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Holy Missing Feed Batman!

October 16, 2016

Holy Missing Feed Batman!

Before I lose it again, I want to send everyone an update. For more than two weeks, my posts have not been going out to my email subscribers. Holy missing feed batman. I do not know why, it is working at this moment, but it is. So while it is, I am sending out this update to let you know what is going on.

My social media sites received the updates but my email subscribers have not. If I had hair, I would have pulled it all out by now.

To my email subscribers, I apologize. I will strive hard to make sure that you continue to receive my updates on a timely basis. In the meantime, if you like, you can go to my blog site and catch up. They are all there. https://richardverry.com/blog.

For the past two weeks, I’ve worked extensively with my host provider and the plug-in author to try and figure it all out. Yes, there are two vendors involved with this issue, and both pointed to the other as the responsible party.

Me? I believe it was the plug-in that broke the feeds. Why? The first question I ask myself is, what’s changed? That’s easy. The plug-in changed. In fact, the publishers updated the plug-in several times over the past two months. They released a brand new version just before I noticed my posts were not distributed properly. They claimed my SSL certificate configuration was not correct. Of course, this was debunked pretty quickly by the hosting company as well as my research.

Patience and persistence

So, what did it come down too? Persistence and I don’t know what else. I can say, that I used Google to research all sorts of ideas. (Don’t you just love the Google search engine for looking up answers to problems?) I also did a thorough review of my site, I found broken links, carried over from a year ago when I migrated my site to a hosted solution, which I fixed. I also figured out a way to leverage server-side caching that was on my to-do list. But that is about the size of it.

I believe it is the plug-in server side programming as well as aspects of the plug-in client-side programming that are the root cause of the issue. But, could I get them to acknowledge it? Nope. Even now, they still haven’t. Yet, yesterday morning, my posts failed to distribute to my email subscribers, and today they do. What did I do? Nothing.

To my email subscribers, I apologize. If you have read this far, thank you. In acknowledgment of your patience, I would like to offer you a free copy of my book ‘The Taste of Honey‘. Just click the book title to connect you to the free download page.

In the meantime, I will do everything I can to keep this feed up and working for you.

Until the next time, have a great day and a better tomorrow. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Regards,
Rich

Word of the Day: Lavation

October 16, 2016

Word of the Day: Lavation

Lavation (noun) lay-VAY-shun

Definition

: the act or an instance of washing or cleansing

Examples

“… we cannot keep the skin healthy without frequent lavations of the whole body in pure water. It is impossible to calculate the benefits of this simple practice.” — Walt Whitman, “Bathing, Cleanliness, Personal Beauty,” June 1846

“In Maycomb County, it was easy to tell when someone bathed regularly, as opposed to yearly lavations….” — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960

Did You Know?

It sounds logical that you would perform a lavation in a lavatory, doesn’t it? And it is logical: both words come from Latin lavare, meaning, appropriately, “to wash.” English picked up a few other words from this root as well. In medicine, the therapeutic washing out of an organ is lavage. There is also lavabo (in Latin, literally, “I shall wash”), which in English can refer to a ceremony at Mass in which the celebrant washes his hands, to the basin used in this religious ceremony, or to other kinds of basins. Even the word lavish, via a Middle French word for a downpour of rain, comes to us from lavare.

My Take

Wow, another new word for me, one that I don’t think I have ever come across before. I must admit, when I first saw it, I did a double take. While the letters L‑A‑V‑A‑T‑I‑O‑N were on the screen, my mind processed L‑A‑C‑A‑T‑I‑O‑N or lactation. Instantly, transported to my favorite human body part, it took a moment before I realized the error. I guess it’s time I do a through lavation of my dirty mind– or not. 😛

Please share your comments. I’m sure we would all enjoy reading them.

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Waggish, displaying good humored mischief

Word of the Day: Waggish

October 15, 2016

Word of the Day: Waggish

Waggish (adjective) WAG-ish

Definition

1 : resembling or characteristic of a wag : displaying good-humored mischief

2 : done or made for sport : humorous

Examples

“A warm person who enjoys banter with often-waggish reporters, [Elizabeth] Brenner joked that her next move would be to take a newspaper-carrier route in Pewaukee. ‘No, that’s not what I’m going to do,’ she quickly added. ‘Can’t get up that early.'” — Rick Romell, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 17 May 2016

“The waggish reaction to Guaranteed Rate’s name and arrow logo is like the feedback Energy Solutions received when its name replaced that of Delta Air Lines on the Utah Jazz’s arena a decade ago. Energy Solutions’ business—disposing of low-level nuclear waste in the Utah desert—led to people calling the arena the Dump, the Isotope and Radium Stadium.” — Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 2016

Did You Know?

One who is waggish acts like a wag. What, then, is a wag? Etymologists think wagprobably came from waghalter, a word that was once used for a gallows bird (that is, a person who was going to be, or deserved to be, hanged). Waghalter was apparently shortened to wag and used jokingly or affectionately for mischievous pranksters or youths. Hence a wag is a joker, and waggery is merriment or practical joking. Waggish can describe the prank itself as well as the prankster type; the class clown might be said to have a “waggish disposition” or be prone to “waggish antics.”

My Take

About the only thing that comes to mind regarding this word is a cat my family had when I was a youngster. The cat’s name was ‘Mischief’ and it was certainly a waggish creature. I remember once when it bought a snake into the house and presented it to my mother as a gift. Mom, of course, did not see it that way. But she was cool. She looked down at the cat and then looked over at our dog and said, “Lady, take care of that.”

Lady, a beautiful border collie, did take care of it. First, she went over and picked up the snake and took it outside. Upon her return, she found Mischief and proceeded to beat the shit out of her, reinforcing the rule, “Never, ever, do that again.” Mischief never did.

I still smile to this day when I think about the incident.

Please share your comments. I’m sure we would all enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Nemesis

October 15, 2016

Word of the Day: Nemesis

Nemesis (noun) NEM-uh-sis

Definition

1 a : one that inflicts retribution or vengeance

b : a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent

2 a : an act or effect of retribution

b : a source of harm or ruin : curse

Examples

“My nemesis was a young woman who, at the end of the film, had the honour of sending me to my doom at the bottom of a well. Her name meant nothing to me then: Jennifer Aniston.” — Warwick Davis, Dailymail.com, 10 Apr. 2010

“The leaves were pale … and, upon closer inspection, the stems had small nibble marks on them. I immediately suspected slugs since they’ve been my nemesis in the past so I sprang into action.” — Susan Mulvihill, The Spokesman Review(Spokane, Washington), 21 Aug. 2016

Did You Know?

Nemesis was the Greek goddess of vengeance, a deity who doled out rewards for noble acts and punishment for evil ones. The Greeks believed that Nemesis didn’t always punish an offender immediately but might wait generations to avenge a crime. In English, nemesis originally referred to someone who brought a just retribution, but nowadays people are more likely to see animosity than justice in the actions of a nemesis.

My Take

When I first noticed M-W word of the day, being a Trekker, I immediately thought of the movie Star Trek Nemesis. How could I not? Star Trek has been a significant influence in my life. I’ve seen every episode as first run episodes. I’ve seen every movie and read many of the books written by fans alike. I even just got a chance to view the original model used in the original series currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. BTW, she’s beautiful.

However, this post is not about my love for Star Trek. It’s about the word Nemesis. In searching for an appropriate image for the word, I was not surprised at the volume of images related to the term. It seems everyone likes to associate their works with the word.

Juan Medina – Hiperrealismo Surrealista — Source: www.enkil.org

As an artist as well as a writer, I found a stunning collection of artworks by painter Juan Medina. What I saw, I loved, and now, I have a new mission to study his works and learn as much as I can about them. If you like art, I mean real art, painted with oil paints on canvas, I suggest you check them out.

Please share your comments. I’m sure we would all enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Univocal

October 13, 2016

Word of the Day: Univocal

Univocal (adjective) yoo-NIV-uh-kul

Definition

1 : having one meaning only
2 : unambiguous

Examples

The president declared that it was important to send a univocal message of support to the beleaguered country.

“Often cited as America’s greatest indigenous art form, jazz wriggles away from any univocal definition, resisting the confines of a single track like water flowing on broken ground.” — Charles Donelan, The Santa Barbara (California) Independent, 23 Sept. 2010

Synonyms

absolute, apparent, categorical, clear-cut, decisive, explicit, indisputable, obvious, straight-forward, unambiguous, undeniable, unmistakable

Did You Know?

Earliest known print evidence of univocal, in the sense of “having one meaning only,” dates the word to the mid-1500s, somewhat earlier than its more familiar antonym equivocal (meaning “often misleadingly subject to two or more interpretations”). Both words trace back to the Latin noun vox, which means “voice.” The prefix uni– (“one”) was combined with vox to create the Late Latin word univocus, from which English speakers borrowed univocal. Univocal was indeed once used in the sense of “speaking in one voice” (or “unanimous”) as its etymology would imply, but that use is now obsolete.

My Take

Sometimes, for me to understand a word, I need to know the synonyms for the word. Univocal is one of those words. Sure, the definition presented by Merriam-Webster was clear enough. However, it only lightly touched on my understanding the word.

So, I did what I normally do in my writing. I went to the thesaurus and found several dozen synonyms. I share the most pertinent ones with you but, honestly, there are others I might use in differing situations.

In my everyday use of the meanings, I often use the word absolute (the software engineer in me lives and breathes that term), decisive (the businessman), explicit (the writer), obvious (the everyday guy), and the list goes on and on.

When I went looking for an appropriate image to represent the word, I found hundreds of examples. Most of them were uninteresting and ambiguous. I found a couple that I could not use in this article, and the rest, well let’s just say, they don’t fit into my beliefs of the world. So, I chose one that I liked, but if I could have found a better example, I would have.

Please share your comments. I’m sure we would all enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Phlegmatic

October 12, 2016

Word of the Day: Phlegmatic

Phlegmatic (adjective) fleg-MAT-ik

Definition

1 : resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm
2 : having or showing a slow and stolid temperament

Definition from Dictionary.com

1. not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic; sluggish.

2. self-possessed, calm, or composed.

3. of the nature of or abounding in the humor phlegm.

Examples

“She said ‘Good morning, Miss,’ in her usual phlegmatic and brief manner; and taking up another ring and more tape, went on with her sewing.” — Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847

“You are aware of the finality of fate, and tend to have a phlegmatic and sometimes unhappy compromise with your life, even when you long for a definitive resolution.” — Molly Shea,The New York Post, 31 Aug. 2016

Did You Know?

According to the ancient Greeks, human personalities were controlled by four bodily fluids or semifluids called humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Each humor was associated with one of the four basic elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Phlegm was paired with water—the cold, moist element—and it was believed to impart the cool, calm, unemotional personality we now call the “phlegmatic type.” That’s a bit odd, given that the term derives from the Greek phlegma, which literally means “flame,” perhaps a reflection of the inflammation that colds and flus often bring.

My Take

Okay, I admit it. I had trouble with this one. The definition as listed in Merriam-Webster didn’t do much in allowing me to understand the meaning of the word. I had to go to Dictionary.com to understand it. I’ve included its definition in this post.

Now that I have a better understanding, I wanted to know more. Therefore, I looked up synonyms for the word. They include 1. stoical, cool, cold, uninterested, dull, torpid. 2. cool, collected, unruffled, placid, quiet.

To be honest, I would probably use one of the synonyms before using the actual word Phlegmatic. Check out this the blog article http://temperaments-carrie.blogspot.com/2010/09/meet-polly-phlegmatic-part-1.html if you would like to know more. I found it an interesting read.

What do you think? Please share your comments. I enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Scion

October 11, 2016

Word of the Day: Scion

Scion (noun) SYE-un

Definition

1 : a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft

2 : descendant, child; especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family

3 : heir

Examples

“The duke was the billionaire owner of swaths of central London, a friend of Britain’s royal family and the scion of an aristocratic family stretching back to the Norman Conquest.” —The Boston Herald, 14 Aug. 2016

“The vibe of the place is a mixture of old-school cool and Brit eccentric. There are poems etched onto the wall by the artist Hugo Guinness, … a scion of the famous Anglo-Irish brewing family.” — Christa D’Souza, W, September 2016

Did You Know?

Scion derives from the Middle English sioun and Old French cion and is related to the Old English cīth and the Old High German kīdi (meaning “sprout” or “shoot”). When it first sprouted in English in the 14th century, scion meant “a shoot or twig.” That sense withered in horticultural contexts, but the word branched out, adding the grafting-related meaning we know today. A figurative sense also blossomed referring to one’s descendants, with particular reference to those who are descendants of notable families.

My Take

Well, knock me down with a feather. While I knew the word in everyday life (the car), I did not know its meaning. I did not know it meant grafting or its relationship to an heir.

In researching the word, I came up with thousands of relevant photos, most of them of the car. Since I don’t promote products in this forum, I needed to dig deeper. It was in this digging that it truly hit me, to graft one onto another. In it view of a descendant, examples are all around us, from the heir to a throne, to being the descendant of our ancestors. As implied in the photo, the branches of our genealogical tree can intermingle and intertwine, spreading out or coming together over the ages, merging before taking separate paths. It reminds me that we, the residents of this planet, are all related to each other.

In my Mona Bendarova Adventures, there is a scion on the way. Honey carries the heir, or scion, to Lee Marks. They commonly call him the ‘Little Master.’ Assuming he survives to adulthood, he is most definitely the scion to the Mark’s estate. He may not, but Honey is sure he will. I look forward to writing his story in later books within the series.

Please share with me your comments. I enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Roister

October 10, 2016

Word of the Day: Roister

Roister (verb) ROY-ster

Definition

: to engage in noisy revelry : carouse

Examples

Hugh didn’t get much sleep last night because his neighbors were roistering until the wee hours of the morning.

“North Highlands, apparently, is also what they call a part of Scotland where the prince’s grandmum (the Queen Mother) kept a wee castle where the little royals used to roister.” — Carlos Alcala, The Sacramento (California) Bee, 27 Oct. 2005

Did You Know?

As British writer Hugo Williams asserted in The Times Literary Supplement (November 15, 1991), roistering tends to be “funnier, sillier and less harmful than standard hooliganism, being based on nonsense rather than violence.” Boisterous roisterers might be chagrined to learn that the word roister derives from a Middle French word that means “lout” or “boor,”rustre. Ultimately, however, it is from the fairly neutral Latin word rusticus, meaning “rural.” In the 16th century, the original English verb was simply roist, and one who roisted was aroister. Later, we changed the verb to roister and the corresponding noun to roisterer.

My Take

I remember the days when I would go out in the evening, perhaps after work or just because, and carouse or engage in noisy revelry. Ah, those were the days. Too bad, I didn’t know this word for it. Roister.

Do I miss those days? No, not really. As best as I can remember, I would go out because I needed to blow off steam, to get my rocks off, to find a girl to spend the evening with, and do it all over again. Of course, I didn’t have a lot of mad money in those days, so it wasn’t a nightly thing. What might have happened if I did, I shudder to think about it. I was lucky. Incredibly lucky. I didn’t fall into the wrong crowd, get a girl pregnant, nor get hooked on drugs, etc.

Today, I have a special person in my life. Stresses of the day are quickly relieved just by being with her, helping her and allowing her to help me. I have a small but solid circle of friends. We hang out and enjoy good times.

Do I miss those days of carousing, revelry, and roistering. No. What’s more, I am happy.

Please share with me your comments. I enjoy reading them.

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Word of the Day: Odious

October 9, 2016

Word of the Day: Odious

Odious (adjective) OH-dee-us

Definition

: arousing or deserving hatred or repugnance : hateful

Examples

Volunteers gathered on Saturday morning to scrub away the odious graffiti spray-painted on the school.

“I can’t help being reminded of the progress we’ve made as a nation, as well as the odious past of slavery, the many men and women who have lost their lives in wars….” — Candi Castleberry Singleton, quoted in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5 Sept. 2016

Did You Know?

Odious has been with us since the days of Middle English. We borrowed it from Anglo-French, which in turn had taken it from Latin odiosus. The Latin adjective came from the noun odium, meaning “hatred.” Odium is also an ancestor of the English verb annoy (another word that came to Middle English via Anglo-French). And, at the beginning of the 17th century, odium entered English in its unaltered form, giving us a noun meaning “hatred” or “disgrace” (as in “ideas that have incurred much odium”).

My Take

Odious is not an unknown word for me, yet it is one that does not enter very much in my vocabulary. As I sit here, thinking about the term, I wonder why. I suppose it has a lot to do with my parents, my upbringing, and my philosophy on life. I don’t hate nor do I find most things repugnant. I wrote about my parents and how they raised me many months ago. In short, I wonder if, like myself, they were radicals. They raised me to be compassionate and considerate of everyone. They never instilled in me the nationalistic, sexist, or racist attitudes that I see around me. As a result, I feel fortunate.

Getting back to the word odious, I will strive to remember it. In researching the term, I discovered other uses for the word. The image I found for this post reflects upon another usage. In thinking about it further, I suddenly realize that there is a growing offensive attitude growing in my Mona Bendarova books. I briefly introduced it in book 2, and in book 3, the views of the community reflect a growing level of repugnancy among the population. Book 4 will expand upon the schism, almost like the today’s political environment.

What do you think? Share if like. I look forward to reading your comments.

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The Truncate Cropped Sweater in Fiery Red

Word of the Day: Truncate

October 8, 2016

Word of the Day: Truncate

Truncate (verb) TRUNG-kayt

Definition

: to shorten by or as if by cutting off

Examples

“Apparently, a federal law … requires printed credit card receipts truncate not only the credit card number, but also the expiration date.” — Jack Greiner, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 28 Aug. 2016

“Google’s own URL shortener service … instantly truncates the URL you’re visiting and copies the new address to the clipboard for use anywhere.” — Eric Griffith, PCMag.com, 23 Aug. 2016

Did You Know?

Truncate descends from the Latin verb truncare, meaning “to shorten,” which in turn can be traced back to the Latin word for the trunk of a tree, which is truncus. Incidentally, if you’ve guessed that truncus is also the ancestor of the English word trunk, you are correct. Truncusalso gave us truncheon, which is the name for a police officer’s billy club, and the obscure word obtruncate, meaning “to cut the head or top from.”

My Take

Truncate is another word that is part of my everyday vocabulary. It joined my vocabulary decades ago when I became a software engineer. Truncating strings (letters or words, such as a last name, an error message, or other similar communications). I’ve also used it to truncate trailing spaces in a string, to minimize storage necessities or make a message easier to understand.

In everyday life, agencies and companies routinely truncate, or prune, portions of a string to protect the privacy of the end user. Displaying the last four digits of a social security number or a credit card number protects the identity of the owner of that number. I could come up with example after example, but I believe you get the idea. So, the next time you see a truncated string, just remember that it’s there to help protect your privacy or understand the message.

Other things that can be truncated include cropped shirts, cropped shorts, and cropped hair cuts. Cropped is another word for truncate. Look around and see what other examples you can find in everyday life. Share them by commenting below. In the meantime, have a great day.

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Word of the Day: Lavation

Definition

Examples

Did You Know?

My Take

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Word of the Day: Waggish

Definition

Examples

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Word of the Day: Nemesis

Definition

Examples

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Word of the Day: Univocal

Definition

Examples

Synonyms

Did You Know?

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Word of the Day: Phlegmatic

Definition

Definition from Dictionary.com

Examples

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Word of the Day: Scion

Definition

Examples

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Word of the Day: Roister

Definition

Examples

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Word of the Day: Odious

Definition

Examples

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Word of the Day: Truncate

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