GollyGee's New Writeups

Omar Khayyam (person)

1999-11-13T10:21:15Z

Persian mathematician and poet dates 1048-1122. Famous mainly for his Robaiyyat (variously Rubaiyat) which seems to be singing the praises of wine. It was translated to English by Edward Fitzgerald.

All for naught in much of that portion of the world, where alcohol has been illegal (while herbs were not) thanks to the same kind of puritanism so vividly present here in our good old merka.

Robert Ripley (person)

1999-11-13T10:20:50Z

Author and artist Robert Leroy Ripley, born 1893 in Santa Rosa, California. While drawing sports cartoons for the New York Globe, he started cartooning odd facts and feats. This resulted in the daily Ripley's Believe It or Not strip, which he drew every day between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. -- upside down. A museum of Ripley's work can be seen in San Francisco.

National Monument (thing)

1999-11-13T10:20:49Z

A stucture, and/or site, usually with some historical significance or other tourist value. Many are listed at www.nps.gov/

US examples:

Fort Sumter National Monument
Lava Beds National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument
White Sands National Monument
Rainbow Bridge National Monument

A Diamond Is Forever (idea)

1999-11-13T10:20:41Z

A Diamond Is Forever
but
then
so are pawnshops
prostitution
dirt, rocks, air and Yesterday

with every breath you take
16 million atoms once inside
the lungs of Leonardo DeVinci
and yet
why not the diamond dust?

The Name Game (idea)

1999-11-13T10:20:41Z

Goofy, silly, fun old pop song by Shirley Ellis, who was from the Bronx. You take someone's name and follow the pattern:

Shirley Shirley
Bo Birley
Banana banna fo firley
Fee fye mo mirley
Shirley

or something like that. Great for bus rides and other moments when no other response is possible.

insulator (thing)

1999-11-13T10:20:27Z

A substance that is a poor conductor of electricity. In other words, it has a high resistance to the flow of electrons. Part of the conductor, semiconductor, insulator troika.

Printed-circuit boards must be good insulators for fairly obvious reasons. Insulators are commonly seen on telephone poles. The biggest are seen hanging from the arms of high-tension or high-voltage towers, where they keep the current going through the wires from leaking through the tower to ground.