xen·o·phobe
n.
A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

xeno·phobi·a n.
xeno·phobic adj.

Quotation for Monday, July 25, 2005:

"Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal...As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time."

The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)

Mackinac Island

tar·ra·did·dle (also tar·a·did·dle)
n.
1. A petty falsehood; a fib.
2. Silly pretentious speech or writing; twaddle.

twad·dle
n.
Foolish, trivial, or idle talk or chatter.

intr.v. (twad·dled, twad·dling, twad·dles)
To talk foolishly; prate.

prate
v. (prat·ed, prat·ing, prates)
To talk idly and at length; chatter.

Never heard these words before. Probably because I never do any of it! :)

Tommy's New Favorite Lawyer Joke

A rancher named Clyde had a car accident. In court, the trucking company's fancy lawyer was questioning Clyde. "Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine,'" asked the lawyer.

Clyde responded, "Well, I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule, Bessie, into the..."

"I didn't ask for any details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just answer the question? Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine!'?

Clyde said, "Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road... "The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Clyde's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule, Bessie."

Clyde thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting, real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans. Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road, gun in hand, looked at me, and said "How are you feeling?"

"Now what the heck would you say?"

I found this picture of a Samoyed named George.

Makes me miss my Codyman.

Francis Langford died yesterday

Her trademark song was "I'm in the Mood for Love" and she traveled with Bob Hope entertaining troops. She was also known for her role in "The Bickersons" with Don Ameche.

hubris \HYOO-bruhs\, noun:

Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance

"During his long tenure in the financial world, Friedman has watched dozens of his competitors' businesses killed by hubris born of success rather than by unsound business decisions or adverse market conditions."
--Lisa Endlich, Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success

"This is the actor's hubris, to imagine the world possessed of a single, avid eye fixed solely and always on him."
--John Banville, Eclipse

"With dizzying hubris, Shelley elevated the vocation of the poet above that of priest and statesman."
--Peter Gay, Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience

Quotation for Wednesday, July 06, 2005:

"Both the children were looking up into the Lion's face as he spoke these words. And all at once (they never knew exactly how it happened) the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating, and such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered them that they felt they had never really been happy or wise or good, or even alive and awake, before."

The Magician's Nephew (C. S. Lewis)