Ralph Waldo Emerson summed it up well when he said, “The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.” At one time there were magnificent temples of Apollo and Zeus, people prayed to them, made offerings to them.

Today no one believes that those gods and goddesses were anything but figments of ancient people's imagination. Today we learn about these gods as part of myths.

All these ancient deities are history now, but they have left their mark on the language. This week we'll look at five words that are derived from the names of gods and goddesses. I could say mythological gods and goddesses, but then I'd be repeating myself.

Promethean

(pruh-MEE-thee-uhn)

Habit with him was all the test of truth, / It must be right: I've done it from my youth. -George Crabbe, poet and naturalist (1754-1832)

Good morning, Netizens…

I did watch Mayor David A. Condon in his 100 day report. My first impression of our new Mayor is that he certainly talks a lot by moving his hands. Few of our Mayors in my memory of such things, seemed to have an interest or the capability of doing such a thing in public speaking, but hand movements can tell you a great deal about the inner workings of the Mayor's mind, and David Condon seems to be no exception. Unfortunately he continues using the same empty hand gestures as so many of his predecessors, it leaves me seriously wondering how many of the promises he has made in his presentation this morning he will either be capable or earnestly willing to keep.

He introduced the various members of his transition team/current staff, although I did notice he never once mentioned the name of Rocky Treppiedi, since Rocky is a lesser entity in the hierarchy of City Hall. Am I and others to assume we are facing four more years of Mr. Treppiedi's belligerent attitudes about the public, or will David Condon get rid of him while he is at it?

He never mentioned the Police Guild, not once. After all is said and done, they are the jackass that wags the tail of the police department. That, too, cries out to me for correction, but I doubt it will be solved as easily as Mayor Condon waves his hands.

I am sorry, but I neither saw nor heard anything of great content, but a lot of promises, nearly all of which were of good intent. However, as multiple generations and former Mayors can attest, good intentions will probably not improve the plight of our poor town. That, too, is unfortunate. Maybe we can set thing aright this time around. Of course, as always, your results and beliefs may differ from my own.

Dave

poseur

(poh-ZUHR)

Never cut what you can untie. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

roue

(roo-AY, ROO-ay)

Explore “roue” in the Visual Thesaurus.

I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live. -Francoise Sagan, playwright and novelist (1935-2004)

Good morning, Netizens…

My Gawd we are back! We made the initial run to Nebraska by studying NEXRAD weather radar and matching those findings with a road atlas. Normally at this time of year, there is no way you would catch me driving across the Dakotas and then down to Nebraska. I have too many memories of driving that route, only to end up spending nights in various odd places waiting for the blizzards to end. It was incredible to my way of thinking that the dreaded northern route was spotlessly clear of snow and relatively cloudless. We made the outbound trip to Nebraska in 24 hours and thirty minutes precisely.

The evening we arrived, Lincoln, Nebraska had one of the biggest blizzards ever! The major East-West Interstate, Highway 80, was closed. Schools and most other public gatherings shut down, unfortunately including the planned memorial for Suzie's dad, Harm Harms. When we awoke after our mind-numbing odyssey, we were trapped, since none of our two wheel-drive cars could even get out of the driveway until Sunday when the snowplow cleared the road.

I come from a dysfunctional family where family gatherings were better-known for feuds that flared into battles than any sense of togetherness. By comparison Suzie's entire family, including over 100 cousins, nephews, brothers and sisters are a closely-knit crowd. Their memorial for much-beloved Harm and his widow was a classic study in the love they feel for one another. If one chanced as a stranger, to arrive at such a gathering as we attended, within an hour you would be family, or so the saying goes.

It seemed too short, our stay in Lincoln, but we both have lives and allegiances that call us home. We climbed into our beast of burden and, thinking we might get lucky taking an old and familiar route home, we headed toward Spokane. We were a bit nervous about the weather to our North, but having just survived a blizzard, we felt invincible. That was our folly, and we ended up spending the night in a Days Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming, victims of horizontal snow, ice fog and horrible driving conditions. Egods!

We were already late, so we pounded the pavement hard, arriving in Spokane late last evening, no 24 hour trip this time. We are truly glad to be home, where everything is familiar and comfortable once again.

I'll tell more about the trip later on today or tomorrow.

Dave

dilettante

(DIL-i-tahnt, dil-i-TAHNT, -tay, -tee)

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

Good  evening Netizens…

I cannot begin to explain this. But thanks to friendly relatives, one with an Internet connection I am marginally able to connect with folks back in Spokane, despite the fact we are surrounded on four sides by real Midwestern-style blizzard, complete with zero visibility  and steady thirty mile-per-hour winds. According to the local weather bureau this blizzard covers part of four states and already has shut down most travel options, including the memorial services originally slated for my late grandfatber-in-law that originally slated for today. That was cancelled by the caterers, and moved until Monday.

Cell phones and Ipads abound in this house full of ten overnight guests, some of whom arrived just as the storm really began to hit its stride last evening. There is easily a foot of snow outside in the yard, and for the most all of us feel very lucky to have arrived here at all.

One note to Spokane’s street department—the main streets in Lincoln, Nebraska were completely cleared of snow by one o’clock this afternoon although the Interstate is now closed East of Lincoln due to slide-offs.

Since none of our ordinary cars could even ford tbe back-country road outside we organized  a homemade convoy of a heavy-duty four wheel drive pickup and an all wheel drive GM van and went into Lincoln for Chinese food and more catching up on family news  and gossip, and a good time was had by all.

In the afternoon all of us retreated to the former apartment of my late grandfather-in-law and began boxing up his huge collections of pictuea and memorability, a sometimes contentious battle of the wills, based upon my experiences with my own dysfunctional family.

So as the wind  howls outside with a purpose, we are dining on pizza and still making up for lost time in renewing old family acquaintances in a hundred year-old farmhouse somewhere in the snowbound backcountry of Nebraska, wondering how long we will wait until the plows come and bail us out of here.

Yours until tomorrow weather permitting.

Dave

I thought that I was the quintessential average woman.  No way!  Not anymore!  It's Ellen DeGeneres!  So says J.C. Penney.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/j-c-penney-wont-fire-ellen-anti-gay-000900801.html

I'm on a roll for our Blog theme today, which is, what is the standard for average in 2012?  One Million Moms are unable to define the average woman and boy, am I happy about that!  If I had a daughter, I would not want her role model to be the “average” size-4, anorexic model we are seeing in every commercial and magazine cover.  Thank you, JC Penney, for not taking the low road.

I was ten years old when Barbie came out.  She was my role model.  And I have failed to meet her standards ever since.  I do not want my daughter, or any young girls entering their teens, to have to aspire to something that is unattainable and even worse, unhealthy.

Ellen DeGeneres has a lifestyle different  from mine – but she is wholesome, beautiful, funny, and honest.  She is not aspiring after an image of a doll.

You go,Girl!

~Jeanie~

Good morning Netizens,

Hopefully I can rouse your interest and comments while Blogmeister David Laird is traveling this week.

The latest and greatest piece of news recently is that the Washington State Senate has approved of Same-Sex Marriage.  See http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/02/senate-approves-same-sex-marriage/.

I think this is a good thing, but I have realized that I'm not just your average every-day woman.  So you may think differently.   I believe that our times, they are a-changin'.  I, for example, am in a unmarried relationship with my significant other - Mechanic Man - for 26 years.  We have outlasted our friends' marriages, and many second marriages.  

A friend asked me to tell him some good things about Mechanic Man - and when I finished, I realized that I have everything I want in this man that any woman would want in her husband.  So - I'm ahead of the game and a piece of paper making it final is the only difference.

Your thoughts?

~Jeanie~

Good morning, Netizens…

I regret to inform everyone that I may be absent from this fine Blog for about five days. There has been a death in my extended family and my family and I are leaving sometime late tomorrow to drive to Nebraska and attend the memorial for Suzie's dad, who passed away day before yesterday at the ripe old age of 94 years of age. I have already contacted JeanieB and she will be keeping an eye on things in my absence. Given the size of the families involved and my temporary location in rural Nebraska near Lincoln, I may not even have Internet access for the duration of my stay. Having said that, I will try to keep in touch.

The drive promises to be interesting, of and by itself. We will be driving through the snow belt, and arriving in Nebraska into 50+ degree weather in a relatively new car of which I know very little. The passes East of here are receiving snow as we speak. Great! Just what I wanted to hear!

So with some trepidations about the trip and sadness for Suzie's Dad who was a remarkable man in life, I will hopefully be returning sometime next Monday.

Dave

gamp

(gamp)

Explore “gamp” in the Visual Thesaurus.

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900)

Good morning, Netizens…

Nothing could be more boring than the Screen Actor's Guild awards, right?

However, according to David Horsey, the SAG should give a special award for the best reality TV show to the Republican presidential debates to spice things up a bit.

 No actors in Hollywood were more adept at revising their lines and juggling their personas than Newt and Mitt. No screenwriter created characters more wonderfully preposterous than Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry. No series had more unlikely plot twists.
  

And the budget for this show? Limitless — the envy of every cash-strapped producer in show business.
  

Dave

fagin

(FAY-gin)

Explore “fagin” in the Visual Thesaurus.

If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Good morning, Netizens…

If you haven't been watching the debates between the Republican front-runners in the various primaries back East, you may have missed one of the truly great moments in political history. Apparently, Newt Gingrich's win in South Carolina over Mitt Romney has a lot of Republicans rattling in their cages, according to David Horsey's cartoon this morning.

Several high-ranking Republicans have already made statements to the media that they are very nervous about what would happen if Newt Gingrich should take the Florida primary. Some Republicans have suggested Gingrich cannot win the nomination at any cost. He will destroy the party. He will reelect Barack Obama and they’ll be ruined.”

If you can believe some of the Florida polls, Gingrich has edged ahead of Mitt Romney, although by a slim margin. Thus this morning's cartoon may have strong implications in the near-future. We may have to put up with Gingrich's attitude.

This could be interesting. Of course, your results may differ.

Dave

Next week marks the 200th anniversary of the British novelist Charles Dickens's birth. The London of Dickens's time was a bleak place: little social support, debtor's prisons, pollution, and children working in factories.

If you look at the Republican presidential aspirants today you'd think they want to return to those good old times: no environmental regulations; no worker protection laws; no social safety net; and children working as janitors.

As a child Charles himself was forced to work in a boot polish factory. All that he saw around him and experienced is reflected in his novels. It's a sign of an author's genius when his characters step out of the stories and become words in the language. Dozens of Dickens's characters are now part of the English language. This week we'll meet five of them.

Contest: Can you come up with an original wellerism? Send it in to the contest.

Prizes: Best entries will receive their choice of any of the following prizes:
  o Word game: One Up!
  o T-shirt: AWAD to the wise is sufficient
  o Any of my books

How to Enter: Send your entries to contest@wordsmith.org by this Friday. Be sure to include your location (city/state/country). Selected entries will be featured in this weekend's AWADmail.

To get you primed, here are a few wellerisms from me:
“So far, so good,” said the escapee as he looked at the prison in the distance.
“Beauty is only skin deep,” said the woman as she received a Botox injection.

wellerism

(WEL-uh-ri-zuhm)

Explore “wellerism” in the Visual Thesaurus.

Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the human heart can hold. -Zelda Fitzgerald, novelist (1900-1948)

Good morning, Netizens…

I'm perhaps a little late picking up on this, but I still feel it is a worthwhile venture. Do you remember the picture of President Obama having a brief verbal spat with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in Phoenix Wednesday? Apparently in a book she wrote called “Scorpions for Breakfast” the governor wrote about a meeting she had with the President back in June 2010. In her book, Governor Brewer refers to Obama's style as as “patronizing and condescending”.

Apparently that characterization went over poorly with President Obama, hence the picture in various media sources of Governor Brewer jabbing her finger at the President. Cartoonist David Horsey did not waste any time delivering on such a rich opportunity and captured what I believe is a good possible characterization of what was said on the tarmac.

The two are at odds over Arizona's new immigration law that requires law enforcement officers to demand identity papers of anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. That, and other sections of the law, are being challenged in the Supreme Court by Obama's Justice Department.

Apparently President Obama took Governor Brewer's tirade in stride and simply walked away. Maybe next time she won't be invited to attend a function involving President Obama. D'ya think?

Dave

gascon

(GAS-kuhn)

I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

Good morning, Netizens…

Is this a coincidence or not?

I've never met Tom Clouse, a reporter for the Spokesman-Review, although if I did manage to meet him, I'd thank him for the good job he did covering the Otto Zehm trial in far-off Yakima, maybe even take him out for coffee. He led the Spokesman’s coverage of Otto Zehm’s death at the hands of Spokane police and the subsequent trial and conviction of Officer Karl F. Thompson.

While he was covering the trial in Yakima, somebody stole his big Ford F-250 from his driveway, and looted his entire house, from top to bottom. All kinds of stuff missing: a World War II sidearm, his late wife's jewelry, Bic lighters and perhaps more. According to the Inlander story, one of the ostensible burglars even gnawed on a piece of purloined cheese from the kitchen and left the remnants on the crime scene. As you can perhaps tell, we really have high-class health-conscious burglars here in Spokane.

To his credit, Clouse did attempt to get the Spokane Police to take evidence from the crime scene for DNA testing, but police, even the FBI, refused. According to the Inlander story, they haven't even gotten around to sending the fingerprints out for testing. I'd be steamed if I was the victim.

The $42,000 in losses at Clouse's house were all covered by insurance. That won't bring back all of his late wife's jewelry, her mother’s jewelry and grandmother’s jewelry, including the wedding rings. There was already a big hole in Clouse's life because he recently observed the second anniversary of his late wife's death. Of course if you are a crook, you hit a man when he's down, before he can stand up and face you.

But the Clouse burglary is only one of what I think is more than a coincidence.

Burglars also ostensibly hit Attorney Breean Beggs, who has represented the Otto Zehm family since 2009, as was civil attorney Jeffry Finer.

None of the usual talking heads, including Mayor David Condon, will meaningfully comment on the likelihood that these crimes against three people who have worked exhaustively on the Otto Zehm case, could possibly be retribution.

Is this a coincidence? It certainly doesn't seem that way, does it? Of course, your results may differ. Portions of this story were excerpted all or in part from The Inlander.

Dave

sybarite

(SIB-uh-ryt)

Explore “sybarite” in the Visual Thesaurus.

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680)

Good afternoon, Netizens…

To their good credit, the City Fathers, both past and present, have united in their efforts, and created a police use of force commission will soon be able to convene and examine how the Spokane Police Department uses force. The members of this commission are:

Earl Martin former Gonzaga Law School Dean, Executive VP, Gonzaga

Bill Hyslop Attorney and former US Attorney

Ivan Bush Spokane Public Schools’ equal opportunity officer

Susan Hammond director of outpatient and psychiatric services for Spokane Mental Health

Gerry Alexander retired Chief Justice, Washington State Supreme Court

You might think that with a roster of heavyweights such as these fine people that the Spokane Police Department will agree with whatever changes the commission feels need to be made.

Oh, I forgot the airtight grasp the Spokane Police Guild has on Spokane. The last time anyone tried to improve the SPD, such as creating the office of the Ombudsman, the Guild put the kibosh on that faster than you can get George McGrath to contribute to the Joe Shogun thank you card for all his years of service.

I wouldn't sign it either. I may be old and befuddled but I haven't started pushing mountain flowers yet.

Dave