Necktie of the Month — November 2011!

Happy Halloween one and all!  Trick or Treat!  Okay, so technically it is not yet November, but here is this wonderful Halloween design and November starts tomorrow.  So, rather than highlighting my novelty necktie (in honor of Halloween, which happens on the last day of the month) separately from the normal “Necktie of the Month” posting later in the week, I decided to proverbially kill both birds (novelty and normal) with this one stone (Necktie of the Month posting).

As to the decision on which shirt to couple it with, this was really a no-brainer as well . . . orange, of course!  But this tie would look equally fine with either a white shirt or a solid black shirt depending on your mood (in my humble opinion).   And, as an added bonus, the ghoulish white skeletons actually glow in the dark (after exposure to light) — pretty darn awesome if you ask me!  What a “boo”-tiful necktie!

College Football — Week Nine!

Wow, what another exciting weekend of college football!  And, with the BCS standings in full swing and national championship hopes on the line, the upsets are starting to become more and more important.  The Michigan State Spartans managed to stumble against Nebraska (at Lincoln), but with some key wins against Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin their Big Ten title hopes are still very much alive.  Go Green!

The upsets this week included:
Clemson (#5) lost to unranked Georgia Tech.
Kansas State (#8) was hammered by Oklahoma (#9).
Michigan State (#11) lost to Nebraska (#14). [But Nebraska was at home and was actually favored to win]
Wisconsin (#15) lost to unranked Ohio State.
Texas A&M (#16) lost to unranked Missouri.
Texas Tech (#20) lost to unranked Iowa State.

Other top-25 losses that weren’t upsets included:
There weren’t any this week.

The close calls included:
Stanford (#6) beat unranked USC in triple overtime.
Arkansas (#10) beat unranked Vanderbilt by only three.
Virginia Tech (#12) beat unranked Duke by only four.
Penn State (#19) beat unranked Illinois by three.
Georgia (#22) beat unranked Florida by four.

What Do You Know?

The quick answer: never as much as you think you do.   And, can you ever know too much?  I would think not . . . but we strive to progress from data and facts (information) to knowledge, and ultimately to wisdom nonetheless.   Achieving wisdom is not guaranteed (not everyone will get there), but the ones who do certainly are able to see things from a different perspective. And while wisdom can sometimes be difficult to define, here are some quotations that may be a good starting point.

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” Socrates

“A fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”  William Shakespeare

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom.  It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”  Mahatma Gandhi

How Lucky is Your Town?

In the latest “ranking of America’s cities,” Men’s Health magazine looked at which cities seem to have a large supply of luck.  The criteria included: the most winners of Powerball, Mega Millions, and Publisher’s Clearinghouse; the most holes in one (PGA); the fewest lightning strikes and deaths from falling objects (Vaisala Inc., National Climatic Center, and CDC); and the least money lost on lottery tickets and race betting (Bureau of Labor Statistics).  And, while Vegas and Reno were both in the top ten, neither was in the top five.  Tulsa showed up at #27 on the list while Oklahoma City was 57th.

The luckiest cities include:
1.  San Diego, CA
2. Baltimore, MD
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Wilmingon, DE
5. Richmond, VA
6. San Francisco, CA
7. Las Vegas, NV
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. Louisville, KY
10. Reno, NV

The least lucky cities include:
91. Fargo, ND
92. Miami, FL
93. Bridgeport, CT
94. St. Petersburg, FL
95. Billings, MT
96. Sioux Falls, SD
97. Memphis, TN
98. Jackson, MS
99. Tampa, FL
100. Charleston, WV

Source: Men’s Health magazine (www.menshealth.com/metrogrades)

Stop the Madness?

Having just returned from a vacation, I can honestly say that I was significantly disonnected from my normal social media routines for a couple of weeks. Even though I managed to post to my blog each day (learning how to schedule blog posts for a specific date at a specific time was revolutionary for me), I was still disconnected from facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, email, and all things internet. I wasn’t using them, I wasn’t checking them, and while I had my phone (for emergencies only), I really wasn’t using it either. But here is a great infographic from http://www.gopopcorn.ca that shows the volume of social media sharing in a 60-second window. These infographics never cease to amaze me.  That’s a lot of sharing!

Back Home Again!

Returning from a vacation has always been a double-edged sword . . . on the one edge you are probably ready to be back home, but on the other edge, are you really ready to go back to work?  Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not.  But the bottom line is that I do return to work . . . refreshed and energized from having taken a break from the routine.  It is an amazing phenomenon, and one that I don’t always take advantage of, but I’m working to correct that by taking more vacations in the future (as required).

Aloha, Adios, Adieu, Goodbye!

Aloha hookaalawe, Hawaii!  (Goodbye, Hawaii!)   All vacations must come to an end eventually (which is probably a good thing).  And this one is no different.  The endings allow for reflection on the good times that were experienced and the new memories created.  The endings are also a great time to start planning the next vacation . . . for it is through the anticipation of the upcoming good times that we are able to soldier on through the occasional difficult times in life (or at least this works for me) . . . I do much better with something (usually travel) to look forward to.  Next stop?  I’m not quite sure yet, but I’m working on it!  Last spring, during an employee appreciation luncheon at work, they had a tropical/Hawaiian theme.  One of the activities included having your name translated into Hawaiian . . . how fitting indeed.  My name in Hawaiian: Koma Linek.

Source of Hawaiian terms: An English-Hawaiian Dictionary with Various Useful Tables, by H.R. Hitchcock (1968).

Murder By Any Other Name!

Continuing from yesterday’s post, how many variations are there for the concept of “murder?”  Here are a few that I can think of, can you think of any others?

Assassinate
Eliminate
Execute
Hit
Kill
Manslaughter
Massacre
Neutralize
Rub out
Silence
Slay
Snuff
Terminate
Whack
Pepehi kanaka me manao ino (murder in Hawaiian)

And then there are all of the “cides.”

Homicide
Fratricide
Matricide
Infanticide
Parricide
Fillicide
Sororicide
Regicide
Genocide
Tyrannocide

and . . . one I had never heard of before . . .

uxoricide

\uhk-sawr–uh-sahyd\, noun;
1. the act of murdering one’s wife.
2. a man who murders his wife.

Source of Hawaiian terms: An English-Hawaiian Dictionary with Various Useful Tables, by H.R. Hitchcock (1968).

Five-Oh!

Steve McGarrett, Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Wo Fat, Che Fong . . . what’s not to like?  “Hawaii Five-O” was a staple of the television programs I would watch.  It had an awesome theme song, it had location, it had drama, it had a great cast, and the good guys always won!   And, the most memorable part of the entire show was always at the end when McGarrett would turn to Danny and say “Book ’em, Danno, murder one!”  Ah, you’ve got to love it, go get ’em Five-O!

E hopu i ka lawe hala! (arrest the criminal) or Hale paahao (jail), Pepehi kanaka me manao ino (murder).  Doesn’t flow quite as smoothly as McGarrett’s phrase, does it?  Perhaps it would with practice?

Source of Hawaiian terms: An English-Hawaiian Dictionary with Various Useful Tables, by H.R. Hitchcock (1968).

Seal Ya Later!

Here is another small Inuit sculpture that I acquired several years ago.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the artist’s name or any other details/provenance surrounding this particular piece (aside from the fact that it is a seal).  I have managed to improve my record-keeping significantly within the last decade or so, especially where it concerns my art collection (and as required by the insurance company for the rider to my renter’s policy).  A simple, yet elegant piece (in my humble opinion).

E sila (seal)  Kalai kii (sculpture)

Source of Hawaiian terms: An English-Hawaiian Dictionary with Various Useful Tables, by H.R. Hitchcock (1968).