OH MON

Oh Mon.  That sounds like something you would hear in Jamaica.  Here in the States, we say "Oh Man."  Chris Columbus was the first Euro to see the beautiful island and the Spanish owned it until the 1600s when Great Britian took it away and taught the locals to speak with a British accent.  Thus, they say "Mon" instead of "Man".  In 1962, the Jamaican people had enough of the Brits and achieved their independence.  The still say "Mon."  

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here's the unrelated story.  There is a country in the Middle East called Oman.  It is pronounced, "Oh mon'" and it is a sultanate i.e. governed by a Sultan in the capital city of Muscat.  It sits on the Arabian Peninsula and is boardered by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emerites (UAE), Yemen, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.  Just like we have Alaska disjointed from the original 48 by Canada, Oman has two little exclaves separated from the main country by UAE.  Significantly, one of those, called Musandam, sits at the tip of the peninsula and it the promontory land extending into the Strait of Harmuz. 

Now my madness is coming clear, isn't it?  Isn't it?  Oh Mon Oman!  Luckily, we are friendly with the Omanis.  Sadly, the Omanis are friendly with the Iranis.  Oman is 86% Muslim and Iran is 99% but the Sunni and Shia mix is different.  From Oman to Iran is just a few mile swim.  Where does their loyalty lie?  That is an important question.  Oh mon, I'm confused.  

Remember this:  Oman has been governed by the same family since 1744;  the Al Bu Said dynasty. Their motto is:  Whatever Al Bu Said was the law.  

TIDBITS

 TID BITS

Here's a fact you can stump your friends with.  The Masters Championship played last week at Augusta National Golf Course is the premiere event in the long golf season.  Anyway, who holds the record for lowest score on that course?  Amazingly, it is an amateur and not one you're likely to have heard of.  His name is Jefferson B.A. Knox.  Jeff is a club member there and is considered the best amateur golfer in the state of Georgia.  They use Jeff to play with the pros at the Masters when there is an odd number of players on a Saturday -  as a pacer.  Anyway, he has recorded a 61 on the course, 11 under par.  No pro has done that. 

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I'm embarrassed at how many times I have placed a half cup of coffee in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm it and find the cup there the next day.  Talk about short term memory!  Talk about being easily distracted!  If you have done it, you're not alone.

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Hope everyone got their taxes submitted to the IRS by yesterday.  When the Federal Income Tax was first introduced in 1913, the taxes had to be submitted by March 1 of the following year.  In 1918, they changed the date to March 15.  In 1955, the date was changed to April 15.

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By the way, what is a "tid"?   If you don't know, ask a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or Latin student.  

WORDS

When I was a kid, the purported longest word in the English language was Antidisestablishmentarianism.  It meant that a state church, (at the time it was the Church of England) should not be disestablished or broken away or separated from the state.  It's a word that is still in use.  I count 28 letters.  

This may not be legal but there is a lake on the common border between Connecticut and Massachusetts with this name:  Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaug Lake.  I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly but who could challenge me?  The person who coined the name evidently had a stuttering problem or some mental block that wouldn't let him stop.  My guess is that this has Indian origin.  If I counted correctly, there are 44 letters.  Whatever peoples used this language must have perished trying to teach their children to read and write.  I'm told the locals call it Webster Lake (maybe because there is a whole Websters dictionary included in the name).   The name is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

SMILE, IT'S THURSDAY.   YOU'RE OVER THE HUMP!

MIDWEEK PRAYER

I'm borrowing from Elvis Presley for this week's prayer.  You can say it if you like, but if you fancy yourself a singer and no one is around, give it a go.  Think about the words.   

I believe for every drop of rain that falls,

a flower grows.

I believe that somewhere in the darkest night,

a candle glows.

I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come,

to show the way.

I believe, I believe.

I believe above a storm, the smallest prayer

can still be heard.

I believe that someone in the great somewhere

hears every word.

 

Everytime I hear a new born baby cry

or touch a leaf or see the sky

then I know why

I believe

Happy tax day!

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Last Tuesday, I entered a diddy with the same subject.   This one goes with it.  You may have heard this before, but I always think about it, and you should too, when you hear our representatives in government squabbling about the budget - especially, budget limits.  Here's how ridiculous it gets - put into other terms.

If your neighborhood had a sanitary sewer main get stopped up and all the sewers backed up into your ranch style house, what would you do?  As the sewage was rising up out of your sinks and toilets; as it came up to cover the floor; as it raised above the floors so it was trying to get out of your windows and doors; as it almost completely filled the house; what, pray tell, would you do?  Well, the U.S. government would raise the ceiling.  We've got to stop this kind of thinking.  We've got to get the shit out of the house.  The only answer is Term Limits!

REDS

 I went to the Reds game with my daughter and her family yesterday.  It was enjoyable, but not because of the stellar play of the Reds.  Catch this:  we left to go home and watch The Masters on TV and the Reds scored six runs after we had gone and still lost by three.

It takes a lot to own and run a major league baseball team.  Here is an expense you might have overlooked.  The Reds own seven minor league teams - yes, seven!  Here they are from the top down.

AAA  Louisville Bats

AA  Chattanooga Lookouts

High A  Dayton Dragons

Low A  Daytona Tortugas

Rookie Arizona Complex League Reds

Rookie Dominican Summer League Reds

Rookie Dominican Summer League Rojos

These teams don't make money for the organization but you can't get by without them..

TID BITS

 TIDBITS

I noted that the musical artist born Kanye West was denied entrance into Great Britan for a concert.  He was once the wealthiest of all musical artists.  The hip-hop rapper and former husband of Kim Kardashian has changed his name.  Of course, Kanye was pronounced "con yay."  His new name is Ye pronounced "yay". I think calling himself Kan pronounced "con" would have been more appropriate. 

To justify their efforts, several comedians and many runners have expressed the facetious sentament "I love the smell of Bengay in the morning."  It is a takeoff of Robert Duvall's famous line from the movie about the Vietnam War called Apocalypse Now: "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."  Napalm is a jellied gasoline substance used to make incendiary bombs. BTW, why do cats love the smell of Bengay?

The Reds were on their way to setting a strange record until Wednesday night.  They had not misplayed a batted ball into an error for the whole season - 11 games.  Well, the record is no more even though they still haven't misplayed a batted ball.  Brady Singer, the Reds' pitcher, twice threw wildly from the pitcher's mound to a base trying to pick-off a baserunner.  

By the way, what is a "tid" anyway? 

  

(Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and Latin scholars are not allowed to contribute to this answer.)  

OH RATS

 I read this a few days ago.  Stick with it.  It's sobering.

There is a type of rat called the African pouched rat.  They call it pouched because it has fat cheeks in which it can hold it's food something like a chipmunk.  That's not the amazing thing about pouched rats - it's that they are smart.  Very smart.  

Just like we have learned to train dogs to detect drugs and explosives, a bunch of these rats were trained to detect TNT.  And why did anyone train them?  They are light weight.  They are used to find buried land mines - many of them are being employed in Cambodia.  They are too light to triger the land mines but can smell the explosives in them and will stop and dig for it when they smell it.  They get a treat.  

The real amazing thing about this story is that they are estimating 3 million land mines remain in that country from the Vietnam war.  The Viet Cong used to sneak through Cambodia to get from the North into South Vietnam.  That is an amazing number.  The rats can find them a lot faster and safer than we can by any other means.  The kicker is that Cambodia says they have had some 20,000 people killed and about 40,000 injured from land mines left there since 1979.  

This is a tragedy.  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

Well, we've gotten past Lent and Easter.  Not much to pray for - for a while; cough, cough.  

You say you're tired of all this praying, business.  Okay, here's an easy way to stay in the game.  Tomorrow, when you flip your legs out of bed and onto the floor, instead of saying "Oh no, another day." or "Oh, shit, I'm late." or even smelling if the coffee is ready, say "Thank you, Lord, for another day.  I'll try to do better than yesterday."

Now, that wasn't hard, was it?  Hope you're having a great day.  I'm pretty sure, I am.  

Be positive!

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

U.S. Government Fiscal statistics - and how not ot handle your money.

U.S. Tax Revenue:  $5,230,000,000,000.00

U.S. Federal Budget:  $7,010,000,000,000.00

New U.S. Debt:  $1,780,000,000,000.00

Total U.S. Debt:  $37,600,000,000,000.00

Butdget Cuts:  $215,000,000,000.00

To put this into numbers you can better understrand and relate to your household, knock off the last eight zeroes before the decimal point.  This changes trillions to thousands.   Here's what you have.

Your annual income:  $52,300.00

Money you spent:  $70,100.00

New debt on your credit cards:  $17,800.00

Total outstanding balance on your credit cards:  $376,000.00

Amount you saved this year:  $21.50

MONDAY QUESTIONS

One of the really big questions today is:  "Did the kids find all the eggs I hid?"  I think it could be pretty bad if a real egg or a candy egg was left in the house or yard.

Another question you may be pondering:  "Is it really a good thing that it rained on Easter?"

Agricultural communities thought it was a positive sign that meant there would be sufficient rains for their crops throughout the growing season.

How about this one:  "Is it time to plant flowers outside yet?"  Probably not if you live in my neck of the woods.  More frost or freezing is surely coming.  

EASTER

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

SMILE!  I LOVE YOU.

GOOD FRIDAY

 I can't do better than last year.

4/18/2025

GOOD FRIDAY

 "The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to answer the weary a word that will awaken them.  Morning after morning He wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; the Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away."

These are the words of Isaiah, the prophet, which I've heard read several times during this and every lenten season.  This is verses 4 and 5 from chapter 50.  A lot goes on before and after these lines.  Check it out sometime.  Isaiah is not only a part of all Christian bibles but also the Bible of Judaism, the Quran of Islam, and several newly formed religions.

For me, my tongue is not "well-trained."  I almost never know the right words to say to the weary.  My ears are always open but I'm never sure I hear what I should hear.  At least I try to be persistent in my attempt to do what is right; fail though I may.  

Here's my attempt today.  

Be at peace, friends.  There is nothing more important today than contemplating the passion and death of Jesus

PASSOVER

Passover started at sundown, yesterday.  It's a weeklong celebration remembering the Isrealite's escape from slavery in Egypt.  It is the reason Jesus and His disciples met for a meal - Jesus' last.  

We're now in the last days leading up to Easter.  Today, the Last Supper and the betrayal of Judas.  Tomorrow, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the hoax of a trial, the carrying of the cross, the nails driven through the hands and feet, the sword piercing His side, His death and burial.  The next day He lays in the tomb.  The following day, Sunday,  He walks away.  No mention of eggs.  No mention of rabbits.  No mention of colored baby chicks.  No mention of candy.  Believe it or not.

  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

No April Fool's joke today.  This week is too important.  

I've been doing this Midweek Prayer thing for several years now.  Hope it helps those who feel like they cannot pray without something to guide them -  like saying the same prescription prayers all the time.  There's nothing exactly wrong with that - at least you are praying.  Today, I'm suggesting you read this word for word - it may help.

God, I don't know how to pray.  Help me.

That's all.   Remember, be persistent.  See what happens.