Paul Harvey's Letter To His Grandchildren

TNT:

Mot:  PAUL HARVEY'S LETTER TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN ...............

PAUL HARVEY'S LETTER TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

 I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches.. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

 I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

 When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

 On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

 I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy / girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

 May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

 I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it... And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he/she is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

 May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

 These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Strawberry Supermoon and 5 Planets Aligned

The strawberry supermoon will brighten skies this week

It is the first of three supermoons this summer.

By Kasha Patel    June 10, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. EDT

Move aside, baseball season. Never mind, beach season. For astronomy nerds, this summer marks supermoon season.

On Tuesday night, sky watchers will witness the first of three summer supermoons. A supermoon occurs when a full moon also happens to be at its closest distance to Earth in its orbit, known as perigee. Supermoons appear brighter and larger to us on Earth, providing spectacular nighttime gazing if skies are clear.

The moon will appear full starting Sunday night but will technically reach full illumination Tuesday at 7:52 a.m. Eastern.

At around 7:24 p.m. Tuesday, the moon will be close enough to our Earth to be a supermoon. It will come within 222,238 miles of Earth (about 16,000 miles closer than its average distance) and could be about 7 percent larger and 15 percent brighter than a regular full moon.

While the criteria for a supermoon will be met Tuesday, the moon will appear full and bright in the night sky Monday through Wednesday. Check timeanddate.com for local moonrise and moonset times.

Five planets are aligned in night sky for first time in 18 years

This month’s full moon will also be the lowest full moon of the year, hovering only 23.3 degrees above the horizon Wednesday at 1:56 a.m. Eastern, according to NASA. Binoculars, a telescope or an excellent camera may help you spot craters and mountains on the lunar surface.

While the moon will appear larger and brighter, it will also accentuate low and high tides on Earth. Research suggests that decades of supermoons have been shown to heighten erosion risk on sandy beaches.

June’s full moon is commonly known as the “strawberry” moon, a name given by the Algonquin Native American tribe in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada and describing the short strawberry harvesting season in the region. European names include honey moon and rose moon, referring to honey harvesting and roses blooming during that time.

Although supermoons are not exceedingly rare, they do not occur every month. A full moon happens every 29.5 days, while the moon hits perigee every 27 days, overlapping occasionally. June’s supermoon follows another one in May.

Next month’s full moon, known as the Buck Moon, will occur July 13 and will also be a supermoon. The moon will be within 222,089 miles of Earth and is the closest supermoon of the year. August’s supermoon will occur around the 12th.

The strawberry supermoon is only one exciting celestial event occurring in June. The summer solstice on June 21 marks the astronomical end of spring and start of summer. On June 24, before dawn, sky watchers can also see Earth’s five closest planetary neighbors in a row for the first time in 18 years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/10/supermoon-strawberry-full-moon-june/

Five planets are aligned in night sky for first time in 18 years

Throughout June, you can see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in a row with your naked eye

June 7, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. EDT

In June, Mercury (not shown in diagram), Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will align in a diagonal. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The best planetary party in 18 years has begun. Like a 17th-century astronomer, you can join it by just looking up.

Throughout June, sky watchers can see Earth’s five closest planetary neighbors in a row with their naked eyes. About half an hour before sunrise, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are aligned in their natural order from the sun stretching in a diagonal starting low in the east. On June 3 and 4, the distance between Mercury and Saturn was only 91 degrees.

 “Planets are often getting closer to each other and farther away from each other, but this is just a particularly fun order. It’s just coincidence,” said Michelle Thaller, an astronomer at NASA. “It’s just kind of this really sort of fun tour of the solar system that you can take for free.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/06/07/planet-sky-conjunction-june-five/

Memorial Day Tribute

Memorial Day Tribute

Posted by JDTolle at KTFA From Dinar Recaps Archives

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America.  Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead.

It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.

The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.  On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Red Poppies

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When she returned to France she made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women.

This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help.

Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their “Buddy” Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.

National Moment of Remembrance

The “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

Here are the number of casualties in each U.S. war:

Civil War: Approximately 620,000 Americans died. The Union lost almost 365,000 troops and the Confederacy about 260,000. More than half of these deaths were caused by disease.

World War I: 116,516 Americans died, more than half from disease.

World War II: 405,399 Americans died.

Korean War: 36,574 Americans died.

Vietnam Conflict: 58,220 Americans died. More than 47,000 Americans were killed in action and nearly 11,000 died of other causes.

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm: 148 U.S. battle deaths and 145 non-battle deaths.

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4,422 U.S. service members died.

Operation New Dawn: 66 U.S. service members died.

Operation Enduring Freedom: 2,318 U.S. service members have died as of May 12, 2014.

In remembrance of all those who gave the last full measure of devotion for this great nation and the freedoms we all enjoy today.

Red Skelton Explains "The Pledge of Allegiance"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDnXcw6euIE

The Origin of Mother’s Day: 5 Surprising Facts About the Holiday

The Origin of Mother’s Day: 5 Surprising Facts About the Holiday

Good Housekeeping        April 13, 2020

These days, Mother's Day is all about greeting cards and flowers — but the history is more complex than you might know.

The Origin of Mother’s Day: 5 Surprising Facts About the Holiday

For many people, Mother’s Day is simply a joyous occasion each May, a time to spend with our children and our mothers — marked by flowers, cards, and maybe some mimosas over brunch. So you might be surprised to learn that its cheerful greeting card messages belie a much darker, more complicated origin story. In fact, Mother’s Day traces its roots back to wartime traumas, and includes plenty of controversy.

Here are five surprising facts you may not have known about Mother’s Day and its complex origins.

1) Mother’s Day officially began as a tribute to one woman.

Anna Reeves Jarvis is most often credited with founding Mother’s Day. After her mother Ann died on May 9, 1905, Jarvis set out to create a day that would honor her and moms as a group.

 She began the movement in West Virginia, which prides itself on hosting the first official Mother's Day celebration three years later at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, according to CNN. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Jarvis' idea as a national holiday to be celebrated each second Sunday in May.

2) But before that, Mother’s Day started as an anti-war movement.

Although Jarvis is widely credited as the holiday’s founder, others had floated the idea earlier — with a different agenda in mind, according to National Geographic. The poet and author Julia Ward Howe (pictured here) had aimed to promote a Mothers’ Peace Day decades before.

For her and the antiwar activists who agreed with her position — including Jarvis’ own mother — the idea of Mother’s Day should spread unity across the globe in the wake of so much trauma following the Civil War in America and Franco-Prussian War in Europe.

“Howe called for women to gather once a year in parlors, churches, or social halls, to listen to sermons, present essays, sing hymns or pray if they wished — all in the name of promoting peace,” West Virginia Wesleyan College historian Katharine Antolini noted, as cited by National Geographic.

These early attempts to create a cohesive peace-focused Mother’s Day eventually receded when the other concept took hold.

3) Mother’s Day is a $25 billion commercial holiday.

These days, Mother’s Day is a $25 billion holiday in America, with those who celebrate spending about $200 on mom, according to National Retail Federation data published in 2019.

More people buy flowers for Mother’s Day than any other time of year except during the Christmas and Hanukkah season. Gift givers spend more than $5 billion on jewelry alone, and nearly another $5 billion on that special outing. Then there’s $843 million on cards, and $2.6 billion each on flowers and gift certificates, according to the data.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

 https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/origin-mother-day-5-surprising-175800960/photo-p-many-people-href-https-175800684.html

A Mothers Beatitudes

A Mothers Beatitudes

Author unknown

Blessed is the mother who understands her child, for she will inherit a kingdom of memories.

Blessed is the mother who knows how to comfort, for she shall possess a child of devotion.

Blessed is the mother who guides by the path of righteousness for she shall be proud of her children

Happy Mother's Day - A Beautiful Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVBdF2QU3Kk

 Blessed is the mother who is never shocked, for she will receive and know confidence and security.

Blessed is the mother who teaches respect, for she shall be respected.

Blessed is the mother who looks for the good in things and minimizes the bad, for in like manner the child shall make evaluations.

Blessed is the mother who answers questions honestly for she shall be trusted

Blessed is the mother who treats her child as she would be treated, for her home shall always be filled with happiness.

Blessed is the mother who has character strong enough to withstand the thoughtless remarks and resentment of the growing child, for again in due time she shall be honored.

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Keep Watering Your Bamboo Tree

From Recaps Archives

Keep Watering Your Bamboo Tree

 Eric Aronson 

In the Far East, there is a tree called the Chinese bamboo tree. This remarkable tree is different from most trees in that it doesn't grow in the usual fashion. While most trees grow steadily over a period of years, the Chinese bamboo tree doesn't break through the ground for the first four years.

Then, in the fifth year, an amazing thing happens - the tree begins to grow at an astonishing rate. In fact, in a period of just five weeks, a Chinese bamboo tree can grow to a height of 90 feet. It's almost as if you can actually see the tree growing before your very eyes.

Well, I'm convinced that life often works in a similar way. You can work for weeks, months and  years on your dream with no visible signs of progress and then, all of the sudden, things take off. Your business becomes profitable beyond your wildest dreams. Your marriage becomes more vibrant and passionate than you ever thought it could be. Your contribution to your church, social organization and community becomes more significant than you have ever imagined.

Yet, all of this requires one thing - faith. The growers of the Chinese bamboo tree have faith that if they keep watering and fertilizing the ground, the tree will break through. Well, you must have the same kind of faith in your bamboo tree, whether it is to run a successful business, win a Pulitzer Prize, raise well-adjusted children, or other important endeavors and business you have been nurturing..

You must have faith that if you keep making the calls, honing your craft, reading to your kids, reaching out to your client base, that you too will see rapid growth in the future.

This is the hard part for most of us. We get so excited about the idea that's firmly planted inside of us that we simply can't wait for it to blossom. Therefore, within days or weeks of the initial planting, we can become discouraged and begin to second guess ourselves or outside influence can slow or impair our dream.

Sometimes, in our doubt, we dig up our seed and plant it elsewhere, in hopes that it will quickly rise in more fertile ground. We see this very often in people who change jobs every year or so. We also see it in people who change churches, organizations and even spouses in the pursuit of greener pastures. More often than not, these people are greatly disappointed when their tree doesn't grow any faster in the new location.

Other times, people will water the ground for a time but then, quickly become discouraged. They may even start to wonder if it's worth all of the effort. This is particularly true when they see their neighbors having success with other trees. They start to think, "What am I doing trying to grow a "bamboo" tree? If I had planted a lemon tree, I'd have a few lemons by now." These are the kind of people who return to their old jobs and their old ways. They walk away or abandon their bamboo dream in exchange for a more common "sure thing."

Sadly, what many people fail to realize is that pursuing your dream will be a "sure thing" if you never give up. So long as you keep watering and cultivating your dream, it will come to fruition. It may take weeks, months, years or even much of a lifetime, but eventually, the roots will take hold and your tree will grow. And when it does, it will grow in remarkable ways.

We've seen this happen so many times. Henry Ford had to water his bamboo tree through five business failures before he finally succeeded with the Ford Motor Company.

Richard Hooker had to water his bamboo tree for seven years and through 21 rejections by publishers until his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H became a runaway bestseller, spawning a movie and one of the longest-running television series of all-time.

Another great bamboo grower was the legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro. Arcaro lost his first 250 races as a jockey before going on to win 17 Triple Crown races and 554 stakes races for total purse earnings of more than $30 million. 

 Remember, we all have a bamboo tree inside of us just waiting to break through.  Keep watering and believing and you too can be flying high before you know it.

How to check the Authenticity of the New Iraqi Dinar

Reposted by request…from a Recaps post from 2011.

How to check the Authenticity of the New Iraqi Dinar (25,000 note)

The New Iraqi Dinar was printed by the De La Rue Corporation, the world’s largest integrated commercial security printer and papermaker and the printer of over 150 world currencies. The dinar is available in 50, 250, 1000, 5000, 10000, and 25000 notes (information from 2011).

De La Rue incorporates a number of nearly foolproof countermeasures into the New Iraqi Dinar, including:

• Metallic ink (25K note): The image of a dove is printed in metallic ink on the top left hand corner of the back of the dinar.

• Embedded security thread (25 K note): There should be a metallic security thread embedded into the stock of the Iraqi dinar paper. Note: the security thread is metallic only on the 25,000 dinar note.

• Horse head watermark embedded into each note (all notes): This is one of the easiest security features to check for. Hold the Iraqi dinar up to a bright light source and the image of a horse head should clearly appear. This pattern is embedded, not printed, into the paper.

• Raised lettering

• Denomination’s value glows under Ultra Violet (UV) light. UV lights can be found on Amazon and some hardware stores. In a dimly lit area, hold the UV lamp over the Iraqi dinar. You should clearly see a UV box with writing inside on the back side of the dinar.

• The eight-sided symbol in the bottom left hand corner should change color from purple to green when viewed at different angles.

• Unique Arabic serial numbers: Every dinar has a unique number in East-Arabic script. See conversion chart below to western numerals. Notice the similarities between the 2 and 3 numerals.

"Information Please!" Posted by Mot at TNT

TNT:

Mot: “Information Please,“ ..................

When I was quite young, my family had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished oak case fastened to the wall on the lower stair landing. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I even remembered the number: 105.

I was too little to reach the telephone, but I used to listen with fascination when my mother talked into it. Once she lifted me up to speak to my father, who was away on business. Magic! Then I discovered that somewhere inside that wonderful device lived an amazing person — her name was “Information Please,“ and there was nothing that she did not know.

My mother could ask her for anybody’s number and when our clock ran down, Information Please immediately supplied the correct time.

My first personal experience with this genie-in-the-receiver came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn’t seem to be much use crying because there was no one home to offer sympathy.

 I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. ”Information Please,“ I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two, and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. “Information.” ”I hurt my fingerrr-“ I wailed into the phone.

The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience. ”Isn’t your mother home?“ came the question. “Nobody’s at home but me,” I blubbered. “Are you bleeding?“ ”No,” I replied. “I hit it with the hammer, and it hurts.” ”Can you open your icebox?“ she asked. I said I could. ”Then chip off a little piece of ice, and hold it on your finger. That will stop the hurt. Be careful when you use the ice pick,“ she admonished. “And don’t cry. You’ll be all right.”

After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked for help with my Geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was, and the Orinoco — the romantic river I was going to explore when I grew up. She helped me with my Arithmetic, and she told me that a pet chipmunk — I had caught him in the park just that day before — would eat fruits and nuts. And there was the time that Petey, our pet canary, died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-up say to soothe a child.

But I was unconsoled. Why was it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to whole families, only to end as a heap of feathers feet up, on the bottom of a cage? She must have sensed my deep concern, for she quietly said, ”Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in.“ Somehow, I felt better.

Another day I was at the telephone. ”Information," said the now familiar voice. “How do you spell fix?” “F-I-X.“ At that instant, my sister, who took unholy joy in scaring me, jumped off the stairs at me with a banshee shriek: ”Yaaaaaaaaaa!” I fell off the stool, pulling the receiver out of the box by its roots. We were both terrified — Information Please was no longer there, and I was not at all sure that I hadn’t hurt her when I pulled the receiver out.

Minutes later, there was a man on the porch. “I’m a telephone repairman. I was working down the street, and the operator said there might be some trouble at this number.” He reached for the receiver in my hand. “What happened?“ I told him. ”Well, we can fix that in a minute or two.“

He opened the telephone box, exposing a maze of wires and coils, and fiddled for a while with the end of the receiver cord, tightened things with a small screwdriver. He jiggled the hook up and down a few times, then spoke into the phone. “Hi, this is Pete. Everything’s under control at 105. The kid’s sister scared him, and he pulled the cord out of the box.” He hung up, smiled, gave me a pat on the head, and walked out the door.

All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Then, when I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston — and I missed my mentor acutely. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back at home, and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, skinny, new phone that sat on the small table in the hall.

Yet, as I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me; often in moments of doubt and perplexity, I would recall the serene sense of security I had when I knew that I could call Information Please and get the right answer. I appreciated now how very patient, understanding, and kind she was to have wasted her time on a little boy.

A few years later, on my way back to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour between plan connections, and I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister who lived there now, happily mellowed by marriage and motherhood. Then, really without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, ”Information Please.“

Miraculously, I heard again the small, clear voice that I know so well: ”Information.” I hadn’t planned this, but I heard myself saying, “Could you tell me, please, how to spell the word ’fix’?” There was a long pause. Then came the softly spoken answer. “I guess,“ said Information Please, ”that your finger must have healed by now.” I laughed. “So it’s really still you. I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during all that time....” “I wonder,“ she replied, ”if you know how much you meant to me? I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls. Silly, wasn’t it?“ It didn’t seem silly, but I didn’t say so. Instead, I told her how often I had thought of her over the years, and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister when the semester was over. “Please do. Just ask for Sally.”

”Goodbye, Sally.“ It sounded strange for Information Please to have a name. ”If I run into any chipmunks, I’ll tell them to eat fruits and nuts.“ “Do that,” she said. “And I expect one of these days you’ll be off for the Orinoco. Well, good-bye.“

Just three months later, I was back again at the Seattle airport. A different voice answered, ”Information,” and I asked for Sally. “Are you a friend?” ”Yes,“ I said. ”An old friend.“ “Then I’m sorry to have to tell you. Sally had only been working part-time in the last few years because she was ill. She died five weeks ago.” But before I could hang up, she said, ”Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Villard?“ ”Yes." “Well, Sally left a message for you.

She wrote it down.” “What was it?“ I asked, almost knowing in advance what it would be. ”Here it is, I’ll read it — Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He’ll know what I mean.’”

I thanked her and hung up. I did know what Sally meant.

Author Paul Villard

"Inspirations" and "Quotable Quotes" Saturday Night

Inspirations:

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.

The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.”

All you can change is yourself, but sometimes that changes everything

If someone tells you, “You can’t” they really mean, “I can’t

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.

“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative

We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future

The next time you feel slightly uncomfortable with the pressure in your life, remember no pressure, no diamonds. Pressure is a part of success

With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place

Lastly remember that everything happens for reason and there are no coincidences! Your time has been well spent and you have learned much.

************

Quotable Quotes:

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress. Will Rogers

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year. Victor Borge

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury. Groucho Marx

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe. Jimmy Durante

My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying. Rodney Dangerfield

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you. Winston Churchill

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out. Phyllis Diller

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. Alex Levine

Value

A father said to his daughter “You have graduated with honors, here is a car I bought many years ago. It is a bit older now but before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them you want to sell it and see how much they offer you for it.”

The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because they said it looks pretty worn out.”

The father said, now “Take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said, “The pawn shop offered only $100 because it is an old car.”

 The father asked his daughter to go to a car club now and show them the car. The daughter then took the car to the club, returned and told her father, “Some people in the club offered $100,000 for it because it’s a Holden Torana A9X and it's an iconic car and sought by many collectors.”

Now the father said this to his daughter, “The right place values you the right way,” If you are not valued, do not be angry, it means you are in the wrong place.

 Those who know your value are those who appreciate you.

 Never stay in a place where no one sees your value.    Never!

*************

DON’T QUIT

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest, if you must, but don’t quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man:
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup.
And he learned to late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar:
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Edgar A. Guest

Mapped: Corruption in Countries Around the World

Mapped: Corruption in Countries Around the World 

By Omri Wallach

How bad is public sector corruption around the world, and how do different countries compare?

No matter your system of government, the public sector plays a vital role in establishing your economic mobility and political freedoms. Measuring corruption—the abuse of power for private gain—reveals how equal a system truly is.

For more than a decade, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International has been the world’s most widely-used metric for scoring corruption. This infographic uses the 2021 CPI to visualize corruption in countries around the world, and the biggest 10-year changes.

For more detail, view the full-sized version of this infographic

Which Countries are Most (and Least) Corrupt?

How do you measure corruption, which includes behind-the-scenes deals, nepotism, corrupt prosecution, and bribery?

Over the last few decades, the CPI has found success doing so indirectly through perceptions.

By aggregating multiple analyses from country and business experts, the index assigns each country a score on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Here are the results of the 2021 CPI, with the least corrupt countries at the top:

Search:

Corruption Perception by Country          Score (2021)

Denmark                                                     88

Finland                                                        88

New Zealand                                              88

Norway                                                        85

Singapore                                                  85

Sweden                                                     85

Switzerland                                              84

Netherlands                                             82

Luxembourg                                             81

Germany                                                   80

Showing 1 to 10 of 180 entries   Previous   Next

Ranking at the top of the index with scores of 88 are Nordic countries Denmark and Finland, as well as New Zealand.

They’ve consistently topped the CPI over the last decade, and Europe in general had 14 of the top 20 least corrupt countries. Asia also had many notable entrants, including Singapore (tied for #4), Hong Kong (#12), and Japan (tied for #18).

Comparatively, the Americas only had two countries score in the top 20 least corrupt: Canada (tied for #13) and Uruguay (tied for #18). With a score of 67, the U.S. scored at #28 just behind Bhutan, the UAE, and France.

Scoring towards the bottom of the index were many countries currently and historically going through conflict, primarily located in the Middle East and Africa. They include Afghanistan, Venezuela, Somalia, and South Sudan. The latter country finishes at the very bottom of the list, with a score of just 11.

How Corruption in Countries Has Changed (2012–2021)

Corruption is a constant and moving global problem, so it’s also important to measure which countries have had their images improved (or worsened).

By using CPI scores dating back to 2012, we can examine how country scores have changed over the last decade:

 Change in Corruption by Country            10-Year Trend (2012-2021)

Seychelles                                                       +18

Armenia                                                          +15

Italy                                                                  +14

Greece                                                            +13

Myanmar                                                        +13

Guyana                                                            +11

Uzbekistan                                                     +11

Estonia                                                            +10

Latvia                                                               +10

Belarus                                                            +10

Showing 1 to 10 of 180 entries    Previous    Next

The biggest climber with +18 was Seychelles, Africa’s smallest country and also its least corrupt with a score of 70. Other notable improvements include neighboring countries Estonia, Latvia, and Belarus, with Estonia rising into the top 15 least corrupt countries.

On the opposite side, both Australia (-12) and Canada (-10) have actually fallen out of the top 10 least corrupt countries over the last decade. They’re joined by decreases in Hungary (-12) and Syria (-13), which is now ranked as the world’s second-most corrupt country.

Which countries will rise and fall in corruption perceptions over the next 10 years, and how do your perceptions compare with this list?

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-corruption-in-countries-around-the-world/

6 Famous Discontinued and Uncommon U.S. Currency Denominations

6 Famous Discontinued and Uncommon U.S. Currency Denominations

By JAMES CHEN (In Honor of Presidents Day)

 Updated February 19, 2022  Reviewed By Samantha Silberstein  Fact Checked By Timothy Li

A completely cashless society sounds appealing to some, and although we've made strides to making it possible, it is not yet a reality. Despite the magic of PayPal, Square, credit cards, and mobile wallets, some of us need to carry around cash.  While we can choose from a rich array of singles, fins, sawbucks, Jacksons, $50s, and Benjamins, there are several other denominations that the U.S. Treasury has discontinued—or that are just plain rare. Here are the most notable ones.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

There are still 1.2 billion $2 notes in circulation.  A $500 or $1,000 bill may be worth more than its face value.

Recalled in 1969, there are fewer than 400 $5,000 bills in existence.  The $10,000 bill was the largest denomination ever to be printed for public consumption.   Collectors cannot legally hold a $100,000 bill. 

$2 bill   Public Domain

The first $2 bills were printed in 1862. They originally featured a portrait of Alexander Hamilton but were later redesigned to portray Thomas Jefferson. Aesthetically, the $2 bill is something to behold. The reverse side features a reproduction of one of the most famous paintings in American history—"Declaration of Independence" by John Trumbull. 1

Excluding the decade from 1966 to 1976, $2 bills were printed uninterruptedly since the Civil War. 2 Yet the average American who doesn't handle cash for a living can go years without seeing one. While the $2 note is still in circulation and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing recognizes it as legal tender—it is considered to be the rarest currency denomination in the U.S. 1 There were still 1.3 billion notes in circulation in 2019. 3

$500 Bill   Public Domain

The Treasury minted several versions of the $500 bill, featuring a portrait of President William McKinley on the front. The last $500 bill rolled off the presses in 1945, and it was formally discontinued 24 years later in 1969. 4

Like all the bills featured here, the $500 bill remains legal tender. Most $500 notes in circulation today are in the hands of dealers and collectors. That being said, should you come into possession of a $500 bill, you'd find that its market value far exceeds its face value, with even worn specimens commanding upward of a 40% premium on the open market.    Although no longer in circulation, the $500 bill remains legal tender.

$1,000 Bill   Public Domain

The original $1,000 bill featured Alexander Hamilton on the front. When someone presumably realized that it might be confusing to have the same former Secretary of the Treasury on multiple denominations, Hamilton was replaced with that of another president—the 22nd and the 24th, Grover Cleveland. Like its smaller cousin, the $500 bill, the $1,000 bill was discontinued in 1969. 4 And like the $500 bill, the $1,000 bill would seem to have a lot more use now than it did then.

Why? Inflation, of course. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at an estimated 36.8 back in 1969. As of December 2019, U.S. CPI sat at over 256, meaning a $1,000 bill today would be the equivalent of a relatively modest $153 bill during the Summer of Love. 5 Does it make any sense that we've lost larger denominations as the value of a dollar has gotten progressively smaller? The Treasury argues that keeping the denominations inconveniently small minimizes the possibility of money laundering.

That being said, hold onto a $1,000 bill that finds its way into your palm even more tightly than you would a $500 bill. There are only 165,372 of these bills bearing Cleveland's visage still in existence.

Martha Washington is the first and only woman to appear as the primary portrait on U.S. paper currency. Her image appeared on the $1 Silver Certificate starting in 1886. It was discontinued in 1957 and was the second-longest issued paper money. 6

$5,000 Bill   Public Domain

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.investopedia.com/6-famous-discontinued-and-uncommon-u-s-currency-denominations-4773302?utm_campaign=quote-yahoo&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral