January, 2022

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"This Just In..."

Congratulations!

You made it - two years with Covid and you're still hanging in.

Maybe you've had four or five shots and booster, (you might have even gotten vaccinated) or maybe you've decided on another approach to staying healthy. Either way we're happy you're here.

We know January is celebrated for making resolutions. How about yours? Tell us something that you will actually accomplish. Tell us what it is - and we'll publish the five best ones next month.

Till them we wish you health, happiness and a lottery win!

The Wollemi Pine

It's been around since... the freakin' dinosaurs!

In 1994 bushwalker David Noble abseiled off a cliff 150 kilometers northwest of Sydney and found himself in a very deep canyon surrounded by trees with strange serrated leaves and curious bubbly bark.

He took a sample back to his colleagues at the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and discovered that he’d found one of the greatest living fossils of the 20th century, with roots in the age of dinosaurs 110-120 million years ago.

Somehow the species had survived raging brushfires and 17 ice ages, apparently by retreating to a single canyon in a national park.

The location of that canyon has been kept secret to protect the survivors, which numbered only 100 adult trees in three or four patches, but a special auction in 2005 raised more than a million dollars from bidders eager to receive the first trees cultivated from the rare conifers.

Tim Entwistle, executive director of Sydney’s Botanic Gardens Trust, said that when he learned about Noble’s discovery he went through the classic stages of botanical shock: disbelief, amazement, and excitement.

“The Wollemi Pine is a unique reminder that the world is full of undiscovered wonders, that there is a lot more to know about our planet and a lot to protect.”

Buzz Off

The first telephone directory of Philadelphia, published in 1785, contains some odd entries:



‘I won’t tell you,’ -- 3. Maiden’s Lane.

‘I won’t tell it,’ -- 15. Sugar Alley.

‘I won’t tell you my name,’ -- 160. New Market Street.

‘I won’t have it numbered,’ -- 478. Green Street.

‘I won’t tell my name,’ -- 185. St. John’s Street.

‘I shall not give you my name,’ -- 43. Stamper’s Alley.

‘What you please,’ -- 49. Market Street.

Apparently some residents, suspicious of taxation, had refused to identify themselves … so the publishers listed their responses in place of their names in the new phone directory.

C’mon. You know him. He was too freaky for words. And then of course there’s the time he broke into the news in Chicago. Tell us here who he is/was and you may win a $25 Amazon gift card!

Last month winners were Ed C, John Z, Lynn and Rob K, Deb E.   James R and Jen Di. It was Christmas – so there were more winners! Oh and the location was Malaga Spain and our good looking actor was Kunal Nayyar – aka – Raj from The Big Bang Theory.

Please be sure, once that final flake falls, to carve out a path to your fill pipe and make sure that the driveway is clear. Our delivery men will be ever so grateful!

We always talk about making new year’s resolutions. Maybe we’ll lose weight or go see our friend in San Diego or San Marino. If you can’t make up your mind, here are a few suggestions.

• Get your photo taken in five interesting places. ... 
• Learn a decent party trick.  
• Break a record.
• Make a new friend a month.
• Develop a good relationship with your body.  
• Learn something you never learned as a child.
• Try a new food each week.
• Make the usual unusual.

‘The Toaster’ by Ingrid Falk (and Gustavo Aguerre), constructed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, created over 2 days from 3,053 slices of bread, toasted to different degrees of brown

Swedish husband and wife team, artists Gustavo Aguerre and Ingrid Falk created “The Toaster”, a mural of a common household toaster that is over 22 feet wide.

This crispy mosaic was built on-site in 1999 for the First International Art Biennial in Buenos Aires, Argentina but holds a permanent spot at the Museo de Arte Moderno.

Last month we mentioned that energy prices were spiking, in particular, the explosion of pricing for natural gas in Europe. Well, while oil and propane prices in the U.S. have settled a bit thanks to a milder than normal winter (read: less demand) the natural gas market in Europe has gotten worse. 

One report showed the European benchmark pricing shows that  European gas prices have doubled this month and are roughly 15 times what gas is selling for in the United States.

"What we're seeing in natural gas in Europe is going to lead to sustained switching from Nat Gas to oil to generate power," said Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. 

Are we likely to see those kinds of increases in natural gas in the U.S.” Probably not as dramatic but if exports of natural gas from the U.S. increase, it seems likely that oprices will go….up.

See: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/business/europe-natural-gas-prices.html

Mjøstårnet is an 18-storey mixed-use building in Brumunddal, Norway, completed in March 2019. It is officially the world's tallest timber building, at 280 ft tall.

Mjøstårnet translates as "the tower of lake Mjøsa". The building is named after Norway's biggest lake.  It has a combined floor area of around 122,000 sq ft. and offers a hotel, apartments, offices, a restaurant and common areas, as well as a swimming hall in the adjacent first-floor extension. This is about 51,000 sq ft in size and also built in wood.

Mjøstårnet was designed by Norwegian studio Voll Arkitekter for AB Invest. Timber structures were installed by Norwegian firm Moelven Limtre, including load-bearing structures in glued laminated timber. Cross laminated timber were used for stairwells, elevator shafts and balconies.

The Japanese wood products company Sumitomo Forestry is proposing to build the W350 Project a 350 m (1,150 ft), 70-floor tower to commemorate its 350th anniversary in 2041.^[6]

OK, we admit it. We’ve found, what we think is the toughest quiz in the six years we’ve been trying desperately to stump you all.

So….IF you get this right – and IF we pick your name we will DOUBLE THE PRIZE to a $50 Amazon gift card. C’mon it’s cold, gray January. What else do you have to do? If you know what is special about this segment from Great Expectations - Tell us here.

Because we're not cruel: Hint #1 Madam. Hint #2 Nurses Run.

What’s unusual about this passage from Great Expectations? 

It is not much to the purpose whether a gate in that garden wall which I had scrambled up to peep over on the last occasion was, on that last occasion, open or shut. Enough that I saw no gate then, and that I saw one now. As it stood open, and as I knew that Estella had let the visitors out,– for she had returned with the keys in her hand,– I strolled into the garden, and strolled all over it.

If you’re thinking about ways to save on utilities – and who isn’t? – now is the perfect time to reach out to Rich DeLorenze. He’s our go-to guy for all things solar and he has a great New Year’s Program that, if you and your home qualify, offers the following:

• Install a solar system with NO out of pocket cost.

• Guarantee your Electric RATE WILL BE LOWER than your current provider.

• Warrantee, insure, maintain and service your system at NO COST.

• Cap your rate for the term of your agreement.

• Reduce your DELIVERY charges.

Plus he will do an Energy Audit - at No Cost to further help you reduce energy losses. His company has done more than 70,000 installations! And Now...

Customers will receive a

$500 Incentive Check!

You want details - naturally.

Call us and ask to speak with Rich DeLorenze

860 813 9122

It’s a new year. So we thought we’d be nice and give you a really easy one to help you ease into January. Tell us where we are and you may find one of those $25 Amazon gift cards in your mailbox.

Andrew Clemens (1857 – 1894) was a sand artist from Iowa in the United States. Clemens formed his pictures by compressing natural colored sands inside chemists' jars to create his works of art.

He would collect naturally colored grains of sand from an area in Pikes Peak State Park known as Pictured Rocks. At Pictured Rocks, the basal portion of the sandstone near the Sand Cave is naturally colored by iron and mineral staining. Clemens separated the sand grains into piles, by color, and used them to form the basis for his art.

He inserted the presorted grains of sand into small glass drug bottles using homemade tools formed out of hickory sticks and florists wire. His process utilized no glue. When Clemens completed a sand bottle he sealed the bottle with a stopper and wax.

Andrew returned to McGregor [Iowa] to live year-round after a fire at the State School for the Deaf destroyed the dorm where he had lived. He showed his work at the Saint Paul Dime Museum in 1889. His artwork sold for $5–7 at the time. More about Andrew here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Clemens - What incredible patience he must have had.

Is it me or does the pound of coffee now weigh 10 or 12 oz?

The box of cornflakes filled nearly to the middle.

The baker’s dozen mean only 12?

And…the 2 by 4….well that’s long gone!

Can't help but notice how...things seem to have changed. Thoughts?

Click here for full size image

From White Castle Hiring Guide 1960-ish. (Does seem funny that you'd have to suggest cleaning all your fingernails, but hey...)

Smile: 103

Laugh: 65

Joke: 58

Chuckle: 31

Humor: 10

Amusement: 9

Cheer:7

Delight: 7

Twinkle: 7

Miscellaneous: 19

Total: 316.

The explanation, they suggest , is that Watson was deaf.

(A.G.Cooper, Holmesian Humour," Sherlock Holmes Journal 6:4( spring 1964), 109-113;Charles E. Lauterbach and Edward S. Lauterbach, "The Man Who Seldom Laughed," Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual No.5 [1960], 265-271.)