2/21/12 Just Wondering
Closed captioning on tv transcribes a voiceover something like, "Female announcer: Blah... blah..." Why do they bother giving the announcer's sex?
If there's no letter L sound in Japanese, why did they name the car brand Lexus? What do they call it in Japan?
Why is it for women the road to fulfillment is a career, while for men the road to fulfillment is dumping the career and leaving the rat race?
If there's no J or U in Latin, how does the most famous old Roman, Julius Caesar, have both?
Why is it people want to become rich and so attract the opposite sex, yet the rich want to be loved for themselves and not their money?
Why do so many like democracy but hate politics when democracy means everyone is part of politics?
When did the word 'gifted' become a noun? It still means talented, but when did it start replacing gave or given? Moreover, why?
And last and probably least, what's the purpose of that little triangle just under the collar on the front of a sweatshirt?
Filed under Odds & Ends
2/17/12 Dime Stores are Here
Officially there's no such thing as a penny in American currency. According to the U.S. Treasury that small copper coin is a one-cent piece. Calling it a penny started way back when because it resembled the English and Colonial penny people were familiar with. We've been calling it a penny ever since. Everyone but the U.S. Treasury, anyway. I'll not buck the trend and call it a penny, too.
There's talk these days of changing the penny and the nickel because they cost more to make than they're worth. A penny costs 2.4 cents and a nickel 11.2 cents. This is a money-losing proposition, though money-losing propositions are what governments are good at. Only 1.1 cents of a penny is for it's metal content. Which means even if it were made of something much cheaper it'd still cost more than it's worth.
Some people have suggested we do away with pennies altogether. Others think we might as well lose the nickel to boot. Everything would be rounded to the nearest ten cents. Which would mean they'd have to eliminate the quarter. After all, if you bought a ten-cent item with a quarter you couldn't get 15 cents in change without pennies or nickels.
So they'd have to go with only dimes and fifty-cent pieces. Which leaves two unused coin compartments in the standard cash register. Meaning they might as well have dollar and five-dollar coins. This opens up two money tray slots for paper money, fifties and hundreds. Then cashiers wouldn't have to slip them under the tray any more. Or maybe they could use one slot for checks. Whatever.
Axing pennies and nickles would effectively "re-decimalize" American money. Since the smallest amount of currency is ten cents, a dime becomes like a penny and a dollar becomes like a dime. Price signs would no longer need the second decimal. Something for two dollars and fifty cents, $2.50, would be written as $2.5 instead. Dollar stores would be like dime stores. Which they already are if you remember what dime stores were.
This re-decimalization would pretty much agree with how prices have inflated since I was a boy. We used to get an order of fries from the local burger joint for ten cents, now it costs a buck. A can of Coke was ten cents, now it's a dollar. A burger could be had for twelve cents, now they're a dollar. It doesn't work for everything, but it's fairly close.
Which only goes to show, a little inflation year after year adds up to a lot over time. That's because it compounds, like savings interest. From ten cents to a dollar, that's 1,000% inflation. And in those 45 years or so inflation was never over 20%. A quarter ain't worth a dime anymore.
Filed under Talkin Bout Money
2/13/12 As the World Turns
How many degrees does the earth rotate in a day? How many times does the earth rotate on its axis in one year? We might be tempted to say the earth rotates a full 360 degrees per day, and rotates 365 ¼ times a year. If we did, we'd be wrong.
Let's look at a simpler example of a rotating planet which orbits a star in four days. The same side of the planet will face the star four times per orbit. In one day the planet will travel one quarter of the way around, or 90° of orbit. If the planet travels a quarter of the orbit and rotates once around its axis, the side facing the star at point A will be facing 90 degrees away from the star at point B. (Top)
To get the same side facing the star it must rotate an additional 90° to make up for the 90° of orbit. So in one day the planet rotates 450°. (Bottom) Which means the planet will rotate 5 times in one orbit around the star to make four days in a year.
The same thing applies to the earth orbiting the sun. One day requires almost one extra degree, about 360.985° of rotation. In one year the earth needs one extra rotation to make up for the turn in the orbit, meaning it rotates 366 ¼ times on its axis per year.
A 360.985° rotation to get the same side of the earth facing the sun is called a solar day. A 360° rotation is called a sidereal day. Does this make any difference? It does if you're into astronomy. It means to examine outer space you need to look in different directions depending on the time of year.
For instance, to look at distant galaxy C at noon at point A the planet would have to look over its right shoulder, so to speak. At point B the planet would have to look over its left shoulder. But if you or the planet didn't care to look at galaxy C, I guess it doesn't much matter. Which is why this is filed under trivia.
Filed under Fun Facts & Trivia
2/10/12 On the Road
Filed under Cartoons
2/6/12 ...Which Starts with L Which Stands for Pound?
Infrequently Answered Question #65: Why is pound abbreviated 'lb' when there's no L or B in the word?
A: It's confusing because 'lb' is not an abbreviation for the word pound, but an abbreviation of another word which is a symbol for pound, libra.
Here's how it works. A pound is a basic unit of weight which can be measured on a balance scale. Libra is Latin for scale. From libra to scale to weight to pound. So, the symbol for pound is libra which has an L and a B and is abbreviated 'lb'.
This also explains the symbol for British money, the pound. You know, £. It's a script L with a crossbar for Libra. This is found on a computer keyboard at option-3. And shift-3 gets you a different pound sign, #. Well, sort-of a pound sign as it's only a pound sign on a telephone. On a computer # stands for the word number, which is abbreviated 'no' despite there being no O in number.
To go off on another tangent, the astrological symbol for Libra is not £ or # but a horizontal line with a hump in the middle over a straight line. You won't find that on a computer keyboard so you'll have to type out the word. On a telephone pad you'd have to dial 5-4-2-7-2 to spell libra. Then again, there's no longer a dial on a phone to dial yet we say dial anyway.
What I can't tell you is why ounce is abbreviated 'oz' when there's no Z in the word. But you didn't ask so I'm off the hook.
File under Infrequently Answered Questions
2/3/12 The Worst Bargain Ever
I got a puzzle-a-day calendar for Christmas. Here's the puzzle for February 2nd, Groundhog Day, though it has nothing to do with groundhogs:
"Andy flushes the toilet 36 times a day. Each flush uses 2 gallons of water at a cost of 10 cents per gallon. How much do Andy's flushes cost per week?"
The answer is pretty simple math. Andy spends $50.40 a week flushing his toilet.
When I read the setup I had other questions. Why is Andy flushing his toilet so much? Why is Andy's toilet water so expensive?
Maybe it's just me, but using the toilet 36 times a day seems a bit excessive. If Andy sleeps eight hours a day it means he's relieving himself 36 times in 16 hours. That's once every 25 minutes or so. I think Andy should see a doctor.
At $50.40 a week Andy is spending over $200 a month flushing his toilet. Where does Andy live where water is so expensive? By comparison my monthly water bill is about ten dollars. I don't pay close to ten cents a gallon for water, closer to one cent per gallon.
Which makes me wonder, does Andy drink bottled water? Is there anything more overpriced? I mean, a 16 oz. bottle for a dollar means paying eight dollars a gallon. That's twice the price of gas. For water. Which I can get from the tap for a penny a gallon. Bottled water is 800 times more expensive. Though for Andy that's only 80 times more expensive. What a bargain.
Filed under Odds & Ends
1/30/12 Another One Bites the Dust
I see in the news where Kodak declared bankruptcy. Not surprising given the rise of digital photography. Still, had you told me in 1970 both Kodak and General Motors would go bust, I'd have thought you crazy. Not to mention the Soviet Union. How the mighty have fallen.
In it's long heyday Kodak was invincible. Sure, there was FujiFilm and Agfa, but Kodak was the undisputed king. Photographers called it "The Yellow God". But no more. The Kodak moment is over. The Yellow God is dead. Or perhaps being reorganized as a demi-god. A very mortal demi-god it seems.
So, what big name is next? Sears? Xerox? JP Morgan? Italy? Stay tuned. Death and taxes ain't just for people.
Filed under Odds & Ends
1/27/12 More Fauxcabulary Words
People generally speak differently depending who they talk to. At work you use industry jargon. At the bar with your buds you curse like a sailor. At a family gathering you don't curse like a sailor. Unless maybe you come from a family of salty-talking sailors. The point is, our speech is flexible, we adjust for who, when and where. For this I have coined some bits of fauxcabulary...
flexicon (FLEKS e-kon) noun, words one uses tailored to the audience or social setting.
Within our flexicon there are any number of subsets. Following my usual formula of combining two words into a single portmanteau word, here are a few more using synonyms for lexicon like lingo, argot, and patios. Here are but a few.
gobble-degeek (GAH bul dee geek), tech terms you sort-of know used to impress people who don't know.
Texicon (TEK se kon), words used to sound like a Texan, y'all.
ar-r-rgot (ARRR go), words used to sound like a pirate, ye matie.
phatois (fah TWA), words used to sound like a gansta, dog.
badda-balingo (bah dah bah LIN-go), words used to sound like an Italian gangster, capice?
libberish (LIH-ber ish), politically correct terms used in politically correct society.
bluephemism (BLOO fem iz-um), substitute term for a sexual act or naughty bit. Sometimes more polite versions, sometimes more raunchy. 'Naughty bit' is an example of the former, an example of the latter I leave to your imagination.
brocabulary (bro KAB yoo lar-ree), words used among male friends. Often as not a lot of bluephemisms and no libberish.
hocabulary (ho KAB yoo lar-ree), female version of brocabulary.
That's all I got. Yar, I'm out, y'all fuggitabouddit.
Filed under Word Definitions & Origins
1/24/12 Beyond ESP
Top Ten Pretty Much Worthless Paranormal Powers:
Rubberglubility: Ability to have insults bounce of you and stick to the insulter.
Oblivoyance: Ability to have sounds go in one ear and out the other.
Revoyance: Ability to bounce ideas off people.
Televoyance: Ability to project your thoughts into inanimate objects. For thinking inside or outside the box.
Unvoyance: Ability to know what people are not thinking.
Nix-ray vision: Ability to see the invisible. When used clear things are opaque. Which, unfortunately, includes the air.
Chronosis: Ability to speed or slow time and yourself at the same rate. Which makes no difference to anyone else, or yourself for that matter.
Circularnation: Ability to die and come back as yourself and do it all over again exactly the same way, though you never realize it.
Paralevitation: Ability to levitate in weightless environments.
Gullibility: Ability to believe the unbelievable.
And five sensory perceptions that aren't so worthless. Ability to smell a rat, taste success, feel good, hear opportunity knocking, and see the truth.
File under Top Tens & Other Lists
1/20/12 Nothing Like a Good Blab Posting
"Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
"Don't do that."
An old one-liner from Henny Youngman. But true all the same. I mean, would you stick your hand in the fire if it didn't hurt? Maybe some would, but their hand would still get burnt to a crisp and then where are you? The problem of sticking your hand in the fire is not the pain, but losing your hand. Pain is the warning signal that maybe you shouldn't be doing that.
It's like another old gag line, "Pain hurts." Good thing it does. Better some pain to make you stop than painless self-destruction. Pain is your body's way of saying, "Hey, cut it out!" It's mother nature's corporal punishment for doing stupid things.
Now this may seem like belaboring the obvious, but the same sort-of idea applies to all sorts of things. Better to have a warning signal that something is wrong than letting things fail catastrophically. That's what the idiot lights on the dashboard are for. Though they might be more effective if they sent an electric shock through the seat.
People tend to think things work a certain way and will keep on working that way. "Ignore it. It'll go away." And so people often tend to ignore warning signs. Or cover them up. Like a bit of black tape over the check engine light. That's like painkillers for cars.
I thought there was going to some kind of lesson in all this, but it eludes me. Like looking for a hidden meaning that just isn't there. Which leads to my segue, as contrived as it might be, to a quote from Sigmund Freud about dream symbolism.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
Though that reminds me of another line about cigars from the final episode of Cheers, "There's nothing like a good cigar. And this is nothing like a good cigar." So everywhere it says 'cigar' you can put in 'Blab posting'.
File under Quotes & Sayings