Sunday 21 July 2024

JUL 21: the start of a hiatus

PLEASE NOTE THAT GIORGIO WILL BE TAKING A MUCH-NEEDED VACATION.

REGULAR NEW POSTINGS ON THIS BLOG (as well as our related blogs "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" and "Silly Songs and Satire") WILL LIKELY RESUME SOMETIME IN THE LATE FALL OR EARLYIN THE NEW YEAR  (Anything that appears in the meantime has been generated by automated software).

PLEASE CHECK BACK THEN, FOR NEW MATERIAL (although the old stuff, as detailed in each post's righthand column, remains available for nostalgic review). 

HAVE A GOOD SUMMER !!!  

Disappointed readers may be partly cheered by two exceptions:

 --the submitted palindrome thread on "Daily Edifying Nonsense" has been honored by our contributors, and prepared new posts will be automatically displayed on the 25th of each month (and sometimes on the 5th as well) until the end of the current calendar year.

--  on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", there will be a new palinku verse posted on the 17th of each month, also until the end of the year.

Monday 15 July 2024

PORTRAITS of COUPLES #3

 goats 3 (prospective)

Harris hawks 2

hippos 3 (prospective)
llamas 2
loons 2
mallard ducks 1
mute swans 1
pelicans 2

pigeons 3 (prospective)
pigs 3
sheep 1
skeletons 3
toucans 1
trumpeter swans
white ibis 2
wild turkeys 2
wood ducks 1






\



Wednesday 10 July 2024

Limerick-based Handbook of TRACE MINERALS and VITAMINS

 

CURRENT CONTENTS 
Nutrient deficiency (intro) 
Avitaminosis A
Vitamin B12 and erythropoiesis
Zinc and anosmia
Beri-beri (B1 deficiency), (3 verses -- a 'brief saga')
More to follow



Authors' Note:  

N.B.: abbreviation for the Latin nota bene; as a verb—'take careful note', as a derived adjectival phrase — 'important'

Readers interested in nutritional health might be enthused that the author is undertaking a project entitled "The Limerick-based Handbook of Trace Minerals and Vitamins" as a follow-up to his "Limerick-based Handbook of Medical Testing".

Although treatment of disorders produced by the relevant deficiencies is often delightfully simple, the underlying biochemistry, pharmacology, epidemiology and health delivery issues may be extremely complex, and warrant further understanding. 





Authors' Note: Deficiency of vitamin A

Avitaminosis, an absence of vitamins, causes deficiency diseases.  Some of these deficiency states affect all cells in the body, and are manifest as diffuse or multi-system disorders. But many seem targeted at the weakest metabolic link or at a unique buochemical mechanism, and produce a characteristic disease pattern

Avitaminosis A, the absence of vitamin A, is the most common cause of childhood blindness in parts of Africa and South Asia, resulting in specific eye damage, including corneal ulceration and retinal damage. Early symptoms include xerophthalmia (severely 'dry eyes') and loss of night vision; however, in appropriately nourished populations (developed countries), these symptoms are most often due to other causes.    



Authors' Note: The myelin sheath is an envelope of lipid-rich material that wraps around peripheral nerve fibers, acting as a form of insulation; its development and maintenance is dependent on vitamin B12. 



Authors' Note:  Patients who have suffered a loss of sense of smell (anosmia) are known as anosmics. Rarely, this sensory disorder along with manifestations in other body functions can be attributed to a marked deficiency of dietary zinc. Whether zinc supplements can help with recovery in well-fed anosmics remains unresolved. The metallic element osmium, which has no known biologic role, is named for the stench emitted by its poisonous tetroxide derivative.


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

Readers with an interest in medical/health issues might also enjoy our "Limerick-Based Handbook on Medical Testing". Click HERE.


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of July 2024, there are about 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these 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.


Friday 5 July 2024

AMBULATORY VERSE: Second Outing

previously posted poems (First Outing)
pre-amble
amble 
climb
escape
falter
hasten
hike
hop to it

CURRENT CONTENTS
Hover
Lurk
Reverse
Scamper (seduction)
Slink
Strut
Creep, and variant verbs (4 verses, a 'brief saga') 






Authors' Note: 

do a 180:
 a colloquialism for reversing direction deriving from half the number of degrees in a complete circle; here, as elsewhere, voiced as one-eighty

The author, an old palindromist, finds it appropriate to mention in the context of 'doing a 180', a few palindromic phrases using the verb reverse. These include:
Codes reverse, DocNoses reverse, sonDikes reverse, kid
Drawer: sides reversed is ... reward; and the very dark 
Nooses reverse soon. 












(Note that the four verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.)

SONGLINK:
We had, a decade ago, composed two parody-songs dealing with these many descriptive words for styles of ambulation. You can join us in song by clicking HERE to start; but watch out for earworms!  


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are about 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these 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.

Thursday 20 June 2024

The CULINARY WORLD Explored through PALINDROMES


Discussion with Examples
GUEST EDITORS: Sarah Palindrome and Melonia, December, 2016. Contributions are a mix of phrases drawn from standard lists and those concocted by the guest editors. 


The CULINARY WORLD Explored through PALINDROMES 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES, SHOPPING etc.
Do often net food.
Marché, eh? Cram. [Fr. = market or market-place]
Nip in if I nip in.
a) Sup U.S. [locovores' motto?] b) Sup CCCP/U.S. [abbrev. in Cyrillic script, Soviet Union]
Yreka Bakery.
One man, a palate et al. - a panameño. [Sp. - citizen of Panama]
Smug gums.

VEGETABLES
Ail, a dive - vidalia. [type of sweet onion, named for the town of Vidalia GA]
A.m. rapini - Parma.
A man, a potato - Panama.
Evil, O evil - live olive.
May a moody baby doom a yam?
No 'I'; No 'O'; - onion.
O, had I a tip: acre potato per capita: Idaho.
O, nag eros -- oregano.
Onion, ah? Hanoi, no.
Plan okra; park on Alp.
Sir, a potato? - Paris.
To potato pot!
Sugar, a psalm - (L.) asparagus. [L. = Latin derivation]


FRUITS
A man, apple; yelp, "Panama".
A melon? Olé, Ma.
Ana, nab a banana.
Apple? Help, Pa.
Émil, asleep, peels a lime.
Émil: a sleepy baby peels a lime.
Émil? No! Mel, asleep, peels a lemon-lime.
Gift fig.
Lemon? No, Mel.
No! It's a banana bastion.
No 'lem'n' in melon.
No 'melon' in "O, lemon"
No M. misreps 'persimmon'.[M. = Fr. abbrev. for monsieur]
No. Mel, awash, saw a lemon.
No melt-lemon.
No, Milton, not limón. [Sp. = lemon]
Nome lemon.
No R. tick - citron.

Not a banana baton?
No way a papaya won!
O, Gus. No lemon. No melon sugo.[sugo = It. for sauce or juice] Stun nuts.

FISH/SEAFOOD
A man, a pan, olé! crab -- Barcelona (Panama).
A nut for a jar of tuna.
Bar clears - Israel, crab.
Doc: Note, I dissent. A fatness - I diet on cod.
Draw eels leeward.
Mahi-mahi. I ham. I ham.
No 'm' lasts. Old lost salmon.
No romp. Race carp, moron.
Tuna roll or a nut.

MEAT
A ham - Omaha.
A man, a plate, ewe et al. -- Panama.
A man, a plate, elk-cub, buckle et al. -- Panama.
A Santa puréed deer up at NASA.
Feeble, very. Revel? Beef.
I'm, alas, a salami.
Ma has a ham.
One man, a pollo panameño.
Re grub: Ma had a hamburger.

SEASONING, SPICES, and OILS
Dill, a plan, a canal -- pallid.
Drat! "Sumatra Art", a mustard.
Lisa Bonet ate no basil.
Oil: olio. [It. = oil]
One pal, a jar, a jalapeño.
Ragù -- sugar.
"Salt", an atlas.
Le sel. [Fr. = salt]

BREAD AND BAKED GOODS
I, not ten aprons nor panettoni.
Leg -- a banana bagel.
O, had I a tip -- pita; Idaho.
Sniff'um muffins.
Snub buns.
Naan. [an Indian bread]

APPETIZERS AND MEALS
On, I nap -- panino
A man, a panino, O Nina -- Panama.
A man, a pâté, feta -- Panama.
A man, a pasta, amore -- Roma ('ats-a Panama).
Eh, canapé -- panache.
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.
I, not a girl -- rigatoni.
Lit' Nel, on dahl had no lentil.
Salad, alas.
Stir grits.
Sewer of wet stew for ewes.
Wontons? Not now.
Yo, Bob. Mug a' gumbo, boy!

BEVERAGES
Decaf level-faced.
Emily's sassy lime.
Évian: naïve [French brand of bottled water]
No gong! Get up. Put eggnog on!
Nary a demand named 'ayran'.[Turkish = a popular, yogurt-based drink]
No cider. Red icon.
Red ice cider.
Tunis -- Pepsi nut.

WINE, BEER, LIQUOR etc.
Alas Ramón, no marsala!
Amen: a pinot, nom de 'Edmonton' (Ipanema).
Lager, sir, is regal.
Murder for a jar of red rum.
Night: fifth gin.
"Rum... rum...", I murmur.
No bar? Got no rot? Toronto, grab ON.
Campus motto: Bottom's up, Mac.

DESSERTS
A cakery? Yreka, CA.
A flan, a final plan, if an Alfa.
Amen: a pie -- Ipanema.
Drat! Such custard!
"Ma", Jerome raps, "Spare more jam."
Stressed was I ere I saw desserts.
Stratagem: megatarts.
Trade trat's tart, Ed -- Art.


HEALTHY EATING
Sup not on pus.
No ham, Mahon.
No lemons, no melon.
Desserts stress, Ed.
Ban campus motto: "Bottoms up, MacNab."

VEGETARIANISM
Ate plate late, petal et al. -- PETA.
"Emu fat!", Edna and Eta fume.
UFO tofu.
We freed fine venison. No sin, even if deer few.

OTHER FOOD PROHIBITIONS AND PREFERENCES
Lived on decaf; faced no devil.
Lisa Bonet ate no basil.
Nole Monet ate no melon.
He, "I prefer pi, eh?"

FOOD ADVENTURISM (unusual foods)
Lion oil.
Tangy gnat.
God, a red nugget. A fat egg under a dog.
Kayak salad -- Alaska yak.
Raw burger. Re grub -- war!
So, catfood lid = dildo of tacos.
Uvula -- 'A luv U.

ENTERTAINING AT HOME
Bacon -- no cab.
Do offer ref food.
Enid and Edna dine.
"Dennis and Edna dine", said I, as Enid and Edna sinned.
Dennis, Rod, Enid and Edna dined or sinned.
A man, a plate, snoop spoons et al. -- Panama.
Won't figs gift now?

RESTAURANTS
A man, a pang, a salad, a lasagna -- Panama.
Amen: a pizza, jazz -- Ipanema.
Ate pasta-salad, alas. -- 'At's-a PETA.
A tip: "Le Falafel" -- pita.
Nail a tired rotini in it; order Italian.
Oozy ran I, Luc, at a culinary zoo.
Start trats.
Tip it if I tip it.

FOOD and RELATED HEALTH PROBLEMS
A gassy baby's saga.
Burger murders: re drum, re grub.
No Sir, away! -- a papaya war is on.
Sis -- emesis.
Night nets tenth gin.
Pure, boss is -- Sober up!

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are about 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these 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.







Saturday 15 June 2024

CANADIANA, part #3

 

previous posted poems (part#1) 
Canadian spelling
speech borrowings
Canadian moose
Canadian weather
Torontonian / Buffalonian
compassionate use
overwintering waterfowl
seniors' hockey
previous posted poems (part#2)
Kim Jong Un's visit
snow-biota
Thanksgiving, Canadian
Haida Gwaii
joual
prairie home
Mounties
Canadian raising (linguistics)

CURRENT CONTENTS
Nanaimo bars
Founding cultures (Canadian origins)
Crept and leapt
Newfoundland potato famine (3 verses, a 'brief saga')
Other related sagas -- Canada ("national verse")
                                         --  Chemainus, B.C. ("exotic destinations")











Authors' Note:   We have the good fortune in Canada, in some instances, of choosing either standard British grammar or the American version thereof. In the US, the commonly employed past tenses are "creeped" and "leaped"; these would alter the rhyming of the poem's second and fourth lines. A US-compatible version of this poem is also in the works, and can be found HERE (link under construction).



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



CANADA ("National verse")


(Note that the four verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 



CHEMAINUS ("Exotic destinations")


(Note that the six verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 


Trent-Severn (Ontario nostalgia)
Great Lakes (Ontario nostalgia)
Franglais (savoir-faire)




GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are about 1400 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.) 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.

Monday 10 June 2024

MAMMALIAN WILDLIFE, part #3


This post is a continuation of "MAMMALIAN WILDLIFE part#1", posted for your entertainment on this blog on June 15, 2021, and "part 2", posted on May 5, 2022.

previously posted poems
angwantibo
bats
beaver
buffalo
California sea lion
coyotes, plastic
Cretan goat ("kri-kri")
(upsetting) gnus 
gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
hippopotami / hippopotamuses
hoary marmots
horsing around
marine mammal madness
mongolian gerbils
(concupiscent) rabbits
raccoons in the city

CURRENT CONTENTS:
Raccoons in the swamp
Selfie with bison
Skunks
Star-nosed moles
Steller sea lions
Woodchucks
related verse: Aegean cats (3 verses, a brief saga)




Authors' NoteWe are indebted to Bill Wingfield for contributing the idea for the previous poem. 



Authors' NoteIt's hard to believe that there was a 'responsible driver' who let this young person out of the car to take this picture (isolated from a published video), but there you are. 

In national parks in both Canada and the United States, there are fines imposed for approaching wildlife too closely, and signage usually makes this abundantly clear.

A verse, and more pictures of the American bison (buffalo), can be found on this post








Authors' Note:  You can find a song about the star-nosed mole on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to access it! 



Authors' Note:  A falling birth rate due to 'nutritional stress' in females (along with ongoing hunting) has been proposed as a principal factor in the decline in the last century of Pacific Ocean populations of the Steller sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus. Although wanton polygamy has, to be honest, always been an option for females of this species of magnificent marine mammals, the particular efforts of concerned individuals like our heroine Bella may have contributed to a recent recovery.

   Current ecological terminology denotes a species whose population is stable in the wild and not threatened as of 'lesser concern'. In 2013, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) took the Steller sea lion off its US Endangered Species List.






Authors' Note:  The woodchuck or groundhog is a large squirrel-like animal
best know for its extensive tunneling. Although herbivorous, it is not normally interested in eating or tossing wood, the latter being an activity for which 
it is poorly physically adapted. 

   Apparently, the name woodchuck is a corruption of the Algonquian word wejack; the name also is responsible for the American tongue-twister: 

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
 


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

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are about 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these 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.


Wednesday 5 June 2024

Poems about POSTAL PLACES: USA

DISCLOSURE: Our aim here is to tell a story in brief verse about a town in every state of the USA, using its name and two-letter state-postal-abbreviation, as would be used in addressing a letter. Obviously, we still have a very long way to go.

What is the origin of this project? 




                                              






In a much earlier effort, we concocted various anagram swarms, armadas of anagrams of various political buzzwords, e.g. C-O-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-I-O-N)  displayed on wordplay maps of the US. The display and readability of these maps was eased by omitting the standardized comma that separates the town and state, i.e. Total Suction, IN == > Total Suction IN. Some readers expressed concern about this shortcut, fearing that we were involved in an insurrection against the international postal standard. Hence we later adopted a scheme for a rigidly defined limerick, as shown in the examples below, that could be used to versify various postal entities (real and imaginary) while highlighting and honoring the standard postal format.  

As this project got started, we decided that we should also include Canada (so stay tuned to check our first Canadian efforts that will be available shortly).

CURRENT CONTENTS
Baton Rouge, LA
Champaign, IL
Hoboken, NJ
Fargo, ND
Duluth, MN
Green Bay, WI
more to follow



Authors' Note: 

LA is the official abbreviation for the American state of Louisiana, whose capital, Baton Rouge, with population 230,000, is situated 100 miles (160km) upriver from New Orleans.

The original site, protected from flooding by its situation on bluffs along the east side of the Mississippi, had originally been noted by exploring Europeans for a pole marking the dividing-line between two aboriginal territories. It was designated as the state capital in 1846, replacing New Orleans in that role, and with extension, its port became the tenth busiest in the US. The city hosts the flagship campuses of Louisiana State university and Southern University.

In recent decades, the Republican party acquired a strangle-hold on almost all local, state, and federal officials elected in Louisiana. Although Louisiana is otherwise agreed as being one of the locales on the planet most affected by climate changecoastal erosion and other negative results of human activity, resistance to that realization seems strongly entrenched locally.



Authors' Note: 

Chicagoan: resident of Chicago, IL

urbane: sophisticated, elegant, worldly

No banana!: slang for 'not prize-winning'

No pain, no gain: slang phrase indicating hard work as a requirement for advancement.

IL is the official abbreviation for the American state of Illinois, in which two neighboring towns, Champaign, population 88,000 and Urbana, population 38,000, make up the metropolitan area of Champaign-Urbana, located 135 miles (215 km) south of the megalopolis of Chicago. The names of both towns, dating from the nineteenth century, relate to earlier settlements in the nearby state of Ohio.

Champaign-Urbana, IL is home to the flagship campus of the University of Illinois, and offers an appropriate spectrum of cultural opportunities. Surrounded by an extensive, flat, mid-west farming district, it is on occasion, as here, disparaged by residents of Chicago for its lack of "urbanity".
   


Authors' Note: MN is the official abbreviation for the American state of Minnesota, in which Duluth, a town with population 90,000 is situated. At the western end of lake Superior, the town was transiently, at the beginning of the 1900s, the busiest port in the United States.

The town's unusual name derives from the area's first known European explorer, the French soldier Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut. Duluth is now home to the annual "Magic Smelt Parade" and the University of Minnesota Duluth. Despite the region's French connection, the largest immigrant group in Minnesota has hailed from Scandinavia, accounting for the Swedish name of the verse's protagonist.

"Telephone-booth stuffing" was a short-lived global craze among college-age kids in the 1950s. Of interest, in the UK the activity was known as "telephone-booth squash", and the "rules" required that a phone-call be made from the overcrowded booth.





Authors' Note: ND is the official abbreviation for the American state of North Dakota, whose largest city is Fargo with a population of 126,000. Located on the floodplain of the Red River, the city was named after William Fargo, director of the Northern Pacific Railway and honcho of Wells Fargo Express.




Authors' Note: WI is the official abbreviation for the American state of Wisconsin, in which the city of Green Bay, population 110,000, is situated. Founded in 1634 as a French trading post, this settlement on the northern part of Lake Michigan was known in its earlier days as La Baie Verte. Today it is best known as the home of the football team "Green Bay Packers"; activities of the city's priesthood are described in Chuck Folkers' poem Holy Communion.



Authors' Note:  NJ is the official abbreviation for the American state of New Jersey, in which Hoboken, a town with population of about 60,000, is situated, commuting distance from New York City.

The town was first settled by Europeans in the 17th century as part of the New Netherland colony. Following the Dutch era, it became known as the site of the first recorded game of baseball, and as the birthplace (1915) and hometown of Frank Sinatra. 


FOLLOW-UP (Canadian, eh?)
You can sneak a peak at our efforts in Canada by clicking HERE!


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume 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 in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are about 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these 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.