Savages and other creatures on Sunday

Date:                                           Sunday, October 31st, 2010
Word of the Day:                        caterwaul (KAT\uhr\wahl); to make a harsh cry; to have a noisy argument
Weight:                                       209 pounds
Goal:                                           lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                          77 pounds
Waist Size:                                 45 inches
Rowing Duration:                       81 minutes, four (4) seconds

Okay, so I just lost one pound this week, its alot better than gaining a pound, I'm actually quite proud of myself for trying to eat better and for keeping all of the exercise that I have been doing.   Tomorrow, I also plan to start to go swimming with Zac, so that should make my exercise program a little more varied.  I also took off another inch off my waist, and that too isn't shabby, so yes, I'm giving myself a pat on the back.

Well today is the day people, all of the ghosts, goblins, witches, wizards, Star-Wars characters, Superman, and characters off that Jersey Shore soap opera will be out to get your Halloween treats, I sure hope none of you get any tricks played on you, or is that really done on the day after Halloween?

I hope you all remember next weekend  to set your clocks back so that you get an extra hour's sleep, too bad it wasn't set back today, which I thought it was, I thought it was supposed to be on the last Sunday for the month of October, but for some reason, the clocks aren't going back until November 7th, 2010.  Do any of you know why the change?  In any case, I hope you are all rested and prepared for today's late afternoon trick and treaters and of course all of those spooks that will be out Halloween night.  I think all of the excitement usually is over by eight o'clock p.m.    Remember to give generously to any and all of those children that carry Unicef boxes on behalf for all of those people less fortunate than ourselves, very easily it could have been You and I that depend on other people's generosity, what is that saying, there but for the grace of God go you and I.  (Zac says it is just suppose to be "there but for the grace of God, go I, ) either one will do, I think you get the message.

Did any of you read that now on Mount Everest, climbers attempting to scale Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, may no longer need to carry heavy satellite phones to contact base camp, because 3G mobile network services base stations have been set up in the Everest region.   Although the 3G services have not been tested from the top of Mount Everest, the telecom company that set up the stations believes it is theoretically possible.   The network is geared to the 30,000 tourists that visit Mount Everest each year, and will help them stay in touch with family and trip organizers as well as receive weather and safety reports while climbing.

Everest climbers can now get weather and safety advice through a 3G mobile network Mount Everest climbers can now surf the internet and make video calls through a 3G network, Nepalese telecoms firm Ncell says.

The company has installed eight 3G base stations along the route to Everest base camp.  The wireless network could help thousands of tourists who visit Mount Everest every year, Ncell claims.    Climbers and trekkers in the Mount Everest region have so far relied on satellite phones and a voice-only mobile network.  

Ncell, which is owned by the Swedish company TeliaSonera, says its highest 3G base station is near Everest base camp at 5,200 metres (17,000 ft).    The coverage would reach the summit of the world's highest mountain, company head Pasi Koistinen, said.   He added that this had not been tested yet.  The 3G network will help climbers and trekkers stay in touch with their families and trip organisers, Mr Koistinen said.   It will also enable them to receive weather reports and safety information while they are climbing.

Around 3,000 people have climbed to the Everest summit since Edmund Hillary first conquered the peak in 1953 and used runners to carry messages from his expedition to the nearest telegraph office.  Less than one third of Nepal's population have access to telecommunication services.  TeliaSonera announced that it would invest more than $100m (£63m) in the next year to increase mobile coverage in the country.

A British climber has set a world record by making a mobile phone call from the top of Mount Everest.

In the early hours of  May 21st, Rod Baber made two calls from the mountain's north ridge.   In the first call Mr Baber described the view, how cold it was and what he wanted to do when back at base camp; he then rang his wife and children.  

The calls were made possible when China set up a mobile base station with a line of sight to the north ridge.   Mr Baber set off from the UK for the Himalayas on March 30and since mid-April has been getting used to living at high altitude.

Image via WikipediaPrior to May 15th, when the final ascent began, Mr Baber and the other members of the expedition had been trekking up and down Mount Everest to familiarise themselves with the route and prepare their bodies for the punishing ordeal.   

Mr Baber also did not have much time to make the call because those climbing Everest typically only stay at the summit for 15 minutes.   Making such a call is dangerous as talking into the handset meant he had to remove his oxygen mask.   Batteries for the Motorola handset he used were taped to his body to ensure they stayed at a high enough temperature to power the phone.   Mr Baber also claimed a separate record for sending the highest text message.

From base camp before making the attempt to reach the summit of Everest, Mr Baber said: "Everest symbolises the greatest challenge to any climber."   He added that making the call from the mountain was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

Image via Wikipedia

Topics coming soon:

Sex
Anorexia
Art

Salad Saturday

Date:                                 Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Word of the Day:              trepidation (trep\uh\DAY\shun); an involuntary trembling, quaking, quivering
Weight:                             210 pounds
Goal:                                 lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                 78 pounds
Rowing Duration:             92 minutes, 11 seconds

One more day until Halloween, I bet your kids are getting excited about the big day tomorrow, I'm wondering what time kids will be out getting the candy and I also wonder how many times they've tried on their costume, I am not going to a Halloween party, are you?

My friend Lily told me that she learns things from reading my posts, so I'm grateful to know that the information that I provide is not just filler, it does serve a purpose.

Last night I watched a lot of varied but interesting television:  "Judge Judy" was in rare form, but then she always is, I think the gentleman that lost his championshiop to the new champion on "Jeopardy" was robbed, "The Waltons" was as good as it always is, the episode yesterday was about Mary Ellen, "Steven and Chris's" Halloween show was just okay, they were all dressed up as characters from "The Wizard of Oz", Kary Osmond from "Best Recipes Ever" was Dorothy, and then I watched a movie.

Image via Wikipedia

Did any one you happen to watch the classic movie "The Chalk Garden," last night, it was on the SILVER channel, of course I watched it, it is one of my favourtie Hayley Mills movies.  ?When Hayley made this movie, she was making alot of Walt Disney movies, "The Chalk Garden," which also stars her father, Sir John Mills, was also in the movie.


"The Chalk Garden" is a drama and it also stars Edith Evans who is fantastic in the movie, I think she should have won the Oscar and sometimes I really can't forgive the academy for giving that prestigious award to the wrong people, they need me on that panel to straighten people's minds out.  The real star of "The Chalk Garden" is Deborah Kerr who never won an Oscar competively but was given an honorary one, which is not good enough for me.  Deborah should have won for "From Here to Eternity," or for "An Affair to Remember" which always, always makes me cry so don't say men don't get it.

Well, as I typically do on Saturdays, I'm letting you go early as there is lots that we all have to do, stay warm, drink plenty of water, don't smoke (that's for you again, Lily,) and warn your children not to talk to strangers, have fun and be good to yourselves.

 Image via Wikipedia

Topics coming soon:

Sex
Anorexia
Art

Fluff on Friday

Date:                                        Friday, October 29th, 2010
Word of the Day:                     kvetch (KVECH); to complain habitually,
Weight:                                    210 pounds
Goal:                                        lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                        78 pounds
Waist Size:                               46 inches
Rowing Duration:                    84 minutes, 23 seconds

Two more days until Halloween,  and then look out because we will once again be visited by ghosts, goblins, witches, Princesses, Superheroes, Star-Wars people,  and I suspect people from New Jersey (I can't remember what that show is that everyone is watching these days.)

Well I received an email from my sister-in-law, Louise, informing me that their family opens gifts on Christmas Eve, so there Efrem, you've been told directly how it will be on Christmas Eve in Gainesville, Florida, maybe we can do some kind of compromise, hmmm, what do you say Louise?

So it's Friday again, hooray, two more days until Halloween, well do you count it when it is the day of Halloween?, do advise me, now all you have to do is get ready for all of those children that will soon be knocking at your doors, hoping to get something really good, no apples please.   I know I always hated getting apples.  My Mother always went through my grab bag before I was allowed to go through it, and all apples were always thrown out, so if you, or your children get any apples, just throw them out.

One more word of advice, please tell your children, if you don't accompany them when they go out trick-or-treating, to be wary of all strangers, just remind them of the "stranger/danger" rule, you never know when the disturbed people out there will strike, sorry folks, but those are the times we live in.

Lately, I have been doing "memory" tests on myself, such as, trying to name all of the fifty states that are in the United States, (after two attempts at naming the States, I can finally name them all, but its not easy,) and naming all of the movies that I have seen at certain film-houses.  I heard doing exercises like this, and doing crossword puzzles, is good for the brain and can help ward off Alzheimer's Disease, and Alzheimer's Disease is in my family, I am doing what I can so I don't get that awful disease, I think that Alzheimer's Disease is one of the worst disease out there and I'm sorry for anyone that knows anyone or has  a member in the family that is battling this disease.  A noteworthy piece of advice is that heavy smoking may be attributed to causing Alzheimer's Disease,  so that is another reason to quit that very nasty habit, are you reading this Lily?

I haven't seen any jackolanterns in my neighbourhood, nope, not a one, it could have something to do with the fact that I live in an adult only community.

I am doing a private survey of Vitamin pills, do you take them daily?, and if so, what kind of vitamin do you take?, because there is a warning out there that taking an excess of vitamins can actually hurt you, so please do your research when you are taking that one-a-day, always do your research, like I do when I write this blog.
I watched the movie "Gypsy" yesterday afternoon on the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, it was a Rosalind Russell day.  I enjoyed all of the movies that they played, but when they showed "Gypsy," I thought of how much I miss Natalie Wood.  I loved Natalie, especially in the film "West Side Story," I loved her in that red dress that she wore in her final scene.   I still think that Natalie was murdered and that her husband, Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken had something to do with it, that's what I believe folks, you know truth is stranger than fiction.

Image via Wikipedia

I am still not feeling very well, not 100% anyway,  and I've begun to have problems with my breathing again.  I hope my asthma isn't about to give me another go-around, I would hate to have to spend time in the hospital, especially when Zac, Winter and I are about to leave for Gainesville, Florida.   Zac gave me a shot of depomedrol and I'm hoping that that medicine will help out my breathing.

There is good news on the horizon:   There is a campaign to reduce the number of polio and to give a vaccine where polio is still an epidemic.   Mass vacination campaigns, where polio is still an epidemic has been reduced to four countries, which is really excellent progress.   Sometimes, because we live in a country wherein we don't have to still worry about polio,  we tend to forget that there are still alot of people out there battling this horrific disease.  Scientists are now saying that a  new double-strain polio vaccine is more effective than triple,  and single vaccines,  and means children in high-risk areas can be immunised against two key strains of the crippling virus in a single dose.Cover of West Side Story (Full Screen Edition)

In a study in the Lancet journal on Tuesday, World Health Organisation (WHO) scientists said research on the bivalent oral polio vaccine, known as bOPV, found it induced a "significantly higher immune response" than triple vaccines.

Researcher Roland Sutter said the findings showed that the new oral vaccine, which is made for WHO vaccination programmes by various drug firms including Britain's GlaxoSmithKline and India's Panacea Biotec, would be a potent weapon in the battle to eradicate the crippling virus.

"The main advantage of the bivalent is that it is so effective against type 1 and type 3 poliovirus at the same time," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The impact has been quite dramatic already in India and in Nigeria with cases coming down to very low levels this year." 

Polio, which spreads in areas with poor sanitation, attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.   Children under five are the most vulnerable, just think about that statistic, how many of us know people that have children who are under just five years of age. just think how awful it would be to lose these kids.

In 1988, when the WHO and its partners formed the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to lead a drive to eradicate polio, the virus was endemic in 125 countries and paralysed nearly 1,000 children every day.

Mass vaccination with older triple, or trivalent, oral polio vaccines have helped reduced the number of countries where polio is endemic to just four. But despite the use of these triple vaccines as well as monovalent, or single strain vaccines, polio virus types 1 and 3 are still circulating in the polio-endemic countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria.

In their study, conducted between August and December 2008, Sutter and colleagues analysed data from 830 newborn babies from three centres in India who received either the monovalent, bivalent or trivalent vaccines in two doses, one at birth and one 30 days later.  Isn't that fantastic?

"The plan of action for polio eradication, with bOPV as the centrepiece, is only 50 percent funded for 2010-12," they wrote.   They described the potential of the new bivalent vaccine as "an important step forward" but said "a final concerted effort, both locally and worldwide, is required" to succeed in finally eradicating the virus.

On the peachtree channel, which we find on #47, they have begun rerunning the beginning episodes of the television sitcom "Frasier," I think the beginning shows were so funny, especially when Niles is first introduced to Daphne, the writers of that story stuck with the premise of Niles one day getting Daphne all through the show,  which I think is pretty amazing.   Too bad for Kelsey Grammer that he has failed at getting another television series going, I guess people out there just liked the character of Frasier Crane, I personally loved Lilith Sternin-Crane.

Well folks, I guess it is time that I let you start on your Halloween weekend, I imagine that for all of you that have children that "shell out," it will be a busy one for you, remember to inspect your children's candy, and if it is at all possible, accompany your children when they go out from house to house.  And for all of you that will be handing out the candy to children, a warning:  I always loved the houses wherein the people left the candy at the front door and told kids to help themselves, I loved these houses because I would take more than my share, well I'm being honest here, why should I lie about this at this stage in my life?  Anyway, remember me,  and take the time to personally hand out your candy, seeing kids costumes is the best part of Halloween, don't miss it.

Topics coming soon:

Sex
Anorexia
Art

Troubling Thursday

Date:                              Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Word of the Day:            inchoate(in\KOH\it); in an inital or early state; just begun
Weight:                           210 pounds
Goal:                               lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:               78 pounds
Waist Size:                     46 inches
Rowing Duration:           92 minutes, 55 seconds.

I was not well yesterday, all day, and it was so bright and sunny out, at least I had Winter to keep me company, and I did manage to do my rowing today, my weigh-in day is just around the corner, after all.  Yesterday, Zac went to Hamilton for an appointment with his oncologist.  When one has had cancer, you really have to stay on top of the disease and go to all appointments.   Zac has been in remission for four years now, and we want his good health to continue.

It is only now three days until Halloween, do you have your costume yet?  Are you going to a Halloween party?, have you bought all your treats for all of the little ones (and big ones) that will be visiting your home?  Do any children still collect  for Unicef?, I hope so because the money goes a long way to help out people less fortunate than ourselves.  I think Halloween is a child's favourtie day of the year, well, next to Christmas, which is also just around the corner.  Image via Wikipedia

Back to Halloween, I was wondering, do people still carve out jackolanterns?, if you do, don't make it too scary.   I remember one year when my sister and her family were living with me, my brother-in-law put a dummy of a man that had been brutally murdered in a chair on our porch of our house, and alot of the children were afraid to approach the house because they were afraid of the dummy, so don't make your house ornaments too scary.

Image via WikipediaYes, it is just 58 days until good old Saint Nick comes a calling, and I hope this year at my brother Biff's house, I hope the gifts do not get opened until Christmas Day.   Are you reading this Louise?  I do like the idea of opening one gift on Christmas Eve, but if you open up all of the gifts on the eve of Christmas,  I think the day of Christmas is a bit of a letdown.   When I was a child growing up, when we got up first thing in the morning, my brothers and sisters and I only got to open up our Christmas stockings.  We had to wait until the whole family arrived later in the afternoon to open up all of our gifts, that was a bit too much.  And that was then, this is now, I can't wait to see my kids, for me, seeing the children is the best gift of all.  Oh yes, Winter also enjoys Christmas, and the kids always buy her presents, Winter really is a much loved dog. 

Thinking back to when I was a child, at summer camp, there was a song we always sang about the ocean liner Titanic, it was singing this song that began my fascination with the ship of dreams, and I have never lost my interest in the great ship.   It was also learning of the Titanic which made me so determined to learn how to swim, I had no idea it was the freezing waters that killed alot of the people, I just thought all of those people couldn't swim, in any case, I did learn to swim and I became a good enough swimmer that I'm qualified to teach swimming, you didn't know that about me, did you?

The  RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world when she set off on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City on 10 April 1912.   Four days into the crossing, at 23:40 on 14 April 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank at 2:20 the following morning, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.  While not enough to hold all of the passengers and crew, Titanic carried more boats than was required by the British Board of Trade Regulations.   At the time, the number of lifeboats required was determined by a ship's gross register tonnage, rather than her human capacity.



The high casualty rate when the ship sank was due in part to the fact that, although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship carried lifeboats for only 1,178 people.   A disproportionate number of men died due to the women and children first protocol that was followed. 

On the maiden voyage of Titanic some of the most prominent people of the day were travelling in first class.   Among them were:  millionaire John Jacob Astor IV and his wife Madeleine Force Astor, industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy's owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, Denver millionairess Margaret "Molly" Brown (known afterward as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" due to her efforts in helping other passengers while the ship sank).    Travelling in first class aboard the ship were White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay and the ship's builder Thomas Andrews, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.

On the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912, the temperature had dropped to near freezing and the ocean was calm.   The moon was not visible (being two days before new moon] and the sky was clear.   Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via wireless over the preceding few days, had drawn up a new course which took the ship slightly further southward.   That Sunday at 13:45 a message from the steamer Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in Titanic's path, but as Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, the Marconi wireless radio operators, were employed by Marconi and paid to relay messages to and from the passengers they were not focused on relaying such "non-essential" ice messages to the bridge.   Later that evening, another report of numerous large icebergs, this time from Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge.

Of a total of 2,223 people aboard Titanic only 706, less than a third, survived, and 1,517 perished. The majority of deaths were caused by hypothermia in the 28 °F (−2 °C) water where death could be expected in less than 15 minutes.

Image via WikipediaAnother disparity is that a greater percentage of British passengers died than Americans;  some sources suggest it was because Britons of the time were polite and queued, rather than forcing their way onto the lifeboats.  The captain Edward John Smith was shouting: "Be British, boys, be British!" as the liner went down.  I, honestly, think that had I been on board the Titanic, I wouldn't have behaved in a British manner, I would like to be honourable and have nobility, but in the face of dying, I honestly think I wouldn't be, sorry if that disappoints any of you.

The last living survivor was Millvina Dean from England, only nine weeks old at the time of the sinking.   She died on 31 May 2009, the 98th anniversary of the launching of Titanic's hull.There are many stories about dogs on Titanic.   A crewman released the dogs from the ship's kennels before it went down; they were seen running on the decks.   Two lap dogs survived with their owners in lifeboats, if Winter and I had been on board, I would have somehow managed to get Winter to safety!!!

On 15 April 2012, the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic is planned to be commemorated around the world.   By that date, the Titanic Quarter in Belfast is planned to have been completed.   The area will be regenerated and a signature memorial project unveiled to celebrate Titanic and her links with Belfast, the city that had built the ship.

The cruise ship Balmoral, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has been chartered by Miles Morgan Travel to follow the original route of Titanic, intending to stop over the point on the sea bed where she rests on 15 April 2012, I'm not sure on whether or not I would like to be part of this trip.

It has been speculated that the Titanic could have been saved if she had rammed the iceberg head on.   It is hypothesised that if Titanic had not altered her course at all and instead collided head first with the iceberg, the impact would have been taken by the naturally stronger bow and damage would have affected only one or two forward compartments.   This would have disabled her, and possibly caused casualties among the passengers near the bow, but probably would not have resulted in sinking since Titanic was designed to float with the first four compartments flooded.   Instead, the glancing blow to the starboard side caused buckling in the hull plates along the first five compartments, more than the ship's designers had anticipated.

A number of alternative theories diverging from the standard explanation for Titanic's demise have been brought forth since shortly after the sinking.   Some of these include a coal fire aboard ship, or Titanic hitting pack ice rather than an iceberg.   In the realm of the supernatural, it has been proposed that Titanic sank due to a mummy's curse.
 Contrary to popular mythology,  Titanic was never described as "unsinkable",  without qualification, until after she sank.   There are three trade publications (one of which was probably never published) that describe Titanic as unsinkable, prior to her sinking, but there is no evidence that the notion of Titanic's unsinkability had entered public consciousness until after the sinking, isn't that curious?   I always thought that alot of the mystique about the Titanic was that she was deemed "unsinkable!"  This is why I love doing research, you always, always learn something that you didn't know before.

The first unqualified assertion of Titanic's unsinkability appears the day after the tragedy (on 16 April 1912) in The New York Times, which quotes Philip A. S. Franklin, vice president of the White Star Line as saying, when informed of the tragedy,  "I thought her unsinkable and I based my opinion on the best expert advice available."   "I do not understand it."   This comment was seized upon by the press and the idea that the White Star Line had previously declared Titanic to be unsinkable (without qualification) gained immediate and widespread currency.

Despite popular belief, the sinking of Titanic was not the first time the internationally recognised Morse code distress signal "SOS" was used.   The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906.   It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then.   The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code.    First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride half jokingly suggested, "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it."  Phillips then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call.

One of the most famous stories of Titanic is of the ship's band.   On April 15 the eight-member band, led by Wallace Hartley, had assembled in the first-class lounge in an effort to keep passengers calm and upbeat.   Later they moved on to the forward half of the boat deck.   The band continued playing, even when it became apparent the ship was going to sink, and all members perished, they truly were all heroes.

There has been much speculation about what their last song was.   A first-class Canadian passenger, Mrs. Vera Dick, alleged that the final song played was the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee".  Hartley reportedly once said to a friend if he were on a sinking ship, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" would be one of the songs he would play.   But Walter Lord's book "A Night to Remember" popularised wireless operator Harold Bride's 1912 account (New York Times) that he heard the song "Autumn" before the ship sank.   It is considered Bride either meant the hymn called "Autumn" or waltz "Songe d'Automne" but neither were in the White Star Line songbook for the band.   Bride is the only witness who was close enough to the band, as he floated off the deck before the ship went down, to be considered reliable,, Mrs. Dick had left by lifeboat an hour and 20 minutes earlier,  and Mrs. Dick could not possibly have heard the band's final moments.  

 The notion that the band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as a swan song is possibly a myth originating from the wrecking of SS Valencia, which had received wide press coverage in Canada in 1906 and so may have influenced Mrs. Dick's recollection.   Also, there are two, very different, musical settings for "Nearer, My God, to Thee": one is popular in Britain, and the other is popular in the United States., and the British melody might sound like the other hymn Autumn.  The film "A Night to Remember (1958)" uses the British" setting; while the 1953 film "Titanic," with Clifton Webb, uses the American setting, but we all know the last song and who sang it,  it was  clearly Celine Dion singing "My heart will go on!"

Another often cited Titanic legend concerns perished first class passenger, William Thomas Stead. According to this folklore, Stead had, through precognitive insight, foreseen his own death on Titanic. This is apparently suggested in two fictional sinking stories, which he penned decades earlier.   The first, "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor" (1886), tells of a mail steamer's collision with another ship, resulting in high loss of life due to lack of lifeboats.   The second, "From the Old World to the New" (1892) features a White Star Line vessel, Majestic, that rescues survivors of another ship that had collided with an iceberg, I believe this is possible.
When the Titanic sank, claims were made that a curse existed on the ship.   The press quickly linked the "Titanic curse" with the White Star Line practice of not christening their ships, notwithstanding the opening scene of the film A Night to Remember.

I hope my sister-in-law, Louise, is feeling better today, take care Louise and the rest of you out there reading.

Topics coming soon:

Sex
Anorexia
Art

Wishful Wednesday

Date:                                      Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Word of the Day:                   eke (EEK); to gain or supplement with great effort or difficulty--used with out

Weight:                                   210 pounds

Goal:                                      lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                       78 pounds
Waist Size:                             46 inches
Rowing Duration:                   to be decided

Four days until Halloween, I hope you have your treats all ready for the kiddies, and for the adults who still have long-arrested adolescenes, hehe, on yeah, I can't forget the tramps, I hope you tramps have alot of tricks, hehe.

I'm feeling rather ill, again, yes I know, but Zac has given me some antibiodics so I should feel better soon, anyway, I'll be back tomorrow.

Topics coming soon:

Image via Wikipedia

Sex
Anorexia
Titanic

Tuesday Tuesday

Date:                                       Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
Word of the Day:                     glower (glow\er); to look or stare with sullen dislike, discontent or anger
Weight:                                    210 pounds
Goal:                                       lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                       78 pounds
Waist Size:                             46 inches
Rowing Duration:                   82 minutes, 33 seconds

Okay, I didn't row as well as I did yesterday, but I still did it, and I'm quite proud of myself for keeping this exercise up.   I committed myself to doing this exercise for at least one year,  and I have ten more months to go.   Zac and Winter are coming home later today, I can't wait, I've missed them both so much, in addition it means that I will start my swimming soon, probably later this week, I hope.


Did any of you happen to see Oprah yesterday, I was so moved by the episode yesterday.  The show featured a couple wherein they lost all three of their children, due to a truck slamming into the suv driven by the mother.   The children, two girls and a boy were all under five years of age and seemed adorable, I'm sure they went directly to Heaven.  Anyway, I was depressed from the show until later in the episode,  it was revealed that the mother of the late children gave birth, almost a year later from the death of her children, to triplets, which just happened to turn out to be, two girls and a boy!!!!!  Whenever I hear of stuff like this I wonder how people cannot believe in miracles because this truly was a miracle.

Toronto has a new mayor, I'm not sure how I feel about this, but in time I'll be sure to let you all know how I feel about Mr. Ford.


Yesterday, I spoke to my nephew Raphael, and he has told me that he wants a microscope.  Raphael has become interested in biology after they disected a frog at school and Raphael wants to prepare himself as he is going to be a doctor when he grows up, just like his Uncle Zac.


I told Zac of Raphael`s ambition to be a doctor, and you could hear him smiling over the phone, I mean it.  Raphael has company in his ambition to enter the medical field, as his sister Sally has also said that she would like to be a pediatrician, or a weather-person.  I love it!!!!

Since there isn't alot on my mind today, I thought I would write a little bit about Miss Carol Channing.


Carol Channing was  born January 31, 1921, her middle name is Elaine.  Carol Channing is an American singer and actress, and  the recipient of three Tony Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, can you believe that?


Carol Channing is best remembered for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in "Hello, Dolly," and for playing the bombshell Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Carol Channing was born in Seattle, Washington, and was an only child, (something I always wondered what it would be like as I have a total of twelve siblings.)  Miss Channing's father, George, was believed to be born in Rhode Island, but had in fact been born in Augusta, Georgia, to a German-American father and an African-American mother, hmmm, rather interesting don't you think?

According to Channing's account, her mother reportedly didn't want Carol to be surprised "if she had a black baby."  Carol Channing kept this a secret to avoid any problems on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, "Just Lucky I Guess," published in 2002 when she was 81 years old.

Carol Channing's autobiography, contains a photograph of her mother, but does not have any photos of her father or son.

Carol Channing was introduced to the stage while working for her mother, and her  first job on stage in New York was in Marc Blitzstein's "No For an Answer" which was at the Mecca Temple (later New York's City Center), one of the few places in New York where I haven't been.

Channing moved to Broadway for "Let's Face It!," in which she was an understudy for Eve Arden. Decades later, Arden would play "Dolly" in a road company after Channing finally relinquished the role.  As an aside,  I thought Carol Channing would play the role of Dolly Levi right up to her death.  Fortunately, I got to see Carol in Hello Dolly  many years ago at the O'Keefe Centre, remember when it was still called that? 

Image via WikipediaFive years later from playing in "Lets Face It,"  Channing had a featured role in a revue, "Lend me an Ear."  While in this production, Carol was spotted by author Anita Loos and cast in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" as Lorelei Lee, the role that brought her to prominence.   You remember the big song, later made famous by another blonde, Marilyn Monroe, the song was called "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

Carol Channing has been described as simultaneously smart yet scattered,  a description I agree only half with, hehe.

Channing came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's "Hello, Dolly!"  She never missed a performance during her run,. and her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for "Funny Girl."

Carol Channing got an oscar nomination for best supporting actress for the movie "Thoroughly Modern Millie," opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore.

In 1966 Carol Channing won the Sarah Siddons Award, yes this is a real award, for her work in Chicago theatre.   During Channing's film career she also made some guest appearances on television sitcoms and talk shows, including "What's My Line?"

Channing was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995, and an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, in 2004.   That same year, she received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.  

Image via WikipediaCarol Channing and husband Harry are active in promoting arts education in California schools and reside in Modesto, California.

Topics coming soon:

Sex,

Anorexia

Titanic

Malingering Monday

Date:                                       Monday, October 25th, 2010

Word of the Day:                    slugabed(SLUHG\uh\bed);one who stays in bed until a late hour, a sluggard

Weight:                                   210 pounds

Goal:                                      lose 100 pounds in one year duration

Pounds to lose:                       73 pounds
Waist Size:                             46 inches
Rowing Duration:                   101 minutes, eleven (11) seconds

There are only six days left in the month of October, gosh time is going by so fast, sometimes I wish I was back in public school, because those wobegone days seemed long, and then life, for me at least, would not speed by at the rate that it is now progressing, oh well,  at least I can vote and drive a car!!!!

Cover of Blue Hawaii 

Did anyone last night watch the movie "Viva Las Vegas," starring Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley, on the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel?  Out of all the "Elvis" movies, this one for me, is right up there with "Follow that Dream," and "Blue Hawaii," which are my very favourite Elvis Presley movies.   My very favourite Ann-Margaret movie is, of course, "Bye, Bye, Birdie," gosh, I think I would like to go back to Hawaii, better yet, I would like to live there, the only problem with living there is that all of my family would be living so far away from me, and I love my family, they're everything to me.  Clearly, I need to win the big MAX lottery this week, (it's at Fifty Million,) so I could afford to move my whole family to Hawaii to live there with me, yes that would be nice, very nice indeed!

Just in case you were wondering, I am not a slugabed and I called today's post, Malingering Monday, because Monday is the most popular day of the week when people call in sick to work.   The people are not actually ill, good Heavens no, they just do not want to work that day.   I know neither you nor I are guilty of malingering, are we? (this question is rhetorical, so please do not answer, please.

Just because it is on my mind, I want you to know that the word love is in all of the dictionaries of the world, so please cherish the importance of love, and don't hog love to yourself, love is like manure, its not worth a thing unless its spread out!, remember that.

Gosh, I am fatigued just thinking of my rowing session today, well, at least it is over, and my bottom can finally get back to feeling normal.

It has been a rather long time since I was able to complete 100 minutes on Cruella, and I congratulate myself for doing it today.   And while were on the topic of exercise, I must confess to you that I haven't yet begun resuming my swimming, and while I thank you for not throwing this up in my face, I really wouldn't have minded being reminded,  gosh I do have a unique way of putting similar words together, don't I?

Swimming on a daily basis is the cardiovascular exercise that I really want to get back to doing, DAILY, as swimming is an exercise that is really good for you, but you know that, don't you?  I was going to go swimming (hopefully) with a companion, yes of course I'm talking about Zac, (who else could it be?, don't answer that!,) as Zac too,  wants to start swimming again.  

Obviously, getting wet in the pool will have to wait until Zac returns from the cottage on the lake on Tuesday, which means that Zac and I will not get back to swimming, or dog-paddeling (it has been an awfully long, long time since I was last  in a swimming pool,)  until Thursday or Friday of this week, if we don't get back to it, more importantly, if I don't get back to it, I hope one of you does me the favour and remind me that it is one of my goals.

It was also one of my goals to conduct a grammar lesson each week, not to show off how apt I am at grammar, because I'm not, obviously, but to brush up on using good English, something I've haven't been doing for a long time.  Anyway, you and I were supposed to resume learning a little bit of grammar on Mondays.   Last week  I forgot to give a grammar lesson,  oh, stop your worrying, I'm not going to make today's session longer to make up for last week's omission, but I am going to give a grammar lesson nonetheless. 

Today, I hope (hope being the key word,) to clear up the difference between You and I, not the literal one, but, when one should say You and I or You and Me,. comprende!

Just between you and me, today I'm going to talk about the pronouns I and me.

Ever since I had the idea of talking about grammar once a week, I wanted to talk about the difference between you and I,  especially when I remembered that the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, (I wanted her to be the President, but that's another post for another day,) chose the song “You and I” (by Celine Dion) for her campaign theme song.

Celine Dion's song “You and I” is grammatically correct, whereas the Jessica Simpson song “Between You and I” is incorrect and that is because YOU, I, and ME are Pronouns.  Am I going too fast?, okay, it is always best to start at the beginning, pronouns stand in for the nouns, in my example given above, the pronouns are:  Hillary and Jessica.

Pronouns can be subjects, objects, or possessive, I think I've talked about this before, once or twice, the subject of a sentence is the agent taking action, and the object is the thing or person being acted upon.   If one was lucky enough to say, “I love you,” I am the subject (the one doing the loving), and you are the object (the target of my love and the object of my affection).   That's not too difficult to understand, is it?, good, because I'm not finished!, and now things are going to get a little tricky, but you're smart,  and I know a thing or three,  so we should manage, and if we don't manage,  we can always go back to building houses out of popsicle sticks, but houses made of popsicle sticks aren't as popular as they used to be!!!!!!

A possessive pronoun shows that the thing or person possesses something.   I won't talk about possessive pronouns today, because of the fact that I need to learn and understand this a little better and before I preach the canons of possessive prounouns, they aren't relevant to the topic.

This next part you just kind of have to know.   If you've been speaking English for a long time, and hopefully you are not learning English and good grammar from me, you probably know it whether you think you do or not, and if you are learning English,  YOU HAVE TO MEMORIZE IT!

I IS A SUBJECT PRONOUN, AND ME IS AN OBJECT PRONOUN.

The proper sentence is I LOVE YOU, not Me love you, unless you're a slow learner,(and I'm not judging, I'm just trying to explain the difference, maybe I'm not as good a teacher as I thought I was.)   You use I because the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, and I is the subjective pronoun.

If you've been speaking English your whole life, (not an Americanized version of English, sorry Louise,) or perhaps a kind of English,  your ear quickly picks up the difference between right and wrong.   I play the drums versus Me play the drums.  Barbra Streisand loves me is the proper sentence, not Barbra Streisand loves I.   I'm the target of Barbra Streisand's love, (well I would be if Ms. Sreisand was lucky enough to meet me,) so I'm in the object position in that sentence, and the objective pronoun is me.   Again, in most cases,  your ear should pick up the difference.   Paul McCartney gave the drums to me VERSUS Paul McCartney gave the drums to I.

The reason it gets a little disconcerting when you combine I and me with you is that YOU is both a subjective and an objective pronoun.   It's one of those confusing things that just isn't fair,  nor is/was Joan Crawford.   Whether it is in the subject or the object position, you still use the word YOU.   You love Keith Urban and Keith Urban loves you.   They are both correct, and desirable, especially if you're my friend, Cherry.

 The song title YOU AND I is correct because of the line from the song, "You and I were meant to fly."    IN THAT LINE, YOU AND I are both in the subject case.   We're taking action, FLYING, this seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it?

CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHY THE PHRASE “Between You and I” is wrong, and please don't answer with "it just sounds wrong," you don't want to insult me, do you?, except YOU, I know YOU want to insult me

BETWEEN is a preposition, and I believe we covered prepositions in our very first grammar lesson, some other prepositions are:  on, above, over.  These three are prepositions because prepositions usually either describe a relationship, or show possession, THEY DON'T ACT ALONE!  Prepositions often answer journalists favourite questions like, Where? and When?   For example, if I said, “Keep that secret between you and me,” between describes where the secret is to be kept.    If I said, “I'll tell you the secret on Luisa's birthday, ” on describes when the secret will be revealed.

Instead of acting alone, like Lee Harvey Oswald did, prepositions are part of prepositional phrases.   In the example sentences, between you and me, and on Luisa's birthday ARE prepositional phrases.  (If that sounds like a mouthful, well you should have tried creating/writing it.)   It's just a rule that pronouns following prepositions in those phrases are always in the objective case!    When you're using the objective case,  the correct pronoun is me,  so the correct prepositional phrase is between you and me,  that's not rocket science, is it?, and if you think that is rocket science, well you should try rocket science.   Lily, I wrote that last sentence with you in mind!!!!

Most grammarians, and I, are sympathetic to people who say "between you and I,"   because it's considered a hypercorrection, try telling the person sitting next to you that they made a hypercorrection, hehe,  I would love to see hiséher face.   Anyway, back to grammarians,  and my sympathies.   The theory is that people have been so traumatized by being corrected when sayings such as,  "Allison  and me went to the mall,"  instead of "Allison and I went to the mall,"  that people incorrectly correct between you and me to between you and I.   If remembering the Jessica Simpson (I predict that next year Jessica will be a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars,") song "BETWEEN YOU AND I," helps you to remember when to use "YOU AND I, YOU AND ME,"  then Jessica Simpon has done a service to the world, when I said that last sentence, the lights in my house went out, at the same time, I was also wondering if Nicky Lachey just fainted?, hehe, I do have a twisted sense of humour!!!!!


Topics coming soon:

Sex
Carol Channing
Anorexia

Sad on Sunday

Date:                                       Sunday, October 24th, 2010
Word of the Day:                    tocsin(TOCK\sin); an alarm bell, or the ringing of the bell for the purpose of alarm

Weight:                                   210 pounds
Goal:                                      lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose:                      78 pounds
Waist Size:                            45 inches
Rowing Duration:                  88 minutes, five (5) seconds

Somehow or other I managed to lose two more pounds this week, I'll take it, it is helping me get closer to my goal.

I am still missing Winter and Zac, I guess you just get used to other people, and dogs, being around, I especially miss Winter and all of her affection towards me.

I went to dinner last night with Zac's brother, Barry, we went to a restaurant called Borealis.  The food was just okay, I ordered a hamburger with cheddar cheese, and it came with french fries, and Barry had a vegetarian dish .  Barry had a beer on tap, and we both had no dessert, the bill was forty dollars, add the tip to the bill and dinner for two costs fifty bucks, this is rather expensive for two to dine out, I mean the meal (s) was rather simple.

Image via Wikipedia

I was up all night, I couldn't sleep.  It is a good thing that I get alot of channels on the television, even considering that, I still ended up watching reruns of "Mary Tyler Moore," and "Designing Women."  I also rewatched that interrogation of Russell Williams on "The Fifth Estate," as Barry asked me if we could rewatch it, Barry is of the opinion that Russell wanted to get caught, I feel differently.

Have you heard on the news that actor Randy Quaid and his wife are seeking refugee status here in Canada?, oh sure, come to this country, we love criminals!  (I'm sure this comment is apt to get me in trouble, but Mr. Quaid and his wife are wanted by United States authorities, I know, I know, everyone is innocent until proven guilty!)

I have decided today to talk a little bit about dreams, after all, we all have experienced having a dream, have we not?

First off, what is a dream?, (besides being used to describe me, hehe,)  a dream is a succession of images, sounds or emotions that the mind experiences during sleep.   The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, (although some of my best ideas for stories, and other authors, have come from dreams) though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history.   The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology, which will sooner or later become one of my words of the day.

Throughout history, people have sought meaning in dreams or divination through dreams.   Dreams have been described physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep, psychologically as reflections of the subconscious, and spiritually as messages from gods, the deceased, predictions of the future or from the Soul, for symbolism is the language of the Soul.    Many cultures practice dream incubation, with the intention of cultivating dreams that were prophetic or contained messages from the divine.

Despite their power to bewilder, arouse, frighten or amuse, dreams are often ignored in mainstream models of cognitive psychology.   As methods of introspection were replaced with more self-consciously objective methods in the social sciences in 1930s and 1940s, dream studies dropped out of the scientific literature.   

During sleep the eyes are closed, so that the brain to some degree becomes isolated from the outside world.   Moreover all signals from the senses (except olfaction) must pass through the thalamus before they reach the brain cortex, and during sleep thalamic activity is suppressed.   This means that the brain mainly works with signals from itself.   A well-known phenomenon in dynamical physical systems where the level of input and output from the system is low is that oscillation makes spontaneous resonance patterns to occur.   Hence, dreams may be the simple consequence of neural oscillation, and if you don't know what that word means, I suggest you buy a dictionary, which is always a good investment.

Evolutionary psychologists believe that dreams serve some adaptive function for survival.   Deirdre Barrett describes dreaming as simply "thinking in different biochemical state" and believes people continue to work on all the same problems—personal and objective—in that state.   Deirdre Barrett's research finds that anything, math, musical composition, business dilemmas, may get solved during dreaming.

Some people believe that dreams allow the repressed parts of the mind to be satisfied through fantasy while keeping the conscious mind from thoughts that would suddenly cause one to awaken from shock, I totally buy this theory, how about you?

Image via WikipediaFreud suggested that bad dreams let the brain learn to gain control over emotions resulting from distressing experiences.

Jung suggested that dreams may compensate for one-sided attitudes held in waking consciousness.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung identified dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious.   They also assert together that the unconscious is the dominant force of the dream, and in dreams it conveys its own mental activity to the perceptive faculty.   While Freud felt that there was an active censorship against the unconscious even during sleep, Jung argued that the dream's bizarre quality is an efficient language, comparable to poetry and uniquely capable of revealing the underlying meaning.



Ferenczi, and I have difficulty pronouncing this name,  proposed that the dreams, when told, may communicate something that is not being said outright, which I feel is most interesting, no matter how you interpret it.

Hartmann says dreams may function like psychotherapy, by "making connections in a safe place" and allowing the dreamer to integrate thoughts that may be dissociated during waking life.

It was found that people all over the world dream of mostly the same things.   The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety.   Other emotions include pain, abandonment, fear, joy, happiness, etc.   Negative emotions are much more common than positive ones.

The Hall data analysis shows that sexual dreams occur no more than 10% of the time and are more prevalent in young to mid-teens.   Another study showed that 8% of men's and women's dreams have sexual content.  In some cases, sexual dreams may result in orgasms or nocturnal emissions.   These are colloquially known as wet dreams, which were not going to talk about as I will get rather embarrassed.

While the content of most dreams is dreamt only once, many people experience recurring dreams—that is, the same dream narrative is experienced over different occasions of sleep.   Up to 70% of females and 65% of males report recurrent dreams, how about that?

A small minority of people say that they dream only in black and white.

There is evidence that certain medical conditions (normally only neurological conditions) can impact dreams.   For instance, some people with synesthesia have never reported entirely black-and-white dreaming, and often have a difficult time imagining the idea of dreaming in only black and white, don't you find that fascinating?
Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming.   In this state a person usually has control over characters and the environment of the dream as well as the dreamer's own actions within the dream, these are my favourite type of dreams.

Oneironaut is a term sometimes used for those who lucidly dream.

The recall of dreams is extremely unreliable, though it is a skill that can be trained.   Dreams can usually be recalled if a person is awakened while dreaming.   Women tend to have more frequent dream recall than men, which is not surprising, especially to women.    Dreams that are difficult to recall may be characterized by relatively little affect, and factors such as salience, arousal, and interference play a role in dream recall.    Often, a dream may be recalled upon viewing or hearing a random trigger or stimulus.   A dream journal can be used to assist dream recall, for psychotherapy or entertainment urposes.   For some people, vague images or sensations from the previous night's dreams are sometimes spontaneously experienced in falling asleep.    However they are usually too slight and fleeting to allow dream recall.   At least 95% of all dreams are not remembered.   Certain brain chemicals necessary for converting short-term memories into long-term ones are suppressed during rapid eye movement (REM,) sleep.   Unless a dream is particularly vivid and if one wakes during or immediately after it, the content of the dream will not be remembered, although I frequently remember mine, I attribute this to the fact that I think about my dream after I wake up.
One theory of déjà vu attributes the feeling of having previously seen or experienced something to having dreamt about a similar situation or place, and forgetting about it until one seems to be mysteriously reminded of the situation or the place while awake.

There is alot more I can say about dreams, but it is dry and technical and you can find that out yourself by researching it, which I recommend as you can then enlighten me.

Topics coming soon:

Sex
Carol Channing
Anorexia