Photographer: P. K. Kloeppel Near Roseville, IL, 2004 |
Scanning and sharing Pop's pix as I go through them. Full album can be seen at our Flickr pages, here.
Enjoy.
Occasional political observations, occasional meanderings, occasional chairs and other mentally abused furniture
Photographer: P. K. Kloeppel Near Roseville, IL, 2004 |
Odin and Idun get regular afternoon treats... usually a spoon dipped in peanut butter.
They seem to have a strong preference for the unadulterated organic stuff from Aldi.
I can't blame them. Stupid "organic" label or not, it's pretty good peanut butter. But then, most of what we get from Aldi is darned tasty.
(in case something goes wonky with the video, here's a direct link to it)
following up on my last post about what you can't play in the PCH Word Find game, I have collected a further few verboten terms. Again, I'm assuming that most of these are excluded because whoever created the game didn't have a full-sized dictionary on hand, and so only allowed "common use" terms. Yeh, I know some of my choices are downright Shakespearean in their age, but they're still included in ye olde Merriam-Webster (I didn't bother do dredge up my OED Unabridged for the purpose. Not yet, anyway). Also, in most cases, they haven't been overly particular about whether one uses King's English or American English spelling for most. Except for one example.
That, and they won't permit anything which might make someone think of a double entendre.
So, in addition to the previous list, here are a few more words which are not recognized as… well, you know… actual words:
DRECK, PROD, TERRAN, MISO, OAST, SCUM SOUSE, HENGE, GLOM, POTTY, GRAIL, TEAT, BONK, HEMP, MOOLAH, GESSO, SCAT, NUDE, TUNG, SODDY, MUFF, SPOOK, LUST, LUSTY, RATEL, NONCE, ORGAN, ORGY, NINNY, GRIFT, SNOG, FANNY, WIDGET, REALISE, STRIP, LAIC, HUMP, HUSSY, SHOAH, NOCK, STOMA, TRET, SCRY, YENTA, VIXEN, YAR, SPOOKY, EDEN, KITED, NERTS, SPERM, FROW, DINK, TATTY, PRIG, TOFF, DYNE, TATAR, RESEAT, BIRDY, PIKA, GAM(S), GRUE, OVINE, CUBBY, ORGASM, REAVE, GROPE, HINNY, SCALER, SNITTY, TEDDY, CHAD, KILL, FEAL, LUGE, DINGE, NITTY, CANNER, CONNING, HOOCH, CHINK, MONAD, EGGY, KIVA.
I'm going to keep hunting for more no-nos, because it's actually more fun to learn what you're not supposed to say than it is to accumulate points.
For a few weeks, now, I've opted to waste my time playing an online word-finding game comparable to Boggle™. The general idea was to keep my vocabulary working for me, even when I was mostly vegging out at the end of hard work in a hot garden.
Well, that was the idea, anyway. It feels more like I'm making my vocabulary work against me. This game app (at the PCH website) doesn't recognize a lot of words that are not only used regularly by me, but can be found in any basic dictionary. I mean, sure, I'll dig out the Oxford Unabridged for some crossword puzzles, but for a 60-second word search, the simpler the better. So imagine my surprise to discover that words like "dirty" and "pawn" were rejected. Indeed, so many simple words weren't cleared for score that, after a week or so, I started writing down as many failures as I could recall, at the end of each game.
So far, aside from the above terribly dirty words I mentioned above, my list includes these: LOIN, BLACK TART, HOE, DAW, WAD, RIANT, GOD, HELL, ERECT, DIKE (yes, the thing that holds back water, not the pejorative for a "masculine lesbian"), OUSEL, AIT, WEED, HAJ, TED, RAJ, GAY, DARN (my socks resent this rejection), BONG, SPLINE, THUG, POT, HOLT, WOMB, CROFT, ZEN, KILL, BOOB, LINCH, COCK, TOOTS, VAIL, CRACK, MAGE, GAM, FANNY, NARD, WYE, GASH, NINNY, QUEER, RAREE, NAKED, PANSY, SHAG, RUMP, HUMP, BARM, EFT, REFT, RACY, SPADE, SLAG, SHAKO, PROD, NONCE, NENE, FAVA, CHAW, PRAT, STOA, GEST, SLUB, TURD (okay it's gross, but it's still a word), BONK, SIMP, CAVY, TWEE, ROTA, COIR, SCUT, SCUD, SNEW, CRABS (but the singular is accepted), KERN, GOLEM
I acknowledge that some of these words might be viewed as somewhat archaic, and a few are – technically – variants of more commonly accepted spellings. Nonetheless… seriously? I can't refer to the apple tart I ate after I used the weed eater to clear a crack in the sidewalk? Or the crabs I chased across the shag rug when they cut their way through a coir-lined container, that then I caught and cooked in the big stock pot?
If I had a proper desk, I'd be beating my head against it right now.
(Cross-posted from our family blog, Sketch Stitch Stretch)
Stick with me, kid. |
My cousin is a LOT more artistically detail-oriented than I am. And her hand is steadier. |
Color enhanced for clarity. Really. It's just pencil markings. |
I admit it. I'm a nerd. I need to include basic Linnaean taxonomy. And I did this on both sides of each stick. Because. |
I know, it's a long quote to be stuck in as though it's a meme, but it's a topic I've discussed with others more than a few times, over the past few years (including just yesterday, with me muddah). |
This is what I've gleaned, so far: most modern religions have been built on the idea that man can and must rise above his animal nature, and the structures of those faiths provide guidelines for doing this. A successful religion persuades entire societies to become forward-thinking and civilized (what Shapiro and others will call "Godly"), creating advantage for both the individual and the collective – be it family, church, community, tribe, or nation.
The most powerful message in all of these religions is "control your impulses." Acting without thinking can have dire consequences – whether it's the toddler grasping for something on a hot stove, or the man who seduces his friend's wife. The child risks deadly burns, and the man – at best – ends up with a woman he knows can not be trusted, and loses his friend in the process. At worst… we've all seen the headlines.
Codes of conduct such as the Ten Commandments benefit individuals even more than they do the group, eliminating "blowback" or cascading risks for the person who chooses to live by the code, greasing the gears of society. But more importantly, they provide a means for learning to respect oneself. They are goalposts, exercises in self-improvement (toward enlightenment or godliness); with each goal met, strength deepens and confidence grows.
Spiritually strong individuals make strong societies. Persons who live beyond the moment are able – and often eager – to lift up others who are less capable, who, in turn, help the weaker still and (as has often been said), a rising tide lifts all boats.
Any set of beliefs which fails to encourage thoughtfulness and restraint must therefore fail human civilization, and deserves to be relegated to the ash heap of history, lest humanity end up there instead.