Tag Archives: nifty trivia

8941 – Wednesday

One year until 08/08/08!


I found out today that the family across the street from us has lived in that house for the last 23 or so years. Adam, the youngest son at age 18 has lived in the same home his whole life. I wonder how often that happens anymore? I don’t think I’ve put more than five years of life in the same building – I didn’t even spend more than 2 years in the same school until I hit 9th grade as my folks moved around quite a bit.

I’m not sure I can even imagine how intimately familiar a person comes to be with that sort of environment… that kid must know every stone and fence within a 10-mile area. He must’ve seen some very significant changes over the last two decades.. North Beach was a bit of a biker town before it got an influx of bay front property money. There is quite a cultural microcosm these days, but the upper-middle class seems to be taking the lead.


Today’s weather is *evil* – Current Temperature is 100°F, “feels like” 109. And that’s at “partly cloudy”. How much hotter would it be with full-bore sun?


Totally random thought formed on the train – do the words cowherd (someone who herds cows) and coward (someone who shows fear in the face of danger) have a connection? I need to research that.

[edit – Well, I guess not. Word History: A coward is one who “turns tail.” The word comes from Old French couart, coart, “coward,” and is related to Italian codardo, “coward.” Couart is formed from coe, a northern French dialectal variant of cue, “tail” (from Latin cda), to which the derogatory suffix -ard was added. This suffix appears in bastard, laggard, and sluggard, to name a few. A coward may also be one with his tail between his legs. In heraldry a lion couard, “cowardly lion,” was depicted with his tail between his legs. So a coward may be one with his tail hidden between his legs or one who turns tail and runs like a rabbit, with his tail showing.]


BHK picks up Em tomorrow!
DSCN5614
She’ll be visiting from Thursday through Sunday. I expect a *lot* of fun and a probably a couple of interesting challenges. (She’s little, and will likely miss her folks on one or two nights.)


After thinking about it, I feel that a variant of Oshi might work well with the Icehouse pyramids. (Other possibilities at the World of Abstract Games )


1 year ago – priceline beats expedia, register to vote, Chinese Ghost Festival, exfoliate/defoliate, hangin’ round the ceiling, walkabout/geocache plans

2 years ago – meetings, school restarts, club shuffle, thank you – sim-sim-salabim, danny the street, vidcam hacks, google total, unf. kids books, How bona to vada your eek!, teacher, miami storm pic

3 years ago – Bro health care, lj post issues, losing some gentleness, scotto-flaws& nice things, vintage newspaper strips, no jack black as GL, funw/google searches, older archives, deep sea images, phone safe,keylogger, slowed chipmunks, JL cartoon, character makeups, europreart

4 years ago – Teen Titans, Antidepressants, narghile, steve burns, ebonics, red kryptonite poll, bro health

5 years ago – ZIM!, fun fact, fumbuckery, added newt pic to bio, after he shocked me, site reboot that didn’t come to fruition

6 years ago – some thoughts about gamers/negative side, including a dragon-con flashback (that caused some upset in the role-players community), who in a crowd?, Upside-down, RPG poll, caterwaul, Name Generator, dinos in your region, Wally Caught stealing, begins the end of the WDB era at IMT.

7 years ago – grumpy, in general and regarding TV Geotarget

8465 – this week is moving fast, despite my best efforts.

Meeting with Mom after work to do will-stuff. She seems particularly enthusiastic to make sure the condo will go to the family rather than the state…. So, If I snuff it under suspicious circumstances, you know who to chase down for questioning, dear journal.


Pretty Keen Stop Motion video of a guy coasting through his day. I wish Youtube would support higher quality movies.


Minimum Wage (in Florida) is Currently $6.40. When I took my first Job at Taco Bell, it paid $3.35 and hour – That was back in 1985. (Starting wages at the library were a whopping $4.42, plus super insurance/etc bennies.) I wonder how well each state compares to cost of living expenses?

For “tipped employees” meeting eligibility requirements for the tip credit under the FLSA, employers may count tips actually received as wages under the FLSA, but the employer must pay “tipped employees” a direct wage in an amount equal to the minimum wage of $6.40 minus $3.02 (which, as required by Florida’s Constitution, is the 2003 tip credit existing under the FLSA), or a direct hourly wage of $3.38 on January 1, 2006.

San Fran, California is $8.50… Kansas is $2.65. Six States have no minimum wage laws.

Like the Federal wage and hour law, State law often exempts particular occupations or industries from the minimum labor standard generally applied to covered employment. This information often may be found at the websites maintained by State labor departments. Links to these websites are available at www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/state_of.htm.


Just a reminder from this entry in 2001 –

This from Webster’s: (see dictionary.com if there’s any doubt)

Main Entry: pum ·per ·nick ·el
Pronunciation: ‘p&m-p&r-“ni-k&l
Function: noun
Etymology: German, from pumpern to break wind + Nickel goblin; from its reputed indigestibility
Date: 1756
: a dark coarse sourdough bread made of unbolted rye flour


Answer each with 2 words – from sister Kellie –

yourself:   big lug

your car:   city bus

your hair:   going gray

your mother:   still alive

your father:  airborne ash

your favorite item:   cosmic cube

your dream last night:   toothy cars

your favorite drink:   rum punch

your dream home:   securely comfy

the room you’re in:   cleanly cluttered

your pet:  orange monkey

your fear:   hurting others

what you want to be in ten years:  even better

who you hung out with last night:   the Newt!

what you’re not:   eating sharks

your best friends:   are nice

one of your wish list items:   comic book

your gender:   a feller

the last thing you did:  checked lj

what are you wearing:   my clothes

your favorite weather:   cool sleeping

your favorite book:   dandilion wine

the last thing you ate:   chewy cookie

your life:   will improve

your mood:   getting there


A-Z meme

accent:  Fairly generic, but I pronounce some words oddly – “Noice” for nice, for example.

booze: I don’t really drink, but rum punch is good

chore I hate: cleaning the bathroom

dogs/cats: Newton! The coolest cat within the state of florida, I’d wager.

essential electronics: pda and digicam. the phone can go leap.

favorite perfume/cologne: I don’t currently wear one, and woman’s fragrances depend on the woman.

gold/silver: silver, generally.

hometown: Brockton, MA, USA, but I’ve been in SoFla for ages.

insomnia: infrequent, but I do have some restless nights.

job title:  MIS Director / Child Advocate.

kids: See Newt!

living arrangements: Newt and I live in a 1-bedroom condo. Finally have some space to maneuver!

most admired trait: (in others.. and in myself) basic internal goodness

number of significant relationships: I’m not trying to be a wiseguy when I say that all relationships are significant.

overnight hospital stays: Back surgeries

phobia: nothing that’s at “irrational fear” level.

quotes: “It’s all just a ride” – Bill Hicks

religion:  Agnostic with Athiest leanings.

siblings: one younger bro (I’m 3.5 years older.)

time I usually wake up: workdays – 5:30am, weekends, about 7:30

unusual talent: I can make baby-cry noises that are pretty realistic.

vegetables I refuse to eat: raw tomatoes (I won’t totally refuse, but I’ll resist, a lot!)

worst habit: procrastination

x-rays: when i broke my collarbone

yummy foods I make: all sorts.. veggie stir-fry is a pretty simple but tasty one.

zodiac sign: Aquarius / Earth Monkey


DVD43 is a free DVD decrypter.

WHAT DOES IT DO?: DVD43 decrypts DVD movies. COMPATIBLE SOFTWARE: Nero Recode, Intervideo DVD Copy, 1Click DVD Copy, Pinnacle DVD Copy, I Copy DVDs, Roxio DVD Copy and many more.

About time.. now I can recover my old, battle-damaged Godzilla DVDs.


Moment of Lyric (audio at my vox, via blackhellkatbhk! Thanks!)

We’re setting sail to a place on the map
From which no-one has ever returned
Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool
By the light of the crosses that burned
Drawn by the promise of the women and lace
And the gold and the cotton and pearls
It’s the place where they keep all the darkness you need
You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby

You will pay tomorrow
You’re gonna pay tomorrow
You will pay tomorrow

8451 – How did the expression “more fun than a barrel of monkeys” originate?

This saying has word experts as befuddled as a bunch of zoo wardens trying to coax primates out of a large wooden container.

According to Phrases.org, Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang dates the phrase a “barrel-/wagon-load of monkeys” back to the late 19th century. But it doesn’t explain why a group of Industrial Age apes would be hiding in barrels or riding in farm carts.

Some sites have ventured theories. “Monkeys like to cram themselves into a large barrel at the circus,” the Daily Jolt offers, explaining, “This is probably the origin of the phrase.”

About.com quotes both the Oxford English Dictionary, which says the saying may come from “a barrel of laughs,” and word historian Charles E. Funk, who wrote: “One monkey arouses a great deal of amusement. Two or more then double the…amusement. If one were to release a barrelful…of monkeys, we must suppose that their antics would become hilariously comical.” We might.

Still on About.com, we followed the OED’s history of the phrase. It begins with a wagonload of monkeys, and includes mention of the mischievous beasts in cages (1840), bags (1908), and cartloads (1930). But it never reveals why humans started imagining them there in the first place — or why it would be fun.

Perhaps it’s the silliness of the image, or how perplexed and tickled you’d feel if you ever saw a barrel of monkeys. But for now, it seems, we’re left wondering how to help the little guys out, and never knowing exactly how they got inGeotarget

8292 – Filler!

Some quizzles snagged from eryx_uk :

1. What’s the weather like?

78°F – Feels Like 80°F
Partly Cloudy
Wind: From SSE at 13 mph
Humidity: 60%
Pressure: 30.07 in.
Dew Point: 63°F
Visibility: 10.0 milesGeotarget

2. When is the last time you felt appreciated?

I’ve got some lovely friends who make me feel appreciated every time I speak to them. I’m very fortunate… I’d say via e-mail today.

3. What is the last bad news you heard?

That the prez authorised the leaking of classified CIA information, including the identity of a covert agent.

4. What is your favorite sad song?

Depends on the type of sadness desired/reflected. Mike + the Mechanics, the living years is a powerful one re: my dad.

5. Tell us about something you’re obsessed with:

Information. Knowledge about anything, especially History, Science, and Sociology. Researching, (especially on the internet) of same. Feed my brain!


Go to Wikipedia and put in your birth date. Don’t put in the year. Post in your LJ with three neat/important events, two births, and two deaths!

(My B’day is on Feb 02)

Events:

962Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.

1653New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated. [Why they Changed it, I can’t say, people just liked it better that way]

1870 – It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.

Births:

1208James I of Aragon (d. 1276)

1882James Joyce, Irish author (d. 1941)

Deaths:

1661Lucas Holstenius, German humanist (b. 1596)

1969Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)

8248 – Thursday, is it?

Ramma-frazzin’ ding dang gig. I had to bail on the dinner party last night because of last minute tech issues. I felt like a heel cutting out 5 hours before the scheduled time, especially since I was looking so forward to the get-together. There’s another one next Wednesday… I’m going to do everything I can to make it.


The Grampa poll yesterday yielded some very nifty results and replies!


Tonight I go over to RS’s place and set the computer up so Gabe can burn himself some music safely (on top of making sure RS’s machine is up to snuff for the rest of the office’s duties.)


Friday, I’ll see Mom and Wilton off for their trip to Brazil for a week. I’ll be on call again, so they’ll have to swing by my place, but that works… We’ll do Chinese food to ring in St. Patty’s.


LONDON (Reuters) – Bats, whales and dolphins use it to communicate. Baby rodents call their mothers with it and now a rare Chinese frog has shown it can hear and respond to ultrasounds, scientists said on Wednesday. Continue reading 8248 – Thursday, is it?

8230 – variation on a meme, I pollified it.

feel free to post a guess in comments, if you can’t do the poll above.


Science!

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Some people like to talk to their plants. Now, students at Singapore Polytechnic say they have created a plant that can communicate with people — by glowing when it needs water.

The students said on Tuesday that they have genetically modified a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it “lights up” when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

The light is hard to detect with the naked eye but can be seen using an optical sensor developed in collaboration with students at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

The development of such plants could help farmers to develop more efficient irrigation of cropsGeotarget

8102 – Today I learned –

GeotargetDinosaurs are a specific subgroup of the archosaurs, a group that also includes crocodiles, pterosaurs, and birds. although pterosaurs are close relations, they are not true dinosaurs. Even more distantly related to dinosaurs are the marine reptiles, which include the plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs. Mammoths and mastodons are mammals and did not appear until many millions of years after the close of the Cretaceous period. Dimetrodon is neither a reptile nor a mammal, but a basal synapsid, i.e., an early relative of the ancestors of mammals.

I honestly didn’t know that pterosaurs and marine reptiles didn’t count as dinos,  or that dinosaur wasn’t a catch-all term before today, and I’ve loved early critters for well over three decades. Talk about a hole in my education!

-as a side result of this entry of graypumpkin ‘s


Also testing out this site to seek out info re: sexual predators over a mapped area –

http://www.familywatchdog.us/

Type in your home address or a family members address. The web site will bring up a map of your neighborhood with small colored boxes on it. The small House icon represents your address; the colored boxes represent sex offenders in your area.

Click on the colored boxes and it will bring up the offender’s photograph and the exact address, names and employers. Click ALL AROUND, you will be amazed at the information you get!

Seems to work better with MSIE than Mozilla

8100 – Dang it, is it only Tuesday?

GeotargetIt’s illegal to annoy

A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here’s the relevant language.

“Whoever…utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet… without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person…who receives the communications…shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Hmm… I wonder how enforceable this is, and how it’ll change the face of the internet? Telephone use? Talk Radio?


The answer to my ESP poll was Wavy Lines. I suspect there may’ve been some circle after image bleed over due to the moon-talk and icon. Very interesting… most people knew that I’d go with wavy lines. Fully 40% of people answering got it right, as well as 33% getting the circle vibe. Spiffy that folks know me that well, give a one in five chance to get it right.

Let’s try it again – I’m looking at an image, and focusing on it… which one is it?

ESPdeck


The problem with LJ:

We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about.

Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don’t know about you.


Thanks Ilene for the two icons!

Superkitty red and superkitty blue!

Keywords: superkitty – red – via ilenebook – happy kitty

Keywords: superkitty – blue – via ilenebook – mad/sad kitty!


Yahoo acquired Webjay! Is Google and Y! and MS buying everything these days?


meme, a la eryx_uk

Here’s what you are supposed to do: Copy (not forward) this entire meme and paste it onto your journal. Change all of the answers so they apply to you.
Continue reading 8100 – Dang it, is it only Tuesday?

7994 – Silent Serenade

Geotarget

NewScientist: Mice are rarely the source of romantic inspiration, but it now appears that male mice may serenade potential mates with melodies approaching the complexity of bird song. Mouse songs are sung at ultrasonic frequencies, which is why no one has noticed their complexity before, nor indeed been moved to celebrate the tunes in romantic poetry.

how could she resist?

Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo, of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, US, recorded the vocalisations made by male mice in the presence of female pheromones. They then digitally modified them to drop the pitch by several octaves into the range of human hearing. You can listen to a male mouse producing a snatch of song, here, and a more determined croon, here.

If I had a decent cellphone, It’d make a sweet ringtone!

7790 – Webster Lake is not where they drowned Emmanuel Lewis.

eryx reminded me (indirectly) of another great crazy-long word, weezle & the dBfly inspired me to record the instructional mp3.

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is an unofficial name of Lake Chaubunagungamaug east of Webster, Massachusetts. The Nipmucks and other tribes gave it a variety of similar names. Most people call it Webster Lake, because they can’t pronounce the Nipmuck name, but others, including many residents of Webster, take pride in reeling off the Nipmuck version.

It’s pronounced like this:

Char-gogg-a-gogg-man-chaugg-a-gogg-chau-bun-a-gun-ga-maugg (mp3 of me saying it slowly.)

Slip it into conversation!


Newt is *six* years old today! He’s still a little babyhead to me. Here’s to my favorite red-fuzzed libran quadruped. Video of Newt a few days ago

Aww! Regal-Noot

Here are some baby pictures… it still seems like it was only yesterday.

Newton pic! 2 3 4 5

See also, Newt lays the smack down on Tarpo

I think he’ll get the same gift as last year.. a big cardboard box filled with paper wads and milk rings.


Happy Ramadan!


Blackmail Boxes. -I wonder how much trouble he could get into for defacing government property?


I’ve had the Beatles (sort of a medley alternating) stuck in my head all morning. CCR is a good blotter, but it’s still playing in the background.


Moment of Lyric (mp3via)

Long as I remember the rain been comin’ down.
Clouds of myst’ry pourin’ confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages, tryin’ to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain.

I went down Virginia, seekin’ shelter from the storm.
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow.
Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder who’ll stop the rain.

Heard the singers playin’, how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together, tryin’ to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin’, fallin’ on my ears.
And I wonder, still I wonder who’ll stop the rain.


1 year ago – American date, zoomquilt, prowlies at the river, tiny plaid ninjas, pompano condo, WiT gender mislead, 3 things, penis tragedy, Newt 5

2 years ago – Newt pics (4!), Avengers adult-themed?, 400-million year old spider genitals, factoids, laundry, displacer beast, rick sanchez, tiger attack, tree octopus, DC atlas, Marvel directory, identity theft of a sex pred, under water vehicle, jack johnson, mouse taxidermy

3 years ago – cpap broke, newt 3, chattie colors, dumbass Falwell, Harper Lee, condiments, blonds not fading out, Chirac witchcraft, verisign sucks

4 years ago – Newt 2, epicene, robot meme, religion, disney poop, Lilly passes away, pet quiz, motto quiz, age of kings, perl and quilting

5 years ago – newt 1, pee-bags, cats guarding the dead, autistic taters, hunters get flooded, movies and walkies

7711 – Music, how I love thee.

Last night’s fortune cookie –

“Pride is a good thing to have, but don’t overdose on it”
Lucky numbers 12,20,25,30,31,49
Learn Chinese – Pot sticker – Guo-tie

Hmm.. So far, I’ve mostly learned words for food, and baseball. I like the cookies at the China Panda, because they have a faint citrus taste to ’em.

Dinner was a splurge, because I’m under house arrest for the who weekend. I got General Tso’s Tofu (extra crispy and spicy). Yum… also, the broccoli was plentiful and super-fresh.


Talked to bro briefly last night, and he sounds a little congested. He’s taking sleep meds and stuff for depression, and I’m concerned that there will be abuse of one or both of those. He seems quite lucid at the moment.


“There is an Indian Belief that everyone is in a house of four rooms: A physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.” – Rumer Godden


Moment of Lyric – The Allen Brothers – Jake Walk Blues (m4a file)

I can’t eat, I can’t talk
Been drinkin’ mean jake, Lord, now can’t walk
Ain’t got nothin’ now to lose
Cause I’m a jake walkin’ papa with the jake walk blues.