Friday, May 29, 2026

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Turtle THURSDAY! Painted

From my email:

The painted turtle is the only species of Chrysemys, one of the pond turtles. It lives in slow-moving freshwaters, from southern Canada to the Louisiana Gulf Coast and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Four U.S. states name the painted turtle as their official reptile. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago, but four regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, southern, and western) evolved during the last ice age.

The turtle's skin is olive to black with distinctive red, orange, or yellow stripes. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle can frequently be seen basking on logs. Crayfish and dragonflies are among the turtle's preferred prey. Many predators eat the turtle eggs or hatchlings, but the adult's shell protects it from most enemies except for raccoons, alligators and humans. Turtles in the wild can live for more than 55 years.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_turtle

Thursday, May 28, 2026

clinquant \KLING-kunt\, adjective:

1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.

noun:

1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf.

Clinquant is from French, glistening, tinkling, present participle of obsolete clinquer, to clink, perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken

back door braggart

• n. A person who states a problem that they have with the express intention of letting everyone know how awesome they think they are, revealing their douche baggery to all.
• v. Back Door Bragging: The act of expressing a false statement in order to set up the conversation to prove how (seemingly) fantastic the subject finds themselves.
• effect: typically leads to eye rolls and general annoyance with subject.

Sarah: Lets go check out the new mall!

Lisa: Oh I hate clothes shopping anymore. Since I've been working out I can never find anything that fits because my waist is too tiny and my tits are too big. Life is so unfair!

Sarah: You're such a back door braggart, Lisa. Go fuck yourself.

History

• Indian Removal Act: law forcing the relocation of eastern tribes to the other side of the Mississippi River was signed by US President Andrew Jackson (1830)
• Sierra Club: environmental activist group was founded by Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, among others; it now has nearly three quarters of a million members (1892)
• Mathias Rust: 19-year-old pilot from Germany landed his plane near Moscow's Red Square; he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after a year (1987)

Birthdays

• Owain Glyndwr 1354 - Welsh ruler, Prince of Wales
• George I 1660 - King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1714-1727

  
• Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine 1738 - Physician, he did not invent the guillotine even though he did propose the use of a mechanical device to carry out death sentences in France
• Thomas Moore 1779 - Lawyer, social philosopher, author
• Jim Thorpe 1888 - Olympic athlete, baseball and basketball player
• Taffy Abel (Clarence John "Taffy" Abel) 1900 - Hockey player
• Ian Fleming 1908 - Author, journalist, created character of James Bond
• T-Bone Walker 1910 - Musician, singer
• Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau 1925 - Singer, conductor
• Marvin Panch 1926 - NASCAR driver
• Jeannie Carson 1929 - Actress ("Andy Griffith Show")
• Sonny Burgess (Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess) 1931 - Singer
• Carroll Baker 1931 - Actress
• John Karlen (John Adam Karlewicz) 1933 - Actor
• Jerry West (Jerry Alan West) 1938 - Basketball player
• Tony Mansfield 1943 - Songwriter, musician
• Billy Vera 1944 - Singer, actor, writer
• Gladys Knight 1944 - Singer
• Rudolph Giuliani 1944 - Mayor of New York City
• Gary Stewart 1945 - Country musician, songwriter
• John Fogerty 1945 - Musician (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• Ted Snell 1946 - Hockey player

  
• Madeleine LeRouix 1946 - Actress
• Beth Howland 1941 - Actress ("Alice")
• Sondra Locke 1948 - Actress
• Larry Gatlin 1948 - Musician (Gatlin Brothers)
• Roland Gift 1952 - Musician (Fine Young Cannibals)
• Arto Lindsay 1953 - Musician, singer
• Mark Howe 1955 - Hockey player
• Tony McGeoch 1955 - Musician
• Eddie Johnson (Edward "Eddie" Johnson) 1955 - Soccer player
• Susie Diane Owens 1956 - Model, actress
• Jerry Douglas 1956 - Country musician (Union Station)
• Steve Strange (Steven John Harrington) 1959 - Singer (Visage)
• Brandon Cruz 1962 - Actor ("The Courtship of Eddie's Father")
• Chubb Rock ( Richard Simpson) 1968 - Rapper
• Kylie Minogue 1968 - Musician (Locomotion)
• Justin Kirk 1969 - Actor ("Weeds")
• Morgan Fox 1970 - Model, actress
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck 1977 - Television host ("The View")
• Carey Mulligan 1985 - Actress
• Joseph Cross 1986 - Actor

  

 

 

 

  

Hasselhoff Wednesday: Knight Rider

David made his way into our lives driving a Trans Am named KITT in the series Knight Rider. A couple years ago a new TV series came out by the same name, but didn't star David nor a Trans Am. That time KITT is a Mustang (finally a fast car!) and Mr. Hasselhoff had a cameo. A little Hoff is better than no Hoff!

More on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1114258/

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

depredation \dep-ruh-DAY-shun\, noun:

1. An act of plundering or despoiling; a raid.
2. [Plural] Destructive operations; ravages

Depredation comes from Late Latin depraedari, "to plunder," from Latin de- + praedari, from praeda, "plunder, prey."

Manufactured Outrage 

• A falsified righteous outrage at things that are basically unimportant and meaningless, frequently employed by politicians, political activists, or the media. Politicians and talking heads use it to garner support for their causes, to claim the moral high ground and to tar their opponents; the media often just uses it in a cynical bid to increase ratings.
• Manufactured outrages of note include Nipplegate, the Monica Lewinski scandal, the 2009 tea partys, backmasked satanic lyrics, lapel pin controversies, Russian Collusion Hoax...

Just about any time you hear any politician, activist, or radio show host getting outraged about anything, really. The louder and angrier they get, the harder they're working at manufacturing it.

History

• St. Petersburg: city was founded by Peter the Great as his "window on Europe" (1703 N/S)
• Survivor: won the first running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico (1873)
• Golden Gate Bridge: opened to pedestrians; bicycles and wheelchairs are also allowed on the bridge's sidewalks (1937)
• Bismarck: German warship was attacked and sank; nearly 2,000 crew members died (1941)
• Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Soviet dissident novelist returned to Russia after 20 years in exile (1994)

Birthdays

• Ibn Khaldun (or Ibn Khaldoun) 1332 - Astronomer, economist, historian
• Cornelius Vanderbilt 1794 - Entrepreneur (shipping and railroads)
• Amelia Jenks Bloomer 1818 - American women's rights and temperance advocate
• Julia Ward Howe 1819 - Abolitionist, social activist, poet ("The Battle Hymn of the Republic")
• Wild Bill Hickok 1837 - gunfighter, scout, lawman

  
• Arnold Bennett 1867 - Novelist
• Isadora Duncan 1878 - Dancer
• Dashiell Hammett 1894 - Author
• Rachel Carson (Rachel Louise Carson) 1907 - Marine biologist, nature writer
• Vincent Price 1911 - Actor
• Hubert H. Humphrey (Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr.) 1911 - Served as Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson
• John Cheever 1912 - Novelist, short story writer
• Herman Wouk 1915 - Author
• Yasuhiro Nakasone 1917 - Prime Minister of Japan (1982-1987)
• Christopher Lee 1922 - Actor, musician
• Henry Kissinger 1923 - Former U.S. Secretary of State
• Ramsey Lewis 1935 - Musician, composer, radio personality
• Lee Ann Merriwether 1935 - Actress (Barnaby Jones, Batman)
• Louis Gossett, Jr. 1936 - Actor
• Don Williams 1939 - Country singer
• Cilla Black 1943 - Singer, actress
• Bruce Weitz 1943 - Actor ("Hill Street Blues")
• Bruce Cockburn 1945 - Singer
• Richard Schiff 1955 - Actor ("The West Wing")
• Eddie Harsch 1957 - Musician (The Black Crowes)
• Susan Janet "Siouxsie Sioux" Ballion 1957 - Singer (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
• Neil Finn 1958 - Musician (Crowded House, Split Enz)
• Cathy Silvers 1961 - Actress ("Happy Days")
• Peri Gilpin 1961 - Actress ("Frasier")
• Adam Carolla 1964 - Comedian
• Todd Bridges 1965 - Actor ("Diff'rent Strokes")
• Sean Kinney 1966 - Musician (Alice in Chains)
• Jeff Bagwell 1968 - Baseball player
• Frank Thomas 1968 - Baseball player
• Dondre Whitfield 1969 - Actor
• Paul Bettany 1971 - Actor
• Left Eye 1971 - Singer (TLC)
• Jack McBarayer 1973 - Actor ("30 Rock")
• André 3000 (André Lauren Benjamin) 1975 - Rapper (Outkast)
• Jadakiss 1975 - Rapper
• Darnell Dockett 1981 - Football player
• Ethan Dampf 1994 - Actor ("American Dreams")