David, The AUTHORITIES are watching us.

Donne wrotethe following as MEDITATION XVII: No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any...

The Christian church has "baptized" many pagan practices and turned them into Christian holy days. I see no particular harm in that. My dear Mother, the iconic anti-iconic person, was wont to disagree. Halloween was verboten at our house. She remembered when Halloween was actually trick-or-treat or ...

In the hinterlands, which might approach being in the South, we call them punkins. Loading a patch of pumpkins onto a truck is an autumn task that resembles watermelon picking in the early summer. People do use it as a address of endearment. I am not one of them.

Effraction is a new word to me. I will give it a try.

As a has been musician, I am very familiar with the word brio. I have never even thought of using it outside its musical setting. I am sure I would have to introduce the word here in the hinterland where folks don't cotton much toward fancy talk. Brie is one of my favorite cheeses. Perhaps I should ...

I thought I had already responded concerning this good word. Maybe the secret service struck it out thinking I was giving away classified information. However, they haven't called me to task for my rashness. I was under the impression that, upon my retirement, my brain had been zapped of all classif...

A says,"Choose a random Number". B says, "Okay I choose 2,393." A replies, "2,395 is not a random number. It is a specific number." B replies, "Sorry, my bad." When studying mathematics I was introduced to the Dedekind cut. As smoke came of my ears, I repented for having chosen to major in Math. To ...

There is much discussion among theologians about the Imprecatory Psalms. The New Testament clearly says we are not to curse people. Pastor Paul LeBoutillier, a Canadian, attempts to bridge the apparent gap between two opposite positions. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with him. But I am sure good ...

I have long thought that edify is quite an edifying verb.

We teetotallers don't have to worry about this. My maternal grandfather was once a rounder and a heavy drinker. Then he became a Christian. He said that he immediately quit drinking and smoking. He also gave up swearing and resigned from the KKK and Masonic Lodge. Of these two organizations, he was ...

Never be sneaky and you won't have to choose between sneaked and snuck as a past tense. I abhor the word in all its tenses. The whole thing makes me tense.

Re: dither
If the US military decides to dither the GPS signals, only receivers with the current de-dither code will be able to use it. You don't have access to that code.

Here in the hinterlands we mostly use savvy as a verb. The Spanish "Yo no sabe" means "I don't know" in English. It is an easy step from "sabe" to "savvy". Sometimes it also means understand. I am amused that Tonto, the Lone Ranger's sidekick, called the Lone Ranger "kemosabe”. If Tonto was a Navajo...

And so it is George. I didn't catch it at first blush. Then I caught it.