First Lady of the United States ((FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the political and social life of the United States. Since the early 20th century, the first lady has been assisted by official staff, now known as the Office of the First Lady and headquartered in the East Wing of the White House. Jill Biden is the current first lady of the United States, as wife of the 46th and current president of the United States, Joe Biden. While the title was not in general use until much later, Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington, the first U.S. president (1789–1797), is considered to be the inaugural first lady of the United States. During her lifetime, she was often referred to as "Lady Washington". Since the 1900s, the role of first lady has changed considerably. It has come to include involvement in political campaigns, management of the White House, championship of social causes, and representation of the president at official and ceremonial occasions. Additionally, over the years individual first ladies have held influence in a range of sectors, from fashion to public opinion on policy, as well as advocacy for female empowerment. Historically, when a president has been unmarried or a widower, he has usually asked a relative to act as White House hostess)

Current First Lady, Dr Jill Biden........

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I love reading books about FLOTUS. I saved those two videos you posted so I can watch them later.

Genuine Risk - There have only been three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby - Winning Colors (1988), Genuine Risk (1980) and Regret (1915). Each raced against males in advance of running in the Kentucky Derby. Winning Colors and Genuine Risk are the only two fillies to compete in all three Triple Crown races. Genuine Risk was a chestnut filly bred in Kentucky by Sally Humphrey. She was sired by Exclusive Native, a top-class track performer who was even better as a breeding stallion, siring the Triple Crown winner Affirmed. Her dam Virtuous was descended from the British broodmare Iona, a half-sister to Ocean Swell and the grandmother of Tomy Lee. 

Ridden by Jacinto Vásquez, Genuine Risk finished second in a very controversial Preakness Stakes, after being bumped and carried wide by the winner Codex, after Codex threw a cross-body block at Genuine Risk, and after Codex's jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. hit Genuine Risk in the face with his whip but didn't get disqualified. Genuine Risk also finished second in the Belmont Stakes to Temperence Hill. The only other filly to compete in all of the triple crown legs was Winning Colors in 1988, who won the Kentucky Derby, placed 3rd in the Preakness Stakes, and 6th in the Belmont Stakes. Genuine Risk was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1986. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, she is ranked #91.

Painting of Derby win

YouTube

Kentucky Derby Moment: 1980 Kentucky Derby (Genuine Risk)

Britney Eurton takes us down memory lane as we reflect on Genuine Risk's win in the 1980 Kentucky Derby.

Happy Hour (is a marketing term for a time when a venue such as a restaurant or bar offers reduced prices on alcoholic drinks. Discounted menu items like appetizers are often served during happy hour. This is a way for bars and restaurants to draw in more business before or after peak business hours. The words "happy" and "hour" have appeared together for centuries when describing pleasant times. In Act I, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Henry V, he says, "Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour/That may give furtherance to our expedition..." The use of the phrase "happy hour" to refer to a scheduled period of entertainment is, however, more recent. One possible origin of the term "happy hour," in the sense of a scheduled period of entertainment, is from the United States Navy. In early 1913, a group of homemakers called the "Happy Hour Social" organised "semi-weekly smokers" on board USS Arkansas. The name "Happy Hour Club," "Happy Hour Social Club," and similar variants had been in use as the names of social clubs, primarily by women's social clubs, since at least the early 1880s. By June 1913, the crew of Arkansas had started referring to their regularly scheduled smokers as happy hours. The happy hours included a variety of entertainment, including boxing and wrestling matches, music, dancing, and movies. By the end of World War I, the practice of holding happy hours had spread throughout the Navy. The idea of drinking before dinner has its roots in the Prohibition era. When the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act were passed banning alcohol consumption, people would host "cocktail hours", also known as "happy hours", at a speakeasy before eating at restaurants where alcohol could not be served. Cocktail lounges continued the trend of drinking before dinner. The Random House Dictionary of American Slang dates "Happy hour," as a term for afternoon drinks in a bar, to a Saturday Evening Post article on military life in 1959. The article detailed the lives of government contractors and military personnel who worked at missile-tracking facilities in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. "Except for those who spend too much during 'happy hour' at the bar – and there are few of these – the money mounts up fast." Barry Popick's online etymology dictionary The Big Apple lists several pre-1959 citations to "Happy Hour" in print, mostly from places near naval bases in California, from as early as 1951)

This place closed a couple of years ago.  The hotel it was located in is currently undergoing renovations, not sure when it will reopen and if a new bar will be located in it.....................

Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to implement a statewide ban on happy hours in 1984. Several other U.S. states also have similar restrictions. The reason for each ban varies, but include to prevent drunk driving, to avoid the nuisance to neighbors from loud crowds and public drunkenness, and to discourage unhealthy consumption of a large amount of alcohol in a short time. In 1984, the U.S. military abolished happy hours at military base clubs. In 2011, the Utah State Legislature passed a ban on happy hours. In July 2011, Pennsylvania extended the period of allowable time for happy hour from two hours to four hours. In June 2012, happy hour became legal in Kansas after a 26-year ban. In July 2015, a 25-year happy hour ban was ended in Illinois. As of July 2015, happy hour bans existed in Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont.................................

Off to work................................

John Irving - (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978. Many of Irving's novels, including The Hotel New Hampshire (1981), The Cider House Rules (1985), A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), and A Widow for One Year (1998), have been bestsellers. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in the 72nd Academy Awards (1999) for his script of The Cider House Rules. Five of his novels have been adapted into films (Garp, Hotel, Meany, Cider, Widow). Several of Irving's books (Garp, Meany, Widow) and short stories have been set in and around Phillips Exeter Academy in the town of Exeter, New Hampshire. Irving writes by longhand and uses both sides of the paper. As for his creative process he reveals that by the time he was writing The Cider House Rules, he realized that he writes best when he starts with the ending of the story. He writes the last sentence of each story, then "writes toward that sentence." He says that approach never lets him down.

Comment: I'm currently reading A Prayer for Owen Meany.

YouTube

John Irving: A writer's life

Author John Irving has mined his personal history and obsessions as the starting point for such acclaimed works of fiction as "The World According to Garp" a...

Jostens (is an American manufacturer of memorabilia. The company is primarily known for its production of yearbooks and class rings for various high schools and colleges as well as championship rings for sports. Jostens also produced photobook products for Disney's PhotoPass photography service offered at Disney theme parks and resorts. As well as its headquarters near Minneapolis and operational offices in Owatonna, Minn., Jostens has facilities in Clarksville, Tenn.; Denton, Texas; Eagan, Minn.; Laurens, S.C.; Sedalia, Mo.; Shelbyville, Tenn.; the Dominican Republic; and Mexico. Otto Josten founded the company as a watch-repair business in Owatonna in 1897. Jostens (then called "Josten's" — the apostrophe was later dropped) began manufacturing emblems and awards for nearby schools and in 1906, the year of incorporation, Josten added class rings to his product line, to be sold to schools throughout the Midwest. Jostens created the American Yearbook Company in 1950, later merging it under the Jostens brand. On October 14, 2015, Jarden acquired Jostens from Visant Corporation, stating that it planned to take advantage of synergies with its other properties (particularly Rawlings and Yankee Candle), and "turn it into a true consumer-product business, as opposed to it historically being run like a printing asset". Jarden merged with Newell Rubbermaid in 2016 to form Newell Brands. In 2018, Newell Brands sold Jostens to Platinum Equity for $1.3 billion. Jostens is the primary supplier of Super Bowl rings, and has made 31 champion rings in the Super Bowl's 50-year history through 2017. In April 2015, Jostens launched the world's first Adobe InDesign streaming partnership with Adobe Inc., called "Monarch," at the Journalism Education Association spring convention in Denver)

1906, company was above an opera house in Owatonna, MN..........................

Today in Minneapolis...............

The ring Jostens made for the 1987 World Series Champions Minnesota Twins.......................

FYI: From my Where We Live topic folder

Kentucky Derby - "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" ... need I say more?

This Saturday - May 6, 2023 - will be the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby. Dubbed "The Run for the Roses" the horse race is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kilograms) and fillies 121 pounds (55 kilograms). It is the first leg of the American Triple Crown. Of the three Triple Crown races, the Kentucky Derby has the distinction of having been run uninterrupted since its inaugural race in 1875. The race was rescheduled to September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Preakness and Belmont Stakes races had taken hiatuses in 1891–1893 and 1911–1912, respectively. Even with the Olympics and major professional sports leagues canceled at those points, the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont took place during the Great Depression and both World Wars. The 2015 derby drew the largest crowd in the event's history with 170,500 spectators in attendance. 

The race often draws celebrities. HM Queen Elizabeth II, on a visit to the United States, joined the racegoers at Churchill Downs in 2007.

This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the win by Secretariat in 1973 which was the fastest time for any Derby race - 1:59.4. No horse since has beaten his record.

YouTube

Secretariat's record-breaking 1973 Kentucky Derby run (FULL RACE) | NBC Sports

Take a look back at Secretariat earning the first jewel of his Triple Crown run with a still-standing track record time on the 50th anniversary of his histor...

Coverage of the Derby by our local NBC affiliate - WAVE-3 - starts around 7 AM and continues until NBC starts its broadcast at 2:30. NBC continues until 7:30 and WAVE-3 does the wrap-up from 7:30 until 8:00 PM. 

The Garland of Roses being assembled at the florist of a local Kroger grocery store. This has been done at the store in Middletown - suburb of Louisville - which is where I few up about 15 miles from where I live now. You can visit the store and watch.  The garland is made up of more than 400 red roses sewn into a green satin backing with the seal of the Commonwealth on one end and the Twin Spires and number of the race's current renewal on the other. Each garland is also adorned with a "crown" of roses, green fern and ribbon. The "crown," a single rose pointing upward in the center of the garland, symbolizes the struggle and heart necessary to reach the Derby Winner's Circle.

The 2018 event set the record for the wettest Kentucky Derby in history, with 3.15 inches of rainfall according to the National Weather Service. See picture below and how muddy the track was.

Lunar Eclipse (is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the moon to be darkened. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth's orbit. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, which can happen only on the night of a full moon when the Moon is near either lunar node. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon's proximity to the lunar node. When the moon is totally eclipsed by the Earth, it takes on a reddish color that is caused by the planet when it completely blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon surface, as only the light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth's atmosphere. This light appears reddish due to the Rayleigh scattering of blue light, the same reason sunrise and sunsets are more orange than during the day. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly 2 hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only up to a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions. The symbol for a lunar eclipse (or indeed any body in the shadow of another) is ).

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2023's First Lunar Eclipse on May 5 | The year's first lunar eclipse will occur on May 5. The eclipse would be visible from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian &... | By CNBC-TV18 | Facebook

324 views, 11 likes, 2 loves, 1 comments, 8 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from CNBC-TV18: The year's first lunar eclipse will occur on May 5. The eclipse would be visible from Europe, Asia,...

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Margaret Jane "Dee Dee" Myers - is an American political analyst who served as the 19th White House Press Secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration. She was the first woman and the second-youngest person to hold that position. Myers later co-hosted the news program Equal Time on CNBC, and was a consultant on The West Wing. She was the inspiration for fictional White House Press Secretary C. J. Cregg. She is also the author of the 2008 New York Times best-selling book, Why Women Should Rule the World. In 2020, she joined the Gavin Newsom administration as Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.

Her book was published in 2008. I read it about three years ago.

New York Fashion Week ((NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general public. It is one of four major fashion weeks in the world, collectively known as the "Big Four", along with those in Paris, London, and Milan. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) created the modern notion of a centralized "New York Fashion Week" in 1993, although cities like London were already using their city's name in conjunction with the words fashion week in the 1980s. NYFW is based on a much older series of events called "Press Week", founded in 1943. On a global scale, most business and sales-oriented shows and some couture shows take place in New York City. A centralized calendar of citywide events (including those affiliated with WME/IMG) is kept by the CFDA, and was acquired from calendar founder Ruth Finley. The annual economic impact of New York Fashion Week upon New York City was estimated at US$887 million in 2016.

The first New York Fashion Week was created in 1943 by Eleanor Lambert, press director of the American fashion industry's first promotional organization, the New York Dress Institute. The event, the world's first organized fashion week, was called "Press Week", and was created to attract attention away from French fashion during World War II, when fashion industry insiders were unable to travel to Paris to see French fashion shows. It was also meant to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, who had neglected U.S. fashion innovations. Press Week in New York was a success, and fashion magazines like Vogue, which were normally filled with French designs, increasingly featured American fashion. By the mid-1950s, the event was known as "Press Week of New York". Spring 1951 (held February 1951) was the 16th Annual Press Week of New York.................................

Eleanor Lambert.....

FYI: From my Fashion topic folder

_______________________

Calling it a night.....................

The Outer Banks - (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a 200 mi (320 km) string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. A major tourist destination, the Outer Banks are known for their wide expanse of open beachfront and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The seashore and surrounding ecosystem are important biodiversity zones, including beach grasses and shrubland that help maintain the form of the land. The Outer Banks stretch southward from Sandbridge in Virginia Beach down the North Carolina coastline. Sources differ regarding the southern terminus of the Outer Banks. The most extensive definition includes the state's three prominent capes: Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear. Other sources limit the definition to two capes (Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout) and coastal areas in four counties (Currituck County, Dare County, Hyde County, and Carteret County).[9] Some authors exclude Carteret's Bogue Banks; others exclude the county entirely.

The Outer Banks were sites of early European settlement in the United States and remain important economic and cultural sites. Most notably the English Roanoke Colony vanished from Roanoke Island in 1587 and was the first location where an English person, Virginia Dare, was born in the Americas. The hundreds of shipwrecks along the Outer Banks have given the surrounding seas the nickname Graveyard of the Atlantic. The Outer Banks were also home to the Wright brothers' first flight in a controlled, powered, heavier-than-air vehicle on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills. During the 20th century the region became increasingly important for coastal tourism.