Founded : December 2000 Created By : Esther Aquino and Joseph Garcia
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ESPERANZA AQUINO
Founded : December 2000 Created By : Esther Aquino and Joseph Garcia
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ESPERANZA AQUINO
August 18th, 2005
In Today's Edition
I'm going on vacation next week but the presses will still be rolling. Yup, you heard right. We're gonna have a surprise guest editor filling in for me all next week. So make sure you tune in and give my substitute all the disrespect and humiliation that you give me.
Have a great and safe weekend! Remember who loves you.
Born on August 18th
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970)
Edward Norton (1969)
Christian Slater (1969)
Patrick Swayze (1954)
Martin Mull (1943)
Robert Redford (1937)
Roman Polanski (1933)
Rosalynn Carter (1927)
Shelley Winters (1922)
Meriwether Lewis (1774)
Javier Contreras
Timi and Ron Watson's 15th Anniversary
Gorilla
A gorilla walked into a bar in California, ordered a drink, and gave the bartender $10.
The bartender thought, "What does a gorilla know about money?" So he gave him $1 back.
Later the bartender came over and said, "We don't get many gorillas around here."
The gorilla replied, "For nine bucks a drink, I'm not surprised!"
Today's useless fact - Can a pregnant woman drive in the carpool lane legally?
We visited the links in the Driving and Safety category to answer your question. As if the burden of sharing your body with another person isn't enough, it still does not even legally entitle you to use the carpool lane.
With certain exceptions, carpool lanes are reserved for vehicles carrying multiple occupants. And according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, "An occupant is any person who occupies one seat in the vehicle. Pregnant mothers count as one occupant." That leaves little room for doubt for mommies-to-be in the Tarheel State.
Although the laws governing use of carpool or HOV lanes vary by state, Georgia, Virginia, and California all concur that an unborn baby does not count as an occupant.
This hasn't stopped many pregnant women from testing the limits and even going to court on the issue. Rumor has it that one pregnant woman, pulled over in California, took the case to court and won, but we wouldn't recommend trying it.
And for the record, pets and cadavers don't count as occupants either.
Redneck Horseshoes
The Buzzword for August 18th
chockablock \CHOCK-uh-block\ adjective
What does it mean?
: very full : crowded, crammed
How do you use it?
Adam's bedroom is chockablock with stuffed animals, toys,
books, and his collection of colorful rocks.
Are you a word wiz?
The word "chockablock" originated in a particular field of
activity. In what field of activity do you think
"chockablock" was first used?
A. sports
B. navigation
C. agriculture
D. medicine
Answer:
"Chockablock" started out as term used in navigation. A block
is a metal or wooden case with one or more pulleys inside.
Sometimes two or more blocks are used as part of a rope and
pulley system called a "block and tackle." This system makes
it easier to do something, such as hoist a sail on a
traditional sailing ship. When the rope is pulled as far as
it will go, the blocks are tight together and are said to be
"chockablock." People began to associate the "chock" in
"chockablock" with "chock-full," which goes back to Middle
English "chokkefull," meaning "full to the limit." Eventually
"chockablock" developed the additional meaning "filled up."
Today's Jigsaw Puzzle
CLICK HERE
Balustrade
That's all for now. Tune in Monday for our surprise guest editor.
The following is what appeared in Wednesday's edition.
Heidelberg, Germany - August 16, 2005
At 8:15 pm Erika Aquino gave birth to a healthy bouncing baby BOY !
His name is Shawn Jakob Aquino.
He tipped the scales at 6 lbs even and is 18.3 inches in length.
Mom is doing fine and so is the proud daddy. All of the multiple grandparents are overjoyed.
More info and photos will be posted in the near future.
Congratulations to Erika and Dylan and the proud grandparents.
Born on August 17th
Jim Courier (1970)
Donnie Wahlberg (1969)
Sean Penn (1960)
Robert De Niro (1943)
Jiang Zemin (1926)
Maureen O'Hara (1920)
Mae West (1892)
Davy Crockett (1786)
Ronald Watson Sr.
Dumb Kid?
A young boy enters the barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?"
The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
"What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.
"Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"
The boy licked his cone and replied, "Because the day I take the dollar, the game's over!!!!"
Today's useless fact - Why are cartoon characters usually drawn with only four fingers on each hand?
As we learned from the links in the Cartoons category, the answer is pretty straightforward -- it's easier to draw and animate four fingers than five.
The average cartoon short requires 50,000 drawings. If you're working with a five-fingered character, drawing each digit really adds up in terms of time and money. But if your character has four fingers on each hand instead of five, that's 100,000 fewer digits to sketch. Or as one site puts it, it's "accountant-based thinking that forces so many cartoon characters to go through life with only four fingers."
Two of the earliest animated characters, Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, were both drawn with four "fingers" per "hand," and later characters generally followed suit. But as this 'toon site states, "There's no cartoon bible that you can consult that states that all characters have four fingers."
The Buzzword for August 17th
mesmerize \MEZ-muh-rize\ verb
What does it mean?
1 : hypnotize
2 : fascinate, spellbind
How do you use it?
Despite his initial boredom, Trevor became mesmerized by the
poetry reading.
Are you a word wiz?
Like many other words we've told you about, "mesmerize" comes
from a person's name. Who do you think is the namesake of
"mesmerize"?
A. a magician and colleague of Harry Houdini
B. the Greek goddess of sleep and dreams
C. a minister who led revivals in the Old West
D. an 18th-century doctor with unusual methods
Answer:
Franz Anton Mesmer was an Austrian doctor in the late 1700s
with some unusual medical beliefs. He claimed that a
mysterious fluid he called " animal magnetism" flows through
all matter. His patients sat in a tub of dilute sulfuric
acid, touched "magnetized" iron bars, and were tapped by
Mesmer's wand. He would then let the animal magnetism flow
from his body to his patient's. The effects of this treatment
were found to be only in the patient's imagination. However,
Mesmer had discovered -- or rediscovered -- the technique
once known as "artificial somnambulism" and now known as
hypnotism.
Today's Jigsaw Puzzle
CLICK HERE
That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for more stuff.
The following is what appeared in Tuesday's edition.
In Today's Edition
It's easy to identify people who can't count to ten. They're in front of you in the supermarket express lane.
Born on August 16th
Timothy Hutton (1960)
Angela Bassett (1958)
Madonna (1958)
James Cameron (1954)
Kathie Lee Gifford (1953)
Lesley Ann Warren (1946)
Eydie Gorme (1932)
Robert Culp (1930)
Frank Gifford (1930)
Ann Blyth (1928)
Fess Parker (1925)
Charles Bukowski (1920)
Menachem Begin (1913)
Nikko Watson
Taking No Chances
The priest was preparing a man for his long day's journey into eternity. Whispering firmly, the priest said, "Denounce the devil! Let him know how little you think of his evil!"
The dying man said nothing.
The priest repeated his order.
Still the dying man said nothing.
The priest asked, "Why do you refuse to denounce the devil and his evil?"
The dying man said, "Until I know where I'm heading, I don't think I ought to aggravate anybody."
Today's useless fact - Why can't dogs see color?
Here's what we learned from the Lukol Dog Health category and Vision category:
Popular wisdom has it that dogs are color-blind, but recent research suggests that a dog's world is not all black and white. To understand what dogs can and can't see, it helps to have some basic knowledge of vision in humans and other mammals.
Our vision is optimized for seeing in bright light, while dogs, like many other predators, see best in dimmer light.
Two types of photoreceptor cells in the retina -- rods and cones - - respond to light and transmit electric impulses to the optic nerve through a series of chemical reactions. Rods process visual information in dim light and are sensitive motion detectors, while cones handle color and detail. The human retina contains approximately 100 million rods and 7 million cones.
Cone cells contain pigments that perceive specific wavelengths of color. Human vision is trichromatic -- we have three types of cones that recognize different portions of the color spectrum. These cones allow us to see a range of colors that are a mix of red, blue, and green pigments. Dogs have only two types of cones - - their dichromatic color vision is similar to that of a human with red-green color-blindness. In addition, a dog's retina contains a much smaller ratio of cones to rods than ours does. An article about Canine Vision, written for a college psychology course, includes a graphic that contrasts the yellow, blue, and gray spectrum of the dog's world with the familiar rainbow of colors we perceive.
Before you start feeling sorry for Fido, keep in mind that although he may not have the color range and visual acuity (focus) that you depend on, his night vision is far superior. Thanks to a reflective structure behind their retina called the tapetum lucidum, dogs see objects in the dark as if lit by an eerie glow.
The Buzzword for August 16th
describe \dih-SKRYBE\ verb
What does it mean?
: to represent or give an account of in words
How do you use it?
Harriet described the house in detail, giving the general size
of each of the rooms and the locations of windows and doors.
Are you a word wiz?
"Describe" has another meaning that is less common than the
one we've given you. Which of the following do you think is
another meaning of "describe"?
A. to memorize parts of
B. to determine the size of
C. to gather the edges of
D. to trace the outline of
Answer:
If we had described the root of the word "describe" you'd
probably have guessed that the answer is D, "to trace the
outline of," as in "She used a stick to describe a circle in
the dirt." "Describe" comes from the Latin word "describere,"
from "scribere," meaning "to write." There are several other
words in English that trace back to "scribere." One is
"scribble," which means "to write or draw hastily or
carelessly"; another is "postscript," which means "a note or
series of notes added at the end of a letter, article, or
book."
Today's Jigsaw Puzzle
CLICK HERE
That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for more stuff.
The following is what appeared in Monday's edition.
In Today's Edition
Julia McWilliams was born at Pasadena, California on this day in 1912. After graduating from Smith College in 1934, she worked in advertising in New York City. When war broke out, the six-foot-tall Julia joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the precursor to the CIA) because she was too tall for the WACs or WAVEs. She served at Washington City, Ceylon, and China during the war, married a coworker and moved with him to Paris. Now Julia Child, she attended Le Cordon Bleu, then taught French cooking to visiting Americans. Back in the states, Julia invented the television cooking show, and was a fixture on public television for ages.
Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music. ~Julia Child
Born on August 15th
Ben Affleck (1972)
Jim Webb (1946)
Linda Ellerbee (1944)
Mike Conners (1925)
Rose Marie (1925)
Phyllis Schlafly (1924)
Huntz Hall (1919)
Julia Child (1912)
Ethel Barrymore (1879)
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769)
Lawrence Aquino
Who Brews?
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."
The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."
Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."
Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says.......... "HEBREWS"
Scrapbook
Happy Birthday Larry!
Today's useless fact - Can dogs really sense natural disasters before they actually happen?
We visited the links in the Natural Disasters and Hazards category to answer your question. There is much folklore and anecdotal evidence surrounding the ability of dogs, as well as other animals, to predict weather and natural disasters. Observations of animals abandoning an area right before tragedy strikes have abounded for centuries.
Accounts of such animal behavior prior to the recent tsunami in south Asia, coupled with the surprising lack of animal carcasses found in the aftermath, has revived speculation about four-legged forecasting. One possibility is that many animals, including dogs, can detect sounds inaudible to humans, as well as ground vibrations, both of which were likely generated by the massive quake that preceded the giant waves.
Regarding dogs specifically, a Japanese medical doctor in 2003 claimed public health records showed accounts of excessive dog barking before the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Seismologists, however, were skeptical.
One former United States Geological Survey geologist claims he can predict earthquakes by monitoring the number of missing pet ads in the newspapers of earthquake-prone areas. A three-year study, however, showed no correlation.
While evidence of dogs' ability to predict natural disasters is inconclusive, evidence of their ability to predict the aftereffects of such catastrophes is more robust. When asked what conditions would be like after the next Big One, many dogs replied, "Ruff."
The Buzzword for August 15th
prankster \PRANK-ster\ noun
What does it mean?
: a player of pranks
How do you use it?
We still can't figure out how the pranksters managed to get an
entire bus onto the roof of the town hall.
Are you a word wiz?
A prankster is someone who plays pranks, which are tricks or
mischievous or playful acts. What do you think the "-ster" in
"prankster" means?
A. one having the characteristics of
B. one who is from or lives in
C. one that makes or uses
D. one affected with
Answer:
The "-ster" suffix is used to refer to people who make or use
something. A lot of "-ster" words are for people who cause
mischief or make us laugh. For example, a "jokester" makes
jokes, while a "trickster" plays tricks on people or performs
tricks for them. Two less common words that also use "- ster"
to refer to funny people are "quipster" and "punster." A quip
is a clever remark or funny saying, something a "quipster"
would say. A "punster" is someone who makes puns, which are
funny ways to say words so that their meanings or sounds make
people think of more than one thing.
Today's Jigsaw Puzzle
CLICK HERE
That's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for more stuff.
