First Life Takes Time, then Time Takes Life - 2019 Wrap-Up

- now the next move's up to me*

What happened to 2019? My mind is falling apart and I don't remember anything of significance this year. A fatalism has taken hold of me and I accept what I'm told, things for the way they are. Of all the famous deaths this year, none surprised me, not one shook me out of my complacency. They could all have died years ago for the difference it would have made in my life. Or maybe some of them should have died years ago, but somehow...

Bob Einstein aka Super Dave Osborne
Luke Perry
Dick Dale
Peter Mayhew
Dr John
Rip Torn
Rutger Hauer

Word of the Week 12/29/19: Pall

From Merriam-Webster:

(verb)
1. to lose strength or effectiveness
2. to lose in interest or attraction
3: dwindle
4. to cause to become insipid
5. to deprive of pleasure in something by satiating
6. to cover with a drape

(noun)
1a. a square of linen usually stiffened with cardboard that is used to cover a chalice
1b(i): a heavy cloth draped over a coffin
1b(ii): a coffin especially when holding a body
2a: something that covers or conceals
especially : an overspreading element that produces an effect of gloom
2b: a feeling of gloom

From Vocabulary.com:

The noun pall comes from the Latin word, pallium, “covering or cloak.”

Merry Christmas 2019

Word of the Week 12/22/19: Gyre

From Merriam-Webster:

(noun) : a circular or spiral motion or form
especially : a giant circular oceanic surface current
(verb) to move in a circle or spiral

William Butler Yeats opens his 1920 poem, "The Second Coming," with the following lines: "Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; / Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…." Often found in poetic or literary contexts as an alternative to the more familiar "circle" or "spiral," "gyre" comes via the Latin gyrus from the Greek gyros, meaning "ring" or "circle." Today, "gyre" is most frequently encountered as an oceanographic term that refers to vast circular systems of ocean currents, such as the North Atlantic Gyre, a system of currents circling clockwise between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. "Gyre" is also sometimes used of more localized vortices such as those produced by whirlpools or tornados.

From Wikipedia:

In oceanography, a gyre is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, determine the circulation patterns from the wind stress curl (torque).

From NOAA.gov:

There are five major gyres, which are large systems of rotating ocean currents. The ocean churns up various types of currents. Together, these larger and more permanent currents make up the systems of currents known as gyres.

Wind, tides, and differences in temperature and salinity drive ocean currents. The ocean churns up different types of currents, such as eddies, whirlpools, or deep ocean currents. Larger, sustained currents—the Gulf Stream, for example—go by proper names. Taken together, these larger and more permanent currents make up the systems of currents known as gyres.

There are five major gyres: the North and South Pacific Subtropical Gyres, the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres, and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre.

In some instances, the term “gyre” is used to refer to the collections of plastic waste and other debris found in higher concentrations in certain parts of the ocean. While this use of "gyre" is increasingly common, the term traditionally refers simply to large, rotating ocean currents.

ed. note: pronounced with a soft 'g', rhymes with 'wire'

Word of the Week 12/15/19: Penultimate

From Dictionary.com:

1. Next to the last
2. Of or relating to a penult, or the next to the last syllable in a word

From Wiktionary:

From Latin paenultimus, from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”).

From Thoughtco.com:

The words penultimate and ultimate have related meanings, but they're not synonyms. As both an adjective and a noun, penultimate means next to the last. (Penultimate is not more ultimate than ultimate.) The adjective ultimate means last, final, elemental, fundamental, or maximum. As a noun, ultimate refers to a final point or result.

"Properly used, penultimate means 'next to last,' as the penultimate game of the season and the penultimate syllable in a word. It is sometimes used incorrectly where the word ultimate is called for, especially when meaning 'representing or exhibiting the greatest possible development or sophistication,' as in This car is the penultimate in engineering and design. This mistake may reflect the misconception that pen- is a prefix that acts as an intensifier of the word ultimate. But pen- actually derives from the Latin word paene, meaning 'almost.' (Pen- is also found in the word peninsula, which means, etymologically at least, 'almost an island.') People who know the correct meaning of penultimate reject its use as a synonym of ultimate and may be disposed to view the speaker or writer as ignorant or even pretentious."

Word of the Week 12/08/19: Maunder

From Dictionary.com:

1. to talk in a rambling, foolish, or meaningless way
2. to move, go, or act in an aimless, confused manner

From Merriam-Webster:

Maunder looks a lot like meander, and that's not all the two words have in common - both mean "to wander aimlessly," either physically or in speech. Some critics have suggested that while meander can describe a person's verbal and physical rambling, in addition to the wanderings of things like paths and streams, maunder should be limited to wandering words. The problem with that reasoning is that maunder has been used of the physical movements of people since at least 1775, whereas meander didn't acquire that use until around 1831. 

Word of the Week 12/01/19: Incel

From Wikipedia:

Incels, a portmanteau of "involuntary celibates", are members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, a state they describe as inceldom.

Discussions in incel forums are often characterized by resentment, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity, self-loathing, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex, and the endorsement of violence against sexually active people. The American nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center described the subculture as "part of the online male supremacist ecosystem" that is included in their list of hate groups.

At least four mass murders, resulting in 45 deaths, have been committed in North America by men who have either self-identified as incels or who had mentioned incel-related names and writings in their private writings or Internet postings. Incel communities have been criticized by the media and researchers for being misogynistic, encouraging violence, spreading extremist views, and radicalizing their members.