Monday, May 23, 2005
A new word
Quincunx. It's one of those words that you always knew must exist (as in, there must be a name for those three dots that you put in a sentence when you want people to know you're leaving something out...which word is 'ellipsis', by the way) but never bothered to look up. Probably because you didn't care enough to find out.
But NOW, thanks to me and Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, you don't have to care or even look it up...unless you are really compulsive. In which case, knock yourself out.
Quincunx • \KWIN-kunks\ • noun: an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle. (Blog note: as in, the pattern on the five side of a die. You'll wonder how you ever got along without knowing this.)
I used to have a toy on which you had to press different sequences of buttons to get the lights to light up in a specific pattern. I loved that toy. Man, no wonder I'm such a geek.
'night.
(0) comments
But NOW, thanks to me and Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, you don't have to care or even look it up...unless you are really compulsive. In which case, knock yourself out.
Quincunx • \KWIN-kunks\ • noun: an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle. (Blog note: as in, the pattern on the five side of a die. You'll wonder how you ever got along without knowing this.)
I used to have a toy on which you had to press different sequences of buttons to get the lights to light up in a specific pattern. I loved that toy. Man, no wonder I'm such a geek.
'night.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Grocery shopping for the vertically challenged
Yes, folks, that's right. It is a little-explored sociological issue that deserves some grant money, at the very least, because so few people are aware of the hardships faced by this much-ignored segment of the population. Grocery shopping is just one small area of the issue.
Imagine if you will, a smart grocery shopper. He or she knows exactly what is on sale, what the most nutritious (or least poisonous) products are and isn't swayed by product placement or advertising. Now imagine that half of the items this person needs are out of their reach. Absent other, taller shoppers who are kind enough to stop at their pathetic requests for help, the small smart shopper is reduced to: a) climbing up the shelves to reach the desired item; b) using a reachable item as a tool to knock down the desired item (usually resulting in said item falling on the side of the shopper's head); c) asking taller friends to go grocery shopping with him or her (no easy task in itself); or d) hijacking a child small enough to lift over the shopper's head to reach the item for him or her, which last exercises both the shopper's arms and patience.
So, the next time you witness a person smaller than yourself struggling to reach such thoughtlessly-placed products, please take pity and offer to help. You could even make a new friend.
'night.
(0) comments
Imagine if you will, a smart grocery shopper. He or she knows exactly what is on sale, what the most nutritious (or least poisonous) products are and isn't swayed by product placement or advertising. Now imagine that half of the items this person needs are out of their reach. Absent other, taller shoppers who are kind enough to stop at their pathetic requests for help, the small smart shopper is reduced to: a) climbing up the shelves to reach the desired item; b) using a reachable item as a tool to knock down the desired item (usually resulting in said item falling on the side of the shopper's head); c) asking taller friends to go grocery shopping with him or her (no easy task in itself); or d) hijacking a child small enough to lift over the shopper's head to reach the item for him or her, which last exercises both the shopper's arms and patience.
So, the next time you witness a person smaller than yourself struggling to reach such thoughtlessly-placed products, please take pity and offer to help. You could even make a new friend.
'night.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
The meal that's bigger than your head
Call me crazy but I think there has to be a limit to this food thing. I'm still trying to figure out steaks that are over a pound for one person. I like to eat but I can't reconcile this supersize-all-you-can-eat-bigger-than-ever mentality with the health hazards of obesity. I think if we're all living on the same planet (whether or not this is where we are actually from) we should at least be living on the same page.
That said:
Yahoo! News
Pa. Eatery Offers New 15-Pound Burger [blog note: for perspective, know that the human head only weighs 8 pounds]
The burger war is growing. Literally. Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, which lost its crown as the home of the world's biggest burger earlier this year, is now offering a new burger that weighs a whopping 15 pounds.
Dubbed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the burger comes with 10.5 pounds of ground beef, 25 slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions, a cup-and-a-half each of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, mustard and banana peppers — and a bun.
It costs $30.
"It can feed a family of 10," said Denny Liegey Sr., the restaurant's owner.
Denny's Beer Barrel Pub had offered a 6-pound burger — with 5 pounds of toppings.
In February, a 100-pound female college student became the first to eat the burger within the three-hour time limit. Kate Stelnick, of Princeton, N.J., was awarded a special certificate, a T-shirt and other prizes and Leigey picked up the $23.95 tab for the burger.
One month later, the Clinton Station Diner in Clinton, N.J., introduced a 12.5-pound burger dubbed Zeus. [blog note: their website only claims that it's a seven-pounder, which I found to be frightening enough. Maybe they're not counting the toppings?]
So Liegey responded, and the Belly Buster was born.
Over the weekend, four men took the challenge, but couldn't get through the entire burger. They opted for doggie bags, instead.
"It's a little too much for me to handle," said Steve Hepburn, of Clearfield. "It's like trying to eat half a cow."
___
Information from: The Courier-Express, http://www.thecourierexpress.com
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
____
Then comes the voice of reason:
What does this massive meal do to your body? According to our nutrient analysis (at right), it might kill you. It delivers 10 times the Daily Value (DV) of fat -- enough to trigger a heart attack if you have a bad ticker, studies show. (I think I'll take a dose of Coumadin beforehand, to thin my blood.) Second, it wallops you with seven times the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) of sodium, which can make you lethargic. Third, getting 15 times the DV of protein will dehydrate you, since excreting it requires copious urination. Finally, you'll get twice the UL of iron and five times the DV of vitamin C. At higher doses, this combination can produce fatal shock; but in this case, maybe you'll just throw up. (I expect to do this anyway, so I'm not going to worry about it. Also, I asked a Denny's staffer if anyone has keeled over after eating an 11-pounder. "Nope," she said, "but we've seen plenty of people vomit.")
'night. (burp)
(0) comments
That said:
Yahoo! News
Pa. Eatery Offers New 15-Pound Burger [blog note: for perspective, know that the human head only weighs 8 pounds]
The burger war is growing. Literally. Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, which lost its crown as the home of the world's biggest burger earlier this year, is now offering a new burger that weighs a whopping 15 pounds.
Dubbed the Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the burger comes with 10.5 pounds of ground beef, 25 slices of cheese, a head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions, a cup-and-a-half each of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, mustard and banana peppers — and a bun.
It costs $30.
"It can feed a family of 10," said Denny Liegey Sr., the restaurant's owner.
Denny's Beer Barrel Pub had offered a 6-pound burger — with 5 pounds of toppings.
In February, a 100-pound female college student became the first to eat the burger within the three-hour time limit. Kate Stelnick, of Princeton, N.J., was awarded a special certificate, a T-shirt and other prizes and Leigey picked up the $23.95 tab for the burger.
One month later, the Clinton Station Diner in Clinton, N.J., introduced a 12.5-pound burger dubbed Zeus. [blog note: their website only claims that it's a seven-pounder, which I found to be frightening enough. Maybe they're not counting the toppings?]
So Liegey responded, and the Belly Buster was born.
Over the weekend, four men took the challenge, but couldn't get through the entire burger. They opted for doggie bags, instead.
"It's a little too much for me to handle," said Steve Hepburn, of Clearfield. "It's like trying to eat half a cow."
___
Information from: The Courier-Express, http://www.thecourierexpress.com
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
____
Then comes the voice of reason:
What does this massive meal do to your body? According to our nutrient analysis (at right), it might kill you. It delivers 10 times the Daily Value (DV) of fat -- enough to trigger a heart attack if you have a bad ticker, studies show. (I think I'll take a dose of Coumadin beforehand, to thin my blood.) Second, it wallops you with seven times the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) of sodium, which can make you lethargic. Third, getting 15 times the DV of protein will dehydrate you, since excreting it requires copious urination. Finally, you'll get twice the UL of iron and five times the DV of vitamin C. At higher doses, this combination can produce fatal shock; but in this case, maybe you'll just throw up. (I expect to do this anyway, so I'm not going to worry about it. Also, I asked a Denny's staffer if anyone has keeled over after eating an 11-pounder. "Nope," she said, "but we've seen plenty of people vomit.")
'night. (burp)
Monday, May 02, 2005
S.C. Teens Rescued After 6 Days at Sea
Yahoo! News
S.C. Teens Rescued After 6 Days at Sea
Adrift on a sailboat without food or fresh water for six days, 17-year-old Josh Long and a friend survived on sea water, raw jellyfish — and faith.
"We just prayed every day. We prayed for our families, prayed for our lives, prayed to get home. God answered us," Long told CBS's "Early Show" on Monday. "I knew he wouldn't let us suffer for no reason."
Long and his best friend, 15-year-old Troy Driscoll were spotted Saturday about seven miles off Cape Fear — more than 100 miles from where they had begun their journey off Sullivans Island, S.C., on April 24.
The boys were sunburned, dehydrated and exhausted, but otherwise in pretty good shape. They were recovering Monday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C.
The pair quenched their thirst with sea water and slipped into the ocean to cool off, but sharks chased them back onto the boat. At night, they used a single wet suit to keep warm.
The teenagers had set out shark fishing on a 14-foot Sunfish during a blustery day. The National Weather Service had warned small boats to stay off the water and the pair realized they were in trouble almost immediately. They tried to swim to shore, pulling the boat along with them.
They yelled to people on the beach, but weren't heard. Within hours, the boys were out to sea. The pair lost their tackle the second day.
"We didn't even get a chance to fish," Driscoll told The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C. "After 20 minutes we knew we were in for a long trip. We knew we were in trouble."
At one point, the teens thought they had drifted across the Atlantic Ocean and were close to Africa. Instead, they were about 111 miles north — well outside the Coast Guard's search grid — but close enough to spot a fishing boat.
The only thing Driscoll ate was jellyfish; Long feared the jellyfish would make him sick and that he'd lose his bearings. He gargled saltwater a couple of times a day to keep his throat from drying out.
"What we have is an absolutely miraculous story of survival that's going to be studied for years to come," said Richard Goerling, Long's uncle. "I think those two boys have a book to write."
After they were plucked from the water by fishermen aboard the Renegade, the teens were transferred to a Coast Guard vessel where they got medical attention and made a much anticipated phone call.
Tony Driscoll, Troy's father, didn't recognize the phone number calling his cell phone, but he knew the voice.
"He started screaming 'It's my boy, it's my boy! He's been found, he's been found!'" family friend Kay Withrock said.
"The officials were trying to tell us to expect for bodies to float up between seven and 10 days. We knew there was room for a miracle and this is our miracle," Josh's dad, Eddie Long, told "The Early Show."
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Isn't that something? Thank you, God, for your infinite mercy.
'night.
(0) comments
S.C. Teens Rescued After 6 Days at Sea
Adrift on a sailboat without food or fresh water for six days, 17-year-old Josh Long and a friend survived on sea water, raw jellyfish — and faith.
"We just prayed every day. We prayed for our families, prayed for our lives, prayed to get home. God answered us," Long told CBS's "Early Show" on Monday. "I knew he wouldn't let us suffer for no reason."
Long and his best friend, 15-year-old Troy Driscoll were spotted Saturday about seven miles off Cape Fear — more than 100 miles from where they had begun their journey off Sullivans Island, S.C., on April 24.
The boys were sunburned, dehydrated and exhausted, but otherwise in pretty good shape. They were recovering Monday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C.
The pair quenched their thirst with sea water and slipped into the ocean to cool off, but sharks chased them back onto the boat. At night, they used a single wet suit to keep warm.
The teenagers had set out shark fishing on a 14-foot Sunfish during a blustery day. The National Weather Service had warned small boats to stay off the water and the pair realized they were in trouble almost immediately. They tried to swim to shore, pulling the boat along with them.
They yelled to people on the beach, but weren't heard. Within hours, the boys were out to sea. The pair lost their tackle the second day.
"We didn't even get a chance to fish," Driscoll told The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C. "After 20 minutes we knew we were in for a long trip. We knew we were in trouble."
At one point, the teens thought they had drifted across the Atlantic Ocean and were close to Africa. Instead, they were about 111 miles north — well outside the Coast Guard's search grid — but close enough to spot a fishing boat.
The only thing Driscoll ate was jellyfish; Long feared the jellyfish would make him sick and that he'd lose his bearings. He gargled saltwater a couple of times a day to keep his throat from drying out.
"What we have is an absolutely miraculous story of survival that's going to be studied for years to come," said Richard Goerling, Long's uncle. "I think those two boys have a book to write."
After they were plucked from the water by fishermen aboard the Renegade, the teens were transferred to a Coast Guard vessel where they got medical attention and made a much anticipated phone call.
Tony Driscoll, Troy's father, didn't recognize the phone number calling his cell phone, but he knew the voice.
"He started screaming 'It's my boy, it's my boy! He's been found, he's been found!'" family friend Kay Withrock said.
"The officials were trying to tell us to expect for bodies to float up between seven and 10 days. We knew there was room for a miracle and this is our miracle," Josh's dad, Eddie Long, told "The Early Show."
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Isn't that something? Thank you, God, for your infinite mercy.
'night.
