April 30, 2023

APR 30, singable satire: "ADENOMA", a pair-ody

 

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.
PARODY-SONGLINK: See the version of "Adenoma" 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.

April 29, 2023

APR 29, exemplification: 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, crackerschawbaconsclodhoppersgood-ol'- boyshayseeds,  and yokels. I'll include 'em next time! 
 To review our whole collection of "exemplary exemplifications", click HERE

April 28, 2023

APR 28, defining opinion: cruddy




 Authors' Note: Trudy's definition seems to be skewed towards the achievement of cruddiness, downplaying inherent or intrinsic cruddiness. We await further reports.


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.

April 27, 2023

APR 27, photo-analysis: flight of the great blue heron


Start at the right hand side, uppermost row, and scroll downward to follow the bird as it flies from your right to our left.







Interested readers might also want to review an illustrated poem about great blue herons in an earlier post on this blog. Or, you could check out our entire collection of illustrated verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

links for any date on this blog: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.


April 26, 2023

APR 26, "pictures at a renovation": the second week

 PREVIOUS VIEWS:


You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous "pictures at a renovation"). The earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.
April 18: reconstruction
April 16: demolition phase winds down (mostly)
April 10demolition phase
April 6:   demolition phase
April 4:   demolition phase
March 31: demolition phase
And, check out the project-planning stage, elucidated in photos and verse, on March 19, and March 27.


front hall


kitchen




LR

 

DR


den


master BR


master bath
(shower construction underway)


April 25, 2023

APR 25, Submitted Palindromes: Introduction to presenters -- Ed, the Derailed Liar



You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. Their profiles are indicated in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", and continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s).

You can access all of this delightful entertainment by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover. 

April 24, 2023

APR 24, urban concerns: aged street tree



Authors' NoteThis verse drew inspiration from the poem "Cuore di Legno" (Heart of Wood) by poet Primo Levi. In the poem, the narrator, an aged horse chestnut growing on a busy urban street, complains of, among other insults, being peed on by neighborhood dogs. 



April 23, 2023

APR 23, doctors and their practices: neighbourhood analyst (capsaicin)

 



Authors' Note: 

 (kap-SAY-sin, or kap-SAY-uh-sin)

  Capsaicin is a chemical derived from hot peppers that creates a sensation of heat on the human skin and in the human mouth. Almost all other mammals also dislike the sensation, so the chemical has come to play a role as the major ingredient in many products touted for repelling mammalian pests.

  Despite the mostly-true story related here, the drug has seldom been prescribed as a treatment by psychoanalysts or other psychiatrists. Moreover, the difficulty of repeated applications (repetition may be needed after each rainfall) to rooftop sites makes its use in this setting hazardous. 

You can view these informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!


April 22, 2023

APR 22, poetic non-sequitur: hope for victims of bullying




Authors' Note: We attended an inspiring book launch this afternoon. 




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



April 21, 2023

APR 21, mammalian wildlife: a peek at elephant seals

Reminiscence from a year ago (somehow this didn't get posted back then):  

What we got to see at Año Nuevo State Park on our April '22 trip was a mass of seal pups, who had been heavily fed by their mothers and then abandoned  on the beach, while the mothers swim out to sea as usual on their long and lonely migration. The pups spend a lot of time sleeping off their recent huge intake of food, and after a few months make their own way, eventually, into the sea where they somehow cope with doing their own life-adventure, learning to swim, hunt and eventually to relocate their home beach, all miraculously without guidance.

It would be great to return in late fall to see the older males, who weigh up to 5000 pounds, when they return for annual breeding.














 











You can review a whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

April 20, 2023

APR 20, singable satire: Elton John sings "DANTE's SONG" (Inferno, Canto 1a)

 PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Your Song", Elton John, 1970.
ORIGINAL POEM: "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first of 3 books constituting "The Divine Comedy" or "La Divina Commedia".
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2015.
PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Dante's Song" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.



Although Dante Alighieri wrote these poetic lines 700 years ago, they have received very little play on various parody-sites. Dante was a forerunner in his use of vernacular language (rather than Latin); based mainly on Tuscan dialect, his writings were critical in the development of modern Italian. To make the poetic lines singable, I had to take down Dante’s hallmark “terza rima” rhyming scheme (aba, bcb, cdc….), and rearrange it to a simpler aabb format. Other than this rearrangement, which leaves out some original lines, the lyrics for the beginning of the first Canto are primarily Dante’s. My English translation follows the Italian, with some adaptations for modern readers. Endless kudos are owing to the Pinsky translation, which inspired this effort.



Inferno, Canto#1a: DANTE'S SONG


(to the tune of "Your Song")


"Dark Wood"
detail of Dore engraving




Intro:
Put down words to “Commedia” sev’n centuries past,
My take on Life and after- seemed to take hold and last
Died exiled in Ravenna, but I guess I did well,
My gift is what we all think about Heav’n and Hell………

Dante:
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
Che la diritta via era smarrita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, a dir
Quanto e qual era è cosa dura.

It’s a little bit funny, but in the midst of life’s road,
I got lost on the path where I’d easily strode,
Found myself without money in a dark gloomy wood –
I’d use a GPS if only I could.

Questa selva selvaggia ed aspra e forte
Tanto è amara, che poco è piu morte –
Era tanto pien di sonno com’io v’entrai
Che la verace via abandonnai.

This unyielding woodland is wild and perverse
No place to get coffee, only death might be worse
Can’t say how I got here, seems I’ve used up my stash
That I’d thought of smoking near the jogging path.

Chorus(It.)
Ma dove terminava l’orribile valle
Vidi vestite di raggi le spalle d’un colle
La paura cheta, un poco cheta
Dopo notte di pièta
Per ogne calle mena dritto questa pianeta

Chorus(Eng.):
I spotted a billboard for a roadside motel
Where a fearsome trench ended at the foot of a hill
I’d had a bad night, my credit’s quite tight,
If I had enough cash
I’d get out of this sunlight, I need a place to crash.

E come quei che con lena affannata
Si volge all’acqua perigliosa e guata;
Uscito fuor del pelago alla riva,
      "Dante nella Selva"
W.Blake
Cosi l’animo mio ancor fuggiva.

Like an agent who’s landed and stripped off scuba-gear
007, no tuxedo, proceeding out of fear,
From depths to some hostile shore is what I really mean,
That’s the way that my soul appeared to be fleeing.

Si volse indietro, l’animo mio
Che ancor fuggiva,
A rimirar lo passo che non lasciò persona viva.

Fearing what to find, my passing-lane mind
Checked the rear-view mirror, then hurtled
Peering back at the passage that leaves the living world.

April 19, 2023

APR 19, American satire (prolongation): obstruction of justice

 

Author's Note

A.G.: Attorney Generala political appointee heading the US Department of Justice   
prezcasual term for president, used in lightweight discussion of the American political situation
Forty-Five: a sequential numbering system is used in the United States for successive holders of the elected office of President; we are currently on number Forty-Six (Joe Biden)
capo: 'head', or 'boss' in Italian, frequently used in connection with the Cosa Nostra (Mafia)
We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 


 

April 18, 2023

APR 18, "pictures at a renovation": reconstruction begins


 Yesterday, the project entered a new chapter in forward progress: At least in some rooms, the putting-together stage has begun. This started with  the front hall and kitchen, applying levelling cement over the underlying concrete slabs in preparation for tiling in the kitchen and hardwood installation in the front hall. The den remains the site of intense removal of 'popcorn ceiling'. 

 PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous views. The earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.
front hall (watch your step!)
(wet levelling cement in place)


kitchen


LR/DR


LR, ready for some refinishing


den, ongoing intense ceiling restoration


April 17, 2023

APR 17, palinku (poetic novelty): London (UK and Ontario)




palinku


\
 You can readily view all our "palinku" verses if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. (Or if you prefer, you can stay on this particular blogsite and look for the offerings for the 17th day of each month -- there are now more than 60 of these.)

April 16, 2023

APR 16, "pictures at a renovation": demolition phase winds down

 The dramatic part of the demolition phase is winding down...


PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous pics. These earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.

nd, check out the project-planning stage, elucidated in photos and verse, on March 19, and March 27.

LR
the floors throughout are now bare concrete


kitchen



the studio



exterior view


April 15, 2023

APR 15, lexicon of word-pairs: alliterative binomials U to Z




Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials (alliterative)
 


The alliterative binomial "vim and vigor" has been used in a verse found HERE.

April 14, 2023

APR 14, photo-collage: life returns to Toronto's 'Brickworks'



red-winged blackbirds
(early season: wing-colour barely discerned)




turtles sunning on a floating island
(exceptionally warm day) 


TO SEE MORE STUFF: To see older or newer material  (posted daily, or at least on most 'good' days), CLICK below the Comments Section, on 'Older Post' or 'Newer Post'.

 

April 13, 2023

APR 13, patients and their maladies: aldosterone excess (Conn's syndrome)



Authors' Note:  High blood pressure (hypertension), most commonly has no definable cause. Rarely, there is a relatively fixed and excessive production of aldosterone, a hormone produced by the cortex of the adrenal glands to regulate the exchange of sodium and potassium in the kidney. The medical entity was known historically as Conn's syndrome. The abnormal hormone levels are due to an overgrowth of well-differentiated adrenal cells, resulting in either a small localized benign tumor, or to diffuse overgrowth of both glands.

The levels of blood pressure attained are relatively mild, and the local disorder of growth in the adrenal glands does not develop malignant transformation. Nonetheless, the disorder is best treated specifically, sometimes requiring adrenal surgery.
You can view collections of verses on this topic by proceeding to "Nurse-Verse: PATIENTS and their MALADIES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!




April 12, 2023

APR 12, duplication: hoi-polloi

 



Authors' Note
The (re)duplication hoi polloi derives from the ancient Greek term for 'the many'. This expression, like its close cousin riff-raff (also a reduplication), has been used in class-conscious England for severlal centuries; similar expressions, tinged with disparagement include plebeian, and the great unwashed In a recent inexplicable twist, as described by speedysnail, hoi polloi has come to be used, in some circumstances, to mean the exact opposite.


Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses SHORT VERSES  in which we have dealt with specific reduplications. 

If interested you could also discover three fairly lengthy PATTER-SONGS about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. These songs form an important part of our cycle of 9 songs about "Word Pairs".



April 11, 2023

APR 11, "pictures at a renovation": demolition, day#6

As we get back to the bare walls and concrete floors, these views are beginning to look depressingly unadorned, rather than catastrophically chaotic. But relative to where we've been, that is a heart-warming upgrade for us. Next up will be a focus on the popcorn ceilings. 
Stay tuned!

PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous views. These earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.
front hall



'new' office seen from front hall/vestibule.



office seen from master BR
(dividing wall pending)



guest bath