Twelve or more cows are known as a “flink.” A group of frogs is called an army. A group of rhinos is called a crash. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A group of whales is called a pod. A group of ravens is called a murder.

Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The phrase “sleep tight” derives from the fact that early mattresses were filled with straw and held up with rope stretched across the bedframe. A tight sleep was a comfortable sleep.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

A snail can sleep for 3 years.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down – hence the expression “to get fired.”

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

HOW IMPORTANT DOES A PERSON HAVE TO BE BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED ASSASSINATED INSTEAD OF JUST MURDERED?

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO “PUT YOUR TWO CENTS IN”.. BUT IT’S ONLY A “PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS”? WHERE’S THAT EXTRA PENNY GOING TO?

WHY IS IT THAT PEOPLE SAY THEY “SLEPT LIKE A BABY” WHEN BABIES WAKE UP LIKE EVERY TWO HOURS?

IF THE PROFESSOR ON GILLIGAN’S ISLAND CAN MAKE A RADIO OUT OF A COCONUT, WHY CAN’T HE FIX A HOLE IN A BOAT?

DO THE ALPHABET SONG AND TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR HAVE THE SAME TUNE?

WHY DID YOU JUST TRY SINGING THE TWO SONGS ABOVE?

Call me sentimental, but I love holiday traditions.

And seeing TSO each year has become a holiday tradition for my boys and me.  Tonight we watched Trans Siberian Orchestra videos on YouTube for about an hour in preparation for our next TSO roadtrip/pilgrimage extravaganza next week. Thus beginning, at least in my family, the official start of glad tiding (aren’t all tidings glad?) and yule cheer (or Ya’ll cheer – here in SC).

The video below was the choice my boys made for me to post here. So here’s their gift to you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGrhzCgy_bg]

If you’d like, share your traditional kickoff for the holiday season.  Unless you tell me otherwise, I’ll post them along with your web url below. By the way, I know some say happy holidays, but I prefer Merry Christmas. And this time of year, when somebody wishes me a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy Ramadan, I wish them a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy Ramadan right back.

Shout, Shout. Let it all out. These are the things I can do without:

People who appear to be talking to me when they are actually conversing with someone else on their hands-free cell phone.

Paying for telemarketers to annoy me on my cell phone.

People who kick the back of my chair at the movie theatre.

People who break the darkness of a movie with the light of a cell phone as they text their friend.

People who respond to me with “I’m sorry; I’ll just cut his legs off,” when I politely request a parent to have their child refrain from using the back of my seat at the movie theatre for kicking practice.

People who pull up next to my car blaring “music” that makes my windows rattle while thinking, “This guy thinks I’m cool.”

People who use volume rather than reason for persuasion

People who think money and power make them better than others.

People who perpetuate stereotypes     

Inconsiderateness

Now, shout out what you can do without.

rainforestrobin

http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/

I can do without people who judge homeless people without ever knowing them or hearing their story. As if homeless people are some subspecies.

I can do without people who see refugees as lower class people.

I can do without constant cell phones ringing and 30 people shouting into their ear pieces in a restaurant while I try to eat a quiet meal with my sweetheart.

I can so do without people telling me or someone else that when something painful or traumatic happens it’s due to bad karma — that it’s happening due to something “bad” I did in a past life and now I’m having to pay for it! Where is the compassion?

I can do without someone assuming things about me or my life without ever even asking me or finding who I am.

I can do without people who judge others by the color of their skin, whether they have a college education, by how much money they have, what kind of car they drive, how big their house is, how they dress, etc.

I can do without constant noise.

Thank you for such a powerful post.      

Daisy

http://www.smilingwithdaisy.blogspot.com |

I work at a library. One thing I can do without is people who come in and want to check out books but don’t bring their library card with them. When I tell them they have to have their card in order to check out books, they act like that is the biggest surprise in the world. Would you go to the grocery store and expect to buy groceries without bringing some means of paying for them? A library card is a form of legal contract that allows people to borrow some very expensive materials for free. Is it too much to ask to bring the card with you when you want to use it? Well, I feel better now!  Thanks, Rob!

http://skdd.wordpress.com

I can do without the graphic and bloody scenes in the movies. Leave something to the imagination.

I can do without all the bureaucratic nonsense and delays in coast to coast health care.

I can do without the excuses that any American US citizen needs to be hungry or homeless.

I can do without all the unhealthy ingredients and chemicals in our food or beverages.

I can do without bank fees and high interest rates on loans, especially for homes or vehicles.

I can do without the wealthy corporations taking us for the financial ride of our lives.

I can do without hate, greed and jealousy.

I wanted to pay it forward.

History Mystery 

 
  
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. 
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. 

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. 
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. 

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. 
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. 
Both Presidents were shot in the head. 

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln ’s secretary was named Kennedy. 
Kennedy’s Secretary was named Lincoln . 

Both were assassinated by Southerners. 
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. 

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. 
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. 
  

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names. 
Both names are composed of fifteen letters. 

Now hang on to your seat. 

Lincoln was shot at the theater named ‘Ford’. 
Kennedy was shot in a car called ‘Lincoln ’ made by ‘Ford’. 

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.

Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. 

And here’s the kicker… A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe , Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Let me know what you think.

Prestantia Pictures is Paul (www.paulsfunkystuff.com) Cruthcer and me, Robert (rob’s megaphone) Stevenson.

Paul and I work at Lander University; I am helping Paul, who is the mastermind behind this project,  tell the story of Lander University’s founder, Samuel Lander.

Related Links: Lander Forum Online

You may have noticed, I haven’t been around Rob’s Megaphone quite as much as I used to. I’ve finally reached the point where I can’t just “make time” anymore. There’s just not any more time to squeeze out of the day. It seems like “busy” runs it cycles, and I’m at peak busyness now. I’m betting you can all relate.

Much of my time lately has been spent creating a new webpage for my university student news group. Much of the design was done using html, which I did not know well prior to building this site. Now, well, I’m doing okay  - if I do say so myself.  If you’re curious, check out the Forum Online at http://www.landerforum.com. I’d love to hear from you. Check out the movie trailer too. My friend Paul (www.paulsfunkystuff.com) Crutcher and I have formed Prestantia Pictures. Let me know if you like the trailer. Paul’s done 99.8528% of the work, but he’s very generous and gave me co-billing.

I hope you all have been doing well. I’m looking forward to visiting your blogs again soon. I’m hoping maybe this Saturday. I’ll grab a pizza, some green tea and my laptop. See you then.

Here’s my list

ATM machine 

absolutely essential

advance warning

attach together

boiling hot

close proximity 

combined together 

completely destroyed 

descend down

end result

exactly the same

exact replica

fall down

attach together

basic fundamentals

foreign imports

free gift

refer back

see with one’s own eyes

sum total

tuna fish

A common pleonasm is from whence. Because whence means from where, this phrase means from from where.

please RSVP (please Repondez S’il Vous Plait: is French for “please respond if you please” or please please respond)

Curiosity Corner

by

Dr. Jerry D. Wilson

Emeritus Professor of Physics

Lander University

reprinted with permission

Question: Why are some people right-handed and some left-handed? (Asked by a curious “lefty.”)

Reply: Most animals have a preferred paw or hand to perform tasks, but it appears that only humans have a species preference for the right hand. About 90 percent of the human population is predominantly right-handed. Of the other 10 percent, some are predominantly left-handed (perhaps up to 8 percent), while the others are ambidextrous — capable of using either hand about equally as well.

          It is not known why some people are right-handed and others are left-handed. There have been studies and theories concerning association with the right and left parts of the brain, and even that handedness may be partially genetic. However, as far as I know, there is no conclusive scientific answer. The vast majority of right-hand preference may indeed be due to social pressure resulting from historical cultural effects. For example, it has been speculated that the right got the upper hand because the heart lies on the left side of the body. In battle, one would carry a shield with the left hand so as to better protect the heart, while the right hand did the activity of wielding a sword or some other weapon.

          The Romans were very right-hand oriented. They adopted the right-hand handshake (to show there was no weapon in the fighting hand), and, of course, giving a breast salute to the heart is easier to do with the right hand with the heart on the left side of the body. The Roman right preference is a bit evident in their words for right and left — “dexter” (right) and “sinister” (left) — from which we derive “dexterous” meaning skillful or artful, and “sinister” meaning threatening evil or harm.

          Even in the Judeo-Christian tradition there seems to be a religious right preference. In both the Old and New Testaments there are positions of grace “at the right hand of God.” Also, in Matthew (25:31-42), Jesus talks about separating the sheep from the goats (sheep on the right, goats on the left), and it was a good thing to be with the rightful sheep.

          Another theory associates the predominance of right-handedness with tool development. As tools were invented, more complicated ones were better suited for one hand, and were especially fashioned for this hand (presumably the right). Tools became prized possessions and as they were passed down from one generation to another, one hand became predominant in activities. Probably because of such social development, children showing left-hand tendencies were at one time discouraged from being left-handed. Left-handers got down to about 2 percent of the population because of this. (I remember some of my grade-school teachers telling students to quit using their left hands and write with the right.) Fortunately, that’s not done much anymore.

          Whatever the case, lefties have had a tough row to hoe. (Well, a hoe’s not much of a problem — works for both right and left hands.) But think about scissors, a bolt-action rifle, or golf clubs. Left-handers do have some special advantages. For example, in baseball, first basemen are usually lefties. They can catch and throw to home and third base outside of the baselines. Southpaw pitchers have various advantages pitching to different batters. (Incidentally, the term “southpaw” was coined by a Chicago sportswriter to describe left-handed pitchers who, on going into the stretch with a runner on first, faced south in an old ballpark.) Also, switch-hitters are sometimes told to bat left-handed, which gives a half-step start in going to first base.

          Even we right-handers do some things left-handed. I shuffle cards right-handed, but I deal left-handed. I don’t know why — maybe because the deal is to the left (it’s easier).

          But left-handers can hold their heads high. There have been many famous lefties. Try Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton, Charlie Chaplin, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Lefty Gomez (naturally), Robert Redford, Rex Harrison, Bubba Beauregard, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo (maybe ambidextrous) and Albert Einstein. Left on!

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.  ~Abe Lemons

Greetings, friends. I am honored to receive this award for Rob’s Megaphone from

Earthly Explorations. It is the spirit of this prize that I appreciate the most. I really like being recognized by my non-native English speaking blogging brothers and sisters. You remind me just how intimate this global community really is.

Spice is nice!

 As per the rules of this award, I’m pleased to pay it forward to eight deserving bloggers. All they need to do is to leave the following message on their post when they pass the award on to their chosen eight bloggers:

“They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut or that they propagate? Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.”

Kerosene Cucumbers

Paul’s World of Funky Stuff

One Cool Site

Ramblings of a writer

What does this song mean to me and you?

Elect Jeff

Outside my brain

Smiling with Daisy

Please do yourself a favor and savor the flavor of these eight fine blogs. – Rob

September 17 has been designated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in the United States to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787.

In honor of Constitution day, I want to share with you my concerns about recent abuses to the First Amendment to the Constitution.

First let me pay my respects to the US founding fathers for securing for me the freedom of speech to be able to share my opinions with you.

When the founding fathers penned the First Amendment to the Constitution in 1789, they sought to create in this country a “marketplace of ideas.”  This concept, later articulated by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, provides that only through the exchange of all ideas, not just those of the majority, can some ideas be determined to be unworkable and other ideas be proven of value.

Without “the marketplace of ideas” there is a real danger of tyranny of the majority, meaning that only the ideas of the majority will be deemed true or untrue. Without the First Amendment’s protection, how could the Civil Rights movement or Women’s suffrage have succeeded? The ideas fueling these movements were not held by the majority at the time. Their success was dependent on the fact that all ideas need to be heard and considered.  

The year before the First Amendment was passed, George Washington acknowledged his wish that America would have many outlets for free speech, “For my part I entertain a high idea of the utility of periodical publications; insomuch as I could heartily desire, copies of … magazines, as well as common Gazettes, might be spread through every city, town, and village in the United States.”

BACKGROUND: A quick review of the history of newspapers reveals that our first president’s wishes were realized at least for a time. By 1856, there were 2,526 newspapers in America, and by 1880 Americans had 11,314 different newspapers (www.historicpages.com). That translates into 11,314 potential venues to raise ideas in the marketplace of public discourse.  

To facilitate an unfettered marketplace of ideas within communities across the country, the founding fathers insisted, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . . or of the press.” The founding fathers wisely predicted that in order for democracy to flourish, the press must reveal to potential voters both the good and bad actions of their elected officials. Prior to the First Amendment, it was illegal to criticize the government even if the criticism was true.

The First Amendment gave the press awesome power, which earned them the unofficial designation of the “Fourth Estate” by some and “watchdog” by others. However, with this awesome power comes immense responsibility.   Within the framework of the marketplace of ideas, the American press is charged with printing the truth. And while it’s easy to print what someone says is true, printing what is actually true is an often exigent responsibility. When newspapers do their jobs well, it makes our communities and country stronger. Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncovered the covert activities surrounding Watergate, and the result was the resignation of President Nixon.

PROBLEMS: However, in their frenzy to be first with the news, media have frequently sacrificed credibility for ratings and readers. Richard Jewel, who was incorrectly accused of the Centennial Park bombing, comes to mind, as does the more recent, erroneous reporting of the coal miners’ survival in West Virginia earlier this year.  

On a more individual level, for most of us, everything we know about a public figure or national or international event was told to us by the media. In a sense the media help shape our reality. Underlying this reality is a basic agreement between the reporter and the reader. The reporter agrees to present a fair and accurate account of the news, and the reader agrees to believe it.

In short we are dependent upon newspapers and other media, so that we may be informed consumers and make educated decisions. There have always been obstacles to reporting the truth and preserving the marketplace of ideas, but the challenges are becoming increasingly insurmountable. Newspapers and other media have become big, BIG business.

Newspapers have been gobbled up by chains, which through years of mergers and acquisitions have resulted in the concentration of media ownership into five global, multi-media conglomerates. Pulitzer prize winning journalist Ben H. Bagdikian wrote in his book “New Media Monopoly, “These five huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — own most of the newspapers, magazines, books, radio and TV stations, and movie studios of the United States.”  Thus the potential venues for the marketplace of ideas have been severely restricted. This is not what the founding fathers had in mind.

The First Amendment was not written for big business, it was written for purveyors of truth. “What is at stake,” according to Bagdikian, “is American democracy itself. A country without all the significant news, points of view, and information its citizens need to be informed voters is risking the loss of democratic rights.” (www.benbagdikian.com) 

The effects of the concentration of media ownership while subtle are tangible.  The journalism textbook I use in my classes defines news as a change in the day’s events that is important and/or interesting to a significant percentage of the readers. On the other hand, media mogul Ted Turner, who launched 24-hours news into America’s living rooms, once defined news as “$”. He drew a dollar sign and said if any news company says differently, they’re lying. The point Turner was making is that big media have big bills, and they are operated less by purveyors of truth than by businessmen.

In Mediated politics: Communication in the future of democracy media critics Delli Carpini and Bruce Williams described the new media managers as, “. . . a new generation of media operatives who hold little allegiance to prior codes of journalistic ethics.” Furthermore, according to Bonnie Anderson, veteran reporter and later executive manager for NBC and CNN, “Major news outlets are no longer content with news divisions generating reasonable profits. They are demanding profits some call obscene.” 

“If it bleeds, it leads,” has been the mantra for media, often more interested in the bottom line then conveying an accurate account of the day’s events. Hungry for ratings and readers, much of today’s major media are also blurring the line between news and entertainment. When “infotainment” precludes important news, democracy suffers.  When newspapers and broadcast media are chasing celebrities, what significant news stories are not being reported? In her recent book, Newsflash:  Journalism, Infotainment, and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcast News, Anderson said she believes the United States is at a very critical juncture — that irresponsible journalism has become a threat to democracy.

Media consumers are partially to blame for the state of the media. With ratings for Jerry Springer and Reality TV in the stratosphere, Americans have all but demanded sensationalism over substance. Nevertheless, media professionals must take the ethical high road, and resist lowering their standards to attract consumers. Lowering standards has proven unsuccessful in boosting ratings, and it has exacerbated credibility problems. Media outlets must be required to uphold the responsibility entrusted to them by the founding fathers. Media must return to their charge of being purveyors of truth.

Fortunately, it is not too late to clean up the media mess. In his Media Monopoly (5th edition), Bagdikian proposed a series of solutions to America’s media problems. They include the following:

* The Telecommunications Act of 1996 needs to be replaced by a new law that can begin to break up the most egregious conglomerates, reinstate mandatory local community access, and put teeth in the requirement that stations demonstrate their record of public interest programming.

* Public broadcasting must be financed through a new, nonpolitical system, as is done for the best systems in other democracies. Today, non-commercial broadcasting depends on appropriations by federal and state legislatures that themselves are heavily beholden to corporate interests.  

* The Federal Communications Commission needs to be reconstituted to include specified representatives from nonpartisan groups like the Parent Teachers Association, as well as presidential appointees.

* The country needs easy, inexpensive licensing of low-power, city- and neighborhood-range radio and TV stations. Japan has them and so can the United States.

* Teach serious media literacy in the schools, using independently created curricula.

Individuals can also participate in organizations devoted to improving the media. The following is a list of media watch groups with a brief description as supplied by the organization: 

FAIR, the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. www.fair.org

MediaChannel is a media issues supersite, featuring criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide. As the media watch the world, we watch the media. www.mediachannel.org

The Center for Creative Voices in Media is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preserving in America’s media the original, independent, and diverse creative voices that enrich our nation’s culture and safeguard its democracy. When independent, creative voices are locked out of that marketplace by media conglomerate “gatekeepers,” not only are the artists harmed, so is the public. As a nation, America is poorer for a homogenized media concentrated in the hands of a few corporate behemoths that too willingly sacrifice creativity before the altar of maximum profits.    http://www.creativevoices.us/  

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector. http://www.freepress.net/

If democracy in this country is to continue to be “Of the People, By the People, For the People”, America needs the Fourth Estate back. This country depends on the media for governmental checks and balances. For too long, the media have been preoccupied with their own checks and account balances. Citizens must demand the return of purveyors of truth. Democracy depends on it.

For a variety of activities and information regarding the US Constitution, please visit these links. http://www.constitutionday.cc/,    http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/, http://constitutioncenter.org/ConstitutionDay/, http://constitutionday.cpms.osd.mil/