Fun Weather Reports

In the spirit of April Fools Day, I couldn't help but share the following weather report from Loki.  It seems Thor has a lot to answer for.




After watching that, I remembered the next report that I saw more than a year ago, so I decided to hunt it down and share it with you as well.  Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

I haven't done a good job with keeping up with this blog for the second half of this year.  I've been doing a lot of writing, so that probably has a lot to do with it.  I've been self-publishing books and working on a novella series.  I've also been writing and submitting short stories various places when I can.  So yeah.  If you're curious about the work I've put out so far, click HERE.

Anyway, I felt like I needed to acknowledge the interesting year we've just lived through.  We flew by Pluto.  We found water on Mars.  We got a new Star Wars movie, and it was good.  Not too shabby, as far as years go.

I just wanted to say Happy New Year!  Let's see what 2016 brings!

Hi Pluto!

New Horizons is a success!  Today's flyby is an amazing accomplishment.  It's hard to believe that we finally know what Pluto looks like in great detail.  As a kid, I loved looking at images of the solar system, but I was frustrated by the fact that our best images of Pluto were so blurry.

That's not a problem anymore!

Say hi!

(NASA)

Billions of miles traveled.  9 years have passed since New Horizons loaunched, and it took many years of planning to even get to that point.  Congratulations to the people who made it possible!

Z is for Zymotechnics

Here we are at the finish line!  Congratulations to everyone who made it!

I have a fun vocabulary word for you today.

Today's word is: ZYMOTECHNICS

Zymotechnics is the application of the principles of fermentation.  Fermentation is, of course, the process that converts sugars to acids, gases, or alcohol.  Sure, fermentation does more than give us tasty beverages, but that's certainly one of my favorite byproducts of the process.

Reasons to know this word:

-This is a good bit of trivia to pull out at a party.  It might impress your drunken friends or colleagues.

-By becoming familiar with this word, you are enjoying my final contribution to the 2015 A to Z Challenge, and that will make me happy.

Y is for Yex

Here I am on this penultimate day of the A to Z Challenge with another vocabulary word for you.

Today's word is: YEX

Yex is an old word that means "to hiccough."  In the course of researching this word, I came across this line:

"He yexeth and he speaketh through the nose." -Chaucer

Chaucer died in the year 1400, so that was a while ago.  It's not a word you hear often, that's for sure, but it's a fun one.

Reasons to know this word:

-You can now quote Chaucer, which makes you cultured.  I promise.

-The word "yex" oddly enough sounds a bit like someone sneezing.  That's mildly amusing.

-It rhymes with other fun three-letter words.  The potential for dirty limericks is there.

X is for Xenodocheionology

Today we have the letter X.  This is traditionally a difficult letter to write a blog entry around, but I think I found a suitably cool vocabulary word for today.

Today's word is: XENODOCHEIONOLOGY

Whew!  That one's a mouth full!

Xenodocheionology is defined as the lore relating to hotels or inns.  You know, the stories about grisly murders, dead bodies. room #1408, and all that.

Reasons to know this word:

-If you ever learn to correctly pronounce it, you'll have truly accomplished something.

-If you ever wanted to try this out as a hobby, it could be quite entertaining.  I'm a skeptical sort myself, but I still enjoy the stories.  A lot of us enjoy a good, creepy story now and again.

W is for Whelve

This is the last week of the A to Z Challenge!  We're almost at the finish line!  Let's celebrate with some vocabulary.

Today's word is: WHELVE

Whelve has a couple of definitions, though unlike the definitions for godwottery, you can see the similarity between these.

1.  To turn a vessel upside down so as to cover something.

2.  To cover up with anything; to hide, bury.

Reasons to know this word:

-I didn't know that the time I turned a large mixing bowl upside down to cover a cake so the flies wouldn't land on it, I'd actually whelved it.  That sounds kinda badass for such a mundane activity.

-When writing, you can say something dramatic like "I whelved my feelings for him in the hope that I might forget them."  Cool, right?