Subject: New words …..

I hafta tell you, this drove my spell-checker CRAZY, but I think you will like some of these !
The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take
any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one
letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year’s winners. Read them carefully. Each is an artificial
word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically
innovative:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of
breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who
doesn’t get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9 Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10 Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious
bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming
only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve
accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the
fruit you’re eating.

And the pick of the lot:

17. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole

The World’s Best Bomb Squad

Bomb Squad

There Really Are Some Beautiful Places On This Planet

MORE HERE

Ever Heard Of This One?

The Fall of the Eastland

At a pier on the Chicago River on 24 July 1915, as the passenger steamer SS Eastland prepared to embark across lake Michigan, chief engineer Joseph Erickson grew increasingly concerned about his ship’s demeanor. While the long line of passengers strolled up the gangplank, the engine room crew pumped water into the ballast tanks to keep the ship and its shifting load on an even keel. But the Eastland was being more persnickety than usual on that particular morning, seemingly intent on leaning a bit to one side or the other.

The hundreds of Western Electric employees on board the passenger liner were bound for the company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana, just across the lake. The annual event was typically filled with frolicking and festivity, so the ship was brimming with excited families and plentiful picnic baskets. When the vessel reached its capacity of 2,500, the gangplank was brought in and the ship’s orchestra sprang into action in the ballroom. Many passengers began dancing in spite of the crowded conditions, unconcerned with the slowly increasing slope of the dance floor.

Joseph Erickson had only been employed as the chief engineer for a few months, but he was familiar with the vessel’s history of similar incidents. The prior episodes of listing had always been resolved by shuffling ballast, so he saw little cause for concern; however the Eastland’s crew did not fully anticipate the effects of some recent modifications to their ship. The vessel’s owners had recently added some weight to the upper decks, including several additional life boats and a few dozen tons of deck-reinforcing concrete. Together these factors raised the steamer’s center of gravity considerably.

Today’s Insults

You are a devilishly lascivious rapscallion and a vapid, cold-hearted mass of neuroses and complexes. - anon

My wife’s a hobby horse. – Shakespeare

You dipsticked, baboon-groping, armpit-smelling, toe jam-guzzling, pimple-nibbling, wank-faced masked gimp! – unknown

Pushing forty? She’s hanging on for dear life. - Ivy Compton-Burnett

PostSecret

PostSecret

Ever Read “My Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn?

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race

You may not agree but I have had fuzzy thoughts that this may be the root of a lot of the evils that have befallen the Human Race… And don’t we call the life that the “primitives” that we see on National Geopgraphic and Discovery live “Idyllic”?

(READ ON)

Remember Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution!

One-Fifth of an American…How much is an immigrant’s life worth, exactly?

How do you justify a border fence? Why is it OK to consign millions of unskilled Mexicans to lives of desperate poverty? I’m told it’s because Americans should care more about their countrymen than about a bunch of foreigners. OK, but how much more? Surely there’s some limit; virtually nobody thinks, for example, that Americans should be allowed to hunt Mexicans for sport. So, exactly how much are you willing to hurt a foreigner to help an American? Is a foreigner’s well-being worth three-quarters as much as an American’s, or half as much, or one-quarter as much?

In other words, to justify keeping the immigrant out, you’d have to say he’s worth less than one-fifth of an American citizen.

By contrast, there was a time when the U.S. Constitution counted a black slave as three-fifths of a full-fledged citizen. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has recently apologized for the ravages of slavery. How long till politicians apologize for the ravages of our restrictive immigration policies?

(READ MORE)

Thanks to Steve Landsburg at Slate

Remember the old saying?

Does a Racehorse Really Pee Like a Racehorse?

The third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown takes place on Saturday, with the running of the Belmont Stakes. Around 60,000 fans will be watching in Elmont, N.Y., as they put down beer and the track’s signature cocktails. Needless to say, they’ll probably be peeing as much as the racehorses. Wait, how much does a racehorse pee?

A lot. Horses typically produce several quarts of urine every four hours, for a total of about 1.5 to 2 gallons per day. (By contrast, an adult male human pees 1 or 2 quarts per day.) The stream, usually one-third to a half-inch in diameter, can last up to 30 seconds. In general, the larger the animal, the more it pees. A Clydesdale, for example, weighs twice as much as a Thoroughbred and produces urine in greater volume (and with a more pungent smell). An average pasture horse that spends its day grazing might also beat a racehorse in a peeing match: Pasture grass contains a lot more water than the carefully prepared grains and pellets fed to racehorses.

The popular notion of incontinent racehorses seems to have roots in the late 1970s, when trainers began the widespread use of diuretics like Lasix (furosemide). Lasix inhibits the absorption of sodium and draws water into the bladder. This causes the horse to excrete more fluids, which could, in theory, make a horse lighter on its feet and faster on the track. Depending on the dose, a Lasix treatment could cause a horse to move several gallons of urine within an hour, which could translate to a quick drop of 10 pounds from a horse’s body weight before a race. (READ MORE)

Today’s Insults

She has been kissed as often as a police-court Bible, and by much the same class of people. – Robertson Davies

If you ever become a mother, can I have one of the puppies? – Charles Pierce

He was a bit like a corkscrew. Twisted, cold and sharp. – Kate Cruise O’Brien

Women want mediocre men, and men are working hard to become as mediocre as possible. – Margaret Mead (May 15, 1958)

Maybe No Posts On Saturday

I’m changing out my Hard Drive Tomorrow… I’ve run out of space on my main drive… I think I’ve cloned it over to a bigger one OK… But Murphy’s Law plays a big part in my life… We’ll See!

Alf Is Having A Bit Of A Rant

In his June 7th Post… Our Friend Alf is Worried that the Authorities might Guantanamo him over this

Two Posts Down… In the P.S. … He wishes our Fearless Leader well.

Today’s Insults

 “We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.” – Robert Wilensky

Your momma’s so fat she accidentally got a 747 caught in her teeth. – anonymous

Why, thou clay brained guts, thou knotty pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow catch. -Shakespeare

There was something about you that I liked, but you spent it. - Rhoda from AZ

Result of War Funds Cutoff

A Pet Peeve of Mine

A friend of mine forwarded this to me… Now …If the big fuss is that these illegals take away jobs… Then where does the free ride come in? Also… Isn’t it impossible to get welfare in most states with out working these days?… As well as no welfare without proof of citizenship?

But.. The last couple of stanzas’ say it all.

If You’re gonna be a racist… Be a racist without hiding behind some other thing!.. Cause if you truly believe that one race has a God given right to lord it over the others… Then you better convert to Judaism… ‘Cause to the best of my knowledge… The bible says that they are God’s chosen people. … How do you suppose the Nazis and Neos and such would like that?… Maybe about as much as Jerry Falwell likes being in the afterlife with all those gays and democrats.

(HERE)

Jobs Americans Won’t Do! Argument for Amnesty

Insults of the Day

He has not so much brain as ear wax. – Shakespeare

You pot-smoking, cattle-molesting, latex-slurping, pus-gobbling, pimple-chewing, butt-headed lunkhead! – Al from TX to his brother Red

The last time I saw a face like yours I threw it a fish! – anonymous

I would not want to put him in charge of snake control in Ireland.- Eugene McCarthy

Super Adobe Homes

They are eco-friendly and earthquake-proof. Could they one day be ideal, too, for housing the first settlers on the moon? Called “superadobe” these dwellings are constructed out of nothing more sophisticated than sandbags and barbed wire

MORE HERE

I took this trip a few years back… It was GREAT!

On an epic 4,000-mile, six-day rail trip from Halifax in the east to Vancouver in the west, Janette Griffiths is capitvated by wild forests, bleak prairies, glorious peaks, swirling blizzards – and the odd elk grazing on a platform.

At Halifax station I sat down and wept. In an hour’s time I would board a train for a six-day journey across Canada to Vancouver. (READ MORE)

Is the internet the right place to meet your soulmate?

A British senior judge has warned that relationships which begin on the internet, lead to marriage and then break down are posing a new problem for courts.

Lord Justice Thorpe was ruling in favour of a 35-year-old mother who wants to take her two young daughters back to her home in the US after a turbulent four-year marriage to a British man she met online.

While it is possible to find a partner anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse, are stable relationships and families under threat? In your experience, do partners with different nationalities face extra strain in making their relationship work?

Is it wise to seek your future spouse online? Is there any place for old-fashioned courtship in the era of internet dating?  (MORE)

Wireless revolution could spell end of plugs

Batteries and sockets could become a thing of the past after scientists devised a way of recharging mobile phones and laptops without the need for cables.

Electrical engineers used mainly magnetic waves to operate a light bulb from a power source seven feet away.

They envisage a future in which portable electronic gadgets and even robots are capable of charging themselves without ever being plugged in. Dispensing with their bulky batteries would also help free society of the waste problem caused by battery disposal.

lthough concerns have been raised about a possible link between electromagnetic waves and cancer, scientists believe the technology can be developed without posing any additional risks.

A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which reports its feat today in Science Express, an online advance publication of the journal Science, refers to its concept as “WiTricity” (as in wireless electricity).

Scientists and engineers have known for many years that transferring electric power does not require wires.

(READ MORE)

No Reason… I Just Like This Picture

Galadriel’s “Differently Enabled” Sister

Strange Signs

(MORE)

Shadowplay!