Tuesday, February 28, 2006

More Tongue Twisters

Since my recent entry was so popular, (three comments) here are more tongue twisters I made up long ago when I was a speech therapist.

Bill was boiling a bowling ball when the bell began tolling ceaselessly.

Larry Layne made an oral report about Lunar Luminescences.

Cars at Merced High run through the school's own school zone.

Some Marines serve on submarines.

You'd like a wooden shoe, wouldn't you?

Edgar Allen Poe wrote the Tell Tale Heart.

Compulsory arbitration is abhorrent to management.

Grimm tells fairy tales daily.

The younger male Mayo brother, Mel, read the elder Mayo brothers' mail.

Mister Litts, the mist lister, made lists of mists with his lisping lips.

Will Lon loan you an aluminum wheelbarrow load of linoleum?

Ned once said he wants Ted to say what Ed wants said.

He harbored Ed and fed Ed bread.

Those were mine, and here's one right out of the drill book we used.

A flash of lightning showed the fishing ship in the shallows close to shore.  With one great crushing motion, the ocean dashed it against the shoal.

Voice and Articulation Drillbook by Grant Fairbanks, Ph.D., Professor of Speech, University of Illinois. Harper and Brothers, New York and London 1940

P.S. I am having fun... here are some more from the Drillbook... it is probably out of copyright by now.

Sally banged the black Packard into a taxicab. It was badly damaged by the crash.

"For Breakfast," said Father, "I find that coffee is the staff of life.  I refuse to to be softened by all this foolishness about half a grapefruit."

Bless you, Father, you made my teaching days a lot of fun.

 

 

World's Silliest Quiz

Remember to use your cursor to reveal the answers, as if you needed them.

What day of the week does Mardi Gras fall on this year?  Mardi.

If New Orleans is in Louisiana, where is Old Orleans?  France

Who was the first President to visit New Orleans?  Dunno, but the most recent one was G.W.Bush.

What is the origin of the word Creole? Portugese, to raise, as raised in the colonies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creole_language

What is the origin of the word Cajun?  Cajun is corrupt pronouciation of Arcadian. The region was once called Arcadia

What do you call people who make up quizzes about Mardi Gras and other things they know nothing about? Dribblists

Post Script: Email from Jackie:

Mardi Gras orginated in Mobile, AL       They still celebrate and do stuff, but the main party, of course, is in New Orleans....  BTW, New Orleans is a FUN, FUN place to go!!  Or, at least, it was....   The French Quarter is superb in adult entertainment... not a place for kids.. Think of it as the adult version of Disney World.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Patrick's Sunday Seven -- Favorite Mayberry Character

List in order your seven favorite characters from the old Andy Griffith Show.

1. Barney -- always wrong, but you kept waiting for him to be right, at least once.  Andy used to arrange things so Barney looked right at least.

2. Opie -- Cute as a bugs' ear, then and now at fifty or whatever he is.

3. Andy -- Essentially kind.  What kind of a Sheriff is that, anyway?

4. Ellie -- Not much of a character in the story, but played by a gorgeous actress like Elinor Donahue, who cares. Gotta be in your top seven.

5. Goober -- He had to be really goofy to be goofier than Gomer. Gomer went off and joined the Marines, so Goober had to be the town idiot, a hard act to follow.

6. Otis -- He got drunk every week end and had to be locked up.  He was such a regular that they decorated his cell as a home away from home, and he spent every week end there.

7. Floyd -- the barber, Oh yeeessss, he drawled as ideas slowly impinged on his brain.

How unfair, we're limited to seven.  They were all magnificently drawn characters.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Patricks weekender game


1. What is the most difficult aspect of your current job? I am retired and finding things to do is most difficult.

2. What is the easiest aspect of your job? Not having to punch a clock.

3. How many keys are there on your keyring right now? Are you able to recall exactly what every key on your keyring actually unlocks? Two rings. Ten keys.  I know what they all do, but one is for an old lock I no longer have

4. Take this quiz (if you haven't already!): What kind of an elitist are you? Long dull quiz to find out my main interest is art.  Ho hum.  I am the Art Deco interest personality, but have no talent therein (If that link doesn't work, you are lucky...saves you a boring adventure.)

5. What is your least favorite ethnic food, and what makes it your least favorite? My least favorite food is quiche, but don't know what ethnicity it is, so will have to say Italian.  Pasta is flat, blah, slimey stuff at I abjure.

6. If you were a different person, but were to meet someone identical to who you are and how you behave right now, would you likely be friends with that person? Why or why not? I think I would find myself interesting because I am interested and curious about so many different things.  I would like exploring the world around us with myself, and enjoy my observations about the stuff we discover.  But I would be wary of myself, too.  I would not like to have to share the attention of others with another me.

My Favorite Tongue Twister

According to the technicians at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology an aluminum tachistoscope will oscillate unless placed on a linoleum base.

(Oh, yeah?  Say it out loud.)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Next Step

Sending an entry from my bed in the middle of the night.Not an easy task.

I wonder what technology will bring in the 22nd century.  Will we be uning qwerty keyboards still?  Or will we be using touch plates on which a swipe of the finger enters a whole phrase.

My place on the learning curve tonight... 3 am.. just a little higher.  Not ready to do this nightly... to capture those creative night thoughts that come when we are rested or even come in dreams. 

(In bed I have no lap for my laptop, Have to balance it on my knees and me on the edge of the bed.  Not the most creative posture I know)

Back to sleep.  I will read your comments in the morning.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Presidents' Day -- Another Quiz

Here's another quiz about presidents.  Drag your cursor over the line to reveal the answer.

What president was the GRANDSON of a president?  Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, who served one month in 1841

Which two presidents were impeached?  A. Johnson and Bill Clinton

Which president was sworn in under his nickname?  James Carter, Jimmy

Which president ordered attacks with atomic weapons? Truman

Which president had been the youngest pilot to fly in combat? George H. Bush

Which President was the first to receive the Nobel Peace Prize? T. Roosevelt

Which President approved purchasing Florida from Spain?  Monroe

Which Presidents graduated from West Point?  Grant.Eisnhower

Which President entertained guests by writing Latin with one hand, and Greek with the other?  Garfield

Which president was the first to live in the White House?  John Adams, but only six rooms were finished.

Source: Greenbriar/Scantex (a place mat)

Note on impeachment.  CLINTON IMPEACHED

Sunday, February 19, 2006

The State of Perpetual Awe

Is my perpetual state of awe becoming boring?  Everytime I take my scooter to the nearby mall, I come home in a state of shock.  There are things available to buy that I never even knew had been invented yet.

Case in point: For less than $15 I bought a memory card for my digital camera. When I inserted it in my wonderous new digital camera, it tells me I can take and store-- get this -- 595 pictures.  My gosh I will never have to download them to the computer.  I can carry a life time of pictures in the camera. 

Then in the mall were parked CARS FOR SALE. Right in front of Pennys was the most beautiful car I have ever seen: a bright red Mitsubishi.  Price tag right on it. $28,000.  I wonder what you could negotiate? I had my credit card with me, but do not need a new car, unfortunately.

Back in 1946, Marshall Fields sold airplanes in the department store.  I wonder if that is a trend that is coming back.

I bought wine, candy, and soda crackers in the drug store. Passed on beer.

At Radio Shack I saw a two foot remote controlled robot walking in the aisle, and glowing like a green nightmare.  That would have scared the bejesus out of my kids when they were little.  Still might now: it wobbles so menacingly.

On my way home I noted signs that told me that Hometown Buffet is selling steaks for supper.  Does Sizzler know about this?

Another sign of the times: one entire drawer in my house exclusively for batteries...AA, AAA, D, C, 9 v., hearing aid, and testers.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Chiefs of State

Speaking of Presidents,

how many Chiefs of State can you name? 

Drag your cursor over the line to see the answers.

Canada                 Harper

China                    Hu

Egypt                    Mubarkak

France                  Chirac

Germany              Koehler

Vatican                 Benedict XVI

Ireland                  Mary McAleese

Japan                   Akihito

North Korea          Kim

Israel                     Katzav

United Kingdom     Blair

Russia                   Putin

USA                      Bush

The whole list…Chiefs of State

 

 

 

 

Dell Laptop -- first entry

This  is my first stumbling entry from my new Dell laptop. Thanks to those of you who said I could do it.

Oh, how I stumble on the flat keyboard.  Oh, how I hate the touch plate instead of the mouse.

But progress is progress, no matter how much strain it is on nerves.

Place on the learning curve: still on the steep  uphill clamber.

Quiz for Presidents' Day

Run your cursor over the line to show the answer

Who was first president? Washington

Who is present president? GW Bush

Who was tallest president? Lincoln

Who was the oldest president? Reagan

Who was the youngest president? Kennedy

Which President never married? Buchanan

Which Presidents (2) have sons who were presidents? John Adams, George H. Bush

Which Presidents (4) were assassinated? Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy

Which Presidents (4) died in office of illness? WH Harrison, FD Roosevelt, Taylor, Harding

Which President resigned? Nixon

Which vice presidents (8) became presidents on the death of their predecessor? Tyler, Arthur, Fillmore, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, A Johnson, LB Johnson

Which vice presidents (7) were later elected president? John Adams, Jeffers n, Van Buren, GH Bush, Nixon, LB Johnson Truman

Which presidents (2) have fathers who werepresidents? GW Bush, JQ Adams

How many presidents have there been? 43

How many presidents served only one term? 24

How many presidents served two terms? 18

Which president was elected the most times? How many times? FD Roosevelt, 4

Who was heaviest president? Taft

Who was president but was never elected? Ford

If the president resigns or dies, and the vice president chooses not to serve, who becomes president? Speaker of the House

Who was the first woman president? None yet, but watch out for Clinton or Rice

Which president served two non consecutive terms? Cleveland.

Who is president of Canada? Have Prime Minister... Harper

Who is president of Russia? Putin

Who is president of China? Hu

Who is president of United Kingdom? No president..a queen... Elizabeth II

 

Please be gentle with your corrections.  I am sure there will be plenty.

You're On the Cover of TIME

   Let's say you have done so well in your profession that TIME magazine tells you that they are putting you on the cover. Proud, eh?  What an honor.

   But suppose when the magazine comes out with your picture on the cover a bold caption reads "Can we trust this person?"

  Oh, oh, how would you feel now?

   That is just what happened to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, creators of Google, the internet searching company.  There they are on the front of the February 20, 2006, issue, and there is a caption that says "Can we trust Google with our secrets?"  Wow what a slap down.  Isn't that a nice reward for inventing something so valuable that it has earned you ten billion dollars, each, in just a few years.

   Google, their company, knows us all.  It reads millions of pages of internet documents, AND remembers them, and will spit them back to you whenever you ask.  Within a few minutes of my posting this entry, if you were to search for references to Larry and Sergey, you would be offered a link this entry, and every other one they are in, including Time magazine.

   If you haven't Googled anything, you haven't been on line for very long.

   For being so creative and revolutionizing the way we read, research, and store data, they are suddenly suspect.  Other lines in the article read "...calling into question their motto 'Don't be Evil'", and "How it could stumble."

   So you're on the cover of Time next week?  So sorry.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Way back last Saturday

...Patrick asked these questions in his Saturday Six.

1. Do you have a Valentine this year? Doesn't appear so.

2. How will you spend the big day itself? They had a nice party at the old folks home.  Enjoyed the wine especially

3. What are you most allergic to? Do you have to take medication or avoid certain medication to stay well? Beer, but once in a while, I get a six pack anyway, and itch away.  Take a whole series of medications, and I wonder what would happen if I just quit.

4. Take this quiz What temperment are you? Too late... next week

5. What's the most unusual place name in the your home state. I took a side trip off the freeway just to visit Peculiar Missouri.  Wasn't peculiar at all.  Just a nice rural town.  I could enjoy living there.

6. How much money would you need to really feel secure? What I have is fine.

1924 Gardner Touring Car

Walt and his sister in 1924 Gardner Touring Car (1941)

    My high school chum, Walt, sent me a picture from his files, and how it brought back memories. 

   One day Walt said, "We've got to go to Hollywood. Come on."  A friend had sold him a car for ten dollars.  It was a 1924 Gardner, open touring car.  It was the exact same age as we, all of us being 1924 models. As I recall, we had to tow it home. 

   The convertible top was long gone, so it was a fair weather car by now, a veritable chariot, so that's what we named it: The Chariot. Not only was the top gone, so was the generator.  Walt compensated for the lack of generator by "borrowing" the battery from the family car when he wanted to drive the Chariot, and returning it later, to be recharged. One full charge was good for a day's adventures, if we pushed to start it, so as to conserve the energy.

   One evening Walt forgot to replace the battery in the family car, and Walt's father tried to start in the morning and found his car dead.  He came to Walt, and said, gently, "My car won't start.  Will you see what is wrong?" Then he retired to his room to give Walt time to hastily return the battery and start the car. His dad never let on that he knew about the battery swapping.

   One memorable day we made the open top trip to Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles to get it registered.  The examiner just shook his head in wonder and issued the license.  The Chariot ran for several months until one day a friend told Walt to "Rev it up."  With a mighty roar the ancient timing gear gave up the ghost.

   We towed the Chariot to my back yard and removed the unfortunate gear. It was made of fiber, and all the teeth were gone.  We carried the remains of the timing gear to the parts house, but, alas, Gardner Automobile Co. had gone out of business years before and there were no new timing gears available. Touring junk yards proved futile, too. The Garner just sat.

   At last my grandparents ordered the Chariot removed from the back yard, and it went for its last tow. 

   I can't remember where we towed it for its final voyage.  It is too sad to recall.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Random Notes

   Just because I haven't added any entries for a week.

   They are called "ice cream spoons", and have small bowls and long handles.  They were designed to get ice cream from the bottom of deep soda glasses.  But mine are ideal for eating peanut butter from the jar.  Small scoops and they reach the bottom of the peanut butter jar. A teaspoon full of peanut butter would take forever to melt off the roof of your mouth.  An ice cream spoonful is just right.

   It would be better to put the peanut butter on bread, or crackers, but I never seem to have any of those at eleven pm when I get the "munchies". 

   First I got out a can of tuna, and turned it over and over in my hand, imagining the savor of tuna in oil.  But without crackers, that would be too intense.  So I turned to peanut butter, straight, from the jar, the way we goober addicts take it. Peanut butter AND jelly ON bread?  Sissy stuff. Spoonfuls, right from the jar.  Now, that's a midnight snack.

   Another random note:  Lap top.  When my Grandson's buddy hooked up my DSL, he also configured my laptop and my desktop into a "network".  Soon I will be able to make a journal entry from my bed...won't that be nice. 

   I laughed at my own joke yesterday when I signed on to my "network".  The menu came up and offered two computers to link.... "Pavilion" and "Lumpy". 

   "Pavilion" referred to my Hewlett-Packard, but "Lumpy"?  I had completely forgotten that I had named the laptop "Lumpy" because it was manufactured in Kuala Lumpar. 

  

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Weekend Assignment -- Useless Websites

We're asked to share our most useless websites.  This one isn't useless, it makes you smile.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

Enjoy my friends, the singing horses. Click on a horse to make him sing.

Milestone

   It is a milestone, a rite of passage.  It is no big deal in the catalogue of things that go wrong with the body.  I have friend here at the old folks home got four pints of new blood, and I have a friend on line who got a bone marrow transplant. Everyday we hear about family members with tumors, cysts, and other horrors.  But I lost part of an eyetooth.

   The difference is: it is MY tooth.  I have had it since I was six or seven. It has been hollow for some time and my tongue could not leave it alone.  The tip of my tongue kept toying with that cavity. Today I found part of it in my corned beef hash.  Lucky I didn't swallow it.

   What will I do about it?  Nothing, unless it hurts.  I will join the ranks of snaggle toothed old folks.

   Next step is false teeth and I hope to put off that option as long as I can. I will contemplate each milestone as I reach it.  It is a pleasant journey over all. 

  

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Two Thoughts

Thought One:  There are some movies I want to see.

   Pink Panther with Steve Martin.

   Firewall with Harrison Ford

   Capote. (Thanks, Karen, I had just looked it up...but, you're my on-going research.)

Thought Two:  This is the global information age and I, an early twentieth century nerd (not geek), am about to enter the twenty first century geekhood.  I have signed up for DSL, and made the foolish choice of self-installation of high speed modem.  What do I know about such geekness?  Very little.  I had expected to ask a friend of my grandson to do it.  How is that for casual?  The friend of a relative to lead me on this leap from one age to another. 

I called and asked to have an installer from SBC to do the dirty work, but was told I could "save fifty dollars" by having the parts delivered and then call a technician. Well, we will see.  Had I thought about my changing centuries, I would have ordered the professional from the get-go and paid an extra fifty.

What is the fare from one world to another?

Pogrom

   Spent over an hour just editing my Favorites links.  Purged the list down to number fifty. Cut the list from fifty to about ten.  Some of those journals haven't posted in a YEAR.  Shows how rarely I check them all.

   Now have about a hundred left to check.  If I can pare that down at the same rate, I will have an active list of about thirty.  I can really check em all on a slow saturday afternoon.

Monday, February 6, 2006

Photo Scavenger Hunt -- topic: RED

   Here's a rerun, just to qualify for Betty's Photo Scavenger Hunt.

That's me, enjoying an outdoor breakfast benefit concert by my son-in-law.  Picture by my daughter.

Sunday, February 5, 2006

One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Book Review

One hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Márquez

Remember this? It was an Oprah Book Club selection before A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. She found it a fascinating read,too. Oh, my. Our Book Club at the old folks home selected it on her recommendation, and my report follows:

Interesting but not engrossing. I think not engrossing because, as book club assignment, it is like required reading in a college class. You feel obligated to study and report on it. The additional pressure affects your interest level.

I can read but skip paragraphs. Sort of want it to hurry along. Cannot leisurely read at the pace the author intended.

Chapter one: a parable… views how mankind seeks, accepts, adopts, and misuses changes and progress. The character accepts magnetism, optics, alchemy, and misuses them. He costs his wife her inheritance in his effort to double her gold. At the end of the chapter, he is introduced to ice. Will there be more of his adventure with ice? The opening sentence tells of the family adventure to see ice. The opening sentence also tells that he is eventually to be executed by firing squad.

Why did author open with the ultimate end of the character….death by firing squad. Are we supposed to be interested in how he came to be there?

Characters thus far

Melquiades the gypsy with the discoveries;

Colonel Aureliano Buenda, whose story we are following;

Jose Arcadio Buendia, the father whose squandered his wife’s inheritance;

Ursula Iguaran, the wife.

The town is Macondo.

I am reminded of my own parable of the sultan who ruled the desert and was given a bowl of liquid, water, in which he envisioned the whole earth and the worldwide uses of water, drink, agriculture, transportation, recreation, industry, comfort, health. He studied the bowl intently, guarded it zealously, but on the fifth day, it was all gone. In other words, he studied it to death. Like E.T. he was studied until he died.

Jose had been a rising citizen, farming well, raising his family. He had laid out the town of Macondo so well that every home had an equal amount of sunlight, and an equal distance to water. But when the alchemist came, Jose was distracted, captivated by his own imagination, and his grandiose plans bankrupted the family. However, they are about to set off to seek ice, which he called the largest diamond in the world. It was one when touched, burned the hands. The ice itself can be a metaphor for the whole topic. Ice is so cold, that it seems to burn the hands. Science is so progressive, it destroys the scientist. Frankenstein, beware, take note. Question: Is it the greed, or the alchemy, that destroys the alchemist?

Synopsis so far: Aureliano looks back as he faces the firing squad and remembers his father, Jose, as a successful town planner, family man, farmer is blinded by greed and curiosity and leaves his profession and seeks a new future, with ice.

To be continued.

Chapter 2... Flash back to the founding of Macondo. Tells how Jose met Ursula, married her and six months later forcing her to have sex by killing a villager who mocked his celibacy. Aureliano is born and has magnificent sexual organ which Ursula admires. Aureliano visits Pilar at night and gets her pregnant. Jose runs off with gypsies . Without the genealogical table I would be completely lost. Ursula runs after Jose, deserting Jose S and their new daughter Amarantha, and finds another civilization on the other side of the swamp and six months later brings back a crowd of people. The gypsies come with a flying carpet during the time Ursula is gone. Auerliano’s child by Pilar, Arcadio, comes to live with Jose and Ursula after her return at the start of chapter three, page 40

All of this has happened by page 40.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Synopsis continued…pages 40 to 56

Ursula starts a business of making candy animals

Rebeca, a seemingly mute cousin arrived from another town and was grudgingly taken in. She had to be trained to eat since she was surviving on soil from the courtyard and lime plaster from the walls. Unfortunately she had the plague, which has symptoms like Alzheimer’s, in that it causes the loss of memory. Through the candy animals, she infects much of the town. Jose, with his ingenuity combats the disease somewhat by compensating for memory loss with labels on everything, including the cow.

Someone moves in, who seems to Jose, because of his “Alzheimer’s", to be a stranger . He becomes a skilled silversmith. Then another stranger moves in with some magic potion. The potion helps Jose regain his memory and he realizes that stranger number one is his son, Jose Jr, and that stranger number two is the magician, Melquiades.

Page 56. I decided that I am indifferent to the fate of the town of Macondo, or it’s inhabitants, Jose, Ursula, Jose Jr., the forty year-old male virgin, or Melquiades, Rebeca, or Aureliano, whose fate we already know. Then, though I am wondering about the ice business, I lay the book aside.

Perhaps Oprah should avoid books who have numbers in their titles.

Saturday, February 4, 2006

Sneaky Dribbler

   A couple of entries ago, I put the topic right in the title with the name leading...."The Girl with the Pearl Earring".  My thinking was, with the title right there is plain sight I might get spotted by Blog Search, and get listed first so people Googling could find me.

   And it worked.  I Googled with Blog Search and found my journal listed right up there with the big boys. 

   I don't know if I got any extra hits that way, but it was fun being my own press agent.

Thursday, February 2, 2006

Homegrown Oscars -- Weekend assignment 97

We're asked to make up a movie category of our own choosing and then nominate an Oscar for it. 

Category: Best Actress to look like a famous painting

Winner: Scarlett Johannson in Girl with the Pearl Earring.  She looks exactly like the girl in the Vermeer painting of the same name.  The movie features a painting, and I wonder if it is a movie prop made to look like Scarlett, looking like the model in the senenteenth century painting, or a reproduction of the actual Vermeer, which looks like Scarlett in the twenty first century.

Speaking of look alikes, catch the tribute painted by Leanne.  It looks like the actual painting.  Scarlett ought to get in on the bidding for that one.  Looks like her, too. 

Alernate category Longest unecessary remake because the orginal was fine in the first place and there is already an excellent and shorter remakeKing Kong. 

Extra credit: The first movie I remember seing was a silent whose name I do not know, but remember the last scene in which a piece of scenery falls on a stage actor and he has a lingering death scene at fade out.  The first one whose name I remember was The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson.  That was a history maker.  I guess my family knew it was and that is why we went to see it. Imagine: I am old enough to have seen the first talkie -- on its origianl run