Aug 16 2023 - It's Countdown Time

 

We count down everything. So it makes sense that there is a TV show in the UK that has this name. It has been on since 1982.   On 26 March 2010, Queen Elizabeth II congratulated Countdown for amassing 5,000 episodes. On 5 September 2014, the programme received a Guinness World Record at the end of its 6,000th show for the longest-running television programme of its kind during the course of Series 71. It is a game show where contestants attempt to make the longest word possible from nine randomly chosen letters, four numers rounds in which contestant must use arthimetic to reach a random target figure from six other numbers and the conundrum, a buzzer round in which the contestants compete to solve a nine-letter anagram.  The show has a resident lexicographer.   During the series heats, the winning contestant returns the next day until they either lose or retire with eight wins as an undefeated "Octochamp". The best eight contestants are invited back for the series finals, which are decided in knockout format. Contestants of exceptional skill have received national media coverage and the programme, as a whole, is widely recognised and parodied within British culture. Wow!  That’s no North American TV show.  Neither Canadians or Americans would have any idea of what to make of an “Octochamp”. This is a wonderful game show with brilliant contestants and many of them children.  See the full description HERE at Wikipedia.  I hadn’t thought of the Outtakes Section where words deemed unsuitable are cut out.  But there are lots over the long history - particularly the “wanker” word. - A round in which Dictionary Corner offered the word gobshite - In 1991 contestants Gino Corr and Lawrence Pearse both declared the word wankers - A round where an anagram of the word fucked appeared on the board in the string "A U O D F C K E G", although neither player chose to use the word and Dictionary Corner was able to find two seven-letter words that could have been made from the board's offerings - On 2 February 2017, the board for the letters round was "M T H I A E D H S", and with both players offering sevens, Dictionary Corner found the word "shithead", which was bleeped out in the audio and censored on-screen with the poo emoji Don’t you think this image of the chessboard at the Bathurst Street Park seems on topic?

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Jan 29 2022 - Do Birds Get Cold Feet?

 

When I look out at the birds on the feeder, I see those tiny little legs and funny little feet and want to know how their feet don't get cold.  Various sources tell me that they do get cold feet. "In the winter, as feathered friends flock to your feeders, it’s hard not to wonder about what happens to their little, unprotected feet, especially when they cling to snowy branches and metal feeder perches. Do songbirds get cold feet in the winter, and if so, are their toes in danger of frostbite? Or worse? The short answer is yes. However, unlike humans and other animals, cold feet don't pose a problem for birds. In fact, birds' feet and legs are designed to offer them some protection when the temperature drops. There are two main reasons that birds aren't affected by cold feet: 1. Blood circulates through the legs and feet of birds very quickly, and blood vessels in this part of the body are positioned closely together. Because of this, blood doesn't have a chance to cool enough in their legs to cause discomfort or distress. Due to this quick circulation, their blood is quickly warmed in their core before being sent back to the feet. 2. Bird legs and feet have very few pain receptors and little fluid. The surface is dry and scaly, with no moisture, which means they don’t have to worry about their feet freezing and getting stuck to metal perches, even on a cold and snowy day." That's from lyricbirdfood.com I do know that birds don't pee - instead they poop that white pasty messy stuff - it is uric acid. And as we now from having received a bird gift,  it doesn't dissolve in water easily to wash off. It sticks just like white plaster. In the meantime, these fascinating facts about Hummingbirds attracted my attention:  The average man would need to eat around 285 pounds of meat per day if they had the metabolism of a hummingbird.   hummingbirds weigh less than a nickel.  Hummingbirds are so small that they have fewer than 1,000 features - compare that to the Whistling Sea with 25,000 feathers.   They are the only bird that can fly backwards but they can't walk or hop. A flock of hummingbirds is known as a bouquet, a glittering, a hover, a shimmer or a tune. A hummingbird and a scientist walk into a bar... Nah, just kidding, hummingbirds can't walk. Two colourful abstracts today to distract from our white winter wonderland.

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May the Month of Spring

Here we are - May 1st - the month of spring. I had a cold on the weekend, and got to wondering about all those mugs of mint and honey tea passing through the urinary system.  One every 15 minutes is what I guessed.  Is that overtime work?  To find out what I'd forgotten since grade 8 (or whichever it was) science class, I went searching through the encyclopedia of the internet. My specific question - is 4 cups of water every hour ok?  It tells me yes - that's the limit.  There are serious consequences of drinking excessive amounts of water.  The urinary system is fascinating. It removes urea from foods containing protein. Urea goes through the bloodstream to the kidneys who remove the urea and extra water. The urine travels down two thin tubes to the bladder.  Muscles are constantly at work moving the urine - every 10 to 15 seconds into the bladder.  The bladder fills up, we eliminate what's in it, and on we go. So kidneys and water became the topic for jokes today. Kidney Jokes: England doesn’t have a kidney bank.... But it has a Liverpool What did the doctor say to the patient with kidney stones? Urine trouble but it'll pass Water Jokes: My friend in Africa was complaining about the lack of drinking water in his village. So I sent him a Get Well Soon card. 9 out of 10 doctors recommend drinking water over soda Not Dr. Pepper I stopped drinking water while studying chemistry My notes say adding water decreases concentration   Here's our abstract of the day - from the Port Dalhousie Pier of boats in storage for the winter.

Who was right about fashion and wrong about women?

Karl Lagerfeld, known world-wide for fashion design has died.  I had a fine wool suit with silk ribbon trim around the lapels designed by Chanel. That was before Lagerfeld took over the design in 1983. The suit was elegant, feminine and on sale at a deep discount. Otherwise, it would have been worn by someone else.   With social media, there is a swirl of coverage of his life in words and pictures.  Vogue has a stylish obituary with 40 of its own pictures through the decades of his career - famous celebrities and models photographed by famous photographers.  HERE.   Search on his name and look at the hundreds of consistent and constant image pictures - the high white collars, black jackets, black jeans and always the white pony tale and glasses.  The fingerless gloves are a curiosity that he always wore.  Included in the pictures is a Karl Lagerfeld Barbie Doll (for the adult collector) that is dressed in his iconic outfit. Look up Karl Lagerfeld quotes. Harper's Bazaar chose 9 quotes - and the first three are hilarious: 1. “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” 2. "Trendy is the last stage before tacky." 3. “I remember a designer who said that intelligent women don’t wear her dresses. Obviously, she went bankrupt.” These are often repeated: "I am very much down to Earth. Just not this earth." "When I was four I asked my mother for a valet for my birthday." "A diet is the only game where you win while you're losing." But Lagerfeld's pouting mouth and dark glasses revealed the nasty side of his persona.  It isn't a surprise that one can retrieve a long list of cutting, controversial and cruel quotes.  He was called misogynistic and fat phobic many times by many famous celebrities responding to his "epic one-liners."  One obituary headline says it:  "Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld was right about fashion and wrong about women". We're looking at abstracts of the urban environment today.