Friday, May 29, 2009

Shy Clean-Out

Between about 2 AM and 3 AM someone cleaned out my "Driveway Give-away. Even took my three trestle tables and my card tables.
They used no lights and little sound. Must have been shy.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Scoff Laws

A great many of our worst scoff-laws are
our corporations.

We license our corporations and then allow them to mock and scorn our laws.

Why do we do that?

What laws do our corporations scoff? For starters consider the areas of finance and immigration.

Patterns of Sound, Spelling, and Meaning

What do you make of the final consonant sounds in words like the following? Do you find any interesting patterns? Do you find a useful pattern? We are pattern finders aren't we?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
hiss, his, bus, buzz, buzzes, buses, words, ways, means, business, businesses, parts, homes, benefits, boss, bosses, markets, as, ass, rise, rice, sources, sores, noose, rides, rites, news, tens, tense, trends, niches, competitors, success, successes, profits, sites, opportunities, brands, edges, tactics, qualities, prioritize, less, sells, seals, budgets, solutions, costs, places, place,palms, sides, says, avoids, navels, press, peas, peace, piss, hands, force, fours, lungs, exercise, exercises, states, is, politics, rights, powers, acts, has, this, these, those, acts, ease, Texas, foods, fishes, was, dollars, does, doze, cheeks, checks, deposits, keys, kiss, things, thinks, pays, pace, bays, bees, base, lights, reasons, friends, problems, pause, paws, cares, mouse, bits, pieces, pis, fords, speakers, perhaps, materials, plurals, groups, bottoms, features, taxes, mince, rice, source, sores, noose,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Add as many of your own as you wish.

A way to begin to find patterns is by dividing them into two groups; the ss group and the zz group. The ss group could be made up of words ending in an 's' sound as in: tactics, hiss, parts, success. The zz group could be made up of words ending in a 'z' sound as in the words: buzz, buzzes, his, words.

Can you hear the difference?

I'll try to get back to this to point out some patterns I find.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

6-10-9 PATTERNS continued
Here are some words which I say end in the zz sound: symbols, his, has, is, years, clues, these, fifties, areas, journeys, tales, others, problems fields, falls, letters, names, terms, sins, suggestions, references, tens, advise, raise, bards,heroes, stories, practices, believes, questions, peoples, sores, cultures, resemblances, places. What words might you add?
Here are some which I believe end in the ss sound: myths, hiss, base, this, house, limits, evidence, false, accents, cents,scents, science, books, looks, likes, acknowledgements, visits, advice, groups, assistance, helpfulness, race, acquaintance, works, giants, religious, beliefs, Celts, attacks, less, ships, source, tense noose, shops. What ss ending words might you add?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
6-15-9

Have you found any patterns yet?
Here is a pattern I found that relates to spelling and pronunciation:
(likes, looks, lakes, walks, woks, wakes) The words in parentheses all end in the ss sound, don't they. Can you find a word that ends i the ss sound that doesn't have the 'k' sound as it's penultimate sound. We may not only be finding a pattern but also a law. We might start by saying that when a word ends in an s preceded by a k the s sounds ss.
What can you add to the list? Find another pattern or rule.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What might say about pairs like the following? Are there pairs of more than one sort here?
sores ...... source
as ......... ass
news ....... noose
rise ....... rice
his ........ hiss
tens ....... tense
plays ...... place
keys ....... kiss
What similar pairs can you add?
How about:
saves ...... safes
sins ....... since
fours ...... force
bays ....... base
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
6-29-9
Who is interested in spelling and pronunciation?
How interested are they?
Have you noticed that English speakers like the final 'ss' sound when it is preceded by a 't' sound?
For example: parts, profits, budgets, rights, acts, limits, visits, giants, Celts.

I'm failing to start conversations here. I've made about 500 attempts without one success. I'm not ready to give up completely, but I am ready to give up this attempt to discuss English pronunciation.

Around Camp Thunderbird

It is often my knees that have me crippled up, but these days its my hip and thumbs. I guess this pain and stiffness comes from emptying one shed of lumber and other junk, then tearing it down, and going on to clean out the storage garage. Still I crawled out of bed with only mild curses and was out working by 7:30 this morning.
Hadn't been at it long when I heard someone helloing. It was a tall guy of about 50 with a big mustache. He was tracking an old horse through my property. It wasn't his. Seems that last night It had gotten into his young horses feed. His horse had hurt itself defending his feed.

I thought I heard a horse whinny last night, but just rolled over. At one time I might have been out with a gun, but these days neighbors turn their dogs on to the property and others drive around the property like it was a play ground for four wheelers. If I started shooting I'd be in jail before I even began to thin the trespassers out. And then I probably wouldn't have gotten to the really responsible parties.

I am gradually putting up some more fences. The don't slow down the dogs, but the do seem to give horses and drivers second thoughts.

In my wood shed I found two by fours and four by fours so damaged by dogs teeth as to be unusable. Other smaller stuff was shredded and made tooth picks. A dog that will shred a four by four to get at a rabbit, really wants that rabbit.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Terazosin

It may be time for me to seek some help in adjusting my blood pressure medication.
I have been taking fairly small doses of four medications which have been keeping my pressure within healthy ranges for some time with, apparently, no horrific side effects. In the past i have suffered some really ugly side effects and perhaps settling too easily into the use of my present med.
Now I am experiencing some symptoms that may be do to my present medication as I grow into my 70s.

Some of the symptoms which seem to have increased recently are the following, in more or less descending order of annoyance; worst first: fatigue, diminished erectile functioning, nasal congestion, drowsiness.

On of the medications I am taking is 2mg of terazosin a day. I take it for enlarged prostate symptoms and hypertension symptoms. It is a 'Alpha blocker' and I believe it works by blocking action of adrenalin on the smooth muscles of my bladder and blood vessels.

'The Labor Temple,' Isn't Doing the Job

For an important period of time 'The Labor Temple,' and perhaps a newspaper published there, was a great source of information which we could trust.

Today much of 'organized labor' is no longer considered a brotherhood of trust.

Where can we get information that we trust, which we need, and which we want?

Well, let me suggest that it takes a tiny bit of cooperation and a tiny bit of participation. If we leave it completely up to 'the other guy,' it will be information that he can trust, which he needs, and what he wants. Just like 'Wall St.' those gathering the info need a bit of oversight, and those doing the oversight need a bit of the same.

Old South Notes

Indians in parts of the South made an alcoholic drink from palmetto, sometimes called a cabbage tree or cassina yapon.

There were days when virtually everyman from Natchez to the 'blue grass' was a horseman and many still swore by the cross on their sword.

'Evens root' and pea-pods did for coffee on weekdays.

In the very early 1800s Spain was still contesting land that became Alabama.

Do you know anyone who might be able to translate this. It may have been sung as a reel in the mid-1700s, but probably not in the plantation house:
"Mush-a-ring-a-ring-a-rah!
Whack fol'd the dady O!
Whack fol'd the dady O!
Thar's Whiskey in the jug!"

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I discover, get understanding, enjoy myself, and take care of business.

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