In Our Language

A second grade teacher related the story that her class couldn't figure out what clock wise meant. Digital world  -  right !

Well , Eggo waffles are 44 yr old this year. many young'uns and not so young'uns probably , only know Eggo not waffle as a name
TG , there are waffle irons at hotel buffets

On the android front. I did something right. No blinky and battery life increased a lot.
The MxPtrt was live for 21 h and used 19 % , this includes playing around and taking photos this Am. Previously , that % would have been 30 or so
Really , I couldn't believe how many apps were running in the background. So , I may have lost GPS and location siting and some other xtremely important functions that I don't use. One app , Google Play doesn't want to shut down.

We Are Not Alone

.....  not the spooky alien stuff , either

Last night , the MxPtrt showed a blinking green light from the LED indicator. I cleared messages checked phone calls. Still , the blinking light
Now , I may rail against the internet , and thats fair
But , in desperation , I Googled                
 ' blinking green light on cell phone '
Mega hits , came up
I went to the first , reference item

People reported the same annoying problem on android phones
There were many solutions , some quite original
After 3 tries , I found Gmail ' notifications ' and turned the notices off.
no green blinky........... yet
We are not alone

And , one item said to check ' running apps ' b/c these apps may update themselves or cause a notification to occur. Holey Kamoley Batman - there were 6 running apps , most associated w/ Google Play or somesuch. I've tried to close them down.
And the blinky came back
This time , I'm pretty sure it was a text message
However , how to turn off the ' text notification ,blinky  ' is harder

Thus , 2 things are apparent 
- a whole lot of people are dealing w/ a whole lot of information and learning w/ their android acquisition 
and BTW some of these phones are in the $600 range not $20
- the site that I went to , was one of 15 000 hits on the ' blinky ' topic. The site was called android central and they were not building robots. There is a need out there for a site such as this one.

Did you check your running apps , you'll be amazed whats going on in the background and according to the info at android central , sooner or later these apps will cause a problem

I'm approaching 1300 posts 
did anyone learn anything 

( # 1291 ) MxPtrt

Right back to the UMX , MaxPatriot adventure

Well, nothing to report
TG
Charging time is still waaay .... long
i.e. at 83 % charge , it will take , now lets see....                             40 min to go to 97 %
but yesterday the last % took 1/2 h
I'm trying to see if I don't let it fall below 80 % if that makes a difference to charge times
I remember quoting you a rule that , optimal charging occurs between 50 and 80 %
but we'll see if above 80 % works for this phone
more to come , of course

BTW , ' followers ' of this blog  , fell to 2 ... somehow

However , it seems that my lack of success is a good thing
A reality TV program called ' Internet Ruined my Life ' is starting.
Yes , people who ' tweeted ' or wrote something on the internet were ' caught ' or exposed and ridiculed or charged
Not on my watch list

Consumerism Run Amok

......or keeping up w/ the yuppies or Gen X ers

Official announcement , we both have U.S. pay as you go - smartphones

Tracfone had UMX Max Patriot smart phones on sale , on line for $39.99 , no tax , no shipping
But Dollar General had a price for $19.99 +tx.
You know the story , I went to buy the Samsung Ace Style but found the Mx Ptrt instead
Well , M got one too !
My activation ( port the number process ) took 15 minutes using on line , phone line automated voice service and a real agent. Eventually , after 40 minutes , the smartphone worked.
M 's port the number process - 3 minutes on line , fill in data and a 20 minute wait for the original phone to be de - commissioned and the smartphone up and running
You see , I got smarter and had learnt a thing or two.

On line reviews , panned the Ace Style for poor visibility in daylight and colour bleed
we'll never know
The MaxPatriot  got dissed for only a rear facing camera - no selfies here , I guess. And poor battery life
the reviews failed to mention longer than expected charge times
Of course , a whole lot of learning is going on
We only have have talk and text but lots of that
2040 minutes ported over for me and 911 min for M
Each new phone offers 3X minutes on re - upping on the anniversary date thus I'll have 1200 min added in a short while.

The MxPtrt comes loaded w/ every app that you never needed.
however , using Google mail , the MxPtrt found all my contacts from gmail , this is called ' syncing ' - so all of China knows my address list
First thing that you need to do is shut down ' auto updates ' b/c every app wants to update.
Thus , no map quest for us on the go.

The old phones need recycling , we'll need to figure out where

BTW , the final comment on UMX , the company that makes MxPtrt , is that not much is known about the Chinese firm 
I think UMX is an alias for Unknown Maker X
the phone says ' Ultimate Mobile Experience ' but we know that that isn't true

John Carter Move Over

My last Martian movie was ' John Carter of Mars ' , loved it

Last night we watched ' the Martian ' w/ Matt Damon
Interesting , humourous and informative
rare for a movie
I give it , at least a 0.8 / $1.00 , on the RedBox scale
RedBox has been disappointing , offering few choices for us
but maybe that only reflects the poor choices over all
Next.
" the Best Exotic marigold Hotel " part deux
wait for it !

Pay As You ' Glow '

....... angry , frustrated

Finally ,decided to ditch and switch. My  PAYG phone is / was a flip phone. I was smarter than the phone ,which is good and bad.
Typing emails and messages was akin to sending Morse code.

At the Dollar General a new android phone was on offer for $ 20.
This advertised phone was a Samsung -Ace Style. An entry level smarmy phone. The drawbacks were poor visuals - colours bled and low light or outside was a problem. Still all in all ,     a      decent ' burner phone '. I will not burn it
At the actual store , no Ace Style , but the UMX , Max Patriot was the same price , $19.99. I had seen the MxPtrt on line at TracFone for $39.99
Now , ' porting the phone number.
On line , filled out a few easy steps --- SEND
Oops ! ERROR  again  ERROR
" please call customer service 1 - 800........ "
Automated help line . Re - entered all the information from on line by voice recognition software.
" please standby , a customer service agent will handle your call '
Oh great , he says
"Get ready ! She'll speak Spanish , I know
Nope , quiet American voice
What are you attempting to do
^^^^^^^^^^^ 
no problem !
3 minutes
You're all set , when the old phone stops receiving a signal , try the new phone activation # . this may take a few minutes to a few hours.
wait ... wait 
40 minutes later !!!!!!!!!!1 Yes.
Look for the activation # and then before I could call , bingo ! the phone set itself up. " You are activated " , no kidding
Ring tone ... check
Email ..... check
Camera ... check

now , this morning , ' cannot connect to the internet 
Oh yeah ,

Well , I'm like the guy who jumped out of a 20 story building
at every floor the residents , heard him say 
 'so far so good , so far so good '



**** turns out the router was off line not the phone
Sorry phone , I goofed !

XXX & XXXIII

and all that
They splashed it big above the fold
" Superbowl 50 "
I remember thinking , a whole new generation needed to count in Latin. So easy , this time  ' L '
As in Superbowl L , looks pretty bare
I suppose I was 16 for SuperB I
young and impressionable
now , theres a good chance that I'll skip back and forward
between ' PitBulls and Parolees ' and SB L.
And we can look forward to Superbowl D
I won't be here but what the , hey

WR said about the Superbowl " .................. "

Consistency......

....... the last refuge of the unimaginative "

the quote from Oscar Wilde who had imagination and a whole lot more

' East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet '
and it happened more than once that I've heard people say its Mark Twain's quote
nope !  it is Rudyard Kipling , Victorian balladeer
oh , also Mowgli and Jungle Adventures
Lord Baden Powell , the founder of Boy Scouts used Kipling's work as a reference 

And the words of William Blake

Jerusalem or ' And did those feet in ancient times '

**And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear: o clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariots of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight;
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land

** there is a theory that the missing years in the life of Jesus
as per the bible can be explained by loyal friends sequestering the young lad , Jesus , in England.
However , the rest is Blake being Blake

fiery angels etc is about his speed

And They Call ...........

........ the Wind

" away out here they got a name for Rain 
for Wind and Fire 
The fire is Joe
the Rain is Tess and 
they call the Wind , Mariah "
from ,  Paint Your Wagon , the musical

Mariah sang last night , all night
It was a roar , a rush , a hum
but She was there all night
And She'll blow to - day as well

This apparently is all El Nino or the enhanced
weather from '  the boy child  '

We All ............

..... have anecdotes

In response to the latest topic WR , a reader related this tidbit
" We were driving out West towing a trailer and came to the Will Rogers museum. The museum was at the top of a hill somewhere , such as Oklahoma ( WR's birthplace , Chelsea , OK      or really ... Oolagat )
The trailer got partway up the hill and wouldn't budge. my dad backed the trailer down ans sold it at the bottom of the hill. "

Now ,there's a tangential follow up !

the girl who beats me to the pool every morning is .... Helen

WR on the Economy

..........  even back then  he saw it coming

WR always said the press touted the American ' high standard of living '
He called it  ' living high off the hog '
Our cereal is cardboard and our shoes have paper soles but we're doing great
Back in 1930

WR Said

........ I kid the politicans "
WR commented that a senator wanted his column entered into the congressional record. Some senators objected , saying that a jokester had no place in the official record.
WR replied ' when I make a joke , it don't hurt nobody - but when those guys make a joke , you'se are paying for it '

WR quipped about his movie career. Two claims that I can make , ugliest man in'em and I still got the same wife that I started with.

Quipping w/ WR

WR used to assert that Los Angeles means , city of the ' Angles '
And when he first moved out to LA , it was just real estate agents selling lots to one another.
And that many movie stars were only then learning about how to be married for the first time

Hey ............ ( #1280 )

...............I'm on a roll w/ Will Rogers

Unafraid , described Will Rogers. his topics pulled straight from the newspaper.  You'll notice a lot of the same here in ' Two Cents .... '
I've seen archival footage of WR and listen to the ' one man show'
James Whittemore doing WR.

' Never met a man , I didn't like ' was often attributed to him
but he was never shy about criticising what he saw as unfair or un - human. b/c he was first and foremost a sensitive witness to the world.
He quoted his friends , liberally, ' ropes is fine Will , just keep 'em from around  your neck '
He chuckled at the nom de rope given him by reporters ' the poet lariat ' !
He chided himself constantly , " I'm going to do some of my amazing rope tricks. Now , the most amazing thing about these tricks is , that a grown man would do them .... and grown people would pay money to watch "

In the news , to -day , Democratic hopefuls rumble in final debate before the voting.
WR would have said ' they're going for each other's jugular ' 

From the TBT

Will Rogers walked on stage in one of his 3 suits and clean underwear.He drew his material as a humourist from the daily news.
He often stood there shaking his head in disbelief
To - day's , third item , in the Day Starter.
' Young and Smoking '   college students in bigger numbers are smoking. They know the risks and still light up

Scarborough , got a nod  , last year from an U.S. based economist who named Scarberia the best ethnic restaurant area in N America.
Who knew ??              not us
I tried TV free for a day on Saturday. Its cheating b/c there are no     ' good ' shows or my favourites , at least. I got it down to about 40 minutes
Now , that may not sound like a win but believe me - its oodles of win .... probably 95 % less
Sad , that
I did read ( flipped through 4 magazines ) where I got the ' ethnic restaurant thingy '. As well , Winchester makes a varmint gun thats so accurate that you only need one shot but you'll want to shoot more - go figure !
And I started a murder - mystery , well , there's no dead person yet , however , the name of the book is " Where the Bodies Are Buried "
Whadya think , good guess on my part ?
The setting is Edinburgh , Scotland. The language has some Scottish argot and you need to be ready to be lost , for a while 
but you can feel the angst building and it will not end well for somebody.
Keeping you Up to Date w/ blog items
My weight is stable , Op Osm is still green ( as they say )

The flashing yellow light came on again on the baby laptop , meaning ' plugged in / not charging '. Solution , start the laptop on battery and let the charge drop to under 95% . Now ,plug in the laptop and - bingo , bongo , it charges right up. I guess the laptop system only sees a re - charge as necessary when the charge drops enough.

Of Peach Jello

.... and other matters

The absurdities of this life were never lost on Will Rogers , American cowboy , movie star , columnist and humourist

WR counted Presidents , foreign rulers and cowboys and pilots
Pilots ??? Well , at the time , the fledging flight industry was trying to deliver the mail. and Wiley Post was a good and long time friend of WR.
He lampooned the government relentlessly. WR reported that the senate was considering a fund to provide food for the public in need. Their response shocked him - you see it would set a bad precedent , feeding the poor.
And nothing has changed , noticed that did ya'

Peach Jello is large on my mind , as I'm letting it cool right now.
Sacrilege ! b/c I'm adding mandarin slices to peach Jello - imagine the conflict in the bowl !! Are the two fruits even vaguely related
- well , both are true fruits ( seeds on the inside and from a tree and the blossom )
Betcha , they don't care

" Bangkok oriental city "
 from ' One Night in Bangkok ' , Murray Head on the buds 

" I get my kicks from above the waistline , sunshine "

" Where have all the good men gone " from ' Holding Out for Hero '
Ella Mae Bowen
" Where's that street wise Hercules "

" I'll Cut His Heart Out.........

........with a spoon "

Alan Rickman delivered the line in ' Robin Hood ' and many others w/ panache and effectiveness
AR died yesterday

And another year of Oscar 
and , yes ,we have seen ' zero ' of the films nominated
we're like the people who live in caves
that you hear about
except its pretty much the same for TV shows as well
" Out of Touch , Out of Touch "  Sung by Hall and Oates

Bombarded.....

......... w/ non - spam
I maintain two emails , one for personal use
the other whenever a business or anyone else asks ' and your email '
Guess which one is the topic of ' bombarded '
now , its not all bad
or not too bad
Supermarkets send coupons and updates
Lacrosse mag news
Discount travel sites
And I think that I'm even selective about giving out my second address
Not selective enough it appears

Oikos , brand is the  official yoghurt of the NFL
Oh ,yeah ' my whole defensive line has a yoghurt for brekkies '

Point of interest
I often type a first run through and then come back and correct or add
That is what I'm doing now
This Am , it was to correct the 'bama post

On the YouTube front , I'm still into Kaori Muraji , classical guitarist and her medley from ' Cinema Paradiso '  .... sublime

As well , ' Take On Me ' the synth - pop hit from the 80's which I've just discovered by wonder group ' A- ha '
just discovered !  Heck , I'm only 30 years out of sync
And I'm in love w/ Bunty Bailey circa 1985 who is the femme fatale in the original Vid rendition of ' Take On Me '
I've seen BB from a 2005 or so quiz show appearance
Kind of guess the guest , type show
all 3 pairs of guessers got who she was
She has aged well , as they say
but she was a cutie in 1985 !
The Vid was very famous , for being half cartoon drawing and half real picture. The Vid has been ' hit ' 600 million times on YouTube

A slow morning is ,back here blogging 3X
Surfing the YouTube
highlighting 
Josh Groban for M
Ariana Grande doing voice imitations and she can sing
Under ' sexy moments ' for AG , she puts her big toe in her mouth
Oh yeah

Star Wars

The franchise ushered in a new age in cinema viewing. Geo Lucas' , Industrial Light and Magic birthed a technological revolution in film making. 
For that reason alone SW the genre and it is , is worth mentioning.
The SW series , gave rise to other multi episode film families.
And for the producing companies , relying on name branding is far safer than striking out anew.
There tends to be fall off in gross revenues but at least there will be revenues - guaranteed.
This version of SW , Force Awakens , is a block buster , in it s own right
In a landscape lacking originality , thank you Hollywood , for that
I'm guessing the public would like something to gush over

Bama - Rama

..... no , not Bananarama
The Crimson Tide
not the movie either
For the 4 th time in 7 years the University of Alabama reached the zenith of the college football world.
The story : as a little 'un we would watch New Years day as college teams battled it out as we ate NY day food.... mostly Japanese although fried chicken seems to rank right up there w/ chow mein    ( yes, mommy's own )  , in my memories.
On the little screen (  or regular TV back then ) , I caught the Tide fever. Yes , Bear Bryant and the mystique of Alabama.
Cycle forward to JA 11 2016.
I wore my Alabama T - shirt to the pool
Did I watch the whole game... ? No , too scared or ..... well , worried
I went to sleep , no , went to bed and then jumped up 12 to see
a) Kenyon Drake run back a kick off 
b) the on side kick that worked
and the Tide hang on , at the end to beat  Clemson
The odds makers had 'bama , a 6 1/2 pt favourite , and ' bama did not cover the spread
Roll , Tide , Roll

David Bowie passed away at 69
Ennio Morricone won a Golden Globe award

#1273 -1.3

...... billion
Yepper , lets say it right out
Florida's Powerball Lottery has a prize of 1.3 billion dollars
Previously , I said that I had trouble conceptualizing the number ' billion ' 
OK , I know the mathematics
Its imagining what that number ( of dollars , in this case ) means
How many cars ?
plane rides
you buy your own jet ?

Hey , can out of state people win ?

I've Re - read .......

the last three blog entries

And the content and style is ....... me

On the Jello front ( you can't wait , I know ) 
faint taste ??? don't buy peach Jello 
See the little pic in the top left corner
A peach half

Solving Problems

The story : baby laptop ' battery indicator ' was stuck on 98 % , the icon read ' plugged in and not charging , 98 % '. Next the number fell to 97 % and yesterday , 95 %. These drops in % , occurred when I forgot to plug in the laptop.
Yesterday , it was M who forgot. the result was the 95 % reading and philosophically , I was ready to live w/ the 95 %.
I plugged in the sucker and noticed that the charge light indicator was blue , meaning fully charged. You got it , the battery fully charged. What does this mean ?
Dunno. We shall see said the Zen Master
Next.

So , all that time spent checking the web and fiddling might have been wasted.
what lesson can we take from this ?
dunno

This should be an upbeat day. Make it so !

Poe -m

' While I ponder , dark and dreary '   the day is that
Edgar Allan Poe
Lived in Baltimore
Charm City
Charmed , I'm sure

Doing is better than not doing
usually
Active is better than non - active 
usually
Thinking is better than not thinking
usually

What is usual
' In politics and war do not look for treachery or conspiracy in a disaster if incompetence or stupidity could explain it '  G. Cook

' When you come to a fork in the road , take it '  Y Berra

Are you a coupon master ?
Well ,the other day , a lady took out her ' wallet ' of coupons and started hunting and smiled when she found the winner

Always ask ' what's the special ? ' we forgot yesterday and missed - chicken fried chicken dinner - Oops !

Ok , if thats your blunder for the day
 it was a good'un

Same to -day ??
Go for it !

English .........engrish, I say

The deal at 7 - 11 is , buy a 7 - 11 decal - ed coffee cup and the first coffee is free.  I went to counter and said that I wanted to claim my first re - fill. Then ensued a back and forth ' is this your first cup  ,yes ..... and you want  free cup , yes ' 
Later , I figured out that the label meant ' when you come back the first time that you get a free fill '
She was nice and didn't charge for the coffee just the cup.  After all we both speak English , just that I don't read well , all the time

Error Report : From time to time we get the facts wrong. The oat / seeds / fibre bread is 80 cal and 3 g of fibre // slice. Still not bad
but better I could eat this bread all day long. Tasty.
I've been doing the ' brekkie ' sandwich thing w/ the bread. Butter one side and fry w/ a light layer of cheese and beef.     A ' philly steak ' concoction.

American jello apparently is not Canadian jello , or doesn't taste the same. I'd been buying house brand jello ( gelatin ) and enjoying the taste. I bought the real thing , JELLO brand and it is fainter tasting not as definite. Oh well ,experimentation is in order , me thinks.
To be fair , the last bunches ( bunches ?? ) of jello had mandarin orange slices suspended - I added orange slices to the JELLO as a side and the taste was better - the orange slices are sweet.

Now , if jello is your only problem 
well , lucky you

I've tried many adjustments on the baby laptop - the icon still says  " 97 % , plugged in , not charging "                                                 notice I lost a % down from 98.
I guess there is a glitch somewhere in the reporting function on the laptop. recall the energy check showed ' charge capacity and last charge were the same - or full charge on the battery '
You know if the charge on your laptop battery is your only problem - you're doing well.

Blowing Hot Air

..... around
The story : couple tries convection oven for the 1 st time
Success.
The cut was a chuck roast. Marinated in Lawrys marinade and left for 1  1/2 h ( ? ). Covered w/ foil and cooked at 300 - 325 F
Result , good to very good. There were a few tough pieces from the cuttings but overall delicious and tender - ish
This roast resulted in 2 lb at least of left - overs. The lefties are now frozen. The frozen supplies are the basis for Disney's movie of the same name ..... kidding.
I try to avoid cold cuts from the store ( nitrites etc ) and rely on the lefties for sandwiches and quick meals.

Next , I imagine will be a chicken. We , generally , had turkey over - load from the holidays but give us another day or two and we'll try the chicken ala convection.
Problem , I think that the advantage to convection is faster cook times. We were really going for low and slow b/c the meat was a  chuck roast. W/ marinating , I guess the meat was tenderized anyway.

Convection Mode

For the first time , we are roasting w/ convection but not conviction.
Recipes say convection mode is faster
we were slow roasting a chuck roast of beef , guess not

The chuck was marinated in a sauce for marinating ( commercial , Lawrys ) ,about an 1 1/2 h

We shall see said the Zen Master

For breakfast , in lieu of my pumpernickel bread ( 65 cal and 2 g fibre ) and honey  , I'm trying oat bran cookies. The cookies are non gluten / sugar / GMO  w/ 45 cal and 4 g of fibre. Plus 1/2 a banana ( they looked good in the store ).

Next is a oat / seeds / something health bread w/ 80 cal and 6 g of fibre per slice , hope its edible
the oat cookies are great !

I'm swimming , now , 1/2 h in the morning and it was tough , my first swim
drowning was not likely but neither was anything else

In the U.S. , Prez Obama , is floating balloons , proposing tougher checks of potential buyers of guns. 

Whats Bugging Me

Last night on the TV show , called  ' NY - E.R. ' a doctor dealt w/ 3 cases of ' bugs' in patients - pinworms , pill bug and such.
On New Years day , I think we ate raw pork. Chinese dumplings came partly cooked ( I'm sure ). I microwaved the bulk of them but still had a bite of one.
Growing up , I had the biggest fear of trichinosis from raw pork
Oops , I may find out first hand , how to deal w/ ' bugs '
Yech !
Yech !

Weather : normal temperatures for JA in s GWN  , maybe on the warm side to - day.

Good Morning to You

from the s GWN and Scarberia
For 2015 , the greater Toronto region had more traffic deaths than guns. And in Dec , poor light etc , it seemed an epidemic. Several cases involved cars jumping curbs to get at pedestrians or standees.

Too fast 
 too distracted 
and way too automatic as in ' trance like ' behaviour behind the wheel. 
Basic physics says , fast moving things need time to stop and distance. The heavier the object , usually the longer the time to stop.
Hey !!! Why don't they teach that in schools
Probably do but until your Audi or whatever is careening down the road as you try to brake
Well , academic  , huh ?

Weather : We are about normal for JA 2 and that means cold
Gray and gloomy
Roads got icy last night

I got lucky at cards. Down close to $60 and then in the hole for another 3 or 4 dollars on a hand - I won the biggest pot of the night 
maybe 80 dollars. Then won for another 15 minutes. I finished the night w/ a profit of $ 50.

On the baby laptop. the e machine is signalling ' plugged in and not charging. ' And the meter is at 98 % and stays there even when the baby LT is in use.
On line advice , check the cord - plugged in and w/out breaks ( dunno , feels OK )
I ran a systems check ( hey , see how I throw words and phrases around like that ! ). The power configuration report said a lot of things and whoosh ! ( right over my head )
However , I could understand the part that says ' battery capacity 88640 and last charge 88640 '
I take that to mean the battery may be alright but somewhere along the line the computer isn't reading the signals correctly ( notice how the phrasing gets less fancy as I stumble along ).

And , the i Phone ran down to zero charge during the night.
Easy solution. Clear all ' apps ' from the screen background. Turns out , I had 7 functions running in the background ( who knew )
Things such as maps , Facebook , email etc were all up and running during the night. 
B/c , he says w/ chagrin , ' you left the bloody router on all night feeding a signal to the cell phone  ( DUMMY ! )

Live and learn and learn and .................learn

The American middle class is a sliver of the pie. This from the TorStar by the numbers. The middle class is not the majority any more. Certainly ,under 50 % of the population by most definitions
of MC. 

January 1 st

Why does New Years Day come in the middle of winter
Tradition , politics and religion
Once upon a time , the New Year began on March 1. The old calendars were set to begin on the cycle of the month of Mars.
However , the old calendar got out of sync w/ the seasons by 10 - 11 days ( not good ). Other systems were tried but finally ,almost everyone agreed the Jan 1 was  , for the most part OK.
Besides , if you're a - gonna get drunk and such , who cares when

We had snow this morning to go w/ the 32F temperature. We will get colder as the Jetstream is dipping south.

The year starts and my weight is 168 lb. If I tell you this , maybe then I'll have incentive to eat healthy

In a poll , Ontarians were overall content. The % s varied by age cohort. The boomers from 55 - 75 were the most content. the analysis , basically said why not. In many ways the most                   ' successful ' generation. Now , success and contentment are not the same. But this generation has been very lucky , relatively stable job situation and probably the healthiest generation in a while.  Please note , some data has suggested that the present generation in the 18 - 30 age bracket , may not outlive their parents as in the case of the boomers.

Ontario is allowing beer sales in selected grocery stores. Her in Ontario alcohol sales are controlled by the government , where , primarily sales are by a gov't run control board and as you might guess taxes are humongous , maybe 70 % of the purchase price.
But we have universal healthcare.
Our sin taxes are astronomical
But we have universal healthcare , that  almost works