Wannaskan Almanac

Is there ever really a correct time to use a comma?  I have been doing some proofreading lately, and the works that I have been evaluating have a comma in every sentence.  Was that done on purpose?  Was it an oversight?  Was their comma button stuck down, or was it reacting to solar flare activity? I found this chart quite useful: I really like that, but isn't there more?  What about when you are quoting something?  Don't you use commas then?  The answer, of course, is, "Who knows?"  Luckily I found this little snippet helpful. Commas, of course, can be used frequently, infrequently, or not at all in most cases.  Some writers have even banned them from their writing altogether.  The following writers do not, under any circumstances, use commas:  Hank Williams Junior, T.S. Elliot, the Apostle Paul, Mr. Hot Coco, Pauly Shore, or Ann Landers. On this date in history: 1789  George Washington inaugurated as the first Presi...

Today’s post brings us to the one-third point in this fourth Song. This portion brings us to an up-close and personal teacher-students “moment.” Something powerful begins. A great seed is planted. Hopefully, the quickening pace will please and delight readers. This teacher is not cut from ordinary cloth, and one wonders how many teachers would take the time to meet students on this psychological level. No matter. The game’s afoot! My teacher drops to the floor, sits cross-legged and suddenly, towering over him this feels all wrong – not my place but my head hums in my ears, so he has to be the one This keeps me from startling like a scared dog I slowly sink down silent facing him I hear chirping rustling birds in green vines outside open windows there is no time The teacher cocks his head inquiringly as if to ask the time or direction I see he will wait to dust for me to be the first to speak, so like the one-note peeping sparrows clinging to the trem...

Having cachet, being known for doing something well, is a great thing to have. Then, even when you're having a bad day, people will think this is the way it's supposed to be...that thing you do. We all "know when to stop."  Though sometimes that knowledge comes in an arrest warrant. If life's a roller coaster, then it's a ride whose cars fall off the track, possibly on the high hill, preferably on the flat. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is in our stony hearts. As I sharpen my chisel I hope my heart is more sandstone than granite. In 1789, 90% of our population were farmers. now it's 1%. Three million farmers then, thirty million now. @jmcdonnell123

Hello and welcome to a windy Saturday from the FIRST (Robotics) World Championship in Detroit, Michigan. What a blast! We arrived on Wednesday and it's been a steady diet of robots, science, experiments and games, a college fair, and thousands of people - 40,000, they tell us - from around the world. (Okay, full disclosure: The last few days have also included a lot of waiting, very expensive food, two lost kids, a few meltdowns which involved a thorough kick in the shin from the Toddler to the WAKWIR and the First Grader, and many loops around the Cobo Center looking for parking.) Here are a few snapshots of this week's adventure. Enjoy! FLL Team 2177: The Robettes - a MN Favorite! ❤ FLL Jr. Team from Romanian WAKWIR on the Riverfront in Windsor, ON Windsor Riverfront Fun Facts Kids' Corner  The oldest two kids have been busy with FRED and their robot. As of Friday night, the team was ranked 19th out of 68 teams with 6 wins - 3 losses ...

   Happy Friday wishes from Chairman Joe    On this day in 1802, Napoleon signed an amnesty allowing thousands of exiles who had fled the French Revolution to return home to France. The amnesty excluded about a thousand ultra-royalists who the government felt could not be trusted.    Even before the start of the revolution in 1789, French nobles started leaving the country for Austria, Great Britain, and the United States. The French Revolution was mainly about reducing the power of the king and the nobles. The nobles comprised less than 2% of the population, but controlled 20% of the land in the country. The rest of the people, the bourgeois and the peasants paid all the taxes, and the peasants had to work two weeks every year for the nobles without pay.    By the time of the Revolution the French treasury was empty. France had spent a fortune supporting the American Revolution. When the king tried to squeeze some tax money out of the nobl...

                                      Delmer and Curtis: Friends to The End From where he was buried on Saturday April 11th, 1992, the tin roofs of his buildings could be seen  through the trees. Across the fence, at the foot of his grave, were the fields he farmed. Between them, Mikinaak Creek--so much a part of Delmer Roseen’s life and sadly, his death--still winds through willow slough, over beaver dams below the Palmville Cemetery, and past what was his door, to the South Fork of the Roseau River, only a few yards to the southeast.   Delmer lived northeast of us in Palmville Township. If I looked just right, I could see his mercury vapor yard light through the woods between his place and mine. Either of us could hear the soft ‘clung’ of the rope and pulley against the flag pole in ...

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, April 24, 2019, the 17th Wednesday of the year,  the 114th day of the year, with 251 days remaining. Nordhem Lunch : Ham Dinner Earth/Moon Almanac for April 24, 2019 Sunrise: 6:16am; Sunset: 8:28pm; 3 minutes, 18 seconds more daylight today Moonrise: 1:23pm; Moonset: 9:58am, waning gibbous Temperature Almanac for April 24, 2019             Average        Record           Today High        56                   77                 68 Low         32                   19      ...