The most widely spoken languages in the world are, in descending order: Chinese, English, Hundustani, Spanish, and Russian.
Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac
Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac
May 30, 2013
May 29, 2013
Birthday Wisdom
| Your Birthday's Wisdom is Thought |
 You are intrigued by almost everything, and you are curious about the world around you. You want to travel to foreign lands, read lots of books, and master many subjects. You love to go on all sorts of adventures, especially the kind that don't require you to leave your room. |
Born Today
Born on this Day
King Charles II, Patrick Henry, G. K. Chesterton, Bob Hope, John Barrymore, John F. Kennedy, Dennis Hopper, Barry Goldwater...
And me.
King Charles II, Patrick Henry, G. K. Chesterton, Bob Hope, John Barrymore, John F. Kennedy, Dennis Hopper, Barry Goldwater...
And me.
May 27, 2013
mordacious
mordacious mor·da·cious [mawr-dey-shuhs] adjective
1. biting or given to biting.
2. sharp or caustic in style, tone, etc.
Many message board comments are unnecessarily mordacious.
The Olympics & War
The Olympics have been canceled five times because of war; once during WWI in 1916, before the Winter Olympics were introduced, and four times during WWII, both summer and winter games in 1940 and 1944.
Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
Love Sam Cooke's music and especially this song. My folks had several of his albums and I almost wore them out playing them over and over again.
The Funky Wall Test
I liked all the walls, but after careful consideration, I chose the metal one. If you had a floor drain, you could just hose them off.
| You Are Independent |
 You live a self-directed, autonomous life. While no person is an island, you do your best. You like to have the freedom to choose as much as you can. You know what's best for you, and you enjoy being self-reliant. You hit a wall when you are force to cooperate or work in a group. You don't work well with others, even if you are the leader. In fact, you can do any group task more easily and quickly simply on your own. And that's what you end up doing. You break through walls on your own - using your own means and your own schedule. You are best when left to your own devices. You trust yourself more than anyone else in your life, and you should. You have a great track record. |
Dueling Philosophers
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-George Santayana
It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself.
-Gertrude Stein
May 25, 2013
A Pair of Abigails
There have been quite a few U.S. Presidents with the same first name; there have been three Georges: Washington, H.W. Bush and W. Bush.
The names John and William tie for second with four apiece; John: Adams, John Quincy, Tyler and Kennedy. The four Williams are Harrison, McKinley, Taft and Clinton.
The most common name for Amercian presidents is James; Monroe, Madison, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield and Carter.
Yet, there have been only two First Ladies with the same first name: Abigail Adams, wife of John (on the left, below) and Abigail Fillmore, wife of Millard. (on the right)
The names John and William tie for second with four apiece; John: Adams, John Quincy, Tyler and Kennedy. The four Williams are Harrison, McKinley, Taft and Clinton.
The most common name for Amercian presidents is James; Monroe, Madison, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield and Carter.
Yet, there have been only two First Ladies with the same first name: Abigail Adams, wife of John (on the left, below) and Abigail Fillmore, wife of Millard. (on the right)
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May 20, 2013
Life's a Beach
| Your Ideal Beach Vacation Is Cozy |
 Your idea of a day at the beach is one that feels as natural and as homey as possible. You dream of living at the beach, and even if you can't live there permanently, you'd like to be there a while. Your dream beach getaway would place you right on the beach with your own private quarters. You'd love to wake up to a beach sunrise and wind down with a beach sunset. And listen to the ocean crashing as you sleep. For you, the beach is a place to get warm and sleepy. Once you get comfortable, you never want to leave. More than any type, you belong on the coast permanently. If it isn't already, then it should be your home. |
Dangerous Knows Dangerous
Richard Nixon once referred to Timothy Leary as "the most dangerous man in America". Leary, a clinical psychologist and LSD advocate, was a counter-culture hero in the psychedelic 1960's and advised that generation to "turn on, tune in, drop out."
Nixon calling Leary "dangerous" was a proverbial case of "pot, meet kettle".
Legend of a Mind - The Moody Blues
Nixon calling Leary "dangerous" was a proverbial case of "pot, meet kettle".
Legend of a Mind - The Moody Blues
May 18, 2013
May 17, 2013
motza
motza mot·ser
noun Australian Slang
a large amount of money, especially a sum won in gambling.
Since I've been online, I've learned a lot of slang from my friends in other countries, but I've never seen/heard this one used.
Whatever the opposite word and meaning is, that'd be the word I'd have to use. I am not a bad poker player, but not a good one, either, mostly breaking even. I never had much luck at all betting on football games. (I once lost an entire paycheck betting on the Cowboys) I used to like to play scratch tickets, but winning tickets are few and far between - my average is less than the stated odds on the back of the tickets. I seldom even win a flip of a coin.
The Mega Millions lottery is tonight ($190 million) and the Powerball ($550 million) tomorrow. Here's hoping I have motza after either one. If I do, I might just take a trip to Australia so I can use it and have people understand what I mean.
May 14, 2013
If I Fell - The Beatles
My favorite Beatles tune and IMHO, the prettiest melody and lyrics of them all.
Personally Prioritized Principles
| You Prioritize Principles |
 Whether you're religious or simply philosophical, you have an ethical framework that you're serious about following. When it comes to what's right, you don't think things are as gray as they seem. People just want to avoid doing what they need to do. It isn't easy to behave ethically, and that's why you put so much emphasis on it. You think people should be recognized more for upstanding behavior. Those who don't know you well may call you obstinate and inflexible, but little do they know how much flexibility your ideas about morality give you. By having a clear idea of what is right and wrong for you, you trust yourself to be adventurous and open. You know you'll stick to your guns when you need to. |
I have principles; I just misplace them now and then.
Jackpots, Stocks & Socks
There's a lottery frenzy going on right now; the Mega Millions jackpot is $170 million and the Powerball is up to $350 million. I bought a QP (quick pick) ticket for each earlier this evening. I don't expect to win either, but it sure would be nice.
I sometimes visit a lottery forum and *sometimes* enjoy reading the comments. I was surprised at the level of contention over how people should invest their money or even spend it. I did enjoy one obviously young man's recent post with pics of all the things he would buy; a few sports cars and a house that looked larger than many hotels I've seen. It had a game room with a dozen arcade games, pinball machines, 2-lane bowling alley, a huge gym, a man cave with a gigantic video screen and bar. There were so many photos of things he would buy it took a minute or so to load even w/ my fairly fast connection. Some castigated him over his conspicuous consumption dreams but others laughed and said more power to him. (my thoughts)
Other people said they'd live in swanky places such as Beverly Hills or Malibu while others said they wouldn't want to live in those type places. I agree with the latter. Some said they would want to have multiple houses and live in Hawaii or Florida during the winter and in the north in summer. (Me? I'd be worrying about the one house while living in the other) One woman wants to live in Paris, something I would never, ever do. I don't really have any desire to visit France except for the Normandy D-Day beaches.
The investment advice varies greatly, too. "Buy gold and silver!" declare some. "Diamonds!" say others. Some say they'd play the stock market. (and I expect the stock market *might* play THEM) A few take the survivalist route, say they'd buy a place in the mountains with plenty of guns, freeze dried foods, etc. I guess that's OK, but it certainly wouldn't be enjoying your new-found wealth, at least not to me. (as I've mentioned before)
One guy distrusted the stock market and other investments so much he said he'd just as soon stuff it all into a mattress. That's a little TOO cautious for me, but I have always thought I might make a pillow full of cash. I don't know if that would make me sleep easy or not sleep at all worrying about it, but....
Some of the best arguments are over taking the lump sum or the annuity. When purchasing my lottery tickets, I always opt for the lump sum for several reasons. One, the highest tax bracket just increased this year from 35% to 39.6%. Taxes very seldom go down. Secondly, the annuity would give you a guaranteed income for its length (26 yrs on Mega Millions, 30 on Powerball) but I'm getting to the age where I most likely wouldn't see the last checks and even if I did, I might not have the mental facilities to endorse them.
Maybe a good investment would be a nice retirement home and pay the employees very well and also stipulate that, on the day after I died, they were all fired. I imagine I'd get some great care.
As I said, I doubt I'll ever win the lottery,but if I do, I plan to give all my winnings away.
Yes, all of it; to charity, friends and family, but also to current land owners, building contractors, auto dealerships, airlines, resorts, cruise ships, restaurants, clothing stores, etc. Of course, I'll have to give the govt. 39.6% plus what they'll take after I die, plus taxes on my earnings from investments.(that mattress idea looks better all the time)
I don't think I could ever be obscenely extravagant, but who knows? I once read Justin Timberlake wears brand new underwear every day. I never found out what he did with the old ones, but he could probably make a pretty good amt. by selling them on Ebay. I might do something like that, only with socks, although I doubt anyone would want my "old" socks, even with only one wearing. I guess I could donate them to charity. (after washing, of course) OTOH, I could probably hire someone to come in and sort and match them, that would be the main reason I'd wear a new pair every day. I really hate having to try to match up nearly identical white socks.
I sometimes visit a lottery forum and *sometimes* enjoy reading the comments. I was surprised at the level of contention over how people should invest their money or even spend it. I did enjoy one obviously young man's recent post with pics of all the things he would buy; a few sports cars and a house that looked larger than many hotels I've seen. It had a game room with a dozen arcade games, pinball machines, 2-lane bowling alley, a huge gym, a man cave with a gigantic video screen and bar. There were so many photos of things he would buy it took a minute or so to load even w/ my fairly fast connection. Some castigated him over his conspicuous consumption dreams but others laughed and said more power to him. (my thoughts)
Other people said they'd live in swanky places such as Beverly Hills or Malibu while others said they wouldn't want to live in those type places. I agree with the latter. Some said they would want to have multiple houses and live in Hawaii or Florida during the winter and in the north in summer. (Me? I'd be worrying about the one house while living in the other) One woman wants to live in Paris, something I would never, ever do. I don't really have any desire to visit France except for the Normandy D-Day beaches.
The investment advice varies greatly, too. "Buy gold and silver!" declare some. "Diamonds!" say others. Some say they'd play the stock market. (and I expect the stock market *might* play THEM) A few take the survivalist route, say they'd buy a place in the mountains with plenty of guns, freeze dried foods, etc. I guess that's OK, but it certainly wouldn't be enjoying your new-found wealth, at least not to me. (as I've mentioned before)
One guy distrusted the stock market and other investments so much he said he'd just as soon stuff it all into a mattress. That's a little TOO cautious for me, but I have always thought I might make a pillow full of cash. I don't know if that would make me sleep easy or not sleep at all worrying about it, but....
Some of the best arguments are over taking the lump sum or the annuity. When purchasing my lottery tickets, I always opt for the lump sum for several reasons. One, the highest tax bracket just increased this year from 35% to 39.6%. Taxes very seldom go down. Secondly, the annuity would give you a guaranteed income for its length (26 yrs on Mega Millions, 30 on Powerball) but I'm getting to the age where I most likely wouldn't see the last checks and even if I did, I might not have the mental facilities to endorse them.
Maybe a good investment would be a nice retirement home and pay the employees very well and also stipulate that, on the day after I died, they were all fired. I imagine I'd get some great care.
As I said, I doubt I'll ever win the lottery,but if I do, I plan to give all my winnings away.
Yes, all of it; to charity, friends and family, but also to current land owners, building contractors, auto dealerships, airlines, resorts, cruise ships, restaurants, clothing stores, etc. Of course, I'll have to give the govt. 39.6% plus what they'll take after I die, plus taxes on my earnings from investments.(that mattress idea looks better all the time)
I don't think I could ever be obscenely extravagant, but who knows? I once read Justin Timberlake wears brand new underwear every day. I never found out what he did with the old ones, but he could probably make a pretty good amt. by selling them on Ebay. I might do something like that, only with socks, although I doubt anyone would want my "old" socks, even with only one wearing. I guess I could donate them to charity. (after washing, of course) OTOH, I could probably hire someone to come in and sort and match them, that would be the main reason I'd wear a new pair every day. I really hate having to try to match up nearly identical white socks.
May 13, 2013
Horrible Hyena Humor
 |
When a hyena is making its signature laughing sound it's expressing frustration, usually when fighting a more dominant hyena or other hyenas for food. |
An old man took his grandson to the zoo and during the tour they stopped in front of the hyena cage. The tour guide said:
"This is the laughing hyena, so called because of its distinctive bark which sounds like laughter. It eats 45 lbs. of meat a week and only evacuates once a month."
The old man snorted and dryly said: "Hmmph! If that S.O.B. eats 45 lbs. of meat a week and only craps once a month, I don't see what the hell it's laughing about!"
May 10, 2013
whangdoodle
whangdoodle whang·doo·dle [hwang-dood-l, wang-] noun Slang.
a fanciful creature of undefined nature.
That sounds a little naughty and I suppose it could be if you wanted it to be, especially if used as a verb.
May 9, 2013
May 8, 2013
logomachy
logomachy lo·gom·a·chy [loh-gom-uh-kee] noun, plural lo·gom·a·chies.
1. a dispute about or concerning words.
2. an argument or debate marked by the reckless or incorrect use of words; meaningless battle of words.
3. a game played with cards, each bearing one letter, with which words are formed.
I see the first definition all the time. Someone will make a spelling mistake or misuse a word in a post about a controversial subject and someone else will ridicule them for it, then someone else will defend the original poster and ridicule the ridiculer and others will chime in on one side or the other and sometimes the person who made the mistake will reply, either slamming the critics or laughing it off and the original contention will be forgotten.
Another argument I saw not long ago was in regards to the second definition. It was in a political forum and someone said "They just tow the party line." and a reply said it was "toe". The first person came back and said no, it was "tow", as in pull behind them. That went on for several dozen posts with both leaving links "proving" the other was wrong.
Ah, such is the Internet, huh? One big logomachy.
I Know Judo & Karate
And quite a few other dangerous words.
This won't mean much to anyone but my old MSN Groups friends, but I was familiar with Capoeira because "Topher", the one-time manager of the help group Community Feedback was a devotee of that particular martial art. After he mentioned it in a post, I researched and read about it. After Groups went belly-up, I ran across the word again somewhere and did a combination search for that and Tophers real first name, Christopher, and found several profiles of him. That's been a couple of computers ago and several years, so I don't remember the particulars. Other than his penchant for sucking up to "AC" and "KT", he was a pretty good guy. He never banned me, so that's my criteria for "pretty good". -grin-
| You Are Capoeira |
 You are lively, fun, and open to new experiences. You love to travel and discover new things. You are joyous and prone to celebrate. You are the type of person who likes to work hard and play even harder. In life, you are intuitive and street smart. You understand others well and are able to predict their next moves. And while you can see what others are up to, few know what your plans are. You like to play it coy. In a battle, you try to outsmart your opponent before you get outsmarted first. It's all about trickery and listening to your gut. You like to have a worthy opponent. It's fun to battle if someone comes close to matching you in wits, cunning, and strategy. |
This won't mean much to anyone but my old MSN Groups friends, but I was familiar with Capoeira because "Topher", the one-time manager of the help group Community Feedback was a devotee of that particular martial art. After he mentioned it in a post, I researched and read about it. After Groups went belly-up, I ran across the word again somewhere and did a combination search for that and Tophers real first name, Christopher, and found several profiles of him. That's been a couple of computers ago and several years, so I don't remember the particulars. Other than his penchant for sucking up to "AC" and "KT", he was a pretty good guy. He never banned me, so that's my criteria for "pretty good". -grin-
May 7, 2013
It Won't Be Long Now
This popped up on my Google Reader page earlier today:
I knew it was going to happen but I had put it out of my mind. I've migrated my feeds to other platforms, but stubbornly kept using Google Reader. I'm used to it, it's user friendly and I like the features, esp. using it to share articles here or on Facebook. I had suspicions that the end might be near when I noticed the Official Google Reader Blog hadn't been updated in a year.
It seems like Google rolls out a new feature only to stop two others. (and they more-or-less admit to that on the official blog linked to above) Most of the things went by the wayside without much protest, but I've been reading all sorts of groans and moans over this decision. Some people have a bi-polar view (at least confusing) towards the end of Google Reader while others say it will be a good thing for RSS. I'm not particularly angry over their decision, just mostly disappointed.
I guess Google's reasoning behind it is to force more people to use their Google+ but I'm not a big fan of that. I don't want to get my news via social-type media. I don't think Twitter lends itself well to news, but it can be used for that, I suppose. I follow some local media's Facebook pages for area news, but I do more with my reader than just news. I follow a few political sites (many fewer than I did a year or longer ago) and like to keep up with some sites that offer some interesting and informative content, but mainly I liked my reader because of the recipe site feeds.
Reader made it much easier for me in regards to the latter. I could quickly scroll down the titles, clicking on those I thought I might find interesting and/or want to save. I'll eat most anything, but if the recipe is "Stuffed Mussels", I am apt to pass them up. I don't dislike mussels, it's just that I am far away from the ocean and would never buy the days old seafood even if it WAS at my local grocery store. Anyway....
I really haven't decided which service I want to use to replace Google Reader; none of them really float my boat. I'm still looking at other alternatives, but I had better hurry and decide. I'll write another post when I do.
UPDATE: As I said, I had tried out a few other readers, but hadn't liked them nearly as much as I did Google Reader, but I believe I'll settle with Feedly for now until I find something better. It's available as an add-on with different browsers (I prefer Firefox) and the integration of my Google Reader feeds went seamlessly . I don't like that I had to allow it access to my Google account, but so did others in order to get my reading list and there's really nothing in my email account that I wouldn't mind someone reading. I do a lot of online business and I guess the worst that could happen would be someone reading my credit card balance statements. (I wish I didn't have to read them) The passwords for those sites are different than that of my Gmail account, so I'm not worried about that.
The rest of the feeds I had tried were too "busy" looking and hard to navigate. I still haven't completely sussed out Feedly, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. The best thing about it is that it's FREE, a prerequisite for using a reader. Some of the highly recommended applications cost quite a bit for their services and personally, a dollar a month would be more than I'd want to pay, much less than the $5-10 wanted from some of the others.
I'll keep everyone informed. Well, all four/five of my regular readers, that is.
It seems like Google rolls out a new feature only to stop two others. (and they more-or-less admit to that on the official blog linked to above) Most of the things went by the wayside without much protest, but I've been reading all sorts of groans and moans over this decision. Some people have a bi-polar view (at least confusing) towards the end of Google Reader while others say it will be a good thing for RSS. I'm not particularly angry over their decision, just mostly disappointed.
I guess Google's reasoning behind it is to force more people to use their Google+ but I'm not a big fan of that. I don't want to get my news via social-type media. I don't think Twitter lends itself well to news, but it can be used for that, I suppose. I follow some local media's Facebook pages for area news, but I do more with my reader than just news. I follow a few political sites (many fewer than I did a year or longer ago) and like to keep up with some sites that offer some interesting and informative content, but mainly I liked my reader because of the recipe site feeds.
Reader made it much easier for me in regards to the latter. I could quickly scroll down the titles, clicking on those I thought I might find interesting and/or want to save. I'll eat most anything, but if the recipe is "Stuffed Mussels", I am apt to pass them up. I don't dislike mussels, it's just that I am far away from the ocean and would never buy the days old seafood even if it WAS at my local grocery store. Anyway....
I really haven't decided which service I want to use to replace Google Reader; none of them really float my boat. I'm still looking at other alternatives, but I had better hurry and decide. I'll write another post when I do.
UPDATE: As I said, I had tried out a few other readers, but hadn't liked them nearly as much as I did Google Reader, but I believe I'll settle with Feedly for now until I find something better. It's available as an add-on with different browsers (I prefer Firefox) and the integration of my Google Reader feeds went seamlessly . I don't like that I had to allow it access to my Google account, but so did others in order to get my reading list and there's really nothing in my email account that I wouldn't mind someone reading. I do a lot of online business and I guess the worst that could happen would be someone reading my credit card balance statements. (I wish I didn't have to read them) The passwords for those sites are different than that of my Gmail account, so I'm not worried about that.
The rest of the feeds I had tried were too "busy" looking and hard to navigate. I still haven't completely sussed out Feedly, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. The best thing about it is that it's FREE, a prerequisite for using a reader. Some of the highly recommended applications cost quite a bit for their services and personally, a dollar a month would be more than I'd want to pay, much less than the $5-10 wanted from some of the others.
I'll keep everyone informed. Well, all four/five of my regular readers, that is.
May 6, 2013
Another AT&T Rant
Went to my AT&T page to check the status of a recent order. They were supposed to be sending me another modem, but I got an email announcing they were sending out a repairman. I want the modem but don't want the repair call. They've been out here before, no need to come back and pretend there's something wrong w/ my connection when all the problems stem from their DNS servers.
After waiting ten minutes for the page to load, I finally get this error message:
'Bout time they owned up to their problems. After their outage back in Jan/Feb, they finally admitted the problem. The outage started a couple days after I signed up for the service and the online help techs were swamped and when I finally got through I was instructed to power the modem on/off, reset it to the original settings, yada yada yada. I had already tried all those things or I wouldn't have put myself through the frustration of calling technical support. I estimate that, with wait time and listening to instructions that I had already done, they wasted five/six hours of my time. If they had only admitted the problem was on their end, I wouldn't have become so angry.
Guess I'll call them tomorrow to cancel the repair visit. I've had pretty good luck all weekend w/ my connection; it was only down for a few times late last night and has been up all day today, but it's getting close to time for it to go out again, regular as clockwork. The last tech I spoke to told me that was prob. because of interference from street lights. Good grief, the lights have been on for hours before I start having problems. I'm really tired of their runarounds.
After waiting ten minutes for the page to load, I finally get this error message:
'Bout time they owned up to their problems. After their outage back in Jan/Feb, they finally admitted the problem. The outage started a couple days after I signed up for the service and the online help techs were swamped and when I finally got through I was instructed to power the modem on/off, reset it to the original settings, yada yada yada. I had already tried all those things or I wouldn't have put myself through the frustration of calling technical support. I estimate that, with wait time and listening to instructions that I had already done, they wasted five/six hours of my time. If they had only admitted the problem was on their end, I wouldn't have become so angry.
Guess I'll call them tomorrow to cancel the repair visit. I've had pretty good luck all weekend w/ my connection; it was only down for a few times late last night and has been up all day today, but it's getting close to time for it to go out again, regular as clockwork. The last tech I spoke to told me that was prob. because of interference from street lights. Good grief, the lights have been on for hours before I start having problems. I'm really tired of their runarounds.
May 5, 2013
Feet Trivia
I was reading an email trivia newsletter and this was one of the questions:
Name the things that you can wear on your feet that begin with the letter 'S.'
The answer was:
Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, snowshoes, stockings.
I'd say smell, too.
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