Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 26, 2008

The word of the day for April 26, 2008 is "beatify" — transitive verb — 1 : to make supremely happy. 2 : to declare to have attained the blessedness of heaven and authorize the title “Blessed” and limited public religious honor.

My son began calling my mother "GrandmaAgarForceofNature" while he was in High School—not to her face, mind. The soubriquet fits her so well that my sister and I plan to publish the Force of Nature Cook Book filled with recipes gleaned from Mother's recipe box. Some of the recipes we found were the old standbys: spaghetti sauce that was basically a white sauce with tomato juice, for instance. I don't ever remember having some of the recipes; I suppose people gave them to her or she copied them out of magazines. One, which we intend to put into the book purely for the weird factor, involves olives in lemon jello. [Don't hold your breath for the publication date, we have to recreate some of the text.]

Since we were raised Methodists, Mother expended no effort to emulate Marjory of Kemp. Marjory, who wanted to be a saint and spent most of her life and a great deal of her husband's money in the attempt to achieve it never was recognised by any pope, but probably would be a better patron of travelers than St. Christopher mainly because she always managed to get on the boat that made it. Mother's forte was that she just "knew where people were going wrong and what they should do to straighten out their lives." (Some of you may rememeber the "Button Box.") Not that she was overbearing (for the most part): she just let you know what she expected of you. Mother and Dad raised the three of us in the United Methodist Church. They taught sixth grade Sunday School for a number of years—not while we girls were in that age group. I don't know whether that was because Jo and I were so angelic or whether they thought they needed to save their strength for Wes's cohort.

Our quote for the day is from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. “Eloquence,” Society and Solitude (1870):

     There is also something excellent in every audience,—the capacity of virtue.
     They are ready to be beatified.

Tags: beatify

Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 22, 2008

The word of the day for April 22, 2008 is "excrescence" — noun — 1 : a projection or outgrowth especially when abnormal [warty excrescences in the colon]. 2 : a disfiguring, extraneous, or unwanted mark or part : blot. 3 : by-product 2 .

The Renaissance Fest was not the only thing I did last weekend. I also bought clippers to trim Lloyd's hair. Betty Lewis, who cut his hair for about 25 years, retired a few years ago. He hasn't been able to find a barber to suit him since then. For the past month he has been telling me that he needed a hair cut, but when I would offer to go with or take him to a barber, he would say "Not right now." Or he would carp about my choice of barber or shop. So I have given in, and he is nearly cue ball at the moment.

Also for the past few weeks I've had to shave him, because his hands have developed arthritis. It must be especially hard for him to give up personal grooming because of inability. His finger and toe nails are another thing I have to do for him. I now have a rotary file machine because his nails are so tough. If he decides that he doesn't like the way I trim him, he'll just have to try for the Guiness Records for hair and nails. lol

Our quote for today is from Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929), French semiologist. Paper, Autumn 1986, New York. “The Anorexic Ruins,” repr. In Looking Back on the End of the World, ed. Dietmar Kamper and Christoph Wulf (1989):

     We are no longer in a state of growth; we are in a state of excess. We are
     living in a society of excrescence.... The boil is growing out of control, recklessly
     at cross purposes with itself, its impacts multiplying as the causes disintegrate.

;^) Jan

Tags: excrescence

Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 20, 2008

The word of the day for April 20, 2008 is "inevitable" —  adjective  — : incapable of being avoided or evaded [an inevitable outcome].

One of the reasons that Lloyd doesn't like reenactments is that so many of them started as US Civil War history buffs. As Lloyd says, it doesn't matter how many times they replay the battles, the North still won the war. They ought to get over themselves.

I, on the other hand, am in favor of people seeing how we used to do things. If the apocalypse leaves enough of us for a breeding population, somebody will have to remember or reinvent enough of the old technology to gather/hunt for food. Someone will have to show us how to weave and spin and create cooking pots from raw materials. Someone will have to remember the rituals that apply.

And this is what Lloyd missed—inevitably:

 

Our quote for today is from Philip Guedalla (1889–1944), British author. “Some Historians,” Supers and Supermen (1920):

     History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.

;^) Jan

Tags: inevitable

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Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 19, 2008

The word of the day for April 19, 2008 is "reenactor" — noun — : a person who participates in reenactments of historical events.

As you can see, I went to the Great Plains Renaissance Festival today. Lloyd didn't want to go—he has never been interested in that sort of thing. So I left Bubbles home, too. Just as well because the dog is not well trained, might as well say not trained. Nothing worse for shopping than having to deal with a dog or a toddler.

As I left I took a photo of a Viking ship sailing across the pond toward the festival site. I'm not certain where Vikings come into it. I'll admit that there were Norsemen, Native Americans and Australian aborigines living at the time of the European renaissance. However, the Americans, Australians and Vikings didn't participate in the intellectual and cultural flowering. OK, pirates were for the most part, a bunch of scummy cutthroats; Scots who wore kilts before the 1850s did so only because they hadn't the wherewithal to go breeched and shod; and Ghengis Khan died 250 years before Columbus set off for India and ended up in the Bahamas. Nonetheless they show up at our Renaissance Faires and Fests, and they buy Norman chainmail, digeridoos, rubber duckies made in China, and Navaho beaded work. And we all have a good time in spite of it.

Our quote for the day is from Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), French theater producer, actor, theorist. repr. in Selected Writings, pt. 10, ed. Susan Sontag (1976). General Security: The Liquidation of Opium (1925):

     Hell is of this world and there are men who are unhappy
     escapees from hell, escapees destined ETERNALLY
     to reenact their escape.

;^) Jan

Tags: reenactor

Gryphon's Wprd of the Day, April 18, 2008

The word of the day for April 18, 2008 is "recreation" — noun : refreshment of strength and spirits after work; also : a means of refreshment or diversion : HOBBY[2].

I stopped Vali in the hallway to ask if he were going to the Renaissance Festival this weekend. He told me no, or at least not on Saturday as he would be flying. The weather predictions sound really good, and a plane is available. He has been piloting for a year now. It sounds like he will enjoy himself.

Not that I would never take up aviating, but the sport seems a tad dangerous to me. I always liked the story my sister tells about her husband. He told her he was thinking of buying a motorcycle. She thought about that for a minute and said that she might take flying lessons. That was the end of both conversations as far as I know.

Our quote for the day is from Bob Hope (b. 1903), U.S. comedian. quoted in Reader’s Digest (Pleasantville, N.Y., Oct. 1958):

     If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.

;^) Jan

Tags: recreation

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Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 12,2008

The word of the day for April 12, 2008 is "embed" — transitive verb — 1 a: to enclose closely in or as if in a matrix [fossils embedded in stone]. b: to make something an integral part of [the prejudices embedded in our language]. c: to prepare (a microscopy specimen) for sectioning by infiltrating with and enclosing in a supporting substance. 2: to surround closely [a sweet pulp embeds the plum seed]. — intransitive verb — : to become embedded.

Mainly, this is an experiment. I wanted to embed a video of our Kansas sky to see how well it works. My camera takes these short clips, but the number of pixels is low, so don't expect Academy Award quality.

The subject is a wind-ruffled cardinal, who was singing his heart out this morning as Bubbles and I went for our walk.

Our quote for the day is from Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor, The Observer, Sunday November 21 2004:

     For embedding, too often, is a pact made with the devil, where the freedom
     to report on any aspect of what you are seeing is partially surrendered in
     exchange for access to the battlefield.

;^) Jan

Tags: embed

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Gryphon's Word of the Day, April 11,, 2008

The word of the day for April 11, 2008 is "information" — noun — 1: the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence 2 a (1): knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction. (2): intelligence, news. (3): facts, data. b: the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something (as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that produce specific effects. c (1): a signal or character (as in a communication system or computer) representing data. (2): something (as a message, experimental data, or a picture) which justifies change in a construct (as a plan or theory) that represents physical or mental experience or another construct. d: a quantitative measure of the content of information; specifically : a numerical quantity that measures the uncertainty in the outcome of an experiment to be performed. 3: the act of informing against a person. 4: a formal accusation of a crime made by a prosecuting officer as distinguished from an indictment presented by a grand jury.

I have been tagged by Jeannie of Day to Day Life in the Lakes and Sybil of Village Life. Like Sybil, I don't usually respond to tags, so if your name is on my list, don't feel obligated to participate.

RULES:

1. The rules of the game
2. Each player answers questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people, and posts their names, goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they've been tagged.

QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT WHERE YOU DOING TEN YEARS AGO:
Much the same as I am doing now: drafting, reading, writing, taking care of my husband. The main difference is that my daughter was still in school, and we had no dog.

2. WHAT ARE 5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY:
Get shoe strings, a get-well card for Martha, gasoline, crangrape juice, finish reading A. MacCaffrey's Dragon Fire

3. SNACKS I ENJOY:
I like anything chocolate (without mint or coffee, thank you). If there isn't any chocolate, I like to have butter or margarine, usually accompanied by jelly and bread.

4. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE A BILLIONAIRE?
If I suddenly became a billionaire (won the lottery) I would give to my charities first, then see my family comfortable. After making sure I wouldn't worry about money for the rest of my life, I'd grab my sister and a few other friends and travel first class all over the world. Of course, had I made the billion by my own efforts, I would hope I would have enough sense to stop and... give to my charities first, then see my family comfortable. After making sure I wouldn't worry about money for the rest of my life, I'd grab my sister and a few other friends and travel first class all over the world.

5. BAD HABITS:
I chew my fingernails, I eat way too many snacks. I am a compulsive explainer.

6. 5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
The first 6 years of my marriage we moved, on the average, once every three months. I have lived in such varied places as San Bernardino, California; Sumpter, South Carolina; Carolina, Puerto Rico; and Anchorville, Michigan. So why, you ask, am I living in Wichita, Kansas? I'll answer that some other time.

7. 5 JOBS I'VE HAD:
My first job regular was as a library page. I am now a drafter (although my company now insists that I am a technical designer). In between I have worked as an accounts receivable clerk/sales assistant, a sheet metal worker and a data reductionist among other things.

5 PEOPLE I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT:
Jan of Serendipity
Jeannette of Jeannette's Jottings
Mrs. T of eternity
Indigo of Raven's Lament
Sandirella, who had better get her own journal started so she can join the fun.

Our quote for the day is from Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929), French semiologist. Cool Memories, ch. 5 (1987, trans. 1990):

     Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers
     to questions we have not asked, and which doubtless don’t even arise.

;^) Jan

Tags: information