"Never ask us to play this song, or that song about our pants..."

Name that band (from the subject line obviously)!  The reference to the pants song is "Rock Opera of the Pants" by the same band.  Rockin cool song.  I love this band.  They also have a song about eating pork and beans and getting gas.  And a song called the Phantom Mullet.  Awesome stuff.

 

In the words of the poet Thjodolf:  "Above the prow, the dragon rears its glowing head".  Just thought you might care.

 

And also, I would like to take this opportunity to invite any and all of my friends (hehe, i make it sound like its my party...)  to come to Jase and Kallene's birthday party.  It's this thursday night, 6ish DeMeyer Park.  Be there or else you're no friend of mine.  Unless you have a really good excuse, like, say "i don't even live in idaho" or "i already had something planned, like my job" or something.  Seriously, everyone come, the Cutlers rock, and this partys gonna be way non-lame.  actually, i would even say it will be freakin awesome.

 

     Did you know that the word "napiform" means "turnip-shaped"?  And did you know that the nap- part of the word is of the same origin as the -nip in turnip and also parsnip?  One of those words in crazy old Latin is napus which means turnip.  So you just add the Latin ending -form, which means "having the shape of".  
     The termination (-form) is always preceeded by -i-, either representing the Latin stem-vowel or its weakened form in combination, or inserted after consonant stems.  By some this 'i' has been ignorantly supposed to be the genitive ending; hence such misspellings as fabaeform, tabulaeform.

     When I was trying to pick this word apart, I also assumed that the -i- was the genitive ending of napus.  I looked it up in the trusty OED and learned the error of my ways.

 

Take this Free Tour!  Actually it might not work.  I'm not sure.  It worked for me because i loggen in...  i guess if it pops up a little screen and you can't get in, you can do username: bdhar; password: 1007584.  Don't abuse this.  Please.

 

Today is Flag Day.  Let's all show a little patriotism here.  We have a really awesome country, you know, go ahead and let everyone else know you believe that.

 

    "Flag Day, is a day for all Americans to celebrate and show respect for our flag, it's designers and makers. Our flag is representative of our independence and our unity as a nation.....one nation, under God, indivisible. Our flag has a proud and glorious history. It was at the lead of every battle fought by Americans. Many people have died protecting it. It even stands proudly on the surface of the moon.
    As Americans, we have every right to be proud of our culture, our nation, and our flag. So raise the flag today and every day with pride!"

 

Did you know that if you like to study flags then you are a Vexillologist?  Thought not.

 

Happy Birthday to:

*Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, 1736  (I heard all about coulombs in my sleep, but i have noooo idea what in the world they are.  definitely related to physics though, because austin and the canadian always did their physics when i was in bed.)

*Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811  (yah, name her famous book and WIN A PRIZE!!!)

*John Bartlett, 1820 (this dude complied Familiar Quotations.  That's almost as cool as compiling a dictionary, in my mind.)

*Louis Finkelstein, 1895

*Burl Ives, 1909  (I remember his song about sitting on your hat or your toothbrush, or your grandmother, or anything else that's helpless)

*James Patrick, 1963 (now of the Buffalo Sabres.  Did you know he was drafted 1st round, 9th pick?)

*Eric Desjardins, 1969 (yah, wurd.  Go philly flyers)

*Sami Kapanen, 1969 (also of the philadelphi flyers, born in Vantaa, Finland)

*Montgomery Edward Scott, 2160 (this is Scottie the engineer from Star Trek)

 

Happy Deathday to:

*Gottfried Wegner, 1709

*Benedict Arnold, 1801

*Karl-Birger Blomdahl, 1968

*Salvatore Quasimodo, 1968

Uhh, yah.  thats all.  Not too many to choose from today i guess...

 

Today in History:

*1st compulsory education law in America passed by Massachusetts, 1642

*US Army founded, 1775

*Isaac Fischer Jr patents sandpaper, 1834

*1st Canadian parliament opens in Kingston, Ontario, 1841

*California declares independence from Mexico, 1846

*Robert von Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner, 1847 (remember back about a month ago, when we celebrated Bunsen Burner Day?  Well that was von Bunsen's birthday.  Today is the anniversary of his discovery.  So let's celebrate again!  Bunsen Burners rock!)

*Norway restricts woman's voting rights, 1907 (traditionally Norway has allowed women to vote since the days of the Vikings.  they restricted their rights at this time because they were preparing for communism and tyrrany and all manner of vileness and evil.)

*Pres Harding is 1st US president to use radio, dedicating the Francis Scott Key memorial in Baltimore, 1922

*Dorothy Lathrop wins 1st Caldecott Medal, 1938 (someday I want to win the Caldecott)

*Auschwitz concentration camp opens, 1940

*1st bazooka produced, 1942

*Canadian Library Association established, 1946 (I wand to join a Library Association someday)

*Eisenhower condemns McCarthy's book burning proposal, 1953 (yah, you flippin' Nazi!)

*No Nukes concert at Hollywood Bowl, 1981

*Southern Baptist convention decide on no women clergy members, 1984

*Queen Elizabeth II knights Ronald Reagan, 1989

 

The theme for this weeks Worthless Word for the Day is "obscure four letter words"!  This is like a dream come true!  Although I don't have anyone to play my four letter word game with anymore.  When Kelv was still around, we played a bunch.  But still, I love four letter words.

And your word(s) for the day:

winx: to bray like a donkey  (british dialectal, related to whinny)

equinimity: evenness of mind; calmness

 

Focal An Lae:

draoi (DREE): druid, wizard, magician
Usage:  Here it is, folks: a word to conjure with. Heaven knows therehas been plenty of conjuring with it over the last century, as it hasbeen variously interpreted and appropriated. In translating "draoi"from Irish tales, "magician" or "sorcerer" would often be the mostaccurate equivalent. The work of a "draoi" is "draíocht" (DREE-uhxt)

     faoi dhraíocht (Fwee GHREE-uhxt) = enchanted, under a spell
     ceol draíochta (KYOHL DREE-uhx-tuh) = enchanting music (lit., music of magic)

History:  Old Irish "druí" derives from the hypothetical Common Celtic word *dru-wid-, meaning "he who has firm knowledge". "Dru-" can be traced back to the Indo-European root *deru- (to be firm, steadfast)."Wid-" goes back to *woid-e (he knows), from the root *weid- (to see).  English cognates of *deru- are "true" and "tree", and of *weid- are "wit"and "wise". The English word "druid" comes not from Irish, but from the Latin version of the Gaulish word.

 

Ahhhhhh..... words!

 

I think I might want to have a water fight one of these days.  Those are always cool.  I can get all my friends (the ones that are left.  I feel like they're dropping like flies, only not so "dead") and all of Andy's friends, and all the people that wish Andy was their friend and all the people at Jase/Kallene's party.  I think that would probably be enough.  maybe all the stake young single adults too.  Then we could take over DeMeyer or something.  We'd almost have a real army.  Uhh, ok I just was saying stuff, and I don't actually have a plan.  If you're interested in a water fight later this week or even next week, or anytime over the summer, give me an email.

 

Also, I think it would be way cool if everyone informed me when their birthdays are, so that i dont forget anyone.  I would feel bad, because I put on the people i know, and the rest just kinda get slighted.  And its sooooo hard to try and keep track of a hundred and twenty birthdays.  I know of five that are coming up in the next week or two.  So if you would be so kind as to send me an email with your birthday in it, that would rock.  Go ahead and send it to bdharris@gmail.com  This is a new account that i have set up because i keep running out of space (Thats one risk of getting 20 emails a day...) So I will never have to delete another message again.  Sorry to keep changing my address on yous (pl. "you".  "y'all" is just lame and hickish, and "you" is too ambiguous) but hotmail has really let me down, and BYU mail is very much unreliable and non-useful and frustrating.  So yah.  I think I'll still send my mass mails from this account, and set the reply-to address as my gmail.  I dunno.  More details later, when I figure out how to use Gmail better.

 

And here are your quotes for today, hope you like 'em.

"It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man."

          H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

"A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward."

          Jean Paul Ritcher (1763 - 1825)

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."

          Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)

 

Yah, peace out everyone.  Keep the suggestions and criticism coming.  It gives me something to do.

-Brian

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