Way back 45 years ago when I was working in the U.S. Senate, I overheard Senator Scoop Jackson talking to Senator Bill Bradley about problems in the Middle East.  This was a time when the second energy crisis was at its worst, with gas lines.  I remember the look on Jackson's face exclaiming that this is Ramadan, so what can we do? Ramadan?  What was Ramadan?  Since then I've educated myself.  My blog site has covered this topic numerous times.   In 2019 I posted on WHAT IS RAMADAN? How many of you knew that the 1.5 billion Muslims are currently fasting, in their most sacred month, Ramadan, marking when Allah first gave chapters of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad in 610?  The consumption of food, sex and smoking of course are allowed after sunset to  sunrise.  Mind you, not even drinking of water during daylight.  This year, it began around May 5, depending on the sighting of the moon, and will begin to end tomorrow ( in the USA ), when you finish the fast by eating dates dur

The USA has had 46 presidents.  Presidents Day was first established in 1879 as Washington's Birthday.   Back then there were only three other federal bank holidays:  Christmas, New Year's, Independence. So February 22 was added as the fourth. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, 292 years ago.   Well, not quite, for we were then on the Julian calendar, and he came on February 11.   The Gregorian calendar--to more accurately mark the solar year--was adopted in 1752, adding 11 days. I looked back to 2022 and all the way up to 2034, and  none of these Mondays were and will be on February 22 .   With all that history, the  federal government still calls this day Washington's Birthday . Congress passed the  Uniform Monday Holiday Act  in 1968, which officially took effect in 1971, shifting the fixed date of February 22 to the third Monday of February.   Lincoln's Birthday had been celebrated by some states on February 12, so they just combined the two presidents

I readied another Trump piece for today, but I'm getting tired of him.  Yesterday featured the final weekend of the National Football League and the Golden Globes, while today we have the NCAA football championship, so I'll instead report on them. There was a time before the pandemic when I went to films virtually every Saturday, and sometimes saw two.  This past year I went out only once for  Barbenheimer .  They both did well at the Golden Globes last night: Barbie  got 9 nominations and  Oppenheimer  8. O  beat  B,  winning the Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey, Jr., and Best Score for Ludwig Goransson. Here is what I said on July 23rd after seeing both : Christopher Nolan was nominated in 2017 for   Dunkirk , and four other times for lower categories.  Best Film?  Best Director?  Should get both nominations, but winning?  Maybe, and even perhaps both. However, the film is mo

Well, I survived  Barbenheimer , and was underwhelmed by   Barbie   and consumed by   Oppenheimer .  Sure,   B   got twice the box office revenues of   O , but that is because   B   is for children with grandparents, and   O   was R-rated, with actual nudity.  The two, combined, earned more than half a billion worldwide dollars in one weekend, and both were actually highly rated by reviewers. The bizarre attraction is that they are two films that are about as opposite as you can get, making it a once in a decade event.   About possible Oscars?  Let me start with  B : Margot Robbie was the star, and she in the past got two nominations, in 2018 for  I, Tonya  as Best Actress, and in 2020 as Best Supporting Actress for  Bombshell .  I don't think this kind of movie can be taken seriously, so she probably will miss the final cut of five actresses. Ryan Goslin, however, might slip into the top 5 for Best Supporting Actor.  He too has had two nominations, Best Actor in 2007 for  Half Nel