Mouse VS Elephant

mouse{mouz] (N)
any similar small animal of various rodent or marsupial family

elephant [el-uh-funt] (N)
Either of two very large herbivorous mammals, Elephas maximus of south-central Asia or Loxodonta africana of Africa, having thick, almost hairless skin, a long, flexible, prehensile trunk, upper incisors forming long curved tusks of ivory, and, in the African species, large fan-shaped ears.


A mouse is an elephant built by the Japanese.

That is all.

One Word

So I am now finally starting my finals. Studying has commenced for a week now, and it is amazing at how much the understanding of one class is dependent on one word. One single bloody word. A word that the instructor(s) do not feel the need to explain, one that they assumed should be understood before the class is taken. And of course these are the profs that move so quickly that keeping up with the notes is all one can do let alone ask questions.
So in studying I have found theses two terms to be of great importance and I did not know the full definition, that is I knew them in context but the full meaning was lost. (How can you tell that I've been working on essay questions?)

anthropocentric[an-thruh-poh-sen-trik] (ADJ)
1.regarding the human being as the central fact of the universe
2.assuming human beings to be the final aim and end of the universe
3. viewing and interpreting everything in terms of human experience and values

autonomy [aw-ton-uh-mee] pl -mies (N)
1. independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions
2. the condition of being autonomous; self government or the right of self government; independence
3. a self governing community
4. the quality or state of being independent, free and self directing
5. independence from the group as a whole in the capacity for a part of growth, reactivity or responsiveness.

Remember, a dictionary is ones friend. An annoying, heavy, smarter-than-you, overly confident friend, but a friend nonetheless.

And now I go back to studying for a class I almost certainly can not do too well in. Adieu.

Flitch

The whole purpose of lent is to come closer to Christ. You give up things to realize how much hold the world has on etc. My church says I fast strictly, luckily my parents weren't evil when I was young and we only fasted from meat. No meat, dairy, oil and fish. Tried that once, got very sick very fast, doctor said never again ^^'.

Do you have any idea how much meat we consume in North America?
This is from the site World Watch Institute

Global meat consumption is expected to grow 2 percent each year until 2015, especially in developing countries where eating meat is seen as a sign of wealth and prosperity. Half of the world's pork is now eaten in China, while Brazil is the second largest consumer of beef, after the United States.

Forty-three percent of the world's beef is raised on factory feedlots, and more than half of the world's pork and poultry is raised on factory farms.

An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are fed to pigs, poultry, and cattle merely to promote growth and compensate for the unsanitary and confined conditions on factory farms. By volume, livestock in the country consume eight times more antibiotics than humans do.

With its high meat content, the average U.S. diet requires twice as much water per person per day as an equally nutritious vegetarian diet. A meat-rich meal made with imported ingredients also emits nine times as much carbon as a vegetarian meal made with domestic ingredients that don't have to be hauled long distances.

A diet high in grain-fed meat can require two to four times more land than a vegetarian diet.

The summary: we eat way more meat than we should. Look at what you eat in a day, got a picture of that in your head? Good. Now imagine what people used to eat. Mostly bread, or rice or something grain depending where you were from. A grain and a legume give you one complete protein. Look at how healthy they were. So even if the food we're consuming is prepared healthily and not mainly made out of fat/grease, we're still eating out of proportion. Try eating vegetarian for some time like a week; you'll notice just how much meat we consume. That's without even being vegan.

Can you tell I miss meat? Oh well, only about 3 more days.

Flitch [flich] (N)
1. salted and cured side of a pig
2. fish steak cut from a halibut
(also has some uses in carpentry, but that doesn't fit with the rant now does it?)

According to dictionary.com "flitch" originate from Swift's writings. You know, the guy who wrote Gulliver's Travels.

Vermilion

*sigh* So finals have now started, curses to the genius who came up with this idea. I can just imagine how this went:

[An old fashioned library, a nice cozy gathering area with perhaps a fireplace. Three or four large armchairs sit in a circle, with endtables and whatnot. Three 'gentlemen' sitting around the first with a long beard and red tinged grey hair holds a large beer mug in his hands and is nursing it. The second dressed in a well to do manner but is clean shaven and is smoking a long pipe. The third is dressed with a kilt and has a beard as well and has a clear glass of scotch.]
The first man stands up.

Evil Prof#1(Irish Accent, . . . Irish Drunken accent): "Hey guys li'en to this! Sho we've jusht made all our studentsh shpaz out and shtreshhhhh about homework and readingsh right? stumbles a little for effect Sho why don' we top it all off with a huge tesht! while saying the last line, throws hands up in the air spilling beer out of the pint Make everything we've shaid (eshpecially thoshe little itty bitty details we barely talked about) fair game!"

Evil Prof #2 (with High End British Accent): "Splendid Idea, my good chap! But chance, how shall we justify this?"

Evil Prof #1 falls back into chair, apparently satisfied that he has destroyed the mental well being of scholar wannabes for centuries to come

Evil Prof#3 (heavy Scottish accent): "Why, we'll make i' worth at least thir'y percent of their grades we will!"

Evil Prof #2: "Allright then, it's settled!"
[cue evil laughter and dramatic lights]

Albiet they probably used better vocabulary then that.


Really, how fair is this? We pay them massive amounts to teach us, pay massive amounts for the books they want us to read, the paper ink etc to print the bloody essays they keep giving us and the rent/food/bills for lodging (lucky people who live in a town with a University) and then they test us on how much we remember. Argh!

I have this one class, and I'll be lucky if I get a 40 on the final, stupid 'must phrase everything perfectly', 'we need to know you understand the concepts, but only understanding will earn half marks you have to explain yourself', 'this is liberal arts, we want good answers, not definitive ones'.

*eye stars twitching*

and the sad part is this is supposed to be a 100 level class. None of the students (or any of the 6 professors) think it is anymore. Stupid experimental classes. My other experimental class was awesome!

To future students: Think very carefully when deciding whether or not to take a course that is offered for the first time.

Anyway, a random word, perhaps the colour of Evil Prof #1's nose.

vermilion [ver-mil-yuhn] (N)
1. a bright scarlet red
2. a bright-red, water insoluble pigment consisting of mercuric sulfide, once obtained from cinnabar, now usually produced by the reaction of mercury and sulfur.
(ADJ)
3. of the colour of vermilion


huh, this got kind of long didn't it?

Retreat

Ever have a day/week/month/year where all you want to do is run away? Amazing how there can be so much good in that time too. Stress is most definitely the most predominant part of a students life. That and assignments, which create more stress. When everything gets complicated, I am going with the theory that one should pick their battles.

ab-jure [ab-joor, -jur] (V)
1. to renounce, repudiate, or retract, esp. with formal solemnity; recant
2. to renounce or give up under oath; forswear
3. to avoid or shun

I do believe I will be abjuring several of my problems to focus on others.

Isn't it fun when you learn abstract words that fit into life, I just hope all the other random words I learn have more postive meanings.

Bothersome

Homework, the single most dreaded word in existence.

I have so much homework to do and never enough time. And of course other commitments. I have no time for such nonsense. I need to have fun, and see the world and be all weird and eccentric, wait a second this all requires money. Darnit, it's one of those never ending cycles. I'll suffer through, right till the end I suppose. Unless there was someone will to sponsor world travels? No? Didn't think so.

aus-tere [aw-steer] (ADJ)
1. severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding
2. rigorously self-disciplined and severely moral; ascetic; abstinent
3. grave; sober; solemn
4. without excess, luxury or ease; simple or limited

I have no idea how this relates to anything but it is an interesting word no?

Poets

Ever wonder how poets manage to always have weird words? I swear, they sit there with a thesaurus looking for the oddest word they can find; with the most finite denotation and a certain connotation just to get their point across.

Yes, yes, I know. In poetry every single word is important, unlike prose where one can rant on and on to describe something, every word in poetry carries lots and lots of weight blah blah blah. . . but honestly when reading a poem, why should I have to have a dictionary beside me? Sam McGee and The Road Not Taken are two wonderful poems with no evil vocabulary. Why can't all poetry be this way? Unfortunately I can't change the poems, I can however learn more words to facilitate my readings.

effulgent [i-fuhl-juh.nt, i-fool-] (ADJ)
1. shining forth brilliantly; radiant.
(-ence) (N)
1. a brilliant radiance.

a useful word? I don't know but I think it sounds cool. Although the most amusing word in French is *pouf*, means *poof* in English. I discovered this word whilst on pain killers, really is amusing for some reason . . .

Words, Words, Words!

In learning a second language I've noticed that sometimes, even if i know the grammar and tense I still am unable to say what I want. I blame my lack of vocabulary, yes yes I know - I should study and memorize lots of different words and then I won't have this problem. Aside from the act that I am limited in the words I can find, it's a rather tedious task.
Along the same lines though, for how many words do you know a proper definition? Aside from that, how many words do you actually know?


Free Rice is a site that quizzes you on vocabulary, simultaneously you donate food to starving children. Be warned the words are difficult and not every day ones, well not later on. There's 60 levels and it doesn't get easier.


WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance...



Here's a random definition for you:
comstockery /ˈkʌmstɒkəri, ˈkɒm-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuhm-stok-uh-ree, kom-] (N) :
1. overzealous moral censorship of the fine arts and literature, often mistakenly outspoken honest works for lecherous ones
Comstockery is such an odd word that my computer doesn't even recognize it exists.

If you were to learn a new word twice a week, that's 104 new words a year. Providing that you learn words you can actually use you vocabulary would expand quickly. (That and you'll probably sound a lot smarter to other people too)

I wonder what other random words are out there that I can find useful...