October 6, 2009
saphead – a weak-minded stupid person
sapid – having a strong agreeable flavor
“I beg pardon, Jeeves. Did you just call me a saphead?”
“Hardly, sir. I was merely commending cook on the strong agreeable flavor of the pudding.”
“Ah, I see. Sapid, not saphead.”
“Precisely, sir.”
“I’ll be off then. Where was it I was going?”
“Golfing with the dean, if memory serves, sir.”
“Right. Right. Yes. Tra then.”
*
“Ooo, that was a near one, Mr. Jeeves. You’re quite the slippery fellow, ain’t you?”
“A thorough knowledge of His Lordship and the dictionary can be most useful.”
October 5, 2009
The Dome People
The storm raged outside, unable to penetrate the barrier. The dome stood strong, its glistening walls deflecting the icy winds. The people, safe and snug inside, nestled under thick rich blankets of fur. Life, rarely good, was so for a few sweet moments.
October 3, 2009
Question of the Day
Why is Life Worth Living?
Answer of the Day
Because
Maria Callas and Rembrandt van Rijn and William Shakespeare and Ingmar Bergman and Johnny Carson and Rene Magritte and James Joyce and Giacomo Puccini and Dorothy Parker and Anita Loos and Anton Chekhov and Fred Astaire and Akira Kurosawa and Stella Gibbons and Joyce Cary and James Agee and Paul Cezanne and Virginia Woolf and Marcel Duchamp and Georges Perec and Maurice Ravel and Sid Caesar and Eduard Manet and Nathanael West and Wolfgang Mozart and Robert Benchley and George Orwell and Henri Matisse and Lewis Carroll and James Thurber and Ludwig van Beethoven and Orson Welles and Richard Pryor and John Ford and Samuel Beckett and Thomas Mann and Federico Fellini and Mary Pickford and Herman Melville and Mark Twain and H. Rider Haggard and Buck Owens and Albert Payson Terhune and Walt Disney and Theodore Geisel and Gene Kelly and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and Patsy Cline and Jack Webb and Sergey Prokofiev and Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir William Gilbert and Tammy Wynette and Igor Stravinsky and Charles Dickens and Groucho Marx and D. H. Lawrence and Alfred Hitchcock and Machiko Kyo and Brother Theodore and Roy Orbison and Robert Louis Stevenson and Zero Mostel and R. D. Blackmore and Joseph Conrad and Judy Garland in Oz, just to mention a few.
October 2, 2009
“I’m not saying it wasn’t a good fall, but what we need is a great fall.”
October 1, 2009
The Nervous Whale
The pod moved along in a lazy sort of a comforting calm, all but Betty and her calf. She raced nervously around the pod, orbiting it, so to speak.
“Slow down, Ma! Slow down!” complained her little white calf, Richard, as he tried to keep pace.
“I can’t! I can’t! I don’t know! There’s just something I can’t put my finger on!” cried giant gray Betty.
“What finger?” called Richard.
Ignoring her offspring, around and around she went until she became exhausted and fell into flow with the rest of the pod. Richard brushed against her right fluke when he caught up to her, causing Betty to thrash in alarm.
“Don’t do that! Don’t sneak up! You could give a person a heart attack!” snapped the skittish whale. “Go play.”
Richard, wounded to the soul, turned away. Go play, he thought. Person? What person? Play. Play, she says. They won’t play with me. I’ll show ’em. I’ll show ’em all one day!
And he did.
Moral: Don’t mess with Moby.
September 30, 2009
Boris Karloff, born William Pratt, played Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, the voice of the Grinch, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. His grandmother’s sister, Anna Leon-Owens, was the “I” (Gertrude Lawrence on stage, Deborah Kerr in film) of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘The King and I’.
September 29, 2009
Steady ho, my lad, my lad
Steady ho, my lad
Though the main be bounding bad
Steady ho, my lad
Swing her round, my lad, my lad
Swing her round, my lad
If ye’d not meet with Davy Jones
Swing her round, my lad
Blast your hide, my lad, my lad
Blast your hide, my lad
Ye’ve sent us to a briny grave
Blast your hide, my.. (glub)
September 28, 2009
bi-plane hauling sign WILL YOU MARRY ME, EDNA?
rac rac rac rac rac rac
rac rac rac rac rac rac rac rac
toll booth workers standing around eating donuts and chitlins
car car car car car car car car
toll booth bridge per se
car car car car car car car car car car
Kim Novak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ship~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy Stewart ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~submarine~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Loch Ness monster sightseeing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 27, 2009
The mountain bike hung on the garage wall. It was deep night outside and quiet. All the back wheel spokes and most of the front wheel spokes were sound asleep after an exhausting day of spinning up and down rocky trails. The few awake on the front wheel whispered so as not to disturb the night or awaken their cohorts. They discussed dizziness remedies.
“I felt like throwing up after the first rotation. How do you keep from barfing?” asked the new spoke, a recent replacement for the spoke bent by the most recent mishap on the mountain.
“I like being dizzy,” boasted his near neighbor, no help at all.
“Never mind her, new guy,” said the spoke two stations above. “I used to be dizzy all the time, too, when I first spun. It takes a knack to avoid it. Here’s what you do. Pick a cloud to look at. If there’s no cloud, choose something far as possible on the horizon. Even plain blue sky is better than watching those trees whipping by.”
“Thanks, I’ll try that,” said the new spoke.
“I like being dizzy,” repeated the near neighbor, a silly smile on her face.
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