Starting Music for March 9th, 2022
Aloha world! Here in the Hall of Fame city located in NE Ohio (USA), it is Wednesday, Mar. 9th –the 68th day of the year. On this National Meatball/Barbie/Crabmeat/Get Over It Day, we are starting with cloudy skies. Following are the weather stats from 9:15 a.m.
Sunrise = 06:46 hours; yesterday = 06:48 hours
Sunset = 18:25 hours; yesterday = 18:24 hours
Forecast high = 34; yesterday = 42; actual = 41
Forecast low = 34; yesterday = 31; actual = 31
Winds = NE, 0-5 mph; yesterday = NW, 0-10 mph
Barometric Pressure = 29.94; yesterday = 30.23
Humidity = 76%; yesterday = 64%
Precipitation yesterday = Trace; previous day = 1.96*”
* - that’s the most I’ve tracked going back to November of last year!
Snowfall yesterday = Trace; previous day = Trace
Official snow depth yesterday = 0.00”; previous day = 0.00”
Moon phase = Waxing Crescent (42.1%); yesterday = Waxing Crescent (32.5%)
Moonrise = 10:23 hours; yesterday = 09:50 hours
Moonset = 00:53 hours; yesterday = N/A (after midnight)
ASTRONOMY
For those of you with a decent telescope or very strong binoculars and clear skies in the evening/overnight can see the pairing of the Moon and the dwarf planet Ceres (bigger than Pluto). Look to the western sky shortly after sunset in the Taurus the Bull constellation. Ceres will be between the Moon and the Pleiades (M45).
While you are gazing in the general direction of Taurus, look around the rest of the constellation as it offers a lot of deep-sky objects to check out, including the dark nebula Barnard 19 (you may have to wait a little later in the month for this).
For those of you without a telescope, binoculars, or clear skies, check out this interactive virtual sky map: https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php
ONLINE SECURITY
I opt out of all unnecessary cookies, don’t do those ‘what kind of animal are you?’-type surveys, don’t ‘like’ posts my friends/family share if I can’t find/don’t trust the source, and avoid most of the ‘big media’ sites. Nonetheless, I still have to remove trackers every morning:
Today = 8,233; yesterday = 10,062; running total = 192,700 (24 days)
THOUGHTS
Things that I find ironic:
Irony #09 – Those that like to post about ‘following the money’ not doing exactly that. Who has the most to gain with the current high gas prices? It’s certainly not the current administration because they know it’s political suicide. In my opinion, what we are witnessing is those who want this administration to look weak managing to do just that. They are using savvy social media tactics to get you to agree that it’s all the current Commander-In-Chief’s fault. That’s low-hanging fruit. When is it ever that simple? Low gas prices go hand-in-hand with lifer politicians that have Big Oil and Wall Street in their back pocket being in charge. And they use that club to beat us over the head into submission time and time again. “Put us back in power or suffer or wrath on your wallets!” It’s like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Here’s an example (and keep in mind it’s not really the President wielding the power):
Early 1976 – George H.W. Bush appointed head of CIA by President Ford.
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.96
Early 1977 – Bush’s tenure ends when Jimmy Carter elected President, casting him out of public office for the 1st time since the 60s. (Think he wasn’t a little miffed?) He becomes chairman of the First International Bank of Houston. Carter was not known to have close ties to Big Oil or Wall St.
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.94
1981 to 1988 – H.W. serves as Vice President to Ronald Reagan
1981 Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $2.97 (right after Carter’s presidency)
1989 Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.70
1988 to 1992 – Serves as President; invades Panama; forms coalition for the Gulf War; famously said, “Read my lips. No new taxes,” then went on to raise taxes. (Think Wall St. wasn’t happy about that?)
1990 Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.89
1994 Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.65
1999 – President Clinton’s last year in office (The Clintons were known to have ties with Wall Street)
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.60
2000 – H.W.’s son, then Governor of Texas and known to have ties with Big Oil, gets elected President
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $1.75
2008 – His son’s last year as President (you can almost hear Big Oil screaming in his ear, “You owe us!”)
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $3.61
2015 – President Obama’s last year in office after ‘getting in bed’ with Wall Street
Gas price corrected for 2015 dollar value: $2.45
Other than getting financial backing from Wall Street for election, Joe Biden is not known to have close ties with Wall Street or Big Oil. I’m not saying there aren’t any, it’s just not as obvious as it has been with former presidents. As a matter of fact, the U.A.E. has turned a cold shoulder and refused to take his calls to increase output. You can’t help but think it’s at least partly because he has never been a huge supporter of either. Let’s not forget that Russia has a war to finance.
The funny thing is, this is all very shortsighted by Big Oil. A huge shift to electric vehicles is on the horizon, and they are only speeding up that change. Cities have huge fleets of trucks to run and, like most of us, can’t afford continued high prices. The city I live in has been running hydrogen-powered buses for several months now.
Big Oil is running on fear and sacrificing any shot at long-term viability for huge temporary profits at our expense. Again, it feels like a temper-tantrum. “You want electric vehicles? Take that! We’re going to get ours and we don’t give a flip about you!”
Moving onward..
STUFF THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE
1497 – 1st modern recording of an astronomical event (Nicolaus Copernicus)
1522 – In the German city of Wittenberg, Martin Luther begins to preach his “Invocavit Sermons” as a reminder to citizen’s to trust God’s word (the true meaning; not the often distorted view people twist for their own agendas) over violence.
1891– The Great Blizzard of 1891 hits England
1979 – Bowie Kuhn (MLB Commissioner) orders equal access to be given to female reporters
1987 – The 5th album from U2 is released, “The Joshua Tree”
1988 – UNICEF appoints actress Audrey Hepburn as Special Ambassador
1997 – My friends and I redeemed ourselves in the loser’s bracket by going 2-0 after starting 0-2 at the World Foot Locker Hoop-It-Up in Dallas (North Park Mall). We finished in 5th place out of 16 teams.
2020 – Italy announces nation-wide shutdown over COVID-19
BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DATE
1910 – American composer Samuel Barber
1930 – American Jazz composer/saxophonist Ornette Coleman
1934 – 1st man in space, Russian Yuri Gagarin
1943 – American chess player/world champion Bobby Fischer
1970 – Specialist Melissa Rathbun-Nealy (PoW Medal; 1st ever enlisted female interred as a PoW)
1976 - Venezuelan human rights activist Thor Halvorssen
2003 – American Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee (All-around Gold 2021)
SPORTS (TEAMS I FOLLOW SOMEWHAT CLOSELY AND ROOT FOR)
NBA (upcoming)
The Dallas Mavericks (40-25) vs. New York Knicks (27-38) –it’s a trap! (again)
NHL (upcoming)
(no games for my teams scheduled)
MLB (upcoming)
(All spring games cancelled through March 7th; 1st two regular-season series for all MLB teams cancelled. The people in charge are tone-deaf: millionaires arguing over money while much of the world, especially those who rely on MLB sales, struggle to make ends meet. Baseball was already falling behind in popularity, this ain’t helping. If not for their greed we could be watching/listening to..)
Cleveland Guardians (0-0) –not! They had the day off anyway
Texas Rangers (0-0) –not! They had the day off anyway
MLS (upcoming)
Mar. 12th – Columbus Crew (1-1-0) vs. Toronto FC (0-1-1)
Mar. 12th – FC Dallas (0-1-1-) vs. Nashville SC (1-1-0)
..and the following collegiate teams..
NCAA Men’s basketball (upcoming)
(no games for my teams scheduled)
NCAA Women’s Basketball Division Championships Tournament
(upcoming; bracket numbers = team’s seed where applicable)
[3] Akron Zips (16-10) vs. [6] Bowling Green Falcons (15-14)
[5] SMU Mustangs (14-13) vs. [1] UCF Knights (23-3)
Yesterday/last night in professional sports, the Cavs pulled out a solid win against the Pacers, but the Stars couldn’t keep the Predators out of their own end and lost a close one.
In collegiate sports, the Lady Mustangs pulled off the upset over the Lady Owls and move on to face the Lady Knights!
FINANCIALS
My itty-bitty portfolio and everything that I’m watching are mostly seeing positive results this morning. (NOTE: “overall” below refers to: since I’ve been tracking daily; mid-January for MTCH and T; mid-February for VMEO).
MTCH +$5.89/share; -$20.77/share overall (soon to be replaced; seems the things I find on my own –like NOA and VMEO -perform better than most “expert” picks)
VMEO +$0.59/share; -$0.50/share overall
T (AT&T) -$0.12/share; -$1.76/share overall
The Minds coins cryptocurrency (based on Ethereum) was up slightly again this morning, approximately +$0.07 to ~$1.38/coin; -$1.49/coin overall
Check out Stockpile for traditional shares because you can order by a dollar amount instead of whole shares and build from there.
THE WRAP/MUSICAL START
Well, that’s a wrap. I’ll be starting the day off with “Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2. This is the 4th track on the album ‘The Joshua Tree’ (1987). Although originally written for a specific conflict, the band would afterward perform it as kind of a protest to political conflicts and violence. The final verses note the irony of the people running from the bombs dropped by American planes straight into the arms of America. You reap what you sow.
Remember, Fear is the Mind-Killer, Don’t Panic, Keep Your Head Right with Ball, and May God be gracious to you and bless you and make His face shine upon you.
TAGS
#DarkNebula #Barnard19 #SkyMap ##bloatware #truth #FollowTheMoney #BigOil #WallStreet
