USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Pancakes on Wednesday ~ 10 September 2003

Canteen FRiends ~ Radix

[Radix]

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

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Pancakes on Wednesdays

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Welcome to Pancakes on Wednesdays.

Wednesday September 10, 2003

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Here is an amalgamation of trivial facts and seemingly useless data.

Do not forget to hit the hyperlinks.

We have links, lots of them.

ULTRACREPIDARIAN

Of somebody who gives opinions on matters beyond his knowledge.

Thursday 10 April 2003 was the 225th anniversary of the birth of the essayist William Hazlitt (a date commemorated by the unveiling of his restored memorial in St Anne’s churchyard, Soho). This week’s Weird Word is one he is first recorded as using.

He did so in a famous letter of 1819 to William Gifford, the editor of the Quarterly Review, a letter which has been described as “one of the finest works of invective in the language”. In one of his more moderate castigations, Hazlitt wrote: “You have been well called an Ultra-Crepidarian critic”. What Hazlitt thought of Gifford’s journal may be deduced from this passage in The Spirit of the Age (1825):

His Journal, then, is a depository for every species of political sophistry and personal calumny. There is no abuse or corruption that does not there find a Jesuitical palliation or a bare-faced vindication. There we meet the slime of hypocrisy, the varnish of courts, the cant of pedantry, the cobwebs of the law, the iron hand of power. Its object is as mischievous as the means by which it is pursued are odious.

You can see why Hazlitt described himself as “a good hater”.

Ultracrepidarian comes from a classical allusion. The Latin writer Pliny recorded that Apelles, the famous Greek painter who was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, would put his pictures where the public could see them and then stand out of sight so he could listen to their comments. A shoemaker once faulted the painter for a sandal with one loop too few, which Apelles corrected. The shoemaker, emboldened by this acceptance of his views, then criticised the subject’s leg. To this Apelles is reported as replying (no doubt with expletives deleted) that the shoemaker should not judge beyond his sandals, in other words that critics should only comment on matters they know something about. In modern English, we might say “the cobbler should stick to his last”, a proverb that comes from the same incident. (A last is a shoemaker’s pattern, ultimately from a Germanic root meaning to follow a track, hence footstep.)

What Pliny actually wrote was ne supra crepidam judicaret, where crepidam is a sandal or the sole of a shoe, but the idea has been expressed in several ways in Latin tags, such as Ne sutor ultra crepidam (sutor means “cobbler”, a word still known in Scotland in the spelling souter). The best-known version is the abbreviated tag ultra crepidam, “beyond the sole”, from which Hazlitt formed ultracrepidarian.

Crepidam derives from Greek krepis, a shoe; it has no link with words like decrepit or crepitation (which are from Latin crepare, to creak, rattle, or make a noise) or crepuscular (from the Latin word for twilight), though crepidarian is a very rare adjective meaning “pertaining to a shoemaker”.

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Happy Birthday

Ian Fleming 1888

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Happy Birthday

Fay Wray 1907

One of the films she did in those years( 1920's-1930's) assured her place as a screen icon and made her a figure in folklore and myth. King Kong, among the half-dozen most famous films ever produced.

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Happy Birthday

Arnold Daniel Palmer 1929

I am an excellent driver!

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Happy Birthday

Charles Kuralt 1934

Charles Osgood Memory 3: I remember eating a stack of 100 pancakes at an IHOP outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, with syrup made from clover and sausages made of moose. At least that's what the waitress, a cute little number with buck teeth and no hair, told me.

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There will be a full moon tonight 10 September 2003

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Happy Birthday

Roger Maris 1934

We are counting cards!

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Would you like some Geometry with your pancakes?

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Happy Birthday

Jose Feliciano 1945

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Happy Birthday

Amy Irving 1953

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Todays Wednesday field trip takes us to the lunar surface

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On this day...

1608 - John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown, VA. colony council.

When the first 104 English colonists landed on Jamestown Island on May 14th, 1607, they imagined themselves the first civilized men in a wild and savage environment. In truth, the region of present-day Virginia in which the settlers arrived had long been home to some thirty Native American tribes, organized into what is known as the Powhatan Confederacy. The English traded with, learned from and waged war with the Powhatan. With the legendary Pocahontas as ambassador, these people played perhaps the most pivotal role in the fate of the first English settlement in America.

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1862 - Rabbi Jacob Frankel became the first Jewish Army chaplain.

CARDINAL NUMBERS

A cardinal number is one way to measure the size of a set. Here is the definition used in Zermelo Fraenkel set theory.

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1913 - The Lincoln Highway opened. It was the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the U.S.

I am an excellent driver.

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1935 - "Popeye" was heard on NBC radio for the first time.

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Spinach Pancakes

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The area of a triangle is calculated using the formula:

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Pancakes Wednesdays

Definitely

 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thousands of people from the Western New York area and beyond assembled on Military Road in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2003, to honor members of the military assigned to units in the area. Units which deployed people for recent operations, and who were featured in the parade: The New York Air National Guard's 107th Air Refueling Wing, the Air Force Reserve's 914th Airlift Wing, and the Army Reserve's 865th Combat Hospital Unit and 277th Quartermaster Company. Dignitaries included Maj. Gen. James Bankers, 22nd Air Force commander, Brig. Gen. William Racjcak, deputy to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Reserve, and Col. Robert Knauff, NY Air National Guard Chief of Staff. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Paul Dean

[StarCMC]

Excellent info on the Lincoln Highway. BTW - rte. 40 goes really close to my house -- I drive it almost every day! A little south of 40 thru St. Louis is the old Route 66. Part of Route 66 is the same as I-44. DH and I have ridden motorcycles around here on parts of the original Rt. 66 -- very cool!

[StarCMC]

Thanks Fawnn! So officially it is 0100 on Sept. 11 in Iraq. I am asking special prayers for my brother, kjfine, and his gunner from now until the 16th. They will be travelling north from their current location for a meeting.

Dear Lord, please keep my brother and all the soldiers safe. You know where they are and where they are going. Please bring them "home" and HOME safely and soon! Amen.

[Fawnn]

An online writer friend gave me permission to reprint the humor story she sold to Reader's Digest here (in The Blue Rose Bouquet). I believe it ran in "Life in These United States." I think you'll like it!

(I set the link to open a new window.)

[Fawnn]

Dear Lord, please keep my brother and all the soldiers safe. You know where they are and where they are going. Please bring them "home" and HOME safely and soon! Amen.

And Amen!

[StarCMC]

"FRUIT STAND!!!!????" You would not believe how many times I have been asked if my parents were hippies!! (About as far from it as you can get, actually!!)

[Fawnn]

That story still makes me laugh! LOL

[StarCMC]

Well, I need to go take care of a little on who is refusing to give in to a much needed nap! Thanks for being here when I stopped by! I hope I can stop in again later tonight, but it might not work out, so just in case...

You all have a wonderful evening. All you AWESOME SOLDIERS stay safe! Thanks, God's blessings and {{{HUGS}}} to you all!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Great pics, Radix.Thanks. And the commentaries are first rate.

The example being shown here is of a barking dog.

LOL!!

[Fawnn]

It's naptime here, too. (Unfortunately, not for any little ones. I've gotta go tuck myself in for a bit. LOL)

The rest of you: I'll catch y'all laterssssssssssssss. (That's a warning or a promise, whichever you prefer.) ;)

[Kathy in Alaska]

BRATTFAWNN!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

I love the humor in Reader's Digest!! Thanks for sharing with all of us and our troops. Oh, BTW, good afternoon, Star!

[Kathy in Alaska]

1:30am Iraq is 12 hours opposite me.

[HiJinx]

Morris County Historical Collection at the Daingerfield (TX) Public Library.

Daingerfield, eh? We were just in that part of Texas, visiting family in DeKalb (outside of Texarkana) and Tyler. We made 4 trips between the two cities using a different route each time...and everywhere we went we saw signs telling us how to get to Daingerfield. It's not that big....!

[TexasCowboy]

"Are you off the roof yet?"

Yeah, I quit for the day before I ever got started.
I had to go get some more siding and to the post office, then to the accountant's, etc.
But I'll be back on it tomorrow.

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe ! :O)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Goddess, has Moosh had anything to say about your appearance?

[TexasCowboy]

"OOOPS! I think that should have been 1814...YEAH - I rememberized it real good! ARGH!"

Aw, heck! You were close!
The title of that song is, "The Battle of New Orleans".
I still know every word to that song.
I don't ever try to memorize songs, I just absorb them.

I mentioned that old song by Jimmy Rodgers with the lines, "All around the water tank, just a-waitin' for a train........".
The words came flooding back like a floodgate had been opened.
I can sing every one of them, and I haven't heard that song in at least thirty years!

Then every once in a while I can't remember where I put my car keys or my wallet or my glasses, etc.

[TexasCowboy]

HAHAHA!
I'm not a big fan of cats, anyway, but that has got to be the UGLIEST cat I've ever seen!
It would be a close race between tomkow's bald cat and that one for "MOST UGLY"!

[LaDivaLoca]

Good evening everyone. Here's some news I want to share with y'all especially the LOTR fans. LOL!

Fans Outraged at New Character in The Return of the King
By Brian Briggs

Wellington, New Zealand - A recently leaked trailer for The Return of the King has Tolkien fans outraged over the apparent addition of a new character - Jar-Jaromir. The scene depicted in the trailer shows Jar-Jaromir shouting, "Gondora gonna fallsa";
he then trips over a corpse and knocks down a couple of Uruk-hai.

Producers of The Lord of the Rings trilogy confirmed the addition of the half-brother of Boromir and Faramir.

"While The Two Towers is performing better at the box office than The Fellowship of the Ring, we are worried about a demographic that is skewing much older than desired. More mature fans are very good to have, but it's the younger fans who buy the merchandise. That's really what brings in the bucks on a movie like this," said producer Tim Wilcox.

"People complained a lot about Gimli just being there for comic relief," continued Wilcox. "We answer that criticism by directing the humor through Jar-Jaromir in The Return of the King. There's this funny scene where Jar-Jaromir decides it's best to hand the ring over to Sauron, but then he drops it and kicks it into Mount Doom. Hi-larious."

Purists, miffed by the deviations in The Two Towers, were so enraged by Jar-Jaromir as to be rendered speechless. A less pure, calmer fan who was able to form words said, "Tolkien mentioned a lot of different races and creatures, but never a Gungan or even a half-Gungan. I think I'm going to vomit."

One fan tried to rationalize the move. "Maybe the Star Wars universe and Middle-earth intersect. Middle-earth certainly is a long time ago and why couldn't it be in 'a galaxy far, far away?' Nothing said it's our earth." He then broke down and started crying.

Director Peter Jackson explained how the Jar-Jaromir character was added after all the other footage had already been shot. "That's the brilliant thing about digital editing and graphics. We didn't even imagine Jar-Jaromir in the movie until a couple of weeks ago, but now we can just edit him right into the key scenes. I really think it's going to be a hit with the toddlers."

Jackson added, "I just love it when he shouts, 'Yousa steala precious from meesa!'"

BBSpot