Hobgoblins On The Loose

    
Tucson Weather Today

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Yesterday, over at The Writer's Almanac, I read a fine poem titled On the Death of a Colleague by Stephen Dunn. It brought to my mind another poet of my acquaintance and the ravages Alcoholic Drink can wreak upon the human mind... and on the human liver. How prone to unthinking self-abuse we all are -- how weak we humans are -- each in our own way, each in our own allotted time. I hope that a goodly number of readers will click on over and read the poem.

On the Death of a Colleague

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I was told a while back that I lack consistency... well, not in those words exactly, but that's what he meant. I think. And, in a way, it's true, of course. Some of my pronouncements, both in face-to-face speech and written here in the blog are not always consistent with what I have pointed out or expounded on previously.

Why is that?

Well, I'm not quite sure. The only excuse I can provide is that I do, at times, change my mind. I may see a thing in one way at one particular time, and view the same subject differently at another time.

Or else I am getting senile (extremely forgetful) as I age.

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TRIVIA

'Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, June 25 in 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana's Little Bighorn River.

The Battle of Little Bighorn -- also called Custer's Last Stand -- marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.

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WORD FOR TODAY

inconsistent
adjective
-  not staying the same throughout; having self-contradictory elements.
-  acting at variance with one's own principles or former conduct.
synonyms
contradictory - conflicting

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

George Orwell
(25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)

 George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair) was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by clarity, intelligence and wit, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and commitment to democratic socialism.

Considered perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945), which together have sold more copies than any two books by any other 20th-century author.

In 2008, The Times ranked him second on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Carly Elisabeth Simon
(born June 25, 1945)

 Carly Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 hits include "Anticipation", "You're So Vain", "Nobody Does It Better", and "Coming Around Again".

Her 1988 hit "Let the River Run" was the first song in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song both written and performed by a single artist. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "You're So Vain" in 2004, and awarded the ASCAP Founders Award in 2012.

James Carter "Jimmie" Walker
(born June 25, 1947)

Jimmie Walker is an American actor and stand-up comedian, known for portraying J.J. Evans on the television series Good Times, which ran from 1974 to 1979. While on the show, Walker's character was known for the catchphrase "Dy-no-mite!", which he also used in his mid-1970s TV commercial for a Panasonic line of cassette and 8-track tape players.

June Lockhart
(born June 25, 1925)

 June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr. Janet Craig on the CBS television sitcom Petticoat Junction (1968–70).

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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

NASA TV
  

More This And That

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Tucson Weather Today



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Yesterday I read (and liked very much) a somewhat jarring short poem titled The Escaped Gorilla by David Wagoner at The Writer's Almanac which also contains some short but quite interesting and informative write-ups about some famous celebrities and authors whose birthdays were on that date: Buster Keaton, Damon Runyon, Roy Blount Jr., and Edward L. Stratemeyer.

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Today I will once again be heading out into the desert to watch over Eva for the next week. If I can prod myself to do so, I will seek out and take some new nature pictures.

We'll see.

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Logo for U.S. Drone Strikes

Logo Image Speaks For Itself

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One of the Ol' Times TV channels just started re-runs of, in my opinion, the best show of all time: All In The Family.

 One of my favorite Archie Bunkerisms,when

Archie is lecturing The Meathead on religion

is . . .

"Faith is when you believe something that

nobody in his right mind would believe."

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WORD FOR TODAY

pleonasm
Noun
Using more words than necessary to explain one’s meaning.

Example: "The sound of the loud music drowned out the sound of the burglary." is a pleonasm of "The music drowned out the burglary."

Some pleonastic phrases are part of a language's idiom, like "tuna fish" and "safe haven" in English. They are so common that their use is unremarkable, although in many cases the redundancy can be dropped with no loss of meaning.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY



Chester A. Arthur

Born: Oct. 05, 1829
Died Nov 18, 1886

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States (1881–1885). He became President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, His advocacy for, and enforcement of, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was the centerpiece of his administration.

Arthur made only a limited effort to secure renomination in 1884; he retired at the close of his term.

Larry Fine

Born: Oct. 5, 1902
Died Jan. 24, 1975

Louis Feinberg, known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian and actor, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.

Robert Hutchings Goddard

Born Oct. 05, 1882
Died Aug. 10, 1945

Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926. Goddard and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as high as 885 km/h (550 mph).

Goddard received little public support for his research during his lifetime. Although his work in the field was revolutionary, he was sometimes ridiculed in the press for his theories concerning spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work. Years after his death, at the dawn of the Space Age, he came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry. He was the first not only to recognize the scientific potential of missiles and space travel but also to bring about the design and construction of the rockets needed to implement those ideas.

Allen Ludden

Born Oct 5, 1917
Died Jun 9, 1981

Allen Ludden was an American television personality, emcee and game show host, perhaps most well known for hosting various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980.

He proposed to twice-divorced Betty White, whom he had met on Password, at least twice before she accepted. Eventually, they were married on June 14, 1963, and remained together until Ludden's death.


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"If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember."
--Terry Pratchett

Just The Facts Ma'am . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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A Delancey Place review of the book, 1616: The World in Motion by Thomas Christensen contains the statement taken from the book: "...Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) had compiled decades of data from his celestial observations..."

This made me wonder if the phrase, "had compiled decades of data" is correct or not. Is decades, being a measure of time, a proper container for compiled data? Or maybe it should be something like: "had compiled decades worth of data?"

I should look up the answer to that question.

Probably won't though.

Too lazy.

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While playing around with Photoshop Elements 2.0. I scanned into my computer an old black and white 5-by-7 picture containing images of four people. One of those people asked if I could crop out and feature only two of them. Below is the result.


There is no need to label the identities of the little boy and girl in the circa 1960s photo. They both know who they are.

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At The Writer's Almanac there is a fascinating short piece about Typhoid Mary. I had, of course, heard of Typhoid Mary but had never known the factual details behind the story. Give it a read and you'll see what I mean.

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There has been much written about the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman that took place on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Not all, but a great many facts about this incident have been revealed. And these publicized facts have sparked a great deal of controversy.




I would caution those who have had their ire aroused to wait a while before forming a definite conclusion about who is actually at fault for the situation. Frank Lloyd Wright (and others) have said, "The truth is more important than the facts."

To prejudge is to jump to conclusions, to make a hasty assessment, to presume, to presuppose -- and those who prejudge are, by definition, prejudiced.

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Word For Today

prejudice
noun
1.
an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2.
any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3.
unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

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Davis-Monthan AFB wins installation excellence award. It is all over the local TV news -- Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, won this year's award and will receive $1 million for quality-of-life improvements.

WOW!

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On TV station KOLD news 13 Tucson, a headline banner displayed: Extra equipments from Iraq. I thought about it and wondered if the 's' at the end of the word equipment was a typo by the banner writer, a product of the banner writer's ignorance, or perhaps that the use of equipments has now become grammatically acceptable.

Not that it matters, I suppose. Who else but me would even notice? Or care?

There is more to life than picking nits.

Isn't there?

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Reba McEntire

Born March 28, 1955

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"Doubts often beget the facts they fear."
--Thomas Jefferson