10/28/2026

Happy Berfday to my brother!

Here he is during a raging party:

Wedesday, October 28, 2026

quotha \ KWOH-thuh \ , interjection; 

• Archaic . indeed! (used ironically or contemptuously in quoting another). 

Origin: Quotha entered English in the early 1500s from quoth a meaning "quoth he." Quoth , an archaic verb meaning "said," has been used since Middle English was spoken. 

Parallel Parkinson's

• An inability to parallel park. Sufferers of this disease may try five and six times to guide their vehicle into an open space before finally giving up, and leaving the automobile 2-3 feet from the curb at an awkward angle.

Her Parallel Parkinson's always seemed to flare up when she found a space in front of a restaurant with a big window full of on-lookers.

History

• Harvard College: Harvard University's oldest school was founded (1636)
• Statue of Liberty: the iconic monument — a gift from France — was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland (1886)
• Prohibition: US Congress passed the Volstead Act, overriding president Woodrow Wilson's veto; manufacture, sale or transport of alcoholic beverages were banned (1919)
• Benito Mussolini: the Fascist leader took control of Italy's government (1922)
• Nostra Ætate: the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI absolved the Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus (1965)
• Prospero: the first and only satellite launched from a British rocket went into low Earth orbit (1971)

 

Birthdays

• Desiderius Erasmus 1467
• Georges Escoffier 1846
• Elsa Lanchester 1902
  
• Edith Head 1907
• Jonas Salk 1914
• Bowie Kuhn 1926
• Cleo Laine 1927
• Dody Goodman 1929
• Joan Plowright 1929
• Bruce Morton 1930
• Suzy Parker 1933
• Jim Beatty 1934
• Charlie Daniels 1936
• Marcian E. (Ted) Hoff 1937
• Jane Alexander 1939
• Curtis Lee 1941
• Hank Marvin (Shadows) 1941
  
• Dennis Franz 1944
• Wayne Fontana 1945
• Telma Hopkins 1948
• Rick Reynolds (Black Oak Arkansas) 1948
• Bruce Jenner 1949
• Annie Potts 1952
• Bill H. Gates 1955
• Stephen Morris (New Order) 1957
• Ron Hemby (The Buffalo Club) 1958
• William Reid (The Jesus & Mary Jane) 1958
• Neville Henry (Blow Monkeys) 1959
• Daphne Zuniga 1962
• Lauren Holly 1963
• Eros Ramazzotti 1963
• Paul Wylie 1964
• Jami Gertz 1965
• Andy Richter 1966
• Julia Roberts 1967
• Caitlin Cary 1968
• Ben Harper 1969
• Jeremy Davies 1969
• Roger P. 1972 - the Bax0-brother
• Brad Paisley 1972
• Terrell Davis 1972
• Joaquin Phoenix 1974

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

Turtle Thursday: Baby Pic [2008]

This is a pic of Silent Bob when we first got him as a hatchling. He was less than three months old when the pic was taken. He's a Dark Phased Texas Diamondback Terrapin. Photo taken with an Olympus, but I'm not sure which. Either a D-560 of an FE-180. He turns 21 this month!

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

serein \ suh-RAN \ , noun; 

• Meteorology . fine rain falling after sunset from a sky in which no clouds are visible. 

Origin: Serein is a French loanword with roots in the Latin term sērus meaning "late." It entered English in the mid-1800s. 

airport vultures

• Passengers waiting to board a plane who stalk around near and clog up the boarding gate before a flight, regardless of where their seat is or when boarding actually is.

The flight attendant became so irritated with the airport vultures that the flight was abruptly cancelled.

 

History 

• "I have not yet begun to fight": defiant statement was reportedly proclaimed by American commander John Paul Jones, just before winning a naval battle with the British (1779)
• Lewis and Clark: explorers arrived back in St. Louis after a three-year journey through the US Pacific Northwest (1806)
• Neptune: the eighth planet from the sun was discovered (1846)
• Checkers speech: as a vice-presidential candidate, Richard M. Nixon denied having received improper contributions, except perhaps for his daughter's dog, Checkers (1952)

Birthdays

• Caesar Augustus 63 B.C.
• William McGuffy 1800
• Victoria Chaflin Woodhull 1838
• Walter Lippmann 1889
• Walter Pidgeon 1897
• Louis Nevelson 1900
• Mickey Rooney (Joe Yule, Jr.) 1920
• Gail Russell 1924
• John Coltrane 1926
• Ray Charles 1930
• Colin Blakely 1930
• Pay (Chiyoko) Suzuki 1931
• Les McCann 1935
• Romy Schneider 1938
• Ben E. King (The Drifters) 1938
• Roy Buchanan 1939
• T3h Bax0jayz Father 1939
  
• Julio Iglesias 1943
• Steve Boone (The Lovin' Spoonful) 1943
• Paul Petersen 1945
• Ronald Bushy (Iron Butterfly) 1945
• Don Grolnick 1947
• Mary Kay Place 1947
• Neal Smith (Alice Cooper, Bouchard, Dunaway & Smith (BSD))
• Bruce Springsteen 1949 
• Jason Alexander 1959
• Elizabeth Pena 1961
• Don Herron (BR5-49) 1962
• Ani DiFranco 1970
• Lucia Cifarelli 1971 (KMFDM)
• Sarah Bettens (K's Choice) 1972
• Mike Felumiee (Smoking Popes) 1974

   

  

Turtle Thursday: The Family

Since yesterday was Silent Bob's 21st birthday, I am featuring a turtle family. When you have a pet, you rarely get to see the parents.

 

This is Lava, a female Dark Phased Texas Diamondback Terrapin.

 

This is Spike, a male Dark Phased Texas Diamondback Terrapin.

 

This is their "baby" Silent Bob, at about two years old.
Can you see the resemblance?

Turtle Thursday: Sixteen Years

It's been tsixteen years since Dante died.

This was the last pic we took of her.

Sunday, June 21, 2026

automaton \aw-TOM-uh-ton, -tn\, noun:

1. a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot.
2. a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence.
3. something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force.

Automaton comes from the Greek autos + matos, literally meaning "self thinking." It entered English in the 1600s.

 

dick inches 

• Arbitrary (and usually incorrect) units of measurement used mostly by males. Derives from men overestimating their penis size. Dick inches are much shorter than actual inches. Hence a guy can claim to have a 9 inch penis when it is actually closer to 5-6 inches. The term "dick inches" is usually used when over-estimating non-penis measurements.

fellow one: "Finally! There's a parking spot!" 
fellow two: "No way, man...You can't park within 30 feet of a stop sign." 
fellow one: "There's plenty of room." 
fellow two: "Yeah, only if you're measuring in dick inches."

Holiday

• Father's Day: Father's Day is a secular celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and parenting by males, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities. The gifts given often have slogans such as "World's Best Dad".

Holiday

• Solstice (summer in the Northern Hemisphere; winter in the Southern)

History

• US Constitution: went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it (1788)
• Ellen Louks Fairclough: was sworn in as the first female member of the Canadian cabinet (1957)
• Women's National Basketball Association: league play began (1997)
• polio: the World Health Organization declared Europe free of the disease (2002)
• SpaceShipOne: the first privately funded and developed spacecraft was launched over the Mojave Desert and piloted into space by Michael Melvill (2004)
• Pluto: newly discovered moons were named Nix and Hydra (2006)

Birthdays

• Martha Washington 1731
• Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859
• Al Hirshfield 1903
• Jean-Paul Sartre 1905
• Jane Russell 1921
• Judy Holliday 1922
• Maureen Stapleton 1925
• Carl Stokes 1927
• O.C. Smith 1932
• Bernie Kopell 1933
• Francoise Sagan 1935
• Ron Ely 1938
• Monte Markham 1938
• Joe Flaherty 1940
• Mariette Hartley 1940
• Brian Sternberg 1943
• Ray Davies (Kinks) 1944
• Chris Britton ( The Troggs) 1945
• Brenda Holloway 1946
• Joey Molland 1947
• Michael Gross 1947
• Meredith Baxter Birney 1947
• Leon Everette 1948
• Joey Kramer (Aerosmith) 1950
• Nils Lofgren (E Street Band) 1951
• Robyn Douglas 1953
• Robert Pastorelli 1954
• Leigh McCloskey 1955
• Berke Brethed 1957
• Mark Brzezicki (Big Country) 1957
• Kathy Mattea 1959
• Marc Copage 1962
• Doug Savant 1964
• Porter Howell 1964
• Sammi Davis-Voss 1964
• Michael Dolan 1965
• Allison Moorer 1972
• Juliette Lewis 1973
• Justin Cary (Sixpence None the Richer) 1975
• Mike Einziger (Incubus) 1976
• Prince William (England) 1982