AN INTERESTING MEMORIAL DAY

Facebook

My daughter Diane called to warn me that my Facebook account had been hacked.  I had recently accepted two friend requests from people I thought were already my friends.  So those accounts were suspects.

I searched Facebook for those possible fake accounts and found one that was interesting.  This person had two accounts, both connected to my name. One account was empty, so I deleted it.  This "person" had recently sent me some messages concerning potential money-making opportunities.  I had already deleted that message.

I also found three other accounts for the other "friend" connected to my name, but all three were different and did not appear fake.

A funny thing though - each of these accounts had a different set of friends and each of every one of them had a number of "mutual friends" associated with it. I had never heard of any of them.    ?

I put out a notice that folks should not accept friend requests from me.  If anyone did already accept, I would like to know if they had received any fake messages from "me, because I don't do "messages" or "texts." 

Memorial Day Parade

Our helper told me about a way to view the Westminster, Maryland Memorial Day Parade remotely, and it worked well, except that it was the view from the cab of a firetruck that was in the parade.

It was fun to watch the crowds of happy waving people lining the curbs. So, even though I didn't see the actual parade, I had a good time "people-watching."

Sky-watching

At midnight I went out on our side porch to see if any of the predicted "meteor shower" was visible. There were no clouds in the north-east sky and I had a great experience.

During other attempts to see "shooting stars," I felt lucky if I saw three in an hour.

Last night I saw 44 in ten minutes!

I had to quit my viewing because my neck was getting stiff.

These "shooting stars" did not just zoom downward like others I've seen; they zoomed all over the place, better than any fireworks display I have ever seen. 

Nurse Jackie said she saw only 5 in a half hour.  She watched from 1am to 1:30 am, while I watched for 10 minutes starting right at midnight.  I guess the "shower" tapered off shortly after my viewing time.

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WORD STUFF

Wordle

I sweated out today's solution, it's a tough one, but after a loooong time it popped into my head, and I was able to keep my score.

The Future of English

Professor John McWhorter predicts that in the future English will dominate all other languages and will be the lingua franca for all human correspondence, beating out Mandarin.

He cites the inventiveness of English speakers who use emoji's, anagrams, abbreviations, and rap lyrics to expand (and change) English. Some examples:

GF = Girlfriend

CWOT = Complete waste of time

BFF = Big Friend Forever (?)

OMG = Oh My God!

IMHO = In my humble opinion (I like that one)

BTW = By the way

C U L 8 R - See you later

((BTW - even other countries are trying to emulate us. For instance:

K7 in French for cassette

K pronounced ka

7 is pronounced set for sept

N8 in German for NACHT (night)

N pronounced en

8  pronounced acht ))

RHYME

If you have a couple of hours to kill, and you have opinions about RAP, you might like to read Adam Gopnik's New Yorker article in the May 30,2033 issue entitled "The End of the Line or It's long past Time to Reassess Rhyme."

Besides Adam's views on the different kinds of rhyme, he reviews Daniel Levin Becker's new book "What's Good."  

Mr. Becker says: "RAP serves, consistently, contagiously, sometimes in spite of its own claims to the contrary, as a delivery mechanism for the most exhilarating and crafty and inspiring use of language in contemporary American culture"

What do you think?

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 MEMORIAL DAY

Growing up in Massachusetts, Memorial Day was when we went to cemeteries and placed flowers on the graves of our beloved ancestors.  Now, it's a day when we honor those who served in the Military.

Here is some information about my relatives who served in their country's military organizations.

Arthur S. Vaughan - my Grandfather who served between wars in a militia organization.

Elliott Vaughan - an Uncle who served in France during the First World War.

William (Billy) Vaughan = an Uncle who served in the 8th Air Force during World War Two, and was stationed in London during the "Blitz."

Allen Vaughan - an Uncle who was in military training during World War Two.  An explosion blew out his eardrums and forced him to get a Disability Discharge.

Lurana Ethridge - an Aunt who gave up her Canadian citizenship to join the WACS during World War Two.

Lincoln Vaughan - an Uncle who commanded a secret Army base on Cuttyhunk Island during World War Two.

Earl Phillips - a Cousin who served with General Patton during the Battle of the Bulge in World War Two.

Joe Vaughan - Me.  I served 4 years in the Air Force, one of which was during the Korean War.

(I'm still alive!)

I'm sure there were others that I don't know about.

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 MEMORIES

Genealogy -  

Several persons helped me grow up.

Doris Vaughan - my Mother who was the most beautiful lady in central New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Alice M. Vaughan - my maternal Grandmother who let me live as one of her children, after giving birth to 15.

Marjorie Vaughan - my maternal Aunt who treated me as though she was my mother.  In fact, the latest census records have me listed as her son.

Arthur S. Vaughan - my maternal Grandfather who taught me all about puzzles and fostered my love for the unusual,

William (Billy) Vaughan - my maternal Uncle who was tasked with disciplining me when I did wrong, which was often.  Billy would cry himself as he meted out punishment, which never involved spanking.  I did listen to him and tried to be good.

Allen T. Vaughan - my other maternal Uncle who taught me how to defend myself from bullies and who insisted that I should always be tough, but gentle.

I was lucky to have all of these persons in my life during my formative years and I loved them.  I miss them and think about them often.

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 MIXTURE

1.  Spelling Bees

Professor John McWhortle says that English speakers are the only people that can have "Spelling Bees."  This is because our language is full of words that look kind of alike, but which sound different.

Example:  rough, through, ought, thought, etc.

Other languages retain the sounds of their letters consistently within words.

Listen to what we hear when some Germans recite their version of their  A.B.C. rhyme.

Ah, Bey, Tsay, Day, Ey, Eff, Gay, Ha, Ee, Yot, Kah, El, Em, En, Oh, Pay, Coo, Are, Ess, Tay, Ooh, Fow, Vey, Eeks, Epsilon, Tset.

When in Germany I was first asked how to pronounce Vaughan, I said "it sounds like your 'von.'"

So they pronounced it "Fon."

I realized that I should have said "it sounds like 'Won.'"

Americans have trouble with Vaughan too, Most of the young folks who never heard of Vaughan Monroe or Somerset Maugham say "Voghan."

2.  Travel

I caught a few minutes of in interview with a lady who just completed a virtual tour of the United States,  It took her 18 months,

From her home and using her computer, she would visit cities and watch videos about each city's claims to fame.

For instance:  On a virtual visit to Baltimore, Maryland, she would observe Betsey Ross' Flag House, Edgar Allen Poe's Burial Spot, the world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital and College, Fort McHenry, The Museum of Industry, The Inner Harbor, etc.

3.  Emma's Words

No, this is not about Jane Austin's matchmaking Emma.  It is about Emma Lazarus the author and poet. Emma lived a short life (1849 - 1887).

You'll remember her lines that were installed on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The lines are from her poem "The New Colossus."  Here are some of the memorable words:

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I LIFT MY LAMP BESIDE THE GOLDEN DOOR!"

Some politicians have lost sight of the concept of FREEDOM.  This is why thousands of people climb over 30 foot walls and brave dangerous rivers and hazardous ocean voyages to enter the U.S. and be FREE.

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THIS AND THAT

 A  FEW  ITEMS FROM MY POST-IT NOTES

01.  Egg shells make good plant fertilizer.

02.  Put a raw egg in the bottom of your flowerpot when planting.

03.  Think of your dreams as vacations.

04.  Male dolphins are becoming gay.

05.  New Bedford, Massachusetts was called "The City of Palaces" in the 1800's.

06.  Who was "The Armpit Queen?"

07.  Do we dream in color?

UGLY WORDS

Did you learn these words in English class?

UNERGATIVE - relates to "verbs that are intransitive and characterized semantically by having a subject argument which is an agent that actively initiates the action expressed by the verbs -- like dance, hop, or jog."

HUH?

UNACCUSATIVE - relates to verbs that are intransitive and whose grammatical subject is not a semantic agent. That is, the subject does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for the action expressed by the verb - like melt, sink, or fall.

HUH?

Professor McWhorter suggests that unless you are a linguist, purge your memory banks of these two "ugly" words.

DONE!

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I'M EXCITED!

It's been a great day.  The predicted tornado didn't show up, my medication was delivered just in time, I'm about to eat Pizza and my wonderful daughter visited.

Our helper Kathy got all of our planters and pots ready for planting and today, Diane filled them with plants and seeds.

2 Big Boy Tomatoes

1 Cherry Tomato

4 Cucumbers

2 Yellow Squash

2 Zuchini

6 pots of Flowers

Now its up to me to make these plants prosper on our back porch.

PS   I can't stop thinking about the senseless slaughter of innocent children and elderly persons.  As an empath, I never will.  

 STUFF

Shakespeare wrote a play that sounds like it would be appropriate for all of this. It's called "Much Ado About Nothing."

Grammar

I listened to Miss Thynge, my English teacher for the seventh and eighth grade.  I have also referred to The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and Fowler's Modern English Usage from time to time, and I think I know a little bit about English grammar.  However, I would rather avoid the grammar and talk or write as common people talk and write.

This may point to my "common" upbringing.  I loved my "common" upbringing, so I will continue to write and speak as I normally speak and write, without being too much concerned about grammar.  If you catch me playing "fast and loose" with the English language, don't get excited, I'm probably just having fun.

By the way, Professor McWhorter doesn't like "very fun" and neither do I.  I think it sounds wrong regardless if it's an adjective or adverb.

Fraud 

The bipartisan Fraud and Scam Reduction Act was recently signed into law by President Biden. It's features:

It brings together Federal agencies, financial institutions and consumer advocates, to create a guide to prevent scams targeting seniors.

It requires the Federal Trade Commission to devise a better system for reporting fraud against seniors,

It requires making anti-fraud education more widespread.

Jokester Entries

Mensa Wordsmith Richard Lederer posted some  scientifically worded entries in The Funny Times for June 2022.  Here are a few,

What sound does a subatomic duck make?  - Quark!

NASA has built a new restaurant on the moon.  The food is great, but the place doesn't have any atmosphere.

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-a-lantern by its diameter?  Pumpkin pi!

Two antennas got married. The wedding was just so-so, but the reception was excellent,

Junk Mail

I've written about this before.

I have always liked getting junk mail.  In fact, I devised a method to keep track of the different types of mail that I send or receive.

I don't have a middle initial, so I used that empty spot as a sorting trigger.

For instance: on my address label, a Joe A. Vaughan meant health-related mail; Joe B. Vaughan meant education-related mail; Joe C. Vaughan meant religious mail; etc.  

I gave a speech about this at a Toastmasters' meeting and the next week I was met with a massive pile of junk mail that my fellow members had saved just for me.

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OBSERVATIONS

Conversation

Bob: "Hey, Jim. how ya doin'?

Jim: "Not bad.  Did you hear about that school shooting in Texas?"

Bob: "Yeah, that's sad.  Oh, what did you think about that bad call that the ref made that cost us the game?"

Jim:  "I'm mad as hell!  I think I'm going to call the league president and complain."

Bob:  "Good! And maybe a call to our Congressman might help us get rid of that bad ref."

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Universality

The Ket language is an extremely complicated language spoken by 200 people residing in Russia.  Analysis of the Ket language shows that it is directly related to our Navajo language.

Let's hear it for the Bering Strait!

 All of the native tribes that have been discovered in the last two centuries have used some form of arrows to kill animals for food.

(Check me out on this.)

Advertisements

HONDA is back at it.  Repeating their latest ad over and over.

Once again, on a 40 minute podcast, the HONDA ad played every 10 minutes as though it was on a TV show.

We try not to watch network TV because of the repetitive ads and canned laughter. (Yes, I do complain about this a lot.)

Wild Man of Borneo

P. T. Barnum displayed a South Seas native in his freak shows.  The only thing keeping the native from looking like the guy next door was his hairdo and sneer.

Until today, I had the hairdo but not the sneer.  I finally got a haircut and a beard trim. I now look like a Civil War General ready to hop on his horse and confront the enemy.

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TEARS

What does an empath do as he grows older?  

He cries a lot.

Music

I just heard Joni Mitchell sing her song, "Both Sides Now," and once again I got teary listening to it. 

...

"Tears and fears and feeling proud

To say "I love you" right out loud

Dreams and schemes and circus crowds

I've looked at life that way.

...

I've looked at life from both sides now

From win and lose and still somehow

It's life's illusions I recall

I really don't know life at all."

Joni said in 1967 that in this song there are only two sides to things:

reality and fantasy

enchantment and disenchantment

what we are taught to believe things are and what they really are

I've mentioned this many times before, but whenever I watch the last act of my favorite opera, La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, I have the same reaction.  

When Rudolfo realizes that his beloved Mimi has died, he sings out "MIMI!" and the water just starts to gush from my eyes. Every time! I have no control over it.  Even thinking about it right now, I almost tear up.

So you see now what a "crybaby" I've become.

When I was a Branch Chief at the Social Security Administration I usually had thirty or more people working for me.  I was their boss, but also their "mother hen."

Some folks had problems with their spouses and fiancées. Some had bodily problems.  Some were in financial difficulties.  Some were depressed.

I always listened to them and their troubles became mine too.  Sometimes I was even able to help them.

Yes, I have been an empath for years.

So, why am I telling you all this?

Because of an eye-opening article in the Sunday New York Times,  The subject was Haiti.

 I always thought of Haiti as the Nation that stupidly cut down all of its trees and wasn't smart enough to become like its island neighbor, The Dominican Republic.

The article taught me about the history of Haiti.  

In the early 1800's Haitian slaves rose up against their French slave-owners and established an independent country.

The French Government did not like the situation and a few years later threatened Haiti with annihilation unless they paid reparations to their former owners.

These reparations  caused Haiti to become one of the poorest Nations on the globe.

Over the years, as the population grew, Haiti did not produce enough milk to feed its children.  They used their meager financial resources to obtain milk from other countries.

Of course, inflation hit and Haiti could not afford to buy enough milk and had to ration it.

I believe that each child is now entitled to just one liter of milk powder every other week.  Think about that for a moment.

I think that Haiti mothers breast feed their babies and are not involved with formula shortages.  I'm thinking about those little children tugging on their mothers' aprons and asking "Mama, can I have some milk?"  For some children, milk might be their only breakfast food, if they have some.

This makes me cry.

(I may have facts wrong about the Haitian situation, but you get the idea.)

How about the U. S. airlifting some milk powder from our vast reserves?

(By the way, Andre Brown has let us know about the young boy who was so impressed with some American soldiers that he escaped from his slum home in Haiti and somehow managed to get into the U.S. military in exchange for U.S. citizenship.  He later was accepted into one of our military academies and became a top graduate.)

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 AMAZING!

Gefunden!

I was thinking about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel "Lost Worlds," when I read about Chinese researchers finding a large "forest" within a massive sinkhole.  They say that there are insects, plants and other type creatures living there, untouched by the outside world.

Elaine is now hooked on a TV series that delves into a "lost" city in a deserted planet in another galaxy. (At least I think that is the story.)

In any event, it is an interesting Sci-Fi show with good acting by Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons.  The series is titled "Night Sky" and has 8 episodes do far.

Realtor Speak

If you are thinking about buying a home, you might want to check out some phrases that realtors like to use.

The New York Times listed 16 of them in their Sunday edition.  Here are 5 of them:

It's cozy = It's small and dark.

It has loads of original details = It's a wreck; get out your checkbook.

It's priced to sell =  Shouldn't all property be priced to sell?

It's close to transportation = Inquire further; It could overlook railroad tracks.

It's right on the water = It's in a flood zone.

Dead Eye Dick?

The good folks of Kingsland, Arkansas were so proud of their home-town hero, Johnny Cash, the famous singer that they had his portrait painted on the tallest edifice in town, the Water Tower.

Johnny was shown with his legs spread slightly, as he strummed his guitar.  This stance was so provocative that one of the town's marksmen couldn.t resist and shot a bullet right through Johnny's crotch and into the water tower, causing a leak of water that made it look as though Mr. Cash was peeing on his fans.

This reminded me of the famous Belgian Manneken Pis statue that people travel many miles to see.

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ODDBALL STUFF!

"Curing" the Meat Problem

In 1910 there was a meat shortage in the U.S., and some forward thinkers (including Teddy Roosevelt) came up with a novel solution.  They would bring young African hippopotamuses (hippopotami?) to Louisiana and let them loose in the swamps.

Without predators, these creatures would quickly propagate and could be farmed; thus providing necessary protein to meat-starved Americans.

Among several problems with this idea, was the one that caused the plan to die.  That was the problem that Americans would be averse to eating hippo meat.

Jon Mooallem has written an interesting book about this situation.  It's called American Hippopotamus.

COVID

The United States lost almost one million people caused by the pandemic up to 2021.

Russia lost almost 800,000 people caused by the pandemic up to 2021.

Russia has a population of 145 million.

The U.S. has a population of 332 million.

You do the math.

Mascots

Our barracks had a couple of mascots when I was stationed on a mountain top in Germany.

This was Herman.

This was Donald.

Where are they now?

Back in 2017, Betina Rodriguez Aguilera, Republican Congressional candidate from Miami, claimed she was abducted by aliens when she was seven years old.

She said the aliens were tall and blond and their spaceship was powered by quartz rocks.

(Aguilera is derived from Latin and means "place of eagles." Is that where they took her?)

In 2010, Iowa Dentist James Knight fired his dental hygienist, Melissa Nelson because she was "too attractive."  Apparently. her clothing was too distracting.

The employee said that this was discrimination and filed suit. The all-male Iowa Supreme Court agreed with a lower court ruling that "an employee may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction."

Nelson's lawyer said, "A decision like this is possible only when the decision-makers have been sheltered from the day-to-day reality of what it is like to be a woman working outside her home in America."

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HOT TOPICS

That promised heatwave has arrived.  Alexa says its 90 degrees, our outdoor thermometer reads 100 degrees and the actual temperature is 89 degrees.

Our in-house temperature is shown as 79 degrees, and that is with two air conditioning units blasting away.

When I was a teen-ager, I worked in the exercise area of the New Bedford, Massachusetts YMCA, where the temperature was always in the upper nineties.  I liked that hot environment then, but now I have become sissified and would rather that every place should maintain a constant 75 degrees.

Words

In just two pages of "The American Language" by Mencken, I found these tough words:

contumacious = stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority (apply it to today's politics) 

incommode = (verb) inconvenience (someone)

engaud = to lend a false glamor to

chatelaine = a woman in charge of a large house or a set of short chains attached to a woman's belt, used for carrying keys.

Camrose = a city in central Alberta, Canada.

(But what the hell is a camrose?)

 There is a town in Wales called Camrose and there are wild roses growing along the town's Stoney Creek that are called camroses.

Mencken enjoyed tossing out unfamiliar words. They make us think.

Microscopic Creations

Marc Miskin and colleagues at Cornell have developed nanobots.  These are microscopic robots that can walk around inside your body.  

Someday, these creations will be able to travel through your body and issue medication directly on troublesome tumors and such.

Think about that for a while.

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 WATCH OUT!

Tornados

We just received a notice that we are on a "tornado Watch."  Wait a minute! Where we live in Maryland is a place with a lot of hills, how could we possibly have tornados? Kentucky, where Katey and Amy live. have lots of them, but surely not us.

Well, since I've lived in Maryland our area has had at least three.

1.  A tornado roared through Westminster, Maryland dying right in the driveway of my daughter Beth's boyfriend's home.  No injuries.

2.  A tornado touched done on a flat expanse of farmland in Gamber, where we lived.  It destroyed a farmhouse, but no one was injured.  Debris (a lifetime of memories) flew into our back yard and my son, Chris, picked up most of it and brought it to the nearby firehouse so the owners could retrieve it.

3. A tornado attacked Reisterstown, near where we live and broke all the windows and the front door of the rowhouse that my son was about to move into.

He was there with a U-Haul truck filled with furniture and was accompanied by two crying little girls.

The owner of the unit refused to do anything about the damage until the insurance appraiser showed up -- "perhaps early next week."

Unacceptable!

I don't remember what we did to get the owner to relent, but whatever it was, it was powerful.  He contracted a cleanup crew that came out immediately and shoveled broken glass and fixed the door so that Chris and his girls had a place to sleep that night. 

Hot Stuff

The Air Conditioner Company brought us a high-powered unit to use until our system is fixed.  

I just got a call to let us know that our part has suddenly been delivered and it will be installed Monday afternoon.

This part is supposed to be a "super duper" creation that will keep our unit in "tip top" shape for ever more.

(Loud cheers!)

Yeah, sure.

WORDS

WORDLE - I almost didn't get this one.  At the last moment I entered a word that I didn't think was right.  It was, so I kept my 100% score.

Strange Words

Today Professor McWhortle talked about words that have no ancestry.  Like:

cranberry - what is a cran?

loganberry - what is a logan?

permit - what's a mit?  Not derived from Latin mit, - the word for put.)

Easy German Joke

Im Dorfgasthaus haengt ein Bindfaden aus dem Fenster. "Was soll denn das?, fragt ein Gast."

"Das ist unser Barometer", antwortest der Wirt.

""Wenn es sich bewegt, ist es windig, und wenn er nass ist, regnet es!"

Hints:  

Bindfaden = thread

Fenster = window

Gast = guest

Wirt = proprietor

windig = windy

nass  = wet 

regnet = rains 

 

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 WHAT'S A BLOG ANYWAY? ETC.

A few years ago, a BLOG was just an Internet log function that allowed a person to keep track of their everyday activity.  For instance: 

08:00 AM I got up; 

0815 AM I ate my oatmeal; 

08:30 AM I ran for my bus...

Later, folks began to elaborate on their activities and BLOGs became what they are today:

1. Big ego trips.

2. Ways to let your friends and relatives know about what you are experiencing and how those  experiences are enriching your life. This is different from those XMAS letters that just tell about where folks visited this last year. 

(I like those letters. Now that I can no longer travel, I can join my friends and relatives in their travels vicariously.)

Italian Names

For years, Italian children received their father's surname at birth.  Recently, a law has changed that and now a child may legally get its mother's surname at birth, if requested

I was told that when I was born, both my first name and surname were written on my birth certificate by some Italian-American nuns to reflect the ethnicity of the guy who was thought of at the time to be my biological father.  If that had been finalized, my name would have been shown as Geuseppi B...

My mother didn't like that and rewrote the birth information to show me as Joseph Vaughan , her surname.

However, for years, relatives would call me Joe Zippy, and some neighborhood kids would call me Joe followed by a forbidden (at the time) word that begins with B.

We're Havin' a Heatwave, a tropical heatwave

My tap dance teacher, Carole Haney, danced the "heatwave" number on Broadway and in a movie, for which she earned an award.  The number was designed to raise the heat level of the audience, and it certainly did that.

Now, we are about to get some 90+ weather this weekend and our Air Conditioner is still broken; waiting for a part for over a month.

The A/C people just arrived with a massive portable unit that should cool the whole house.  We also have a smaller one left over from last year's A/C problems, so we should be OK.   

I think it wasn't until 1980 when we finally had a "whole house" air conditioning unit installed.  Suddenly we couldn't live without something that we seemed to have lived without for many many years.

Several years later, we took a trip through Canada.  Although the temperature there was in the upper eighties and it was humid, there was never an air conditioner in sight... nowhere!  But, we lived through it.

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LOTSA STUFF, MAN

Getting old - miseries

Just as I finished with a cold, my right leg started acting up and I'm having to use a cane again.

Years ago in an antique store in Berlin, Maryland, I bought a "Depression Era" cane with a built-in surprise.  It is finished in shiny wood and has a gold-plated eagle handle.

Hidden in the cane is an area in which a narrow bottle resides.  One can sneak a drink right from that bottle, without being caught by the "feds."

One day, in my excitement to display my prize possession, I accidently stepped on the cane and broke it in half.  Someday I will figure out how to get it back together; meanwhile, I will have to be a "teetotaler."

Puzzles

Francine S. sent me a page from a recent school newspaper.  It listed New York Times puzzles ranked in order of popularity.

Wordle

Crossword

Spelling Bee

Sudoku

Vertex

Tiles

Letter boxed

I do Wordle every morning. (I thought today's solution was very hard to get.)

I try to do two crosswords every day.

I do the Sunday Spelling Bee.

I gave up on Sudoku long ago, because I felt that using logic on it was futile.

I never heard of the last three.  I'll need to investigate.

Lookie, Lookie!

My tiny friend, Cookie, who lives under the molding in my bathroom has a boyfriend!

At 2AM, she was giving him a tour of the premises.

He looked identical to Cookie, a half-inch-long ebon creature that one could take for a black smudge from a ball-point pen.

I'll probably be looking at some even smaller creatures in the near future.

Words

Professor Curzan spoke about words that are frowned upon.

"hopefully" - a word that makes editors and teachers cringe. I don't care, I like to use it.

 "fun - "

"That was fun."  OK

"I had a fun time,"  OK, but not great.

"I had a funner time than she had." NO NO

Better would be: "I had more fun than she had at that time."

Dictionaries say fun is an "uncountable noun" meaning pleasure and enjoyment, or it could be an adjective.

American Tourists

An American couple that I know visited London and noticed all the ads for "fish and chips."  They went into a pub and ordered that dish.  As the waiter took their "fish and chips" orders, the husband said, "and add some French Fries on mine."

That reminds me:

The first time some of my Air Force buddies and I visited New Orleans, we sat in a bar and ordered drinks.  They were very high priced, so we "nursed" them all night long.

What we didn't realize was that the drinks were high to include an entertainment fee. Drinks after the first were extremely cheap.

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 OBSERVATIONS

Search

I've been trying to find a short science fiction story that I read many years ago. but which was very interesting to me.  I've been searching the Internet, but haven't had any luck.

The story may have been written by Robert Heinlein. It tells how a "galactic cloud" suddenly disappeared and Earth was bathed in a new kind of ray that raised human intelligence by an astronomical measure.

Suddenly bigots realized that their prejudices were a bunch of bologna and all people are really created equal, and America is a home for all people, regardless of their gender, race, religion or sexual preference.

There are two "flashy" books with similar ideas, but which may not address IQ.

"The Cloud" by Ray Hammond and "The Black Cloud" by Fred Hoyle.

For now, what can be done to uncloud the befuddled brains of the bigots with access to assault weapons?  Why are innocent people made to suffer by the crazy action of a  few "nutjobs?" 

When will they ever learn?

Pete Seeger wrote "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and Peter Paul and Mary immortalized it.

One verse:

"Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?

Where have all the graveyards gone?

Gone to flowers everyone

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Oh, when will they ever learn?"

Will we continue to just stand at the gravesites of innocent victims of violence and forget about them in the years to come, while their bodies are consumed by worms and Congress does nothing?

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WORDS AND OTHER STUFF?

Flies

Yesterday I quoted a report about fly brains.  The spelling of the species was erroneous.  The correct name is Drosophila melanogaster and refers to the common fruit fly that apparently appears out of nowhere (spontaneous generation?) when you peel a piece of fruit or forget to put table scraps into the mulcher.

Even with their mammalian brains, their life cycle is only one week in length, just enough time for eating, mating and laying eggs for the next generation.

 Their name means, "Black-bellied dew lover."  I wonder how they got that name.

To remember:  "Time flies like the wind, and fruit flies like bananas."

Bidet

I read an article by a person who loves bidets because they get a person's butt nice and clean.

That's true but I thought that bidets may have another purpose.  I could be wrong.

At the end of the article, the author quoted a poem by Langston Hughes, 

"Hold fast to dreams,

For if dreams die,

Life is like a broken-winged bird 

That cannot fly."

(The rest is)

"Hold fast to dreams, 

For when dreams go.

Life is a barren field,

Frozen with snow."

American poet Langston Hughes (1901-1967) wrote a lot of poems that I like, such as,

Impasse

I could tell you

If I wanted to,

What makes me 

What I am.

But I don't

Really want to - 

And you don't 

Give a damn."

Pronunciation

Professor Curzan talked about English pronunciation and how hard it must be for foreigners to pronounce words the way native English speakers do.  She cited a poem called Chaos by Dutch Author Gerard Noist Trenite (1870-1946).  Here is a small bit from his poem:

"... Stranger does not rhyme with anger,

Neither does devour with clangour.

Pilot, pivot, gaunt but aunt, 

Font, front, won't, want, grand and grant.

Arsenic, specific, scenic,

Relic, rhetoric, hygienic, 

Gooseberry, goose and close, but close,

Paradice, rise, rose, and close.

,,, Sounds like pores, pause, pours and paws,

Rhyming with the pronoun yours;

Nor are proper names included,

Though I often heard as you did,

Funny rhymes to unicorn, 

Yes, you know them, Vaughan* and Strachan.**

                         *

** Strawn.

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OBSERVATIONS

Several years ago this blog was called "Joe Reads The News," but as the daily world situation disintegrated, I stopped commenting on all the bad news we all are experiencing. Now, if I do comment on the news, it is in (I hope) a satirical manner.

Little Brains like Ours?

Bottom Line Personal for May 15th, 2022, reported on an interesting study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

"Tracking brain activity of Drosophilia melanogaster while the insects were subjected to different stimuli revealed that the flies were capable of learning and memory as well as distractibility -- in surprisingly similar ways as humans and other mammals."

Think about that when you are swatting a fly.  This little creature has a brain similar to ours.  Don't be surprised if our ET's have eight legs and antennae.

And think about that creature with a convoluted brain a hundred times larger than human's, namely a Blue Whale. What about that, Ahab?

Some folks even believe that plants have brains. Why not?

Amy Vaughan has an app that allows her to focus her camera on a plant and receive information about that plant.  I've just been made aware that the PlantNet app will also do that.  I think I'd like to try that.

Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary says:

"Brain = An apparatus with which we think that we think ... in our civilization, and under our republican form of government, brain is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from office."

William H. Roylance insults your brain in his

"Complete Book of Insults, Boasts, and Riddles."

"You haven't even got the brains you were born without."

"You're no birdbrain, a bird is smarter."

"You must have been passed out when the brains were."

"If you ever have a successful brain operation it will have to be an installation job."

How about a Yiddish insult:

"A chvarobe dir in dee gehirn."

"May illness strike your brain!"

The same auf Deutsch:(in German)

"Mag Krankheit ihr Gehirn treffen!"

See:  Gehirn means brain in both languages.  Yiddish was originally a German dialect with words from Hebrew and other languages.

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MORE MUSINGS

KNOTWORDS

Well, I tried again, but after ten minutes I had uncovered only three words, I gave up, because I would rather spend an hour solving Crossword Puzzles than on this esoteric exercise.  If you have the time, be my guest! 

The word that stumped me yesterday was "poniards," a word that means, "small slim daggers."  Let's see if I can use it in a sentence.

In the opera "Rigoletto", Sparafucile thought about either sharpening his poniards and using them to do the deed or just letting his prey drown without being stabbed.

MSNBC

I have been a fan of "The Rachel Maddow Show" for many years.  Her show aired five days a week and I listened to them as a Podcast.  Recently Rachel has lowered her exposure to just Monday nights.  The other four nighttime slots are being filled with something called "MSNBC PRIME."

I tried to get the new show as a Podcast, but they require personal information and a password.  Forget it!

I did try to listen to Ali Belchi on regular MSNBC.  I listened for twenty minutes.  Ali and some lady talked for five minutes, followed by fifteen minutes of commercials.  What the hell has happened to MSNBC?

COVID

Yesterday I developed a raspy voice and a slight cough.  Suspecting they might be COVID symptoms, I phoned "Nurse Jackie."  She advised me to take the "Rapid Test."  Which I did.

It came back "negative" so my ailments might just  indicate a mild cold or allergic reactions.

Even with two booster shots, us old guys still are afraid of COVID.

Surprise!

Last night, Elaine and I opened a movie that was advertised as a romantic comedy from the 1700's. In fact, it was a take-off of Emile Zola's novel "Nana."  I think I read that many years ago.  

Nana was a naughty lady and after allowing us to view beautiful carriages, costumes and mansions, the screen was filled with naked ladies.  Yes, it was very close to a "porno-flic."

We thought that such films were required to be shown long after children have gone to bed. But children would still be up at this early hour, and  would have access to films like this.  

Will the "good-doer" PTA's shut them down as they are now doing with books.  We suspect that eventually all movies with "kissing scenes" would  be banned if they have their way.