Forever A Fangirl

Word: Contumacious

The Word of the Day for Feb 04 is:
contumacious \kahn-too-MAY-shuss\ adjective

: stubbornly disobedient : rebellious

Did you know?
"Contumacious" is one of those words more likely to show up on a vocabulary list or a standardized test than in everyday speech. Legal contexts are another area where you might encounter this fancy word for "rebellious" or "insubordinate." (The link between "contumacious" and the law goes back to Latin, in fact. The Latin adjective "contumax" means "rebellious," or, in specific cases, "showing contempt of court.") "Contumacious" is related to "contumely," meaning "harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt." Both "contumacious" and "contumely" are thought to ultimately come from the Latin verb "tumēre," meaning "to swell" or "to be proud."

My sentence:

I'm in a rather contumacious mood today, verbally throwing the gauntlet down in front of one whom I know will react in the extreme.

Changes

02.03.04
Palatine, Illinois
(One of the very few "hills" to be seen here.)

Been spending vast quantities of time playing with the trial Jasc photography software. It's a good lesson in how much I don't know about photography. I get a lot of satisfaction from it though and am eager to learn, even if it means staying up way past my bedtime giving it a go.

Word: Hermetic

The Word of the Day for Feb 03 is:

hermetic \her-MEH-tik\ adjective

1 often capitalized a : of or relating to the Gnostic writings or teachings arising in the first three centuries A.D. and attributed to Hermes Trismegistus b : relating to or characterized by occultism or abstruseness : recondite
2 *a : airtight b : impervious to external influence c : recluse, solitary

Did you know?
When "hermetic" first entered English in the early 17th century, it was associated with writings attributed to Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. Thoth, whom the Greeks called "Hermes Trismegistus" ("thrice-great Hermes"), was believed to be the author of a number of mystical, philosophical, and alchemistic works. The obscure subject matter of these works may have made them difficult to wade through, for soon English speakers were also applying "hermetic" to things that were beyond ordinary human comprehension. Additionally, Hermes Trismegistus was said to have invented a magic seal that could keep vessels airtight. "Hermetic" thus came to mean "airtight," both literally and figuratively ("as hermetic as a convent"). "Hermetic" derives from the Greek via the Medieval Latin "hermeticus." The variant "hermetical" also appears occasionally.

My sentence:

The bitter cold forced many townspeople to forgo their normal routines and revert to hermetic behaviour.

How Old is Your Inner Child?

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.


How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

This quiz was lifted from Broad at Bat.

Word: Portend

The Word (a day late)
portend \por-TEND\ verb

1 : to give an omen or anticipatory sign of
2 : indicate, signify

Did you know?
"Portend" has been used in English in the context of signs of things to come since the 15th century. The word derives from the Latin verb "portendere," which means "to predict or foretell." That verb, in turn, developed as a combination of the prefix "por-" (meaning "forward") and the verb "tendere" (meaning "to stretch").
So you can think of "portend" as having a literal meaning of "stretching forward to predict."

I really like the stretching forward to predict definition of portend.
I hadn't realized that portend does not just signify bad events to come, but good as well.

My sentence: The relentless freezing rain mixed with snow portended the closing of schools. (This is a good thing if you ask my school-age son. ;)

Get It Right. She Wore A Pasty!

Justin: "Going to have you naked (rips off little piece of costume covering Janet's breast) by the end of this song."

Download file

"The tearing of Janet Jackson's costume was unrehearsed, unplanned, completely unintentional and was inconsistent with assurances we had about the content of the performance," MTV said in a statement.

"Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha!!!!," most everyone else said.

"I'm sorry if anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl," Timberlake said. "It was not intentional and is regrettable."

(Everyone but Timberlake rolls on floor laughing uncontrollably. He'll do that off-camera.)

I have a strong dislike for Viacom's stance in this. They chose MTV (the owner of both MTV and CBS) to put together the Super Bowl half-time show and then feigned shock and surprise when the "performers" got raunchy.

Worse than Viacom et al, are media/others that fob all the responsibility on and call into question the morality of Ms. Jackson. Fine, call her a ****, but if you do so you'd best include Viacom and Timberlake. She didn't pull this stunt off on her own.

And please. Get it right. Her breast was not "nude." She wore a pastie.

Main Entry: past·ies
Pronunciation: 'pAs-tEz
Function: noun plural
Etymology: 2paste
: small round coverings for a woman's nipples worn especially by a stripteaser

Edit: According to anil's daily links and others, Janet is not wearing a traditional pastie. It is rather, a Sunburst Nipple Shield.
Hope we all can now breathe more easily.

The Roads Not Taken

"Endurance Memorial" by Stuart Gosswein was one of the rejected proposals for ground zero.

The Memorial Roads Not Taken

All told, 5,201 designs were submitted to the World Trade Center memorial competition. Here is a sampling of 10 of the entries that were not chosen as finalists.

Of these ten shown, I think I like this one best. It reminds me of the Phoenix bird rising from the ashes.
I wonder if any of these designs can be incorporated elsewhere in some form? It would be a real shame to just file away all the thousands of hours of work that went into over 5000 designs.

Fiorello

I've been trying my free-for-60 days Jasc photo-manipulation software.
It's really challenging but I'm beginning to get the hang (of some) of it. This former throw-away pic recovered well using the Jasc software. (The original pic was taken from too far away, with the camera on the wrong settings and without enough light).
Pic is my son Christopher as Fiorello (not Figaro) in the Barber of Seville. He's sneaking somewhere. :)

The esteemed Lyric Opera coached the kids in Chris's gifted class for a couple of days. The kids were very enthusiastic and did such a great job that they were invited to a show, and afterward a backstage tour of the Opera. Not sure when or what the show will be, but the tour sounds like a good time.