Galaxy Cadet: What's Different?

(Galaxy Cadet, 2015)


(Galaxy Cadet, 2009)

From the archives of Baum Media Productions, the Lemming presents something that's apparently not from any of the Galaxy Cadet movies.

The top picture is pretty much the same as the bottom one, but the perceptive reader will notice several obvious differences — and, if the perceptive reader has nothing better to do than keep looking, a few not-so-obvious differences.

There is no prize, no contest, winners will not be announced at the annual Baum Media company picnic; and it is the Lemming's opinion that perceptive readers have better things to do with their time.

But, although there is positively no 'spot the differences' contest — maybe perceptive readers will actually think looking for differences is worth their time. Lemming has been wrong before. Fairly often.

Take "Gormful," for example: who would have guessed that dictionary compilers don't think it's a word? "Gormless," yes; "gloomful," "roomful," and "doomful," Yes. "Gormful," no.

Posts that might be related, and some that aren't:

• "Trial by Error Poster"
  (November 6, 2015)
• "Escape From Klagfinster Poster"
  (September 25, 2015)
• "Double Planets Possible"
  (November 28, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Mr. Chuckles"
  (November 7, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Night Flight"
  (September 26, 2014)

Holiday-Themed Nebulae: Caldwell 92 and IC 2118

(From NASA/STScI Digitized Sky Survey/Noel Carboni, used w/o permission.)

"Witch Head Nebula

"As the name implies, this reflection nebula associated with the star Rigel looks suspiciously like a fairytale crone. Formally known as IC 2118 in the constellation Orion, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from the star. The color of this very blue nebula is caused not only by blue color of its star, but also because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. A similar physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue."

The Witch Head Nebula is either left over from a supernova, or not. Either way, from Earth's angle it looks like the ethically-challenged stepmother in Snow White or Hansel and Gretel, sort of. Some of those tales are downright Grimm.

The way light gets scattered by tiny particles is why Earth's sky and the Witch Head Nebula look blue. It's called Rayleigh scattering, not to be confused with the Raleigh Bicycle Company, Sir Walter Raleigh, or Sir Walter Scott.

Sorry about that. The Lemming's catching up on sleep, or fighting a cold, or in a puckish mood. Oddly, "pawkish" isn't in dictionaries, although the Lemming's seen and heard it used. Definitions aboud for gawkish, hawkish, mawkish, peckish, perkish, rakish, and the aforementioned puckish: but nary a peep about "pawkish."

Somewhere in Earth's sky there must be a nebula that looks like Little Bo Peep or her sheep, and that's another topic.


(From Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, used w/o permission.)

"Hubble Celebrates Its Seventeenth Birthday with the Birth of a Star

"...one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth - and death - is taking place....

"...The immense nebula contains at least a dozen brilliant stars that are roughly estimated to be at least 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun. The most unique and opulent inhabitant is the star Eta Carinae, at far left. Eta Carinae is in the final stages of its brief and eruptive lifespan, as evidenced by two billowing lobes of gas and dust that presage its upcoming explosion as a titanic supernova.

"The fireworks in the Carina region started three million years ago when the nebula's first generation of newborn stars condensed and ignited in the middle of a huge cloud of cold molecular hydrogen. Radiation from these stars carved out an expanding bubble of hot gas. The island-like clumps of dark clouds scattered across the nebula are nodules of dust and gas that are resisting being eaten away by photoionization...."
NASA (March 24, 2007)

Like most other things in the sky, the Carina Nebula has quite a few names and catalog numbers. Depending on who's writing, it's Caldwell 92; or the Eta Carinae Nebula, Grand Nebula, Great Nebula in Carina; or NGC 3372.

A nebula by any other name wouldn't smell as sweet, and the Lemming is not going to go into a Shakespearean frenzy.

Points of interest in the Carina Nebula include the Homunculus Nebula. There we go with a Halloween theme again. Sort of.

The word homunculus first showed up in 16th century alchemical records. These drastically undersized human-like critters are sort of related to the mandrake plant, except they don't really exist. That's the Lemming's story, and he's sticking to it.

Mystic Mountain is another scenic spot in the Carina Nebula, and not to be confused with an amusement park in Jamaica, or a ski resort in Pennsylvania. The latter are both on Earth, which may be obvious. Then again, maybe not.

Related posts:

• "Vistas in Orion"
  (August 23, 2013)
• "Blue Planet, Glass Rain"
  (July 12, 2013)
• "Betelgeuse, Stellar Wind, and Exploding Eggs"
  (February 8, 2013)
• "WR 104: Gamma Ray Bursts and a Musing Lemming"
  (January 4, 2013)
• "Looking Down on the Auroras"
  (June 21, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: Writing and POOP

Somewhere between the era of poodle skirts and the advent of DLL files, the Lemming did time in academia.

The Lemming never let getting an education interfere with learning, and that's another topic.

Along the way, one question continued to perplex the Lemming: why, in the name of all that's sane and coherent, couldn't academics write?!!

Actually, learned savants could write: but apparently believed that a writer's job is to obfuscate, producing text that's clear as mud.

Or, as an academic might put it:

"Sesquipedalian exposition primary comprised of prolix utterances tends toward deficiencies of a cognizable nature."

Seriously: would folks read a thousand words of that unless they had to?

Writing, Communication, and All That

The Lemming wasn't particularly good at passing tests. Maintaining a "B" average depended on the Lemming's term papers.

Good research skills and understanding the subject are important for college students. But the Lemming also realized that some poor sap had to read his term paper, plus maybe hundreds of others: all on pretty much the same subject.

Once in a while, there's no way to express an idea except by utilizing polysyllabic utterances in protracted prose. But shorter words and simpler sentences generally do just as well. Humor helps, too, and that's almost another topic.

Being Sententious: Good News; Bad News

"Sententious" means at least two things:

1. Abounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing
2. Concise and full of meaning
   (Princeton's WordNet)

The first definition isn't, in the Lemming's considered opinion, a good way to write. Not if you're trying to communicate. Maybe some folks like that sort of tedious stuff: but not, the Lemming thinks, many.

The second definition is what the KISS principle is about: "Keep It Simple, Stupid." Or, for the more polite folks, KIS.

Avoid POOP

And now, a plea from the Lemming to writers: don't write POOP.

This acronym has been used before, but the Lemming doesn't mean Perl Object Oriented Programming or Pipe Organ Owners and Players.

The Lemming's contribution to the world's cultural and lingustic treasure is: Pretentiously Opulent Overblown Prose.

Wait a minute. That didn't come out right.

Related posts:

• "Another Blogger's Readers Opine on Writing"
  (June 25, 2011)
• "BTW: Avoid Clichés Like the Plague"
  (June 14, 2011)
• "Five-Star Hotel Press Release - That's Readable!"
  (February 6, 2011)
• "Five Writing Mistakes: And Why Bloggers Should Avoid Them"
  (November 30, 2010)
• "Writing For Blogs: Pretty Good Advice, and a Seven-Point List"
  (June 14, 2010)

Friday, Figs, Freyja, and the Letter "N"

Friday is what keeps Thursday from running into Saturday. It's either the fifth or sixth day of the week, or the last day of the work week, or the day that isn't Labor Day in the United States: ever.

It's named after Venus, or would be if English wasn't a Germanic language. Folks called it Frīġedæġ when English was Old English - but oddly enough it's not called New English now. The language, that is: not the day. That's Friday.

The Lemming had something in mind: not figs, but sort of like that.

Right! Frīġedæġ means the "day of Frigg," which doesn't have anything to do with figs. Frigg is supposed to be the Old English goddess Frige, sort of like the Norse Freyja, or maybe not.

And none of them have anything to do with figs. Unless maybe they'd have liked Fig Newtons, which weren't invented yet. On the other hand, Fig Newtons are made by the Nabisco company, "Newton," "Nabisco," and "Norse" all start with "N" - and there isn't a single "N" in Frigg, Freyja, Friday, or Saturday either.

And if that isn't suspicious, the Lemming doesn't know conspiracy theories.

Most of this came from the Wikipedia page about Friday, except for what happened after the Lemming stayed up too late.

Posts that have nothing much to do with this one:

• "The Grand Panjandrum"
  (April 26, 2013)
• "Amazing, A-Maze-ing, A-Maize-ing, and a Giddy Lemming"
  (May 18, 2012)
• "Planet X, NASA, and the Lizard People From Outer Space"
  (January 2, 2012)
• "Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
  (October 21, 2011)
• "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  (September 24, 2010)

Filberts, Fardels, and a Rambling Lemming

"Then & Now: From Filberts to Hazelnuts"
The Agriculture Quarterly, Oregon Department of Agriculture

"Did you know that the entire U.S. hazelnut crop is grown in the Pacific Northwest? Most U.S. grown hazelnuts are produced in Oregon's Willamette Valley with a small portion coming from Whatcom County, Washington. Hazelnut trees experience an alternate year bearing cycle which accounts for much of the fluctuation in yield from year to year, but the market is generally considered strong and the Oregon hazelnut industry is healthy and growing....

"...The Oregon Filbert Commission was established in 1951. Oregon Filberts were mostly sold in the shell to local consumers. In 1950, Oregon harvested 5,350 tons of filberts for a value of $1,872,000...."

Don't bother looking for the Oregon Filbert Commission. It's not there any more. Or, rather, it's operating under an alias.

They changed the name to the Oregon Hazelnut Commission in 1994. Folks in Europe like filberts, but they call them hazelnuts. Tomayto, tomahto, not that filberts have anything to do with Fred Astair. Apart from starting with the letter "f," that is, and the Lemming has more to say about filberts and fardles.

Filberts, French, and "Ph"

We call hazelnuts filberts because nois de Filbert means "nut of Philibert" in Old French. Saint Philibert's feast day is in late August, which is when hazelnuts ripen. Philibert's name got a "Ph" somewhere along the line, but the hazlenut didn't. (the Free Online Dictionary)

Or maybe we call those things filberts because filu means many and beraht means bright in Old High German. Then again, maybe not.

The Lemming ran into something about Old High German, red currants, and St. John, too: so maybe there is an Old High German connection, although red currants aren't hazelnuts and St. John's feast day is in June.

None of that has much do do with Fred Astair, filberts, or what the Lemming was looking for, which is a picture of filberts.

Life is Just a Bowl of - Filberts?!

(Bowl of hazelnuts, Vicki Nunn, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission)

"Hazelnut"
Wikipedia

"...In 1995, evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 9,000 years old, was found in a midden pit on the island of Colonsay in Scotland. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned hazelnut shells. Hazelnuts have been found on other Mesolithic sites, but rarely in such quantities or concentrated in one pit..."

The Lemming finds Mesolithic nut processing fascinating. Your experience may vary.

A Fardel by Any Other Name

"Fardel"
Wiktionary

"A corruption of Middle English ferthe del (literally 'fourth part'), equivalent to fourth +‎ deal. Cognate with Dutch vierendeel ('a fourth part, quarter'), German Viertel ('a quarter, fourth'), Danish fjerdedel ('a quarter'), Swedish fjärdedel ('a fourth, quarter')...."

"...From Middle English fardel, from Old French fardel ('pack, bundle'), from Spanish fardel, diminutive of fardo ('pack, bundle'), from Arabic (fardah, 'a package')...."

A bag of filberts could be a fardel, but that's probably not what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote this Brobdingnagian sentence for Hamlet:

"To die,-to sleep,-
To sleep! perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause:11 There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?"
("Hamlet," Act III Scene 1, Shakespeare, via Gutenberg.com)

That heading, "A Fardle by Any Other Name" would be funnier, if "a [blank] by any other name" came from Hamlet. Hamlet isn't particularly funny, by the way. By the time it's over King Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Gertrude, Hamlet, Laertes, and Claudius are dead: variously poisoned, stabbed, or drowned.

That phrase is from another Shakespeare play: one with a slightly lower body count. Only Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet get poisoned or stabbed. Lady Montague dies of grief.

Juliet says "a rose ... by any other name" in "Romeo and Juliet." It's part of this rather nice soliloquy:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."


Toward the end of that play Juliet impersonates a corpse, Romeo says "Here's to my love" and drinks poison, Juliet wakes up and stabs herself - and this is romantic?!

Not-totally-unrelated posts:

• "The Grand Panjandrum"
  (April 26, 2013)
• "Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
  (October 21, 2011)
• "Oil Painting: Brushes from Flat and Fan to Filbert and Rigger"
  (September 3, 2010)
• "A Filbert: by Any Other Name - - -"
  (August 6, 2010)
• "Shakespeare, Butterflies, the Gilded Age and an Actress's Shoulder Blade"
  (September 17, 2009)

The Grand Panjandrum

"Official" is one thing. "officious" is something else. Some folks are officials, but not officious. Others are officious but not in an official capacity.

Some folks look forward to Friday because the next day they'll be away from the officious official who runs the office: for two days, anyway.

That brings the Lemming to the word panjandrum. That's:

• A person who is important or influential
  • Often overbearing
  (Princeton's WordNet)
• An important or self-important person
  (The Free Online Dictionary)
• A powerful personage or pretentious official
  • Origin:
    Grand Panjandrum, burlesque title of an imaginary personage in some nonsense lines by Samuel Foote
    First Known Use: 1856
  (Merriam-Webster.com)

And now, for those whose life would not be complete without reading it:

• "The Grand Panjandrum"
  Samuel Foote, via an 1820 novel and Wikisource (1755)

Here's the 1820 version:

"So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf, to make an apple pie ; and at the same time a great she-bear coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. 'What! no soap?' So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top; and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots."
(Samuel Foote, via Maria Edgeworth)

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Gaylord: A Car, Another Car, a Company, a Town, and a Block of Wax"
  (November 18, 2011)
• "Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
  (October 21, 2011)
• "Pickles Aren't Always Pickled"
  (October 18, 2011)
• "Sesquipedalian!"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?"
  (January 14, 2010)

Friday the Lemming Unwound

It's Friday, it's been a busy week, so the Lemming has decided to take the day off and breathe easy, calm down, ease off, hang loose, settle back, simmer down, sit back, take a break, and unwind.

In other words, the Lemming will relax. At least for the morning.

Not-quite-completely-unrelated posts:

• "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
  (April 20, 2012)
• "Lemming Tracks: Triskaidekaphobia and a Rambling Lemming"
  (January 13, 2012)
• "Eleven; and Why is Six Afraid of Seven?"
  (November 11, 2011)
• " 'Cancer Causes Cell Phones!' - or, not"
  (July 18, 2011)
• "Friday, Rome, Language, and Boudicca of the Iceni"
  (October 29, 2010)

Gaylord: A Car, Another Car, a Company, a Town, and a Block of Wax

The Lemming recently learned that wax gets shipped by the gaylord. When someone asks for a gaylord of wax, they want an 11 pound slab of the stuff.

A pallet holds 200 gaylords, or 2,200 pounds of wax. That's a lot of wax. Probably more than you'll buy during a shopping trip to the local hobby shop.

The Lemming learned about that sort of gaylord while doing some analysis for Spiral Light Candle, and that's an example of shameless self-promotion. Also another topic.

After the Lemming got through crunching numbers about wax, candles, and related matters, an important question remained unanswered: What else does "gaylord" mean? Well, maybe not an "important" question: but an interesting one. From the Lemming's point of view.

After a little nosing around, the Lemming discovered that "gaylord" can mean quite a few things, including:

• A chemical company in Louisiana
  (Gaylord Chemical Corporation)
• Transportation
  • Bulk
    • A very large carton
      • One fills a pallet
      (B & C Plastics Ltd.)
    • Trade name for a standard-sized container
      • Corrugated
      • Large
      • Reusable
      • Used for shipping materials
      (Estes Express Lines)
    • A box
      • Pallet-sized
      • In which electronic scrap is shipped
        • Often shipped, that is
      (Global Investment Recovery, Inc.)
  • Personal
    • A kind of car they don't make any more
      • Manufactured from
        • 1910 to 1913
          (American Automobiles)
        • 1911 to 1912
          (Wikipedia)
        • 1955 to 1956
          (American Automobiles)
• A person's name
  • Given
  • Surname
  (Wikipedia)
• A town in Otsego County, Michigan
  (Gaylord, Otsego County

Those discordant dates for Gaylord cars aren't as daft as they may seem. The American Automobiles website says that the Gaylord Motor Car Company made roadsters and grand touring cars, starting about 1910. Then, in the '50s, Gaylord Car Ltd. made a two door coupe. Different folks were involved in the two companies: no big surprise, considering the decades separating them.

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?"
  (October 21, 2011)
• "Sesquipedalian!"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "One Tympanum, Two Tympana"
  (January 18, 2010)
• "What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?"
  (January 14, 2010)
• "Squab! Who Would Want to Eat a Soft Padded Sofa?!"
  (January 14, 2010)

Flabbergasted: What's a Flabber, and How Does One Gast It?

"Flabbergasted" really is a word:

"flabbergasted"
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1. Affected with sudden and great wonder or surprise
2. Filled with amazement or wonder

The M-W lists quite a few synonyms for flabbergasted, which the Lemming has combined into one whacking great list. Just in case you have an aversion to saying "flabbergasted," although the Lemming can't imagine why:

• Agape
• Aghast
• Amazed
• Appalled
• Astonished
• Astounded
• Awed
• Awesome
• Awestruck
  • Also awestricken
• Bewildered
• Bowled over
• Confused
• Dazed
• Dismayed
• Dumbfounded
  • Also dumfounded
• Dumbstruck
• Horrified
• Marveling
  • Or marvelling
• Openmouthed
• Overwhelmed
• Shocked
• Stunned
• Stupefied
• Wide-eyed
• Widemouthed
• Wondering

"Widemouthed" is not, of course, to be confused with the largemouth bass, or the wide mouth frog protocol, which has little or nothing to do with Protocol (1984).

"Flabbergasted:" Where it Came From

"flabbergasted"
Online Etymology Dictionary

"1772, mentioned (with bored) in a magazine article as a new vogue word, perhaps from some dialect (in 1823 flabbergast was noted as a Sussex word), likely an arbitrary formation from flabby or flapper and aghast...."

Words and a Blogging Lemming

A reasonable question at this point is: SO WHAT?!! The Lemming's noted what some odd word means, and where it comes from: but what value does that information have?

Knowing what flabbergasted means probably won't make the difference between picking a winning lottery ticket, and merely delaying other customers at a convenience store checkout. Memorizing that list of synonyms probably won't guarantee social acceptance and success in the Stock Market. Not even if you can recite it backwards.

A student is unlikely to find "define 'flabbergasted,' and use it in a sentence" on the next test. Particularly in biology class. That would be flabbergasting.

However, the Lemming thinks that knowing what words mean, and where they came from, has value from a 'quality of life' point of view. It's fun to discover that "flabbergasted" goes back to the 18th century, and may have originated in Sussex. Of course, the Lemming enjoys reading dictionaries: so your experience may vary.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Pickles Aren't Always Pickled"
  (October 18, 2011)
• "BTW: Avoid Clichés Like the Plague"
  (June 14, 2011)
• "What's With 'Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo.' "
  (April 7, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Discovery, Names, James Cook, and a Little History"
  (February 21, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: a Recovering English Teacher and the Dean's Spellchecker"
  (January 12, 2011)

Pickles Aren't Always Pickled

The Lemming's working on tomorrow's post, which has to do with architecture and design: business-as-usual, with the Lemming's new schedule. Naturally, a discussion of a remarkable skyscraper and cultural issues brought the Lemming's train of thought to pickles.

For the Lemming, that sort of thing is "natural." Your experience may vary. And probably does. Which is another topic.

Where was the Lemming? Posts. The day after today. Architecture. Pickles. Right.

Pickling is what you can do with cucumbers, watermelons: just about anything edible, and some things that aren't. But that's not the sort of pickle the Lemming was thinking of.

Definition time! The Lemming's a recovering English teacher, which might be why there are so many of these digressions into what words mean - and even why they mean what they mean now, and didn't mean the same thing a few hundred years ago. Which is another topic.

Here's what "pickle" means:

• Pickle, noun
  1. Vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar
  2. Informal term for a difficult situation
• Pickle, verb
  1. Preserve in a pickling liquid
     
  (Princeton's WordNet)

Will knowing that "to pickle" something means preserving it in a pickling liquid enable you to bring about world peace, end hunger, and win the lottery? Probably not. Will knowing that a pickle can be a preserved cucumber or a difficult situation that has nothing to do with vegetables, vinegar, or brine bring you success in your career, an acne-free complexion, and brighter, whiter teeth? Almost certainly not.

But the Lemming likes to know what words mean: and maybe you do, too. Or, not: which is also okay. Although that brings up the question of why you read this much of the post. And that is yet another topic.

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Prescriptions, Panic, and Points to Ponder"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (September 14, 2011)
• "Sesquipedalian!"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 4, 2010)
  Particularly
  • Prayer, Trusting God, and Using My Brain
• "What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?"
  (January 14, 2010)
• "Impress Your Boss, Amaze Your Friends: With Two Dozen (minus one) Words"
  (February 11, 2009)

And Now, for Something Completely Different: A Strange Poem

"It’s Okay – Random Twitter Poem for Apr 27th"
Wanderer Thoughts Poetry (April 27, 2010)

"It’s Okay is a sad poem about a depressed or hurt individual that is living with emotional pain and waiting for someone to comfort them. It is a poem about isolation and being depressed and was inspired by the 16 random entries submitted on twitter (in blue). Thanks to the following players today:..."

The poem:

"It's Okay

"No secret to being happy you hear some say
world filled with an infinity of gullible people
simple enjoyment some foreign revolutionary emotion
as realistic as a fungible salesman in real estate

"Euphony of screaming from the window
some mercurial action to ease the pain this time
sanity thin and frail like a tearing moire
laughter a delicatessen dessert sold out..."

The word "fungible" is my contribution. I wondered what Dragon Blogger would make of it. As a noun, fungible means "of goods or commodities; freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation" (Princeton's WordNet)

In the context of this poem, as a sort of metaphor - I think it works.

And: I can't say that I "like" "It's Okay" the way I like Jello - but I've had days like that, and appreciate the poem.

---

A tip of the hat to dragonblogger, on Twitter, for putting "It's Okay" together.

Sesquipedalian!

The word's a noun, too, but here's what Princeton's WordNet has to say about sesquipedalian as an adjective:

• Given to the overuse of long words "sesquipedalian orators"; "this sesquipedalian way of saying one has no money"
• Long and ponderous; having many syllables"sesquipedalian technical terms"

Odds are pretty good that you won't absolutely have to say "sesquipedalian" very often.

On the other hand, I think it's nice to have words like that ready for use. You never know when some graneloquent blowhard with a marked predilection for polysyllabic utterances will have to pause for a breath.

That'll be your chance to say "that's rather sesquipedalian, don't you think?"

Or, not. But now you can decide whether or not to throw that word into a conversation.

What can I say? I'm one of those people who read dictionaries for fun.

"Lucky Numbers" - Another Random Poem

"Lucky Numbers"
Wanderer Thoughts Poetry (February 1, 2010)

"Lucky Numbers is a poem about someone playing the lottery and hoping to win and get out of their miserable situation. It was inspired by the 11 random words provided...."

"Lucky Numbers" starts with:

"Phoney hollow life hanging in the balance
"enthusiastic that glory would be yours...."

Okay: this probably won't push the sonnets of Shakespeare out of the next generation's English lit. textbooks. But the poem's pretty good.

And captures one facet of the human experience. I've run into people who play the lottery with a view to getting out from under an "ogre boss," as the poem says. One person described the lottery as his "retirement plan." Which is another topic.

I'll admit to a bias: I like these "random poems," and I contributed a word to this one. And, learned one.

Do you know that a mondegreen is "A form of error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase"? According to Wiktionary, anyway. The Wiktionary etymology traces the word to an author in Harper's Magazine in 1954.

Do you care?

I do, but I like words.

---

A tip of the hat to dragonblogger, on Twitter, for another 'random poem.'

One Tympanum, Two Tympana

"tympanum"
Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh

"tympanum : (plural, tympana): The basically semicircular area enclosed by the arch above the lintel of an arched entranceway. This area is often decorated with sculpture in the Romanesque and Gothic periods."

Don't get the wrong idea: Tympana aren't just in Medieval European cathedrals.

A case in point:

"History Of Indian Architecture"
Indianetzone ("Largest Free Encyclopedia of India with thousand of articles"), Indian Monuments

"...The architectural carving of the façade [façade, I think] of the Lomas Rishi cave is completely Indian. It is an imitation in relief sculpture in stone of the entrance of a freestanding structure in wood and thatch, with the sloping jambs of the doorway supporting a tympanum of repeated crescent shapes under an ogee arch that presumably represents the profile of the thatched roof...."

So More Than One Tympanum are a Bunch of Tympana: So What?

None of this will help you get that mat of hair and gunk out of the shower drain, or make julienne fries.

On the other hand, I'm interested in architecture (and quite a few other things, from aardvarks and how Christmas Trees, Queen Victoria, And Coleridge are connected, to incendiary LED lights and quantum astronomy).

Maybe you are, too. Interested in architecture, I mean. If so, the links in this post may take you somewhere you haven't been before.

If so, enjoy the trip.

What's a Vook about Hopping Rotochutes with Gigavision, Spying on a Shootout?

Haven't a clue what that headline's about?

Well, it's about a dozen words long. [Cheap gag, but on my budget: who can afford more?]

Seriously, Vook, Gigavision, Shootout, and Hopping Rotochute are jargon terms for three items of contemporary technology, and one feature on today's cultural landscape in America.

Gigavision is an intriguing approach to high-definition imaging - but I'll let you read the article. It's short.

"Jargon Watch: Vook, Gigavision, Shootout, Hopping Rotochute"
Wired Magazine (December 21, 2009)

"Vook n.
"An ebook with embedded video content. Designed to be read on a computer or iPhone (no Kindle version yet), the first four vooks include a fitness manual with exercise clips and a romance with atmospheric footage...."

Squab! Who Would Want to Eat a Soft Padded Sofa?!

If you don't know what squab is, you probably can't afford it.

But, that's okay, because squab producers have to eat, too: and they make their living selling the stuff.

Now, just what is squab?

Depends on the context:

Squab

• Noun
  • "dove (flesh of a pigeon suitable for roasting or braising; flesh of a dove (young squab) may be broiled)
  • "(soft padded sofa)
  • "(an unfledged pigeon)
  Adjective
  • "squabby (short and fat)"

Princeton's WordNet)

About Squab Producers of California

(They call themselves "SPOC" - live long and prosper?)

"Squab Producers of California is a unique agricultural cooperative. Formed in early 1943, the association of small independent farmers has worked together for more than sixty years to provide Squabs to a wide variety of customers worldwide. As a cooperative, Squab Producers brings the best of both worlds to its customers - birds raised by small, independent farmers AND a modern HACCP-compliant USDA inspected processing plant which utilizes state-of-the-art equipment and techniques to assure the optimum in quality and food safety...."

Sounds good enough to eat. Good thing, too, since that's what is supposed to be done with their product.

I checked the rest of SPOC's website and sure enough: they're into processing birds, not soft padded sofas.

I found this picture of squab - taken at the diners's end of the process - at "Camera in the Kitchen: Alinea"
Chicagoist (January 22, 2007)


(from Rachelle Bowden, Chicagoist, used w/o permission)
That doesn't look too gross, now, does it?

And, since it's a very small portion on a very plane plate: You know it's expensive.

Bon appétit, regarder votre manteau, and other real cultured stuff.

Blue Moon, Lunacy, the Dark Side of the Moon, and More

"Tonight's Blue Moon: All a Big Mistake"
Space.com (December 31, 2009)

"Revelers can ring in the new year with a cosmic flourish tonight, celebrating the first New Year's Eve blue moon since 1990.

"In truth, tonight's full moon won't be much different than any other full moon. In fact the term "blue moon" as it's used today originates from a writer's mistake.

" 'The "blue moon" is a creature of folklore,' says Philip Hiscock, a folklorist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. 'It's the second full moon in a calendar month.'

"If there's been a recent volcanic eruption that poured significant ash into the upper atmosphere, it is possible for the moon to take on a blue tint. That's not expected tonight...."

There's more: an explanation of how "blue moon" came to mean what it does now; a discussion of the "dark side" of the moon; a word or two about the moon and behavior (academically speaking, there isn't any); whether the moon is moving away from us (it is); and more. One or two points, I think, are more a matter of quibbling with language - but it's a fun read.

Arrr! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day

"Ahoy! 'Tis time to talk pirate, me hearties"
CNN (September 18, 2009)

"Easy tip number one, if you want to talk like a pirate: Add "me hearties" to the end of any sentence.

"The meaning is simple -- 'my friends, my mates' -- said John 'Ol' Chumbucket' Baur, before offering as way of example, 'Turn your head and cough, me hearties. Or, fill it up with regular, me hearties.'

"Saturday marks 'Talk Like a Pirate Day,' an observance that has been recognized on all seven continents and beyond. It inspires dress and behavior -- of the Long John Silver variety -- in seedy bars, staid workplaces and even the International Space Station. It has fueled fundraisers, been the topic for a New York Times crossword puzzle and mentioned on various game shows.

It was an idea born in 1995 on an Albany, Oregon, YMCA racquetball court. Baur, 54, and his friend Mark 'Cap'n Slappy' Summers, 46, began unleashing insults at one another, as pirates might...."

Me 'ats off to ol Chumbucket an Cap'n Slappy, for instigatin' this truly linguistic foray. "Talk Like a Pirate Day" has even inspired well-meaning landlubbers to emulate, if you will, the argot of the buccaneers. Even if they don't know how to spell "arr!"

Now, this CNN article: it's author - a bonny lass, no doubt - she points out that it wasn't until one Dave Barry, of the northerly port of Miami, caught wind of it and spread the news among all adventurous landlubbers. And, as it seems, quite a respectable number of the less-than-bold sort, as well.

Ah, it takes all sorts to make a world, they do say.

There's more to that article, about this day. It sports a picture of Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket, which is well and good - but would it have broken CNN's heart to show us what the fine lass who wrote the piece looks like?! Arr!

Related post:

• "Arrr! It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day Tomorrow"
  (September 18, 2008)

Writers: Beware! 10 Overused Words

"10 Overused Words in Writing"
Precise edit (2008)

"All words are good words. Some, however, are overused without adding value to what you write. As a result, they reduce the readers' interest, make text seem redundant, and cause the writer to appear amateurish.

"We have created a list of 10 overused words, based on the documents we have edited over the last 5 years. We don't recommend that you remove these words from your writing. Instead, we recommend that you become aware of how often you use them and that you revise your documents to limit their use.

"1. There
When writers are not sure about the subjects of their sentences, they will often use this word as the subject...."

These may not be the ten most over-used words: but they're near the top. As the author said, don't drop them entirely (unless you want to be an 'artistic' author, and compose your prose with out the letter p, or write your name with no capital letters).

Seriously? This is a pretty good resource: something writers, myself included, can use as a review from time to time. Again: there's nothing wrong with those words. But, stay aware and don't over-use them.

You'll notice, if you read the article, that I've used a few in this post.

Best-Case Scenario: Phishing

Something new in my email today: a "Confirmation of ticket purchase at www.delta.com" - with a zip attachment. No, I didn't open the attachment.

I did, however, immediately check with my credit card provider - and "I" haven't bought any airline tickets.

My guess is that I'm looking at an attempt at phishing. Or, maybe just an effort to get malware into my computer. And, that whoever's doing this is technically proficient and clueless about the English language.

The email message was a mix of clever deception, and odd errors.

• "support [at] delta.com" was the sender's listed address.
  • delta.com is, in fact, a domain registered by Delta Airlines
• "Booking number: DEVKAM"
  • Granted, there are around 240,000,000 possible combinations of 6 letters (if I did my math right)
    That's still a pretty small number for a unique booking ID
  • But, what do I know?
• Odd vocabulary
  • "daily press" might be used as a rather la-dee-da term for "today's paper"
  • "You are guaranteed top-quality services and attention on the part of our benevolent personnel." Is not something written by a person familiar with American English.

My Guess: Someone's Spoofing the Delta.com Domain

Purchasing an airline ticket is so far out of my way of life, that even a perfectly-written message would have been suspect. I can see someone who travels frequently, or who really wants to, opening that attachment.

I don't thank that would be a good idea. At all.

---

Update (March 4, 2009)
Thanks, Patrick, for your comment. I'm taking the liberty of repeating the first part here:

"Note: the attachment is a self-extracting executable zip file. Don't forget that .zip is always potentially .exe..."

---

The Message from "Delta:"

Redacted a bit.

Subject:
A Confirmation of ticket purchase at www.delta.com
From: "Delta Air Lines"
Date: Mon, Mar 02, 2009 5:57 am
To: <[email address redacted]>
Thanks for the purchase!

Booking number: DEVKAM

You will find attached to this letter PASSENGER ITINERARY RECEIPT of your electronic ticket.
It verifies that you paid the ticket in full and confirms your right for air travel and luggage transportation by the indicated flight Delta Air Lines.

On board you will be offered:
- beverages;
- food;
- daily press.
You are guaranteed top-quality services and attention on the part of our benevolent personnel.

We recommend you to print PASSENGER ITINERARY RECEIPT and take it alone to the airport. It will help you to pass control and registration procedures faster.

See you on board!
Best regards,

Delta Air Lines