The Earth rotated last night into September 5th, 2023. This morning I sat down at my desk and looked at what was on it. The context to the following sentence is the fact that I spent my first several years living in a farmhouse without electricity or running water and attended a one room school for 8 years. Here I sit in front of a computer which gives me access to the accumulated documentation of human existence, a watch that I can talk to other people on, and a phone which is a more powerful computer than the ones that sent men to the moon. Pretty awesome. I’m grateful to be living this life. Today is Be Late for Something Day, International Day of Charity, National Cheese Pizza Day, National Shrink Day, Telephone Tuesday, and World Samosa Day. It’s also Substitute Teacher Week, and National Waffle Week. On this day in 1666 the Great Fire of London ends with 13,200 homes destroyed and only 8 people dead. In 1698 Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards. He did this after he had been on a tour of European countries and found that most men didn’t have beards and wanted Russia to be more like those countries. On this day in 1750 a decree was issued in Prussia allowing for an annual search of all Jewish homes for stolen goods. On this day in 1793 the French “Reign of Terror” began. When it ended 16,594 official death sentences had been issued with another 12,000 people executed without a trail and 10,000 died in prison. This is the day in 1966 that Jerry Lewis held his first Muscular Dystrophy telethon raising $1 million dollars. Today’s quotes come from Mother Teresa who said, “Your true character is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do nothing for you.” “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.” “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” “Helping hands are better than praying lips.” “The openness of our hearts and minds can be measured by how wide we draw the circle of what we call family.” Abide