Follows-Up

Remarkably, this blog has achieved a full half-year of existence.  That's just like a half of a year, but doesn't the "full" make it sound more impressive?  No, I suppose not.  I've accumulated the odd bits of correspondence about blogitems previous, and I thought I'd share them before they grow fully obsolete.

Subject: Re: The traffic flow in NYC
From:  Kathy
How about a designated "drive like hell" lane? make the lanes closer to
the curbs more suburban, The "At Business Lanes", and the middle one
the "On A Mission Lane" -- no-holds barred, take your chances, accept
the risk (no complaining about fenderbenders allowed) and go for it. A
little single sliver of "Dodge City". Wah-hooo!
 

Deb on "A Deep Subject"
Wow. Picky, picky, picky! -- and you can post that as a comment under Mr.
Must-Have-A-Theme.

Indeed.  I fear he is just laying low and waiting until my blog license expires.  I'm always looking over my shoulder, but I've gotten away with it thus far.
 

Paul on Oxymoronicity
>
> Richard wrote:
>
> > Oxy, meaning "sharp," and moron, meaning "dull," is the
> > etymology.
>
> Aha --- I didn't know the origin! Given that, we can still replace
> "moron" with "genius," but only if we find a suitable antonym to
> subsititue for "oxy." Let me float "fumygenius" (in the sense of the
> Latin "fume" being that which impairs one's cognitive processes,
> rendering him/her dull).
 

Terry (of the olives) with regard to Sequences

shih-tzu dogs come in "toy" and "teacup" sizes
 

A discussion with Deb with respect to My Sockret

John and I are HUGE fans of Smartwool socks. When we find our sizes and
styles on sale we always stock up since, unfortunately, they do not last
forever.

Our philsockophies are totally different! I don't have a "style," I just want socks. And now I've got 'em!

> Recently, they were bought by Timberland. Consequently, L.L. Bean said they
> would stop carrying them as soon as their stock ran out. :(
>
Are you sure they're serious? Normally the socks don't run out by themselves.

> Hope all is well with you in sock land.
>
For the next decade, at least! Thanks for asking.
 

Bill, whom I thank periodically for reminding me to excise inapposite apostrophes

Today: "informed me of it's presence".

I even find myself writing this, then going having to back and fix it,
it's so insidious.

I was just reading John W. Campbell's "The Moon is Hell", published by
Fantasy Press in 1951, and it's full of misused "it's"es, about 50% of
the time. Drove me nuts.
----------------

Richard Factor wrote:
> You're my apostrophe hero! '"It's"es' is quite the punctuational
> conundrum.

Even worse now!

Note:  I reserve the right, not that anyone's trying to steal it from me, to make tiny editorial corrections of individual blogitems without noting same in a "follow-up."  There's no smaller correction than removing an apostrophe.  I do try not to RETCON my blogs without notice, which word I recently discovered and which will receive its own blogitem some day.

Bob, offering a Snow Blower suggestion less likely to result in ignominious blog termination

> Regarding Blog of 07 August 2006: Please use a hair dryer, as long as you have AC available.

Thanks for the suggestion! It might have worked, but would have made a lousy story. And, I honestly didn't think of it. I spend a lot more time contemplating desserts than I do thinking about hair. What's left of mine is self-drying.
 

Bill, on the Brainy RV, but who clearly and perversely must have watched the video:

Winnebago loans an RV known as the "brain bus" to Jeopardy; that's good.
Smirnoff has a white guys rapping video; that's bad.

You missed this one from CNN: "Kittens dipped in grease saved from
frying pan".
 

Tracy, on the same subject, who clearly did not:

> Okay, so to attempt to be really cool, I have tried to decipher the
> headline Brainy RV def but preppy white posse's whack. and here is what
> I have:
> Brainy -- means guy who sill stop at nothing to get the attention of
> girls who are way out of his league. Brain also refers to oral sex
> performed on a man.
> RV -- means Rape Victim, as in someone who looks shabby or ugly. Also
> means a recreational vehicle
> Def -- Da bomb baby! Means real good. I didn't have to look that one up.
> Preppy -- Refers to those who are preppy; wearers of labels, the
> opposite of punk or goth
> White -- colour but not in a racist term, also refers to cocaine or
> heroin in its purist form
> Posse -- dude thems mah peeps, my crew, runnin wid my posse, wes kickin
> it in mah crib....group of friends richard...(I knew that one too)
> Whack -- really crazy (knew that one too)
> So what does that sentence mean?
> I have no idea!
>
Your coolth is 100% bound-free. (I actually did get an interpretation
from Bill, but I think he looked at the video.)

So that would make "brain" a synecdoche of a metaphor of a euphemism.
 

From Deb regarding the Monversometer

> Boy! Were you right on time with this one. Can you make one that gently
> shocks (or not so gently) someone when his or her monologue runs longer than
> 5 minutes, or if they keep going without breathing?  I could use that with two people I'm thinking of right now.
>
A new feature! Join me on the patent.

> By the way, you still didn't say what that license plate initials stood for
> in your blog.

No, I haven't. Although I did get one semi-inspired guess.

Proof from Abe that the John H. Winn Chemical Company existed:

> Yup, bought lots of stuff from them mostly by mailorder. Was in the store in NYC twice.
> No your not imagining the place it did exist but the only trace of it on the internet is here:
> [expired eBay link]
> A listing for a book that they published.
> "Magic Chemistry"
> "Book of Experiments for Junior Chemists"
> "Chemical Magic. How to make inks and paints. Electroplating and
> Electrotyping. Glass blowing. Food Analysis. Household Chemistry."
>
> Instruction book from a chemistry set.
> Vintage, probably late 50s or early 60s?
>
> * Published by John H. Winn, New York
> * Dedicated to Thomas Alva Edison
> * 80 Pages in black and white with many line drawings.

Hi, Abe!

Thanks! I'm going to add the photo from that listing
to a follow-up on that page. I guess being an eBay listing it
wasn't there when I did my first search. Glad you found it.

A guy at work who lived in Brooklyn growing up also remembered
them. If I get anything even more interesting I'll add it to the
blogitem (which I did do, see the bottom).
 

David: Your post (about the Brookhaven reactor) ended with some optimism:

Ms. Rowe kindly responded:
"The short answer is that the tritium plume that originated from the
spent-fuel pool of the High Flux Beam Reactor has over time continued
to attenuate as expected. The HFBR is now permanently shut down."

Which I take to mean that no expensive cleanup is or was necessary.

Sadly...
http://www.physicstoday.org/jan00/washdoe.htm

In short, a mob of torch-bearing, pitchfork-wielding townfolk managed
to shutdown a fine scientific instrument over the amount of
radioactivity found in a tritium-powered exit sign. At taxpayer
expense, of course.

Ms. Rowe was not overly communicative, having just returned from a personal trip.  Even so, she might have mentioned the torches and pitchforks but apparently felt that was just a minor fillip, unworthy of disclosure.  I'm pleased to have a more nearly complete rundown.

Bob, who actually repairs microwave ovens instead of using them for planters, reports:

> Sorry to drop this on you, but WRT the Microwave oven, either Sharp or
> Sanyo had just the feature (un-advertised) you address in the blog.
> I can't vouch for this feature being continued in any newer ones,
> 'cause I am still using an old Sharp Convection/Microwave that was built in 1984.

Sigh.  I've wanted a money bin ever since I found out that Scrooge McDuck had one.