Whatever

Weekend Writing Prompt — English is Illogical

Fandango13 Comments

“Woebegone” is a word that doesn’t mean what it sounds like it should mean.

Let’s break the word down into its three syllables.

“Woe” means sorrow, grief, or misery.”

“Be” means to exist.

“Gone” means missing, lost, or no longer in existence.

Put them together and “woebegone” should be a plea or an incantation for sorrow or grief to go away.

But “woebegone” is a feeling or showing of deep sorrow, grief, or wretchedness.”

That’s not logical.

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the challenge is “woebegone” in exactly 77 words. Image of woebegone girl conjured using ideogram.ai.

MLMM — Sunday Confessionals

Fandango4 Comments

For this week’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie’s Sunday Confessionals, Oloriel has asked us to write a post about the Energies of May. The what? I have no idea what that means or where to begin trying to write about that topic.

So, I thought of some other way to respond to this prompt. I decided to see what seven AI image-generating apps I have on my iPhone would create when I asked each of them to “create an image illustrating the Energies of May.”

Here is what they came up with:

Image generated by Ideogeam.ai

Image generated by Imagine Art

image generated by Leonardo.ai

Image generated by AI Image Generator

Image generated by Copilot

Image generated by Gemini

Image generated by WordPress AI

Which image do you think best captured the Energies of May?

JusJoJan — Contented Cows

Fandango7 Comments

Do you remember back in the day when Carnation Milk, more specifically, Carnation Evaporated Milk, used to have the tagline, “From Contented Cows”?

I wonder how they knew that their cows were contended? Were the cows smiling, happy, frolicking around the idyllic pastures as shown at the bottom of the advertisement above? Did they survey their cows, asking them, “On a scale of one to five, with one being not content at all, and five being extremely content, how content are you?”

Oh wait. The Carnation ad explains it. “Carnation milk cows live where grass is sweetest, waters clearest, air the purest. They have every comfort a cow could have — they live in contentment. This makes the milk richer, more digestible.” That says it all, doesn’t it?

Based upon my extensive research for this post, I learned that Carnation Milk used the tagline “From Contented Cows” in its advertising for decades after its introduction in 1907. However, there is no specific information indicating when the company officially stopped using the slogan. It appears to have gradually faded from use by the mid-20th century as Carnation evolved its marketing strategies.

Maybe that was when Carnation moved its cows from paradise to factory farms and the cows were no longer contented.

From what I can tell, Carnation Evaporated Milk, now a Nestle company, has as its tagline, “The Cooking Milk.”

Okay, I’m content with that!

Written for today’s JusJoJan prompt, “content” as suggested by at J-Dub at J-Dub’s Grin and Bear It.

JusJoJan — Down Under

Fandango6 Comments

I have to admit that “antipodean” is a word I’d never heard before. Were I responding to one of Di’s Fibbing Friday posts, I would have defined it as someone who is against using a podium. But that’s not what it really is.

So I Googled it and got the real definition:

Antipodean — an adjective relating to the antipodes or situated at opposite sides of the Earth. Like Australia and New Zealand are to the United States.

Then I clicked on “images,” thinking I’d get a map of Australia and New Zealand. But instead, I got this image below. WTF?

Antipodean Opaleye? Turns out that it is a dragon species native to New Zealand, with occasional migrations to Australia. It is known for its iridescent pearly scales and glittering, multicolored, opal-like eyes. This medium-sized dragon is relatively docile compared to other breeds, feeding mainly on sheep. It breathes vivid red flames and lays pale gray eggs that resemble fossils. The Opaleye typically inhabits valleys and is considered one of the most beautiful dragon species in the world.

And to think now that Trump is president again, I was thinking of emigrating from MAGALAND and immigrating to Australia or New Zealand. But if those places have indigenous fire-breathing dragons, even docile and beautiful ones, fuhgdeddaboudit.

Written for today’s JusJoJan prompt, “antipodean” as suggested by Kim at Twisted Trunk Travels. Image credit: Pinterest.

SoCS — Feeling Peckish

Fandango12 Comments

Our challenge for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill is to use the words pack, peck, pick, pock, or puck in our posts. We can use one or, for bonus points, use ’em all.

Six-pack: whats your preference? Beer or abs? Pick one or the other. Or both.

******

I love you, a bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap and I’m talkin’ in my sleep

Remember that song?

******

Let’s make like a hockey player and get the puck outta here!

******

The man in the moon’s face looks like it’s covered with pock marks.

******

I want my bonus points, Linda!

Two Refreshing Binge-Worthy Shows

Fandango11 Comments

I don’t recall, in all my years of blogging, to ever before recommending a TV series to my fellow bloggers. But maybe it’s because of the pain I’ve been suffering — the mental and emotional anguish of trying to deal with the aftermath of the presidential election on November 5th and the intense physical pain after having fallen hard on my tailbone on November 7th — that is behind my offering up these two series as refreshing, entertaining, and endearing ways to get your mind off of all that troubles you…at least temporarily.

The first show is “A Man on the Inside,” a lightweight and breezy and sometimes hilarious series on Netflix starring Ted Danson as Charles, a retired professor of engineering whose wife passed away a year ago, and who now lives in relative isolation, sending newspaper clippings to his daughter via snail-mail and going on long, wistful walks by himself. He’s lonely, but comfortable in his loneliness.

One day, urged by his daughter to do something to occupy himself, he stumbles on an intriguing classified ad. The job is unique. A private investigator is looking for an older man to go undercover at a swanky San Francisco retirement home in order to catch a jewel thief without anyone at the retirement home, including the director of the home, knowing of his role as a spy.

Danson is great at his role, as are the other actors, many of whom are well-seasoned TV actors that you will recognize from older TV shows. I kept saying to my wife, “Oh, I remember her, she’s whatshername from that show, you know, what was it?”

It’s funny, heartwarming, and very well done show with eight episodes in season one and a hint in the last episode of the possibility of a second season.

The second show is “Shrinking” on Apple TV+. I binge-watched the first season and the first half of the second season, which airs a new episode every Wedneday through December 25th.

For the most part, “Shrinking” is an ensemble comedy-drama, with a supporting cast is superb in protraying a bunch of quirky people with problems.

At the heart of the show is 80-year-old Harrion Ford who plays the senior partner at the three-person psychotherapeutic practice. He’s an old-school boss with a sharp tongue and a well-hidden soft heart. Harrison plays his character as mart, funny, and sexy and his two junior partners, Jimmy, played by Jason Segel, and Gabby, played by Jessica Williams, idolize him.

Jimmy, a grieving therapist, after the loss of his wife in a car accident a year earlier, starts to tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge changes to people’s lives, including his own.

“Shrinking” is a witty, endearing show and a therapeutic escape from our own daily problems. And the good news is that Apple TV+ has renewed the show for a third season. Yahoo!

SoCS — Prime Time

Fandango10 Comments

Linda G. Hill has given us the word “prime” for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt and has instructed us to use it as an adjective or a verb, use it any way we’d like.

“Prime” is a very popular word in the English language. For television viewing, prime time in most places is defined as the three hour viewing time between the hours of 8 pm up to 11 pm.

And then there’s the job of prime minister, who is the leader of the government of a country with a parliamentary system of government.

Prime can be used to describe cuts of meat, like prime rib, or the quality of a cut of meat, like prime vs. choice.

And we can’t forget about prime numbers, which are whole numbers greater than 1 that cannot be exactly divided by any whole number other than itself and 1. I have no idea why that’s important, but apparently it is to mathematicians.

Speaking about numbers, there’s something called the prime interest rate, which is the interest rate that financial institutions in the U.S. charge their very best customers.

Prime can also be defined as the period of greatest physical and mental robustness, as in he’s in the prime of his life. Unlike me. I’m way past my prime.

That said, I’ve been a member of Amazon Prime, which entitles me to free shipping and often next day delivery on anything I buy from Amazon. I’m also subscriber to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.

But my favorite “prime” is The Prime Directive. Those of you who are Trekkies know what I’m talking about. The Prime Directive is Starfleet’s Non-Interference Principle. As Starfleet began sending fleets of ships deep into the unexplored regions of the galaxy it soon became clear that first contact in Star Trek was an important and delicate procedure.

The Prime Directive was devised to protect underdeveloped alien civilizations from interference by Starfleet, their crew, and the abundance of advanced technology that they possess. It prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the natural development of a society for good or bad, and that has often meant that crews had to stand by as an entire civilization is wiped away by natural disasters or technological folly.

And on that positive note, I’m done.

Five Word Weekly Challenge — The Noisy Spindle

Fandango19 Comments

Greg, over at Greg’s Blog, as given us another Five Word Weekly Challenge using the words indeed, spindle, whine, salvo, and clobber. I tried hard to come up with something using those five words, but after three or four attempts, all of which sucked, I was ready to give up and take a pass on this week’s challenge.

But at the last minute I went to a site called chat.openai.com and typed in “write a poem using the words indeed, spindle, whine, salvo, and clobber.” Here’s what it came up with:

In the quiet of the night,
The spindle whirred, an eerie sight
Indeed it seemed to have its own life
A rhythmic hum, with no respite

Suddenly there was a piercing whine
A sound that sent shivers down the spine
And then a salvo of loud knocks
A warning sign, like ticking clocks

A clobber then, a mighty blow
And silence fell, a tranquil glow
The spindle ceased its endless spin
Its journey done, its fate akin

For life is but a spinning thread
A journey that we all must tread
And though we whine and sometimes clobber
We find our way, and life goes on forever

So, would I have been better off skipping Greg’s challenge this week or did the chatbot do the trick?

MLMM Friday Faithfuls — Aliens

Fandango16 Comments

For Friday Faithfuls this week, Jim Adams would like to get our take on aliens. If aliens ever do come to Earth, do you think they will be here to help us, or to destroy us? How much longer do you think humans will be around for? Do you think that we will ever be able to colonize another planet outside of our solar system? If you think that you married an alien, then tell us why you think that. If you know for a fact that God created man, then please enlighten us.

Alrighty then, those are some interesting questions. Let’s take them one at a time.

My take on aliens is that in the immense vastness of the universe, the probability that there are other forms of intelligent life, in addition to on Earth, is high. But I think it’s highly unlikely that Earthlings and aliens from somewhere else in the universe will ever come in contact. Why? Because of the very vastness of the universe I mentioned earlier. The planets in the universe that can sustain life are separated by probably hundreds, if not thousands, of lightyears. Thus, unless some highly advanced intelligence has mastered hyperspace or warp speed, visits from alien life forms to Earth ain’t happening.

How much longer will humans be around for? Well, if we can’t find a way to combat climate change, maybe less than a few hundred years, if that.

Will we ever be able to colonize another planet outside our own solar system? Unlikely.

Am I married to an alien? Unlikely.

Do I know for a fact that God created man? Well, since I believe that man created God, I would posit that God did not create man. Or much of anything else, for that matter.

Thursday Inspiration — A Good Choice

Fandango9 Comments

For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has given us the word “wrong” as our challenge.

My whole effort to respond to Jim’s challenge today was wrong. Probably because I started writing it after dinner tonight and I was tired. I wrote and edited pretty much the whole response in an app I have on my iPhone called “Simplenote.”

I do that quite often without encountering any problems. But not tonight. First, instead of doing a “copy and paste” of what I had written in Simplenote, I did a “cut and paste.” My intent was to open up the iOS WordPress app and paste the text I thought I had copied into the WordPress block editor and fine tune it from there.

But that’s where I went wrong. Before I posted the text from my Simplenote app into WordPress, I got distracted and used the Image block to insert the image that now appears at the top of this post. But that was okay. My big mistake was tapping out the first sentence you see beneath the photo. When I got to the words “Thursday Inspiration,” I decided to create my pingback to Jim’s prompt post. So I selected those words, clicked on the little pingback icon on the task bar (see below)…

And then I went to Jim’s blog, copied the URL, and pasted it into the dialog box that the icon opened up (see below)…

At that point I was ready to paste the text from Simplenote into WordPress and was shocked when this was all that showed up.

https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/thursday-inspiration-197-me-and-mrs-jones/

My heart sank when I realized that by copying Jim’s blog address into the pingpack dialog box, I had overwritten the Simplenote text with Jim’s post’s URL. Shit!

So I’m sorry, Jim, but my response to your Thursday Inspiration post, which was supposed to be about fear of making a wrong decision, turns out to be a stupid explanation of why my response is about my frustration with myself for doing something wrong in creating this post.

Does anyone have any idea what I’m talking about?