Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Greyer Than Gray
Ever wonder why there are two ways to spell gray/grey? It's simple really, grey is the original English spelling, and gray is the Americanized version. Many words got jumbled letters as they traveled/travelled across the bumpy and wavy Atlantic.
So, I guess you could say that
Gray is a color
while
Grey is a colour
Although I am aware that neither of these is really a color/colour, as they lack any chromatic component.
I have always liked the English version better, grey seems to me much more greyish than gray does. More dusty and ancient. Grey Poupon, Gandalf the Grey, Earl Grey, Grey's Anatomy...all the classic greys are grey and not gray.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Doc Sweets
More Redpop!
Ok, we're trying to get a good shot for the Faygo contest, although I'm not sure why I'm bothering - it's a popular vote contest and we all know how much I like those.
I think this is the one...
Grasspoppers
Friday, July 24, 2009
All Over The Place, Yo
Question: Why can't somebody just combine the Dictionary and the Urban Dictionary and make a real dictionary already?
I'm tired of my words being spread out across two volumes.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Roommate
I saw a nasty-looking ticky-beetle on the floor in my bedroom, traveling away from my bed and as close as I can tell, towards I-75 South. He was one of those really tough little critters with digging machinery up front, and he was still reasonably spry even after I popped him between my fingers (with appropriate Kleenex protection of course).
An encounter like that is really unsettling, to have a (possibly) carnivorous insect so close to my bed. I wonder if he has peeps in the vicinity.
Gidget
Farewell Gidget, you tiny furry TV star, best known to millions of adoring fans as the Taco Bell Dog.
After the commercials ended Gidget suffered the same fate of many great actors, she was typecast, only able to get movie roles expressly written for Chihuahuas (Legally Blonde 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, etc..)
But we will all remember her for the role that made her a star, and made us hungry.
Gidget died of a stroke yesterday at the ripe old age of 15.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Redwood Titans
They are the tallest living things on Earth. Some are so old that they were standing when the Parthenon was built.
They are the Coast Redwoods of Northern California, Sequoia sempervirens. They stand side by side in the cool foggy valleys near the ocean like giant sentinels. Some climb 380 feet from their massive trunk bases to their airy canopies.
If you've never seen these trees, you really need to. They are wonders that will take your breath away.
I have started reading The Wild Trees, by Richard Preston, a book that seeks to illuminate the mostly unknown worlds that exist at the very tops of these incredible giants.
There are entire ecosystems alive up there, out of our view, lost in the mist. A few brave people climb these trees regularly to study them, and they have found new life and amazing vistas at the top.
So beloved and unique are these trees that most of them have been given individual names: Hyperion (the world's tallest tree at a hair under 380 feet), Stratosphere Giant, Helios, Iluvatar, Lost Monarch, Zeus.
California was once rich with trees like these, before "modern" civilization came along and cut about 90% of them down. Forty years ago there were hundreds of other trees as tall as Hyperion but they have mostly been destroyed. A last-minute expansion of Redwood National Park in 1978 is the only thing that saved Hyperion from a similar fate.
So, score another one for the National Park Service. I sometimes wonder if we'd have anything natural left if it wasn't for those people.
"Remember When You Were A Kid?"
Check this out, good old fashioned red pop just like we used to guzzle in the 70's. Faygo has reintroduced the classic version of this most wonderful of drinks with all the goodness of the original: 100% cane sugar, original labeling, and even the glass bottle! And no, it's not a twist-top!
If this doesn't bring back my childhood, nothing will.
Oh, there is one difference from the original...no Red Dye #5. Some things are better left in the 70's.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Uplifting Image Of The Day
Lisa + Mammals
The Tyrant Chicken
Tyrannosaurus rex.
The mere mention of its name brings a profound sense of fear and awe to children and adults alike. The Tyrant King. The great theropod from the late Cretaceous. Everyone's favorite dinosaur. The biggest, baddest land carnivore in history...
...right?
Well, not exactly.
T Rex is a very well known carnivore, with several nearly complete skeletons found and a grip on popular imagination that will probably never be broken. And it was a fearsome killer, for sure. One of the biggest and strongest and most fearsome that ever walked on this planet.
ONE OF the most fearsome. Not THE most fearsome. In fact, there were several dinosaurs that bested the mighty T Rex in that arena, including Gigantosaurus carolinii and Carcharodontosaurus saharicus.
But the title of biggest & baddest, at least for now, goes to another meat-eater from the Cretaceous, a horrifying killer from what is now North Africa called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.
This was one bad-ass rock & roller, this guy. At 59 feet long and almost 10 tons, this crocodile-mouthed monster was significantly bigger and stronger than T Rex, and if there were any doubts left of his bad-ass-ness, Spino had a giant sail on his back, 7 feet tall and probably colored vibrant red or purple.
Nothing would have gone anywhere near this thing on purpose, let alone try to take it on. No, Spinosaurus was the real Tyrant King. I hate to admit it, but my childhood hero has been demoted.
The mere mention of its name brings a profound sense of fear and awe to children and adults alike. The Tyrant King. The great theropod from the late Cretaceous. Everyone's favorite dinosaur. The biggest, baddest land carnivore in history...
...right?
Well, not exactly.
T Rex is a very well known carnivore, with several nearly complete skeletons found and a grip on popular imagination that will probably never be broken. And it was a fearsome killer, for sure. One of the biggest and strongest and most fearsome that ever walked on this planet.
ONE OF the most fearsome. Not THE most fearsome. In fact, there were several dinosaurs that bested the mighty T Rex in that arena, including Gigantosaurus carolinii and Carcharodontosaurus saharicus.
But the title of biggest & baddest, at least for now, goes to another meat-eater from the Cretaceous, a horrifying killer from what is now North Africa called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.
This was one bad-ass rock & roller, this guy. At 59 feet long and almost 10 tons, this crocodile-mouthed monster was significantly bigger and stronger than T Rex, and if there were any doubts left of his bad-ass-ness, Spino had a giant sail on his back, 7 feet tall and probably colored vibrant red or purple.
Nothing would have gone anywhere near this thing on purpose, let alone try to take it on. No, Spinosaurus was the real Tyrant King. I hate to admit it, but my childhood hero has been demoted.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Raspberry & Cheese
Madison spits when she blows her food off. It's just a fact of life at the Wild house. If you are close by her at dinner time and we have something hot, you're going to get doused by a flurry of saliva and steam.
The other day she was eating Mac n Cheese and thought it prudent to explain herself:
"Mom, first you have to spit on it, then you have to blow on it really super hard & then you can eat it cuz it's really really hot!".
Nonetheless, you have been warned.
The Incident
This weekend I was watching a movie with the girls while Heather was working. Brooke was on my lap and Madison was sitting right next to us. At one point Madison leaned down in front of Brooke and all of a sudden Brooke started to scream at the top of her little lungs. She cried hard and tears rolled down her cheeks.
I looked at Madison and said something like "Maddie, what did you do?"
Maddie gave me a very sheepish look, and didn't say anything.
I asked again: "Madds, what did you do?!?"
Finally, reluctantly and in a very quiet voice, she said:
"I didn't bite her".
I looked at Madison and said something like "Maddie, what did you do?"
Maddie gave me a very sheepish look, and didn't say anything.
I asked again: "Madds, what did you do?!?"
Finally, reluctantly and in a very quiet voice, she said:
"I didn't bite her".
Smurfs On Turfs
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
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