February 2012
119 posts
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Word of the Day 02/29/12: bosky
bosky [BAH-skee]: having abundant trees or shrubs
As we drove away from the city, apartment buildings gave way to homes with yards, then at last to a bosky landscape dominated by tall pines.
Trivia Proofing: #395: “A raisin dropped in a... →
triviaproofing:
True.
As seen in this Youtube video, this can happen. But from looking at other videos, there seems to be a specific set of circumstances. First, the champagne must be from a freshly-opened bottle of champagne. Second, it must be in a champagne glass and not a cup.
Why does this happen?…
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“I’d like to live as a poor man with lots of money.”
– Pablo Picasso
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Eastern Views →
Wry haiku:
Having given his opinion he returns home to his wife’s opinion
– Yachō (1882-1960)
“Every woman” he starts to say, then looks around
– Anonymous
One umbrella – the person more in love gets wet
– Keisanjin (dates unknown)
By saying not to worry he says something worrisome
– Anonymous
At the ticket window our child becomes one year younger
– Seiun (dates unknown)
Ted Pauker...
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“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary...”
– ― Isabelle Eberhardt, The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt
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Word of the Day 02/26/12: abnegate
abnegate [AB-nih-gayt]: deny, renounce; surrender, relinquish
They asked the general director to abnegate his position.
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Trivia Bit 02/26/12: Chupa Chups
Artist Salvador Dali designed the Chupa Chups logo in 1969.
read more: http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2011/september/21/everyday-icon-1-the-chupa-chups-lollipop/
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Teller Reveals His Secrets →
jtotheizzoe:
Have magicians been inadvertently studying neuroscience for ages? Teller, of Penn & Teller, weighs in:
“Magic is an art, as capable of beauty as music, painting or poetry. But the core of every trick is a cold, cognitive experiment in perception: Does the trick fool the audience? A magician’s data sample spans centuries, and his experiments have been replicated often enough to...
Reading the future: Digital books and what's to... →
vikingpenguinbooks:
Far from killing off the physical page, the rise of ebooks has enhanced our understanding of the written word and the people around it, says Gaby Wood
… things are settling to a point where the physical and the digital have a much more co-operative relationship. For instance, it’s a commonplace that people no longer print their family snaps because everything is taken on...
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Some Favorites from Reddit's Six-Word Stories...
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s powerful work— “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”, Redditors write and submit six-word stories. A few that intrigued, amused, or impressed me:
The executioner’s mother caught every performance.
The second mouse got the cheese.
Loving life is just Stockholm Syndrome.
It was a horrible shaving accident.
Held my peace at the wedding.
...
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Conduct a beat box or a capella band! →
This is too much fun. *Jammin*
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Word of the Day 02/25/12: evancalous
evancalous : pleasant to embrace
The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe →
Lo! ’t is a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly—
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At...
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Word of the Day 02/23/12: duende
duende [doo-EN-day]: the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm
The aspiring politician lacked the duende to secure a seat in office.
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Top 10 Proverbs [The Shark Guys]
1. You can lead a horse to water but if you want to get it to water ski you’re going to need really strong rope.
2. Faith will move mountains, if by faith you mean tectonic plates.
3. A nod’s as good as a wink to a disinterested female bartender
4. Laughter is the best medicine, especially when compared to homeopathic remedies.
5. A golden key can open any door but a golden shower can have the...
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“The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”
– Oscar Wilde
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“If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say in a...”
– Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid)
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Word of the Day 02/20/12: vilipend
vilipend [vil-UH-pend]: To regard or treat as of little value or account.
The instructor nicknamed “The Dragon Lady” seized every opportunity to vilipend her students.
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WatchPamela Meyer: How to Spot a Liar [TED Talk]
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“The truly free man is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without...”
– ― Jules Renard
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What's the Difference Between a Street and a Road? →
Roads run between two distant points — two towns, for example. In each of those towns, you’ll find streets: paved roads lined with houses and other buildings. It used to be the paving and the buildings that made a street a street, but today you’ll find many paved roads that have buildings on them (I grew up on Wisteria Road). Modern sticklers for usage will tell you that what sets streets apart...
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Word of the Day 02/19/12: vade mecum
vade mecum [vay-dee-MEE-kum]: a book for ready reference : manual
Her latest book is an accessible and amusing vade mecum of the English literary tradition.
#381: “The trunk of the African baobab tree is...
triviaproofing:
True. True and inaccurate.
Some trees are as much as 28 meters (almost 92 feet) in girth but they only reach up to 25 meters (82 feet) high.
Fruit bats do pollinate the trees at night. The flowers on a baobab open in late afternoon and stay open through the night.
As an aside, the baobab tree is also known as the lemonade tree. Why? Inside of the baobab’s fruit, a powdery...
