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The Wednesday Word - panjandrum
Wednesday 26 June 2013
Today’s word is panjandrum. It is basically a word to
describe a pretentious official, you know the type that carry around a clip
board in the office, or at a carnival noting down every little discrepancy
between how things should be and how they actually are.
The origins of the word are quite incredible, as it was
coined by Samuel Foot in the 18 century in a piece of nonsense writing (this is
what they did before they had the internet). I have included the full nonsense
writing quote below, but here is my quote for it:
“He had held the self-appointed position of High Panjandrum
on the church wardens committee for the last 30 years, and he wasn’t about to
let some young upstart with the brains of a potplant carry out a coup-d’état on
his revered place at the right hand of the Vicar.”
Check out the original Wednesday Word, or many other Wednesday Words here.
Feel free to let me know if you ever come across a word you think may be appropriate for this part of my blog.
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The Top Secret drawer
Have you ever been wrong?
Monday 24 June 2013
I will begin this post by assuming that all of us, including you, have been wrong at some stage in your lives. The title of this post is more asking whether you have ever been spectacularly wrong. Perhaps on some issue of technology, a prediction in politics, or some factual matter where you have come unstuck after further information was revealed.
I am going to reveal something towards the end of this post, something on which I have been spectacularly wrong. Not just a little bit wrong, but a matter on which I could not have been more wrong. Suffice to say, it was so wrong, that even the weatherman couldn’t believe it.
Before I do though, I thought I would highlight a few other more public (and perhaps apocryphal) quotes where it appears CEOs of large American companies have been spectacularly wrong about some new technology:
1. “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” said by H. M. Warner of Warner Bros. in 1927 about the possibility of moving on from silent movies.
2. “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers” said by Thomas Watson the chairman of IBM in 1943.
3. “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night” said by Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox in 1946.
4. “No one will need more than 637 Kb of memory for a personal computer – 640K ought to be enough for anybody” said by Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO in 1981.
So now that I have got those out of the way what was the quote that I said? What was my prediction that proved so spectacularly wrong?
In 2009 I wrote this blog post when a new television show came out. It expressed my disbelief at how such a show could ever make it. It was based on the fact that I found the show boring, and that this particular show had almost no viewer participation, and no similarity to previous shows in that style.
Masterchef.
Here was the main point of the blog post I wrote:
“But my real question is why (is the show so popular). In an age where we all want to be the judge of everything, not limited to, but including who is the best singer, dancer, hunter, and pouter, why have we given over our capacity to judge to three men simply because they have the unique ability to contort their face based on their sense of taste? But more significantly considering this loss of power to judge and decide, why is this show still so popular?”
Since that time, this show has gone around the world and spawned dozens if not hundreds of other similar kitchen dramas. These include Junior Masterchef, ApprenticeChef, NotsogreatChef, Celebrity Chef, My Kitchen Rules, My Kitchen doesn’t Rule, Hell’s Kitchen, Heaven’s Kitchen, So you think you can Cook, America’s Top Idol Chef, Australian Ladel and the list goes on.
But my original question from the post remains – why are such shows so popular?
(The only comfort I take in all of this is that it appears, given ability to predict things, I have all the skills necessary to become the CEO of a large American corporation.)
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The best before and after pictures - for Barbie
Mexican designer Eddi Aguirre imagines Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie, without all the make-up that makes her look so pretty.
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You get what you pay for
For Best and Worst Results of Washing
Friday 21 June 2013
A true Freudian Slip
Thursday 20 June 2013
The Wednesday Word - pachyderm
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today’s word is pachyderm, which literally means
thick-skinned, but has a number of other possibilities. It can be another name
for an elephant, it can also be “any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant
ungulates” such as the elephant, hippopotamus or rhinoceros, or it can be a
person who doesn’t care about criticism or ridicule.
“The relentlessly mocking was not helped by his constant
reference to elephants as ‘those pleasing pachyderms’, though in a very
pachyderm kind of way he was either oblivious or completely unphased by the
ridicule.”
Check out the original Wednesday Word, or many other Wednesday Words here.
Feel free to let me know if you ever come across a word you think may be appropriate for this part of my blog.
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Nose trimmer - caution don't try this at home
Amazing half court shot
Monday 17 June 2013
Crocheted Optimus Prime Beanie/scarf/helmet
Sunday 16 June 2013
I think Ali from Something this Foggy Day would like this (or at least the crochet part of it).
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A very unique One Man Band
Saturday 15 June 2013
If Disney Princesses were on Facebook
Thursday 13 June 2013
Perhaps this treadmill is a bit too fast
What do you do when you're trying to fall asleep?
The Wednesday Word - lucubrate
Wednesday 12 June 2013
Today’s word is lucubrate. It means to work, write, or study
with great effort, especially at night. It comes from a Latin word which means
to work by artificial light. From this definition it appears that all of us a
doing a fair bit of lucubrating for a large part of our day and night.
Here is my quote for it:
“His iPhone had just enough power and light to shine onto
his textbook and allow him to lucubrate late into the night – he did not want to
fail his final school exam.”
Check out the original Wednesday Word, or many other Wednesday Words here.
Feel free to let me know if you ever come across a word you think may be appropriate for this part of my blog.
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Top 10 perfectly time photographs
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How to make a surprise cake
The world's shortest pencil
Tuesday 11 June 2013
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