ever wonder why the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months of the year have prefixes indicating that they should be the seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth months of the year? you haven't? well i have - and I found the answer to this interesting bit of information this morning when i read the latest straight dope.
Turns out that there used to be only ten months in the year, march being the first month! in ancient rome, the period between december and march wasn't counted because, being the middle of the winter, the agricultural culture didn't need it. so sept, meaning 7; oct, meaning 8; nov, roughly meaning 9; and dec; meaning ten, were just numbers of the months. Further more, July and August, renamed after roman emporers, were originally called "Quintilis," or fifth; and Sextilis, now august, was the sixth month.
you can read the article here. and spock said, "fascinating."
not a low-key new years for me. i'm going up to vermont to my ski house tomorrow afternoon - my house is hosting a party. new years day and jan 2nd will be spent skiing, and i'll come home in the afternoon on sunday. my wife, unable to come this weekend, will stay home with the baby and have a few of our friends over for midnight.
Dec 30, 2004
Dec 27, 2004
"butt bonging" ???
so i was checking out the webstats for my brother's web site just now (and a mighty fine site it is: Turzman Central) and I was looking at what search phrases people entered and then went through his site. There are always a few entertaining ones. Most of them actually happen to come through to my highpointing page that I host on his domain - people search for the name of a mountain or "highest point appalacians) and they find my page. Others search for something that my brother happened to mention on his blog and come through that way (eg. "bruce the mechanical shark" was a search phrase.) but what I don't understand is the bizarre ones that sometimes come through. And what takes the cake so far this month (and it's the end of december) is "Butt Bonging." First of all - what kind of sick freak enters "butt bonging" into google? What the hell could he possibly be looking for? Secondly, what in God's name is on my brother's web site that turned up a phrase like "Butt Bonging" ?? Explain that to me, will you please?
on a completely different note, today i got to leave work early because they closed the daycare center due to broken heat. yep. the heat was broken when i brought him in the morning and at the time it was "45 minutes" till repair, until then the kids would have to stay bundled up inside. not a big deal, and i went to work. that was at 8am. at 10:30am i got the call, and by 11am, three hours later, i was back there to find rufus sitting there all bundled up in a winter suit so bulky he could hardly move. they had him zombified in a swing watching tv. but i got to take a day off work - so i can't complain.
finally, i have a complaint (no the other two paragraphs are not complaints - just observations.) wtf. i'm flipping the channels on xmas eve (i watch TV through my computer when i'm bored - no regular tv in my house) and i catch the closing credits to rudy the red nosed reindeer.. at first i was bummed that i missed it, until a horrible realization overrode any emotion other than anger. what, do you ask, is this event that caused such an extreme emotional hijacking? clay-mation rappers. rapping the theme song to "rudolph the red nose reindeer." with straight faces. on network tv. as the closing credits to the show. now granted, i'm not a big fan of this whole russel simmons phenomenon - but i also understand that russel simmons is what the kids are into these days. fine. i can live with it. but why the hell did they have to go and mess with a classic like that? i mean, can you imagine the outcry if they added clay-mation rappers to "it's a wonderful life??" when george baily comes home and sees everyone has given him money and got him out of his pickle and they sing together and smile together and this is the best christmas ever and blah blah blah - yes it's a classic scene. now add clay-mation rappers. what have you done? not only have you ruined something by not leaving it alone, you've made a travesty! lets apply that to rudy here. now i grew up on that show. i loved it! the outcast reindeer with the red nose, the outcast elf who wanted to be a dentist, the scary but cute abominible snowman. now while it doesn't star jimmy stewart and isn't from the 40s, it's still a classic in my heart and should not be modified! and russel simmons (or people influenced by him) go in and add clay-mation rappers to the closing credits. what the hell is the world coming to?! leave it alone!
ugh. i hate tv.
watched 2½ movies this weekend in my quest for the top 100: the apartment with jack lemmon (great movie), on the waterfront with marlon brando (great movie), and the great escape with a lot of people (probably a great movie, but the netflix DVD was damaged right at the climax of the movie.. what a drag, eh?) I should get the replacement DVD in a day or two - so I can certify that as a great movie as well. In the past month I've also watched Alien, Ran, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, City of God, and Modern Times. Next up are Annie Hall, High Noon, and Aliens; but first, Ghandi, which is not part of the project. All of these movies I've not seen before. You can check the project status here: 100 movies project.
currently reading HP Lovecraft - Bloodcurling Tales of Horror and the Macabre; The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey; and Emotional Intelligence at Work by Daniel Goleman.
on a completely different note, today i got to leave work early because they closed the daycare center due to broken heat. yep. the heat was broken when i brought him in the morning and at the time it was "45 minutes" till repair, until then the kids would have to stay bundled up inside. not a big deal, and i went to work. that was at 8am. at 10:30am i got the call, and by 11am, three hours later, i was back there to find rufus sitting there all bundled up in a winter suit so bulky he could hardly move. they had him zombified in a swing watching tv. but i got to take a day off work - so i can't complain.
finally, i have a complaint (no the other two paragraphs are not complaints - just observations.) wtf. i'm flipping the channels on xmas eve (i watch TV through my computer when i'm bored - no regular tv in my house) and i catch the closing credits to rudy the red nosed reindeer.. at first i was bummed that i missed it, until a horrible realization overrode any emotion other than anger. what, do you ask, is this event that caused such an extreme emotional hijacking? clay-mation rappers. rapping the theme song to "rudolph the red nose reindeer." with straight faces. on network tv. as the closing credits to the show. now granted, i'm not a big fan of this whole russel simmons phenomenon - but i also understand that russel simmons is what the kids are into these days. fine. i can live with it. but why the hell did they have to go and mess with a classic like that? i mean, can you imagine the outcry if they added clay-mation rappers to "it's a wonderful life??" when george baily comes home and sees everyone has given him money and got him out of his pickle and they sing together and smile together and this is the best christmas ever and blah blah blah - yes it's a classic scene. now add clay-mation rappers. what have you done? not only have you ruined something by not leaving it alone, you've made a travesty! lets apply that to rudy here. now i grew up on that show. i loved it! the outcast reindeer with the red nose, the outcast elf who wanted to be a dentist, the scary but cute abominible snowman. now while it doesn't star jimmy stewart and isn't from the 40s, it's still a classic in my heart and should not be modified! and russel simmons (or people influenced by him) go in and add clay-mation rappers to the closing credits. what the hell is the world coming to?! leave it alone!
ugh. i hate tv.
watched 2½ movies this weekend in my quest for the top 100: the apartment with jack lemmon (great movie), on the waterfront with marlon brando (great movie), and the great escape with a lot of people (probably a great movie, but the netflix DVD was damaged right at the climax of the movie.. what a drag, eh?) I should get the replacement DVD in a day or two - so I can certify that as a great movie as well. In the past month I've also watched Alien, Ran, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, City of God, and Modern Times. Next up are Annie Hall, High Noon, and Aliens; but first, Ghandi, which is not part of the project. All of these movies I've not seen before. You can check the project status here: 100 movies project.
currently reading HP Lovecraft - Bloodcurling Tales of Horror and the Macabre; The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey; and Emotional Intelligence at Work by Daniel Goleman.
Dec 14, 2004
no posts in a while..
it's now december. haven't posted since august. interesting. well, not much has been going on. joey is now ten months old, is crawling and can even stand when he's holding on to something. i'm working at some insignificant job, and my brother is a college graduate. that's about it.
i am actually about to finish a college class - all that is left is to turn in the final paper. 6 pages of typed dibble-dabble and i'm done. this was an experiment to see how well i could do and to try to meet some local people - don't know too many people in the area yet. turns out that the class i took, english 102, was a fascinating class with a very good teacher (who happens to proclaim himself as the most difficult english teacher at the college.) well, he is pretty tough, but he's a very good professor who relates well with the students and has a genuine interest in the subject matter.
now that i'm about to pass that class (with a probable A, by the way), i am looking forward to seeing what else i can take. should i return to the EMT course of study, or should i go into a more scientific field? i'm not in this for a degree, per se, but rather to get myself interested in something. seriously. and perhaps to meet some people.
skiing is going fine, i've only got three days in so far this year, but it's also the busy season at work so that won't be a trend. i'm up to 17 highpoints and have taken on writing a column in the quarterly highpointers club newsletter. other than that, i've got a headache.
ttyl. here's to a shorter lag before my next blog.
i am actually about to finish a college class - all that is left is to turn in the final paper. 6 pages of typed dibble-dabble and i'm done. this was an experiment to see how well i could do and to try to meet some local people - don't know too many people in the area yet. turns out that the class i took, english 102, was a fascinating class with a very good teacher (who happens to proclaim himself as the most difficult english teacher at the college.) well, he is pretty tough, but he's a very good professor who relates well with the students and has a genuine interest in the subject matter.
now that i'm about to pass that class (with a probable A, by the way), i am looking forward to seeing what else i can take. should i return to the EMT course of study, or should i go into a more scientific field? i'm not in this for a degree, per se, but rather to get myself interested in something. seriously. and perhaps to meet some people.
skiing is going fine, i've only got three days in so far this year, but it's also the busy season at work so that won't be a trend. i'm up to 17 highpoints and have taken on writing a column in the quarterly highpointers club newsletter. other than that, i've got a headache.
ttyl. here's to a shorter lag before my next blog.
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