Strange Hearts

I've been playing another 100 game set of Hearts (see: Half-Hearted) and just finished a game.  It started out with one of my computer opponents "shooting the moon", then I did, then another one did, all in the first three rounds.  I had never seen that before and was thinking "What if the fourth player does it, too?"

A little way into the hand it sure looked that way, but I couldn't be sure;  the computer game isn't like a real-life Hearts game where you can see who is catching all the tricks.  I've sometimes passed up the chance to catch a trick and ruin one of my computer opponent's chances of shooting the moon because I've been so intent upon my own hand I don't pay much attention to which of the others are catching the most tricks. 

This time, however, I was being a little more aware because of the extremely rare way the game was playing out.  Even though I didn't have to, I caught a trick in the middle of the hand and after it was over, saw that it was indeed going to be the fourth-in-a-row shoot the moon...and that it caused me to lose the game by a single point.

Shocking Fact

The electric eel can generate about 600 volts of electricity with the record being 650. By contrast, the standard U.S. wall socket is 120 volts.

Monk's Phobias

Monk was a comedy-drama detective mystery television series that aired from 2002-2009. I don't think I ever saw an episode of it when it was on in prime time, but recently started watching it in late-night reruns. Monk suffers from obsessive–compulsive personality disorder and while the real-life disorder really shouldn't be laughed at, Monk made it seem hilarious.

Monk seemed to display a new phobia (or two or three or more) in each episode. According to Wiki and fan sites, Monk has 312 fears, some of which are milk, ladybugs, harmonicas, heights, imperfection,claustrophobia, driving, food touching on his plates, messes, frogs, germs, crowds, glaciers and risk, although in one later episode he managed to get a handle on his claustrophobia.

His obsessions were what made for the best comedy,though. 

Crystallize - Lindsey Stirling

And You Don't Have To

Stick a matchbook in me to make me work!

You Are Super Mario Bros.

You have an active imagination, and you are a very creative problem solver. You know that there is more than one way to get things done, and you love figuring out new ways of doing things. You are goal oriented but not competitive. You like to complete tasks, but you also need to have fun along the way. You are compassionate and helpful, but you also value your alone time. You are reserved about expressing your true self.

What Classic Video Game Are You?

I used to date a woman who was given a Nintendo from her nephew; after playing the few games she had received with it, I bought one not long after and would take my game cartridges over for her and her roommate to play and we spent many, many hours playing Super Mario Bros. It took weeks, but we finally managed to reach the end of the game. There was elation for a while, then a letdown when we realized the fun had gone out of it. We did find another game that was as much if not more fun than Super Mario Bros, The Punisher, but I managed to beat that game, too.

(If you didn't understand the matchbook reference, you probably never owned one of those Nintendo units.  In every one I'd ever seen, after a while the contacts would get bent and it was necessary to put some sort of shim - usually a matchbook - between the top of the cartridge and the unit to make it work. The machine could be opened up and the pins re-aligned, but that fix seldom lasted...come to think of it, neither did the matchbook trick.  It was either a design flaw/shoddy workmanship or planned obsolescence.  I always figured it was the latter.)

Texpedition - Amarillo

Nice little video, but more of an advert for The Big Texan at the end of it than informative throughout.

Goodbye, iGoogle

As of today, iGoogle is no more.  It's no HUGE loss, but I did enjoy my custom Google search page with local weather, news and sports widgets, along with other custom pages.  That's OK, I found igHome, a similar replacement.

I just hope they don't do away with Blogger; I doubt they will, but I didn't think they'd do away with Google Reader, either. (which was a bigger hassle to replace)

So, goodbye, iGoogle.  Nice knowin' ya.

(as you can see, I have replaced it with the regular Google link)

Ivy Mike

Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion. It was detonated on November 1, 1952 by the United States on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. The device was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam design, a staged fusion bomb, and was the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Search Engine War!

Bing vs Google! Not sure if it's a "war" but I suspect it's a "one-upsman" type contest.  I've almost always enjoyed Google's "doodles" they do for holidays (except when they ignore Veterans Day) and wish they'd do more things like this.

The Bing page has an amusing, interactive tribute to Halloween; move your cursor around the page and click on objects around the room. I won't give too much away, but there are tributes to the movies Poltergeist, Halloween, The Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th, The Shining and Psycho. (Clickable arrows in circles will appear after revealing the things and take you to search results for those classic horror flicks.)

I've begun visiting Bing every day I can;  not only do you get points for visits, but also for using the search engine and for clicking around their fantastic interactive page.  (if I happen to miss a day, there's the option of cycling back through the previous week's offerings.) I've got quite a few points in my bank, but haven't used any of them yet; most of the redeemable items are entries into contests, usually for some Microsoft product.

Google's tribute isn't movie-related, but has some nifty interactive "games"; the ingredients you put into the witch's bubbling cauldron determines which one you'll go to, with a cool little flashlight-like application that will "scare you", another with a coffin-type "cups" game, a "whack-a-mole", only with hands erupting from a graveyard and others. (but I've already forgotten the rest)

Bing / Google

Halloween Dictionary

From the archives:

Halloween Dictionary 

Bobbing Apples: What happens when you leave your bra off while running.

Boogieman: Guy who passes time at a stoplight picking his nose.

Coffin: What you do when you get a piece of popcorn stuck in your throat.

Frankenstein: Hot dog and a mug of beer.

Full moon: What your repairman reveals when he bends over to fix your fridge.

Goblin: How you eat the Snickers bars you got for Halloween.

Invisible Man: What a guy becomes when there's housework to be done.
Also, see "Mr. Hyde."

Jack O' Lantern: An Irish Pumpkin.

Jack the Ripper: What Jack does to his lottery tickets after losing each week.

Mummy: Who kisses the boo-boo after you scrape your knee.

Pumpkin Patch: What a pumpkin wears when trying to quit smoking.

Skeleton: Any supermodel.

Vampire Bat: What Dracula hits a baseball with.

Witch: See "Mother-in-Law."

Zombie: What you look like before that first cup of morning coffee.

somnambulism

somnambulism som·nam·bu·lism [som-nam-byuh-liz-uhm, suhm-] noun

Also called: noctambulism, a condition that is characterized by walking while asleep or in a hypnotic trance

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I know people who do the same thing, only they're wide awake.

Daylight Savings Countdown

Breaking Bad Halloween

You may have already seen this photo; Aaron Paul posted it to his Twitter account and it's been discussed in several Breaking Bad message boards and other forums. Most people, such as myself, think it's cute and funny but as always is the case, *some* people were offended. "Dressing kids up as drug dealers? Horrible idea! Bad parents!" are the basic complaints. What I'd like to know is this:

Do these same people also complain when parents dress their kids up as Dracula, a witch, a zombie or the like? I asked that very question to someone who was up-in-arms over the photo and they said "But these parents are promoting drug use...and that's not cute!  People die every day from using or selling meth!!!"  I had to point out to them that vampires bite people, either killing them or, with the bite, sentencing them to an eternity of being a vampire as well, that witches in fairy tales captured and ate children and zombies...well, they just kill and then eat everyone, particularly their brains.

"But that's fiction!" came the reply.

Uh...and Breaking Bad wasn't?  Dressing your kids up as characters from a movie or TV show doesn't mean you condone whatever it was the FICTIONAL character did. 

Even with all the horrible things the characters in Breaking Bad did, that photo makes me smile.  *Some* people just want to go Breaking Butthurt and are more offensive than whatever it is they're protesting.

Growloween!

Keep Texas Wild: Panhandle

phrenology

phrenology phre·nol·o·gy[fri-nol-uh-jee, fre-]

noun

A psychological theory or analytical method based on the belief that certain mental faculties and character traits are indicated by the configurations of the skull.

More about phrenology at Wikipedia.

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Phrenology has always interested me (not quite "fascinated"). Seeing the word as today's Word of the Day reminded me of a friend I once had back when MSN Groups were up-and-running. We shared political views, but couldn't have been more different in religion, she being a Wiccan. We were in a chat room once, just the two of us and were discussing our belief systems and I said I wouldn't belittle how she believed, but there were some tenets to paganism that I would never trust, especially in foretelling the future, things such as palm reading.

Well, that upset her and I had to suffer through indignantly told stories of how her grandmother had read palms and how the palms of people she knew had predicted their future - their love life and life span, etc.   I didn't say anything until she ran out of steam and then remarked that palm reading was to science as phrenology was to psychology.  She was "silent" for a while, nothing being typed and I knew she had opened up another window and was researching the term.  After a minute or so, she exited the chat room and that was the end of our cyber-friendship.

Oh well.  I was getting tired of all that "Blessed Be!" crap, anyway.

Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed

R.I.P. Lou Reed

Note: The following video has an "adult" theme; if you are easily offended by such things, please don't click "Play" on it. There were other videos available, other songs, but this is the one that always comes to mind when I think of Lou Reed.

Driving In The Texas Panhandle

Stumbled across video while looking at Texas Panhandle tornado videos; I'm not positive, but I'm fairly certain this is east of Amarillo, between there and Panhandle (the town).

If that's where it is, it reminds me of the first time my British friend Helen came over to see me. Her flight was later in the day and by the time we picked up her luggage and got out of town, it was just about sunset and we were right at the same place on the road as in the video.

The traffic was much lighter than in that video and she commented on it. When, after about ten or fifteen minutes,  the second or third car passed us going the other direction in the westbound lane, I joked and said the highway was starting to get busy. She thought I was serious, but I told her it was fairly normal for a weekday, plus the "rush hour" after 5:00 was already over and explained to her about the busy traffic early in the morning and at quitting time at the Pantex Plant and also how many people who worked there or in Amarillo lived in Panhandle or the small communities or clusters of houses nearby, making for a lot more traffic than at the current time of day.

We drove along for a while longer, not saying much and I was amused at her staring out the window at the scenery, such as it was. The landscape along that part of I-40 is apparent in the video; other than power and telephone lines and barbed wire fences and the occasional house, the view stretches nearly unbroken all the way to the horizon, nothing to catch the eye other than a few lights twinkling on top the cell towers.

After several minutes of silence, she said something to me, but I couldn't understand it so I asked her to repeat it. She did so, but I still couldn't understand the word she was using and had to tell her I still couldn't understand what she had said. She repeated it one more time, slower:

"It's. all. so. vahst." Vahst? What is that, I wondered, some sort of British slang?

Then it dawned on me what she was saying...

 VAST.

Breaking Bad on Ice

Breaking Ice

yoho

yoho yo-ho [yoh-hoh] interjection, verb, yo-hoed, yo-ho·ing.

interjection

1. (used as a call or shout to attract attention, accompany effort, etc.)

verb (used without object)

2. to shout “yo-ho!”

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Lots of things I could say about "yoho", but instead I'll just post this video:

Touch Effects

Touch Effects is an amazing time waster, truly deserving of the label; it is both addictive and mesmerizing.

Easy to begin:  just put your cursor within the field and click the left-hand mouse button.  The tiny balls will begin to ebb and flow and holding the button down and moving your cursor across the screen will create an even larger effect.

Customize the effects by changing from gravity well to magnetic repulsion, particle tethers from off to on, draw mode from rainbows to balls and blur effect from off to on.

I just noticed something odd;  after playing with the game while writing up this post,  I switched tabs back to this one to complete it and it sure looked like the balls were moving in the below screen shot.

Touch Effects

UK or US?

Where do you belong?

You Belong in Both

You are flexible, easygoing, and adventurous.  You belong in the USA, UK, and any other country that will have you. You make yourself at home anywhere, and you don't have any problem adapting to local customs. You blend well. You love a life full of experiences, and you feel like there are many chapters to your story. You are open to it all. You may feel a bit more comfortable with certain people or regions, but you don't let yourself get too comfy. For you, it's important to shake things up.

Do You Belong in the USA or UK?

Fingernails vs Toenails

It can take from three to six month for a fingernail to grow back, but a toenail can take 12-18 months to grow back completely. The growth rate depends upon a number of factors including age, sex, heredity, time of the year, diet and exercise.

Stop Watching Us

Great video...on the surface. These Hollywood celebs bring up Nixon, yet say absolutely nothing about the person they were, in a large part, directly responsible for putting into office. You screamed about Bush and the Patriot Act, but are silent about this administration, the one that has vastly expanded these domestic spying programs?

Hypocrites.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Earl Scruggs & Friends

Earl Scruggs, banjo - Glen Duncan, fiddle - Randy Scruggs, acoustic guitar - Steve Martin, 2nd banjo solo - Vince Gill, 1st electric guitar solo - Marty Stuart, mandolin - Gary Scruggs, harmonica - Albert Lee, 2nd electric guitar solo - Paul Shaffer, piano - Jerry Douglas, dobro - Leon Russell, organ - Glenn Worf, bass - Harry Stinson, drums

Honestly, it doesn't matter if you're a heavy metal or rap, country or classical music fan, if you weren't tapping your toes by the end of that, you're nearly dead. (or might as well be)

Punk'd Puppy

I recently subscribed to the YouTube channel Talking Pets and love it.

Louis Braille

Louis Braille was only 15 when he devised his raised-dot writing system for the blind. Braille, who lost his sight at the age of three, started working on the dot patterns when he was 12.

The Heisenberg Legacy

Great Breaking Bad tribute.

Warning:  *some* language, violence, drugs

Born in a Pile of Leaves

You Should Have Been Born in the Autumn

You are an idealistic but also hard working person. You want to make the world a better place. It's likely that you have a list of causes that you support - and a plan for advancing all of them. You are a natural leader and organizer. You naturally sort out chaos and figure out what the first steps are. You are confident in your abilities, but you also always have a contingency plan. Failure is not an option for you. You know what you believe, and you are resistant to changing your mind. Others may find you frustratingly stubborn. If you don't like how something is going, you're likely to take it over. You know you'll do a better job.

What Season Should You Have Been Born In?

blowzy

blowzy blowz·y [blou-zee] adjective, blowz·i·er, blowz·i·est

1. having a coarse, ruddy complexion.
2. disheveled in appearance; unkempt.

---

My middle name is Blowzy.

Unmarried Priesthood Judgements

I created a post today, but it had quite a few screen shots, so I backdated it so it wouldn't "stretch" out the page. (I prefer the posts closely match the length of the side navbar) The title of this post seems crazy, but check out the post and you'll see why it is.

Crazy Chicken Captions

Everybody Wants to Rule the World-Tears For Fears

He Left His Mark

After watching the final episode of Breaking Bad several times, I finally noticed something in the last scene, proving once again that the people involved in the show really put a LOT of thought into the tiniest details.

Here's a short video of the ending:

I hadn't noticed that when Walt's bloodstained hand slid down the stainless steel vessel, it had left a distinct "W".

It might have just been an accident, but I don't think so.

Haunted Worley Hospital

The Eyes Have It

You Are Whimsical

You are a dreamy, imaginative, and visual person. You paint complete pictures in your mind. Your daydreams are like movies. You can transport yourself to a time and place that you may or may not have seen before. You see the world from an upside down, inside out position. You just process everything differently. Your vivid imagination amplifies everything around you. One small object or occurrence can set off a chain of events in your mind. The world sees you as highly creative and enigmatic. Many people would like to 'pick your brain', but they don't know where to begin. People are blown away by the thoughts and ideas you do share with them. No one can wrap their heads around your way of thinking.

The Abstract Eye Test

Happy Columbus Day!

The official name of the Niña (one of the three ships of Christopher Columbus) was the Santa Clara. It was common for ships of the time to have both an official religious name and a nickname which sometimes was the feminine form of the owner's name. That was the case with the Santa Clara, whose owner was Juan Niño of Moguer. (the feminine form of his name is Niña)

Graphics courtesy of PhillipMartin.com

A Rat By Any Other Name

The Norway rat (commonly called the brown rat), did not originate in Norway, but rather from northern China.  The rats spread to Europe in the 16th century and were transported to North America in the mid-18th century on ships carrying grain from England.  They were named for Norway in the mistaken belief that they had arrived in England aboard Norwegian vessels.

snollygoster

snollygoster snol·ly·gos·ter [snol-ee-gos-ter] noun Slang
a clever, unscrupulous person.

---

I never had heard or seen this word used, but I sure can think of quite a few people to which it could refer.

We've elected many.

John Cazale

John Cazale (August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) appeared in only five films in his six-year film career, but each one was nominated for Best Picture. He is the only actor to have this multi-film distinction.

I'm An Open Book

I'm totally against banning books; to ban a classic book such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of the "N word" is political correctness run amok. Sure, there are books that aren't age appropriate, but to ban books from the general populace because of what someone else decides should or shouldn't be read smacks of Orwell's 1984 (which is another book that has been banned from certain libraries)

I took this test several days ago and forgot what the other results were;  I'm semi-surprised at my results because I've never seen the movie or read the book (although I intend to) but other than that, the rest of the description fits me.

You Are The Hunger Games

You have a wild imagination, one that is not easily satisfied by run of the mill stories and novels. You like to be transported to a completely different world. You like to be immersed in a life that is nothing like your own. You don't mind an outlandish story - in fact, you require it. You prefer a book that's not just about ordinary, every day things. There's nothing you like better than being lost in a book - especially one with a strong plot and protagonist to root for.

What Banned Book Are You?

Felina & Breaking Bad

tittup

tittup tit·tup [tit-uhp] noun, verb, tit·tuped, tit·tup·ing or ( especially British ) tit·tupped, tit·tup·ping. Chiefly British noun

1. an exaggerated prancing, bouncing movement or manner of moving. verb (used without object)

2. to move, especially to walk, in an exaggerated prancing or bouncing way, as a spirited horse.

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"Chiefly British noun"

Uh, OK.

Droid Factoid

Out of all the actors in the six Star Wars movies, only two have appeared in every movie; Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 and Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO.

Major Tom - Gale Boetticher

R.I.P. Walter White

Some Breaking Bad fans put this obit in the Albuquerque newspaper:

whirligig

whirligig whirl·i·gig [hwur-li-gig, wur-] noun
1. something that whirls or revolves.
2. a whirling motion or course: the whirligig of fashion.
3. a giddy or flighty person.
4. Dialect . a merry-go-round or carrousel.
5. a toy for whirling or spinning, as a top.

---

Whirligigs have always fascinated me, especially the more complex ones.

What Fall Spice Are You?

Not so sure about the "tact" part.

I've bought quite a bit of cinnamon over the last year, prob. more than I'll be able to use before it loses its flavor.  I've got some Saigon cinnamon and Ceylon.  I prefer the Ceylon; the flavor is good, milder than the Vietnamese kind which has a bit of a "bite" to it.  They're both good, I just like the Ceylon better.  I sprinkle a bit on my breakfast oatmeal, not only to add some flavor, but for the health benefits;  it seems to keep my blood sugar in check. (as long as I don't eat a chocolate bar later)

You Are Cinnamon

You are warm and friendly. You are a social creature and a true extrovert. You are welcoming, and you love to have people over to your place. You make everyone feel at home. You are sweet, but you aren't overwhelming. You know how to be subtle with people. You have tact. You love life, and people love to be around you. You are very popular without trying to be.

What Fall Spice Are You?

Cinnamon - Tommy Roe

Ozymandias

As read by Bryan Cranston

End of Breaking Bad

Really clever synopsis of Breaking Bad.

Warning: SPOILERS

Duh.