Innerspace, Outer Space and the Washington schoolyard!

Hi Carolyn,


First off - re: your last entry and more specifically your opening reference to weather in your area recently - you dared to utter  THE  "S"  WORD !  I am  undeniably into denial at the moment - as far as I'm concerned there is simply no such thing as snowy weather.  To quote Vizzini  " Inconceivable!"

Your observations/concerns about global warming have the support of a growing segment of the scientific community it would appear. I just cruised through an item on the web that spoke of the mid-point of this century as the probable beginning of the warmest weather patterns ever in  temperate  areas of the planet. So you may get to see those fireflies in the yard yet!





Speaking of temperate, or tempers at least, that's  quite the show, (or perhaps sideshow is more accurate )  being put on in D.C. at the moment. Being in Canada means we get a media ringside seat for these Mexican standoff shenanigans. It's sorta morbidly compelling to behold - like a train  wreck.  I have experienced the guilty pleasure, in recent weeks,  of scanning the conservative media especially and its almost scary. The recipe was the same no matter which outlet I cruised.


  Mix one cup of ham-handed fear-mongering with a half cup of jingoism and a tablespoon of third-rate evangelism with the occasional jeremiad thrown in for extra texture.  All of these ingredients are then stewed thoroughly in broth of hyperbolic rhetoric and served  on a flimsy bed of righteous indignation that makes an episode of The A-Team seem muted and fairly  Shakespearian by contrast. Visually it's a constant parade of pseudo-sombre looking men and women in impeccably tailored  suits and conservative ties/accessories surrounded by equally implacable security folk with imposing arms folded and steely expressions prominently displayed. There's always a few of them with those little  slinky-like cords dangling behind one ear Matrix-style too. 

 There's lotsa finger wagging and  pointing, of course, both verbally and physically, and sound/video bites galore which almost invariably open with Obama professing in various ways, his unyielding steadfastness and resolve. Often this is garnished with a John Williams-esque background score.







Actually Carolyn, characterizing them as  rebellious teenagers definitely strikes a chord. I'm more inclined, though,  to see this as a gaggle of petulant grade-schoolers scuffling in the  recess yard.   Seeking to "defund" Obamacare in this manner isn't far removed from extorting lunch money from little kids. In fact its probably literally doing some of  that, now, in one respect. For Republicans, especially, this can't be helpful to the creation of a forward-thinking, inclusive and compassionate party image that will successfully attract intelligent younger members now and  in the future. They may be shooting themselves in the foot with those N.R.A. coddled political and legislative firearms.  As the voter demographic evolves, in gender, age, ethnicity and interconnectivity, I can see the GOP being pushed close to the fringe party fence in the not too far future, unless it puts on a more embraceable face.  "Such is the power of democracy" as you noted, and such is the peril of it, too.




However, even if the shutdown means at the moment one can't take a tour of the most visited residence in your homeland there's  still Graceland - the second most visited homestead in the land of opportunity - and only by a small margin.




While we're in the items of  gravity room, I do believe the  just released movie of the same name will be on my short list of those I wanna see and will actually  "go to the show" to do so. I was, predictably, hurtled back to planet Kubrick upon beholding the promo image seen here. Most cool! 

 Shove over Meryl, and make room for Sandra.


I'm still chewing upon your observation that whatchamacallit and all those words of its ilk are of one generation. I'm  more inclined to think that younger students are still forming their vocabularies and haven't developed their circumlocution skills to the point where any word other than " thing" translates for them yet. That's why the educators mission is endless, n'est-ce-pas?



Okay, now that we're talking euphemistically, lets tackle the riddles too. Backyard globe lights didn't occur to me, I'll admit. My last one was actually tweezers. I figured I had to include the part about the "singular device with a plural moniker"  to avoid getting it confused with things like chopsticks or drumsticks or such that can be identified singly as well as in pairs. 

I am inclined to guess fork for your riddle this time - although the " ice-cream" part sorta flies in the face of that guess, I know. That's my best effort, alas. I present this one in return:

 

Microscopic pipeline carrying life saving and life-stealing solutions

 

 

 

Don.

 

 

 



All images sourced from Google Images

 

Fig. 1 - wemeantwell.com

Fig. 2 - nathanmorgan.com

Fig. 3 - nakeddc.com

Fig. 4 - secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com

Fig. 5 - well.blog.nytimes.com

Fig. 6 - filmofilia.com