A Pound of Thoughts

1.  Internet service, how do you react and what is the first thing you do?

     Well, I stomp my feet, say “Oh Crap!”, try to fix it (if I can),  then either go to the TV or grab a book!

2.  Electricity, how do you react and what is the first thing you do?

     I say, “Oh crap!” and then I start hunting for the flashlight…

3.  Cell phone or home phone service, how do you react and what is the first thing you do?

     I jump up and down and say “Hooray!”  I then go to the computer, TV, or grab a book!

4.  Cable/Dish TV, how do you react and what is the first thing you do?

      I shrug my shoulders and go to the computer.

5.  Air Conditioning/heat, how do you react and what is the first thing you do?

     I say “Oh crap!” and start opening windows/grabbing blankets.

I’m really exciting, “ain’t” I?

vitiate \VISH-ee-ayt\, transitive verb:
1. To make faulty or imperfect; to render defective; to impair; as, “exaggeration vitiates a style of writing.”
2. To corrupt morally; to debase.
3. To render ineffective; as, “fraud vitiates a contract.”

Origin:  Vitiate comes from Latin vitiare, from vitium, fault. It is related to vice (a moral failing or fault), which comes from vitium via French.

Example Sentence: 

MacNelly is one of the few contemporary political cartoonists who can use humor to accentuate, not vitiate, his points.
– Richard E. Marschall, “The Century In Political Cartoons”, Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 1999

Source:  Dictionary.com

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Here’s my top 5 books for the Mundane Monday meme:

1. The Bible:  Simply because I love God, I’m a Christian, and it’s the best book of all time!
2. The Lord of the Rings:  A great story of good vs. evil, of true friendship, and of loyalty.
3. Four Past Midnight:  The four stories in it are great thrillers…of course, it’s Stephen King!
4. The Chamber:  This book kept me on the edge of my bed many nights, wondering if Adam Hall would save his grandfather - or if his grandfather did it at all!
5. The Hobbit:  A fun adventure for hobbits of all ages - and plus it’s by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Why do some people insist on getting on someone’s bumper and hovering
there? That’s what happened to me this morning. My morning was going
very well; I got up earlier than usual, got ready, left the house. I
even had time to stop by Subway and get me a little honey mustard & ham
roll for breakfast. But after that is when he/she showed up on my
bumper.

I was traveling in the left lane on a four-lane highway, going fast
enough but not really speeding. And this idiot decided that
since his/her car was nicer than mine, he/she could do whatever the heck
he/she wanted to. So he/she got on my bumper. Well, let’s just say
that I wasn’t too happy about that. Since there were cars in the right
lane, and I could have gotten over if I wanted to but not without
slowing myself down considerably, I decided I would stay where I was and
go the same speed I was going. I decided not to let him/her have their
own way. And we stayed like that for the next five miles. Ahh, the
joys of the simple things in life!

But then once I got around all the cars on the right side, I went ahead
and moved over. Before I had a chance to get all the way over, the
idiot-in-the-nice-sportscar was already by me and doing about 100 mph.
Funny thing is, about three miles up the road was a traffic light. And
when I got there (it was red), there he/she was, in the left lane, and I
pulled right up beside him. “Didn’t get you very far, now did it
Idiot?” I said to him/her (to myself).

Why do people like that think that speeding ninety-to-nothing is going
to get them much further ahead of the people they’re passing? Some
people just never learn.

internecine \in-tuhr-NES-een; -NEE-syn; -NEE-sin\, adjective:
1. Of or relating to conflict within a nation, an organization, or a group.
2. Mutually destructive; involving or accompanied by mutual slaughter.
3. Deadly; destructive; marked by slaughter.

 Example Sentence:  While the Seven Years’ War resolved none of Europe’s internecine conflicts, so far as North America and the British Empire were concerned, this immense conflict changed everything, and by no means only for the better.
– Fred Anderson, Crucible of War

Source:  Dictionary.com

The greatest discovery of my age is that men can change their circumstances by changing the attitude of their mind.

William James (1842-1910), U.S. psychologist and philosopher

denouement \day-noo-MAWN\, noun:
1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or
dramatic work.
2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.=20

Origin:
Denouement is from French, from Old French denoer, “to untie,”
from Latin de- + nodare,
“to tie in a knot,” from nodus, “a knot.”

Example Sentence: Though still only a prospect on the
horizon, this, I think, could well be the next revolution. What a
denouement if it is!
– Julian Barbour, The End of Time

Source: Dictionary.com

The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigor and strength.

Samuel Smiles (1812-1904 ), Author of ‘Self Help’