DEC 30, (2023): W-I-P

DEC 29, 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: 

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.

Correspondingly, there is a slew of illustrated poems in five linked posts dealing with WATERFOWL that you can access by clicking HERE.

DEC 28, Canadiana: Haida Gwaii

sketch of an abandoned archeological site

 

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 Island Authors' Note: Everything you might want to know about fentanyl can be found in a verse at OEDILF (the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form) by fellow contributor-editor DavidGries. Click HERE.s (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".

DEC 27, mammalian wildlife: ersatz coyotes

You can review the 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 !

DEC 26, basic medical science: homunculi

Authors' Note:  The homunculi (Latin, for little persons) referred to here are the representations of the human body, well-known to anatomy students, that are mapped out on the "motor strip", symmetric areas of cortex on both sides of the brain that control voluntary movement on the contralateral side of the body. The motor homunculus on each side maps the primary motor cortex, located in the precentral gyrus (fold) of the frontal lobe; analogously, there is a similarly arranged sensory homunculus located nearby in the postcentral gyrus.

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READY TO SEE MORE ?

To navigate around the 2,000 posts on this blog ("Daily Illustrated Nonsense", or D.I.N.), scroll downwards until you get to a widget with a clickable SUMMARY OF CONTENTS BY DATE displayed with blue fonts -- the most recent are at the top; the oldest at the bottom of the list. Then, just click on any year or month to view the detailed contents -- illustrated short humorous poems, wordplay, parody song-lyrics, funky photos, etc. 

DEC 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 24

 

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. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed 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", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly 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 this delightful entertainment right here 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, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE.

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 !
 

DEC 23, around and about: City Hall lights

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, P.E.H !!!

HAVE a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON !!!

 Seasonal photo:

seasonal lighting at City Hall

DEC 22, decorative touches: marsh scene (fabric art)

 

lowcountry marsh scene, rendered in fabric art, with thanks to R.C.H.

DEC 21, exemplification: hooligans

 To review our whole collection of "exemplary exemplifications", click HERE. 

DEC 20 (2023): W-I-P

 

DEC 19, ambulatory verse: falter

You can review all our verses on this topic, accumulated for you on our companion blog "Edifying Nonsense", by clicking HERE.

b) recent birdie-pic

great egret, hunting

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 in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

DEC 17, palinku (poetic novelty): reversal

  In this post, we continue with our novel form of poetic wordplay. 

  Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, the "palinku" is a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its earlier English-language forerunners, 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  (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. Readers will note that we have been publishing verses of this type on the 17th of each month.

 You can readily view all our verses of this type 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.)

DEC 16, 2023, pinkos: the Communist Church

 

Authors' Note: Liberal thinking seized Europe towards the middle of the nineteenth century. Emboldened by the partial successes of the politically-targeted Chartists, intellectuals were drawn to idealistic social movements such as communitarianism. According to Wikipedia, John Goodwyn Barmby (1820 – 1881), one of its principals, introduced the term 'communist', based on the French le communisme and founded a revue called The Communist Chronicle. Seeking a spiritual path, he later founded the Communist Church, a sect that had congregations numbering in the teens at its peak. When the church folded in 1849, Barmby became active as a Unitarian minister.

You can review all the poems in our collection "Pinkos: forward thinkers" by clicking HERE.

DEC 15, homophonous verse: corrective

 You can view our whole collection on this topic -- verses intentionally crafted with contentious repetition of the rhyming syllables --  in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Check the post "Homophonous Verse" by clicking HERE. 

DEC 14, fabric art: abstract (poem)

DEC 13, commercial product: prostheses for male turkeys

 

Authors' Note: The male turkey's facial snood is an erectile caruncle that plays an important role in his ability to attract females. Unfortunately for domestic toms, commercial turkey breeders see it as advantageous to remove these facial appendages at an early age. The process of desnooding, and its devastating effect on turkey romance, have been versified by the author previously. Commercial development of a prosthesis to assist males in adult life, as described in this verse, is apocryphal.

    

Our range of domestic and commercial products is somewhat limited, but you might want to review our unusual prospective gifts on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

DEC 12, folio-entry, couples: wood ducks

Authors' Note: Enjoy an illustrated poem about wood ducks by clicking HERE.

You can view these sample photos from our portfolio of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

 

DEC 11, American satire (prolongation): archival

Authors' Note: In the United States, all documents and materials related to the conduct of business in the executive branch are deemed by law to remain the property of the federal government, particularly after a president and his staff leave office. The federal agency responsible for storing and archiving these documents is NARA (the National Archives and Records Administration).

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find dozens more on this topic in 9 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

DEC 10, a brief saga (garden intruders): stinkhorn (red-basket) fungus

( a ‘brief saga’ in five singable limerick stanzas)

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS: These verses can be sung to “We Three Kings” as per YouTube HERE. The song, as discussed in Wikipedia, was the first popular Christmas carol written in America. 

ORIGINAL POETRY LYRICS: The original two stanzas were composed in limerick format by registered pseudonym Giorgio Coniglio in November 2016. After undergoing their rigorous collaborative editing process, these have been published at the poetry web-site OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form); they have then been displayed as poetry lyrics on our personal blog. 

SETTING WORDS TO MUSIC: Readers might be interested to know that of more than 1000 short poems that we have published, only 50 or so would qualify as “brief sagas”. We had arbitrarily set the limit for this entity as including at least three standard limerick verses. Although almost any limerick verse (e.g. the “Nantucket limericks”) can be set to music, we were particularly interested in exploring this transitioning for these multiverse poems that warrant the time to pick up your ukulele. Although this particular poem was one of our favorites, you can see why it did not quite qualify as a “brief saga”.

Readers may be surprised to realize that “We Three Kings” embodies the limerick rhyming scheme. As the lines of the original Christmas carol are quite short, some modification of the poem was required to fit the template.

first stanza:/ Could it be that aliens brung us/ That strange life-form, red-basket fungus?/ Send and ban it/ From our planet/ Lest it move in among us. Oh! 

second stanza:/ Orangey nerf-ball, named for stench/ Watering eyes, teeth want to clench/ Swarms of flies/ It’s no surprise,/ Are guided to your garden bench.

third stanza:/ Plastic bags wrap flyers thrown on drive — / Perfect size so spores won’t survive./ Enclose the stench,/ Trash what you trench,/ For now, bits of joy derive. Oh! 

fourth stanza:/ Orangey nerf-ball, named for stench — / Watering eyes, teeth want to clench./ Full-sized flies,/ And gnats misprized/ Likewise despised by swain and wench.

  

 Authors' Note: Clathrus ruber is a startlingly shaped species of saprophytic fungus that resembles an orange plastic toy ball. Its interior surfaces are coated with a foul-smelling slime that attracts flies, which then disperse the fungal spores. The characteristic fetid odor of the fungus resembles that of rotting meat. Other common names include latticed stinkhorn, red cage fungus, and basket stinkhorn. 

Readers, you are fortunate to have all our poetic comments on creatures (animal and vegetable), devoted to subverting your gardening plans. To view this collection our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE! You can also review illustrated verses about orderly garden inhabitants by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

For the purpose of this blog, a 'brief saga' is defined as a poem, usually narrative, but occasionally expository, that tell its story in at least 11 lines. Most commonly, the format involves three stanzas in limerick form, constituting a single submission to the online humor site 'Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form'. On the OEDILF site, rigorous standards for content and format are involved in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year. 

 There are now over 40 of these lengthier bits of doggerel featured at OEDILF in Giorgio's "Author's Showcase". The OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. We have been blog-publishing these poetic adventures here monthly since January 2020. And the good news is that almost all limerick-derived verses can be se to music!

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (November 2023 ), back up to 'creep, crept and variants'.

To access all of our 'brief sagas' by the year of their creation, click on your selection below.

2020
2021
2022
2023.

DEC 9, toxic vignette: chelation

Authors' Note:

(KEE-layt) / (kee-LAY-shun) Treatment with chelates or chelating agents, has several well-recognized uses in medicine. These include removal of toxic metals from the body, e.g. lead in cases of acute or chronic poisoning, and treatment of iron overload in patients who have received repeated blood transfusions to treat their chronic anemias. The search for drugs of this type which are safer and easier to use is ongoing.
    
Review all our poems of toxicologic interest by clicking HERE. 

 

DEC 8, at heart: Holter monitor

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

 

DEC 7, birdfeeder action-photos: common grackle

 current birdie-pic (S. Carolina)

common grackle

DEC 6, pinkos (forward thinkers): the gamophobic socialist

Authors' Note:   Gamophobia is an irrational fear of getting married, or of interpersonal commitment. Gamophobic individuals, or gamophobes, whatever their political views, are people who harbour such neurotic anxieties.

The slogan "better red than dead" was mentioned in a book that British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in 1961, in the face of a potential East-West nuclear confrontation; it was subsequently adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, an organization that Russell helped found. The slogan has been used in both directions, with hardline rightwingers sometimes proclaiming "Better dead then red".

Also, a related disorder, gynophobia, is discussed in another of our intriguing and informative verses. 

You can review all the poems in our collection "Pinkos: forward thinkers" by clicking HERE.

DEC 5, oncology verse: Pat's adenoma

 You can view all such verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection of "ONCOLOGY VERSES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

DEC 4, terminal (poetic) exclamation: DON'T TOUCH!

 You can review our collection of poems on the topic of "Terminal Exclamation (Limerick Variations)" as it evolves on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE.  

DEC 3, culinary verse: scouse

Author's Note: The regional term for this traditional hearty stew rhynes wuth "house". In the UK, "blouse" is generally pronounced with a terminal "z" sound, but in the US, either the "z" or "s" may be heard.

Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

DEC 2, defining opinion: hole #1

 

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 in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.