You will be reading “The Chaos” by Gerard Nolst Trenité, written nearly 100 years ago in 1922, designed to demonstrate the irregularity of English spelling and pronunciation. Someone said that if you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the
Today, our kids think about cobblers as perhaps cherry of peach. I tend to think of shoe repair, perhaps it’s my age. The story below ended up in my email inbox the other day and smiling happened. Some of you will remember Klonsky’s Shoe Repair Shop or one like it just down the road from
Perhaps the Ten Commandments are a little out of date. As an atheist, I really don’t give a hoot about having more than one god, as I don’t have one in the first place. The graven image thing and the lord’s name in vain mean little to me. I am a big believer in thou
Tobacco Smoke Enema Kit (1750s – 1810s). The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient’s rectum for various medical purposes, but primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims. A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke into the rectum. The warmth of
I’ve lived in Montreal, Toronto, Goose Bay Labrador, Cape Dyer on Baffin Island on the DEW Line. In my wildest dreams could I have anticipated life here in Cincinnati when it snows! Yes, we have had one or two, maybe three, what I would call serious snow falls in the last SEVENTEEN YEARS, we’ve lived
Perhaps this is why some people don’t fly? A woman was flying from Melbourne to Brisbane. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sydney. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.
As we approach the end of another month – I want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery. I no longer open a bathroom door without using a paper towel, or have the waitress put lemon slices
I’m probably not the only one who follows a zig-zag path while looking up just about anything in a dictionary, encyclopedia or even worse (perhaps better) the internet. Today was no exception. While watching the TV Game Show called The Chase an unusual question arose asking what’s approximately equivalent to 250 Watts? The possible answers
A World War II Spitfire pilot is speaking in a church and reminiscing about his war experiences. “In 1942,” he says, “the situation was really tough. The Germans had a very strong air force. I remember,” he continues, “one day I was protecting the bombers and suddenly, out of the clouds, these Fokkers appeared.”
I heard the other day about a frog that had been swallowed by a Pelican, or perhaps it was Crane, Heron or even a Stork. The actual type of bird doesn’t make one bit of difference to this tale. What happened was quite surreal. The frog was on the pier, or maybe a wharf, again