Tuesday, October 15, 2013

POPCORN

  • What's the difference between a "buff,"  an "enthusiast" and an "aficionado"?
  • Government shutdown commentary:  How long would a private company stay in business if it had thousands of "non-essential employees"?
  • Another in a list of jimjustsaying's Media Words (words you see or hear only in news reports and never hear a normal person use in real life):  "garb."  (As in, "The gunman was said to be wearing military-style garb.")
  • I'm not saying I'm a mediocre poker player, but let's just say nobody ever called me Amarillo Jim!
  • "If you're the smartest person in the room, find another room."--Michael Dell, Forbes.com
  • There will never be a John Boehner Lookalike Contest.
  • "You never really know where you are born. You have to take your parents’ word for it.”--former major-league baseball player John Lowenstein.
  • I deplore mass shootings as much as anyone, but this infernal digging for "Why?" is getting tiresome and pointless--as if someone could have a good reason.  Whatever the reason, the loose cannon went off, and ferreting out The Motive solves nothing.  Are billions of dollars for the necessary mental-health care--the standard "cure-all"--suddenly going to materialize?  Is the NRA going to lay down and die? 
  • Any chance Jimmy Kimmel or Craig Ferguson could go on an extended vacation like Arsenio Hall?  (I'm just sayin'.)
  • Overheard I:  "I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in."
  • Overheard II:  "Those fireworks . . . scared the bejeebers out of me!"  
  • Notwithstanding the lunacy of having statues of ballplayers in the first place, the next one I see that actually looks like the player will be the first.   
  • Jim's Party Ice-Breaker of the Week:  "Say what you want about the Dead Sea, but it's apparently a good place for, say, redheads to sunbathe.   Because it is 1,400 feet below sea level, the sun's ultraviolet rays pass through more filtering layers of atmosphere before reaching the ground, scientists say.  Result?  Much less chance of sunburn, though precautions are still advised for prolonged exposure. "
  • More words you see in print but never hear anyone use in real life:  "foreign matter," "sundries" and "hydrogenated."
  • Stores that stick price tags over vital product information deserve to go bankrupt.
  • The next time you hear someone say the non-word "negatory," you have my permission to expectorate vigorously in their direction.
  • And people who make a vocal sound that is supposed to approximate the "Twilight Zone" theme are in need of immediate counseling, if not deportation.  
  • I had a dream that Meat Loaf became a vegan and took up the ukulele.
  • Isn't it about time for the federal government to step in and ban movie sequels?
  • I've actually met a Latvian but I'm still waiting for my first Estonian.
  • Newspaper Obituary Nickname of the Week:  "Jimmy-Cowboy."  As in Jerome "Jimmy-Cowboy" Trofka  (Green Bay Press-Gazette obituary, May 6,  2013). R.I.P., Mr. Trofka.
  • I'm always amused by signs that say "Not responsible for goods left over 30 days."  I figure, if I haven't missed it by then, they're welcome to have it!
  • “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”--Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Guys who constantly use sports metaphors in their everyday speech won't get to first base with a lot of women.
  • Jargon Watch:  Reverse vaccine:  One that selectively suppresses immune cells--rather than bolstering them--to control an autoimmune disease.  Used on a diabetic, for example, it would allow pancreatic cells to produce insulin again, according to Jonathon Keats, Wired.com.
  • Today's Latin lesson:  Haud alio viaticus has umquam been hilaris reverto.  ("No one's money has ever been cheerfully refunded.)