Starting Music for Monday, Feb. 28th, 2022
Aloha world! A special happy birthday to my cousin’s daughter! Here in the Hall of Fame city located in NE Ohio (USA), it is Monday, Feb. 28th –the 59th day of the year. We have sunny skies and no snow on the ground. Following are the weather stats from 8:15 a.m.
Sunrise = 07:00 hours; yesterday = 07:02 hours
Sunset = 18:15 hours; yesterday = 18:14 hours
Forecast high = 40; yesterday = 42; actual = 43
Forecast low = 23; yesterday = 26; actual = 23
Winds = E, 0-7 mph; yesterday = SW, 5-15 mph
Barometric Pressure = 30.28; yesterday = 30.53
Humidity = 74%; yesterday = 61%
Precipitation yesterday = 0.00”; previous day = 0.01”
Snowfall yesterday = 0.00”; previous day = 0.40”
Official snow depth yesterday = 0.00”; previous day = Trace
Moon phase = Waning Crescent (6.4%); yesterday = Waning Crescent (12.2%)
Moonrise = 06:11 hours; yesterday = 05:25 hours
Moonset = 15:52 hours; yesterday = 14:37 hours
ASTRONOMY
This evening, those of you with clear skies and a decent telescope or binoculars, can watch the Moon pass south of Saturn. Check out the less visible portion of Luna –that’s Earthshine (sunlight bouncing off the planet) making it visible. If you were up early (or plan to be up early tomorrow), Mercury hits the aphelion point (furthest away from the Sun) in its orbit. From our vantage point, it also appears to be getting closer to Saturn. Happy slewing!
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 = 5,316; yesterday = 7,255; running total = 128,559 (17 days)
THOUGHTS
Things that I find ironic:
Irony #01 – Saying immigration is bad because it can skew elections, but backing a regime that is taking advantage of a former regime’s action in the same vein. This former (but idealistically similar regarding national policies) regime ethnically cleansed (via famine) an entire section of a neighboring country and poured in millions of their own people to help sway concerns, policies, and elections. This new regime is now claiming that the exact opposite is true and using the lie as a basis for their invasion.
17th Century – Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs. Tsardom of Russia splits Ukraine; east of the Dnieper river becomes the “Left Bank” under Russian Imperial control with fertile farming grounds; west of the Dnieper river becomes the “Right Bank” with more forested lands under Polish rule. You can still somewhat see the diagonal line marking the change in geography. It tends to match the political maps as well. (Left and Right as viewed from Russia and looking South; East and West as viewed on a map or globe).
1793 – Right Bank annexed by Russia; native Ukrainian language banned; citizens coerced to convert to Russian Orthodox faith.
1917 – Communist revolution causes civil war in Ukraine; it is eventually absorbed into the Soviet Union in 1922.
Early 1930s – peasants forced to join collective farms under Stalin; it results in famine and deaths of millions; Stalin then imports large numbers of Russians and Soviet citizens with no ties to native Ukrainian culture or language.
1991 – Soviet Union collapses; Ukraine attempts to unite as a whole country, but ‘Russian’ Ukrainian citizens prefer to align with Russia.
2004 – Orange Revolution: thousands of ‘Right Bank’ citizens march to support greater integration with Europe.
2014 – Crimea in the South annexed by Russia.
Those who forget history are doomed to allow it to repeat, if not repeat it themselves.
Moving onward..
STUFF THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE
1849 – 1st boat load of gold prospectors from the E. coast arrive in San Francisco
1933 – Adolf Hitler advises German President Paul von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree after the Reichstag building in Berlin is destroyed by fire, thus eliminating many civil liberties the German citizens had
1947 – The catalyst that sets off the White Terror in Taiwan begins
1960 – Team USA wins its first Olympic hockey gold medal on their home turf in Squaw Valley vs. Czechoslovakia
1976 – Natalie Cole becomes the 1st African-American to win Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards
1997 – I made the 11th of 18 payments on my first home PC (my first use of a computer was the Apple IIe models at Maplewood in 1985)
BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DATE
1890 – Joe Malone (NHL; record-holder for most goals in one game: 7)
1901 – Linus Pauling (chemist; peace activist)
1971 – Nigel Godrich (musician; producer; recording engineer)
1989 – Remmi (a. k. a. Rachel Smith; musician)
1999 – Luka Dončić (NBA; Dallas Mavericks All-Star guard)
SPORTS (TEAMS I FOLLOW SOMEWHAT CLOSELY)
NBA (upcoming)
Cleveland Cavaliers (36-24) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (32-29)
NHL (upcoming)
(No teams that I follow are scheduled)
MLB (upcoming)
(All spring games cancelled through March 07th, otherwise we could be watching/listening to..)
Cleveland Guardians (0-0) vs. Chicago White Sox (0-0)
Texas Rangers (0-0) vs. Colorado Rockies (0-0)
MLS (upcoming)
(No teams that I follow are scheduled)
..and the following collegiate teams..
NCAA Men’s basketball (upcoming)
(No teams that I follow are scheduled)
NCAA Women’s basketball (upcoming)
SMU Mustangs (12-12) vs. Temple Owls (12-13)
Yesterday/last night in professional sports, the Mavs beat the Warriors for an impressive win, the Stars beat the Sabres, and the Blue Jackets almost got by, but couldn’t quite handle the Penguins. In collegiate sports, the Buckeyes looked lost against the Terrapins (credit to their defense), the Mustangs lost to the Cougars, and the Lady Buckeyes beat the Lady Spartans.
FINANCIALS
My itty-bitty portfolio and everything that I’m watching were up at the close of Friday’s markets. Like I said, Wednesday would have been a good day to invest. (NOTE: “overall” below refers to: since I’ve been tracking daily; mid-January for MTCH and T; mid-February for VMEO).
MTCH +$0.18/share; -$2.62/share overall
VMEO +$0.18/share; -$0.15/share overall
T (AT&T) +$0.68/share; -$1.30/share overall
The Minds coins cryptocurrency (based on Ethereum) was down this morning, approximately -$0.09 to ~$1.41/coin; -$1.46/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 one of my favorite versions of a song from the soundtrack that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” This is one of those films that I stumbled upon while flipping channels and later watched on PPV because the section of it that I originally caught was pretty darn entertaining. While I like the soundtrack version of, “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow,” the version by Home Free blew me away when I saw and heard it.
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.
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