Thanks, Earnest.
Floyd

My thanks to you, Rich, waaay over on the other side of our state.
Floyd

After seeing the hovering blimp on TV, threatening those who were in its path, I couldn't help but think of the "giant boob" scene in Woody Allen's 1972 film "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask." The link below should take you to it, and I recommend that you click on the 2nd thumbnail down when you get there. Warning: R rated, but hilarious. And please, if you're an Allen hater, fine. But please don't tell me what a bad person I am for recommending anything by Allen. I have no intention of corrupting anyone's morals.

http://wn.com/woody_allen's_giant_boob_scene

Thanks, Bob. (I love the beastie in your avatar.)

Thanks, Jojo. I'm glad I got these shots before yesterday's rain and high winds made many of the leaves disappear.

It may not be Vermont up here in northwest Pennsylvania, but our maple syrup, autumn leaves, dense forests, sandy beaches, four distinctive seasons, fishing and hunting, and flourishing tourism make it a great place to live.

That's my mailbox and road at lower right.


Taken two days ago near one of the marinas at Presque Isle State Park


Presque Isle Bay, with the city of Erie in the background


A small section of the lagoons in the park


One of the many inlets...great for canoes, kayaks, or small sail craft


I assume this is a maple, but I may be wrong. Should have gotten closer and examined the leaves.


This fellow is putting Dulcinea to bed for a 5 or 6 month nap.

Steve wrote: [quote=sb FYI: I think this powerful piece of music is Germany's National Anthem.[/quote]

I didn't think this was true, so I checked. Indeed, it isn't. The history of the German national anthem is a little more complicated, and you'll have to read this informative Wikipedia article to learn about it. The central name is Haydn, not Beethoven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied

At the following link, you can hear the German anthem being sung, along with German and English lyrics. It's instantly recognizable.

http://www.nationalanthems.me/germany-deutschlandlied/

Two weeks ago I got what is called the high dose, which is recommended for us older folks. Had to wait until it was available, and my Highmark insurance paid Rite-Aid pharmacy for it.

This link was on the Hog two days ago. Just sayin'.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-343610-1.html

Some of the people chiming in here may be familiar with Mary Norris, the long-time copy editor at the New Yorker magazine. She has just come out with a book entitled "Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen." Also, she appears in a number of New Yorker videos on YouTube, where she discusses commas and other things. She has a lovely, wry sense of humor, and at the link below you can enjoy a 15-minute talk she recently gave at The Moth, a storytelling venue in NYC.

http://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=mary+norris+videos+new+yorker&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003

Trust me. If you like language and writing, you will be in a literate heaven during these 15 minutes--or while watching Mary Norris's shorter videos.

The entertainment paper "Variety" has long been known for its creative and humorous headlines. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Hollywood made many Depression-era films about the plight of Dust Bowl people and rural migrant workers generally. (The most famous, of course, was John Ford's "Grapes of Wrath," adapted from John Steinbeck's 1939 novel of the same title.) Many people objected to the unfavorable portrayal of those workers as semi-literate or otherwise deserving of their plight. Small towns held anti-Hollywood demonstrations. "Variety" covered the story in 1935, and it was published under this headline:

STICKS NIX HICK PIX

It's commonly considered the best headline ever written. However, when I taught journalism and film courses, at an appropriate time I would print the headline on the board. The reaction? Many of the students would read it with a quizzical look. They had no idea what it meant.

Would you please explain what you mean? Real kids, check. Real weddings, check. Real grown-ups, check. Hmmm. How could the videos be more realistic? :roll:

I feel the same way about "moving forward" and "at the end of the day." Also, since Trumpitis has hit us, I wince at "he (or she) has taken up all the oxygen in the room." Many of these originate with and are perpetuated by talking heads on TV. And the single word that is most overused? "ABSOLUTELY" Drives me nuts. Absolutely nuts! The word I recommend, with tongue partially in cheek, is "INDUBITABLY." It's used with comic effect in the following exchange from Mary Poppins:

Mary Poppins: You know, you *can* say it backwards, which is "docious-ali-expi-istic-fragil-cali-rupus" - but that's going a bit too far, don't you think?

Bert: Indubitably! :-) :-)

Good one. :thumbup: :thumbup:
This reminds me of an anecdote I heard in a graduate school lecture. A distinguished prof of Victorian studies informed us that John Ruskin, a much-read 19th century writer, never fully overcame the shock he experienced when, on his honeymoon night, he discovered that women possessed pubic hair. The class suppressed any giggles, because it was obvious that our prof was making a serious point about Victorian morality.

Don't keep me hangin'. Never heard that one, so pass it on. Here's a Russian joke with lots of truth in it.

A Briton, a Frenchman and a Russian are viewing a painting of Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden. "Look at their reserve, their calm," muses the Brit. "They must be British." "Nonsense," the Frenchman disagrees. "They're naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French." "No way! They have no clothes and no shelter," the Russian points out, "They have only one apple to eat, and they are being told they live in a paradise. Obviously, they are Russian."