Necktie of the Month – April 2019!

Okay, so April isn’t until tomorrow, but with March Madness in full swing, tomorrow’s post will be the outcomes of this weekend’s basketball games; we are now down to the Final Four teams!  For April (a day early) I will be highlighting another one of my acquisitions from the Sophisticated Gentlemen bow tie collection.  This one, “Emerald Green,” is a delightfully whimsical polka dot tie that just so happens to be the same colors as my alma mater (Michigan State/green and white).

Commonly Misspelled and Confused – Letter G!

Happy Friday!  Here is a list of some of the more commonly misspelled/misused words (courtesy of the Internet Accuracy Project) beginning with the letter “G.”  Enjoy!

Commonly misspelled words

G – gauge, generally, genius, government, governor, grammar, grievous, guarantee, guerrilla, guidance, guttural.

Commonly Confused Words

Surprisingly enough, there are no words beginning with “G” that are commonly confused.

Source: Internet Accuracy Project’s commonly misspelled, confused and misused words is a helpful collection of some of the most commonly misspelled, confused and misused words.

The Elite Eight, 2019!

Congratulations to the Michigan State Spartans who have made their way into the Elite Eight (for first time since 2015).  Here are the outcomes of the Thursday/Friday games.   Congratulations to the winners and best of luck this weekend as the field is further whittled down to the Final Four.  Of the eight games, three (3) were “upsets” with the lower seed finding a way to win.  North Carolina was the first #1 seed to exit, but a lot of the top seeds still remain.  There are now three (3) #1 seeds (Gonzaga, Virginia, and Duke)  remaining along with two (2) #2 seeds (Michigan State and Kentucky), two (2) #3 seeds (Purdue and Texas Tech), and a #5 seed (Auburn).

Next up for the Spartans: the Regional Final against the the overall #1 seed, Duke, on Sunday.  Go Green!

East Regional
Duke (#1) defeated Virginia Tech (#4) by two (2) points.
Michigan State (#2) defeated LSU (#3).

South Regional 
Virginia (#1)  defeated Oregon (#12).
Purdue (#3) defeated Tennessee (#2).

West Regional
Gonzaga (#1) defeated Florida State (#4).
Texas Tech (#3) defeated Michigan (#2).

Midwest Regional
Kentucky (#2) defeated Houston (#3) by four (4) points.
Auburn (#5) defeated UNC (#1).

Fun Fact Friday, Number One Hundred Twenty!

Today’s real facts (courtesy of http://www.snapple.com) are all about pigeons.  Did you know that . . .

• pigeons have been trained by the U.S. Coast Guard to spot people lost at sea?  (Real Fact #125)
• a pigeon’s feathers are heavier than than its bones?  (Real Fact #126)
• Philadelphia zookeeper Jim Murray sent baseball scores to telegraph offices by carrier pigeon every half inning in 1883?  (Real Fact #1460)

Source: http://www.snapple.com/real-facts

Some Late Week Humor!

Happy Thursday!  As we rapidly approach the weekend and more casual attire, here is a funny song abouot yoga pants that I ran across the other day.  Hilarious!  Enjoy!

Source: https://youtu.be/GYv4Fs7nzIY

Voldemort Defined By a Word!

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series (books and movies).  Here is a promotional sentence for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: “As the film begins, the Ministry of Magic is crumbling in the malefic grip of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), and Harry has a price on his head.”

malefic

\ muh–lef-ik \, adjective;

1. productive of evil; malign; doing harm; baneful.

Source: The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate by Eugene Ehrlich, and http://www.dictionary.com.

Travel Oxymoronica!

Here are a few gems that are “travel-related” oxymoronica.   Enjoy!

“We were at sea — there is no other adequate expression — on the plains of Nebraska.”  (Robert Louis Stevenson, Across the Plains)

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.”  (Benjamin Disraeli)

“The average tourist wants to go places where there are no tourists.”  (Sam Ewing)

Source: oxymoronica by Dr. Mardy Grothe

The Sweet Sixteen, 2019!

So, the first weekend of March Madness has come to a close and there are now only sixteen (16) teams remaining (from the original sixty-eight (68) that started the journey last week).  And, true to form (or history), several of the higher-ranked seeds did not survive the first weekend (upsets are in red).   Twelve (12) lower seeds won the first day (four 9 seeds, three 10 seeds, one 11 seed, three 12 seeds, and one 13 seed).  Day two corrected slightly with the higher seeds reestablishing their dominance.  Here are the lucky surviving sixteen (16) teams by regional, with their seeding in parentheses.  The Big Ten had seven (7) of their eight (8) teams make it to the final thirty-two (32), but only three (3) of the original eight (8) made it to the Sweet Sixteen!  Congrats to Michigan, Michigan State (first time back to the Sweet Sixteen since 2015), and Purdue.

Up next for the Spartans (#2): the Tigers of LSU (#3) on Friday.  Go Green!

East Regional
Duke (#1) defeated UCF (#9) by one (1) point.
Michigan State (#2) defeated Minnesota (#10).
LSU (#3) defeated Maryland (#6) by two (2) points.
Virginia Tech (#4) defeated Liberty (#12).

South Regional 
Virginia (#1)  defeated Oklahoma (#9).
Tennessee (#2) defeated Iowa (#10) by six (6) points in overtime.
Purdue (#3) defeated Villanova (#6).
Oregon (#12) defeated UC irvine (#13).

West Regional
Gonzaga (#1) defeated Baylor (#9).
Michigan (#2) defeated Florida (#10).
Texas Tech (#3) defeated Buffalo (#6).
Florida State (#4) defeated Murray State (#12).

Midwest Regional
North Carolina (#1) defeated Washington (#9).
Kentucky (#2) defeated Wofford (#7) by six (6) points.
Houston (#3) defeated Ohio State (#11).
Auburn (#5) defeating Kansas (#4).

Marriage Advice, Number Eight!

Here is the eighth installment of advice on How to be Happy Though Married.  Enjoy!

The Pleasures of Marriage
“It’ a woman’s business to get married as soon as possible and a man’s to keep unmarried as long as he can.”  (George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, 1903)

The Pains of Marriage
“In old age, marriage is not to be recommended.  Two decaying bodies in one bed can never be endured.”  (Philip of Novara, Of the Four Ages of Man’s Life, 1265)

Hints for Husbands
“Cure your unsavory breath, gargle your throat; and free your armpits from the ram and goat.”  (Ovid, The Art of Love, 1st Century AD)

Hints for Wives
“A buxom lass in overalls, with a mannish haricut, rolling a cigarette and handling sacks of fertilizer may be scrupulously scrubbed as clean as a freshly bathed infant.  But is she dainty?  Definitely not.”  (Lady, Be Loved!, 1953)

The Marital Bed
“In the act of copulation, the woman earnestly looks on the man, and fixes her mind on him, the child will resemble the father.  Nay, if the woman, even in unlawful copulation, fix her mind upon her husband, the child will resemble him though he did not beget it.”  (Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, 4th Century BC)

Source: How to Be Happy Though Married: Matrimonial Strife Through the Ages, compiled by Emily Brand.

Harlequin With Guitar!

On this the birthday (in 1887) of José Victoriano (Carmelo Carlos) González-Pérez (aka Juan Gris), a Spanish painter and sculptor with connections to the Cubism movement, I thought I would share one of my favorite Gris paintings: Harlequin with Guitar (Arlequin à la guitare), painted in 1919.   This painting currently resides at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, in Paris, France.

Source: The author died in 1927, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 80 years or less.  This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.