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MarcM

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  4. You Americans....

    in Random Thoughts

    Posted

    The lack of planning and action was derelict from the local level, to the state level and to the federal level.

    Local could have used the 350 abandoned school busses and numerous other motorcoaches that were in the city to evacuate the numbers of people that were either too poor or had no other means to leave the city in the days leading up to the storm. I do not know what kind of plan they had, but it needs improving.

    State should have sent the National Gaurd down sooner, once the true extent of the storm was known. The leaders in both local and state both knew that this kind of storm would hit one day, but still did not have a comprehensive plan made up. They also knew that the levies could only withstand the storm surge from a catagory 3 storm, but not higher.

    Federal government should have began their effort sooner, but they have to be requested by the State government first. Federal government should have sent a huge response right away. It is better to have a big response and then cancel who you dont need then need them and have to wait.

    FEMA was not designed to handle an event as large as this. That will have to change.

    I also think that the media down played the effect of the storm in the first 24 hrs before the real scope of the damage was known.

    There will be major changes in the way things will be done on all levels after all is said and done. It would be a real tragedy if we did not learn the lessons we have been given.

  8. Truth or BS?

    in Random Thoughts

    Posted

    Subject: Fwd: Who Knew?

    In George Washington's day, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back, while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

    Pu-LEEZE! Cost an arm and a leg is not recorded until the 20th century, suggesting that it may have arisen in the late 19th century. Photography was available then. The sense of the phrase is literal: paying for something with one's arm and leg is simply too expensive.

    As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year! (May & October) Women always kept their hair covered while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs. The wigs couldn't be washed, but to clean them, they could carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone appears to be, or is, powerful and wealthy.

    Here we go with this bathing thing again. That theme appeared in Life in the 1500s, too. This has nothing to do with cleaning wigs. How preposterous that someone could fit a wig inside a loaf of bread and have it get "fluffy". Did the writer of the piece mean to suggest that wigs were made with yeast? The beast! Bigwig simply refers to the large wigs that important men (or simply distinctive men) wore when wigs were fashionable. It dates from the early 18th century.

    In the late 1700's many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while an invited guest, almost always a man, would be offered this chair to sit in during a meal. To sit-in the chair meant you were important and in charge. Sitting in the chair, one as called the "chair man." Today in business we use the expression/title "Chairman."

    Rubbish! The chairman was simply the person who sat in the "chair of authority" or the head chair in a meeting. It has nothing to do with dining tables. If it did, the head of a family would be called a chairman. Ludicrous! It dates from the mid-17th century when it was hyphenated: chair-man. The notion of chairing a meeting comes from this same sense.

    Needless to say, personal hygiene left much to be desired. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile." Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt and therefore the expression "losing face."

    Bwahahahah! First, beeswax is simply a whimsical sound-alike for business. It has no literal meaning in this sense other than perhaps because beeswax had several uses in the arts and household (on wooden furniture, for example). Second, to crack a smile is simply a reference to the mouth forming a sort of "crack" in the face. Third, to lose face is a direct translation of Chinse tiu lien. And it has only been used in English since the 19th century. If it had arisen as the Who Knew? author suggests, it would have been in use since the 17th century, at least.

    Further, acne scars are not the result of bad hygiene. Bad scarring of the face was often due to smallpox. And indeed women would try to cover such scars (Elizabeth I tried), but not with a heavy application of wax! Body heat would render that too soft to work, anyhow.

    Finally, mind your own bee's wax (or none of your beeswax) is said to someone who is prying into another's affairs, not to someone who is staring at another's face. Utter rubbish!

    Bee's wax in this sense dates from the 1930s in the U.S.

    Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace[d] garment, worn by a proper and dignified lady, gave birth to the term "straight laced."

    First, it is spelled strait-laced. Second, its original meaning was "tightly laced" (regarding a bodice or similar piece of clothing), but it is not because proper ladies wore tightly-laced corsets that we have the term strait-laced meaning "prudish" today. Instead, if the bodice were tightly laced, it would be somewhat rigid, especially if it contained stays. This notion of rigidity was transferred to strait-laced when applied to human conduct, and eventually the "rigid" sense changed to "prudish". The term (with these meanings) first appears in the mid-16th century.

    Any woman could wear a strait-laced bodice, not just proper or dignified ladies.

    Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."

    Ha ha hee hee ha ha! We can't stop laughing at this one long enough to debunk it! Cards were taxed, yes, and the tax stamp often appeared on the ace of spades. This does not mean to suggest that only the ace of spades was taxed. Nonsense. The entire deck was taxed when it was sold, and the decks were sealed (often with a tax label) so there was no way to remove an ace of spades, anyhow. Not playing with a full deck is simply similar to other constructions describing intelligence (or lack thereof): not the sharpest knife/ brightest bulb in the box, a few bricks short of a load, the lights are on but nobody's home, etc. Check out clichesite.com for more similar phrases. Many of these clichés are fairly recent, coming from the 20th century.

    Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times you go sip here" and "you go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion; thus, we have the term "gossip."

    Heeeheee! Lame! See our discussion of the origin of the word gossip. It derives from God sib. Nothing to do with sipping. Or going. We repeat: lame!

    At local taverns, pubs and bars, people drank from pint and quart sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts." Hence the term minding your "'P's and Q's."

    The "Brass Monkey" cannonball-holder etymology was unsubstantiated.

    Here is a site to go along with www.snopes.com called Take Our Word For It.

    http://www.takeourword.com/index.html

    Otokichi , you have a keen BS meter. Good work!

  20. Stevie Wonder

    in Music Discussion

    Posted

    Living for the City, off of "Innervisions."

    A boy is born in hard time Mississippi

    Surrounded by four walls that ain't so pretty

    His parents give him love and affection

    To keep him strong moving in the right direction

    Living just enough, just enough for the city...ee ha!

    His father works some days for fourteen hours

    And you can bet he barely makes a dollar

    His mother goes to scrub the floors for many

    And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny

    Living just enough, just enough for the city... yeah!

    His sister's black but she is sho'nuff pretty

    Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy

    To walk to school she's got to get up early

    Her clothes are old but never are they dirty

    Living just enough, just enough for the city...um hum

    Her brother's smart he's got more sense than many

    His patience's long but soon he won't have any

    To find a job is like a haystack needle

    Cause where he lives they don't use colored people

    Living just enough, just enough for the city...

    Living just enough...

    For the city... ooh, ooh

    (Repeat several times)

    His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty

    He spends his life walking the streets of New York City

    He's almost dead from breathing in air pollution

    He tried to vote but to him there's no solution

    Living just enough, just enough for the city...

    yeah, yeah, yeah!

    I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow

    And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow

    This place is cruel no where could be much colder

    If we don't change the world will soon be over

    Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city!!!!

    La, La, La, La, La, La,

    Da Ba Da Da Da Da Da Da

    Da Da Da Da Da Da

    Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da

  23. Truth or BS?

    in Random Thoughts

    Posted

    Be sure and believe all of this.

    In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

    **************************************************************

    As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

    **************************************************************

    In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the "chair man." Today in business, we use the expression or title "Chairman" or "Chairman of the Board."

    **************************************************************

    Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told, "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile" In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . therefore, the expression "losing face."

    **************************************************************

    Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman . as in "straight laced". . wore a tightly tied lace. **************************************************************

    Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "Ace of Spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead.

    Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."

    **************************************************************

    Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. "You go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term "gossip."

    **************************************************************

    At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts," hence the term "minding your "P's and Q's."

    **************************************************************

    One more: bet you didn't know this!

    In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations.

    However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.)

  24. You Americans....

    in Random Thoughts

    Posted · Edited by Guest
    dummy forgot the link

    WASHINGTON — In a turnabout, the United States is now on the receiving end of help from around the world as some two dozen countries offer post-hurricane assistance:

    Russia

    Japan

    Canada

    France

    Honduras

    Germany

    Venezuela

    Jamaica

    Australia

    United Kingdom

    Netherlands

    Switzerland

    Greece

    Hungary

    Colombia

    Dominican Republic

    El Salvador

    Mexico

    China

    Singapore

    South Korea

    Israel

    United Arab Emirates

    Sri Lanka

    NATO

    and the Organization of American States.

    Heavily edited from a FOX News article, click here for the entire clip:

    http://www.foxnews.com

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