December 31, 2023

DEC 31, birdlore: new birdfeeder!

New birdfeeder!!!






Initial photo-experience on a rainy day using a cell-phone camera. Stay tuned as the technique develops! 


tufted titmouse
i-phone photo with automated "removal of background"; this software works relatively well with persons, but for birds, the tails and legs get detached relatively often
 





house finch (male)






















Eastern bluebird


COMPARISON EXPERIENCE: 
tree-squirrel inspecting a conventional birdfeeder


Readers interested in a truly funky experience are invited to review our bizarre verse about "seabird-feeders" by clicking HERE. And you are also invited to check out our subsequent moderate success in photographing our avian dining guests HERE


You can also view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic (land-birds) by proceeding to the posts "Poems about BIRDLORE" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.
Corresponding, there is a slew of illustrated poems in five linked posts dealing with WATERFOWL that you can access by clicking HERE.


December 30, 2023

DEC 30 (2023), singable satire: Nat King Cole and Louis Prima sing the pair-ody "ADENOMA"

 

PAIR-ODY-LYRICS, subbed into two songs (pair-ody is a neologism for a parody using a pair of original songs) .
ORIGINAL SONG#1: "Mona Lisa" , Nat King Cole, 1950 
ORIGINAL SONG#2. "Buona Sera", Louis Prima1956
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December, 2014.

EXPLANATORY NOTE: Rudolf Virchow, 1821-1902, is regarded as "the father of modern pathology".
Benign tumours are discussed in various other short poems by the author, including "Benign tumours, a guidebook", and "Pat's adenoma". Facial nerve malfunction, including Frei's syndrome, after resection of benign or malignant salivary tumours is discussed HERE.
SONGLINK: See the version designed for ukulele and guitar players on "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" HERE.




ADENOMA

(to the tune of "Mona Lisa")

Adenoma, Adenoma, Virchow named you;
You’re a common lesion in the neck and face -
Presentation with an endocrine secretion,
Or a painless little lump that’s out of place.


pleiomorphic adenoma
     of the salivary gland           

We don’t understand your motives, Adenoma.
What strange factors make you spurn control and grow?
But your schemes don’t require exploration,
They’re revealed by needle aspiration.

Are you truly benign, Adenoma,
Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?
Are you truly benign, Adenoma
Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?
Adenoma, Adeno-o-ma.

(to the tune of "Buona Sera")

Sayonara, salivary Adenoma
I’ve engaged a surgeon trained in ENT.
In the morning, he’ll resect you from your bed there
For removal of the specter of malignancy.

By next evening, Adenoma, we’ll be separate -
You’ll be sliced and spread on slides for full review;
And my mouth-droop from that nerve you’ve cruelly damaged -
With its fibers freed, my smile might yet be salvaged.

In the long-term, I am better off without ya’
Sayonara, Adenoma, kiss me goodbye.
Hasta mañana, Adenoma; kiss me goodbye.

December 29, 2023

DEC 29, patients and their maladies: knee effusion


a) reprise from December 2020


DEC 28, patients and maladies: knee effusion





Authors' Note: This verse resulted from the author’s personal experience (as patient).
  Following trauma, standard X-rays taken in the Emergency Department show most fractures where the bone fragments are displaced. They can not, however, diagnose many undisplaced fractures, particularly in elderly patients with reduced bone density. 
  Nonspecific swelling with evidence of leaking of fluid into the adjacent joint space (joint effusion) is particularly common in injuries about the knee, and is easily discerned on visual inspection and X-rays. Follow up radiographs after another 3 weeks sometimes display an initially missed healing fracture. In cases where instability, ongoing pain, or persistent effusion are prominent, injury to ligaments may be suspected. 

Be sure to check out the whole collection of verses on 'Patients and their Maladies" by proceeding to our full-service blog, "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! 

b) current birdie-pic


northern cardinal





December 28, 2023

DEC 28, pill-poppin' poems: antimalarial

reprise from December 2020

 





You can view informative verses like this one in a wider context by proceeding to the collection "Pill-Popping Poems (selected pharmaceuticals)" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE! 

Also, please check out the Lancet's concurrent study on the acute use of antimalarial drugs as published online  at  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext
Or, check this link to the story in the Washington Post.


December 27, 2023

DEC 27, non-sequitur: cumulative song

 

a) reprise from December 27, 2020


DEC 27, non-sequitur: cumulative song







 Authors' Note:  The cumulative song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" was created by two Canadian folksong aficionados in 1952, and then recorded by Burl Ives in 1953.  Other well-known cumulative songs which are traditional include "Old MacDonald had a Farm" and "The Green Grass Grew All Around".

 Our collection of 'Non-Sequiturs' on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains an admittedly bizarre assortment of nonsensical odds-and-ends, that don't quite fit into other topic-based offerings. But should you want to review the entire collection, click HERE.

b) current birdie-pic
poolside, late afternoon
at the Ibis Hotel



December 26, 2023

DEC 26, Canadiana: Haida Gwaii


reprise from December 2020

DEC 30, Canadiana: Haida Gwaii

web-photo



Authors' Note:

snowbird: a Canadian retiree seeking a warmer venue to spend the wintry months

  The Queen Charlotte Islands are a Canadian archipelago situated between the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island and the Alaska Panhandle, with landmass one-third that of the Hawaiian Islands (the latter located considerably further south). They had been the heartland of the aboriginal Haida people, who numbered thirty thousand at the time of first contact with European explorers in the eighteenth century. Their territory has a unique environment based on moderate temperatures and heavy rainfall. The province of British Columbia renamed the islands Haida Gwaii (HIE-duh GWIE[-ee], "islands of the people") in 2010.

You can review poems, pictures and diverse nonsense related to Canada on the post "Canadiana" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".


December 25, 2023

DEC 25, Xmas post

 

reprise from December 25, 2020


DEC 25, holiday verse: every Adventuality





 

Incidental Photo:


decoration of a gingerbread house

December 24, 2023

DEC 24, postal places, Canada: Red Deer AB



Authors' Note: AB is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Alberta, in which the city of Red Deer, population 100,000, is located mid-way between the province's two main cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, aboriginals had called a local stream "Elk River". European settlers renamed it as "Red Deer River" after the more familiar Eurasian species, and founded a village there in 1894, at a river crossing used by Fort Normandeau, a stockade stronghold in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. The town of Red Deer expanded dramatically during the 1940s owing to the discovery of major Albertan oil and natural gas reserves

If you want to know more about the Canadian province of Alberta, ask speedysnail, author of the OEDILFian poem Alberta.


 At one swell foop, you can review all our postal poems about intriguing places in the USA and Canada, by proceeding to the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !
 

December 23, 2023

DEC 23, classic palindrome: 'Yreka Bakery'

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, P.E.H !!!


a) reprise from December 23, 2020


DEC 23, classic palindrome: 'Yreka bakery'








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


HAVE a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON !!!


b) Seasonal photo:


seasonal lighting at City Hall


December 22, 2023

DEC 22, waterfowl: brown pelicans

 

a) reprise from December 2020:  

 












b) recent birdie-pic 

 software-enhanced photo (January 2024)


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

December 21, 2023

DEC 21, a-very-stable-genius: holiday season


reprise from December 21, 2020


DEC 21, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS -- wordplay for the holiday season

Today's collection should definitely wrap up this excessively extended effort. (But I am proud to say that you can now find some 350 anagrams developed as part of the total undertaking -- and some of them do seem to have some important meaning!)  







You can review an amazing number of anagrams based on this book title on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. There are two posts to view: 
 
'A Very Stable Genius': Theme and Variations (97 anagrams),   and 
'A Very Stable Genius': additional funky anagrams.




December 20, 2023

DEC 20 (2023), singable satire (sidebar about travel to Limbo): Rick Steves sings "POSTCARD TO CHUBBY CHECKER"

PARODY-SONG

ORIGINAL SONG: "Limbo Rock", as recorded 1962 by Chubby Checker.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, May, 2015.

The name "Limbo" conjures up an intriguing mixture of Caribbean dancing and Dante's Inferno. In another posting here, part of the Inferno sequence, Dante provides us with on-site reporting which seems to eliminate it from serious consideration as a longterm retirement home. Perhaps it is more realistic to consider it an untapped tourist destination.  
PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany this song on your favorite instrument, click HERE.


POSTCARD TO CHUBBY CHECKER

(to the tune of "Limbo Rock")

Want to visit Limbo-land?
Rick Steves help vacation-plan
Limbo-folks are tourist-shy
Complicated reasons why. 
Limbo-visa hard to get - 
Seems that none been printed yet
I.T. system's way behind
Limbo-stuck in Dante's time. 

What to pack for Limbo-trip?
Don't need sunscreen - get a grip!
Limbo-weather always same
Sticky days, we're not to blame.
Limbo-neighbors turn up steam
Get so burned they moan and scream
Don't advise excursion there
If no Hazmat suit to wear. 

Limbo-talk in Limbo-land
Locals hard to understand
Few speak Eng., they all speak It.,
Antique Limbo-dialect.
LIMBO is the outermost complete circle
Limbo-customs might appeal - 
Walk feet flat with weight on heels
Limbo-nights - no moon or stars
Lean back in or under bars.

Got good staff at Limbo-Inns
They commit no Limbo-sins
New construction in bare feet
Projects never get complete.
Might not find a hotel room
Now or when you're in your tomb;
Limbo-book with kids and wife
For the Limbo-afterlife.

Rates discounted now.
Rates discounted now.
How low can they go?





 

December 19, 2023

DEC 19, r-i-c- anagrams: #17 and #18


a) reprise from December 19, 2020


DEC 19, wordplay map: r-i-c anagrams #11+#12




 

You can view the entire collection of 18 wordplay maps of 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE. 


b) recent birdie-pic

great egret, hunting



December 18, 2023

DEC 18, defining opinion: hoot




 

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary iLimerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.