Is turkey (the bird) named after Turkey (the country) or vice versa?

I started to think about the fact that there’s a bird and a country named the same thing. How did each get its name? Are there any other countries named the same as animals or food?

Continue reading straight dope for thanksgiving… turkey as a place and a bird… we won't go into the delightful turkey vulture today. 🙂 →

morning tarot, single card spread – for me

THE WORLD — This card signifies well earned recognition, achievement, reward, a time of prosperity, security and joy. May also indicate a change in residence, travel, completion, success and liberation.

(Not bad…I’m all for any of the above… recognition doesn’t matter much, but the rest is nice.) I’m just happy they know I work and don’t screw around all day at work, now. Maybe a nice Christmas Bonus is coming! I don’t totally buy into the ‘divination’ aspect of cards, but they are fun, especially when they turn out to be right. 🙂

Another boon – I should be getting Big Brain back today, if all the tests went well last night. I’m looking forward to having the laptop rest a bit, and being back on a kick-booty computer, afte rhaving a criopple for so many months.

One card spread for my sweetheart…. I’m glad this was drawn. both this card and the above were right side up, not ill-diginified.

NINE OF WANDS: STRENGTH — Power. Health. Success after opposition and strife. Tremendous force. Recovery from sickness. Victory after apprehension and fear. Illustrates the maxim “change is stability.” The ability to face and overcome opposition brings the inner qualities of strength and forbearance. Delays and setbacks may come, however success is indicated. (I think that interpretation speaks for itself. Very nice. )

Morning walk was brief, but a nice one, none the less…thinking about the coming time off, and a chance to relax and unwind. Might see and at the broward county fair this weekend, hopefully I’ll get to go with the brother, too. I haven’t been to the fair in a while… I’m mostly looking forward to the chance to socialize with folks I haven’t see for a while, all of the above, including my brother. I really don’t want to stay there very long though… fairs are nice for a few hours, but they’re not an all day affair for me.

one more, then walkies

test post for pocket lj… http://www.moobug.co.uk/pocketlj/home/

thanks for the link, !

cloture (KLO-chuhr) noun

The action of closing a debate by calling for an immediate vote.

verb tr.

To close a debate by cloture.

From French cloture (closure), eventually from Latin claustrum (barrier).

Multi-ethnic, pluralistic, free-market democracy.
Try it, you’ll like it!

Bad Recipe
Last week, there were reports that journalists had discovered Taliban documents that described how to make a nuclear weapon. It turns out that those directions may have been downloaded from a web site. A parody web site.

Bush announces an additional $1 billion in grants to organizations that help the homeless. He also encourages people to give money to charities, many of which have seen a drop-off in donations as our attention has been on Sept 11th related causes.

Grasping at Flaws
According to the latest data, fewer than one in five U.S. high school students has a solid grasp of science.

These numbers are only accurate for those who don’t consider Sorcery to be a science.

Fortune Crookies
Four thieves who robbed a Chinese food delivery guy were nabbed by police before they had a chance to finish eating. One of the food containers dripped a trail of sauce that led directly to their front door. Not to worry. Where they are headed, food service is included.

Harry, meet Frodo.

Now Hear This
A brawl between a couple on a public bus ended rather definitively when the woman bit the man’s ear off. In other news, he’s listening now.

If you use Windows and it’s been awhile since you went to Windows Update to get the latest patches to your security-hole-ridden operating system, you may want to go now:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

There’s a fix now available that prevents anybody on the Internet from very easily stealing your cookies to any website, including LiveJournal. If you value your security, go download the critical updates now.

This has been a public service announcement.

reprising a link from a year ago…. just in time for thanksgiving!

yum yum! come ‘n’ git it!

Christine’s Fresh Cranberry Sauce

• 1 bag of cranberries
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of water

Boil the water, cranberries and sugar until the berries pop open. Chill before serving.

I return home to find Newt relaxing atop my keyboard, the buffer ping ringing softly. He didn’t seem to mind. I relocated him about a foot to the left with a few scritchies, and minimal complaint.

I blanked my mind much of the walk, just taking in surroundings, looking for places that might make nice photographs for the digicam in my future. The temperature is about 5 degrees cooler outside than in my apartment, a surprise to me, with the clear skies and bright sunlight….it’ll warm up by noon, certainly. Breathing deep, the cobs of the morning slowly cleared.

Walked by the air park again… saw one of the biplanes there tooling around, white and red stripes in the sky. (the picture is pretty close to what the job on the plane was… different nose, though) They were having some fun, doing a few maneuvers… barrel rolls, mostly. I stopped walking to watch it for a few minutes… something I’d like to go up in again sometime. I searched around my closet for my old rider-waite deck, but haven’t found it yet. I’ll dig into the other 3 boxes tonight and see if I can’t root it out. I think it’ll be interesting to do the single-card readings first thing in the morning, a la ‘s recent entry. I actually dreamed about getting my cards done last night, and I think that was a result of her current interest. Walked past “Madame Rosa’s” as I normally do, and the neon palm in the window struck me as nifty. I’d like to have a reading done, but want to be sure that I’m at least entertained, if I don’t get my mind blown. Some professionals have real insight into clients that they see, and that’s the sort of return I’d like to get… not just “Ahhh… you like the grateful dead” after seeing my hair and birks…something like “you made a clay dragon in seventh grade art class that was later used as a bludgeon to stop a bank robber” (no, that didn’t really happen. neat if it did, though.)

A few of the rollerbladers that spun past me were amazing shape… a man and woman (probably a couple, but the could’ve been brother and sister. same coloration, hair and skin) they could’ve been professional dancers, or martial artists/trainers. outstanding builds, and flexibility. I’d love to find some place that has skates in my size….i’m contemplating alternating walkies with a bike or some other wheeled workout, just to vary it up a little.

monestrous (mon-ES-truhs) adjective

Of or related to mammals which experience one estrus (rut or period of heat) in a breeding season.

[Combining form mon- (one) from Greek monos, mono- + oistros (gadfly, madness).]

and now, off for walkies.