A Few Words

 When someone asks to have a few words it is seldom a good thing though that's not the case today. Today it's actually about a few words. Most people assume the word meme is a recent invention to describe the unending amount of online content and how quickly it spreads but meme comes from the ancient Greek word mimeme meaning imitated thing. Robot has more recent roots. In 1920 robot came from a Czech word robota meaning indentured labor. Here's one that's new to me, Chairdrobe, meaning a chair that holds clothes too dirty for the wardrobe but too clean for the washing machine. To wrap up the word boredom wasn't coined until 1852 by Charles Dicken in the book "Bleak House".

Time For Shopping Suggestions

 The dust is beginning to settle after Black Friday not to mention Cyber Monday so I will begin the march of the weird/lesser known gifts for your perusal. 

Spicy lip balms? sound painful 

Feces flinging game, a sure hit with the kids

Smoked trout brandy

Plush cockroach toy 

The Cookie Crumbles

 For those of you who may be wondering what the deal is with the cookies that spew from Cookie Monsters mouth I have the answers. The cookies are real, sort of, though they're more like dog treats than for human consumption cookies. A great deal of detail goes into the making of the cookies since their main purpose it to crumble at the right moment which takes a special home baked recipe by a Muppet wrangler. The recipe contains pancake mix, puffed rice, Grape- Nuts, instant coffee and water. The "cookies" are then patted flat and chocolate chips are applied using a hot glue gun. The next step is getting crumbled outside of Cookie Monster's mouth. Yum, yum! 

That's So 1917

 Many people assume that internet acronyms are brand new and invented to save time online but several of those same letters had a life well before the internet came along. For instance OMG was first used in a letter to Winston Churchill from John Fisher who had heard a new order of knighthood was on the table, Fisher even described the words that were meant by the acronym so there is no mistake about it meaning "oh my god". Oh, and about LOL, long before it meant laugh out loud it meant little old lady but that was from a San Francisco columnist in the 1960s so it's a little more recent. 

Laugh Riot

 If you think jokes are a fairly recent invention you'd be wrong, jokes have been around pretty much as long as man though understanding ancient humor isn't always a cake walk. The oldest recorded joke dates back to 1900 BCE, "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." From a 10th century joke book comes the  first English language joke, "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole it's often poked before?" "A  key." From a 4th century Greek joke book," Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the witty fellow replied: 'In silence.'"

Nostalgia Hangover

 Once a holiday is over it can be difficult when casting you mind back over the years and the slow but sure loss of family and friends as the years go by, though browsing vintage holiday ads can be uplifting when the ads are associated those who are no longer in attendance and some of the ads go far enough back to bring smiles and laughs, so enjoy you holiday hangover! 

 

Chain of Fools

 The following is a brief look at how things got so screwed up...white men decided that Bisons needed to die so they were killed in mass and left to rot, then a meat shortage followed and since the invasive water hyacinths gifted to New Orleans were killing off the fish it was suggested that hippos be brought in to both eat the hyacinths and live in the bayous and not require pasture to thrive so the hippos could also solve the meat problem. In 1910 the Hippo Bill was introduced to pay for the transportation of the animals which the New York  Times referred to as, "lake cow bacon". Thankfully? the bill didn't pass so another invasive species was not brought on board at that time, though what did happen was just as bad...pastureland became feedlots and wetlands were drained to make grassland for cattle. Sounds like they were incredibly high at that time, or just plain not thinking. 

Why Unicorns Went Extinct

 Even though unicorns remain alive in imagination they are sadly extinct and the reason for that is European royalty in the Middle Ages used unicorn horns to test their food for poison so thanks to their paranoia the unicorn no longer exists. Actually what they were using at that time were more likely narwhal tusks which were believed to sweat or change color if poison was detected. Rhinoceros and walrus horns were also used and could cost 10 times their weight in gold. 

 

Where to Shoot a Wild Tofurky

Probably a little late to bag your own Tofurky for this year but there's always next year! Tofurky is made in Hood River, OR where about 50 workers spend four 10 hour shifts this time of year to produce 6,000 roasts which include the stuffing. To watch to process is nothing short of disgusting though they claim the end product is quite flavorful and can be found fresh in most grocery stores this time of year for around $13.50 which feeds 5 people, while most health food stores carry it frozen year round. They even have their own jokes at the plant..."Why did the Tofurky cross the road? To prove it wasn't chicken." 

Sites in Your Sights

 Found some fun tourist attractions with interesting back stories which seemed share worthy. The "Man Hanging Out" sculpture often prompts concerned calls to the Prague police as they mistake it for a real man. 

Floralis Generica is a 75 foot tall mechanical flower located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the sculpture is made of stainless steel and aluminum and opens and closes with the sun. 

La Fourchette is a 26 foot tall stainless steel fork stuck in Lake Geneva tines down to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a local food museum but when it was moved to a cutlery factory after the anniversary was over the locals missed the fork in the lake and finally got it brought back in 2007.

Twain Cats

 Mark Twain loved cats so much he used to rent them when he traveled to ensure he always had a cat nearby. Fast forward to current time where the libraries in Eugene, OR have robotic cats that can be checked out for those in need of a cat. Cats can be very calming and are excellent for people suffering memory loss or who are just lonely. The three cats are named Bandit, Mr. Pickles and Percival and are tuxedos with green eyes. The staff was so fond of the cats because of their calming ways that they pitched in and got a couple of their own which are gray and white tuxedos. 

Pufflings and Things

 Time for some cute baby animal names! A baby puffin is a puffling, when they are ready to fly the moon is supposed to guide them to the ocean but with light pollution interfering volunteers in Iceland gather them up and throw them off the cliffs toward the beach to guide them in the right direction. A puggle was originally what a baby echidna was called but now it can also mean a baby platypus which can be a platypup as well. Joey refers to all baby marsupials including the opossum.  A baby hedgehog is a hoglet and a baby porcupine is a porcupette. When a porcupette is born their quills are soft so they don't harm the mother though they harden in minutes once they are exposed to the air. 

Stache Champs

 The wild hair winners of this year's "Honest Amish National Beard and Mustache Championships" have been chosen and they truly are wild hairs. The champion was given to a Garibaldi style beard, the rest of the winners were judged on a wide variety of categories and classes both with crafted facial hair and creative materials. 

Champion