Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby I've noticed that the late Venezuelan President Chavez, instead of being buried, is to be embalmed, reposed into a glass showcase, and as has been the case with other dictators, put on display for admirers to see for eternity. Don't think for a minute that this isn't precisely what Obama will want and expect upon his demise. Now I'm not big into looking at dead bodies, but.....
March 8 at 11:50 EST .
Gerty Would that the Good Lord sees to it that the wax that holds him together in the glass coffin will melt in the sulfur surrounding his remains. Then the world will witness the heap of decay he was even before his death!
March 8 at 16:31 EST .
Pinger posted on Veterans' Page & Militaria I have a threesome of "older" friends who were Naval Aviators during the second half of WWII. Heroes all. They flew off of USS Hornet, CV12. I wrote a poem in their and their fellow Air Group Two warrior's honor a couple of Veteran's Days ago. I share it here.
To any vets who read this...thank you much for your service.
November 11 at 09:18 EST .
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Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby I just heard a news story about Paul Ryan's address tonight at the convention. It stated among other things that, Paul Ryan's mission would be to convince people that he should be "second in line to the presidency." I hear that over and over. Since the VP is FIRST in line to the presidency, why is it that all these media types find the succession to the White House so difficult to understand and properly state. If I'm in a doctor's waiting room and I'm NEXT, I'm first in line. Pretty simple.
August 29 at 16:20 EST .
Escaped commieny for those without cable, here is a better link to watch tonights speeches than the one I listed below. (H/T my secret pal, XOXO ) More complete, comprehensive, and better-organized link to unedited films
Previous days will have complete schedule, including videos of un-known people (testimonies ).
August 29 at 16:51 EST .
Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby I am putting my Miniature Schnauzer, Miss Lucy, in for the Smartest Dog In The World award. Whenever she heard the word "bath" she'd sequester herself under the dining room table where she couldn't be reached. So when she needed a bath, we began spelling the word out....B-A-T-H....so she didn't know what we were talking about.
Now when she hears us spell it out....B-A-T-H.....she hides under the dining room table.
I guess we need hand signals (when she's looking the other way ).
March 19 at 12:14 EST .
Rake King Maybe you can use "Pig Latin" "athbay" to fool Miss Lucy?
March 19 at 12:30 EST .
Betty Jean I give my Min. Schnauzer Miss Annie a bath in the laundry tub so when she hears me moving the brooms, etc. in the laundry room she tucks tail (well actually her nubbin ) and runs to the end of the couch where I think she thinks I won't see her.
March 19 at 12:35 EST .
Balogreene As the scientists say, they can't reason, they don't think. /s
March 19 at 12:56 EST .
Yottyhere Pinger, that is a adorable picture of your pup. Our pugs just drag their tails behind them and act like poor ole Eeyore on WInnie the Pooh. They are great dramatic actresses :D
March 19 at 13:43 EST .
Hollyhock Our yellow lab used to do the same thing. We had to start saying "B." She recognized her bath towels and shampoo. Chloe hid under the coffee table and would commence shaking - herself and the table. I thought labs loved water.
March 19 at 19:17 EST .
TXknitter Ms. Lucy is just what I needed this morning. Thanx for posting this. Politics just too depressing for me today. I am sticking to reading the joyful and charming today - like the adventures of Ms. Lucy and bath time.
March 21 at 12:41 EST .
Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby If you missed my timeline slideshow of poor Fafoon's recent adventure that was on yesterday's Must Reads, here's the YouTube link. :> )
pinger
March 7 at 12:22 EST .
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Yottyhere Pinger, I loved this yesterday when I first saw it. Have saved it to my favorites. Very well done and fun to watch. Thanks
Gram77 Outstanding and really funny. Fester Williams???? My goodness. This will also be in my Favorites.
March 7 at 18:14 EST .
Zanutsa Excellent! Thank you for all the time it took to put this hilarious video together! On my Favorites forever!! Thank you! Your ingenuity is to be admired!!
March 7 at 23:15 EST .
Judith Great work! I chuckled my way through it. Good job.
Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby As we progress through this multi-year kabuki dance to settle on a Republican candidate who can un-seat the current King, I am reminded of a scene in the Harrison Ford film of several years ago, The Last Crusade. In the film, numerous people were looking for the Holy Grail which, when sipped from, promised eternal life. When the grail was eventually discovered, it was intermixed with several other brilliant bejeweled grails which gave one the impression that the one that seemed the grandest must surely be the correct one. Each one looked better than the last and each held the promise of light. The dilemma was that if the incorrect one was selected and sipped from, the holder was condemned to certain and immediate destruction. This, I think, is where the Republican Party stands today. If we allow ourselves to be fooled; if we allow ourselves to be manipulated; if we are too lazy to look for, find, and know the truth about our candidates….then there is a good chance we will put our faith in one which will, in the end, prove to be a fatal error. Each candidate is showing his best brilliance by turning his diamonds toward the light, but on the side away from the light lays the real person. We know that words are cheap….the indeed must be…as we’ve been forced to listen to millions of them. I implore our Republican voters to look at the incumbent, look at what he brought to the table, and look at the state of our nation today. Think of the skill set needed to guide our nation back to health (it’s surely not more words ), look at the side away from the brilliance, forget ideology, and put forth a candidate that has demonstrated results with actions. This nation was formed to escape from the type of government we are again becoming. In my opinion, we must set single issues and social issues aside and ask, “Who can dethrone the king,” and send that man forward with our complete, unconditional support I have a favored candidate whom I wish to win the nomination. My choice is not based on the fact that I think he’s perfect nor on the fact that he does or does not perfectly align with my views on a host of issues. It is based on the fact that I not only think he is the one whom I believe can defeat Obama, but also on my feelings that he has the experience to make the decisions that will put the brakes on this runaway train our country has become and begin to move it back in the direction from which it came…far away from the edge of the cliff on which it now teeters. I consider my judgment good and have done my homework. I may or may not be right, but I am convinced that we must select the correct grail or we will never have another opportunity.
January 15 at 22:23 EST .
Ole buzzard I'm not thrilled with any of the candidates that are left in the race, but I agree with you that Obama must go. The country can't stand another four years of his assault on the Constitution. But there has been another, more discreet assault on the Constitution, and it has been going on since Woodrow Wilson was president, and that is the leftward movement of the Congress. The House holds the keys to the Treasury. The Senate was intended to represent the several states in Washington. Now it, too, represents the people which removes a crucial part of the checks and balances the Founders devised.
It is that leftward drift that we must stop. A president can only enact those laws that are sent to him for signature. The Senate can block further erosion of the Supreme Court by blocking liberal nominees.
The REAL power that we need to stop this train lies in the two houses of Congress, not the Presidency, and THAT is where our greatest attention should be focused.
And I also believe that if we do not choose the correct "grail", we will have another opportunity, but it will come with a much dearer price.
January 15 at 23:33 EST .
Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby Happy new year to all. If United Airlines flights were on-time 5% of the time, we all would chose another airline. If your doctor could only cure you 5% of the time, you’d find another doctor. If your auto mechanic correctly analyzed your vehicle’s problems just 5% of the time, you’d find another mechanic. If your grocery store only had milk in its cooler on 5% of your visits, you’d shop elsewhere. If you are fortunate enough to have a job in today’s economy and your work was correct only 5% of the time, you would be shown the door. Why then, the Congress of the United States, with a 5% approval rating is allowed to stay and continue to damage our country as it moves closer and closer to third-world status, drowns in debt, and continues to pass laws that take more and more of our freedoms from us? In my state, my district’s representative is a Republican, and one of my state’s two senators is a Republican. I am willing to vote them all out of office and re-staff Washington with people who will put American first and their political careers second….if such people exist. I find it telling that 95% of the people think the congress is doing a terrible job, yet the cause of the problem must be caused by the representatives and senators from the other forty-nine states and not their own. Nothing’s going to change until that changes.
December 31 at 09:01 EST .
Pinger posted on Main Page The Lobby I beg your input on a conundrum with which I have wrestled for quite some time, that being the indiscriminate and seemingly arbitrary usage of the prepositions “in”, and “on”. Generally, one would think of something IN as being within some type of enclosure, and something being ON as being above or atop something. No so.
For example, if your back yard abuts a golf course and if you are out behind your deck and are chipping a golf ball, you are considered to be IN your yard. If you chip a ball too far and it crosses your rear property line…..and you go the retrieve it, you are then ON the golf course. Just that one step takes you from INNIE to ONNIE.
Or how about this: When you decide to travel from points A to B and you determine your mode of travel you have an equally puzzling situation. If you drive your personal vehicle (or take a taxi ), you will be IN your vehicle; if you decide to take public transportation you will either be ON a train, ON a plane, ON a bus, ON a ship, et.al.
If you are seated at your kitchen table, you sit ON a chair. If you are seated in your living room, you sit IN a chair. Actually, your other choice would be to sit ON the sofa.
If you are golfing and your ride a golf cart, you sit IN the cart, regardless of whether or not it has a roof; if you were to traverse that same golf course in snowy months by way of snowmobile, you would be ON the snowmobile.
If you are going to catch a train, you must arrive at the station IN time to catch the train if it is ON time. Then as mentioned earlier, you’d find yourself ON a train but IN a coach car.
If you tow a boat to a lake, you back up your trailer and put the boat IN the lake. Then when you leave the shore you are then out ON the lake, say, fishing.
At a high school football game, if you play ball on the field, you are ON a team. If you play a trombone on the sidelines you are IN a band.
And daily, we see people ON phones, IN a phone conversation? In the old days, you could have been IN a phone booth, ON a call.
If you are waiting to buy a ticket at a movie theater in Illinois, you are standing IN line. If you are waiting to buy a ticket at a movie theater in New York (for the same movie, mind you ) you are waiting ON line.
If you enter that theater, you would view the movie IN the theater; if you saw the same movie at home on DVD you would not watch it IN your home; you would watch it ON your television.
If you drip jelly ON your morning newspaper, it may smudge words IN your morning newspaper.
ZurichMike In Texas, I am waiting on a friend. No, I am not serving the friend, I am waiting *for* the friend.
Prepositions are weird in any language. A direct translation of proper German that renders into English "I am waiting upon my friend" means waiting *for* the friend. The picture is hanging "at" the wall ("an" ), and then you add accusative or dative to show (mostly ) direction to or towards (accusative ) or not (dative ). Very confusing.
Preposition trouble maker! No more egg nog or Christmas cookies for you! :- )
December 26 at 13:22 EST .
Hurmie84 Think of the poor person trying to learn English. Since I am in to grammar usage I'll get right on it.
December 26 at 13:23 EST .
ZurichMike Well, think of the poor native speaker of English having to learn a language where nouns have gender and are declined. In English it's so simple: "The man gave a woman the book". In German: "Der Mann gibt einer Frau das Buch" (masculine noun with determinate nominative article, verb, feminine noun with indeterminate dative article, neuter noun with determinate accusative article ). "The" is not going to change in any of these positions, nor is "a". English is slightly inflected, German moderately, and languages such as Latin and Greek are very inflected.
December 26 at 13:40 EST .
Thwarkmaster You don't say "the dog is on the yard" or "I am in the golf course" because you don't want to sound ignert.
The same rule applies to "in the train" or "on the taxi."
You man sit IN the couch, if that's more comfortable for you.
The boat is in the lake. You are on the boat, unless you fall over the side.
December 26 at 14:36 EST .
Thwarkmaster MAY, not MAN. Who's the saboteur here? .....oh...it's me.
December 26 at 14:38 EST .
Safetydude The boat is on the lake, you are in the boat. What is a desert island ?
PLPointer67 Just a personal note, if I may, but ZurichMike: I've always enjoyed and learned for your posts. Thank you for sharing.
As to the topic, I'm so glad I'm a native born American, and learned the language here through listening and reading great literature. As for the grammar rules... I'm still lost.
I was on an educational exchange in Russia in the early 1990's, and our young translators had had little contact with native English speakers. As such, they were full of questions. This topic of prepositions came up, since there didn't seem to be any 'rules' pertaining to their usage.
The one that stumped me was, "Come on over here."
Perhaps the key lies/lays??? more in the fact that Americans don't like rules or rulers...
PS: Why do Brits say, 'he was in hospital' and Americans say, 'he was in the hospital'?
December 26 at 17:17 EST .
Nugoddess I guess y'all don't want to hear about how in the South we are all ''fixin'' to go somewhere or do something. ;D
November 11 at 09:18 EST .
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