PicoBlog

At a deep structural level, languages as diverse as English, Farsi, Russian, Hindi, Spanish, and Welsh - among many others - share common sounds, words, and characteristics. They have these deep similarities because they’re related to one another: All of them belong to the Indo-European language family, members of which are spoken all over the world, from Australia to Pakistan to South Africa to Canada. We know that the Romance languages are all descendants of Latin.

Over the weekend, the latest class was inducted into the world’s greatest team Hall of Fame. Pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Danny Graves, along with former team executive Gabe Paul, were officially welcomed into the Reds Hall of Fame with a gala celebration. A good time was evidently had by all. As the world’s foremost authority on the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame (self-proclaimed), I wish I could have been there. Seventeen Hall of Famers did attend* and the pictures from the event were magnificent.

John, I am so happy that you did this subject. I am a generally conservative white Male, decidedly un-woke, 70, gay and retired. I was a radio and TV news guy for 30 years, always on air. And it so happens that I’m a stickler for correct grammar and pronunciation. In fact, I frequently complain to my partner about errors I see and hear in graphics and voiceovers on CNN, MSNBC and the rest, but also on the legacy players’ newscasts: CBS News, NBC News and ABC News.

It is rare to be so thoroughly changed by an art piece as I was by Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue. It’s an odd name for a painting, and it’s an odd thing that the answer to such a questioning title is me! Here is what I learned from Barnett Newman’s painting. I was on TikTok when I first noticed Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and blue. I had seen and heard of it before, but I never cared to truly look at it.

Happy Monday Searchers, We’ve got a fairly crazy investigation for you this week from reporter Zeke Faux. “Hi David, I’m Vicky Ho. Don’t you remember me?” An investigative reporter travels halfway around the world to find out who is sending him random wrong number texts and why. After you hear this story, you'll never look at these messages the same way again. You can grab a copy of Zeke's book, Number Go Up,here.

As everyone knows, sometimes things get haunted. It just happens, ya know? The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the sky is blue, the water cycle makes it rain, planes somehow fly, and sometimes, despite one’s best efforts, people, places, things, etc. get haunted. Such is life. Now as topical as it is to write about hauntings during the month of October, I'm also bringing this up because I live close to a house that is allegedly haunted.

Oh, how I love “Who’s the Boss?”And for something that aired in the 80s, I’d say it was fairly unconventional. A successful, suburban, recently divorced, single mother and advertising exec hires a single widower/father/former pro baseball player to be her housekeeper -- it’s unlike any show from that era that I’m familiar with, mainly because of its reversal of stereotypical gender roles. Often in mainstream culture, we see, or have seen in older media, the working husband and happy housewife trope.

Since I’m not getting paid to write this, I’m unlikely to do much research beyond wikipedia. According to wikipedia, the spork was invented by Samuel Francis in 1874. But was it? Because Francis’s design also included a horrifying razorlike blade on the side of it and was called a “combined knife, fork, and spoon”. Rolls right off the tongue. If you ask me, modern branding needs more Oxford commas. The word “spork” was not patented and trademarked until 100 years after Francis’s invention by Hyde Ballard in 1974 (don’t worry, the trademark expired and we’re all allowed to say “spork” again, at least until Cardi B re-trademarks it, probably).

Revisiting a story originally published November 2022 For much of my life, I thought cranberries at Thanksgiving were enjoyed in two primary ways: as cranberry sauce and as the star ingredient in a cake-like bread. I grew up enjoying the sauce made from the recipe on the Ocean Spray bag. Years ago, recently married and eager to serve my husband and three stepchildren a fine Thanksgiving meal, I committed a serious turkey day cranberry crime.