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You guys rock! My readers are the best! Your excellent suggestions keep coming in for great Golden Geo promotional gear. And someone has pointed out that we didn't have anything to offer for infants and toddlers. Well, it didn't take long for my merchandising geniuses to respond. Here's a tentative selection of Golden Geo products just for the little humans in your life: So far, we've encountered gull wing designs in aeronautics, architecture, and in the automotive industry. Now we find that the term "gull wing" has shown up in the realm of interior decorating. That is, it has become a descriptor of color. Except everyone seems to see a different color when they think of gull wings. I'd say the prize for accuracy goes to the paint maker Benjamin Moore®.
Mohawk® flooring's Gull Wing carpet color comes in a reasonable second. But I have yet to see a gull whose wings match the other two carpet samples below—one from Lowe's® and one from The Home Depot®. The Stainmaster® carpet even looks like it comes pre-stained. Or is that spot in the middle actually a cigarette burn? And what about the remaining scrap. It looks more like the color of sand. But at $2.25/square foot, it could be your best buy for a rental unit. Just sayin'. See for yourself: Does anyone here actually turn a physical calendar page anymore? Swipe to the left and it's July. In Canada, the first of July is—can you believe this?—Canada Day! Eh? It's a national holiday that marks the date in 1867 on which the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada officially joined to form the Dominion of Canada. In 1903 on July 1, the first Tour de France cycling race got underway. The course covered over 1,500 miles, from Paris to Lyon, to Marseille, to Toulouse, to Bordeaux, to Nantes, and back to Paris. Nineteen days later, the winning racer, Maurice Garin, finished nearly three hours before the second-place cyclist. He took his prize money, bought a gas station, and worked there the rest of his life.
It was a period of optimism and futuristic imagination, and 25 years later it inspired a popular song by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen (musical link).
Happy July Fools Day! That's right.
Summer begins today in the Northern Hemisphere. This is the day that the sun appears to be directly overhead along the Tropic of Cancer. For those north of that line, there is more daylight on or near the summer solstice than at any other time of the year. Meanwhile, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, winter begins today, on that hemisphere's shortest day of the year. The earth's 23.5 degree tilt is responsible for this phenomenon. Some locales in the far north see virtually round-the-clock daylight on the summer solstice. Anchorage, Alaska, for example, sees 22 hours of daylight and celebrates with a huge downtown festival, which will happen this Saturday, June 23rd. In Fairbanks, Alaska, there is so much sunshine that they will partake in America's national pastime around the clock. It's the 113th annual Midnight Sun baseball game, and everyone from kids to college athletes will compete. St. Petersburg, Russia, the world's largest far northern city, enjoys 19 hours of daylight today, celebrating with its annual White Nights Festival. At 5,000-year-old Stonehenge, in the United Kingdom, thousands gather to witness the once-a-year event of the sun rising right through the center of the ancient stone monument. Here in Bandon, Oregon, we expect to have about 15 hours and 23 minutes between sunrise and sunset, with around 16 hours and 35 minutes of daylight altogether, from first light to last light. It will be the longest day of the year. But our earliest sunrise actually occurred a week ago, and our latest sunset will take place five days from now. Our most beautiful sunset? It's every night... In case you are still confused about what exactly constitutes an internet meme, let's do what everybody else does and consult Wikipedia. Note the confusing reference to image macro, the topic of a separate Wikipedia article. Image macro memes usually take the form of a picture with words at the top and bottom, making a humorous or ironic statement that refers in some way to the image. The text is typically in the Impact font, all capitals, and white with a black outline. Highly conventional.
Let's look back to the Twentieth Century for a couple of major May 27 events.
This is one corner of the internet where we don't care if you think it's "yanni" or "laurel." In fact, I won't even tell you which one it sounds like to me. But I do care about your opinion of the Lousy Music on Hold sample messages I offered for your evaluation a couple of days ago. I'm still accepting your votes. It's strictly anonymous, unless you wish to have a name associated with your selection. And I haven't figured out a way to limit the number of times you can vote.
In the competition for favorite voice, it's a real dogfight at the moment, so every vote counts. Some readers have also chosen to include comments with their votes, which I encourage. However, I was puzzled by those who remarked that some of the music is really annoying. That was the whole idea! The music is intentionally annoying. Hence the name of my latest brainchild—Lousy Music on Hold. Maybe they meant their comments to be taken as compliments.
Melanin is a natural pigment found in animals; it occurs in mammals, birds, reptiles, and other organisms. However, melanin isn't just about color. Melanin can also strengthen. The melanin in the wingtips of a bird helps to protect the feathers from wear and tear. And it also makes them black. And all this time, I was thinking those black wingtips made us look cool and sophisticated... Now, as a result of this week's reader question, it looks like we've uncovered a lot of fascinating information about gull wings—the stuff future blog posts are made of. Watch this spot! You, too, could have your question featured in an upcoming edition of Fun Fact Friday. Click Comments in the top right corner of this page, and don't forget to say "please!"
What's a Regular Boar? I assume it's a more interesting creature than a Regular Bore. And what would be the opposite of a Regular Boar? An Irregular Boar? A Premium Boar? When the Regular Boars get together, what's on the agenda?
Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall at a Regular Boar meeting*? Bet you'd have a lot of company... *The Limelighters perform today's musical link—"There's a Meetin' Here Tonight," from 1961.
Ten teams currently compete in minor league baseball's Southern League. That's just enough franchises to justify organizing them into two divisions. So some Southern League teams play in the South Division, but others must play in the North Division. Sounds a bit like a Civil War reenactment. North squads this season include the Montgomery Biscuits and the Chattanooga Lookouts. Names like the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp stand out in the South.
Today's musical link is Jo Stafford's 1951 pop hit, "Shrimp Boats."
I'm highly skilled at grabbing a bag and getting away with it. But I'm not the only one, as you can see in this video from my ancestral homeland.
![]() IT'S POPSICLE® STICK RIDDLE SLIDESHOW #4 Close followers of this blog have a strong constitution. They have also picked up on some patterns in the way I express my personality through my posts. So they may well have taken note of how I handle my critics. If I'm taken to task for my FREAKY CAT SLIDESHOW, I respond with THE WORLD'S FIRST AND ONLY KNOW FREAKY ELECTRICAL OUTLET AND POWER CORD SLIDESHOW, followed by A FREAKY CLOCK FACE SLIDESHOW, and then the tour de force, A SPECTACULAR KEYBOARDS AND MICE SLIDESHOW.
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#MoreCrackersPlease
It turns out these Geos were sold by GM from 1989 to 1997 (before it became Government Motors). That was slightly before my time.
I have been asked why I don't use Twitter. The answer is simple—I can't tweet. I am a seagull, dontcha know. I can cry and I can squawk, but it's impossible for me to tweet. Some of my relatives are known to laugh (Laughing Gulls), but usually not at my jokes. ![]()
It's Cyber Monday. Does that mean I can go online and get free French fries?
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Meet the AuthorHi. I'm Geo the Seagull.
I'm the distinguished Park Host on South Jetty Beach at Bandon, Oregon, USA. I'm a firm believer in First Principles: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Your Lunch. Archives
August 2018
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