"SELFLESSNESS": More Magical Palindromes

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio/ Dr GH, November 2019.
An extensive series of our recent posts highlighted maps that displayed targets for palindromic utterances about the world and its major cities. And in the process of doing this, we rediscovered our previous concept of "'Magical Palindromes". You can get into this delightful world or wordplay by checking out the most recent posts in that series, "Magical Canal Palindromes", " Unplanned Canal Palindromes", and  "Magical Palindromes -- Beyond Canals" and . 
The aim of the current blog is to extend these concepts in the spirit of the holidays, using a word that has been pivotal in the development of palindromes -- selfless. 

You might also want to review the comments by our band of spoofing contributing palindromists, in response to the challenge of spoofing the classic palindromic phrase "Ma is as selfless as I am." 

If you need help with the concept of magical palindromes, see the slide at the bottom of the post; it shows some simple examples which help you get the idea.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume your review of the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until July 2025. 

As of July 20, 2025, there are 2,000 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. 

Most of the key elements, such as this one, are also assembled here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.

The "Daily" format, a formidable mix of genres, also has the advantage of including song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCE: a somewhat random assortment

 

CURRENT CONTENTS:
Autophagia

Gamma rays

Haversian canals

Helicobacter pylori

Hippocampus

Homeostasis

Horseshoe kidney (congenital malformation)

Motor homunculi

Visual cortex

Hemi-anopsia (poetic half-insights) (3 stanzas, a 'brief saga')

Radiation exposure (4 stanzas, a 'brief saga')

Authors' Note:

 -some (SOHM, sometimes ZOHM): Greek suffix for an 

intracellular body, or organelle, e.g. chromosome or lysosome

-phagia, or -phagy: Greek suffix for eating, or consumption

lysis: term of Greek origin for destruction or disintegration

lysosome: cellular organelle adapted to the destruction of extracellular material which has been internalized

autophagosome: membranous organelle that entraps targeted intracellular components, later merging with lysosomes for degradation and recycling of these components; their role in cell defence and in disease causation is under investigation

 And, HERE's a verse about autophagia explaining use of the term to describe a rare and gruesome phenomenon. 

Authors' Note:   In measuring ionizing radiation such as gamma rays with an instrument such as a  dosimeter, terms such as exposure-rate, flux, and fluence relate to the strength of the source. With regard to possible harm to humans and other biologic creatures, the absorbed dose is more important. The many different units involved in scientific descriptions may, in fact, detract from comprehension by non-experts. A simple rule of thumb, adopted by most professional societies, is to keep exposure "as low as reasonably achievable", as summarized in the acronymic slogan ALARA.

Authors' Note: The discovery in 1982 of the gastrointestinal bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) as an organism causing disease in a definite minority of patients who harbour it has revolutionized major areas of gastro-enterology (the study of gastro-intestinal disease). The involved illnesses include gastritis, gastric ulcers, gastric cancer, and several other tumours. Simple treatment (including oral antibiotics) for the common manifestations is often curative, and a vaccine to prevent the malignant consequences is being sought.

Research into gut bacteria may soon bring rewards in our understanding of diseases that cause disruption in various body systems, including chronic neurological ailments.

Authors' Note: For physiologists and physicians, the understanding of homeostatic mechanisms such as feedback loops, and how they get overwhelmed in disease, is critical. An example discussed here previously is regulation of thyroid hormone levels. Knowledge in this area has also expanded into the field of IT.

Authors' Note: Horseshoe kidney is a relatively common congenital malformation, occurring in 1/500 individuals. Also known as renal fusion, it results from the merging of two fetal kidneys in the pelvis during the stage of embryonic organ development and consequently failing to undertake their normal upward migration. Fortunately, health consequences are usually mild, if any; occasionally, one of the ureters becomes obstructed. The abnormal structure is often discovered incidentally during procedures, e.g. CT scanning or ultrasound, targeted at pelvic discomfort or unrelated symptoms (and of course, no normal kidneys are seen in their usual position).

Authors' Note:  The homunculi (Latin, for little persons) referred to here are the representations of the human body, well-known to anatomy students, that are mapped out on the "motor strip", symmetric areas of cortex on both sides of the brain that control voluntary movement on the contralateral side of the body. The motor homunculus on each side maps the primary motor cortex, located in the precentral gyrus (fold) of the frontal lobe; analogously, there is a similarly arranged sensory homunculus located nearby in the postcentral gyrus.

Authors' Note:  Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918) was a German neurologist famous for his definition of 52 cerebral cortical areas based on their histological (tissue-architecture) characteristics. Functional correlates were defined for many of these areas, and the primary and subsidiary areas of visual interpretation are often described by their Brodmann numbers. 

   The primary visual cortex, straddling the calcarine (Latin: spur) sulcus (fissure or slit), is located on the inner surface of each cerebral hemisphere's occipital lobe, well protected from injury.

(Note that the three stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found with more photos and in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

(Note that the three stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found with more photos and in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Poems about Avian Life: BIRDLORE, nesting #2

   This post is a continuation of a collection of verses about 'LANDBIRDS', as posted on this blog on December 15, 2020 (nesting#1), and December 15, 2021 (nesting #2).

previous poetic posts

(nesting #1): American goldfinches, birdfeeder (squirrel-proof), bird droppings,  boat-tailed grackles, California scrub-jays, cattle egrets.

CURRENT CONTENTS (nesting #2):

Cedar waxwings

Dawn chorus

Desnooding

Eagles and eaglets

Eastern towhees

House finches

Authors' Note: 

 mohel (mo-HAYL, a more Hebraic pronunciation), or

 moyel (MOY-uhl, more Yiddish-influenced)   

 The current verse can be read employing either pronunciation.

poetry lyrics:/ Your Atlantic-coast backyard seed feeder:/ For visits, this bird
 is the leader./ On its perches, in bunches,/ This perky guy munches -- /
 The house finch, a furious breeder.  this verse has been approved at OEDILF, #131387     

Authors' Note: The gregarious house finch, Haemorhous mexicanus,  originally an inhabitant of the western US and Mexico, was introduced into Long Island, New York, in 1940. Although the female is not showy, the male is distinguished by the rosy red coloration of its face, neck and upper breast areas. The species quickly spread across the eastern US and southern parts of Canada. A strict vegetarian, this bird is now the most common visitor to feeders in many parts of its current range.

 tThis verse has been approved at OEDILF, #131387

For more titillating pics of the house finch at our feeder, click HERE.

Mallard duck

Muscovy duck

 Our postings at this blogsite will pique your interest for a longer duration with entire collections, generally eight poems per blogpost about a particular topic (the individual short poems, usually with illustrations are published at 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense'.) But, even devoted readers can develop fatigue, so as verses are added over time, we tend to invoke binary fission, and split the group into two informative servings.

This post represents the continuation of an earlier series, from September 2021  dealing with LANDBIRDS.  

cedar waxwings

dawn chorus

 

CURRENT CONTENTS:

De-snooding (domestic turkeys)

Eagles and eaglets

Eastern towhees

House finch

Pigeon porn

Red-tailed hawks

Red-winged blackbirds

Robins

(for continuation, see the link below)

Please bear in mind that these accumulations only represent a portion of our outpourings aimed at bird-watchers and -lovers. You can view an even more extensive collection concerning WATERFOWL by following the links at the end of this post. 

Authors' Note: The gregarious house finch, Haemorhous mexicanus,  originally an inhabitant of the western US and Mexico, was introduced into Long Island, New York, in 1940. Although the female is not showy, the male is distinguished by the rosy red coloration of its face, neck and upper breast areas. The species quickly spread across the eastern US and southern parts of Canada. A strict vegetarian, this species is now the most common visitor to birdfeeders in many parts of its current range.

Authors' Note: A male cardinal is seen in the video below, as it hops along a driveway. The songbird spends more time foraging on the ground, rather than in trees and shrubs. And although its diet, particularly items fed to nestlings, includes insects and other small animals, it is best known as a seed-eater, using its thick strong beak to break sunflower and safflower seeds. 

Authors' Note: The author recently obtained a photo-exposé of the activity as performed on a nearby sidewalk. He finds it appropriate to describe pigeon-mating in writing with the aid of binomial expressions (italicized in the above verse). You can find out a lot more (several collections of illustrated verse) about these grammatical gems by clicking HERE.

Note that Fred the robin has also appeared with his colleague Carl the cardinal in the blogpost "Curtained Verse", a collection of illustrated verses that you can find by clicking HERE.

Bird-watchers, academic ornithologists, wordplay enthusiasts, wildlife photographers, Giorgio's relatives, and just everyday folks have united in their demand for still more verses on the topic of landbirds!

So, please follow this link! for the collection 'birdlore, part #3'. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume your review of the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until July 2025. 

As of July 20, 2025, there are 2,000 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. 

Most of the key elements, such as this one, are also assembled here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.

The "Daily" format, a formidable mix of genres, also has the advantage of including song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

North American ANAGRAM SWARMS: 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N V-O-T-E-R-S' (Canadian version)

To start, here's a review of 'wordplay maps' for the American locales implicated in this anagram swarm, previously posted. Considering the large number of entries on each map, a rather small font was required, so remember that all you have to do to expand an image is to click on it. (And, remember that to get out of expanded mode, you will need to click on the little 'x' in the upper right hand corner.)

And now for the Canadian sites ...

These locales are designated in a more formal internationally used format, with the national designation (the two-letter abbreviation 'CA' for Canada) at the end of each locale (town + province). Interesting comparisons can be made with the initial map that focused on American (U.S.) locales, and used 'US' to terminate the location's address.

In this treatment, we have left out the national designation (CA) at the end of each destination. This format represents the familiar form of postal address used by Canadians when sending domestic mail. Note that the provinces of Alberta (AB) and British Columbia (BC) have now joined in the fun. 

And there are even more!

In Canada, we seem to have the propensity to name many of our towns and cities to highlight adjacent geographical features, e.g. Niagara Falls, Goose Bay, Rankin Inlet, Rainy River, Trois Rivieres, etc. The above collection honours that propensity, eh? 

If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE.