Years ago, I recall hearing a report claiming that red cars were involved in significantly more accidents than other-hued autos. The reasoning behind this phenomenon was that the color red seemed to bring out the aggression in drivers… those behind the wheel as well as those “competing” with them in traffic. A less, um, romantic… Continue reading Hue Auto Be In Pictures
Fun With English
Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand. — Mark Abley, journalist (1955- ) I don’t normally forward emails, but I’m not above posting the occasional gem, in the hope that one of the remaining eight people on the earth… Continue reading Fun With English
Wading Children and Swimming Elephants
I was operating a TV camera in our worship service this morning, so I didn’t catch much of what the pastor said in his message entitled “Who is Jesus Christ?”, but this phrase did stick with me: The Gospel of John is like a pool in which a child may wade and an elephant may… Continue reading Wading Children and Swimming Elephants
Southern Vocabulary
At the risk of initiating a world-killing trackback death spiral, I refer you to a post over at The Fat Guy’s joint (link no longer works, so use your imagination), where he skillfully inserts the word “tump” into a sentence about lattes. I’ve used “tump” as a verb for years without thinking about it, but… Continue reading Southern Vocabulary
Calendar Worlds
I dreamed last night that Hillary Clinton was the antichrist. Really. But that’s neither here nor there; what I really want to talk about is calendars. I realized this morning that I’ve finally slipped the last vestiges of the surly bonds of corporate indenture. For the first time in two decades, I’ve entered the new… Continue reading Calendar Worlds
Good Beginning
The new year is off to a propitious start. (No, I don’t really know what “propitious” means, but one of my unofficial New Year’s resolutions is to use more big words.) We slept in this morning, which for us means until 7:30 a.m., ate a leisurely breakfast, read the paper and watched some of the… Continue reading Good Beginning
Wrapsody ‘n Blue
The three wise men described in the Bible were married, and I can prove it. See, nothing in Scripture mentions anything about Mary and Joseph expressing cries of horror and disgust at the way the gold, frankincense and myrhh presented to the Christ child were wrapped. That can mean only one thing: the magi let… Continue reading Wrapsody ‘n Blue
My Top Ten List of All-Time Scary Movies
What? You didn’t think I was going to list Christmas movies, did you? Well, I might, but only if they were truly scary (and “Scrooged” doesn’t count). First, the obligatory disclaimer. Most of these movies are pretty old, and may or may not have stood the test of time. The point is that they scared… Continue reading My Top Ten List of All-Time Scary Movies
It Was Good…Too Good!
I’m having extreme difficulty achieving re-entry into the blogosphere, following a fine Thanksgiving week. Is it possible to dwell in a trytophan lethargy for days at a time? But I press on, dear friends, for you; such is the depth of my devotion, and my desire to avoid doing anything truly useful for a while… Continue reading It Was Good…Too Good!
Leaves of Death
Please forgive the rather macabre post title. It’s an allusion to our dog’s reaction to this time of year. More in a moment. First, though, we need to come up with a new term to describe this time of year, climatologically speaking. It’s too early to be winter and it’s too cold to be fall… Continue reading Leaves of Death