This has been all over the internet, but I wanted to post it here just because some of these pseudo-words and definitions are quite clever.

The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year’s winners. Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people, that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked throug h a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

17. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an a$$.

Everyone in the family knows how much Dad loved watching videos. When he wasn’t tuned into old western movies, he would have a DVD or VHS in the player.

Dad had several sources of videos - all of his kids shared their DVDs and tapes with him. One source he had was Verna’s DVD Collection. He would drop by the house and pick out several to take home with him. He would dutifully write the titles down as a way to keep track of which video belonged to whom. I took this image about five years ago when Dad had a handful of DVDs to log out (click image to enlarge).

Since then, I developed an on-line DVD database tool which has the feature of keeping track of videos loaned out. It keeps track of titles, genres, remarks and other details including our ratings for the video. When you click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see every DVD title, genre and our ratings. Those that are marked RETIRED have been given to charity.

After we got to the KOA in Flagstaff, Bear tested her snow feet by heading out into a couple of feet of the crispy white stuff. She had never been in snow before and actually seemed to like the adventure.

We diverted from our usual Saturday errands when we saw that there was a LA County Fire Department Expo in progress at the Botanic Garden. This giant American Flag was suspended between a fire department crane and a hook and ladder truck’s extended ladder. Click the image for the wide angle view.

One of the things we love to do in the evenings, is to watch a DVD on the flat screen TV. Verna has an extensive DVD collection with an eclectic assortment of titles in all genres. We are constantly adding to the collection, as well as retiring DVDs that we will probably never watch again - we donate them to charity.

Last week, she acquired “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” an action/adventure movie that included a copy in 3D - complete with the nerdy colored glasses. We first watched the movie in standard format; as we watched, it became clear that the producers were obviously accentuating some of the scenes for 3D. After numerous such scenes we resolved to watch the movie again - this time in 3D. It was quite spectacular, actually. Lots of stuff came flying out at us - from birds to giant dandelion seed pods and from flying fish to T-Rex dinosaur slobber (really). It was a lot of fun.

Click on the thumbnail image to get a closer look at a couple of 3D nerds and don’t forget to visit the 3D Stuff pages.

Last weekend, while we were down by the ocean looking for photo ops, I put my little camera on a post and took this picture of us together. The gazebo we’re standing in is located at Roessler Point at a scenic overlook with a dramatic vista of the Santa Monica Bay.

Click on the image to zoom out.

The South Coast Botanic Garden had an event today where they had a model railroad show. Inside the main hall, there were several very elaborate model railways set up. Most of them were set up with displays of nostalgic accessories, most around mid 20th century and WW2 eras. Outside, they had an exhibit with live steamer scale models and down at the cactus garden, they set up several little trains and a lot of tracks, right there among the cactii.

Check out this short video of some of the railroadin’ action.