Are You Crying Yet?

Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump

I love this movie, celebrating its 20th anniversary since being released, but this is literally laugh-out-loud funny.

Well, it was for me, anyway.  Your mileage may vary.

Forrest Gump on IMDB.

gibbosity

gibbosity \ gi-BOS-i-tee \ noun

1. a protuberance or swelling.
2. the state of being gibbous.

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This is a good word to know; when someone rudely mentions my beer belly (not from beer, though), I can say "No, it's my gibbosity!".

Not sure if a pregnant woman could use that, though.

Highest Flyer

The Rüppell's vulture is considered to be the highest-flying bird, with confirmed evidence of a flight at an altitude of 11,300 m (37,000 ft) above sea level.

Be My Baby - The Ronettes

favonian

favonian fa·vo·ni·an [fuh-voh-nee-uhn] adjective

1. of or pertaining to the west wind.
2. mild or favorable; propitious.

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I was surprised I didn't know this word - what with all the maritime novels I read as a young man, I'd think it would have been in at least one of them. Maybe it was and I just didn't know what it meant...and I don't remember.

After all, when I was a young man was a long time ago.

Mad Max: Fury Road

I might have to break down and go to the theater to watch this.

Fine Herb Quiz

Not really the "fine herb" I'd choose, but....

I'm sure I've eaten something w/ tarragon, but I've never cooked with it.  I love to look at the herbs in the various garden supply catalogs I get in the mail. I'd really like to have a herb garden, esp. w/ some rosemary to sprinkle on a potato galette - I've been wanting to make one of those for a long time.

You Are French Tarragon

You have a strong personality, and you're not really into mellowing it out for anyone. You can perk up any boring occasion or event. You may take over a room, but your influence is always a good one. You are a bit offbeat and likely to be very intellectual. You can get lost studying unusual subjects. You are confident in who you are, and you especially know when you are right. You have experience and knowledge to share.

What Fine Herb Are You?

Touch Too Much - AC/DC

Interactive Psychedelic Kaleidoscope

Interactive Psychedelic Kaleidoscope

Break-In

Break head getting out.

Someone smashed in a door at All Points Electric in Brandon early Thursday morning, but they had a little trouble getting out. The culprit also smashed three truck windows and two garage windows, but nothing was taken.

hemidemisemiquaver

hemidemisemiquaver hem·i·dem·i·sem·i·qua·ver
[hem-ee-dem-ee-sem-ee-kwey-ver]

noun - music - chiefly British

a sixty-fourth note

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I didn't know this word, nor do I think I'll ever use it.  I can't carry a tune in a bucket and don't think this word would fit in one, either.

Terrible Tummy Trivia

The acid in your stomach can dissolve steel.

Longest Running Play

The Mousetrap, a murder mystery by Agatha Christie, is the world's longest running play. The play opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then.

Billie Jean - The Bottle Boys

Several people in the comments section under the video are saying it's faked. I don't know if that is or isn't the case, but it's still cool.

WAY Off-Topic

I read a lot of stuff on the 'net and have found that sometimes the comments under the articles make for better reading than the topic.

What really puzzles me are the comments totally unrelated to the subject; the topic might be border security and someone will bring up gay marriage, or in this case, Hollywood actor's salaries which brought forth this strange comment:

Crazy Circle Illusion!

The Funky Donut Test

You Are Warm

You are kind, compassionate, and good to everyone you meet. You make friends easily. You are quite trustworthy and dependable. You like to help people you know in small, practical ways. You are quietly confident and know how to walk into a room. You may have a strong presence, but you are never the life of the party. You don't seek attention, although plenty of people pay attention to you. You prefer to let others shine whenever you can.

The Funky Donut Test

San Jacinto Monument Cam

From the site: Experience views of La Porte, Texas from the perspective of the San Jacinto Monument.  Standing more than 567 feet tall, enjoy amazing views of the city, busy waterway and the Battleship Texas.  The monument houses the San Jacinto Museum of History, which serves as the gateway to Texas culture.

San Jacinto Monument Cam

I'll Just Wait For the Video

I found a place to watch some first-run movies and thought I'd d/l this one - not for sure why I was doing it, because I didn't really care for the FIRST Thor movie, but...

I started the download and after a half hour later, was wondering why the d/l hadn't finished and saw that it was going take a little while longer....

Seems as though it's really true crime doesn't pay, it also takes a long, long time.

64 bytes/sec?  My last dial-up connection was faster than that.

Hank Skinner: News & Numbers

The newest news:

31st Judicial District Court Finds Against Hank Skinner

The court reviewed the all the evidence and found that the results would have not been favorable to Skinner.

The statement says if the evidence had originally been available during the original trial Skinner would have been convicted anyways.(sic)

The latest numbers:

The total cost to Gray County for his case is $341,200. This includes the cost of the original 1995 trial, the 1996 appeal and DNA testing that was performed in 2001.

Skinner has been incarcerated since March 31, 1995, which calculates to:

609,120,000 seconds
10,152,000 minutes
169,200 hours
7050 days
1007 weeks (rounded down)

While a spokesman with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not say the cost per day of housing a death-row inmate, he said the average cost per inmate is around $50.

Based on that number, taxpayers in Texas have spent about $347,250 to house Skinner on death-row.

Source: Pampa News

Sisters

Two 30 year old guys lip syncing a conversation between two 60 year old women.

One of the funniest things I've ever seen on YouTube.

But Not Erase It

The average pencil can draw a 35-mile-long line.

Nights In White Satin - Justin Hayward

Stoned at the Dentist

You have two choices: get stoned, or go to the dentist.

Go ahead, fire it up.

Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates

Interesting and informative, the Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates page shows a simulation of births and deaths all over the globe. You can limit the view to any continent or show even more detail.

Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates

Try Me On Deep-Fried Mushrooms

You Are Ranch Dressing

To be honest, you aren't much of a salad type. You like the dressing more than the salad, and you look for comfort in all aspects of your life. You are lovable and genuine. Some may accuse you of being set in your ways, but you are proud of knowing what you like. You enjoy life more than most people, and you are able to go with the flow. You don't believe in guilty pleasures, and you are never a snob. You have enough good stuff going on that you don't need to go looking for novelty or adventure. You prefer to stick with what's tried and true.

What Salad Dressing Are You?

Bath Time With Bix

100 Amazing Bass Lines

Pretty cool video, but at least a couple of the RHCP (Red Hot Chili Peppers) attributed tunes are remakes of other group's songs.

Tacky - Weird Al Yankovic

Try - Colbie Caillat

Great video and a message I wish more women would take to heart.  Most men - most MATURE men (not necessarily referring to age) - can see the beauty of a woman even if she's not wearing all that makeup.

"I Do a Lot of Things"

But you didn't mention "Being annoying".

Then again, maybe I missed it in all the gibberish.

Test Your Vocabulary

Test Your Vocabulary

I did, and thanks to this blog's Word of the Day and other word posts, I knew quite a few more words I did before starting doing them.

There were quite a few on the last page of the quiz that I didn't know;  some sounded familiar and I *think* they had been featured on Word of the Day, but I didn't know for sure and didn't want to cheat.

Test Your Vocabulary

Christopher Walken Dances

List of movies in comments.

What Work of Art Are You?

You Are Self Portrait

You are clever and innovative. You're the first to admit that you're a bit of a mad genius. You are introspective, and you believe that it is important to know yourself well.  You are constantly learning more about how you tick. You are a true introvert, and you can spend days alone perfecting your craft. You are your own best friend. You don't mind routine or practice. You are willing to do something over and over until you get it just right.

What Work of Art Are You?

Funky Town

Fantastic cover by Josh Turner, et al.

foofaraw

foofaraw\ FOO-fuh-raw \ noun

1. a great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant.
2. an excessive amount of decoration or ornamentation, as on a piece of clothing, a building, etc.

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This might be best to use in a forum to belittle someone's silly rant, not said aloud. (if nothing else, you'd make them look it up) I'm sure if you used it in a sentence talking to someone,  you'd just get puzzled looks.

Ant Trivia

Ants have the largest brain of any insect.  Some ant species have 14-15% of their mass in their brains.

Biologists estimate that there are about 1.5 million ants for each human on this planet.  Their combined weight is more than all living humans.

Ants have been around since the dinosaurs.

Some species of ants have slaves.

Ants invented farming before humans did.

Source(s): Bug Facts + 8 Things You Might Not Know About Ants

Allrecipes

Last month I posted a video and review of Food Wishes, a part of Allrecipes.  Today I'm focusing on the "parent" site and YouTube channel.

I've subscribed to Allrecipes in my reader for nearly as long as I've been using a reader and it's one of my favorite recipes sites.  Just like any other site, I don't care for ALL the recipes, but most seem to be great and I particularly like reading the reviews of a recipe before deciding to save it or not.  Also, like any recipe site worth its salt (no pun intended...at least, not until after I had written it), it's easy to navigate, with well-defined categories and many of the recipes have accompanying videos.

There's the option to go "Pro" for a fee, nothing too outrageous IMHO.  This allows the subscriber a menu planner, a custom recipe feature that allows alterations to a dish, advanced printer options and nutrition search not available with the "freebie" membership.  (Disclaimer: I'm a cheapskate and have the free membership.)

Along with their regular YouTube channel, they have a UK version: Allrecipes UK | Ireland. (If the vids were narrated by a sexy Irish female accent, I'd probably subscribe, to heck with the metric ingredient measurements!)

Here's one of the latest videos;  I've been craving these for a while.

How to Grill Baby Back Ribs

4053 Days

That's how long it's been.  The hours/minutes/seconds are approximate, but very close.

• 350,179,200 seconds
• 5,836,320 minutes
• 97,272 hours
• 4053 days
• 579 weeks

I'm not braggin' or even complaining.  I knew it had been a long time, but over 4000 days?  Good grief.

Data figured with this calculator: Calculate duration between two dates

What's Your Accent Color?

Your Accent Is Brown

You influence others through radical acceptance. You can see the abundance in any situation. You have a grounded and down to earth approach to life. You don't get too worked up with your emotions. You are happy to be in the moment and sit with what is. Here and now are all that matters, all that you need. You are good at facilitating oneness and wholeness in life. You see how we all play our part in the world, and you know where to look for meaning.

What's Your Accent Color?

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There's probably something to this, at least as far as my own favorite accent color. I like browns and other earth tones, prefer brown shoes to black. My only problem is I wear them with a blue suit.

Safe in New York City - AC/DC

Awww!

anon

anon a·non [uh-non] adverb

1. in a short time; soon.
2. at another time.
3. Archaic. at once; immediately.

Idioms

4. ever and anon, now and then; occasionally.

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I don't think I've ever read this word except in older writings/books and I certainly don't hear it used in speech;  people say "Now!" or "PDQ" or as another definition: "Later, dude."

Anon is not to be confused with anonymous, meaning of unknown name; whose name is withheld ... although when someone posts an inflammatory comment in a forum or message board, anonymous people show up and fan the flames anon.

Free Countdown Timer

Free Countdown Timer for Your Website at timeanddate.com

Not sure why these countdown timers/calendar scripts don't work in a post - I think they conflict with the calendar script at the top of the page. It WILL work in another column (probably because it's in a separate "wrapper") and there's a Cowboys training camp countdown just below the Cowboys module in the right-hand column.  I'll take it down when training camp starts - and *maybe* put up another for when the regular season starts. 

I hope I can then put up another one for when Dallas will be in the Super Bowl...and hope it will be this next one, but the way things have been going with the 'Boys...well, I'm not sure that much coding for that length of time would fit in a Blogger blog.

Philadelphia Freedom-Elton John

On a million dollar piano

The Train Oracle

You Are Smart and Stable

You love concrete information. You are definitely a just the facts type of person.   You feel most comfortable when you understand what's expected of you. You appreciate structure. You enjoy reading, especially nonfiction. You can get lost in books and magazines. You are family oriented. Some of your best memories revolve around the family dinner table.

The Train Oracle

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Not so sure about smart and stable, but some of my best memories DO revolve around the family dinner table...not because of the family per se, but because of the food!  My mom was a pretty good cook;  when I was a kid, I ate at classmate's houses and only a few of the meals I had were as good as those my mom had prepared. 

My mom also canned a lot and many times when I was a kid during the summer and "starving", momma would let me go down into the deliciously cool cellar and open up a jar of her delicious canned tomatoes.  She also would pickle okra and she and a family friend would sit at the kitchen table and eat a jar or two while their husbands were out in the garage working on something.  I really miss her pickled beets - I wouldn't touch them when I was a kid, but one time a slice got put on my plate by accident and some of the juice got on something else and I ate a bit without realizing it.  Wow, that was great and I was hooked on them ever since.  Store-bought are OK, I guess, but not nearly as good as the ones momma made...they were probably both made with similar recipes, but the ones my mom made had love for her family mixed in.

July

The month of July was named after Julius Caesar.

 

lagniappe

lagniappe la·gniappe [lan-yap, lan-yap] noun

1. Chiefly Southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas. a small gift given with a purchase to a customer, by way of compliment or for good measure; bonus.

2. a gratuity or tip.

3. an unexpected or indirect benefit.

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I was familiar with this word, but not because of ever hearing it used but rather reading it. I don't remember looking it up, but understanding the meaning of it by the context in which it was used.

Tipping is something that's a sore point with me and I've participated in forums where I've been slammed for how I feel about it. I disagree with those who say a tip is always warranted; I've had servers who were so rude that if it had been in another setting or they had been men, I'd have punched them in the face for speaking as they did. I always thought a tip was a "thank you" for good service. Why thank someone who did a lousy job? Many times I've had a server take my order (sometimes after waiting a long time) and then bring my meal (again, sometimes after waiting a long time) and that will be the last time they come to the table until they bring the check. (and sometimes THAT takes a long time) I'm supposed to actually PAY them for ignoring me? That's not right.

Secondly, who sets the amount of the tip? The standard tip used to be 10%, then it was 15%, then within the course of a few years it's now "supposed" to be 30%. Good grief, to pay nearly a third more of the bill in a gratuity is outrageous.  I know about inflation, the cost-of-living and all that, but the price of eating out has gone up along with everything else.  There used to be a place here in town that served a "blue plate special" for a little over four bucks total. (it's been a long time, but while it wasn't gourmet food, it was tasty and filling)  The place is long gone, but other establishments have been the same type (diner) and their meals are closer to ten dollars.  A 10% tip then was .50 cents (rounding up a little bit) but now I'm supposed to pay at least $3.50 for the tip?  I'm not great at math, but that looks to me like more of a raise than inflation or cost-of-living can account for.

Granted, most servers don't even make minimum wage, but I don't understand why an eating establishment can't just go ahead and pay a decent wage - why are servers exempt from the minimum wage law? That needs to be changed. The argument against that is if servers are paid more, then the cost of your meal goes up. Well, duh....if you're paying 30% extra for the meal, then the cost HAS gone up.   There are places that add a percentage to the ticket for the tip and that's fine if the service is excellent, but otherwise... Plus, there are places that make the servers pool and split their tips and that's annoying.  If I'm tipping, I want to reward MY server, not another table's.

And another thing that annoys me:  while it wouldn't be that much for most places, but if you have a meal for several in a more expensive place, then why is the sales tax figured into the total for the percentage of the tip?  It's not uncommon for a meal for four to cost a hundred bucks and if the sales tax is 8%+, then you're paying $2+ tip on a tax!  Ridiculous!  It's not the extra two dollars, it's the principle.

I'm NOT a cheapskate;  I believe in tipping, but it needs to be more of a reward for good service, not an obligation to pay an exorbitant amount.   Other countries don't have the custom of tipping and I wish the U.S. would do away with it as well. 

Gizmo Flushes

This is more impressive, though: