temp at the airport w/a single gravel runway was -54. Nearby, along the Yukon River, it was 5 degrees colder . . . [OK, that's pretty cold . . . but Alaskawanians are used to their weather, right?]

Hawaii?

Hawaii may have its whale migration, but geese have been migrating for almost a month now. Yes, whales are majestic, especially when they breech or come right up to your tour boat. However, it costs a lot of money to go on a whale tour. Plus, it's illegal to approach a whale. It's OK if a whale approaches you. You also can't hear sounds that a whale makes. You can hear geese honking, which is especially eerie when they're flying overhead at night or in the clouds. Plus you can see literally hundreds, maybe thousands of geese flying overhead in V-formations. To the best of my knowledge, whales do not migrate in V-formations. Geese also gather by the hundreds, maybe thousands in corn fields within easy view of highways & byways. And snow geese are beautiful, especially when they are illuminated by moonlight or when the sun's rays hit them when they're aloft in the early morning hours.
      And don't get me started on the annual sandhill crane migration, which will start next month.

Criminal Minds

Also from NDN (2/2):  "Officials:  Don't scoop snow onto street. The snow had barely stopped falling in Norfolk last week when hardy scoopers were out in front of their homes pushing snow off their sidewalks. Some people like to scoop it before it's tromped on. Others like to wait to make sure the last flakes have fallen so they aren't doing the same job twice.
      "Shane Wiedner, City of Norfolk administrator, said . . . 'you don't push it onto the city streets. You can be fined for doing so . . . " [I'll make a deal with the City of Norfolk. IF I shovel snow into the street, don't issue a ticket to me, & I won't make a citizens' arrest of any city snow plow driver who pushes snow onto my driveway entrance, forcing me to shovel my way out again, wasting my time, risking permanent injury to my back. I believe the charge could be "obstruction of justice."]

Wednesday Whimsy

• Ditto NDN (2/4):  "Basketball closer to ending ban on headgear. The international group that governs BB is close to eliminating a longstanding ban on religious headgear in competition, clearing the way for athletes to wear hijab & yarmulkes in international competition . . . " [I get it, but what happens when players who practice the ancient Norse religion insist on wearing Viking helmets?]
• Ditto NDN (2/6):  "Pee-wee football:  No more tackling? Growing evidence of a link between FB hits & brain injuries has led all 50 states to pass laws aimed at protecting young people from concussions, but a NY lawmaker wants to go even further--banning tackle FB . . . " [Concussions are a serious issue, & I'm all for doing whatever we can to prevent them in both young & old. I can neither confirm nor deny that a CA legislator has introduced a bill to replace soccer balls w/beach balls in CA youth soccer leagues.]

Wonderful, Wide World of Wacky Celebrities

Ditto NDN (1/27):  "Shia LaBeouf arrest. Actor SLB was arrested in NYC early THU after he got into an altercation w/another man during a performance art project that has seen him chanting 'He will not divide us' in front of a live camera since DT's 1st day as president . . . " [Shia La Who?]
Ditto NDN (2/7 & 2/8):  "Coming to Omaha. Lady Gaga followed her lauded Super Bowl halftime performance w/the announcement of a world tour, which includes a stop at CenturyLink Center Omaha on Aug. 19 . . . Tickets to see her in Omaha go on sale 2/13 at 10:00a via Ticketmaster . . . 
      "Lady Gaga sees jump in digital sales following Super Bowl. The Super Bowl was a triumph for fans of the New England Patriots but it also became very lucrative for Lady Gaga. The superstar singer who performed at the halftime show sold about 150,000 digital albums & songs in the U.S. on SUN, a 1,000% increase over the day before, according to Nielsen Music . . . " [I didn't watch the Super Bowl. I did watch her performance on You Tube. It was quite entertaining. It was patriotic. I saw a link on FB that she was roundly criticized by TDSFs * because she didn't get political. All reasons why I can hardly wait for tickets to go on sale in August. **]
* Trump Deranged Syndrome Fanatics
** That doesn't mean that I will buy tickets to see her perform.

Fighting Fake News . . . You Be the Judge

Also from OWH (1/30):  "Obama nears Reagan in poll of greatest modern president. Two years ago, Barack Obama was a damaged-goods, lame-duck president who had just endured his 2nd consecutive midterm drubbing--thanks in large part to GOP efforts to tie Democrats to him & his eponymous * health care law. Today, Obama is virtually tied for 1st place in a new poll of the greatest modern president.
      "The Quinnipiac University poll indicates that 29% say Obama is the greatest president since WW II--just shy of the 30% who cite Ronald Reagan, the long-standing title holder . . . " * Rather than flaunt my vaunted vocabulary, I'll let you check out the definition of "eponymous" at dictionary.com.