SEP 30, doctors and their practices: reducing cardiac risk

REDUCING CARDIAC RISK

Doctor Hartley, consulted, reflected:

"With your hyperlipemia detected

(Increased cardiac death-risk suspected),

We're advising you try

To fly straight, and comply

With the lifestyle and drugs we've selected."

Dr G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2022

Authors' Note: Jealousy at the flight of birds has apparently resulted in expressions suggesting that human social responsibility is analogous to having one's wings clipped, or flying straight, as here.

Hyperlipemia (also known in America as hyperlipidemia), is a medical condition in which high blood levels of fats (lipids), particularly cholesterol, portend cardiac disease, including deadly heart attacks. Hyperlipemia is one of a number of such asymptomatic risk factors including hypertension and diabetes. Fortunately, change in lifestyle including diet and exercise, and judicious prescription of pharmaceutical drugs, such as statins, can reduce risk.

SEP 29, news-post: hurricane Ian

Carnage in Florida. Hoping that S.C. is not hit directly (or anywhere else for that matter)

 

SEP 28, (re)duplication: hillbilly

Authors' Note: It sure warn't easy to pack the whole bunch of neighbors and pals into a single verse. Sad to say, I had to leave out the following:  bumpkins, crackers, chawbacons, clodhoppers, good ol' boys, hayseeds,  and yokels. I'll include 'em next time! 

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole HERE can easily get to our other seven short verses dealing with specific reduplications, as well as three fairly lengthy patter-songs about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon.

SEP 27, objectionable adjectives: forced (bulbs)

You can review our editorially selected doggerel (seven verses) relating to 'Objectionable Adjectives' by clicking HERE.

SEP 27, palinku (poetic novelty): precepts

  In this post, we will continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its classic Japanese analogue, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence in English (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome (generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem) has been color-coded. 

ADDENDUM: Anyone for tenets?

(Ed. note:) Verses of this unique type have continued to accumulate. You can view them all at one swoop if you  proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

 

SEP 26, organic brain poetry: CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy)

 This is consecutive daily post #1000 on this blog!!!

ROSH HASHANAH: To Jewish friends, Le shanah tovah! 

Authors' Note:  Although military recruits and physically abused spouses also number among the victims of this disease of insidious onset, (characteristically diagnosed with certainty only at post-mortem examination), it is the scourge of those who earlier in life indulged in contact sports, particularly those with a risk of repetitive minor brain trauma.

Everything that you wanted to know about chronic traumatic encephalopathy can be found in the author's note appended to MikeAq's verse on the subject.

You can view and review all our verses on the topic of 'Organic Brain Poetry' by following this link to the encyclopedic collection on "Edifying Nonsense."

SEP 25, classic palindrome: 'step on no pets'

You can review a collection of such illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

 If you prefer, you could also view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 24, toxic vignette: anti--freeze (ethylene glycol) poisoning

Learn more about this topic on the web at these sites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol_poisoning

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatonium

http://www.petmd.com/dog/emergency/digestive/e_multi_antifreeze_poisoning

Review all our poems of toxicologic interest by clicking HERE.  

SEP 23, news-post: Fore! (Letitia's civil lawsuit)

FORE! (Letitia's Civil Lawsuit)

At the tee, brave Letitia yelled, "Fore!",

Strode the fairway to even the score.

"Donald's trapped in the sand;

As we've planned, he'll be banned

From playing this course any more."

(Folks suspected this drama before.)

 Giorgio Coniglio, 2022

online photo

Author's Note: The golfing terms fore!, and fairway are explained in other OEDILF verses.

In September 2022, Letitia James, Attorney General of the state of New York initiated a civil lawsuit against the Trump Corporation and its executives (the former 45th American president and three of his children) for longstanding business malfeasance including bank, insurance and tax fraud.

SEP 21, higher connections: views from Queen Elizabeth's funeral

 

SEP 20, hellenophilia: approaching Santorini

 

SEP 19, death and the afterlife: garbage in Heaven

Authors' Note: You may have gathered that the editors think that Heaven is a bureaucracy-ridden place. So, of course, as a resident there you may  have to fill out a lot of documentation to obtain permission to import Earthworms and related paraphernalia. 

 You can review more poems about 'Death and the Afterlife' in context ('death and the afterlife') on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 18, curtained verse: braless

EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post! 

 You can review other mildly scurrilous illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Curtained verse: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

SEP 17, cinematic guide: gainless (M*A*S*H theme-song)

Authors' Note: Director Robert Altman had initially requested music for a single scene in the 1970 movie M*A*S*H; in keeping with the plot, this was to be "the stupidest song ever written". Having difficulty in completing the lyricist's task himself, Altman called on his 14-year-old son, who presumably finished the job in a few minutes. The music for "Suicide is Painless" went on to become highly popular as the principal theme for the movie and the TV series; the lyrics are not widely known, but earned the junior Altman large sums in royalties.

You can view our collection of verses about the cinema on our encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

SEP 16, poets' corner: poetic inventiveness

 

INVENTIVENESS -- palinkus

There's a poetry form I've invented

(When I use it I feel so contented), 

With three lines, each a home

To a brief palindrome. 

Most have praised it (a few have dissented).

Dr.G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2022

(Ed. note:) Palinku verses of this type have continued to accumulate, and there are now more than 50 of them. You can easily view them all, and learn more about their derivation, if you  proceed  to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Also, you can find lots of other verses on this daily blog under the rubric "Poets' Corner".  Most of them are in limerick format, and have been subjected to the editing process at OEDILF, the Online English Dictionary in Limerick Form. To access the others, type the phrase Poets Corner into the searchline on this blogpost (at the top of the righthand navigation column).

SEP 15, Italian loanwords: vendetta

For this verse we must acknowledge the inspiration of "The Flea and the Fly", a verse of unknown authorship, sometimes mistakenly attributed to Ogden Nash. You can read more about this issue HERE.

 You can review our entire poetic outpouring about Italian loanwords by proceeding to a post on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'; click HERE. If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 14, Ontario nostalgia: native cactus

 

 hidden cactus corner:
Allan Gardens Conservatory, Toronto

Authors' Note: Species of plants belonging to the cactus family are native only to America. Although they are generally heat-loving, a few species of the genus Opuntia are sufficiently cold-tolerant to live in parts of Canada. One of these, the eastern prickly pear, Opuntia humifusa, thrives in the US in dry areas such as along beaches on the Atlantic coastline, and some inland areas. At the northern limit of its range, in areas along the Great Lakes in Ontario (located centrally in Canada), this species has been susceptible to territory loss by severe winter storms and is now considered locally endangered. Three other species of low-growing cacti are still flourishing in the prairie provinces of western Canada.

There's a different story in other parts of the globe, where these and related species were relocated by human activities in the sixteenth century. Owing to their edible summer fruit, prickly pears are tolerated as invasives in parts of South Africa, southern Europe, Polynesia, South America, etc. In Australia, however, they spread quickly and vigorously,  taking over a huge chunk of grazing and horticultural terrain in Queensland, and are now prohibited.

Resources on the web:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_humifusa
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cactus

You can review the entire series of illustrated poems about  the good old days in Ontario by checking the post "Ontario Nostalgia" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

SEP 13, pluralia tantum: 'condolences'

 

Authors' Note: The above verse provides several further examples of the grammatical phenomenon pluralia tantum. An idiom associated with providing condolences for the family and friends of a single deceased person is to 'pay one's final respects'.

  Grandpa Greg asked us to pass on this message: "You can view the entire collection of verses about 'pluralia tantum' by clicking HERE." 

  If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 12, numbers: a dozen (12)

 You can review our cumulated nonsense about numbers by clicking HERE.

If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 11, planet-saving verse: the fishmonger

Authors' Note:   As stocks around the planet have suffered from overfishing, the price of fresh wild fish has mounted incessantly. As of 2016, aquaculture has apparently resulted in over 50% of the global supply of this foodstuff, both marine and freshwater varieties. 

  Carp, catfish, Atlantic salmon and tilapia are the leading four types of fish currently involved, with recent improvements in the quality and reliability of farmed flatfish (turbot, flounder, halibut, etc.).

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

SEP 10, waterfowl: feral ducks

 You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

SEP 9, ecto-parasites: cat fleas

Authors' Note: (tee-no-seh-FA-li-deez FEE-luhs)

As discussed in our previous verse on fleas, our voracious protagonist, Ctenocephalides felis, is the chief ectoparasite inflicting misery on canines in North America. Unfortunately, its life-cycle — egg, larva, pupa, adult (the hopping wingless blood-sucker), can result in its persistence for up to a year in a warm environment, like the carpet in your rented flat (apartment). In the absence of its usual victims, the flea will consider humans as a predation target of secondary interest. Another piece of bad news is that, through longstanding attempts at control, the species is becoming resistant to insecticides.

SEP 8, news-post: Elizabeth the Second, OEDILFian tribute

 

SEP 7, patients and their maladies: male infertility

Authors' Note: In medical parlance, ejaculate is pronounced differently as noun (n.) or verb (v.) As a patient in the process of fertility testing, you will undoubtedly be asked to contribute (v.) a sample (n.), to assess sperm quality and cell count.

 You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Nurse-Verse: Patients and their Maladies' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

SEP 6, goats at play (videos)

Editor's Note:

 I am amazed that I had the opportunity to shoot this sequence (as always, my trusty pocket-cellphone camera served as instrumentation). It was as if the goats at Riverdale Farm, not far from my home, had rehearsed a little skit for my entertainment. First they did the routine in which the larger goat pretends he is pouncing on the smaller one, but backs off at the last second; and they repeated it at four different angles, without any intervening pause, as if they wanted to be sure I saw it. Then, as if to show it was all in good fun, they did the head-butting number with the smaller goat in command (I think that was 'fixed'). The Farm had very few visitors that day, owing to the pandemic and to the incipient winter weather.

  It might take a lifetime of observing goats to see the likes again! or not!