I fussed at two random guys yesterday for dawdling at a large table in a restaurant full of people waiting to be seated. It just seemed so rude, and I had a week full of minor but mounting frustrations so I was bound to do something like that. My coworkers were both aghast and a little impressed.
Our dog is a terror towards the cats in the neighborhood. But the first time he encountered a rabbit, he was at a complete loss. The bunny ended up chasing him away.
My brother-in-law is selling an old Firebird to a movie production. They're going to paint it blue then crash it during the filming of some Ryan Gosling/Russell Crowe movie.
I have never watched Monty Python, but have heard so many good things about it. I should look into it one of these days, thanks for reminding me Fanfie!
I agree re the guys in the restaurant. Hope your weekend is turning out better, matlock.
Superman is so incredibly powerful, that he has to be, of necessity, completely morally good. If he is even a tiniest bit evil, the character becomes terrifying. SMBC
I still think that Underworld Unleashed should have had Superman's soul as the incorruptible one which destroyed Neron, instead of Captain Marvel's soul.
Superman has such a main-stream exposure, I guess it's easier for me to see him as "corruptible" because he has been. The character is terrifying. He recognizes it by giving Batman the means to defeat him.
Since I don't know CM so much other than a few comics where he's always been the pure hearted one, it's easier for me to see that choice.
Atoms emit a wide spectrum of radiation. There's nothing unreasonable saying his eyes are sensitive to invisible frequencies, be they x band or others. No cancer risk.
It's even possible his "x-ray" vision works like radar and he emits low levels and perceives the return. That wouldn't be a cancer risk either.
If he could emit in the cancer producing frequecies as intensely as his heat vision, he most certainly could be a cancer risk like any nuke.
Originally Posted by rickshaw1
Originally Posted by Klar Ken T5477
Originally Posted by Klar Ken T5477
I once saw an old issue where Supes' heat vision was actually a by product of his xray vision. And then I got to thinking...
"I wonder how many people Supes has given cancer by using his concentrated xray vision on them?"
If you own a car in the capital region of the Philippines, you have to memorize
a) the last digit of your plate number, as it means you will be fined if you take your car out on a certain day of the week
b) the boundaries of each city in the capital region, plus the exceptions for the rules. Some cities don't apply this rule at all. Some cities who do, have "window hours" where the rule does not apply. And some cities don't have window hours at all but apply the rule strictly from 7am to 7pm.
I didn't start seriously drinking until my last year in college Although, I did have a couple of beers in freshman year once. And, despite it being against the rules, I went back to campus to attend an organization meeting.
I watched the cartoon movie "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!" I thoroughly enjoyed it. The featured characters were Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown (of course), Linus, Sally, Lucy, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin.
It wasn't until I had read the comic strips that I began to loathe Lucy.
I think they should work the Unicorn into a future Iron Man movie. I consider him an underrated villain, and besides, he can't possibly look any sillier than Mickey Rourke as Whiplash.
I would rather drink tea than coffee, but it's hard to get decent hot tea in a restaurant in Texas unless it's an Asian or British-themed establishment.
I'll take coffee when I'm out, as the tea can be hit or miss sometimes. At home, I'll switch between the two.
Tea with weekend breakfast is a must though.
The Lion & the Unicorn are big heraldic symbols in the United Kingdom. They also appear in through the looking glass.
They have also appeared in comics. A later version of them appeared, as did versions of nearly all UK characters, in Zenith. They incinerated heroes from a safe distance before making a tactical withdrawal.
It's a fair* cultural exchange** as you gave us Olga***.
*31st century LW descendants would question thothkins concept of fairness, as they sat in medical waiting rooms to check their bleeding ears.
**31sr century cross referencers would cite thothkins happy attempt to exchange the occupied houses of parliament for a bean, claiming they had similar value.
*** The late 1980s house track "Jack Your Beanstalk" referenced the events of **. It was banned by the BBC as being offensive****.
**** It is rumoured that this example of suppression is being covered in a forthcoming album by well known social activist Olga.
"Tikbalang (also written as Tigbalang, Tigbalan, or Tikbalan) is a creature of Philippine folklore said to lurk in the mountains and forests of the Philippines. It is generally described as a tall, bony humanoid creature with disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down.[1] It has the head and feet of an animal, most commonly a horse. It is sometimes believed to be a transformation of an aborted fetus which has been sent to earth from limbo."
It's a fair* cultural exchange** as you gave us Olga***.
*31st century LW descendants would question thothkins concept of fairness, as they sat in medical waiting rooms to check their bleeding ears.
**31sr century cross referencers would cite thothkins happy attempt to exchange the occupied houses of parliament for a bean, claiming they had similar value.
*** The late 1980s house track "Jack Your Beanstalk" referenced the events of **. It was banned by the BBC as being offensive****.
**** It is rumoured that this example of suppression is being covered in a forthcoming album by well known social activist Olga.
In the Wheel of Time, Sallie Daera was a code word used to inform the rebel Aes Sedai of the rebellion's new location: Salidar, the birthplace of the legendary Amyrlin Deane Aryman. Deane was raised from the Blue Ajah, the proponents of the rebellion.
Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea are both looking to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), currently comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
I've put on some weight the last few years and I realized the other day that my old replica Legion Flight Ring fits now. My wedding band, however, is in danger of cutting off the circulation to my ring finger.
Oh I bought a Legion Flight Ring too! Blaze kept laughing at me. At first he thought it was a Green Lantern ring. Then I told him quite caustically that a) it's not green, b) it has a big L, and c) if he would actually log into Legion World more or finish reading the comics I lent him he would know that it is a Legion flight ring!
When I was a kid, I didn't like the song "This Land is Your Land" because we lived in Massachusetts which is not in the area "from California to the New York Island".
My personal record for naming all the countries in the world is about 5 1/2 minutes
This thread really isn't supposed to have replies in it (it's not random if it does), but mine is 12 minutes, 46 seconds. I almost always forget something in Africa or Oceania.
My personal record for naming all the countries in the world is about 5 1/2 minutes
This thread really isn't supposed to have replies in it (it's not random if it does), but mine is 12 minutes, 46 seconds. I almost always forget something in Africa or Oceania.
I recently found my old college roommate on Facebook. Most of his posts are political and are very much at odds with my positions on most issues. Although I have many FB friends with whom I disagree politically, most of them post about other things as well. I could see it wouldn't be productive, so I decided not to friend him.
For Thoth, IL, and others who've only recently joined: I'm Fanfic Lady's alt-ID. Due to the avatar problems she's having, I'll be substituting for her.
Here's to all the sad people who were sent delicate little bottles of Vermont maple syrup from their New Englander relations, only to receive boxes and bags full of sticky-sweet broken glass, wrapped in plastic, with an apology from the postal service, because all the damn syrup is all over the machines and floor at the plant where I work, and I've spent umpteen hours cleaning the stuff up.
I went home one night and discovered that I had syrup in my hair. Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year!
When we were watching Super Friends when were kids, my sister asked me why Hawkgirl didn't call Hawkman "Daddy". I guess she thought he was supposed to his daughter since she was "girl" instead of "woman". I explained that they were husband and wife.
The last time I looked at the Gym'll's forum, my Mutant of the Month thread had 7 posts and 17 views, while the Titan Du Jour thread had its last post at 7:17.
LOL our conversation isn't really random anymore, but I am now trying to go home early and sleep enough on weekdays so I can get out and do more on weekends. Especially because Blaze and I only see each other on weekends...
So, a few of the girls in the office are flirting with me. Little do they know...
It annoys me when Garrison Keillor goes on his tirade about how "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be sung in the key of G or even A. I can't hit those low notes.
It annoys me when Garrison Keillor goes on his tirade about how "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be sung in the key of G or even A. I can't hit those low notes.
Only 0.0001% of Americans can comfortably sing The Star-Spangled Banner, no matter what key it's in.
It annoys me when Garrison Keillor goes on his tirade about how "The Star-Spangled Banner" should be sung in the key of G or even A. I can't hit those low notes.
Only 0.0001% of Americans can comfortably sing The Star-Spangled Banner, no matter what key it's in.
Nobody can ever surpass Lt. Frank Drebbin's take, though.
It's been dry as a bone here for well over a month. As the person whose job it is to keep the plants watered every summer, I'm getting pretty damn nervous...
Stalgie, you can read the Rockhopper Lass article on the LMB Wiki, although that does not include what happened during the "Lord of the Oval" storyline.
Blaze and I met this cute gay man from Florida. He is about our age and we get along really well. I taught him the Filipino slang for people with hot bodies but not so attractive faces - shrimp, or "hipon" in Filipino. We call them shrimp because when you eat shrimp, you consume the body and throw the head away.
When I was young my friends and I would play a game we called Relievio. It was basically team hide-and-go-seek. One feature was that if you were caught, you were put in the "jail" (usually a picnic table) but if a free team member tagged you, you got free and could hide again. One trick I would do is this. I would initially hide near the jail and when the seeking team spread out I would go sit at the jail. I would then wait until most of my team was captured. Then while the seeking team was looking for the final person, I would say to my captured team mates "I wasn't captured. You're free. you're free. you're free." and tag them all. And we would all run off and hide again.
I've been stuck on the runway of the Atlanta airport for two hours because some passengers made threatening statements about the White House and now the TSA is getting involved.
The other day I posted a question about how much money you have ever found on the Still Another Person Below Me thread. That afternoon as I was in the subway station I found a dollar on the floor.
I am trapped in a hellish training session about being open to change and innovation, that I am, ironically, finding myself extremely hostile and close-minded about due to the idiocy of the format and presentation.
Discussing "Remember the Night" over on the Top 40 of 1/22/84 thread got me curious about the Motels, so I found this site by their former keyboard/sax player, Marty Jourard.
I love reading first-hand accounts from the musicians who were actually there.
My Landini lilies just opened, and they look marvelous. Too bad the yard itself is a wreck. I've got no time and energy right now, compared to last year.
I was looking at pictures of the Tel Aviv gay pride and one picture was of a t-shirt that had Superman, but with a G on his chest and a rainbow cape. And the t-shirt also read "Up, up, and a gay!"
I heard a guy today claim that the internet has become self-aware and woken up. If that's true, I'd like the internet to put on the coffee and walk the dog, please.
First day of vacation. Took the ferry to Georges Island and toured Fort Warren. Then had lunch, read some from my book "The Race Underground about the building of the Boston & New York subways while sitting in a nice cool ocean breeze.
The last actors to appear shirtless in the final episodes of both The Edge of Night (Joel Crothers) and, 25 years later, Guiding Light (Murray Bartlett) were both gay. Both scenes involved them being in bed with a woman.
So I was thinking about what I would show Invisible Brainiac & Blaze if/when they come to Boston. But then I thought this would be true for any Legion Worlders.
Day 1: Have to do the Freedom Trail and a Duck Tour. I would also show them the Boston Public Library. A walk through the Public Gardens and a picnic lunch on the Esplanade
Day 2: A little break fro all that walking done yesterday. We would take a ferry out to Georges Island. Tour Fort Warren. Then have a picnic and just enjoy the island and the harbor
Day 3: A trip up to New Hampshire to see the Flume and maybe also the Polar Caves.
I'd like to do the Freedom Walk and the library and gardens.
Things that come to MY mind of Boston area (as a non-native) - sea food, white gangstas, basketball, beer and smart people.
Maine: Kittery. Doesn't get more 'Merican than that! N Hampshire: Pancakes and Maple Syrup. Stop by Exeter so they can see a typical American high school. Skiing if Winter time. Leaves if early Autumn.
Cambridge: Skulling on the Charles, see smart people. Get stuck in traffic jam. Oh wait, they're from Manila. Wouldn't be impressed. Fenway if summer but you know he want's to be here Halloween. South Boston Back Bay Pubbing Pretty decent Filipino community over in Lowell. I knew a girl from Lowel. Not Filipina though. Tiniest mouth you ever saw on a normal sized adult. Not sure how she fed herself.
What would be a good nearby small "New Englandy" seaside community? Woods Hole? Sit and have a clam chowder or lobster roll.
Ooh Ooh: Don't you guys have a six flags? There's nothing that would say "Welcome to America" like making them eat large fried dough then putting them on spinny things.
So, I used Mapquest to map out traveling the border of the contiguous 48 states. According to Mapquest, I would travel 10,183.5 miles and it would take 166 Hours and 22 minutes of constant driving.
I have been reading up about different countries on Wikitravel. So far I've finished the articles on Iceland, Maldives, USA, Canada, Thailand and Cambodia (among the countries I've visited). I've also read up on Nepal, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Palau and Israel, and am halfway through the Jordan article. Two of these I plan to visit next year.
I hope to finish reading all articles over the holidays.
Today is the 98th anniversary of the Boston Molasses Flood.
I laughed the first time I heard about it too. But 21 people died and many more were injured.
In reading about the flood, the giant tank holding the molasses leaked right from the start. The company that owned the tank "solved" the problem by painting the tank brown.
The Emerald City of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum Chapter 26
"That water," declared Ozma, gravely, "is the most dangerous thing in all the Land of Oz. It is the Water of Oblivion. Whoever drinks at the Forbidden Fountain at once forgets everything he has ever known. It is said that once--long, long ago--a wicked King ruled Oz, and made himself and all is people very miserable and unhappy. So Glinda, the Good Sorceress, placed this fountain here, and the King drank of its water and forgot all his wickedness. His mind became innocent and vacant, and when he learned the things of life again they were all good things. But the people remembered how wicked their King had been, and were still afraid of him. Therefore, he made them all drink of the Water of Oblivion and forget everything they had known, so that they became as simple and innocent as their King. After that, they all grew wise together, and their wisdom was good, so that peace and happiness reigned in the land."
(In case you did not think Glinda was creepy enough.)
So today at work we were having a going away breakfast for an employee. It was held in the 1st floor conference room, which has a separate entry (albeit down a long hallway) In the middle of the breakfast as other co-workers were coming in, a homeless man followed them in. He got a plate full of grapes and poured himself some coffee. He ate some of the grapes, did not drink any of the coffee, asked a couple of people for $2, and left.
OK here's the story: My dad had a subscription to US News & World Report. The magazine switched to an all digital format and dad had his subscription switched to Esquire magazine. Dad passed away 8 years ago and I am still receiving issues of Esquire. I don't read the magazine. So, I sent an email to that effect to their customer service department. In one of the automated replies, it appears that the subscription is paid for another 155 issues lasting until May 2026.
I own a copy of the Artist's Choice CD curated by Sarah McLachlan. I like all the songs to varying degrees (it's the first place I ever heard Willie Nelson's wonderful version of "Unchained Melody", which in turn led me to his "Stardust" album; thanks, Sarah) except for Kate & Anna McGarrigle's "I Eat Dinner", which sounds to me like a sketch-comedy parody of folk music ("I eat din-ner/With mashed po-ta-toes") OTOH, maybe the song's theme of solitude and loneliness hits too close to home and I laugh at it as a defense mechanism.
Alan Grant's hospitality and support for a then-unknown writer named Mark Millar was rudely repaid by snarky comments about Grant being out of touch with the streets by living in a castle.
I've been thinking about maybe looking for a job in D.C. and taking a trip in either May or September to see about interviewing places. I'm kind of on the fence, though, because who the next president of the U.S. is may affect that decision...
I've seen college students climb the bookshelves like animals after being told the book they need is not available.
"B-O-O-K" Is that some new app or something?
LOL
Well, I didn't say I saw it recently.
Random: Years ago, Peter David's daughter Shana went to the Long Island Girls Drama Camp with a then-unknown Natalie Portman, who apparently was already acting like a star even though she wasn't one yet, much to Shana's chagrin.
I once watched a PBS special honoring pop music producer David Foster. Imagine my horror, as a fan of MTV-era Chicago, to see the once-cute Peter Cetera waddling onto the stage looking like Uncle Fester, and subsequently proving that his vocal range was shot.
...along with all the other stuff IB is grumbling about.
BTW, I keep wondering if we need an all-head-shaking thread. But I'm afraid it would just be 300 posts in a row of my weird political rantings. Until you all got bored and threw me out.
Speaking of Jefferson Airplane (which we were on another thread), I just found out original female vocalist Signe Anderson died on Jan. 28, the same day as rhythm guitarist/co-founder Paul Kantner.
While Signe was overshadowed by her successor, Grace Slick, she was an amazing vocalist in her own right, as this rendition of "Let's Get Together" (later a hit for the Youngbloods) shows. Signe sings lead on the second verse:
I also got to interview Signe once, for a JA fan site I wrote for. A sweet lady, she called me at work because I had included the wrong phone number in my letter, and then was gracious when I explained my mistake and asked if we could reschedule.
When the interview got underway, we chatted for maybe an hour and she answered all of my questions about the early Airplane.
Cherry blossom season in Japan is between March and May every year, but the exact dates vary per location. So if you get the chance to see the cherry blossoms blooming, you should take it.
I am currently dating someone from the Czech Republic.
He confirms that the Czech Republic is the birthplace of beer, and that the Czech people get frustrated when non-Czech people erroneously think that Germany, or some other country, is the birthplace of beer.
So, I ran over to the library on my lunch and coming back, I was exiting at Park St. Just outside was a young woman. She took a step towards me and said "Did you spit all over the train?" I'm like "What???" then she says a little more slowly and clearly "Do you have a dollar for the train?"
I was watching the Dr. Who story "The Talons of Weng Chiang" which is set in Victorian London. In the special features, they talk about how on one of the location shots of a street, one homeowner had gone on vacation and had left their blue Porche parked on the street. They couldn't move the Porche. So they covered it with a tarp and covered it with "manure". (Although looking at it, it was just hay) So watching the story, I did see the suspicious pile of hay on one of the streets. Something else else I never noticed when I watched the story before.
My old cellphone is officially obsolete, but the company mailed me an upgraded replacement. Now all I have to do is wait for the info transfer to be completed.
All I could see of the title was "25 celebrities who won't be ce..." and I was curious what it was. It turned out to be 25 celebrities who won't be celebrating Christmas this year. Basically just a list of celebrities who are Jewish or Jehovah's Witnesses.
Did you guys know that Woody Allen is Jewish? Or Adam Sandler? Wow!
I clicked on something similar. 10 celebrities who hate the Internet/social media. Brad Pitt and Shailene Woodley and George Clooney and Winona Ryder suck at using computers. Yay.
I am just glad many kind souls now post spoilers on click baity articles.
Also hate Internet slideshows that don't give the option to view as one page. I am not going to click 25 times just to see the top 40 authentic small towns in Europe.
All I could see of the title was "25 celebrities who won't be ce..." and I was curious what it was. It turned out to be 25 celebrities who won't be celebrating Christmas this year. Basically just a list of celebrities who are Jewish or Jehovah's Witnesses.
Did you guys know that Woody Allen is Jewish? Or Adam Sandler? Wow!
So a little story about what happened to me on Saturday just to lighten the mood a bit. I had gone out to the library and was returning home. I was walking up my street and reached into my pocket for my keys. Oh darn it. No keys and my phone was not there either. I realized that they must have fallen out of my pocket the night before (it has happened in the past)
So I get to my house and ring the bell of my 1st floor neighbor. Luckily she was in. We used her phone to call my landlord. However the call went right to voice mail. We sat on the porch waiting a while. Then I went in the backway to see if I could force my backdoor open.
I couldn't. There is a little window in my pantry to the back porch which I keep open so Belinda (my cat) can go out onto the back porch. I tried to go through it, but with just one leg in, I knew it was not going to happen. I then went to the window to the back bedroom. I could see that the window was unlocked. I tried to lift the screen, but it would not budge. Then I pushed on the upper window and it slide down. I went down to the cellar and got a stepladder. Brought it up to my back porch. Climbed in. Recovered my keys and phone. Called the landlord to say I was in. It freaked Belinda out a little to see me climbing in the window.
Statistically speaking, if you are a human being living in the United States and are not black not hispanic and do not own a gun you are less likely to be killed by gunfire than you are to be killed by a bolt of lightning.
Tomorrow, I'm donating another bunch of comics to the free box. It's taken months, but I've finally gotten my stash down to about one-half its original size. It was a good excuse to do a lot of re-reading, too.
This sounds like you were surprised. Did you fall asleep elsewhere?
Not at all. I just haven't been in LA visiting friends in ages. Mostly I'm here for work and that's it. So it's kind of nice reconnecting But I still trip out that I'm back in LA
I always have some of those tiny Thai pickled peppers at the noodle joint when we go there for dinner, and I never remember until the following day why this is such a bad idea.
It's been nearly 20 years since the death of the great voice actor Don Messick, who played everyone from Scooby-Doo to Boo-Boo to Hardy Har Har to Dum Dum to Muttley to Astro to Dr. Benton Quest to Papa Smurf to Ratchet of the Transformers (Ratchet was the Autobot who turned into an ambulance.)
In a book I read, there was a section on various civilian patriotic organizations that well weren't so good.
Quote
But there also appeared, unbidden, a string of superpatriotic volunteer organizations dedicated to spreading propaganda and to discovering alleged traitors, saboteurs, and slackers. The most influential of these groups were the National Security League and the National Protective Association. The Boy Spies of America, the Sedition Slammers, and the Terrible Threateners had more picturesque names but were less powerful. The volunteer groups carried patriotism to excess and were actually often responsible for the greatest violations of civil liberties, although the government made no real attempt to discourage or limit their activities. As a result, force became the order of the day, and the government never regained control of the explosive situation.
I especially liked the name "The Terrible Threateners". I think of them saying things like "If you don't do what we say, we will give you $10 dollars!" That would be a terrible threat.
On Monday, 4 people "invaded" the apartment in order to use the bathroom. These were my nieces and nephew before making the trip home to Rhode Island. She wasn't so upset that she did not eat her wet food I put out when I got in.
On Tuesday, a strange cat was in her hallway. When my 2nd floor neighbor came in last night, a neighborhood cat came in the door with him. He thought it might be Belinda (he has never seen her). Belinda saw this strange cat and started to get very upset. I manage to keep her in the apartment. My neighbor escorted the cat out.
As the whole world has gone the way of k-cups and Kuerig machines, I've gone back the other way and make pots of coffee on the weekends. It just smells better.
I'm not sure the grocery store's 10 for $10 get the 11th item free is a good deal for me. I ate three king sized frozen Snickers Bars and a bag of M&M's just today. Oh, and a small salad.
Wiggle your head left and right and you'll have it conquered. Or just add "pas" after every verb. Mostly it will probably be wrong but they'll think you're so cute for trying, you'll just want to hang with the ineptness.
The Columbian World's Fair of 1893 wanted some centerpiece to compete with the Eiffel Tower of the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Many people suggested bigger towers. Finally one engineer suggested a mechanical ride. That engineer was named George Ferris. And that is how we got ferris wheels.
Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are both Scorpios, but Moore was born much closer to the cusp of Sagittarius. I think that's part of the reason I like Moore so much better.
Some bourbon in the shake and brande in the soup and you'll be on the Cobalt Kid Guide to Dental Recovery!
When I told my boss that I would try to come to work the next day, he said "I don't care if I smell scotch and whisky on your breath as long as you get your job done!"
I found it funny. I would not be surprised if some people got offended, because, well, some people are just too darned sensitive.
Pretty much everything he mentions is true. Not everything is specific to Filipinos (lots of Asian countries do the remove-shoes-before-entering-home thing), but that is a minor quibble.
"Kayfabe Commentaries: 1977-78" has a downer ending, in that "Superstar" Billy Graham did not keep the championship, like he thinks he should have. I was surprised given that the last two programs I purchased had a happy ending despite various problems.
Crips invaded the park next to by drive yesterday. Okay, they were bluejays but I'd never seen so many in one spot. Had to be near ten of them. Bloods (cardinals) in the morning and crips in the evening.
So Bill Clinton is talking just a couple doors down from my classroom and we have to watch it on the local news link on the classroom projector.
lol
and the big news in the school? Not Bill. A very popular Pizza place at one of the local universities is closing. An hour to order and 6 until you get your pizza, It's so backed up they won't take phone orders, have to go in person. The guy wants to retire. Crap on a stick, he could retire anywhere in the world if he'd franchize the place.
It seems it's never the mean kids, the bullies,... It's almost always the foolish, those that cannot make sound decision, probably were never raised to make decisions, and won't listen to advice. Lost another one, this one arrested for murder. Gentle kid, polite kid, can't even imagine him with a gun but just couldn't follow a rule, didn't understand advice...
It seems it's never the mean kids, the bullies,... It's almost always the foolish, those that cannot make sound decision, probably were never raised to make decisions, and won't listen to advice. Lost another one, this one arrested for murder. Gentle kid, polite kid, can't even imagine him with a gun but just couldn't follow a rule, didn't understand advice...
I appreciate that. It takes some getting used to it but when it's something like this, for a few days anyhow you'll see the photo in the paper but the mind changes it to how you remember them as 15 year olds as opposed to 19 (yes, that young) year olds. So all you see is a 14-15 year old, dead or accused.
It must be very jarring indeed. I really wish our knowledge of psychology and the human mind and human development would progress to the point where we would know how to diagnose and help people who need help...
I went on a five mile hike up a mountain yesterday. We got to sit on the edge of the rock face overlooking a several mile drop. It was like sitting on the edge of the world.
Because my birthday always fell around Colombus Day, and my mother is Canadian which means it was their Thanksgiving, nobody wanted to come to my birthday parties when I grew up. Hard to have birthday cake after eating a Thanksgiving dinner without any football to watch. My friends just found it too weird. Thanks Mom.
My wife also teaches that age group and I can appreciate what you're going through. You try and guide them as much as you can, but in the end it's always up to them.
Well, they're the ones held for the consequences anyhow.
I'd like to see "decision making" part of the curriculum in these highly single parent, lower income neighborhoods. Guidance is one thing the kids don't have as much but opportunity to practice decision making is most what is lacking basing that on my observations.
Being able to seek and see alternatives is a learned skill, most instruction to be provided at home. Instead, we rely on Darwin. I've got more parents than I can count, working more than one job just to pay rent and basics and try and give their kids something. Unfortunately, it's politic to say they're bad uncaring parents. Some are of course better than others but very few of them are "uncaring" and not trying for their kids.
When I was little my best friend had asked if I could go with his family. My mom told me to be on my best behavior and be a gentleman.
When I came home I told my mom I never wanted to see Andrew ever again. He was no longer my friend.
My mom asked why and I between sobs said that I had been really good like she told me and was told I could not have snack.
My mom was confused at first, then she realized what the problem was.
I was invited to my friend's church and they had had communion. At my age we did not see this rite yet in our church and had a real snack while in Sunday school.
Just want to interrupt to say that I'm sorry to hear about your former student BB, and can only imagine what that must feel like. I appreciate your sharing it with us.
Thanks. It's one of those things not ever mentioned in "teacher school," the sheer volume of the community that you come in contact with. Between the high school and the college, that's nearly 250 human beings (and that kid in the corner that drives me nuts) this semester. And still, the unexpected can occur.
Since I generally bid the classes which have lower performing students, grade repeaters, I tend to have a lot of males. Think Welcome back Kotter. Third period, emphasis on "period" this year, there's only three of us hardy souls huddled together in fear of a class full of girls. And do they pull out all the "female" stops every chance. One has claimed to be on her period I think for the third week straight. Another loves adjusting her boobs, for effect. Of course belching is a must. They're having a blast "embarrassing us." Oh and did you know that "roll-eyes" is an effective weapon? They do. It's all pretty funny but I think I'm losing even more hair. Every instinct I've got wants to get them quiet, stop the talking and get them working but, observation shows, they do get their work done, it's fair quality and when the problem is particularly challenging, then they quiet and get to it.
I've determined that all their talking and socializing is just their way of filling in the dead-time between my taking breaths.
Spent the day at Angel Oak Park in Charleston, SC with Carol as she photographed a wedding between some of her friends. Then had lunch at RB's while she was doing the wedding thing two doors down at Tavern and a Table or vice versa.
Got to see a couple of old friends and spend time with them. I got to eat and smoke in the parking lot.
I like cooking dishes from around the world. no Indian dishes yet, but I hve tried Mexican, Japanese, Turkish, Moroccan, Chinese, Chilean, Spanish, Italian...
I turned down a job on Friday and told them I had no interest in leaving academia right now. It was the first time I admitted that to a company recruiting me
With the colder weather coming in I am thinking of making roast beef and Yorkshire puddings this weekend. Or herb crusted whole chicken with wild game rice stuffing.
With the colder weather coming in I am thinking of making roast beef and Yorkshire puddings this weekend. Or herb crusted whole chicken with wild game rice stuffing.
The chicken sounds delish. Make extra! I'll be right over!
Me and my three brothers would watch public TV (back In the day before Food Network) on Sundays and we would pick something to make for dinner. My parents would help if needed but we did all the work.
My mother was once scouted to be the next Margaret O'Brien while on a train ride. My grandmother declined. And her college roommate was Susan Clark (Webster).
I had a very good meal at this fast food salad place called Craft Salad.for 250 Philippine pesos (about 5 US dollars) I got a salad, soup and half a sandwich
Even though it went unnoticed to the crew and audience, Lucille Ball almost died in front of all of them. The iconic grape-stomping scene is the scene that almost claimed the actress's life. She was choking on a grape but still continue to film the scene and it was not until after the scene was completed that anybody realized she was in desperate need of help
I have always wondered why comics badguys are alway's pg 13 rated badguys.
I know for years that the comics code was a reason, but that's been dead for what... 20 years now?
I've been thinking about it and the story I would tell basically involves a "henchman" convicted when all he was was a hired guard from a legit security firm.
He goes to prison and bad things happen. He comes out, and systemically sets out to visit pain, horror, rape and death on the team that sent him up the river.
I think if I could write one sooooo horrible, maybe it would help end the neverending dark and depressing era.
Did you know that there are trees on the Boston subway trains? Really. Well, they don't start out as trees, but as people. They board the train and then suddenly they become rooted to a spot. They won't move into the car when more people board. They won't temporarily exit the train to let other riders off. They won't even move a half an inch to let other people by.
Having observed this, my conclusion is that they have become trees and have extended roots into the floor of the train. I presume that the MBTA has people at the last station who dig them up.
Worse are the ones that are like Tolkien's Ents that lumber slowly down or up the stairs or through the tunnels because they cannot turn their heads away from their mobile devices. They crash into someone and do not utter a word of apology. Maybe if we set something like these out for them????
There are also the pedestrians who treat each street as a runway. Sometimes you have 2 or 3 walking alongside one another on a busy street, doing their best to exude glamour as they chat with one another, pinkies out, taking selfies...
We get some pretty interesting views over the frozen lake when the weather falls towards single digits. Blood red moonrise today.
Fata Morgana.
I'd looked out my window and saw a huge wall of ice on the horizon. This a few Winters ago. Called a friend who lives around the lake (Lake Erie) a bit and asked if he was seeing it. He said he was surprised I never seen one before, that the ice breaks and freezes, breaks and freeze.. and builds those walls. I didn't buy it (I've a background that includes a bit of optics) so I got to googling. Yep, there's a name for it.
Light houses MILES away look like they're down the block or little bumps in the ice become walls. Structures can be seen that are well below the Horizon. Have to see to believe.
A few years ago I went up the tallest mountain in Luzon, Mount Pulag. The weather was great and we were lucky enough to have a sea of clouds spreadin out before us. Imagine the sunrise slowly lighting up clouds all around...
Saw one on a flight. A flat top layer of clouds above and another flat layer below the plane with perfectly clear skies in the middle. As the sun came up above the lower layer, it lit everything up in wild colors.
Another I recall, this one also on top a mountain, Kinabalu. As sun came up, the twin mountain peaks' shadows traveled the valley floor surrounded by rainbows.
When it's cold like this, it's not only the images that get weird but the sounds. Hard to describe, it's like silence you can hear.
This is going to betray me as being just as shallow as people I profess to disapprove of, but what the hell, I no longer care about such things:
I only learned to like Sarah McLachlan after she took a few years off between 1999 and 2003 to unwind and become a mother, and then she came back all girly-looking and seemingly having a late-bloomer ball with it.
Ironically, the actual songs on her concurrent album, Afterglow, were rather weak (at least the ones chosen as singles), but the videos were delightful, especially "Stupid", where she plays the reincarnation of the same woman over the centuries, including one scream of a sequence set in the tacky 70s:
But the whole brilliant bit of self-publicizing became my gateway towards listening to her earlier songs without preconceptions, and finding a lot of them to my liking.
So maybe I am kind of shallow, but lately I feel I've been going through an awakening similar to what I imagine she went through around the beginning of the 2000s (minus the motherhood piece.) I'm almost 10 years older than she was at that time, but better late than never, I guess.
One key bit of trivia: when Sarah was in high school in the early-mid 80s, she was known affectionately to her friends as..."Boy George." I think that says a lot.
I shook some m&m's out of a bag earlier today. 6 came out, one of each color. There were only 5 red ones in the whole bag total, and an average of 55 pieces in a bag. I don't know where that puts the odds but they seem fairly long.
Related, I was bored at work last year and tracked the distribution by color of 10 straight bags of m&m's. Orange and blue were dominant, making up about half the bag.
On Dec. 20, 1946, the Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life," starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, had a preview showing for charity at New York's Globe Theatre, a day before its official world premiere.
Having temporarily rechristened myself Fanfie Claus for the weekend, I now demand that Ruth Pointer, the awesome-est of the Pointer Sisters who found her amazing deeper range circa 1983-85, and used it to exhilarating effect on her group's most popular tunes, record a cover of this tasty & timeless Louis Armstrong Christmas chestnut, with lyrics & title altered to "Zat you, Fanfie Claus?"
Because it's sexy. We just finished checking out this very buff guy whom we suspected was gay. Turns out he is, he is Filipino and has an Australian boyfie who is also totes buff and they have the same profile pic and similar uber buff bods and now that's our new boyfriend goal and I feel terrible for eating so much during Christmas bah!
Aaaanyway... one of the great joys of unemployment is the time it frees up for tinkering with stuff. I was at a record store in the fall, and had to buy a record I broke when I carelessly set in on an angled surface. It rolled out of its sleeve and onto the concrete floor. A chip about 3/4" popped out.
From tooling around eWikiHow, I learned techniques for repairing the break. It worked, too! The record still plays, though there's some noise where the repair is. And you have to handle it very gently now, of course.
I also tried some last-ditch CD repairs. Those didn't go so well. But mr_cleome has a more forgiving player than I do. So he transferred them onto thumb drive for me.
After all these years, I still find Chet Baker to be one of the most annoying & overrated vocalists on Earth. Even when I play The Other Side of 'Round Midnight, one of my all-time favorite discs, I have to skip over his appearance.
Vanuatu is the country with the highest density of languages per capita in the world: it currently shows an average of about 1760 speakers for each indigenous language, of which there are at least 138.
Found some fruit in the back of the crisper that should've gone off weeks ago. Yet it looks perfectly okay inside. I'm gonna' eat it, because I live on the edge. Also, there's that whole always-broke thing.
From Wikipedia: The Sarimanok is a legendary bird of the Maranao people who originate from Mindanao, a major island in the Philippines. It comes from the words “sari” and “manok.” "Sari" means cloth or garment, which is generally of assorted colors. manok means "chicken".
I am making chili this year for the "beans for luck" for the New Years. We used to have lentils. I hate lentils. But I could not used the habenaro peppers since I would be the only one to eat it then. Plus I got to use my new slow cooker for the first time.
Lentils are great when you need to poop. My introduction to lentils was Outward Bound, where we had to carry three weeks of foods. Dried lentils and peas, light and nutritious. Don't have a great need to see another one.
New Year: In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named.
Pretty much the same here but moreso on July 4. After the main fireworks, secondary displays line both sides of the river coming out of the neighborhoods. It's quite a site. One of our bridges is high, so freighter can pass under. From up there, it's pretty much a 360 of fireworks. All illegal of course, lol.
Ah well. The light show is nice while it lasts, even though it is illegal.
I was in LA for the Fourth of July. I badly wanted to see the fireworks. Unfortunately my boss made me work that day... and I missed everything. No fireworks in my area and I couldn't get to any parks in time.
We saw the movie "Jaws" in the theater when we were little. Four boys. The youngest had just became potty trained.
Anyways, when we got home we (the three older brothers) placed our GI Joe shark in the toilet and when the youngest went near we would do the Dunnah Dunnah Dunnah sounds. Mom was wondering why he was back to not using the toilet. Well she went to clean it and saw the shark floating in it and we took off running...
During one of my frequent yard sale visits last summer, I bought a small bottle of after-bath splash/eau de toilette with a leaf on the box. It was in a big bin of junk marked "50 cents" and it smelled nice so I thought why not. Then I forgot about it for months. In summer, there's really not much point to wearing even mild scents. You just sweat it off in ten minutes and make yourself more attractive to mosquitoes and other sting-y things.
So I found the little box with the bottle inside while doing a New Year's cleanup, and started using it. I quickly fell in love, ran through most of the bottle, and went to google the name online. Only to find out this tiny bottle retails for $30 bucks and up, without shipping.
Don't even ask what the big bottle goes for.
If I'd known from the start how much it was worth, I would've ebayed it myself. But of course, if I'd done that, I'd never have found out how great it is. Whadaya' gonna' do?
Six inches of snow here. The most I've seen in about 9 or 10 years. I went out at 1 AM with a broom and smacked as much white stuff as I could off the camelia bushes. The poor things were nearly bent double and I was afraid they would snap in two.
I just put a small blueberry-cinnamon coffee cake in the oven. The cookbook calls it "Blueberry Boy Bait," which is officially the best recipe name ever.
In my memory, the singer illuminating this instructional had lower vocal intonation. In spite of that, I still smile and give a not-involuntary, "Beep beep."
I was almost horrified by a raw egg on top of carbonara pasta. My friends told me that was normal for carbonara...apparently most American restaurants mix it for you due to our fears of consuming raw eggs.
I totally LOVED it. The dancing, the clothes, the food, and, of course, the colors!
Also, I've always felt a certain affinity with East Indians. I'm exotic enough that I don't stand out in an East Indian crowd, and I find they're usually much nicer to me than far too many of my fellow Latin Americans are.
Also, I've crushed on lots of Indian celebrities, male and female alike. To give but one single example, to this day I still have dreamy memories of the Indian-English actor Naveen Andrews in his mid-1990s prime.
Oddly enough, I've never really been into Bollywood movies. I much prefer slice-of-life Indian stories, or when Indian filmmakers show us their own perspectives on Western cultures (i.e., Mira Nair's TV movie "Hysterical Blindness", about two Jersey girls in 1987 played by Uma Thurman & Juliette Lewis, or Shekhar Kapur's two movie about Queen Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett, especially the first.
Glad you had fun, Fanfie. It's been quite a few years since I last attended a Holi celebration, mostly because of how annoying it is to wash out all the color afterwards!
I have had alcohol twice this week, and I still survived. I made some very stupid mistakes on my exams and homework though, but the impact is quite small.
Oh. Wow. I've just been asked to join the editorial board of a new queer studies book series at Rutgers University Press with the intent of making me series editor in year 2!!!!!!
I want to strip down some cast iron cookware & refinish it. But the correct substance for doing so is-- lye!! Arrgghh!! Really don't want to mess with that in my tiny work space. I guess I'll try Naval Jelly first. It's messy but at least I already have it on hand.
It's nice to be nice, but sometimes you have to stand your ground.
Originally Posted by Emily Sivana
I accidentally banged my head on my desk today. It really hurt and I feel a little weird.
So sorry to hear that, sweetie. If you still feel that way within the next hour, I suggest seeing a doctor immediately. Take care and feel better soon.
When I was a kid, we used little rhymes to determine who was "it" in our games.
One went like this:
My mother and your mother were hanging out clothes. My mother punched your mother right in the nose. What color was the blood? (person pointed to at that point would name a color) R E D means you are it.
On a late night radio show, the host hears the stories of other late night people cruising the shortwave frequencies and bouncing midnight boradcasts off the moon. He recalls his own late night radio experience as a youngster and the Stranglers' Peaches can be heard distantly and the host of that show mentioning that it didn't get much airplay.
I'm in DC managing a large lobbying effort (HIV, in this case). Remembering why this city seems easy to live in, but seeing its limits - and I'm glad I left it after grad school.
I don't know if I'm hardcore enough to go out and garden in the rain and mud today. Maybe if I bribe myself by clipping some flowers and bringing them inside. Poor things are really taking a beating from the wind and rain. Of course, if they're inside, they'll have to deal with The Sid and his plant-munching ways. Dilemmas... dilemmas...
I feel bad for the big dog who lives with the neighbors catty-corner to us. They leave him out all the time, even in bad weather. He's not chained up and has room in his enclosure to walk around, but you can tell he's bored and would love some attention, or at least another animal for company.
Time to give away more dug up plants on craigslist. I feel bad about thinning runaway plants & just throwing them in the dumpster. Just glad they're plants & not kittens or puppies.
"'Cuz an earthworm's a hard worker In your neighborhood (3X) Yes, an earthworm's a hard worker In your neighborhood (3X) It's the one you want the most When it's time to make compost 'Cuz it's out there working hard, each dayyyyy!"
--From Sesame Street: The Lost Episodes, and I'm sorry I've helped de-randomize the thread but I caved to peer pressure.
It was nice seeing you on Saturday. It would have been nicer without the storm. Still you braved the weather when I dragged you to the Boston Public Library.
I chased it away, but you know it just ran down the block to tell all its friends and write our house up in the Fodor's Guide To Fine Dining For Globe-Trotting Squirrels.
My niece conned me into buying the full version of MINECRAFT for my PC during her sleepover... I don't think she's grasped the amount of leverage she's given me. "Why are you giving Mama/Grandma/your teacher such a hard time??? Do I need to log onto MINECRAFT and start slaughtering your horses?"
I am seriously considering buying a bunch of DC themed candy from Sugar Factory and reviewing them here. Does that sound like a good or bad idea? I know my dentist would say that is a bad idea...
I am seriously considering buying a bunch of DC themed candy from Sugar Factory and reviewing them here. Does that sound like a good or bad idea? I know my dentist would say that is a bad idea...
Something else else random: I've got the late 70s song "Since You Been Gone" (one of the few songs to have been recorded by two teen twin sisters (Cherie & Marie Currie) AND a hard-rock band (Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow) )stuck in my head at the moment. Fortunately, I love the song.
As for the similarly titled Kelly Clarkson song, no comment.
Drinking my Peruvian Roast coffee black this morning. It's so light, it doesn't even need milk.
BTW, that "Not Your Mom? Not Your Milk" poster campaign of PETA's makes sense until... you realize that a coconut tree or a field of soy isn't your Mom any more than Bossy The Cow is.
Still, they kept the T&A, the tasteless Holocaust references, and the fatpbhobia out of it... so... progress, PETA! Carry on!
The Hanging Coffins of Sagada are placed as such because locals believe, that the higher up the bodies are, the closer they would be to spirits.
There are also practical reasons - keeping the bodies out of reach of dogs and enemies, and preventing water from seeping into the coffins (unlike if they were underground).
A White Supremacist stabbed two men to death yesterday on the train. They were trying to defend two young Muslim women he was threatening. A third man was injured but assisted by other Good Samaritans. He's expected to survive.
This is minutes from where I live: a place I pass all the time. I feel sick.
There was a vigil last night. People brought candles and flowers. Some surviving family members spoke, but I missed that part. Attendees were invited to take the mike and speak afterwards, but I didn't. "I feel sick" is not an inspiring message to deliver to people in mourning.
I realize how attached I can get to people. When I meet people who are accepting and not bigoted at all, or when I am part of a group with high levels of acceptance and psychological safety, I get more attached. Back home I had to keep hiding who I am, so it just feels like a gigantic relief to be able to be myself.
In other news, pineapple-leaf fibers can be woven/pressed/processed into cloth or faux leather that's less environmentally taxing than real leather or petroleum-based alternatives.
Heh. Gives new meaning to phrases like "fruit leather" or [ahem] "Unexpected fruit."
I want this Gil-Veloso Collaboration in the worst way, but no... I have to move some discs out of here before I can buy myself anything new. I have a box of over 20 CDs that could be traded or donated, but I haven't checked to make sure they're all backed up on a drive yet.
Thought about this today. One of our dogs, Pooch, liked to lie on the kitchen floor in a patch of sunlight. After a while the patch of light would move (because of the Earth's rotation - as if you didn't know) Pooch would sometimes try to drag the patch of sunlight back to where she was laying.
My wife has a sword. Its name is Bug Death....B.D., for short. She occasionally has used it to slay pests in the house, usually the stray palmetto bug.
My wife has a sword. Its name is Bug Death....B.D., for short. She occasionally has used it to slay pests in the house, usually the stray palmetto bug.
she must have some pretty good hand eye coordination! I can't imagine using a sword to slay bugs. those electric racket-type zappers, sure, but a sword..: I would probably miss all the time
* 1 over-ripe banana * 1 tbsp butter * 1/3 cup sugar * 1 teaspoon vanilla * 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * Pinch of salt * 1 egg (no shell) * ¼ cup of crushed pinapple
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Place all ingredients in the Magic Bullet (or other small blender) and blend until smooth. Pour evenly into six cupcake cups in a cupcake tin. Bake for 35 minutes.
I've been with the same company for 18 years. I've been in the same position at work for 10. In the next few weeks, either one or both of those things definitively changes.
If you want a card, DM me. They're not that expensive to ship, even overseas.
in other news: I made chocolate ice cream with Bailey's (well, knockoff Bailey's), toasted pecans, and bittersweet chocolate shavings. It's going fast!
I've been with the same company for 18 years. I've been in the same position at work for 10. In the next few weeks, either one or both of those things definitively changes.
People are freaking Unbelievable! Morning crowded subway train. Three people with big backpacks on. Each is easily the thickness of another person. And they took them off and set them between their legs, making room for other people.
Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A mutual friend, Benjamin Rush, had a dream that they would die close together in time.
Just saw IT with the family at the movie theatre. We laughed and joked (quietly in a nearly empty room) the entire way through. I thought the girl looked like Amy Adams and the "home school" looked like Mykelita Williams. If they don't get them for the adult roles in the sequel, they will have missed out.
One of our dogs is more like a cat. He often hides in corners or under the bed so nobody can disturb him. And quite often, when I get home, he is the only one who does not rush down to greet me - but he will approach if I open the fridge.
(IB, we used to have a cat who I swear wanted to be a dog. He would actually follow you around the house whining if you didn't pick him up and pet him. He would also fetch and return little crumpled up balls of paper you threw across the room for him.)
Hey, LW. I've done what everyone dreams of doing: I've located my Stone Age origins without having to pay for one of those DNA-search-type things! See?
So I just finished reading a book on Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War for Lincoln. The book reminded me of how much I hate Gen George McClellan. He was the head of the Union army at the start of the Civil War. Basically he never attacked. He would say he was chasing retreating Confederate soldiers but he never did. He never made a mistake, according to himself, and everyone else was to blame. There was a quote aboiut McClellan attributed to Stanton (although the author doubts it, but thinks Stanton would have agreed with it) "McClellan could have a million men. He would claim the enemy had 2 million men. He would then sit in the mud and ask for 3 million men."
I keep seeing clickbait articles titled something like "Mark Hamill Reveals Secrets of Upcoming Star Wars Movie."
Mark Hamill has been lying about the content of upcoming Star Wars movies in interviews for forty years. It is part of his schtick. Doesn't everyone know that already?
(He also likes to relate amusing anecdotes of things that happened on-set that never actually happened. The late Carrie Fisher amused herself by calling him out on that stuff repeatedly.)
Currently watching an episode of Perry Mason in which they need to find Alan Hale Jr. to alibi the defendant. I'm hoping he hasn't left on his three-hour tour.
Also, I keep wanting DeForest Kelley to tell his nagging wife, "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a businessman."
One of the toilets at work is not flushing as well as it used to. You really need to hold the handle down. The other day I found a large turd in it (with toilet paper). I since have placed a note on the toilet asking people to make sure it gets flushed.
So, I was standing outside our office building, waiting for a coworker to pull up his car to get some training materials. Two guys come up and stand in the doorway of a vacany store next to me. They take out a joint, light it up, and start smoking it. Now Massachusetts has made possession of marijuana legal, but you still can't smoke it in public. I did not say anything to them though.
Learning different languages has made me appreciate how similar some of them are.
For example, in Filipino (the official language of the Philippines, which was supposed to be a mixture of different local languages BUT is overwhelmingly based on Tagalog - this means that many Filipinos not from the Tagalog region are not fluent in it) and in Tagalog (the language of much of the northern island of Luzon), we have many loan words from Spanish (e.g. all the days of the month, all days of the week except Sunday, many nouns for food and clothing and things). This comes from the Spanish era which lasted almost 400 years. So, it's fairly easy for me to read Spanish because many words are similar (which my native Spanish-speaking colleagues are amazed by, and the Spanish-speaking Latin Americans now regard the Philippines as a sort of distant cousin).
English also has many words that are borrowed from French. So, often if I don't know the French word, I try the English word (with a French pronunciation, lol - don't pronounce that last letter!!). Often it works. Communication, information, transportation, reunion, developpement, resources. Of course, most of the nouns are rather abstract, but still it helps.
I also learned French first, but the vocabulary is similar to Spanish, so it helped me with that.
Also, many Japanese words are borrowed from Mandarin Chinese, so that helps too.
Now I'm dabbling in German and Dutch, and I'm surprised at how many words are similar to English.
I don't think I'll ever achieve native fluency, but I'm already conversational in French and Spanish. I think I can reach that level in Dutch or German with a bit of work. And now, it makes sense why so many Europeans are at least conversational in multiple languages! Europe is so small, and with free movement and close regional integration, it's practical to learn other languages. And because of the similarities, it's easier than, say, someone Japanese trying to learn a European language.
Tampo is a Filipino concept wherein a person withdraws his attention and affection from someone close, because of a perceived slight. It's akin to sulking, but may use such underhanded methods as the silent treatment, resisting attempts to be cajoled, withdrawing oneself physically and muttering.
Some of the Hallowe'en movies I am watching this year:
The Atom's Family: A creepy, mysterious, and altogether ooky-- but small-- extended family terrorizes a peaceful suburbia. Their house is a museum.
Young Martin Stein: A village watches in fascination and horror as the grandson of a mad scientist re-creates his grandfather's bizarre experiments in the fusion of human flesh. Features a performance of 'Puttin' On The Ritz' by The Nuclear Man.
Brainiacula This vampyre is too smart for his own good.
Some of the Hallowe'en movies I am watching this year:
The Atom's Family: A creepy, mysterious, and altogether ooky-- but small-- extended family terrorizes a peaceful suburbia. Their house is a museum.
Young Martin Stein: A village watches in fascination and horror as the grandson of a mad scientist re-creates his grandfather's bizarre experiments in the fusion of human flesh. Features a performance of 'Puttin' On The Ritz' by The Nuclear Man.
Brainiacula This vampyre is too smart for his own good.
Careen means to go wildly from side to side. The book I am reading about pirates told me of the origin of that word. Wooden ships would get barnacles and other sea life attached to the parts below water. To get rid of them and replace broken board, and plug leaks, sailors using ropes would tip the ship on its side and fix the part that had been below water. This was call careen.
Well, I am not usually one for going out to the movies. I'm getting too old to sit for two hour straight.
However, I understand that the Aquaman movie has a guest appearance by Topo, and the Spiderverse movie has a guest appearance by Peter Porker, the Spectactular Spider-Ham!
I may not be able to wait until they come out on video.
Even when I was younger, I had trouble sitting still for two hours straight. Well, not really trouble. But I prefer activities that stimulate my mind more.
The original voice of Popeye in the old Fleischer cartoons was a vaudevillian known as William "Red Pepper" Costello. Red has been described as a drinker and a hooligan who drove the Fleischers to distraction. Then they found out that one of their staff writers, Jack Mercer, had taught himself how to do the Popeye voice just as good as Red.
And so, Jack Mercer became the voice of Popeye, and kept the role for decades, until his death in the early 1980s.
I was watching clips of the old game show "I've Got a Secret" with Garry Moore as host. In the clips, you can see him smoking during the show. One clip even has him lighting the cigarette of a contestant. Some of the shows have Winston cigarettes as the sponsor and part of the prize for a contestant was a carton of Winston cigarettes.
"Sueno Contigo" ("I Dream of You") was a popular Latin American telenovela from the late 80s. The theme song was a big radio hit, and it still gets the occasional spin on Latin Oldies stations.
So I had a dream about an animated Justice League adventure.
It started with the Justice League meeting a group of woman (more of a nation) who are being oppressed. The group explain how they can't risk a direct confrontation, but use one member to distract the authorities while the other get what they need. Next they are about to launch an attack against the oppressors, but Superman uses his heat vision to melt the spearheads of their weapons. He is against them killing. This split up the Justice League.
Next Superman is attacking a group of the rebels, but Wonder Woman dives out of the sky. I think "Ut oh! Wonder Woman vs Superman." I am rooting for Wonder Woman but think that she is in for a tough fight.
The scene shifts to Hawkgirl flying in a snowstorm. The Justice League had been transported to another dimension (where the oppressed women were)and she was the only one in our dimension who could get them back. There is a radio and a message is coming through for Hawkgirl, but she can't hear it due to the storm.
The scene shifts again to another radio and a message from Hawkgirl is coming through but faintly. Next I see a red haired woman, At first I think this is Hawkgirl, but it turns out to be Barbara Gordon. She is reading a bunch of thin books. Alfred comes in up some stairs. He is wearing a cape that is a modified version of Karate Kid's white high collar costume. He tell Barbara that what she is doing is wrong/forbidden. Barbara puts down the book she is reading, and then all the thin books fly up and merge into a huge tome. Barbara is doing this through magic. The tome is sealed with a skull on the front.
In my opinion, a lot of the unease that comes with the dredging up of racist caricatures from decades ago is simply that, by choosing to sweep such awful stuff under the carpet, we delude ourselves into thinking we have moved on from that, when in effect it's a cowardly, expedient way of not actively dealing with the societal complexities which give rise to such imagery.
I read an article on how white men feel treated like gods in India. This is sadly very common in many parts of South and East Asia. Even in the Philippines, most of our celebrities are half white.
While show business has *always* been more about opportunism, commerce, and luck than true artistic merit, I think it's gotten steadily worse and worse over the past 50 years or so. When people began to be lauded as artistes for their brazen cunning and cold calculation rather than their actual talent, the quality of the product went into decline.
To me, it's interesting that the first No. 1 song of the '70s was "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by B. J. Thomas, and the last No. 1 of the '70s was "Escape (The Pina Colada Song) " by Rupert Holmes. Those songs bookend the decade nicely.
By the way, I was six when the decade began and 17 when it ended. My musical education was formed by the decade of Tony Orlando & Dawn, Grand Funk, disco, and Donna Summer.
I just received some very scary invitations on Grindr and on Romeo (gay "dating"/hookup apps).
One was an invitation to try out for an adult film, with 1200 EUR for 3 hours of filming to make a 20-minute clip.
Another was an invitation to join a satanic-themed orgy with 13 tops (the pentetrators) and one bottom (the one being penetrated) set in a private chapel.
I've just come back from a second trip round the neighbourhood, in the pouring rain, calling for my boss, the cat. Did she bother to stick her head from out of a kitchen cabinet to tell me she was fine and was having a nap... she did not.
The late cartoonist Don Martin (a longtime contributor to Mad who eventually defected to Cracked) could often be too tasteless even for ME, but I always liked two things about his art -- the way his characters wore oversized shoes that flopped around in the front, and the sound effect onomatopoeia he'd come up with -- "FOONGA-FOONGA" was a particular favorite.
The 90s were an unhappy time for me. Ergo, I am turned off by 90s nostalgia.
The 2000s were a happier time for me. Yet I am turned off even more by 2000s nostalgia -- I mean, Jennifer Lopez making a comeback in a hit movie is about as obvious a bad omen as they come!
Congratulations, Ibby. Hope it's only the beginning of something wonderful.
Something else random...I think Marvel should reveal that the real Black Widow hasn't been seen since the end of her George Perez Marvel Fanfare showcase story around 1982-83. They don't have to pay me, and they probably wouldn't either way, but I'd like to see it happen.
In the Philippines, typhoon strength is rated by Signal 1 to 4. Signal 4 is the strongest. Signal 2 means children should not be outdoors. Signal 3 means classes at al levels (i..e until university level) should be suspended.
At a party yesterday, they had *Krampus* playing on the big screen. I normally don't do horror movies or Xmas movies, and this one was both. But while nomming treats and chatting with the other party people, I kind of got into it. There was some striking imagery (sort of a lesser-Pan's Labyrinth vibe) and the performances were at least competent. It was a bit more interesting than yet another slasher-in-Santa-garb escapade.
The tiny amphibians ,Rana Sylvatica, or more commonly referred to as Wood Frogs, can survive for weeks with an incredible two-thirds of their body water completely frozen ... to the point where they are essentially solid frogsicles. Even more incredible is the fact that the wood frogs stop breathing and their hearts stop beating entirely for days to weeks at a time. In fact, during its period of frozen winter hibernation, the frogs’ physical processes—from metabolic activity to waste production—grind to a near halt. What’s more, the frogs are likely to endure multiple freeze/thaw episodes over the course of a winter
Returning to randomness: there are already cherry blossoms in bloom here, and daffodils. It looks nice, but I'm already feeling nervous that the summer is going to be a long-ass scorcher with tons of fires again.
Returning to randomness: there are already cherry blossoms in bloom here, and daffodils. It looks nice, but I'm already feeling nervous that the summer is going to be a long-ass scorcher with tons of fires again.
I sincerely hope your upcoming summer experience does not mirror our own down in Aus.
Returning to randomness: there are already cherry blossoms in bloom here, and daffodils. It looks nice, but I'm already feeling nervous that the summer is going to be a long-ass scorcher with tons of fires again.
I sincerely hope your upcoming summer experience does not mirror our own down in Aus.
Thank you, stile. The most we have to deal with near me is haze, ashes, and nasty smoke. And we got off the hook last summer, which was uncharacteristically cool and wet. Wishing you better times, too.
Thanks all. I was nowhere near the fires themselves so only had to directly cope with a few days of strong smoke haze, but the huge area burnt and the loss of other homes, farms, trees (estimated to be ten times that lost in the Amazon fires) and wildlife (conservatively estimated at 1 billion animals) is hard for me to conceive of. Fortunately most of it has finally been doused due to the large rainfalls received a week ago but recovery will take years.
Still life goes on (for most of us) and that is good.
An attempt to run a Melbourne-wide bike hire business (hire bike from stand using mobile phone, ride to another stand etc) failed because too many bikes were being abandoned in creeks and other places. The company was international and quite successful in other countries but here foiled by stupid actions by a few idiots. A new attempt with e-bikes intends to do better using tracking on the bikes and requirements to check-in when finished with one etc. We will see how it goes.
I was polishing off the last of my delicious take-out Chinese food, and the cat helped himself to a piece of fortune cookie! (Ah, well. Nothing in there that'll hurt him, I guess.)
It's great that you two can keep the magic alive even after all your time together, IB.
...
I had a dream last night which included me eating a lavender-scented candy. I could actually taste/smell the lavender. This seems to happen more in dreams now that I brush and rinse immediately before going to sleep instead of hours before that.
In the classic Looney Tunes cartoon "Ballot Box Bunny," both Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam run against each other for mayor. In the end, they're defeated by a dark horse candidate. Who literally IS a horse, of course.
Earlier tonight, I was reading an old interview with cartoonist Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead, when I FINALLY figured out what real-life person Zippy reminds me of -- Legion World's own Pov. And I mean that in the best possible way.
At work my supervisor knows that I'm half paralyzed and don't have enough strength in my right arm to turn a doorknob, so when he saw me Friday night dragging two boxes that appeared full of mail (usually ~800 lbs each) one handed behind me as I walked by, his eyebrows climbed into orbit. He walked over with a stern look, since I was A) violating all sorts of OSHA safety practices, and B) breaking the laws of physics, only to find that the boxes were indeed filled, but with with discarded wrapping plastic and weighed maybe 10 lbs each. He glared at me and waved me on.
I love work interactions that involve no spoken words.
It also amuses comic-book fan me to do stuff that looks superhuman, even if it's a total cheat.
Since we are working online pretty much through fall (and probably spring) AND my dog of 15 years passed away, I decided to pack up my apartment, put things in storage and move to Guadalajara, Mexico for the rest of the year (at least).
Been here a day. Everyone is complying with public health standards, have a cool apartment in the middle of the city. Just got my wifi up and a yoga instructor scheduled. Hope this is good.
I hope so, too, Andy. Got my fingers crossed for you.
Something random: The popular Mexican comedian Chespirito (birth name Roberto Gomez Bolanos) started out behind the scenes as a writer -- he got his nickname because his fellow writers were so envious of his great facility for wordplay that they called him "Little Shakespeare"
This here was a great family-style Chinese place which was 25 minutes from my home. We loved it. Too bad 5-6 years ago it got "redeveloped" as a mega-bank.
Heh. That postcard makes it looks like they were set out in the country. But I'm pretty sure that even in the 1950s that area was already very urban. Of course, the bank didn't keep anything but a vague blocky outline. I'm pretty sure if I went in, the tiny bridge and garden with the koi pond wouldn't be there anymore either. Bah!
Martin Scorsese is wrong about comic book movies. They have taken cinema back to its pop-culture roots, so that the commerce-to-art cycle may happen anew.
It's worth noting that the Statler Brothers' "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott" is basically a complaint on behalf of fans of older franchise and B-movies against the New Hollywood that someone like Scorsese represents.
Just had a basic music lesson from my kid. i asked him how to play the notes between the strings. He looked at me like I had been shot in the head. I explained to him that the book stated it that way. He told me they assume a certain familiarity from anyone using their book. I explained to him that I now have 6 FREAKIN YEARS of bad habits because the musicians couldn't explain a fart in a bag to anyone.
He thought that was both insulting and funny.
If I am buying a BEGINNERS book on something, it means I'm a BEGINNER! Don't ASSUME any fucking thing, you stupid sexual intercoursing cucks.
Reminds me of many of my Spanish speaking friends. I asked for help practicing my Spanish, they still spoke so quickly I could barely make things out… when they spoke more slowly, I got most of it !
Charles Schulz and Kurt Vonnegut were both born in November of 1922.
Interesting. Both served in WWII but had very different experiences which may go some way to explaining their radically different literary output.
A good point, but they also had things in common: American Midwestern upbringings, German heritage, well-observed awarenesses of human nature, and quirky senses of humor.
Something random: The weather has been miserable lately.
Less is more for me when it comes to sexy. Femme fatale's don't do it, but that cute sexy lady that can cook and actually smiles at my bad puns, and genuinely likes me...damn, that's a lot of sexy in a small package.