Hello, Goodbye

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo, which came from Old High German "halâ, holâ, emphatic imperative of halôn, holôn to fetch, used especially in hailing a ferryman." It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French holà (roughly, 'whoa there!', from French là 'there'). As in addition to hello, halloo, hallo, hollo, hullo and (rarely) hillo also exist as variants or related words, the word can be spelt using any of all five vowels

"Goodbye" came from the Middle English "godbwdye", which is short for "God be with ye."

Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles

No "J"

J is the only letter that doesn't appear in the periodic table of elements.

Shaken, Not Stirred

You Are a Dirty Martini

You are a fun loving person who may or may not show your wild side. It depends what kind of mood you're in. You are very tolerant and don't take anything too seriously. You're the first to laugh at an off color joke. You tend to like drinks, food, and people with flavor. Keep bland and boring far away from you. You are complex and and a bit enigmatic to those around you. Your confidence can be intimidating at times.

What Kind of Martini Are You?

---

Not for sure how the rest of the results fit me, but I DO like Dirty Martinis, only made with vodka instead of gin. I'm not much of a drinker, but that would be my order at a bar.

Leading & Lesser Languages List

There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers.

The most popular language in the world is Mandarin Chinese, with over 1.2 billion people who speak that language.

In 2008, The International Civil Aviation Organisation decreed that all Air Traffic Controllers and Flight Crew Members engaged in or in contact with international flights must be proficient in the English language as a general spoken medium and not simply have a proficiency in standard ICAO Radio Telephony Phraseology.

Some languages are nearly extinct and are spoken by only a few older people.

Top 10 Rarest Languages Still Spoken in the World

The origins of many languages aren't clear to historians and researchers, but many people believe the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) 
Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

The Christmas Song - Alvin & The Chipmunks

Debuting on this date in 1958, this song aka The Chipmunk Song (Don't Be Late) it was the only song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. The song was also a hit with the entertainment establishment, garnering three awards at the 1958 Grammys: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical).

abdominous

abdominous adjective [ab-dom-uh-nuh s]

1. having a large belly; potbellied

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While I could stand to lose a few pounds, I'm glad I don't have a potbelly...or a beer belly.

World's Oldest Goldfish

A goldfish named Tish lived to be 43 years old, making it the oldest goldfish known.

To All

Making A Murderer

While I couldn't say I binge-watched Making a Murderer, it's probably closer to say I "power-watched" it in a couple of days.  The ten-part series, made over the course of ten years, tells the  story of a Manitowoc County, Wisconsin man named Steve Avery who was convicted of rape and attempted murder, serving 18 yrs. in prison before DNA evidence exonerated him.  Avery was out only two years and was about to file a civil rights lawsuit for millions of dollars when he was charged with the brutal rape and death of a young woman.

As with any review of a current work, I won't give spoilers or say much more about the series or case;  in fact, I avoided reading anything about him or this documentary series until after I finished up the last episode. Like many writing about it online, though, I am torn as to his guilt or innocence on the murder conviction. It's obvious that the local police department coerced witnesses, mishandled the crime scene and while I'm of the mind that evidence definitely was planted and tampered with, I'm still not convinced he's innocent.   Avery's learning disabled nephew was also involved and was charged for his participation in the murder and subsequent cover up...but if you watch the series, you'll most likely be confused as to his own part in the crime - IF he even took part in it.

Maybe it's because the series left me so unsettled and is why I can't give a little bit higher grade, but I'd still strongly recommend watching. It's available on Netflix and when getting the following trailer, I noticed the first episode had been uploaded to YouTube.  Like most other movies or TV programs, you can also find it online with a little bit of ingenuity and Google skills. 

Here's one of the better reviews I read online:

‘Making a Murderer’ is an Actual American Horror Story, More Haunting than ‘The Jinx’

10 Cats Christmas

festoon

festoon verb [fe-stoon]

1. to adorn with or as with festoons: to festoon a hall.
2. to form into festoons: to festoon flowers and leaves.
3. Dentistry. to reproduce natural gum patterns around the teeth or a denture.

---

This time of year people festoon with Christmas lights.

"Merry Christmas" in Other Languages

You Can Say "Merry Christmas" in 12 Languages

You can say "Merry Christmas" in: English Spanish Japanese French German Italian Swedish Portuguese Greek Gaelic Hawaiian Esperanto

How Many Languages Can You Say "Merry Christmas" In?

Five Days of Christmas

Q: What did the blonde ask Santa Claus for Christmas?

A: Five golden dings, four calling nerds, three French men, two purple gloves, and a bar fridge and a party.

via jokes.com

Jingle Cats

Women Study

A study has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending upon where she is in her menstrual cycle.

For example: if she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features.  However, if she is menstruating or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire.

No further studies are expected on this subject.

Tom Hanks Redux

Milky Way

If every star in the Milky Way was a grain of salt, they would fill an Olympic sized swimming pool.

(Click graphic for larger view - it's beautiful)

"Milky Way Arch" by Bruno Gilli/ESO
 http://www.eso.org/public/images/milkyway/
Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Commons

The Ballroom Blitz - Sweet

milquetoast

milquetoast noun [milk-tohst]

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a very timid, unassertive, spineless person, especially one who is easily dominated or intimidated: a milquetoast who's afraid to ask for a raise.

---

Caspar Milquetoast

---

I've really never fit the definition, but there WAS a time in my life where I often failed to assert myself. For example, I'd go ahead and eat a steak even if it wasn't cooked how I had ordered.  I was once browbeaten by a waitress for objecting to being served stale donuts (that day and for quite a few previously) when I could see they had a new, fresh batch on the counter.  Not now; in situations such as that, the employee waiting on the customer needs to realize that while their boss might sign their checks, the customer pays their salary. I certainly wouldn't allow that old biddy waitress to talk to me that way.  The only comfort I have about the incident is she's probably been dead for 20 yrs., the old "witch".

No, I'm not Caspar (the friendly) Milquetoast these days.

(NOTE:  This was originally from several yrs. back, but I wanted to update it and add a little personal information.  It WAS today's Word of the Day, though)

The Ancient Spoon

Spoons were invented at least a thousand years before forks. It is thought the earliest ones were natural items, such as seashells or conveniently shaped stones.  Later versions were carved from wood, but the wealthy had ones made from bronze or silver.

That said, knives were the earliest utensil used for eating.

clishmaclaver

clishmaclaver noun [klish-muh-kley-ver, kleesh-]

Scot. gossip; idle or foolish talk.

---

Certainly sounds like a Scottish word, but it would probably help to read it out loud in Scotty's voice.

You Were On My Mind - We Five

unhearit

I was complaining on Facebook yesterday about hearing The Little Drummer Boy at the grocery store and not being able to get it out of my head - it became an "earworm".  While it eventually went away, I could have used this website.

From the site: We created this site for those of you that have a song stuck in your head and you can't get it out no matter what you do. Using the latest in reverse-auditory-melodic-unstickification technology, we've been able to allow our users to “unhear” songs by hearing equally catchy songs. So really all we're doing is making you forget your old song by replacing it with another one... sorry.

unhearit

Newspapers

From the archives:

The People Who Think They Run The Country And The Newspapers They READ!

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country, and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could find the time -- and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don' t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Chicago Tribune is read by people that are in prison that used to run the state and would like to do so again, as would their constituents that are currently free on bail.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

11. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for.

There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are gay, handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

12. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

13. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.

3 X Name

The scientific name of the Western lowland gorilla is gorilla gorilla gorilla.

Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding

On this day in history in 1967, Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays band died when their plane crashed into Lake Monona, just a few miles from the Madison, Wisconsin airport. Weather was thought to be a factor in the crash, but the exact cause was never determined.

Four months after his death at the age of twenty six, Redding's ("Sitting on the) Dock of the Bay", the last song he ever recorded, reached the top spot on the pop music charts. It was his first No. 1 hit as well as being the first posthumous single to top the charts in the U.S.

The Meat of the Matter

The average American eats about 200 sandwiches every day.

When I first saw that bit of trivia, I thought "That can't be right!  I'm an old bachelor and probably eat more sandwiches than the average person, but I don't eat THAT many!" Doing the math, I figured that each American consumes nearly four sandwiches per week.  That figure still seemed higher than the amount I eat a week, though.  

After doing a little research, I found out that 50 percent of America eats a sandwich daily. It made me think about my own sandwich consumption and considering that - probably every other day - I eat a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit for breakfast, that probably counts as a sandwich, too. In fact, I had one for breakfast earlier today and two small turkey sandwiches for supper.

Oh well, I guess I really am above the mean on sandwich consumption.

Scarface

On this day in 1983, the movie Scarface debuted in theaters. Starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who arrived in Florida with the Mariel boatlift in 1980, Montana quickly returns to his criminal roots and becomes enormously wealthy from the booming cocaine trade, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. He becomes addicted to the drug and his world collapses in violence.

From near the end of the movie, one of the iconic scenes and most quoted line:

"Say hello to my little friend!"

A good movie but even so, it's not one I watch every time it comes on TV. I have a DVD of it, but don't think I've taken it out of the wrapper.

While getting the link for the movie, I checked on IMdb and saw that I had given it an "8", but I don't recall exactly when I gave it such a high grade. Either my standards have gone or I overrated it to begin with, but I lowered it one notch to a "7"...which is still a good rating by my strict standards. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't.

The official ToTG grade:

Temptation Eyes - The Grass Roots

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

December 7, 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a pre-emptive military strike on the United States Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Empire of Japan's Imperial Japanese Navy, on the morning of Sunday 7 December, 1941. Two attack waves, totaling 350 aircraft were launched from six IJN aircraft carriers which destroyed two U.S. Navy battleships, one minelayer, two destroyers and 188 aircraft. Personnel losses were 2,333 killed and 1,139 wounded. Damaged warships included three cruisers, a destroyer, and six battleships. Of those six, one was deliberately grounded and was later refloated and repaired. Two sank at their berths but were later repaired and both rejoined the fleet late in the war. Vital fuel storage, shipyards, and submarine facilities were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 Japanese servicemen killed or wounded.



For text and audio: FDR Asks for a Declaration of War

Also, Pearl Harbor survivor back for 1st time since war

Pearl Harbor artifact rediscovered 68 years after attack

More information with photos and videos at National Geographic.

A Texas Hero at Pearl Harbor

Texas native Doris Miller shoots back at Japanese attackers

On this day in 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Texas native Doris Miller responded courageously to the assault. He was serving as a mess steward on the USS West Virginia. When the ship was attacked he went on deck and manned an unattended deckgun. It was Miller's first experience firing such a weapon because black sailors serving in the segregated steward's branch of the navy were not given gunnery training.

Although later news stories credited Miller with downing from two to five airplanes, these accounts have never been verified and are almost certainly apocryphal. Miller himself told navy officials he thought he hit one of the planes. The navy awarded him the Navy Cross for bravery in battle.

He died on November 24, 1943, when his ship, the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay,was torpedoed and sunk.

Alliterative Insulter

I've noticed quite a few hits from a Google search for "alliterative insults", leading folks to this post made over a year ago. Looking at the search results led me to this site:

Alliterative Insulter

Every (sic) wanted to throw out an insult, but just didn't have the right words at the right time. Well, here we have insults for all occasions and all alliterative with the name of your choice. Just fill in the name of the person to be insulted and hit the "insult" button:

I decided to input my own name to see what it would come up with:

Mike, thou art a mindless, meandering mumbler!

Wow, the truth really DOES hurt.

You Can Have the Wheelbarrow

You Are the Car

You live your life in top gear. You aren't afraid to go fast, and you actually do best at high speeds. You act on instinct, and you make decisions in a split second. Your first reaction is usually right. You are impulsive and bold. You love to make risky moves, and you never turn down a chance to roll the dice. You get impatient easily, and you're often waiting on those around you. You hate to be slowed down by anyone!

What Monopoly Piece Are You?

---

Not sure just how accurate this quiz is regarding my results. I really don't live my life in top gear, but I DO like to go fast, although I don't really drive that way on the highway.   Speeding tickets cost way too much and it's a mathematical fact you really don't gain all that much time by going faster than the speed limit.

I DO act on instinct and if the situation calls for it, I make my decisions very fast.  I've also found that the first reaction IS usually right...but not all the time and sometimes it can be disastrous.

"Impulsive and bold".  Maybe impulsive.

I am impatient, but getting better at it as I get older.  I guess as my own life winds down, so does the clock.  You'd think younger folks would be more patient because they normally have more time on this Earth to accomplish something, but it's the other way around, at least with me.  I really don't like waiting on anyone and definitely don't like being slowed down by them, although I don't have much problems with that last part these days.  I almost always arrive somewhere extra-early because while I do not like to wait on anyone, I am ashamed if someone else has to wait on me.

All that said, I haven't played Monopoly in a long time.  I used to have a Monopoly game for the PC, but it was even more boring than the actual board game.

One Trillion Dollars

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

You're Full of Bologna, Leonia

From the junk file folder:

qwqesedavz@helpfactory.com
(note: I like to add their email address so they'll get spam in it like they've sent to mine)

Hey my friend I was looking at your email and I think that we should find out about each other. Take a look at my picture and message to me so I could give you more info

My personal email is ecafeibabrava@hotmail.com Send me reply to this email. See you

Well, Leonia, you've made it where you'll make SURE I'll see you before you see me.  I'm sure if you were running a race, your chest would reach the finish line long before your feet would.

I'll give you this: you really put yourself "out there".

Yep, that'll get my attention, all right.

NOTE: The black bar across the last photo is of my making. These photos stretch the "G" rating of this blog as they are, and with the second one...well, let's just say it was a bit too "nipply".

So, you were "looking at" my email.  I'm not for sure what you mean by that.  I have a "mikeintexas" email acct. with Gmail, but not anywhere else;  I do know that there's another couple of guys that use "mikeintexas" on the 'net.  One seems to have started using it after I did, but the other one - I've since found out - has used the nickname long before I appropriated it.  The first one posts to all sorts of different forums, one being bowhunting (which I dislike intensely, not because I'm against hunting- which I'm not - , but it just seems to be a rather cruel method of shooting something) and after researching who had the nickname before I started using it, found that it belongs to a gay man.

Somehow I don't think you meant to send these pics to that guy.

Plus, I don't know much about breasts, but those really don't look natural.  In fact, they look like they have more plastic in them that does this.

Powerful Woman's Motto

From the archives:

Powerful Woman's Motto

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says:

" Oh hell....she's awake!! ''

Born To Raise Hell - Motörhead

Featuring Ice T & Whitfield Crane

What Kind of Smart Are You?

You Are Word Smart

You have a way with words, and you seem to just phrase things beautifully and effortlessly. You can talk and write your way into practically anything. People are enchanted by the words you choose. You are probably a bit of a word nerd at heart. Word games and crossword puzzles delight you. You are the type of person who benefits from talking things out. You often say something before you truly think it.

What Kind of Smart Are You?

bibliotaph

bibliotaph noun [bib-lee-uh-tahf]

1. a person who caches or hoards books.

---

I used to be a bibliotaph, but then I gave all of my sci-fi books to my nephews, my war-related books to my uncle and sold most of the rest at a garage sale and donated what was left over.

Chicken Train - Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Originally posted on Nov. 3, 2007 but I noticed that the video had been taken down.

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Diamonds Are Forever

And a lot of the time they last longer than the marriage.

The average size of an American diamond engagement ring is 0.8 carats.

This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis & The Playboys

oniomania

oniomania noun [oh-nee-uh-mey-nee-uh, - meyn-yuh]

1. an controllable desire to buy things.

---

Appropriate word for Black Friday, huh?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Turkey Trivia

* It's unclear if the Pilgrims ate turkey at the first Thanksgiving. At the time, "turkey" meant any kind of fowl.
* Evidence indicates that turkeys have been around for more than 10 million years.
* Turkey eggs hatch in 28 days.
* A baby turkey is called a "poult."
* A mature turkey has about 3,500 feathers.
* More than 45 million turkeys are consumed during Thanksgiving.
* The average weight of a Thanksgiving turkey is 15 pounds.
* The typical 15-pound turkey is 70 percent white meat and 30 percent dark meat.
* A nest of turkey eggs is called a "clutch."
* The "caruncle" is the reddish, fleshy growth on the head and upper neck of a turkey. The red, fleshy growth from the base of a turkey's beak that hangs down over the neck is called the "snood."

gormandize

gormandize verb [gawr-muh n-dahyz]

1. to eat greedily or ravenously

2. unrestrained enjoyment of fine foods, wines, and the like.

giblets

giblets gib·lets [jib-lits] plural noun

the heart, liver, gizzard, and the like, of a fowl, often cooked separately.

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There IS one more definition, classified as slang, but I didn't see it at Dictionary.com.  It was a LONG time ago during a football practice and after a play, one of my teammates was still on the ground after the play was over.  The coach leaned over the prostrate boy asking him where it hurt.  I wasn't close enough to hear the muffled answer, but the coach got up with a smile on his face.

"He'll be all right." he informed the rest of us. "He just got hit in the giblets."

That was a scene that came to mind at every Thanksgiving dinner after that.

Since the Word of the Day was more-or-less related to Thanksgiving, I'll just combine two posts into one.  I was going to write one about how many calories were in the average Thanksgiving dinner: from 3-4,000 and the average American will consume more than 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day alone, according to the Calorie Control Council. (there were other sources that cited different numbers, but I like the alliteration of that website's name) 

That would take a LOT of exercise to work off that many calories!  A nice brisk walk would be better than spending the day in a gym, so check out the Walking Calories Calculator to see how far/fast you need to walk to get rid of those excess calories, or you can use the Holiday Calorie Counter to figure both the calories in your holiday meal and the amount of exercise needed to work off the meal.

I have my Thanksgiving meal already prepared.

Pathetic, huh? One good thing is that it will be ready in a minute and a half after I pop it in the microwave; another good thing is that it's only 290 calories with 9 grams of fat. I'll work that off watching the football games on TV!

Goat's Eyes

The pupil in a goat's eye is rectangular.

The Toxic Avocado

At least they are to some animals, such as horses, cattle, goats and birds.

From the ASPCA website:

Avocado leaves, fruit, seeds and bark may contain a toxic principle known as persin. The Guatemalan variety, a common one found in stores, appears to be the most problematic. Other varieties of avocado can have different degrees of toxic potential.

Swimming in Spit

Your body produces enough saliva during your lifetime to fill two swimming pools.

Are You Joy, Love, or Peace?

You Are Love

Your happiness is giving, warm, and compassionate. You get satisfaction from personal relationships and connections. You're the type of person who loves to be in love, and that doesn't have to necessarily mean romantic love. You value deep friendships and knowing someone well. You consider your friends to be your family. You take a leap and put people first in your life. It's not about how much you get but how much you give.

Are You Joy, Love, or Peace?

Largest Eggs in the World

The ostrich lays the largest eggs on land, but the whale shark lays the largest eggs in the world.*

An egg from a whale shark measuring 14 inches in diameter was found in the Gulf of Mexico in 1953.

*Not counting the huge eggs the Cowboys have laid in several games this season.

How to Make Collard Greens

This looks SO good and an interesting change-of-pace to use turkey instead of pork.

Panglossian

Panglossian   adjective [pan-glos-ee-uh n, - glaw-see-, pang-]

characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity

---

This would describe most of we die-hard Cowboys fans as we drink our blue Kool-Aid.

New Definition of "A-List" Celebrities

I was looking through a TV/movie website earlier and saw the series Running Wild with Bear Grylls hosted by the survival "expert" Bear Grylls (I previously wrote about him, hence the "expert" in quotation marks). I watched an episode of his earlier show, Man vs. Wild, where Grylls was accompanied by Will Ferrell and while I found it mildly amusing, I wasn't impressed. I had hoped the celebrity accompanying Grylls would at least take it a bit more seriously, if for nothing other to keep up the farce that they were ever in any real danger.

This new show's description reads: Bear Grylls, British adventurer, takes A-list celebrities on wild outdoor adventures, pushing them beyond their comfort zone.  There are a couple of people on this list I am not familiar with, but knew the rest.  I intend to watch the episodes with Kate Hudson (so cute!) and Kate Winslet (be still my beating heart) but I am not particularly enthused about watching any of the rest...I might or I might not. 

That said, it's the description I have some problems with;  while some of the celebs are definitely on the "A-List", I am pretty sure some others aren't, one in particular.  I've given a hint on the screenshot below. 

(Click for larger view)

I don't have anything against Tom Arnold;  he was really good in True Lies, but he's not someone I care to see much of in anything. He's "B-List" at best.

How Low Can YOU Go?

The limbo world record is under six inches.

Limbo Rock - Chubby Checker

Lethal Buzz

A lethal dose of caffeine is about 10 grams or a hundred cups of coffee consumed within 4 hours.

QWERTY Trivia

F-G-H and J-K-L are the only three consecutive letter sets on a QWERTY style keyboard and they are right next to each other.

Lots of Licks

It takes somewhere between 144 and 411 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop^TM

For your musical enjoyment, a topical video:

Slinky Cat

Not The Last, But The First

The drinking straw was developed by the Egyptians in order to taste beer without removing the fermenting ingredients that floated on top of the container.  The oldest straw ever found was in a Sumerian tomb and was a tube made of gold and inlaid with the precious stone lapis lazuli.

The modern paper straw was invented by Marvin C. Stone in 1888 because the rye grass straw he was using to drink his mint julep was dissolving into the drink and altering the taste.