Sprite (lightning)

Sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds giving rise to a quite varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. Sprites appear as luminous reddish-orange flashes. They often occur in clusters

Happy Birthday Vincent

"What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

satellites

Currently there are approximately 2465 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth.

silkworms

• The silkworm eggs, laid out about 300 to 400 at a time, generally take about ten days to hatch
• They prefer eating white Mulberry tree leaves
• The larvae go into the motionless pupal state, after enclosing themselves in an envelope of raw silk, produced by their salivary glands.
• If the raw silk of a single cocoon is unfolded, it will contains raw silk thread of about 300 to 900 meters in length! The raw silk fibers, which are about 10 micrometers in diameter are very lustrous and fine. To make one pound of silk, about 3000 cocoons are boiled in water.
• Every year, 70 million pounds of raw silk is produced, after about 10 billion pounds of mulberry trees are consumed by the silkworm larvae!
• The length of the 70 million pound fabric can easily cover about 300 round trips to the Sun!

joke

Q. What was the out come from a race between two silk worms?

A. a Tie!

The First Rose of Summer by Robert Gilfillan

'Tis the first rose of summer that opes to my view,
With its bright crimson bosom all bathed in the dew;
It bows to its green leaves with pride from its throne--
'Tis the queen of the valley, and reigneth alone.

Oh! why, lovely stranger! thus early in bloom,
Art thou here to assure us that summer is come?
The primrose and harebell appear with the spring,
But tidings of summer the young roses bring.

Thou fair gift of nature (I welcome the boon),
Was 't the lark of the morning that 'woke thee so soon?
Yet I weep, thou sweet floweret! for soon, from the sky,
The lark shall repose where thy leaves wither'd lie.

Oh! if beauty could save thee, thou ne'er wouldst decay,
But, alas! soon thou 'lt perish and wither away;
And thy kindred may blossom, and blossom as fair--
Yet I 'll mourn, lonely rosebud! when thou art not there.

Michael Caine

This guy never ceases to amaze...his Texas accent almost covers his east London accent. See the film "Secondhand Lions".

Wonderings by J P Ronan

The boxed cat lost socks on rocks,
The big brown cow jumped over the white fence,
Does eat oats and Mary eats lambses,
A stitch in time doesn’t work like brandy.

This poem is full of Shi!

shi poem

On Seeing the Snow-peak of Zhongnan by Zu Yong

See how Zhongnan Mountain soars
With its white top over floating clouds –
And a warm sky opening at the snow-line
While the town in the valley grows colder and colder.

Shi Poetry

Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den

In a stone den was a poet called Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.

....................

These poems fall into four categories: from the folk songs of the common people, songs or hymns of nobility; odes of praise for rulers; and odes written for religious ceremony.

Songs often include a four word line, a four line stanza, rhymes on even lines and the use of metaphor, simile, synecdoche, puns, onomatopoeia, rhyming and reduplicative compounds, alliteration and puns as well as parallelism. (long words are for Mikey)

Madelyn Renee

Madelyn Renee is an American soprano formerly known as Madelyn Renée Monti. She was born in the later part of the 1900s in Boston. Renee had a significant relationship with late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Quite a pretty lady!

Irish Spring

In Ireland, spring officially starts on February first to honor St. Brigid, who, according to pagan legend, was able to make even the rocky farms of Ireland productive. The pagans honored Brigid February first because it was the first day of spring in the pagan calendar.

St Brigid’s day, which in the Irish Language is called Lá Fhéile Bhríde is still traditionally celebrated by the making of a Saint Brigid’s Cross. These crosses are made by weaving rushes together, and are believed to protect your home in the year ahead.

Ahh, the Wilderness!

Hey O Mate.  Great Day for Camping, Eh!

quotes

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. -- English Proverb

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. -- Mark Twain

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. -- Albert Einstein

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt, circa 569 A.D.

1. Abroad the Regal Banners fly,
Now shines the Cross's mystery;
Upon it Life did death endure,
And yet by death did life procure.

.....

6. Hail, Cross, of hopes the most sublime!
Now in this mournful Passion time,
Improve religious souls in grace,
The sins of criminals efface.

7. Blest Trinity, salvation's spring,
May every soul Thy praises sing;
To those Thou grantest conquest by
The holy Cross, rewards apply. Amen.

Its principal use is in the Divine Office, the Roman Breviary assigning it to Vespers from the Saturday before Passion Sunday daily to Maundy Thursday, and to Vespers of feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), and in pre-Vatican II breviary also for the feast of the Finding (May 3), and of the Triumph of the Holy Cross (July 16).

One of the most beautiful Latin hymns.

Kim Braden

British actress from BBC series Anne of Avonlea. I really got into it!

firkin

A firkin is an old English unit of volume. For beer and ale a firkin is equal to nine imperial gallons, seventy-two pints, or a quarter of a barrel (40.91481 litres), and are the most common container for cask ale.

Butter and soap used to be sold by the firkin, too. In these cases it was a measure of weight, instead of volume: e.g., 56 lb (25.4 kg) and 64 lb (29.0 kg) respectively.

The term firkin is currently used to refer to antique wooden buckets, usually with wood handle and lid.

About The Nightingale by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In stale blank verse a subject stale
I send per post my Nightingale;
And like an honest bard, dear Wordsworth,
You'll tell me what you think, my Bird's worth.
My own opinion's briefly this--
His bill he opens not amiss;
And when he has sung a stave or so,
His breast, & some small space below,
So throbs & swells, that you might swear
No vulgar music's working there.
So far, so good; but then, 'od rot him!
There's something falls off at his bottom.
Yet, sure, no wonder it should breed,
That my Bird's Tail's a tail indeed
And makes it's own inglorious harmony
Æolio crepitû, non carmine.


Nightingales are named so because they frequently sing at night.It means 'night songstress'. Early writers assumed the female sang when it is in fact the male. The song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing.

Rob Brydon

Welsh actor etc....very funny!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE5UktH4iYY

humor

All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
Casey Stengel

Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.
Groucho Marx

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
Mae West

By trying we can easily endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.
Mark Twain

Don't forget Mother's Day. Or as they call it in Beverly Hills, Dad's Third Wife Day.
Jay Leno

Electricity is really just organized lightning.
George Carlin

lent

"For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you."

scripture

Lent

The word "Lent" comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word lengten, which means "springtime," named so for the time of the year in which it occurs.

The beginning of what we call "Ash Wednesday," is difficult to date with certainty, though it probably began around 600 A.D. Throughout the Middle Ages ashes were sprinkled on the head.

Sally Cecilia Watkins

A most talented actress...talented!!!!