Cattus Latinus Snoozicus

Posted on July 9, 2023 by JE

I’m rereading Ovid’s Metamorphoses again this summer, which always reminds me of my son’s late-but-great cat Lewis the Explorer. This picture from seven years ago may suggest why.

photo: a white cat rests peacefully on the left hand of a man trying to read Ovid's METAMORPHOSES.
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Not Feeling SANQUINE About This

Posted on July 6, 2023 by JE

Yet another Faceplace ad that falls between sad and funny. I’m pretty sure the Latin on this very serious “blood oath” coin is supposed to mean “what is owed in blood” (quod debitum sanguine) only they misspelled “blood” as SANQUINE, which doesn’t seem to mean anything.

Everything Is Better With Latin!™ (but not dog-Latin; that’s just sad)

Facebook ad for a "blood oath marker" with misspelled Latin on it
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Latin Makes Your Teeth Shiny White!

Posted on July 5, 2023 by JE

I had occasion to use the word vademecum today, which doesn’t happen that often, but whenever it does I’m reminded of Vademecum toothpaste, which my mom used to use. This may be the first piece of Latin I ever learned (unless some of the pre-Vatican-II Latin mass stuck in my brain, which I guess is not impossible).

screenshot ffrom an old Vademecum commercial
https://www.oddballfilms.com/clip/13160_13270_vademecum

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Missed Opportunities

Posted on July 5, 2023 by JE

I’ve always liked C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. But I’m baffled by how many screen adaptations they’ve received, and now they’re slated to get another one via Netflix.

At this rate we’ll never get a theme-park thrillride based on Till We Have Faces or The Discarded Image.

https://www.tor.com/2023/07/05/greta-gerwig-barbie-narnia-netflix/
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Explode For Entertainment Purposes Only!

Posted on July 4, 2023 by JE

Happy Independence Day to my compatriots; happy Tuesday to all.

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Words to Live By

Posted on June 29, 2023 by JE

“One prefers, of course, on all occasions to be stainless and above reproach but, failing that, the next best thing is unquestionably to have got rid of the body.”

—Wodehouse, JOY IN THE MORNING
cover of "Jeeves in the Morning", an American re-issue of "Joy in the Morning" image depicts various cartoon figures around the exterior of a country cottage: a bobby sneaking around the corner at left, Jeeves fishing in the center, a love triangle triangling, Bertie Wooster joyously kicking a Boy Scout
cover of the 1990 Perennial Library edition
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A Fuzzy Thing Happened…

Posted on June 28, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is trible (where I intended to type tribe).

It caused me a little trouble.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), and a buttload of tribbles.
“Time is an illusion, captain. Lunch-time doubly so.”
photo: a cartoon by Tim Kirk of two tribbles with dog-Latin names: FUZZICUS GRAVIDIS and TRIBBLEUS PREGNANTUM text: from David Gerrold's book THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES; opening of chapter five, "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me..."
p. 71 of David Gerrold’s The Trouble With Tribbles,
whence I stole the joke at the top of this post;
cartoon by Tim Kirk
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The Eye of the Beholder

Posted on June 28, 2023 by JE

Just got back from a midnight run with Reuben Sandwich, D.O. (Doctor Olfactantissimus). I saw a smoky red half-moon hanging somber in the western sky. Reuben saw about fifteen thousand sinister bunnies, only three of which were evident to me.

Reuben, not walking, not tonight.
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A Stiff Dose of Truth

Posted on June 26, 2023 by JE

I can’t positively recommend reading this excellent article (a collaboration between Pro Publica and The New Yorker). It’s full of excruciating medical detail. But if you’re hardy enough to do so, there’s a lot of food for thought.

A thought: the profit motive in medicine will kill most of us eventually, even destroying those who can afford treatment.

Another: patriarchy imposes a huge burden of sorrow and suffering on men. That’s not the most important reason to be against it, but it’s a reason.

https://www.propublica.org/article/penis-enlargement-enhancement-procedures-implants

TEXT: PROPUBLICA Inside the Secretive World of Penile by Ava Kofman; How a doctor’s two-decade quest to grow the penis is leaving some men desperate and disfigured. PHOTO: various phallic objects and an old-timey service-station sign showing a car with wood panelling; the text reads: GET YOUR WOODY SERVICED HERE
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Of Stars and Dogs

Posted on June 25, 2023 by JE

I took Dr. Reuben Sandwich (PhD, JD, DOG) out for a midnight run last night. Just as we left our driveway, I looked up and saw a meteor streak across the Summer Triangle (formed by Vega, Deneb, & Altair). I tried to keep my eye on the sky thereafter but Reuben is a fast-paced little bulldog who gives one little leisure for stargazing.

I did see a lot of meteors later on in my dreams, though. Reuben may have done the same, but he hasn’t mentioned it.

A fawn-colored French Bulldog sleeping in the lap pf someone wearing a plaid shirt.
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