Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Laxie]

I've a question for you Tom.  We'd to change dog food this week.  There was no stock of the usual (Bakers) when we went to Costco, so we got some other one and the boys don't like it.  I've tried adding gravy to it - not a hope.  They'll eat a little bit of it with chicken broth added, but maybe only half of their usual, if that.  Do we just keep motoring on with the idea that, like children, the dogs will eat when they're hungry enough or are dogs really that stubborn? 

They will definitely eat it, (and probably like it) eventually.

Dogs don't usually do stubborn, they just do clever. Try not feeding them at all one day and see what happens.

An occasional day of fasting is good for dogs, if you feel guilty about it, join them. It's good for people too.

Have a great 4th of July.

Question :

In your opinion, what percentage of Americans would know all the words to the national anthem?

Who knew the same would apply to Minestrone?   

[sovietsong]

Is there an explanation for your current signature, Tom?


3.14159265358979323846264338327950

Yes.

Feel free to expand, & elaborate. For your wider audience, I mean.

I have expanded and elaborated on your diary until I was blue in the face.

Go back and check the clues.

Andrew T solved it, and in doing so left another clue.

Of course, you could always give in.

His clue was double Dutch to me.

Do I have any clues left?

If you take the time to gather the previous clues together, I'll add another one.

Alternatively, you could just give in.

I really don't want to have to trawl through all sorts of boring concrete based chat to figure it out. Tikay, when are you planning on giving in?

[tikay]

Never!

[Tal]

Here is the most famous speech in all of Shakespeare: Hamlet's soliloquy.

First off, Sir Kenneth Branagh:



Then, David Tennant:



And finally William Shatner (as you so deliciously suggested he'd be my favourite yesterday):



Same speech (obviously ignore the guff at the start of Shatner's clip), but very different ways of presenting it, of emphasising words, pacing the delivery and a fair spectrum of acting.

Which is your favourite?

[RED-DOG]

I not a Tennant fan, but of those three I like his Hamlet best.

That's a 3 minute speech, but count how many of the phrases have passed into our everyday language, not to mention used as film and book titles.

[Tal]

I not a Tennant fan, but of those three I like his Hamlet best.

That's a 3 minute speech, but count how many of the phrases have passed into our everyday language, not to mention used as film and book titles.

It is incredible, really.

As for Tennant, his RSC Hamlet was universally acclaimed. I didn't see it, but the TV adaptation (from which that clip is taken) was excellent.

It is said to be the hardest of the roles, not just because it is the longest part in all of Shakespeare, but also because of how much is going on with the character. He's put through the mill, poor lad.

[RED-DOG]

A few of the phrases coined by Shakespeare.   


    A countenance more in sorrow than in anger
    A Daniel come to judgment
    A dish fit for the gods
    A fool’s paradise
    A foregone conclusion
    A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
    A ministering angel shall my sister be
    A plague on both your houses
    A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
    A sea change
    A sorry sight
    A tower of strength
    Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety
    Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio
    All corners of the world
    All one to me
    All that glitters is not gold / All that glisters is not gold
    All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players
    All’s well that ends well
    An eye-sore
    An ill-favoured thing sir, but mine own
    And shining morning face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school
    And thereby hangs a tale
    As cold as any stone
    As dead as a doornail
    As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods
    As good luck would have it
    As merry as the day is long
    As white as driven snow
    At one fell swoop
    Ay, there’s the rub
    Bag and baggage
    Bated breath
    Beast with two backs
    Beware the ides of March
    Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks
    Breathe one’s last
    Brevity is the soul of wit
    Budge an inch
    Cold comfort
    Come full circle
    Come the three corners of the world in arms
    Come what may
    Comparisons are odorous
    Conscience does make cowards of us all
    Cowards die many times before their deaths
    Crack of doom
    Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war
    Dash to pieces
    Dead as a doornail
    Death by inches
    Discretion is the better part of valour
    Dish fit for the gods
    Dog will have its day
    Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble
    Eaten me out of house and home
    Elbow room
    Et tu, Brute
    Even at the turning of the tide
    Every inch a king
    Exceedingly well read
    Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog
    Fair play
    Fancy free
    Fatal vision
    Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man
    Fight fire with fire
    For ever and a day
    Foul play
    Frailty, thy name is woman
    Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
    Full of sound and fury
    Get thee to a nunnery
    Give the devil his due
    Good men and true
    Good night, ladies
    Good riddance
    Green eyed monster
    Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings
    He will give the Devil his due
    Heart’s content
    High time
    His beard was as white as snow
    Hoist by your own petard
    Hold a candle to
    Hot-blooded
    Household words
    How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child
    I bear a charmed life
    I have not slept one wink
    I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips
    I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
    If music be the food of love, play on
    In a pickle
    In my heart of hearts
    In my mind’s eye
    In stitches
    In the twinkling of an eye
    Into thin air
    Is this a dagger which I see before me?
    It beggar’d all description
    It is meat and drink to me
    It smells to heaven
    It was Greek to me
    It’s a wise father that knows his own child
    Kill … with kindness
    Knock, knock! Who’s there?
    Laughing-stock
    Lay it on with a trowel
    Lean and hungry look
    Let slip the dogs of war
    Lie low
    Like the Dickens
    Lord, what fools these mortals be!
    Love is blind
    Make your hair stand on end
    Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water
    Milk of human kindness
    Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
    More fool you
    More honoured in the breach than in the observance
    More in sorrow than in anger
    More sinned against than sinning
    Much Ado about Nothing
    Mum’s the word
    Murder most foul
    My own flesh and blood
    My salad days
    Neither a borrower nor a lender be
    Night owl
    No more cakes and ale?
    Not a mouse stirring
    Now is the winter of our discontent
    O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo
    O, Brave new world
    Off with his head
    Oh, that way madness lies
    Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
    One fell swoop
    One that loved not wisely, but too well
    Out of the jaws of death
    Out, damned spot!
    Parting is such sweet sorrow
    Play fast and loose
    Pomp and Circumstance
    Pound of flesh
    Primrose path
    Rhyme nor reason
    Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
    Screw your courage to the sticking place
    Send him packing
    Set your teeth on edge
    Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
    Sharper than a serpent’s tooth
    Short and the long of It
    Short shrift
    Shuffle off this mortal coil
    Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep
    Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em
    Something in the wind
    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
    Sorry sight
    Spotless reputation
    Star crossed lovers
    Stiffen the sinews
    Stony hearted
    Stood on ceremonies
    Strange bedfellows
    Such stuff as dreams are made on
    Sweets to the sweet
    The be-all and the end-all
    The better part of valour is discretion
    The course of true love never did run smooth
    The crack of doom
    The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose
    The Devil incarnate
    The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers
    The game is afoot
    The game is up
    The lady doth protest too much, methinks
    The naked truth
    The play’s the thing
    The quality of mercy is not strained
    The Queen’s English
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
    The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on
    The working day world
    The world’s mine oyster
    There is a tide in the affairs of men
    There’s method in my madness
    Thereby hangs a tale
    This is the short and the long of it
    This is very midsummer madness
    This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle
    This was the noblest Roman of them all
    Though this be madness, yet there is method in it
    Throw cold water on it
    Thus far into the bowels of the land
    Tis neither here nor there
    To be or not to be, that is the question
    To gild refined gold, to paint the lily
    To make a virtue of necessity
    To sleep: perchance to dream
    To thine own self be true
    Too much of a good thing
    Truth will out
    Under the greenwood tree
    Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
    Unkindest cut of all
    Up in arms
    Vanish into thin air
    We are such stuff as dreams are made on
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
    We have seen better days
    Wear my heart on my sleeve
    What a piece of work is a man
    What the dickens
    What’s done is done
    What’s in a name?
    What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet
    When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions
    Where the bee sucks, there suck I
    While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil!
    Who wooed in haste, and means to wed at leisure
    Wild goose chase
    Woe is me

[tikay]

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[RED-DOG]

Sigh...

[RED-DOG]

I don't do lie-ins, but I'm doing one this morning.

Very nice it was too.

[RED-DOG]

I have a great sleep pattern these days.

Sleep for me used to be nothing more than an inconvenience, but lately it's become quite enjoyable.

I arrive at bedtime absolutely shattered, but a nice, aching but earned it type of shattered. I go to bed and I'm asleep in minutes.

I sleep deeply, and yet at the same time I'm aware enough to know that I'm enjoying it.

I wake up early,  usually around 5 or 6am, and I feel wonderful. Fully recharged, and enthusiastic about the day ahead.

Nowadays, I do my best work in the mornings, so I fling myself into the day because I know that,  like an old phone battery that's had a lot of heavy use, I don't hold my charge as well as I used to.

By mid afternoon, my reserves are getting low, and although I can still power through if I have to, I function best with a little top up charge.

Oh, and the very occasional 'lie in til 10' deep cycle.

[RED-DOG]

Paperwork day today.

Anyone got any shit they need shovelling? I'll gladly swap.

[Rod Paradise]

What a great ad this is.

Good casting using a Maine Coon cat - they have a fascination with water & are reputed to be more dog-like than other cats.

One thing you don't really get from the ad s they're one of the biggest domestic cat breeds....

[RED-DOG]

Wow Rod! I've never heard of a Maine Coon cat, or a cat that likes water. How do you know these things?

If it was April the 1st, I would be telling you to go forth and multiply.

My interest is exceedingly piqued.

Take me google, I'm yours.

[RED-DOG]

This is a clicker trained Main coon.

I don't agree with clicker training. I wonder if they would train by conventional voice driven correction / reward methods given their lack of pack instinct?