The Original Blogger

Groucho Marx dedicated his 1959 autobiography, “Groucho and Me,” to ”six masters without whose wise and witty words my life would have been duller.” The six were Robert Benchley, E.B. White, George S. Kaufman, Ring Lardner, S.J. Perelman, and James Thurber.
Thurber’s book My World and Welcome to It is a collection of short stories and humerous essays. A short-lived television [...]

New Year’s Resolution

It seems to me that making a New Year’s resolution is a subtle acknowledgment of failure to live up to some expectation during the past year, and at the same time granting yourself absolution by resolving to “do better” in the coming year. All sins confessed to are forgiven until repeated. Rather than perpetuate this annual [...]

Bad Drivers

There are two kinds of drivers on the road today – normal ones like me, and the rest. And the rest are bad drivers who,  at least when I am behind them, drive 35 mph in a 50 mph zone, then do 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.  They slow down at intersections, signaling [...]

Living Like Pigs

   

pork pig show
Originally uploaded by Fagu
Although I generally deplore anthropomorphistic photographs, this reminds me of what my mother would sometime say when we didn’t clean up the bedroom three of us shared as boys – “You must enjoy living like a bunch of pigs!“

The Polymath

 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A polymath (Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής, “having learned much”) is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today’s standards. 
 Saint Hildegard was a German abbess, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, [...]

Little big storm

  

Little big storm
Originally uploaded by Ahmed Zahid
Added to my Flickr Favorites this morning. I had almost given up even looking for new photos, but this caught my attention. It was taken in the Maldives, a tourist destination in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of both population and area; it [...]

Equipartition Theorem

I am awed by, and feel sorry for, anyone who understands this - 

The equipartition theorem is a formula from statistical mechanics that relates the temperature of a system with its average energies. The original idea of equipartition was that, in thermal equilibrium, energy is shared equally among its various forms; for example, the average kinetic energy in the translational motion of a molecule should equal the average [...]

The Euro

I once paid 99 cents for one Euro.  Today, I would have to pay about 45% more for the same thing.  I don’t think the exchange rate is going to improve anytime soon.

1 EUR
=
1.44017 USD

Euro (EUR)
US Dollar (USD)

1 EUR = 1.44017 USD
 
1 USD = 0.69436 EUR

Make No Bones About It

I subscribe to  ”A Phrase A Week” and find it fascinating.  Just click here if you want to try it out yourself. I have never received any spam or junk mail through this site.
Make no bones about
Meaning
To state a fact in a way that allows no doubt. To have no objection to.
Origin
This is another of [...]

OPEC Cuts Production

OPEC sees the writing on the wall and fears Obama’s energy policies will move their best customer toward less dependence on their only product. It doesn’t matter at this point who you voted for, now is the time to support America against the economic terrorists called OPEC. While it may be uncomfortable or even painful [...]