We are officially one day away from Friday, AKA Thursday. Good morning.
Today is National Limerick Day, which sent me straight to the interwebs for a reminder of just what kind of poem a limerick actually IS. I dimly remembered from 8th grade English, but definitely needed a refresher.
Prof. Google (via Merriam-Webster) says:
A limerick is “a popular form of short, humorous verse that is often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the dominant meter (basic rhythmic structure of a line) is anapestic, with two metrical feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others.”
Well, that doesn’t do much to clear things up for me, not sure how you feel about it.
“A limerick consists of five lines arranged in one stanza. The first line, second line, and fifth lines end in rhyming words. The third and fourth lines must rhyme. The rhythm of a limerick is anapestic, which means two unstressed syllables are followed by a third stressed syllable.”
Let’s make this even easier, shall we?
You know that one about the man from Nantucket? That’s a limerick. Boom. BTW, there are many versions of this particular limerick, some of them more appropriate for family reading than others. Click that link at your own risk.
As for why we call a limerick a limerick, well, that’s up for debate. Historians generally are aligned on the idea that it’s a reference to the Irish city and county of Limerick, but the poems trace back to England, not Ireland.
Thus begets the belief that the word actually refers to an old tune, “Won’t You Come to Limerick?” that featured the same meter and rhyme scheme.
As for why National Limerick Day is today, it was chosen to mark the birthday of Edward Lear, the English writer known for his works of nonsensical prose and poetry and popularized the limerick in his “Book of Nonsense,” published 1846.
Before we get to the forecast, here are some limericks about the weather.
It’s going to be another unseasonably warm day, with temperatures reaching into the mid-80s. Skies will be mostly sunny.
In the headlines…
U.S. inflation edged down to an 8.3% annual rate in April but remained close to the fastest pace in four decades as the economy continued to face upward price pressures.
Core inflation — which excludes costs for groceries and gas — picked up 0.6 percent in April from the prior month, faster than its 0.3 percent increase in March. That measure is particularly important for policymakers, as it’s used to gauge what’s ahead.
European stocks fell sharply today as global markets digested the latest inflation reading out of the United States. The reading has sparked concerns that a path of aggressive rate hiking lies ahead.
Oil giant Saudi Aramco surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable firm.
As the war in Ukraine drags on, it is testing the resolve of Western countries, with European and American officials questioning whether the rising economic toll will erode their solidarity over time.
President Biden outlined White House plans to help American farmers boost crop production to counter reduced food exports from Europe caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden visited a family farm in Illinois where he announced steps his administration is taking to lower the costs of farming and food.
“I stand here today to thank American farmers who are the breadbasket of democracy,” Biden said. “We can make sure that American agricultural exports will make up for the gap in Ukrainian supplies.”
The war in Ukraine has caused food, fuel and fertilizer prices to skyrocket to record levels in many parts of the world, leaving some of the world’s poorest countries vulnerable to food insecurity.
Federal regulators are investigating Elon Musk’s late disclosure last month of his sizable stake in Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, a lag that allowed him to buy more stock without alerting other shareholders to his ownership.
The SEC is probing Musk’s tardy submission of a public form that investors must file when they buy more than 5% of a company’s shares. The disclosure functions as an early sign to shareholders and companies that a significant investor could seek to control.
Countries are taking more steps to compel social-media platforms to shield users from material they deem harmful through standards that could affect Twitter as Musk prepares to buy the company.
Former White House adviser David Gergen said he does not believe Biden should run for president again, noting his age.
Senate Democrats failed to advance a bill seeking to ensure women’s access to abortion, in a vote designed to draw a clear contrast with Republicans ahead of a potential Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade looming before the midterm elections.
The final tally was 49 to 51 with moderate Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joining with Republicans to vote against the measure and stop it from advancing. The bill’s failure to advance was expected amid GOP resistance.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brought up the measure — about a week after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion showed the high court will likely overturn Roe — in an attempt to highlight the issue in the 2022 midterm elections.
Biden predicted that if the Supreme Court officially overturns Roe’s holding of a federal constitutional right to abortion, the court will next look to strike down other landmark cases, from same-sex marriage to contraception access.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is urging officials in Fairfax County to expand a security perimeter around the homes of Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett.
In vitro fertilization treatment is facing a “clear and present danger” and could be a “casualty” of some of the proposed anti-abortion laws that are emerging across the US, according to a key advocate of reproductive medicine.
In the nearly 100-page decision, Justice Samuel Alito made or quoted assertions about fetal development, abortion procedures and international laws that have been disputed or are open to interpretation. The NYT fact-checked his draft opinion.
Underscoring the nation’s widening divide on abortion, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California proposed a series of tax incentives explicitly aimed at recruiting employers from states that restrict reproductive and L.G.B.T.Q. rights.
The Interior Department will not move forward with planned oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared a “severe emergency incident” and launched a nationwide lockdown after announcing a person has tested positive for COVID-19, state media reports.
North Korea hasn’t vaccinated its population. The Omicron variant was detected on May 8 in Pyongyang and the Politburo of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party passed a resolution to implement an emergency anti-epidemic system.
It was an abrupt change for a secretive country that had long insisted it had no cases of the virus that first emerged in neighboring China more than two years ago.
China’s censors blocked rare public criticism of its zero-Covid strategy by the WHO from social media Wednesday, as officials in Shanghai insisted there would be no change to policies that have locked tens of millions of people in their homes for weeks.
Two of the Biden administration’s top doctors now say they are now choosing to wear masks indoors even in communities officially deemed to have “low” levels of COVID-19.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine elicits a strong immune response in children aged 6 to 11, researchers reported, another signpost in what has become a long and tortuous road to protecting young children against the virus, even as cases again inch upward.
An appeals court in New York dismissed state Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Amazon over its coronavirus safety protocols and a former employee who led the successful union organizing effort on Staten Island.
A New York judge said he was lifting an order finding Donald Trump in contempt of court, so long as the former president meets certain conditions and pays $110,000 in fines by next week.
The decision ended an embarrassing two-week period for the former president, whose business practices are under civil investigation by the New York state attorney general.
The judge, Arthur Engoron, also accused Trump during a virtual hearing of making a false statement in an affidavit relating to the subpoena seeking documents concerning his family real estate business, the Trump Organization.
The lease to the Washington, D.C., hotel run by Trump’s family company while he was president, a symbol of his power to GOP politicians who gathered there and of corruption to his critics, has been sold by his family company to a Miami-based investor fund.
The company made an estimated $100 million profit off what it called a “record-breaking sale,” despite a congressional committee’s finding that the property near the White House lost more than $70 million while Trump was in office.
In the New York Democratic primary, Rep. Tom Suozzi is forging ahead in his primary challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul, even as fellow party members urged him to drop out, battling her for moderate voters, with a focus on fighting crime and cutting taxes.
To a degree few foresaw, New York is lurching through what may be the most convoluted election cycle in living memory, scrambling political maps, campaigns and the calendar itself.
There’s still no official timeline for Rep. Antonio Delgado to be sworn in as Hochul’s new lieutenant governor.
Democratic Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan and Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro are expected to square off for Delgado’s vacated seat.
Hochul has agreed to participate in two scheduled primary debates, on June 7 and 16, her campaign announced.
A New York state Supreme Court judge in Steuben County upheld the lawmaker-drawn district maps for the state Assembly, arguing there was not enough time to draw new lines before a June 28 primary.
The same judge set new requirements for the candidate petitioning process for the state Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in New York after the lawmaker-drawn lines were rejected as unconstitutional. These primary contests will be held Aug. 23.
Legislation that would ban New York’s use of an out-of-state behavioral facility that uses a controversial form of treatment known as “aversion therapy” passed a key state Senate committee this week.
Legislative sources say New York lawmakers plan to pass the Clean Slate Act before session ends June 2 that would seal New Yorkers’ criminal records after a set period following their sentencing.
The state Senate passed legislation this week that would ban the retail sale of animals in pet stores, drawing an immediate rebuke from industry supporters who said those businesses would likely need to close and put numerous people out of work.
Republican Assemblyman Andrew Goodell said a car thief apparently stole a uniform of the state Office of General Services before stealing his BMW from the state Capitol garage and then crashing it blocks away. (He also left the keys in his vehicle).
New York City Mayor Eric Adams says Gracie Mansion is haunted.
“I don’t care what anyone says, there are ghosts in there, man,” the mayor declared.
Adams endorsed a former staffer, Hercules Reid, over the Democratic Party nominee in an upcoming race to replace Brooklyn State Assemblyman Nick Perry.
“You don’t have to go into the biblical text to understand we have our own Hercules. We have our own strong man,” Adams said, confusing the Greek mythological character with a figure from the Bible. “We have a person that will bring that strength to Albany.”
In an impassioned defense of the NYPD, Adams called for more help from the federal government, and New Yorkers themselves, to help crack down on what he called the city’s latest crime scourge – ghost guns.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board said that 145 NYPD police officers should be disciplined for misconduct during the demonstrations that followed the murder of George Floyd, which drew thousands to streets across all five boroughs.
The CCRB has closed 316 cases stemming from the 321 complaints made during the protests, standing up 267 allegations against 145 officers.
Federal prosecutors steeply lowered the prison time they seek for two lawyers who threw Molotov cocktails at NYPD vehicles during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell appointed a new commander to the embattled NYPD’s Special Victims Division, who she said will treat sex assault victims with care and reward experienced investigators.
MedMen, a cannabis company licensed for medical sales in New York, will settle its legal battle with the competitor seeking to buy its operations in the state, foregoing a trial that may have relied on evidence gathered from subpoenas of Hochul’s administration.
For “legacy” cannabis entrepreneurs, becoming a taxpaying, regulation-observing business is challenging. The owners of Buddy’s Bodega, one of the most prominent illicit cannabis wholesalers serving the New York Metro area, want to go the legal route.
Lufthansa Airlines apologized this week after passengers traveling from New York City to Hungary said they were blocked from boarding a connecting flight in Germany because they were Jewish.
Luke Deer, the only Albany police officer to face criminal charges in connection with the pummeling three years ago of Black men at a home on First Street, was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea to misdemeanor assault after completing a treatment program.
The popular chicken sandwich fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A won approval from the Clifton Park Planning Board to build at the former Pier 1 Imports site near Route 146.
A charity created by the former CEO of Google – before it changed its name to Alphabet – is betting on the Capital Region’s ability to connect people and improve their lives through computing.
The Rensselaer County Legislative approved two new resolutions to ensure buying the former Rose and Kiernan property at 99 Troy Road in East Greenbush complied with the minimum requirement of 13 yes votes to borrow funds to go ahead with the deal.
Families of the victims of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla., that killed 98 people last year have reached a $997 million settlement to compensate them for their staggering losses of life.
An investigation by the U.S. Interior Department has found evidence of burial sites at 53 boarding schools for Native American children, according to a government report released yesterday.
Comedian Andy Dick was arrested on felony sexual battery in California, multiple outlets report.
