October 2024

•  Do you ever find yourself thinking, if I eat that banana, I won't have to make banana bread?
• I know one other person who's taking vacation time after the election just in case of dire outcome resulting in stress and sorrow. Is this widespread?
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plangent plucks of shamisen strings

from this month's AAA Magazine AAA Explorer, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Don George:

"On a dusky April evening in Kyoto..down a cobbled alleyway framed by weathered wooden buildings. The plangent plucks of shamisen strings floated from a screened second-floor room..."

My spouse said "plangent" was an unusual & not modern word, likely confined to the Oxbridge crowd or equivalent.

I was willing to accept it was just a word I didn't know the meaning of until I looked it up.

 

CPAP parts pricing

 Bookmark here for rant on the outrageous pricing of CPAP replacement parts and the annoying method required to order them.

Why must bathing suits make us miserable?

Rebel against the oppression of stupid bathing suits!

Women over 60 years old or over 150 pounds do not want to wear the current standard woman's bathing suit. 

Forget the tiny skirts with which they try to appease us. Not good enough. I want more dignity, and sunburn protection.

From now on, I'll be wearing men's swim trunks and a nylon t-shirt* to the beach. Mens' swim trunks are longer than the ones I've found for women, and they have lots of pockets.

 

stray thoughts September 2024

• Who does all the sewing for that seamstress in Bridgerton? In the fictional world that is. We don't see anyone else in the back of the shop, but no way one person can sew all those dresses and still have time for a love affair.
• Had I known, I'd have saved the "Intel Inside" sticker when it fell off. For nostalgia.
• "Pull yourself together" worked for a hundred years, didn't it? Could I make it my mantra? Would it help?
• Grout for mosaic from flat rocks picked up on beach. I suppose the clay already in the house won't work?
• FISH IN THE MICROWAVE! No problem - I'm working from home.
• Really, what is wrong with the word "stuff"? Why the present near-universal substitution of an expletive for what is already a reasonably fun word?
• I gathered a flower pot full of acorns. Left them outside. Will the local squirrels find and take them? It remains to be seen.
• OK, a few years ago I made acorn flour. It was not worth the effort. But, it did add a nice flavor when 1/4 cup or so added to bread-machine bread. 
• Maybe if the squirrels don't grab all the acorns I'll try it again. There are mistakes I won't repeat in the process. There's some advantage to experience. It wouldn't be quite as bad the second time.
• Jasper Fforde will be the Guest of Honor at Boskone, which is at the cold forbidding Waterfront Westin where I had not wanted to return, but, I've read all his books. I don't expect to ever get to his Ffiesta, so..
• If I do bother to go, he had better be entertaining. Hear that, Mr Fforde?
• I want something like Instagram that ONLY has pretty pictures to look at-- no videos, minimal words.
• The Amica Insurance ad on music.youtube.com, the one that starts with the black and white subway scene--it's entitled "More Human", it's a good mini-movie. I bet it wins an award somewhere. 
• The Voce Viva perfume bottle deserves to win a design award, perhaps related to its usability for the vision impaired.
• Dark Star : Scary Beachball
• I never wanted to *be* a writer. I wanted to do justice to the people who were living in my brain.
• 
  

Now Nigerian Prince Peddles Puppies?

Puppies make even scam letters more charming:

From: Bill <noreply@agssl.co.in>
To:

Hello,

My name is Bill Wood, I am a Doctor and work for different prominent hospital, I came across your email address through an email surfing Affiliated with the US chamber of Commerce and My late Grandma was a puppy breeder, She died about 4 months ago and she left 1 Female English Bulldog,1  Male Chihuahua,1 Maltese and 1 Female Yorkshire Terrier before she pass a way one of the Female puppy recently had a litter 3 puppies, They are so adorable,Due to my job as a Oncologist will not allow me to take good care of these babies. I would have love to take care of them myself but due to the nature of my job i do hardly have time for my self, So i want to find them caring & loving parent who will take good care of them and willing to adopt,if you interested in having one of them Please contact me as soon as possible and be specified with the puppy you want English Bulldog, Maltese,Chihuahua and Yorkshire Terrier) and I will email you with the full details on how to go about adopting them.

Looking forward to your prompt e-mail

Bill 

 (This showed up in my office email on Saturday.)

Late July Tweets to be collected here

 I did reinstall X on my cellphone a few months back, then read and wrote some tweets. The place is definitely less fun.
After Musk pledged $45 millions to Trump, I pulled X off the cellphone again. And I added "Not Tesla" to my todo list entry of getting a battery backup for the house.

So today:

2024-07-23: thinking of designing stationary that says

on the envelope (or at the top):

Just a Letter! Not a birthday card! Not a thank you note! Not a bill! Not a check! (sorry).

and somewhere in the margin of the writing space: 

Let's be retro: I've got a new pen!

[which led to:]

2024-07-23: I miss aerograms.

My Book of Poems, by Rachel

"My Book of Poems" is a poem by the poet Rachel. I remembered learning it decades ago in Hebrew College's Prozdor. The Israeli teacher copied it out for us.

From סֵפֶר שִׁירַי / רחל בלובשטיין - פרויקט בן־יהודה (benyehuda.org)

סֵפֶר שִׁירַי

רחל בלובשטיין

צְרִיחוֹת שֶׁצָּרַחְתִּי נוֹאֶשֶׁת, כּוֹאֶבֶת

בִּשְׁעוֹת מְצוּקָה וְאָבְדָן,

הָיוּ לְמַחֲרֹזֶת מִלִּים מְלַבֶּבֶת,

לְסֵפֶר שִׁירַי הַלָּבָן.

נִגְלוּ חֶבְיוֹנוֹת לֹא גִלִּיתִי לְרֵעַ,

נֶחְשַׂף הֶחָתוּם בִּי בְּאֵשׁ,

וְאֶת תּוּגָתוֹ שֶׁל הַלֵּב הַכּוֹרֵעַ

יַד כֹּל בִּמְנוּחָה תְּמַשֵּׁשׁ.

We learned the Hebrew verb תְּמַשֵּׁשׁ as in

 יַד כֹּל בִּמְנוּחָה תְּמַשֵּׁשׁ

I don't think there's a single English word for that. It means that thing you do when you're testing fabric between your thumb and index finger.

So here is my rough translation of the poem.

My book of Poems

Screams that I screamed of pain and despair
In hours of sorrow and loss,
Became phrases to warm the heart
In my book of poems bleached white.

I revealed what I'd never told to a friend,
My heart's secret yearnings, buried, sealed with flame,
It's all now cloth for casual shoppers
To twist between their fingers.

-- Rachel Bluwstein, 1890-1931