Hello, November

 The Month of November

 

Sky Watch

Nov. 19-Full Moon

Venus very visible on the 7^th in the southwest.

Jupiter visible on the 11^th.

 

Holidays

Veterans Day

World Diabetes Day

Thanksgiving

American Indian Heritage Month

Good Nutrition Month
Aviation Month

National Stamp Collecting Month

National Peanut Butter Lover's Month

Symbols of November

Birthstone: Topaz and citrine

Flower: Chrysanthemum

Fun Facts about November

 

It is the last month of the Fall season.

November in the Northern Hemisphere is similar to May in the Southern Hemisphere.

Elections are held in the United States on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The third Thursday of November is the Great American Smokeout. Smokers are encouraged by the American Cancer Society to stop smoking on this day.

Some Christian churches celebrate All Saint's Day on the first day of November and All Souls Day on the 2nd.

American football is the main sport watched in the United States during this month.

Most, if not all, of the leaves have fallen off the trees by the end of November.

Famous Birthdays

• Jonathan Swift, author of "Gulliver's Travels": November 30, 1667
• Mark Twain, American author and humorist: November 30, 1835
• British statesman Sir Winston Churchill: November 30, 1874
• American artist Georgia O'Keeffe: November 15, 1887
• Famed TV journalist Walter Cronkite: November 4, 1916
• The first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi: November 19, 1917
• Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Anne Sexton: November 9, 1928
• Bruce Lee, martial artist and film star: November 27. 1940
• Celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay: November 8. 1966

 

 

A Word About the Internet

 Just about everyone I know (and don't know) uses the Internet for something.  Sometimes it's business or playing games or social media or whatever.  Something.  And when things are going well, all is good.  It can be a great thing. But when things go haywire, look out! You're in for a lot of frustration.

I mention this because it's happening to me right now.  For example I set up payment methods of several services to be automatically deducted from a credit card I use strictly for Internet business.  For quite a while everything was fine.  Payments were made and it was easy to keep track of them.  But then, someone in San Francisco hacked my credit card and made about $500 worth of charges to Lyft.  The credit card company caught it and notified me.  They then cancelled the card and issued a new one.  Now of course I have to go back to all the services and change the payment method.  A royal pain.  Plus, somehow my credit card company neglected to cancel the fraudulent charges.  So now I have to call them and straighten that out.  Another pain.

Another totally unrelated problem relates to my Amazon account.  For some reason it is requiring approval from my grand daughter's credit card before I can make purchases. Unbelievable.  Now I have to call them and try to figure it out.  Another pain I can easily do without.

By virtue of the fact you're reading this you're an Internet user.  First, thanks for reading.  Second, I hope you're being careful.  If something goes wrong, you're in for some interesting times.

Happy surfing!

Good bye, News-Times

 For over 50 years I've been a loyal subscriber to our local newspaper, The Danbury News-Times.  There was a time when we received reliable daily delivery for a reasonable cost.  The paper covered most local, state and national news events in a fairly competent way given the fact it is a small paper compared to, say, the New York Times.

All of this gradually deteriorated over the years.  First, the cost of the actual paper started to increase a great deal while delivery became extremely erratic.  There were many days when we simply did not get a paper.  We'd always get credit for it but that's not the point.  We wanted the paper. 

So we decided to switch to the digital edition.  It wasn't as nice as sitting down with a cup of coffee and the daily paper but at least we were getting it every day and I could print out the puzzles I do.  

The problem began with the price.  It started out being $10 a month for the full digital edition.  Then it went to $14 a month.  I just received a letter announcing it was going up to $6.25 a week-or $25 a month.

All this is happening while paper content got worse and worse.  

This last increase is the last straw.  I just subscribed to the Hartford Courant for $4.00 a week.  It does have local news and very good state and national news.  It also has several other features I like.  For example it has pieces about real estate, cars, and technology.  So far it appears to be a fine paper. 

Good bye, News-Times.  You've been slowly self-destructing for 50 years!