7 Words in Norwegian (6 of 7): Oysters

In this case, the Norwegian word for oysters is virtually the same word in English; it is OSTERS.

Greetings to our blog-readers in Afghanistan, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

And, we wish everyone here in America, a happy Labor Day weekend.

7 Words in Norwegian (5 of 7): Shark

The Norwegian word for shark is hai, or shark=hai. The image above is from the American cartoon "Jabberjaw," which ran on ABC in 1976.

SIDEBAR ONE: Kudos to the University of North Carolina for the team's 3-0 win over Notre Dame in the season-opener for women's volleyball. The other UNC (University of Northern Colorado) won as well as the team defeated Cal Poly 3-1. Other victors from the first night of women's college volleyball included North Carolina State's 3-0 over Cleveland State and my alma mater Radford University's 3-0 home win over North Carolina A & T.

SIDEBAR TWO: A few weeks ago on Facebook, my friend Ara Baliozian, a respected Canadian author of Armenian heritage, made the following observation: "Marriage is the best cure for love as suicide is the best antidote for a fear of death."

SIDEBAR THREE: There were lots of interesting tweets tonight on Twitter, and most were about trivial matters, such as Miley Cyrus shedding her Marie Osmond image once and for all, or very delicate news items, such as the Syria crisis. But it was this one from @MarketplaceATM (the NPR/American public radio show "Marketplace") which stood out: "15% of all Americans are offline."


http://www.marketplace.org

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.ruhighlanders.com

http://www.baliozian.blogspot.com

7 Words in Norwegian (4 of 7): Dolphin

Dolphin=Delphin

I first became aware of dolphins by watching reruns of "Flipper" during the two years when I lived as a child in Turkey (1977-79) on TRT (Turkey Radio Television), which also aired Jacques Cousteau documentaries.
 
One can see dolphins and other living sea animals at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Ga. (see link below):

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org

or the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland: http://www.aqua.org

For our "7 Words in Turkish" series, go to: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

7 Words in Norwegian (3 of 7): Whale

Whale=Hval

Norway is also a country where one can actually see whales!

http://www.visitnorway.com

7 Words in Norwegian (2 of 7): Octopus

Octopus=blekksprut

For 7 Words in Turkish, go to our sister blog "The Daily Vampire:" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

7 Words in Norwegian: Fish

Fish=Fisk

Note: No one here actually speaks Norwegian, but since this is not 1979, we can find this info out in seconds thanks to Google and Bing.

Before We Take a Week Off: Ten More Embarrasing Ways to Die

Greetings to our blog readers in Latvia, Spain and Cyprus, and we send out a special greetings to Glenn Beck, Edward Snowden and Paris Hilton: Three of our favorite celebrity narcissists.

Let's go to the big list on ten ways no one wants to die:

1. Getting hit by a Valley Metro bus in Roanoke, Va. (top image)

2. Seizure from playing War of the Warcraft for 48 straight hours.

3. Getting struck by lightning while playing mini-golf in Ocean City, Maryland.

4. Choking to death on a bowl of Rice Krispies (center image)

5. Getting hit by a foul ball at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.

6. Getting struck down in the parking lot by an oncoming vehicle after shopping at Target.

7. Smoke inhalation from house fire caused by smoking Marlboros in bed.

9.  Drowning while fishing in the Dan River in Eden, North Carolina.

10. Getting hit by a falling coconut from a tree while vacationing in Belize (bottom image).

http://www.valleymetro.com

http://www.us.battle.net/wow/

http://www.ococean.com

http://www.ncnorthstar.com/

http://www.travelbelize.org/

Saturday Night Tweets: Political Futbol

With images of Cong. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), the Aston Villa soccer team and a map of where Kansas is in the United States, we present this entry that we're calling 'Political Futbol' since all the entries pertain to soccer or politics/political figures.

There were two major upsets in European soccer play today (the first weekend of the season) as Aston Villa shocked Arsenal 3-1, and in Turkey, Konyaspor surprised Istanbul powerhouse Fenerbahce 3-2 after being down by two goals.

The soccer team for the nation's capital here in America, D.C. United was also in action today, but they lost to their  Major League Soccer rivals from Canada, Montreal Impact.

Here are the tweets:

1. DC United @dcunited: "Final #DCU 1 Montreal Impact 2. Conor Doyle (a young player for DCU) nets his second, but it's not enough for the Black and Red."

2. Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va) @RepGriffith: "Rep. Griffith hit 333,333 miles on his car outside the Jonesville courthouse yesterday!" (Jonesville is in remote southwestern Virginia, far away from Griffith's hometown of Salem, Va., and even father away from Washington DC, we believe Nashville is actually closer to DC, and perhaps even Salem!).

3. Turkishsoccer.com @turkishsoccer/Ahmet Bob Turgut: First game of the season: Antalya 0 Kayseri Erciyes 0! Boring....

4. Cong. Ami Bera (@RepBera): "To everyone celbrating in India and, at home in the US, and around the world_ Happy #IndianIndependenceDay"

5. Stephen Olson (@Silent_Fusion, a soccer fan in Buffalo, NY): "Premiership is back baby! Glory Glory Man United!!!" (Manchester United won their home opener today)

6. Tom Perriello (@tomperriello, a former Democratic Congressman from Virginia): "Good to see @TerryMcAuliffe w/Bishop Campbell and Rev Avon Keene remembering Bloody Monday in Danville (Va)." (Terry McAuliffe is the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia; Danville is a city in south central Virginia, which is 50 miles north of Greensboro, NC).

7. Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl, a Sports Illustrated writer): "Dig 3-1 win for Brad Guzan and Aston Villa at Arsenal, where the boos rain down." (Guzan is an American international playing for Aston Villa who is a goal-keeper).

8. Cong. Tim Huelskamp @CongHuelskamp: "I guess violating the 4th amendment 2776 times is ok now." (Like Griffith, Huelskamp was elected in November, 2010. He is an arch conservative representative from Kansas, one of America's most Republican states. His first district includes 63 counties, which is most of the Jayhawk state).


http://screaming-eagles.com/

http://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/perriello-tom/bio/

http://morgangriffith.house.gov/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

http://www.7500toholte.com/

http://www.ksdp.org/ (Kansas Democratic Party)

http://ksgop.org/ (Kansas Republican Party)

Images to Fill Space: Expensive High Heels for Women

Google/Bing Question of the Day: How Many Top 40 Hits Did Pat Benatar Have?

The answer as it turns out is 14. Though Pat Benatar never topped the Billboard charts, she had four top ten singles, including "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Love is a Battlefield," "We Belong" and "Invincible."

Benatar is now on tour and she will be playing a number of east coast venues, including Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., near Washington, DC, on Aug. 20th. She then plays at the House of Blues in Boston on Aug. 21 and the State Theatre in Portland, Maine, on Aug. 25.

She returns to her hometown of Richmond when she plays at the Innsbrook Pavilion (in the Richmond 'burb of Glen Allen, Va.) on Aug. 28.

For info on the tour of another '80s music entity, go to our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" at: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com


http://www.benatargirlado.com

http://www.wolftrap.org

Ten Novels to Re-Read: The Great Gatsby, et al

As beach-reading season is winding down, we thought we'd take a look at some great, vintage novels which are worth of a second, third or even a fourth look.

Many of these novels are listed in the Modern Library's best novels.

Here is the list:

1. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) #2 on the Modern Library list

2. "Lord of the Flies" by William Goldig (1954) #41 on the ML list

3. "The Black Book" ("Kara Kitap") by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey. 1990. English version published in 1994)

4. "Less Than Zero" by Breat Easton Ellis (1985)

5. "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk (1996)

6. "Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerny (1984)

7. "Deliverance" by James Dickey (1970) #42 on the Modern Library List

8. "1984" by George Orwell (1949) #13 on Modern Library List

9. "Franny and Zooey" by J.D. Salinger (1961)

10. "Catch 22" by by Joseph Heller (1961) #7 on the Modern Library List

http://www.modernlibrary.com

http://www.malaprops.com/ (Indy bookstore in Asheville, NC)

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/ (Indy bookstore in Durham, NC)

http://www.boulderbookstore.net/ (Indy bookstore in Boulder, Colo.)

Highlights from the Bucket List: Going to L.A. Anyone?

Yes, we actually made a bucket list this week! We're not sure if that was a good idea or not, but here are some of the highlights. Overall, there were 100 items on the list!:

1. Take an Amtrak train from Clifton Forge, Va., to Los Angeles (an Amtrak station in Hinton, WVa, is pictured on top)

2. Look into going to Costa Rica

3. Read "Infinite Jest" by Daniel Foster Wallace (the novel 1,076 pages long)

4. Go see a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC

5. Go to the village in Bolivia where Che Guevara was assasinated

6. Write a second screenplay (we wrote one, it has NOT been made into a film)

7. Go to the Hot Dog Festival in Huntington, W.Va

8. See an opera at the New York Met

9. Get a Frank Zappa record

10. Read Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"

http://www.amtrak.com/home 

http://www.visitcostarica.com/ict/paginas/home.asp?ididioma=2 

http://www.fordstheatre.org/ 

http://www.visitbolivia.org/ 

http://www.wvvisit.org/index_pc.php

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/index.aspx?

http://www.zappa.com/ (awesome web site!)

Return of Friday Night Tweets: Bad Weather, Baseball and Politics

As of last report, the Durham Bulls (Durham, NC, pictured top) are losing badly in their home game against the Charlotte Knights. The score was 8-1 in the third inning. Here's hoping you are having a somewhat better night.

From the left and the right, here are the tweets:

1. National Review @NRO ( The National Review is a right wing publication, this is a center-left blog, the late Dale Carnegie would say that they should send us a thank u card): "Major Hasan's attack at #FtHood was terrorism, not workplace violence, and he'll be the first one to say so."

2. WXII 12 News @WXII (A tv station in Winston-Salem, NC): "Thunder and lightning right now in Winston-Salem. Keep an eye on the interactive radar.)

3. Durham Bulls @DurhamBulls: "Prior to tonight's game @DukeU Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Dr. Robert Lefkowitz threw out first pitch."

4.Erin Cunnigham @erincunnigham: Ugh, you have to show ID now when buying nail polish remover at CVS? Seriously America, stop cooking so much meth."

5. Portland Sea Dogs @PortlandSeaDogs_ a minor league baseball team in Portland, Maine: "First pitch set for 8:00 p.m. Henry Owens to make his Hadlock Field debut against Bowie."

6. The Onion @theonion_ for those of you in Azerbaijan, "The Onion" is a fake news publication: "Corpses of 'Lone Ranger' producres hung from Hollywood Blvd. street lights as warnings to others."

7. Tom Perriello @tomperriello_ pictured bottom, Perriello is a former Democratic congressional rep and now a CEO for a progressive lobbying firm: "Passing by Sylvania, Ohio, thinking of my grandfather Thomas Gillooly who spent his career there as teacher, coach, fireman, WWII vet, hero to me."

8. Mustafa Akyol @AkyolinEnglish_ Akyol is a Turkish journalist for "Hurriyet" newspaper: "If you are around Detriot, you are welcome this Sat to my debate on Islam, democracy and religious freedom."

For more tweets, check out my other blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com


http://www,nationalreview.com (We are amused by their story: "Norway's right turn." So, if you find a couple of Norwegian right wingers, this means the country is turning to the Bergen Tea Party? Perhaps, "The Nation," should write an article called Iran's Left Turn).

http://www.wxii12.com/

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.americanprogress.org (Perriello's group)

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.thewhitepath.com (Akyol's web site)

Word of the Day: Heretic

Today's word of the day is 'heretic,' which can be applied in terms of the secular world as well as religion, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

The term, along with blasphemy, was used against the controversial (but hysterical) film "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) as the film depicted an unknown man Brian becoming a savior in much the same way that Jesus Christ became for Christians.

Here is the definition of 'heretic:' A person whose views go against the orthodox views of their own given religion.

Eid Mubarak/Happy Ramadan from Karagoz and Hacivat

Our shadow puppet friends from Bursa, Turkey, wish each and every one of you in Provo, Utah, a Happy Ramadan............

Yes, we do have an offbeat sense of humor (for those of you in Dubai who might not get the joke, Utah is a state with many Mormons and presumably very few Muslims). But, our ever diligent Javier the Intern reports there is in fact a Salt Lake City Muslim group!

http://www.utahmuslims.com/

http://www.mormon.org

http://www.goturkey.com

PS: We just found out that our blog has two hits from Cuba! To our knowledge, this is the first time, we've had hits from there.....

Quote of the Day- Andy Warhol

Greetings to our blog-readers in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Tunisia.

Today, we feature a quote from the late American artist Andy Warhol, who would have turned 85 today:

"I'm afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning."

http://www.warhol.org

Image to Fill Space: Summit Skelteon Head

Greetings to our blog readers in Peru, Malaysia and Denmark............we are pressed for time today, so please enjoy this image of a Summit Skeleton Head. They retails between $25-75 depending on demand for the product.

Coming Soon to This Very Blog Near You (No Promises): Ten Most Embarrasing Ways to Die

Greetings to our blog readers in El Salvador, Latvia and Jordan or wherever you may be today.

Oh...........In case you are wondering, yes, the image of the late French mime Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) is being used just to grab your attention.


Here are some blog entries we are contemplating/considering:

1) More Casualties  of Modern Technology: It's been a good two years since we ran this series, but it seems that pay phones, clothes lines and mixed tape cassettes are not the only things which have been mushroom clouded due to the advent of the new age (my apologies to the Grammar Girl for using mushroom cloud as a verb).

2) A List of Ten Embarrassing Ways to Die: Getting hit by a Valley Metro Bus in Roanoke, Va., does come to mind, but of course, there are two issues with possibly posting this entry: 1) There might well be someone who is a relative of a person who was eaten by Gustave the man-eating crocodile in the central African nation of Burundi; 2) I may get hit by a Valley Metro Bus myself!

3) How to Say Certain Words in Norwegian or Turkish: Did you know they call sharks 'the dog fishes' in Turkish (the actual word is kopekbaligi), and of course, we are arbitrarily mentioning that because we suspect that with the Discovering Channel's upcoming Shark Week that anything relating to sharks shall be trending.

Au revoir for now mon amis...........


http://www.valleymetro.com/

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week