_________________
An intentionally overused indoctrinational term intensely echoed by each outlet of the clueless media that makes me want to seriously vomit is The Fiscal Cliff.
_____
I just recently learned that GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company.
Did you know that?
_____
Why do so many people on the planet drink alcohol?
What is so fine about fine wines?
Surely the reason for craving alcohol (aside from physical addiction) is not merely for the flavor. Modern chemistry can modify simple grape juice to create a festive and seemingly elite elixir placed within an expensive bottle, any fine flavor that might appear desirable to members of the supposed human elect -- so why has rude plebeian alcohol not been abandoned long ago in favor of mildly hallucinatory but relatively harmless drugs?
From age 15 (in 1954) until the age of 42 (in 1982) I was an avid if not addicted imbiber of various alcoholic products. Then, all at once, I simply stopped drinking anything containing alcohol.
Why?
There were many reasons; some are quite personal and some I don't wish to disclose. But the principal reason is that ingesting alcohol was making me physically ill. Not merely a suffering from a regular hangover, but a severely painful rejection by my tortured stomach and a debilitating sluggishness of my intellect. My doctor told me that I had evidently acquired an intolerance for alcohol.
So I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages.
Simple as that.
Exactly what effect does alcohol have on the human brain?
The image below is from MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE.
UNDER THE INFLUENCE of alcohol, the brain experiences impairments in the regions shown:
Frontal Lobe (A) Loss of reason, caution, inhibitions, sociability, talkativeness and intelligence.
Parietal Lobe (B) Loss of fine motor skills, slower reaction time, shaking.
Temporal Lobe (C) Slurred speech, impaired hearing.
Occipital Lobe (D) Blurred vision, poor distance judgement.
Cerebellum (E) Lack of muscle coordination and balance.
Brain Stem (F) Loss of vital functions.
Alcohol's effects on the Brain and Body
This blog entry is meant neither as a sermon nor a morality lecture; it's just a topic nibbling at my mind at the moment. After I think some more about it, I might elaborate on the subject.
. . . Or not.
_____
WORD FOR TODAY
acronym
noun
A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging.
Note: I especially like SCUBA for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
_____
BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Born December 4, 1964
Age: 47 years old
Age: 47 years old
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987. After appearing in a few films, her breakthrough came in 1992 with the comedy My Cousin Vinny, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Appearing in many films over the past fifteen years, her most commercially successful films to date are What Women Want (2000), Anger Management (2003), and Wild Hogs (2007). She received critical acclaim for her performances in Unhook the Stars (1996), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) and received Academy Award nominations for her performances in In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008).
Note: Marisa Tomei is one of those celebrities for which I feel some mysteriously profound attraction. And I don't know why. But GOD -- she's gorgeous.
Born December 4, 1949
Age: 62 years old
Age: 62 years old
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor, musician, producer, photographer, cartoonist, storyteller, and occasional vintner. He comes from a well-known acting family and began his first televised acting in 1958 as child with his father, Lloyd Bridges, and brother Beau on television's Sea Hunt.
Among his best-known major motion films are: Tron (and its sequel), Fearless, Iron Man, The Contender, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Jagged Edge, Against All Odds, The Fisher King, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Seabiscuit, Arlington Road, and The Big Lebowski. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart and earned his sixth Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in 2010's True Grit.
Born December 4, 1860
Died June 5, 1946
Died June 5, 1946
George Albert Hormel was the founder of Hormel (then known as George A. Hormel & Co.) in 1891.
Hormel was born in Buffalo, New York, USA, in 1860 and later settled in Austin, Minnesota. He established his meat packing company in 1891 and established a food company that continues to thrive today. He remained head of the company until 1929 (passed to his son Jay Catherwood Hormel).
Born December 4, 1973
Age: 38 years old
Age: 38 years old
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model and television personality. She first became famous as a model, appearing twice on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and working for Victoria's Secret as one of their original Angels. Banks is the creator and host of the UPN/The CW reality television show America's Next Top Model, co-creator of True Beauty, and was the host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly ranked among the world's most influential people by Time magazine.
__________
People like to ask me if writing can be taught, and I say yes. I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to write dialogue, maybe even how to construct a plot. But I can't teach you how to have something to say."
--Ann Patchett
No comments:
Post a Comment