Book Ratings

Book ratings explained:

* I didn't like it | ** It was OK | *** I liked it | **** I really liked it | ***** I loved it

Thursday, December 01, 2016

Monday, October 31, 2016

UprootedUprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Story telling at its best. Love, anger, friendship. Hope, despair, understanding. Everything a true fairy tale needs.

Link to amazon.com

Monday, October 17, 2016

Winnie-the-Pooh gets a new friend

Karla Pequenino, CNN
(CNN)Winnie-the-Pooh, the fictional teddy bear loved by children worldwide, is celebrating his 90th anniversary with a new feathery friend. The character Penguin makes its first appearance in the book series' anniversary sequel, Winnie the Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World...

Thursday, October 13, 2016

NatGeo Photo of the Day

Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature 2016

Jess Denham |@jess_denham
US folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for having “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, turned 75 earlier this year. His career has spanned more than five decades and his influence still pervades genres from rock and pop to folk and soul. His stunning lyrical ability has seen him tackle timeless themes from politics to love and he remains a hugely respected cultural presence.

Dylan is the first American to win since Beloved author Toni Morrison picked up the prize in 1993. While the announcement was a surprise, Dylan has been a popular choice for consideration over the years, despite his work not fitting into the traditional categories of novels and poems usually favoured by the judges.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Thursday, October 06, 2016

Word of the Day

mavourneen
\muh-VOO R-neen, -VAWR-, -VOHR-\

noun
1. Irish English. darling; dear.

Quotes
I love you, mavourneen, I love you as no one ever loved you before.
 -- E. M. Dell, "The Honourable Burford," The Novel Magazine, April–September 1906

Origin of mavourneen
Mavourneen comes from the Irish expression mo mhuirnín meaning "my darling." It entered English around 1800.

Sunday, October 02, 2016

Word of the Day

amphiboly
 \am-FIB-uh-lee\

noun
1. ambiguity of speech, especially from uncertainty of the grammatical construction rather than of the meaning of the words, as in The Duke yet lives that Henry shall depose.

Quotes 
Maybe it was better to evade the issue, to delay, to be ambiguous and equivocal, indulge in vagueness, anacoluthon, and amphiboly?
-- Mallock, The Cemetery of Swallows, translated by Steven Rendall, 2013

Origin of amphiboly
Amphiboly comes from the Latin noun amphibolia meaning "ambiguity," which, in turn, stems from the Greek verb bállein meaning "to throw." It entered English in the late 1500s.

NatGeo Photo of the Day


PHOTOGRAPH BY BILL YOUNG

Friday, September 30, 2016

Word of The Day

testudinal
  \te-STOOD-n-l, -STYOOD-\

 adjective
1. pertaining to or resembling a tortoise or tortoise shell.

Quotes
Once Mrs. Buckland found herself being shaken awake in the middle of the night, her husband crying in excitement: “My dear, I believe that Cheirotherium’s footsteps are undoubtedly testudinal.” … Mrs. Buckland made a flour paste, which she spread across the table, while the Reverend Buckland fetched the family tortoise.
-- Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003

Origin of testudinal 
Testudinal derives from the Latin word for "tortoise," testūdō. It entered English in the early 1800s.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Word of the Day

eristic \e-RIS-tik\

adjective
1. Also, eristical. pertaining to controversy or disputation; controversial.

noun
1. a person who engages in disputation; controversialist.

2. the art of disputation.

Quotes: Does free speech tend to move toward the truth or away from it? When does it evolve into a better collective understanding? When does it collapse into the Babel of trolling, the pointless and eristic game of talking the other guy into crying “uncle”?
-- Mattathias Schwartz, "The Trolls Among Us," New York Times, August 3, 2008

Origin of eristic: Eristic can be traced to the Greek adjective eristikós meaning "fond of wrangling" and further to the Greek noun éris meaning "discord." It entered English in the 1630s.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Another car park, another King: 'Henry I's remains' found beneath tarmac at Reading Gaol

Archaeologists have discovered what could be King Henry’s remains languishing beneath a Ministry of Justice car park on the site of Reading prison.

A series of graves has been discovered by archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), during an exploration of the site containing the ruins of Reading Abbey.

They came across the graves, along with a number of other potentially significant archaeological finds, while scanning tarmacked land close to the Abbey’s High Altar.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

RC Sugoi Mop

RC Sugoi Mop: RC Sugoi Mop - Cleaning doesn't get any easier than this. This is THE toy of choice for lazy people. Yes, the RC Sugoi Mop is just that, a radio control cleaning mop that will shoot around getting rid of dust while you lounge around, watching the brushes do all the labor. Brought to us from the same team wh ...



(There just aren't any words . . .)

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

A lost spacecraft is talking to NASA again after nearly 2 years alone in the void

A lost spacecraft is talking to NASA again after nearly 2 years alone in the void
By Dave Mosher
Aug. 22, 2016, 5:20 PM

"Somewhere on the other side of the sun, almost directly opposite to Earth, a 9-year-old NASA spacecraft, the STEREO-B, has drifted through the void of space since Oct. 1, 2014, unable to establish contact with our planet. "