The TV Dinner Test

You Are Sweet

You are an ambitious person, but you temper your ambition with compassion and cooperation. You would like to be successful, and you'd also like to help others as much as you can on the way up. You seek balance in your life. You know you have a dominant personality, and you avoid coming on too strong. You are more sensitive than you seem. You take criticism personally, and you are easily hurt.

The TV Dinner Test

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Not sure this fits me, but the thumbnails were so small on the selection page, I couldn't tell what was what. I'm still not sure what this is, but I thought it was chicken nuggets and rice w/ bits of carrot...not a bad meal, IMHO.  The image info says it's sweet and sour chicken, so that's OK by me. (I'm sweet sometimes, sour others and chicken all the time) Most of the rest, even though I couldn't tell what they were by the image, sounded good by their info.

The one dinner I didn't consider was the Mexican food one;  I like Mexican food just fine, but I never had a Mexican TV dinner that was any good.  For one thing, they don't evenly heat in the microwave, not even with a rotating turntable - the rice or beans will be scalding hot and burnt while the burrito is still frozen in the middle. 

Out of this World Error

Not a 404 page, but one of the better ones I've seen lately.  (and I've been getting a lot of them lately) This one was on Livestream for the Grit chick cam, but when I tried again later, I got the link I intended to visit.

The cool thing about this one was it was interactive; move the cursor and the planet and cloud moved, too.

Leery of Leaning

The exact number isn't known, but it's believed that around 250 people have died after falling from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Today in history: Glenn Miller recorded "Chattanooga Choo Choo", 1941.

Dorothy Dandridge / Nicholas Brothers

Time. Worst Wasted.

I clicked on a link under a thumbnail of a storage shed I was looking at on the Sears website:

We're here to help you find just what you need.

Apparently not.  Yikes.

The title of this post?  A rebuttal to the Sears slogan: Life. Well spent.

coterie

coterie co·te·rie [koh-tuh-ree] noun

1. a group of people who associate closely.
2. an exclusive group; clique.
3. a group of prairie dogs occupying a communal burrow.

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I've seen loads of prairie dog towns, but never heard them called a coterie. I've also been around people who acted like adult life was like it was back in high school, with groups of kids forming cliques.* I went to a small town school, so thank goodness there weren't that many cliques, but there were the outliers, the kids who just didn't fit in. I felt like I was on the cusp of both groups, the "in crowd" and the "outsiders". It didn't scar me for life or anything like that, though and if I had it all to do over again, don't think I would have changed a thing...at least not socially.

*Since I've been online I've joined and participated in quite a few message boards and forums and I've found there are cliques in those, too.   They're usually split along political lines, though.  I'm often on the cusp of both those groups, too...not socially conservative enough to be accepted totally by that side and not nearly liberal enough to be accepted by that one, either.  Just like back in school, I'm not much bothered by being on the cusp of both sides.  I'm content with my political views....mainly because they're the best ones. -grin-

Google Error

Not a 404 page, but the link was bad. Not sure why that was, the explanation didn't make much sense; it was at the top of the results on their own search engine, so....

The broken robot reminded me of the one in MSN Groups.  I used to have all of those animations such as the conveyor belt while the file was uploading (and there were some clever animations made from that one) and the shuttered groups graphic.  I lost them all in a hard drive failure of one of my first computers.

Smooth or Chunky?

You Are Chunky Peanut Butter

You think there are many true paths in this life. You don't expect anyone else to follow yours. You are a very visual person. You don't judge a book by it's cover, but you definitely notice the cover! You are shy at first but talkative with people you know extremely well. You open up over time. You are always keenly aware of your environment. You notice every sight, sound, and smell.

Are You Creamy or Chunky Peanut Butter?

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Actually, while I might be a little chunky, I prefer smooth peanut butter. Also, in case you missed it, Jan. 24th was National Peanut Butter day.

Alliteration Sentence Generator

A site geared towards alliteration lovers such as myself, Alliteration Sentence Generator lets the user input a name/word and in just a few seconds, a set of alliterative words appears.

I plugged in my name and got this:

Moving Mike miss mutagenically machinator

Not sure if that's really a sentence...or where I could use all of the words in a sentence, but it DOES give me ideas for new forum nicknames.

Alliteration Sentence Generator
 

An aide at alleviating all alliteration aspirations

The Most Seconds

The Most Seconds is undoubtedly the most deserving of any time waster label we've ever posted here in ToTG.  The premise is simple, doing it is simple and honestly?  To enjoy it you'd have to be simple-minded.  It's pretty much pointless, but there's a lot of that on the world wide interwebs, huh?

As you can see, I stayed only long enough to get a screen shot:

The Most Seconds

Gold - John Stewart

There were other videos, some in concert and on TV, but this had the best sound quality of the several I viewed/listened to. I've always liked this song, love the back beat and also the story it tells.

Reading about John Stewart, I was surprised to learn he was once a member of The Kingston Trio and the songs he had written, namely Daydream Believer.

That's Stevie Nicks singing backup.

sally

sally sal·ly [sal-ee]
noun, plural sal·lies.

1. a sortie of troops from a besieged place upon an enemy.
2. a sudden rushing forth or activity.
3. an excursion or trip, usually off the main course.
4. an outburst or flight of passion, fancy, etc.: a sally of anger.
5. a clever, witty, or fanciful remark.
6. Carpentry. a projection, as of the end of a rafter beyond the notch by which the rafter is fitted over the wall plate.

verb (used without object), sal·lied, sal·ly·ing.

7. to make a sally, as a body of troops from a besieged place.
8. to set out on a side trip or excursion.
9. to set out briskly or energetically.
10. (of things) to issue forth.

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Back when we were young men, an old friend of mine and I met a couple of girls who we found attractive, but we were perplexed by their nicknames for each other: "Holly" and "Sally". Those weren't even close to their real names and when we'd ask why they called each other that, they'd just giggle. I finally got it out of the one I was dating; it was "Sally Slut" and "Holly Whore". They really weren't those types of girls and it must have been some private, inside joke.  I hoped so, anyway.

I never see or hear the word "sally" used - other than a proper name - these days;  it's always in some old book and usually refers to a battle "Sally forth!" cried the commander of the fort. (or something like that)  Come to think of it, I don't think I personally know a Sally.

But Not in a Bar

You Should Dance to Country Music

You may like to dance, but it's only because you like music. And for you, dancing is all about your partner. You don't need some slick moves to get out on the dance floor. You're mostly concerned with not embarrassing yourself. You are a bit shy, and you don't like to draw too much attention to yourself. You would rather hang back in most social situations. You are the type most likely to dance in order to make someone else happy. And you're not about to enter a dance off anytime soon!

What Music Should You Dance To?

How to Do the Texas Two-Step

I Can't Dance- Genesis

Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood

and The Destroyers

Happy May Day!

May Day was once a holiday in the U.S., but after being selected as the date for International Workers' Day, it fell out of favor until 2012 when it was chosen as a holiday and for demonstrations by the Occupy movement.

Personally, I prefer how Hawaii celebrates May 1, with Lei Day. I really wish I was in Hawaii right now and getting lei'd.

Droopy May Flowers

This is a post from 5/13/08, but the exact same thing happened again, too weird.  I changed out the flower, but this time Photobucket appended the URL with a bunch of characters at the end, so I had to change the code in the script to point to the new URL.   I'd show the example of the non-working animation, but I deleted it.  It looked the same, but the flowers would open once, then stop.  I don't have a clue as to why they would do that, but I'm going to have to find out.  I guess the link code gets corrupted somehow on Photobucket's servers, that's the only explanation I got.

I dunno;  maybe the animation got tired after five? six? years of working.  It only had to work one month out of each year, though, so....

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Not for sure why, but my May flowers aren't blowing in the breeze.

The images for the day/date script are in my Photobucket album, and the .gif is animated on the album view, but not in the individual view.

There's got to be some logical explanation, probably a very simple one that my simple mind cannot comprehend, but for the life of me, I cannot figure it out.

Funny thing: this same animation has given me some problems before. When I first found the script five + years ago, I noticed that the "May" ani wasn't moving. The month animations are from Animation Factory and I already had the disks, so it was n/p to replace/rename the animation to work in the script.

A Lot of Blood

An adult man's body contains - on average - 1.25 to 1.5 gallons of blood. People who live at high altitudes, where the air contains less oxygen, may have up to 1.9 liters more blood than people who live in low altitude regions. The extra blood delivers additional oxygen to body cells.

Blood doesn't have it's own keyword/label in this blog, but maybe it should.

Hair - The Cowsills

Today in history: The Broadway musical Hair debuted in 1968; the movie was released in 1979. Several of the soundtrack songs hit the charts; this was the title tune:

The First E-mail

The first e-mail was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson to himself and *most likely consisted of: "QWERTYUIOP".

*Tomlinson says he's forgotten the exact text, but that was the most likely.

I'm Well-Rounded

In more ways than one.

You Are Smart

When it comes to book smarts versus street smarts, you've got them both, baby! You are well-rounded. You can geek out and study up like no one's business. But you also know when it's time to just dive in and start learning. It's likely that you started out as either a book smart or street smart type and learned the other to help get by in the world. You wear many hats, and you take a flexible approach to life. Very few people know what you are capable of.

Are You Book Smart or Street Smart?

Another One Bites The Dust- Queen

Dedicated to the biggest Queen fan I know: "Mrs. Garazon".

grimalkin

grimalkin gri·mal·kin [gri-mal-kin, -mawl-] noun

1. a cat.
2. an old female cat.
3. an ill-tempered old woman.

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I wasn't familiar with this word which surprised me because I love cats.  I'm not familiar with old female cats, either, because while I've had female cats hang around - and have a litter or two - they disappear after a while.  I always hope they found good homes. 

I AM familiar with ill-tempered old women, although I'd have to say ill-tempered old men are worse.

I should know.

Cat Cafe Cam

From the site:

Purina ONE is launching the first ever North American Cat Café in New York City, creating an environment of wellness where visitors learn about the 28 Day Challenge, share their experiences, interact with experts and connect with adoptable cats and other cat lovers. Learn more at www.PurinaONE.com/CatCafe and join the conversation with #CatCafe.

Just discovered this and am not sure if it's going to be a permanent thing because the cam isn't fixed and was going from cat-to-cat and often getting blocked by people in the way. (not sure about you, but I don't care a thing about a "back of people's head webcam")   From the looks of some folks on the street looking through the window, you'd think they never saw a cat before. 

Cat Cafe

Hey Mami - Josh Turner

Featuring Sam Helferich

Not my favorite video from young Mr. Turner, but one of the most interesting, using a phone app for overdubbing.

rile

rile [rahyl] verb (used with object), riled, ril·ing.
Chiefly Northern and North Midland U.S.

1. to irritate or vex.
2. to roil (water or the like).

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I definitely know this word, because too many things rile me on the Internet; sometimes it's the news, but most often it's somebody whose comments go beyond the pale.  I'm getting better, though, but I sometimes will still sign up for an account just to reply to some jerk on a forum I'll never visit again.

I don't let too many people rile me on Facebook because I've already blocked most of the a-holes who post to the pages I follow.  I also do it for a few people who are friends with some of my Facebook friends but I don't want to get into it with them on my friend's wall, just out of respect for them.

I've quit commenting on YouTube videos because 99% of the time the person making some outrageous statement knows absolutely nothing about the subject.

Bucking for Apples

frivol

frivol friv·ol [friv-uhl]

Informal verb (used without object, friv·oled, friv·ol·ing or ( especially British ) friv·olled, friv·ol·ling.

1. to behave frivolously; trifle.

verb (used with object), friv·oled, friv·ol·ing or ( especially British ) friv·olled, friv·ol·ling.

2. to spend frivolously (usually followed by away ): to frivol away one's time.

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This blog is a frivol. Come to think of it, my entire life has been a frivol.

Wolf Spider

The Wolf spider carries its young on its back.

Would Be Glad to be a Grad

You Are Grad School

You are brilliant, studious, and even a little bit eccentric. You're willing to live life on your own terms. You believe in education, and you want as much of it as you can get. No one can take your education away from you. You are a geek at heart, and you love learning. You'd like to get paid to study and teach, even if those jobs are hard to come by. And even if you can't work in academia, you'll always be an academic at heart. You love the idea of required reading.

What School Era Are You?

The Red Baron

Today in history:  Manfred von Richthofen aka "The Red Baron" was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918.

Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron - Royal Guardsmen

10 Curious Facts About Marijuana

Now, I ordinarily wouldn't "sully" Easter with such a video, but it IS 4/20, after all.  I found this interesting and informative and learned quite a few things.  The most surprising thing was that it's not illegal in N. Korea and is smoked openly.  My first thought was that maybe it's encouraged to keep the populace under control, then I remembered the Ron Paul supporters who supported him mainly for his stance on drug decriminalization...they certainly were out of control. (and, IMHO, one of the biggest reasons he never got any traction with voters)

To Everyone

To my family, friends, regular and not-so-regular readers:

Carrot Skin

True or false?  Eating too many carrots can make your skin turn orange.

It's true.  Eating an excess of carrots can result in Carotenaemia, a benign condition most commonly occurring in vegetarians and young children but was also documented in British WWII fighter pilots and gunners who ate carrots thinking it would improve their eyesight. (which was actually propaganda intended for the Germans and to hide the fact that Great Britain was having success shooting down German aircraft at night due to advancements in radar technology)

It's a condition specific to humans, though.

dyad

dyad dy·ad [dahy-ad] noun

1. a group of two; couple; pair

2. Biology:
a. a secondary morphological unit, consisting of two monads: a chromosome dyad
b. the double chromosomes resulting from the separation of the four chromatids of a tetrad

3. Chemistry:  an element, atom, or group having a valence of two.

4. Mathematics:  two vectors with no symbol connecting them, usually considered as an operator

5. Sociology:
a. two persons involved in an ongoing relationship or interaction
b. the relationship or interaction itself

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I knew this word, even though it's not part of my every day vocabulary. I had to take an Interpersonal Communication class when I went back to school and I sat down at the first class thinking it was going to be a waste of time, but I changed my mind. I learned a dyad is, as the #5 definition says, the basic form of communication, being between two people.

I think the most important thing I learned about was how people play games and how nearly all of them are dishonest in nature. I wound up enjoying the class and learning a lot about communicating with others and even more about myself. The worst part was when we studied those games, this tune was in my head for a week.

Games People Play - Joe South

Carnivorous Plants

There are more than 600 species of carnivorous plants.

Todays bit of trivia comes from my daily trivia calendar, but it's also one of those coincidences that frequently happen to me. (and if they weren't so mundane, I'd think there was something more than coincidence to them.) I had just torn off yesterday's date to see this bit of trivia and not but a few minutes later, went to my Amazon shopping cart to add a bonus cash award I got from using Bing and saw a recommendation for the movie The Little Shop of Horrors - about a man-eating plant. I have the original, but not the remake.

I haven't seen them in a while, but I used to buy Venus Flytraps at the dime store when I was a kid;  they didn't live long and I always figured it was not only because I couldn't provide them the proper environment, but that I wore them out touching them to make their leaves shut.  Maybe I should buy one on Amazon and give it another try.

analphabetic

analphabetic  an·al·pha·bet·ic [an-al-fuh-bet-ik, an-al-]

adjective

1. not alphabetic: an analphabetic arrangement of letters.
2. unable to read or write; illiterate: analphabetic peoples.
3. Phonetics . of or constituting a system of phonetic transcription, as the one devised by Otto Jespersen, that for each sound indicates by separate sets of symbols the articulator, the point of articulation, and the size and shape of the mouth opening.

noun

4. an illiterate person; analphabet.

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A new word for me (and my spell checker, which has this word and its derivations underlined), but to be honest, I never would have guessed its meaning. I would've said it was someone who had to make sure all their letters were written at the same height and spacing...but that's because I saw the "anal" part first.

Annie's Song - John Denver

I never was a huge John Denver fan, but have always thought this was a lovely tune.  It brings tears to my eyes, which just goes to show how big of an emotional sap I am.

picayune

picayune pic·a·yune [pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh-]
Also, pic·a·yun·ish, Informal

adjective

1. of little value or account; small; trifling: a picayune amount.
2. petty, carping, or prejudiced: I didn't want to seem picayune by criticizing.

noun

3. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.
4. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.
5. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.

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I've liked this word since I first learned it.  I've seen it used in a discussion to describe someone else's concerns and sometimes even their ideas or intelligence.

If they don't know what it means, then it means it's been used correctly.  Of course, THAT means you're being picayune by thinking that.

Listen to the Mockingbird

From Wiki: "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (1855) is an American popular song of the mid-19th century. Its lyrics were composed by Septimus Winner under the pseudonym "Alice Hawthorne", and its music was by Richard Milburn.

It relates the story of a singer dreaming of his sweetheart, now dead and buried, and a mockingbird, whose song the couple once enjoyed, now singing over her grave. Yet the melody is moderately lively.

"Listen to the Mocking Bird" was one of the most popular ballads of the era and sold more than twenty million copies of sheet music. It was popular during the American Civil War and was used as marching music. Abraham Lincoln was especially fond of it, saying, "It is as sincere as the laughter of a little girl at play."

 

Mockingbird

A Mockingbird can imitate the songs of 40 different birds.

Image courtesy of ClipArtBest

Sorry About That

Technically not a 404 page, but these are really annoying when they're in my YouTube feed.

Me, the Bee

You Are a Drone Bee

It may sound like you're the type that just follows the herd, but you are actually the type most likely to be a free spirit. You are adventurous and likely to wander. You tend to have a very different personality from those around you. You are more of a searcher than most people. It hasn't been easy to figure out your purpose in life, but you're getting there. You have never been one for a desk job; you would rather get out there and explore. And you have friends who are just as antsy as you are.

What Type of Bee Are You?

That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Heard this song on online radio the other night and it's been stuck in my head ever since.  It reminds me of roughnecking and "nippling up", the process of hooking up the blowout preventer.  Before we began, we had to pump out the "cellar", the pit dug in the ground where drilling initially starts, in order to hook everything up and trust me, there's not many worse smells in the world (maybe something dead).  The fluid is a combination of urine (from guys peeing off the side of the rig) and fermented mud and chemicals and it would be enough to gag a buzzard.  Almost every time we were nippling up, someone would start singing this song. I know it's a song about drugs, but...

"Oooh that smell..."

Yes, I Do

Click graphic for larger view

Are You Smarter Than a Football Player?

With the NFL Draft still almost a month away, there's not a lot of football news (other than players being accused of rape or being arrested at the airport for claiming to have a bomb) so the main topic of most articles is the Wonderlic Test given to potential draftees by most NFL clubs.

Here's a chance to measure your IQ against football players!

From the site: April is the time of the pro football draft–a time when the physical performance of pro football candidates is closely measured and compared. But the testing doesn't stop at the bench press and broad jump. Players are also administered a unique intelligence measurement called the Wonderlic Personnel Test.

The test is a sort of IQ test used to measure players' aptitude for learning and problem solving. The possible score range is 1 to 50. The average football player scores around 20 points and scoring at least 10 points suggests a person is literate.

Now you have the opportunity to determine your own intelligence score. Best of all, you are compared to top pro football players—from Vince Young who barely scraped by with a 6 to former punter Pat McInally who has the only perfect score on the Wonderlic in league history.

Wonderlic scores of Dallas Cowboys QBs: Tony Romo 37, Jason Garrett 36, Drew Bledsoe 36, Quincy Carter 30 and Troy Aikman 29. (source: Blogging The Boys)

 Are You Smarter Than a Football Player?

What Must You Do?

From the archives:

You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed.

On your right side is a sharp drop off, on your left is an elephant traveling at the same speed as you.

Directly in front of you is a galloping kangaroo and your horse is unable to overtake it.

Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you and another kangaroo.

What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

 

Go Fly a Kite!

That's what women tell me when I ask 'em out.

You Are Adventurous

Like a kite, you tend to go wherever the wind takes you. You live a carefree and spontaneous life. You are open to whatever comes your way, and you know that scares most people. You don't mind flying solo. While adventure can be scary, even for a free spirit like you, you prefer to think of the world as full of possibilities. You let go and trust that things will work out well. And if you crash and burn, at less you'll get a good story out of it.

The Kite Test

Dog Eat Dog - AC/DC

Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, April 1978