google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday September 4, 2008 Alan O. Olschwang

Gary's Blog Map

Sep 4, 2008

Thursday September 4, 2008 Alan O. Olschwang

Theme: A Happy Thought

17A: Start of a quip: CONTENTMENT

24A: Part 2 of quip: IS THE BEST

40A: Part 3 of quip: OF ALL

52A: Part 4 of quip: RICHES AND

64A: End of comment: ITS NOT TAXED

How come the quip was segued into a comment?

I didn't quite understand this Evan Esar quote. Does the "RICHES" refer to "the rich people"? If so, shouldn't there be a "the" in the quip? If not, what does "RICHES" refer to then?

I was stumped by a few obscure words. Had to ask Google for help. I really disliked seeing OFF (11A: Not turned on) and I'M OFF (24D: See-ya!) in one grid. They are jarring to my eyes.

Overall, it's pretty decent puzzle, at least I was not bored.

Across:

1A: "Waterloo" group: ABBA. "Mamma Mia"! ABBA won Eurovision 1974 for "Waterloo". I am very fond of this year's winning song "Believe" (Dima Bilan).

5A: Bogart film, "High __": SIERRA. Not familiar with this movie. I wonder if Bogart encountered TSETSE (49D: Dreaded fly) while filming "The African Queen". He might be too drunk to remember anything.

15A: Provo resident: UTAHAN. Goodness gracious! How can they be so obsessed with "zz" in their sport teams' names?

21A: Depict distinctly: ETCH. I was stunned when a 13-year old boy bought this Rembrandt's etching "Agony in the Garden" with his bar mitzvah money.

22A: Handwoven rug: RYA. The "Scandinavian rug".

26A: Hawthorne's birthplace: SALEM. No idea. He wrote "The Scarlet Letter" at this place also.

28A: Tumor: suff.: OMA. As in "Melanoma". New to me.

31A: Parkinson's medication: L-DOPA. Absolutely no idea. I am sure Dr. Dad/Flyingears/A Lucid Dream will provide us with more information.

34A: Dearie: SUGAR. What is the theme of this "SUGAR, SUGAR" clip? So odd a collection.

42A: "Whip it" rock group: DEVO. Foreign to me. Here is the clip. Is there any symbolism in those red hats?

43A: The king of France: LE ROI. This reminded me of Louis XVI (LE ROI Soleil) and his "L'État, c'est moi" statement.

45A: Ice sheets: FLOES. Is this a real penguin? Looks like a decoy.

50A: Absolute: UTTER. Do you like these dewy flower petals? UTTERLY amazing, so pretty and delicate. Are they edible?

57A: U-shaped river bend: OXBOW. I forgot. Earlier in a May puzzle, Crockett mentioned the OXBOW Park, "where the Sandy River makes that U-shaped turn (OXBOW)".

62A: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. Ah, this enlightenment is deeper and more lasting/penetrative than "kensho".

63A: Tibetan gazelle: GOA. No idea. This GOA region of India came up when I googled.

66A: Letters in tennis?: ENS

67A: Former Dophin running-back: CSONKA (Larry). No, I've never heard of him. WP shows that he is the Super Bowl VIII MVP. How to pronounce CSONKA?

70A: Nairobi native: KENYAN. I don't know why they are so good at marathon.

Down:

2D: Raspberry blower: BOOER. I did not know this displeasing meaning of "Raspberry". Could not understand why someone wants to do a "raspberry" blowing job.

3D: Four-minute mile breaker: BANNISTER (Roger). No idea. See this plaque.

4D: NY prison: ATTICA. Learned from doing crossword.

6D: Morticia's cousin: ITT. I am more familiar with the "The Addams Family" cousin" clue.

7D: Chair designer: EAMES. Unknown to me, though I might have seen an EAMES chair on "Antique Roadshow" before.

9D: "____ Notorious": RANCHO. No idea. Here is a poster. That girl does not really look like Marlene Dietrich.

25D: One bit per second: BAUD. Not familiar with this computer term either. It's the "unit of data transmission".

35D: Shift mechanisms: GEARBOXES. Certainly not a gimme to me.

44D: Awllike tool: ICE PICK. This brings to mind the "Basic Instinct". I did not get the ending. Was Sharon Stone planning to kill Michael Douglas?

51D: Still around: EXTANT

52D: Star in Orion: RIGEL. I forgot again. See this map. See "the Hare" Lepus also?

53D: Intriguing incongruity: IRONY. I like the alliteration in the clue. What's the difference between "incongruity" and "incrongruousness"?

55D: Pyromaniac's crime: ARSON

58D: Where the Magic used to play: O-RENA. I don't understand this one. Why? Is this an old LA Lakers' stadium?

62D: Kyle's "South Park" friend: STAN. OK, let me get it right this time: "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "Those Bastards"!!

65D: River of Orel: OKA. It's clued as "Volga tributary" before. Of course I forgot. Lately I've been crossing river Lethe frequently & blissfully.

C.C.

103 comments:

  1. Good morning, c.c. and fellow dfs - no g-spot visits this morning, but I sure needed help from the perps on several clues. Went blank on 'LDOPA', never heard of an 'OXBOW' and never knew there was a movie called "Rancho Notorious".

    c.c., that's definitely a real penguin, evidently jumping into or out of the water. Larry Czonka was one of the most punishing runners that ever played in the NFL. The "Orena" is the arena where the Orlando Magic used to play.And between the 'raspberry blowing job' and the shot of Sharon Stone, my day's off to a happy start.

    This picture was taken right after boot camp and just prior to going into the War of 1812.

    Have a great Thursday; weekend's on the way.

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  2. Dennis,
    I saw the dimples on your cheeks again! How many hearts have you broken? No, please don't lower your MOREL standards and claim you've never heard of OXBOW. That's what you said last time. I was thinking of Magic Johnson.

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  3. c.c., see what happens when you get old? I honestly drew a blank on 'oxbow'.
    And it's never a bad thing to be thinking about a johnson.

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  4. Dennis,
    Please capitalize "johnson" from now on! You have a MOREL obligation to teach me the right things.

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  5. Good morning gang!
    I did not do so good on today's puzzle. I never heard of RYA for a rug, Rancho Notorious, Satori, Goa, or a Raspberry blower. I still don't get that one?????
    Sugar Sugar was a "bubblegum" song back in the day, I never did like tat one. The Devo song is good, but I think they just wore the hats to be stupid and weird.
    Clear Eyes is trying to help me learn how to do a link, but I still can't figure it out. Thanks for the help.....
    Have a good day everyone....

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  6. Oops, another typo, meant to say I never did like THAT one.

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  7. Morning, people!

    Well, I managed to finish this one unassisted, but only by making a complete guess at the crossing of CSONKA and OKA. I think I may have heard of CSONKA before, but OKA was completely unknown to me. Anyway, the K was the last letter I filled in and I really wasn't really committed to it. So I did get it right, but I don't feel too proud about it.

    Other unknowns for me today include:

    EAMES
    RANCHO Notorious
    GOA
    ORENA (I really thought that had to be a typo, except that I knew OXBOW was right).

    I almost choked on the crossing of RANCHO/OMA because I misread the clue for 28A as "Tumor stuff". After getting RANCH_ for 9D, I figured it was most likely RANCHO, but I just couldn't get it to work with 28A (I was thinking PUS or something like that). Fortunately, I eventually reread the clue correctly and thought of carcinOMA to get the suffix.

    SALEM was a gimme for me, since it's SALEM, Massachusetts (my home state), and Hawthorne's pretty famous around these parts (just like Paul Revere from yesterday's puzzle).

    There was a time in the not so distant past when words like LDOPA, OXBOW, SATORI, RYA and EDO would have thrown me for a loop, but I'm proud to say that I've finally been able to commit these little bits of crosswordese to long-term memory storage.

    In other news:

    A "raspberry" is another slang word for for a "Bronx cheer" if that helps. It's when you stick out your tongue and blow around it, making a very rude sound in the process. People usually blow raspberries to express disapproval, just like booing.

    "Riches" refers to wealth in general. So the quote is saying that contentment is the best type of wealth.

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  8. Good morning all. Dennis your comments this am quacked me up again, particularly the "johnson" comment.

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  9. "Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age."
    -Anais Nin

    28A "OMA" it's common in Medicine jargon. Lipoma, osteoma, etc. GENERALLY "OMA" is the suffix of a benign tumor although melanoma, lymphoma are not.

    Larry Czonka was a tough RB for the Miami Dolphins. Excellent player...

    dennis,
    You looked great in your Marine uniform.

    Another so-so puzzle for my likes... I don't like music groups names. I prefer geography, history (Civil War, WW II, Science, etc.).

    Someone took my photo while I was in Viet Nam.

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  10. Good morning, c.c. and all.

    Please forgive me for whining, but I hate quip Thursdays. The quip was easy today, but I've developed a mindset about A.O.'s puzzles and expect not to enjoy them. Today was no different; I needed help with RIGEL, SATORI, OKA, OMA, GOA and ENS (which I didn't care for, clue or answer.) C.C., your influence was at work, I just edited my comment so that you wouldn't chastise me, but I'd sure like to blow a raspberry!

    That kid must have had a heck of a bar mitzvah to buy the etching!

    Thanks for the stroll down Memory Lane. It was fun to see the covers of the albums while 'Sugar Sugar" played.

    I'm astonished first that I knew Czonka, and even more astonished to find that he wasn't a Bear. Usually I only know local sports figures and quarterbacks, so I was surprised to know his name.

    Great pic, Dennis!

    I thought I was the queen of short words, but today sure brought me down. I'll have to go lick my wounds and try to commit some of them to memory.

    We have liquid sunshine today, and I hope we'll have more of it tomorrow. We need the moisture and a little less heat.

    Have a good day, everyone!

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  11. Good morning fellow DF's!

    A little trouble in the lower left and lower right but muddled through it okay.

    I'm with Dennis - off to a great start with Sharon Stone and raspberry blowing. What would Marlene Dietrich have done for that scene? And then Dennis starts talking about Johnsons.

    I can't be sure but I think goa has been in puzzles before.

    I remember The Archies (Archie - lead guitar, Reggie - second guitar, Betty - tambourine, Veronica - keyboards, and Jughead - drums) singing that song "Sugar, Sugar." They had a dog for a mascot named Hot Dog.

    That penguin looks fake because he is probably fleeing from a killer whale and frozen with fear.

    One of our DF's is from the Sierra foothills.

    L-Dopa = levodopa = 3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine. It is the precursor to dopamine which is a hormone/neurotransmitter in the brain. When you don't have enough dopamine in the brain, you experience Parkinson's disease. Dopamine cannot be given directly to increase the level in the brain as that compound cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. L-dopa can and once in the brain is changed by an enzyme to dopamine.

    Devo is (or was) suing MacDonald's over their Happy Meal Toy (an American Idol tribute figure) named New Wave Nigel because he has a hat that looks like the famous hats the band wore.

    I remember Kipchoge "Kip" Keno from Kenya when he beat the famous and favored Jim Ryun in the 1500 meter in 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics. Another great runner from Kenya was Mamo Wolde.

    "Last of the Dogmen" (Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey) was a movie in 1995 that involved the search for Cheyenne Indians in the Montana Oxbow.

    Today is Newspaper Carrier Day and Fight Procrastination Day. Also, Mark Spitz (just surpassed by Michael Phelps) completed his run of seven gold medals on this day in 1972.

    Have a great Thursday!

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  12. Apology. Meant to say that another great runner in the '68 Olympics was Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia.

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  13. What's the difference between "incongruity" and "incrongruousness"?

    They are synonyms. -ity and -ness are both suffixes that mean "quality", "state", "degree", "condition", etc. Therefore, both words mean "the quality or state of being incongruous."

    I suppose, if you wanted to be nitpicky, the word should actually be "incongruosity" instead of "incongruity." But that's English for you.... ^_^

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  14. This one took me a while but it all came together. OK, I had to "G" 52d to get 63a. And 68a. Still am not sure about ORENA but it must be so, 'cause CC says!!!
    About an hour an 15 min but I felt good about it.

    Back Later

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  15. C.C., I have to agree with you, that doesn't look like Marlene Dietrich. It looks more like a guy in drag. He/She has rather sturdy looking legs.

    Perhaps I'm influenced by one of the performers last night on "America Has Talent." At least I think that's the name of the show. You'd never know it from some of the acts they let on. I generally don't watch this type of show, but the TV was on when we returned from dinner, and we sat with Mother and one of her granddaughters to chat. There was a guy doing a Tina Turner impression, and that might be shifting my perception a bit. If that's the case, "Marlene" could have her own johnson.

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  16. good morning c.c. and all,

    a few unknowns today, particularly in florida. oxbow, gearboxes and extant gave me some trouble. i didn't understand the 'end of comment' wording either.

    c.c. those FLOWERS are stunning. what kind are they?

    according to wikipedia, the raspberry sound can be characterized phonetically as an 'unvoiced linguolabial trill,' and that it is 'widely used across human cultures.'

    speaking of satori and southpark (who knew there was a connection?), the southpark creators animated some audio clips of alan watts, the famed zen philosopher.

    @dennis: very nice pic. only one thing better than a man in uniform.

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  17. How to pronounce CSONKA? Zon-ka

    You would have to have been a football fan back in 1972 & 1973 when he was a household name.

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  18. melissa bee - linguolabial!!!???? That after the picture of Sharon Stone?? I'm all done for the remainder of the day.

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  19. Good morning, C.C., et al. I had AOL for 16A which slowed me down and most of the quip came from the perps. I never heard of 18D EMALL, but that's how the fills worked out. I thought some were going to be stumpers, but I was lucky on the right fills to finish. We've seen RYA before, maybe within the last couple of months? I had a friend with Parkinson's which gave me 31A.
    Speaking of DEVO, if you ever have a chance to hear EL DIVO, you are in for a real treat of an incredibly powerful quartet of male singers.

    Dennis, great pix. When I was in boot camp(Navy) about to go on first liberty, we were warned about the Marines just out of boot camp. "They are so proud, each one will be walking four abreast on the sidewalk. Semper Fi

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  20. Good Morning All, This puzzle started off happily for me with ABBA. Both JD and I are fans.

    The "north 40" was very easy. Drdad mentioned that I'm a SIERRA foothills resident and I did know that "High Sierra" was a Bogart movie.

    BTW, C.C. Our little dog Charley is named after Charley Alnut, Bogart's character in "The African Queen".

    Raspberries can be BOOER, but it is also Raspberries cute when a baby is involved.

    I had a few problems with the bottom. I had forgotten GOA, RIGEL and didn't have a clue to ORENA. But it worked itself out.

    More movie trivia..."The Ox-Bow Incident" was a 1943 western with Henry Fonda. It is about a lynching and the consequences of decisions; not your standard western fare.

    We're going shopping for a patio set today. Hope this is a good time of year for a terrific sale.

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  21. CC & DFs - No, no, no, no...I will not enter into any discussions about raspberry blowing! Boo...Hiss...what a clue ;~p hehe

    Csonka pronounced - zonka

    Oxbows, gearboxes, notorious ranches, irony... will there be fun with this puzzle or what???

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  22. A few guesses were necessary to complete this puzzle…and I still missed 2 tiles! I did not get the G in the cross of RIGEL and GOA, and I totally was missed the K in the cross of CSONKA and OKA. So I guess I felt challenged today, though being able to fill in all the blanks meant that it was not a horrible puzzle!

    I had some difficulty understanding the answer ORENA until I googled it and found it referred to the Orlando Arena.

    I like the clue “The king of France”. Having “The” in the clue pointed to the need of the article LE before the word for king ROI.

    I find that I do not like when two obscure names cross each other as in CSONKA and OKA. I mean, really, who would know these names? Of course, I am not a sports fan, so possible CSONKA is common to some people, just not me.

    All in all, this was a fine puzzle with a cute quote.

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  23. Kazie: As promised yesterday...

    Pesto by the Food Processor Method

    For the processor:
    2 c. tightly packed fresh basil leaves
    ½ c. extra virgin olive oil
    3 T pine nuts
    2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before putting in the processor
    Salt

    For completion by hand:
    ½ c freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
    2 T freshly grated romano cheese
    3 T butter, softened to room temperature

    1. Briefly soak and wash the basil in cold water, and gently pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels (very important).
    2. Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, chopped garlic and an ample pinch of salt in the processor bowl, and process to a uniform, creamy consistency.
    3. Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the two grated cheeses by hand. It is worth the slight effort to do it by hand to obtain the notably superior texture it produces. When the cheese has been evenly amalgamated with the other ingredients, mix in the softened butter, distributing it uniformly into the sauce.
    4. When spooning the pesto over pasta, dilute it slightly with a tablespoon or two of the hot water in which the pasta was cooked.

    Freezing pesto: Make the sauce by the food processor method through to the end of Step 2, and freeze it without cheese and butter in it. (I freeze mine in an ice cube tray and then dump the cubes into a plastic bag. Sometimes the pesto sticks to the ice cube tray. When this happens, I set the tray in hot water for just a few seconds.) Add the cheese and butter when it is thawed, just before using.

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  24. I loved "Mr. Alnut" in the "African Queen" with Katherine Hepburn.
    Another of his Sierra movies was his 1948 "Treasure of Sierra Madra", a John Huston movie also starring Walter Huston and of all people Tim Holt. I believe I had some Tim Holt comic books at one time. Any other old guys remember that? I think his horse's name was Tony!

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  25. "The Treasure of the SIERRA Madre", a Bogart movie about gold, greed and violence featured the oft-quoted phrase, Badges This phrase has been copied and reused in a dozen other movies.

    Ken, I'm not sure about Tim Holt, but it was Tom Mix's horse that was named Tony.

    BTW, LOL, has Alan Olschwang been monitoring the blog? 24D I'M OFF is so close to Buckeye's IMBO.

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  26. Barry @ 7:35am,
    But "incongruosity" is not a word. I thought the clue should be "intriguing incrongruousness".
    I did not know that "riches" itself is a word, I thought it was a plural of "rich", thus my "the riches" confusion.

    Flyingears,
    You've been brightening my day with your daily quote, thank you. Today's Anais Nin line is simply beautiful. I am sorry for not replying to your questions yesterday. No, I did not know that Jim NANTZ & Fred Couples were roommates in college. "Look at the size of that bear someone shot somewhere in USA!!!". What does it mean?

    Melissa,
    FLOWERS? Did your computer automatically capitalize those letters for you or did it do so at your order? But no, I did not know the name of those stunning flowers. I was rather struck by the amount of dew on the petals though. Thought they would perk up a salad or add some exotic flavor to a sauce.

    KittyB, Clear Ayes, Doesitinink,
    So what kind of flowers are they (50A)?

    Ken,
    Regarding the "The Day Is Done" poem: What does "lay" mean here?

    "Come, read to me some poem,
    Some simple and heartfelt lay,
    That shall soothe this restless feeling,
    And banish the thoughts of day."

    J.D.
    Was your "Cuddles" really a snake?

    Anonymous @ 8:36am,
    Thank you.

    Razzberry,
    I was thinking of you this morning when I wrote down the comments for BOOER. Why did you pick up Razzberry as your name?

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  27. Morning all. I finished the puzzle quite a while ago, but I love to read all the comments before making a post. Not too difficult for an A.P.O. The only one I didn't totally fill in was oma, and I'd never heard of a baud.
    melissa bee thank you so much for the South Park interpretation of Alan Watts. He's one of my favorite philosophers.
    doesitinink the name Orena for the stadium gave me a chuckle because Orina, pronounced the same, is urine in Spanish. Hee! This is Lola posting. Somehow my blue link has disappeared.

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  28. Clear Ayes: Thank you for the information about Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I was familiar with "we don't need no stinking badges" from Blazing Saddle and did not know it was an homage to an earlier film. ;-)

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  29. Clear Ayes: You'd hardly think Hollywood would let two celebs of the day have the same horse name, would you. Well, I just g'ed "Tim Holt's Horse" and came up with "Tim Holt and his wonder horse DUKE." Sigh...
    Thanks for reining me in.
    But answer who rode Buttermile and win a fabulous kewpie doll of your choice from the rack here on the wall, young lady.

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  30. KEN: Buttermilk was rode by Dale Evans. Happy trails to you!

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  31. C.C. In that sense, lay is a synonym for a ballad, according to my American Heritage dictionary. However, in the way Longfellow used it, I'd think it was more a light poem, uplifting in spirit.

    One of my poems
    I simply have no time
    For poems that do not rhyme
    Such poets, as they pose
    Just render elegant prose
    Please give me simple doggerel
    And all the rest can go to hell

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  32. @Doesit..Yes, it was Dale Evans on ButtermilK. (She also wrote Happy Trails.)

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  33. clear ayes, talking about TOm Mix made me remember (as I'm sure you do) Saturday matinees at the local movie theater, with Tom Mix and Flash Gordon serials. I'll never forget those sticky floors, either.

    Oh wait, that was a different theater.

    Melissa, do you know how the linguolabial trill is done?

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  34. Other Roy Rogers trivia: What was Pat Buttrum's Jeep's name?
    @Doesit: just pick out your kewpie doll, guaranteed to last until you leave the parking lot.

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  35. ...yuck! Excuse my very poor grammer. I should have said "Buttermilk was ridden...."

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  36. Riches refer to anything of value. I enjoy your comments each day on the crossword blog.

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  37. I believe Csonka is pronounced Zonka.
    Good puzzle today.

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  38. Barry @ 7:35am,
    But "incongruosity" is not a word. I thought the clue should be "intriguing incrongruousness".


    I know that "incongruosity" isn't a word. I was just pointing out that if the rules regarding suffixes were applied equally and rigidly, the two words would be "incongruousness" and "incongruosity" instead of "incongruousness" and "incongruity", since they both consist of suffixes meaning quality, state, condition, etc. appended to the root word "incongruous". For some reason, when you add "-ity" to "incongruous" you get "incongruity", but when you add "-ness" to it you get "incongruousness" (instead of, say, "incongruness").

    ANYWAY... The bottom line is simply that "incongruity" and "incongruousness" are synonyms with the same root word and different suffixes that mean the same thing.

    And having said all THAT, let me just close by saying that I personally think that "incongruity" is a more common word than "incongruousness."

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  39. @Ken; Nellybelle. Jeep

    Tim Holt's horse - Duke
    Tom Mia's horse -Tony.

    IMBO

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  40. I hate Alan O. Olschwang's puzzles, his obscure quotes suck. Usually when I see a puzzle that he created, I go and do something else, and don't waste my time trying to solve it. His puzzles need to be dropped from syndication.

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  41. Who the hell's Tom Mia? Farrow's brother. Try Tom Mix.

    IMBO

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  42. How 'bout:

    Roy Rogers' dog?

    Tonto's horse?

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  43. Good morning C.C. and friends, I have been enjoying your company for awhile now....thanks for helping with a missing letter here and there...because, of course, I just whizz through the puzzle most days especially on Saturday!

    The beautiful flower is a Cleome (spiderflower) easily grown from seed...some would say too easily ...it drops a lot of them, but really can you have too much of a good thing?

    C.C. I read your profile today and must say I am in awe of you. I can't imagine tackling a word puzzle in a second language...especially English which is filled with silent letters and double meanings( like johnson, perhaps!)

    Out here in the Pacific Northwest our perfect weather has arrived...78 and dry for the next week. Life is good!

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  44. melissa, I do believe you, uh, brought it up, so I figured you were the font, so to speak, on the subject.

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  45. Good Morning C.C. and all,
    I really did have trouble with this puzzle and it's because of the "quip". These are almost impossible to figure out. The other obscure words were enough to make me tear more hair out. I am glad C.C. is here to assist when even google fails me.

    Dennis, maybe you and Melissa bee can teach each other at the Sat.matinee.

    Dee, welcome to our world. Are you another in our growing Oregon group?

    Kitty b, you are now a D.F.(with that comment at 7:56) :)

    Dennis, great picture!
    Thought sure you would have put a capital on johnson!

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  46. Dennis< Dog Bullet, horse Scout.

    The Cisco Kid and Pancho's horses?

    IMBO

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  47. kittyb, carol's right - I completely missed your Marlene Dietrich/johnson comment; my sympathy, but you're now officially a DF.

    carol, thanks, but where's your picture?
    You know what, this is just like show-and-tell back in elementary school. No, DFs, not that kind of show and tell.

    Which reminds me, where the hell is lois??

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  48. @lola: you're welcome. alan watts is a favorite of mine as well .. could listen to him for hours. (i often do.) his son mark is currently working on a movie about him. the vallejo, the ferryboat that watts lived (and died) on is still docked in sausalito.

    a favorite watts quote: 'if it moves, fondle it.'

    @dennis: from wikipedia: 'Linguolabials or apicolabials are consonants articulated by placing the tongue tip or blade against the upper lip, which is drawn downward to meet the tongue.'

    you asked.

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  49. WashPost Solver,
    Hey! Great to hear from you again.

    Ken,
    Hmm, very unexpected meaning of "lay". What's the title of your poem?

    Barry,
    Now I got your point. Thanks.

    Dee,
    Thank you so much for letting me know the Cleome flower name. Wow, I had no idea that those lovely flowers need such long stems to perch upon. Yes, I've been struggling to understand the double meanings of certain words. So hard!

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  50. Dennis, Lois is busy with getting back to school and says that they won't let her use her computer during school hours. She'll try to log on after school.
    Good idea for pitures - let's post our high school pics. Here's mine

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  51. Ahhh Dennis. Buckeye beat me to it on Bullet and Scout. Now as for Cisco and Pancho. I don't recall those, but do recall Leo Carrillo as Grand Master of the Pasadena NY day parade and I believe he rode that horse. Duncan Renaldo(Cisco)'s horse eludes me too. I googled them to find Diablo and Loco. I'm sure I knew them at the time, but time has done its duty with some of my trivia. Dang

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  52. C.C., That bear's face is probably the biggest bear face I have ever seen and I have seen a 9-foot tall Alaskan bear (Kodiak) and the face was smaller than the one in the pic.

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  53. @carol: beautiful! i never had a graduation pic .. but this was taken not too long after.

    i think i hear 'pomp and circumstance' ..

    @dee: thanks for the cleome.

    @razz: good catch on notorious ranch.

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  54. Good morning C.C. & all

    Tough puzzle this morning... thank goodness for longterm memory and a long history with xwords. No total stumps but a lot of hard thought and cross fills. Seeing Csonka as a word brought back a lot of fond memories of the Dolphins of the early '70s... arguably the best team ever. Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris... wow! The no name defense... incredible. And, it all to worked with the coaching of Don Shula.

    The Sugar, Sugar clip also brought back memories. It was a type of "bubblegum" music that the industry pumped out by the tons to capture the "teenie bopper" radio audience. But, the children had lots of disposable spending money to purchase 45s so the stuff was everywhere. As long as it had a theme you didn't have to think about, it sold. Cute, but totally mindless stuff.

    @Dee Welcome! Where in the northwest?

    For all... have a happy Thursday.

    ciao

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  55. Good day c.c., DF’s and all! A great day to sell green beans and French fries (at least before Ike comes and drowns us all).

    My dislike for quip puzzles are known, and this one was no exception. These puzzles just put me in the wrong frame of mind to complete them successfully. I did want to add some things:

    Not only was Larry Csonka a Dolphin, he was also very good for the NY football Giants, and also had a fair career in the 70’s as a cheesy actor appearing in shows like “Fantasy Island” and “The Love Boat”. I had the pleasure of cooking breakfast for him and Fran Tarkington in ’94 (I think); both men were perfectly nice.

    @doesitinink- very nice pesto recipe. I like to lightly toast my pignolias and garlic before processing, but that is a personal choice.

    The O-rena was in downtown Orlando (the city of, not where Disney is). The only time I was there was in 1995, to see Robert Plant and Jimmy Page play with the UCF orchestra, one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen (Pittsburgh’s Rusted Root was the back-up, another great band).

    Those FLOWERS were indeed stunning. I don’t know if they’re edible, but I wouldn’t mind daring to find out. And the best way to eat them would be raw, not in a sauce or salad to dilute the flavor.

    I’ll be back later to clean up.

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  56. "Sugar Sugar" also launched the Career of Don Kirshner (of "Rock Concert" fame) great late night TV with music before MTV.

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  57. C.C. Longfellow's poem is titled "The Day is Done." If you mean my little ditty, it is "Doggerel"
    Doggerel is a rather low-thought style of poetry that is usually brief, somewhat corny or off-color.

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  58. About the only thing I liked about this puzzle was the quip. C.C. great links as usual. I still can't figure out how to link things. The flowers were just beautiful with just the right amount of dew on them.

    Dennis, oh I just love a man in uniform. Makes me want to follow any and all orders.

    Thanks for the great pesto recipe. Is it true that it is bad to let your basil flower?

    Speaking of the song sugar, sugar. I remember getting a 45 on the back of a cereal box that you could cut out and actually play on the hi-fi. Hah

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  59. cokato: Flowers on any plants tend to make the remainder of the plant bitter. It is nature's way of ensuring that the plant can produce seed and hence more plants. Some plants are more susceptible to becoming bitter than others. Once lettuce has flowered, for example, I pull it up.

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  60. :-O Here's my raspberry. This was a very difficult one for me today.(Cute link, clear ayes)
    What didn't I know?Take Kittyb's list and add: orena,Eames,LDopa,baud,extant, eames,Bannister, and even ole Larry Csonka I had forgotton! I had prt for pct. BUT.... I did remember rya from one of my 1st puzzles in late June, since I had to ask someone what it was.:-)
    I liked the quote, but hadn't heard it.Thurs are hard.
    Even when I am not able to finish, I enjoy all of your links and comments.
    C.C., I don't think those group names are any odder than the more recent groups of today.I still have many of those albums. I thought Devo was odd. And yes, El Divo is a fantastic group!

    Can't imagine a boy being able to buy that sketch.Do guys still say,"Wanna come see my etchings?"

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  61. @Carol and milissa bee nice pics. You two must have been the popular ones in school.

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  62. 7:59 today RYA was my last fill and I didn't know SATORI or GOA (got from the crosses). I knew Goa, the former Portuguese colony on the west coast of India, but not the Tibetan gazelle of the same name.

    Nice to see CSONKA (pronounced ZAWN-kah, c.c.), and a nice reminder that today is the glorious, wonderful, fantastic start of the NFL season! (Too late to get your pool entries to me as the draw party was last night.)

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  63. cokato,
    e mail me and I'll send you understandable instructions!

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  64. YAY like medical words in puzzles I actually clap when the clue is a med term......

    anywho... L-DOPA is a Parkinson's drug. Don't know the exact pharmacokinetics behind it but I know its a precursor to dopamine cause people with Parkinson's have low dopamine.... you give them to much and they get schizophrenic like symptoms because a person with too much dopamine has schizophrenia

    -oma is the suffix for tumor, mass, or swelling. Like a lump of blood under the skin is called a hematoma. You can have lymphoma, etc. I was always taught that the plural form of -oma was -omata but i hear doctors say carcinomas, lymphomas, and I feel stupid when I say lymphomata

    As for the Hawthorne clue... He is a Harthorne... I think... he switched the R to a W cause his family was notorious in burning people during the Salem witch trials. I have read the Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven, and Young Goodman Brown

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  65. At least I hope they're understandable!!!

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  66. I loved the Saturday serials. A quarter bought admission and sugar babes. I would go with my sisters and cousins walking to and from. We lived in Dallas.

    Clear Ayes, tell us about the new pic.

    Melissa Bee,
    Thanks for the Alan Watts website.

    Carol,
    What a beautiful girl you were. Here’s mine.

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  67. Damn, you ladies must've caused some serious agony in school - beautiful pictures!

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  68. doesitinink, Thank you so much for the pesto recipe! Sounds yummy.
    And xchefwalt, your suggestion sounds great too. Must try both ways.

    My daughter-in-law loves garlic so much she eats raw slices of it on toast.

    I'm checking in late today, as I had some errands and the rest of the day has just gone west. I did worse with this puzzle than any within memory--gave up after about two thirds filled, but then had to run and didn't take time to g-spot.

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  69. xchefwalt, regarding yesterdays comment re: calvin and hobbs. I was Calvin, the somewhat naughty one.

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  70. Melissa bee, what a pretty girl you were and still are!

    Barb b, Is that a school photo? You were beautiful..we weren't allowed to wear anything like that lovely dress in our school photo's (as you can see). Dress codes don't apply today do they?
    I remember the Sat matinee and the serial's..I always got a box of popcorn (10 cents)and a lime Charm sucker (5 cents)and would like the sucker and then dip it in the popcorn!! We always walked to and from and sometimes I went alone. Imagine someone letting kids do that today!

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  71. No luck with finding a patio table. I'm afraid Labor Day was the last big summer sale of the year. I did talk G.A.H. into buying a card table and 4 folding chairs. I've been wanting one for years to use for our cribbage get-togethers.

    I'm sorry I missed all the cowboy and horse names. I am purty durn good at remembering them all...don't forget, I was going to bump off Dale and run off with Roy when I was about 8 years old. Here's a link that will give you a whole lot more. Cowboys and Horses

    I loved Saturday double feature matinee movies, plus cartoons, plus serials, . It was a lot cheaper than a babysitter for my parents. 50 cents and I was gone for the day. (Hmmm, so that's when my 9 years younger sister came to be.) By the time I was 9 years old, they were letting me ride the bus by myself. Can you imagine a parent doing that now?

    My favorite snack bar treats were AbbaZabba and Jujubes. They lasted practically forever.

    I was about 4 years old in the latest photo. It was taken in my grandmother's Chicago basement. It kind of looked like it belonged in an episode of "Clean House". I thought I'd show you all, I wasn't kidding about the thighs. I love my mother's sense of style mixing the dark striped socks and sandals with a too-short flower print dress.

    I'm looking for my high school graduation pic. That will be on next.

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  72. clear ayes, when i was in single digits, my next door neighbor worked for Heide, the company that made Jujubes, Jujyfruits Red Hot Dollars, Chocolate Babies and many more. If I just 'happened' to be outside when he came home from work on Fridays, he'd call me over, open his trunk and say "take what you can put in your pockets".

    Needless to say, I was very popular at the Saturday Matinees.

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  73. Bill, Doesitinink et al,
    Am I the only one with YouTube problem right now? I can not get any access to any of my links. It shows "Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player". But I've done nothing to change the setup. What happened?

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  74. @c.c.: youtube is working okay for me ..

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  75. I've got no youtube issues at this end. Usually, when something like that happens it's because your computer can't locate a file it needs for the operation. The easiest way to find out(before you make any changes) is to reboot the system. If that doesn't solve it, you've got something else happening. Good luck.

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  76. Melissa & Carl,
    I rebooted, but it did not help. So strange. Everything was fine several hours ago when I was online. Very frustrating!

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  77. @C.C. Kot knowing what system you are using makes it kind of tough to troubleshoot from long distance. But, I suspect you have a damaged file.

    If you are using Adobe ActiveX, go to www.adobe.com/go/flashplayer and download the latest update. You may have to uninstall the old entry in your control panel before the new version will overwrite any damaged file.

    If I can further assist you via email behind the scenes, I'm available to help.

    Again... good luck.

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  78. KittyB & JD,
    That teenager boy loves impressionist painting. He also waged a highly spirited bidding war for a Degas painting several years ago.

    Barb B & Carol & Melissa B,
    All of you look like movie stars, so glamorous! Stunning!

    Ken,
    Yes, I meant your "little ditty". I like your poems. Maybe you can write a special ode to the next Barry Silk puzzle. I like him a lot, don't YOU?

    Cokato,
    "The flowers were just beautiful with just the right amount of dew on them. Dennis, oh I just love a man in uniform. Makes me want to follow any and all orders." Awesome comments!

    Xchefwalt,
    So the correct name for 58D is O-RENA not ORENA? What did you cook for Fran Tarkington? Why raw flowers? Isn't it too overpowering to eat them alone? I thought gently sprinkling a few tender petals of edible flowers to an organic baby green salads (with honeyed nuts) adds visual appeal & intoxicating fragrance to the salad. I also thought you would disclose your secret recipe on how to infuse the exotic flowers into a special sauce. So, I was very disappointed by your answers. Do you want to take a mulligan? Should I tee it up for you?

    Carl,
    Thanks. I am going to give it another try.

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  79. Didn't like the quip either. CC, thanks for the Rancho Notorious poster. Was the Marlene Dietrich role in this film the one that Madeline Kahn was doing in Blazing Saddles? Hysterical.
    I don't like sports clues, but for some reason I knew Csonka.
    Chefwalt, thanks for the pesto recipe. I wash and dry quantities of fresh herbs in my salad spinner, works great.
    4 bottle caps from glass milk bottles got us in for free to Saturday matinees,usually the 3 Stooges and some space stuff.

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  80. Good evening CC & DF's: Holy hot pix! You girls are beautiful and like Melissa said: there's only one thing better than a man in uniform! Makes me think of johnson for sure and pure 'Magic'!Just about makes me have a '..voiced linguolabial trill'! or several of them more like it! Razzberries ain't what I'm blowin' baby!

    Enjoyed all the links, CC. Thank you. That flower is sooo sensual.

    Enjoy this gorgeous night.

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  81. There was a movie done about L-Dopa with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro called Awakenings ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/. It was based on a true account of using the drug on a group of canatonic patients.

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  82. C.C. : I'm very impressed that a teenager could afford such a treasure.I love impressionists too, but I'll have to be happy with my prints.

    clear ayes: I also was taking the city bus at a young age, to and from school. Did anyone else have a Van De Kamps bakery near by? Well, if I rollerskated home, I could use my 17 cents busfare to buy do-nuts. And I did; I bought 3 of them every time (.05 ea) and ate them before I got home!Yikes!

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  83. Kazie: Thanks so much for the recipe.My sister always raids my basil and makes pesto. I've never had the time to try it before.

    I am enjoying all of your pictures.Beautiful people!

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  84. Hi, all!

    Ken...I was given a copy of the El Divo Christmas CD. They aren't the Three Tenors, but they are certainly enjoyable. There are four different levels of vocal training, and I think they represent four different countries, but they make very pleasant music. I think I'll check to see what other Cd's they have produced.

    inink, thanks for the pesto recipe. It looks great! I have basil I need to harvest. I don't want to try to prolong the plants any longer, so this is a great way to use and preserve the leaves.

    c.c., I wondered if those flowers might possibly be one of the extensive family of clematis. I'm really not sure how to check that out without hours of surfing to find a match for the flowers. The cleome we grow here doesn't look like that.

    Carol....and I tried SO hard to resist! lol

    uh oh....it's official: Dennis 11:29

    Dear Husband wondered if anyone had discussed a "backward raspberry" with c.c.?? (grins) That's his area of expertise.

    Ladies, you and your pictures are just gorgeous! Guys, you're all handsome dudes! I don't have my high school picture, but I have one to share when we get to our early thirties.

    C.C., that young art lover is just amazing. What a family life he must have to be so focused on art at such an early age.

    Have a lovely evening, everyone!

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  85. I wonder why the graduation photographer wanted us to gaze wistfully to the distance, as if looking for our futures. It was pretty corny. Lucky Barb b had a better photographer than I did.

    JD, how come calories didn't make any difference when we were kids? Maybe it was the roller skating home that made the difference. No Van De Kamps in our neighborhood, but we had a Helms Bakery truck that came by the house once a week.

    Our chorus practice is Thursday evening, so I'd better get ready. We start in August for our December holiday concert. It is hard to get in the mood for "Jingle Bells" when it is 100 degrees outside.

    Have a nice evening everyone.

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  86. Hi again, speaking of having friends and/or relatives working for "goodie" companies...a childhood friend had an aunt who worked for Hershey Chocolates and once every few months she sent this little girl a box of chocolates..guess who was also very popular!! Guess that is when I fell in love with Hershey's kisses (too young for the other kind). Weren't we all so innocent then, compared to today's ultra savvy kids? To know is to be prepared and that is good...but it just seems we got to be "kids" a lot longer then.

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  87. Lois - Aw shucks, now I feel left out ;~(

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  88. cc I need your help. A few days ago we had a clue "Toothed Strip" and I could not get the solution so I put the puzzle away for a while and now I cannot find the puzzle. I still don't know the answer and it is driving me nuts. My best guess would be "COMB" but I am not sure. Can you help?

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  89. Hi to all:

    Dick:

    Yes, if I remember correctly it was comb.

    Had to google a few: goa, rigel, satori and muddled thru the rest okay.

    Great pics!

    I lived in Miami for many years and graduated from High School there so I am very familiar with Larry Csonka (pronounced Zonka) and the great team they were under the direction of Don Shula in the early 70's.

    Have a wonderful evening!

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  90. More Trivia:
    Who was Don Diego de la Vega's alter ego and the name of his horse? The Devo tune is a hint.

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  91. Zorro and Tornado.
    Used to see that all the time.

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  92. YouTube is working for me. Last week my desktop would only get google and my mail server. It took me several days to find out that a power surge had upset things and I had to reconfigure my DNS server info. I don't even know what that means, but I watch the techs at school and the library, then just keep clicking and typing till something happens.

    In Dallas, I didn't ride the bus - it was a street car, and the fare was a nickel. I walked a block to the corner at Tennyson Memorial Parkway, and got on the streetcar, put my nickel in the funny little changer, and sat down. I just stayed on till we arrived back to my corner. Very exciting stuff for a first grader.

    My graduation 'dress' is a drape; most of the girls chose it - we went in the studio with regular clothes, went behind a screen and changed our blouse for this top that worked like a hospital gown. I think there was an assistant there to help out. It was a little unnerving to look picture-best and not worry about the thing slipping one direction or another. I felt more scared than glamorous! lol

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  93. It ain't Razzberries I'm blowin' baby,....unless that's your name! Wouldn't leave you out for the world, Razz!

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  94. @c.c.- sorry I’m late in responding- I had a hockey game tonight. My U10 roller team won it’s first playoff game against a U12 ice team. More playoffs next week.

    No mulligans for me, I earn my scores.

    Fran had and egg white omelet, Larry had three eggs over easy.



    While I agree with you that a few edible petals in a salad are nice (I prefer my salads female, no nuts), and it does take a master chef to coax the flavor out them for a sauce (a waste really; while some flavor remains, their beauty is lost), there is something to be said for eating something in its natural state. One doesn’t eat flowers like Cheetos, they must be savored, slowly, one at time, letting it rest in you mouth so that all of its sweet flavor melts on your lips and tongue. They must be savored one by one, not only for its taste, but for its beauty to the eye (in a salad they get lost in the myriad of colors). It’s like raw oysters and clams- when fresh, they are alive, both figuratively and literally. And while white clam sauce and oysters Rockefeller are good, but there’s nothing like the sweet taste of the sea and the life force that comes from a fresh shucked clam- you can feel its life in your mouth, just like a fresh, beautiful Flower.

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  95. Will someone please explain what IMBO means? Guess I am dense, or I missed something sometime.
    Thanks.

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  96. jd, It's doesitinink you have to thank for the pesto--I still have to try it.

    xchefwalt, my dad always used to cut oysters off the rocks at Bondi Beach near where we lived. He said they weren't fresh enough unless they wriggled on the way down. That was enough to turn me off even trying one! So I've never eaten them.

    c.c., I can see you truly love flowers. Those on your ginger root blog attest to it also.

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  97. Finally, two pictures of The Goa (Procapra picticaudata), also known as the Tibetan Gazelle, is a species of antelope that inhabits the Tibetan plateau. A typical goa stands about two feet (60cm) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 15kg. Males have long, tapering, ridged horns, reaching lengths of up to 14 inches (35cm).

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  98. C.C. said…
    7D: Chair designer: EAMES. Unknown to me, though I might have seen an EAMES chair on "Antique Roadshow" before.

    Being a stamp collector, I knew Eames because of these stamps that were issued this past June. Being a huge advocate for managerial styles that are more worker inclusive, I also knew the Eames’ because they worked for Herman Miller in the 50’s, a very progressive company that to this day is one of a few that treat all employees as equal partners in the company, expect and encourage employee involvement, and share gains/profits fairly with all levels of workers.

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