Author: Rev. Joe Dirt

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Gun Death Statistics to Ruminate On

One of the 3.141592 regular readers of my blog, upon reading Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420 that dealt with the Spanish word for mass shootings, tiroteo, commented that the number of gun deaths in the USA roughly corresponds to an Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building every two days.  In that terrorist attack, 168 folks were lost, including 19 children.  Of course, this started me thinking once again about gun death statistics in the USA.

Some Quick Hitting Facts

According to the page on gun deaths on the web site for the National Safety Council: Continue reading “Gun Death Statistics to Ruminate On”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420

There is one word in Spanish that I should never had had to learn, tiroteo.  The literal translation is shooting, but they seem to use in the sense of mass shootings.

Obviously with the situation with guns here in the United States, with mass shootings seemingly happening every week, sometimes multiple times, if you are discussing the news with someone in another country, the subject of mass shootings is going to come up.

It is one word/concept that I wish I had never heard of… or learned in another language.

And so it should not go.

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Some More on Phubbing

Below is an article from The Guardian on rules for phubbing

Stop phubbing! The 10 rules of smartphone etiquette – from the bathroom to your bed

The article listed 10 main bullet points: Continue reading “Some More on Phubbing”

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Mother Nature is a Bee..aacchh.

Recently I was standing at the kitchen sink, sipping my morning coffee as I stared out the window into the backyard at the new day. I noticed a robin that was acting a bit peculiar. He would hop to my left suddenly, then just as suddenly he would hop back to the right.  He had done this jig two or three times when curiosity overwhelmed me and I put my nose closer to the picture window framing our back yard.

To my left, in the flower garden containing the bird feeding station, on the ground, was a Continue reading “Mother Nature is a Bee..aacchh.”

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Word of the Day -Phub

  • Verb: Phub
    1. verb (used with object), phubbed, phubbing.
      • to ignore (a person or one’s surroundings) when in a social situation by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device: Hey, are you phubbing me?
    2. verb (used without object),phubbed, phub·bing.
      • to ignore a person or one’s surroundings in this way.
    3. Think Phone + snub
  • Synonyms:
    • As this is a recently birthed word, no synonyms were found.  However, such words as ignore, being rude, anti-social, snubbing, etc would work fine IMHO.
  • Usage:
    1. “I thought you told me that we do not talk enough? Why are you phubbing me as I drive us to Tick Bush?”
  • Encountered:
    1.   The word was passed on to me by one the 3.141592 regular readers of the silliness that is Curmudgeon-Alley.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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What I Did with My Hero Cards

Discúlpame, por favor... this will be of interest mainly to members of the Chief Curmudgeon’s extended family.

Many of us were recently gifted packets of “Hero Cards” that included Paul Henry Carr.  I requested two packets and this is now hanging on the wall of my office/man cave.

If’n y’all need ideas of what to do with them…

And so the decorating went.

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Word of the Day -Caitiff

  • Noun/Adjective:  Caitiff  (Archaic)
    1.  noun
      • A despicable coward; a wretch.
      • A mean villain; a despicable knave; one who is both wicked and mean.
    2. adjective
      • Despicable and cowardly.
  • Synonyms:
    1. villain
    2. brute
    3. savage
    4. monster
    5. devil
    6. wretch
    7. offender
    8. criminal
    9. knave
    10. beast
  • Usage:
    1. “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it.”
  • Encountered: In the following text exchange with a superannuated golfing buddy that lives in the Magnolia State.  I had passed along the following cartoon with the comment that I had found the epitaph for my tombstone —  never mind that I want to be cremated.

To which he replied, “This is something I don’t have to worry about. Niceness is not in my vocabulary.”

I responded with, “I am a saint, myself.”

Parrying he said, “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it”

With a feint and lunge, I remarked, “I see that doctorate paid off.”

In response, I received, “Told you I had no niceness in me.”

“No true,” I riposted, “You gifted me a new word!”

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Priest for Dinner

Our friends, Harry and Susie, were in town for some fun with Susie’s family that lives here, her sister who came in from West Virginia, Susie’s niece’s family, and one of Harry and Susie’s daughter and her family who also came down from Chicago.  Susie and Harry spent Sunday night with us.

We are sitting on the patio Monday morning, drinking coffee, listening to the birds, watching the chipmunks and squirrels,  enjoying the cool, breezy morning, and chatting.  Harry was relating how his father had been very active in the church and the Catholic parish where they lived in Chicago. Susie added that Harry’s family frequently had priests for dinner.

So I asked, “Are they better rare or well done?” I suppose I could have asked, “grilled, blackened or fried?”

Sometimes I just crack myself up, nobody else, but I find me to be very entertaining at times.

And so it goes.

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Quote of the Day – Lao Tzu

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” ~~ Lao Tzu

 

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

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Another Opening Sentence

Another opening sentence for a larger story or possibly a story in itself.

Rising from the bed, stretching, he began wading through the archipelago of scattered, hastily discarded clothing on his way to the bathroom, glancing back towards the bed before he closed the door, a wry smile crossed his face as he remembered the activities of the previous night.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… from time to time these musings pop into the labyrinth that passes for my mind.  I need to do something with them, so here it sets. Don’t worry, I’ve become very adept at dodging rotten tomatoes, thank you very much.

“Blissful smile” was my first choice, but I went with”wry smile” as it puts a completely different spin on the sentence, leaving questions unanswered.

For another article along this same vein: 2 One sentence short stories

And so it goes.