but I am a word of the day.

(Offer good Monday only)

the day after.
Cheers .

Shoot, I missed it. Fill me in? By PM if you prefer?

Jackie, the word was anastrophe.

Oh, yay, I have a friend who's a Word!

Ah, no longer puzzled by the obscure camera I am!

Heh. Funny are you, Alex.

Hi Annastrophic.... followed ya here!
Like my backyard bunting?
<-----------

Welcome, then! And *I like your bunting.

Thank you, Jackie! They migrate through twice a year, and aren't always big feeder users, but I caught this one, and what a beauty! I have also seen a red-bellied woodpecker and a young red-tailed hawk, but it wasn't eating any seeds...!
Funny about the "carpal tunnel" designation; I just had surgery on my left wrist - still sore!!! :0)

Join the backyard birdwatcher's society.

Hey, twosleepy! Nice picture -- I guess you are a camera! What a nice surprise to see you here.

I really should, but then again, I already am! I only have a little time for this now because I am at home after my surgery.
I have to admit, I don't like being a "stranger", though! Couldn't it be more positive, such as "New friend", "Investigator" or "New poster"? Just an idea.... :0)

Hello! I had a hard time picking what photo to use. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I wanted to use one of a pileated woodpecker that landed on a tree in our yard a couple of years ago, but there's not a shot that is clear, like the bunting. For such small pics, you can't use a fussy, detailed image successfully. I have a great panda pic, too.... I do go on! LOL!

PS That's not your baby tiger, is it? ;0)

Visiting your backyard feeder?

Wish I had that blue one in my backyard. We don't even have the blue jay bird. Only the Flemish jay which is pinkish gray with a little pink-blue-white flag on the wing.

LOL Faldage... don't I wish! Actually, it's of Tai Shan, the baby panda at the National Zoo. He's about 2 1/2 now. Can pics be posted? I'll try...


It's not my best pic of him, but it's a small one that's online...

Allo twosleepy

Ooo, that is a beauty of a bird. There are none so bright blue in Montreal.

Good healing with the carpal tunnel operation. I know it can be a pain; my Dad had both done at the same time and he found it quite annoying to have to ask for help all the time.

Don't worry, you'll move up from "stranger" quickly. The step from that to the next title up is very short.

I wish some of my blackbirds were that blue! Cute panda!

Gone are the blackbird posts and yes I love their song too!.

How do posts disappear? I had 7, now I have 5! At this rate, I'll be a "stranger" forever! :0{

You can have my title for free, it's me who'll be the stranger forever. Anyway it's not the count that counts, it's the conversation. I miss part of a conversation with you about blackbirds and buntings. So now I'll go feed the blackbird couple
that settled in my backyard and became very tame. Breadcrumbs for a song.

there was (apparently) a problem with the forum database, and wordsmith (that's Anu) had to revert to a backup which was a couple of days old, so some posts were lost.

Our backyard feeder is plagued by squirrels. It wouldn't be so bad but they're such hogs. They'll knock the top off the feeder and eat it out from the top. I started putting chili pepper flakes in the mix on the theory that it would bug the squirrels but not the birds but they seem to be Mexican squirrels. I started swearing and hurly imprecations at them in Spanish, calling them mojados and things far worse to only slight effect. Yesterday, while I was off at work, the lovely AnnaS watched while a blue jay came down to feed off the scatterings on the ground and the squirrels split. Must be the jay works for la Migra.

Decoying the squirrels away from a bird feeder with a post-mounted corn cob feeder is effective as well, reducing the need to hurl imprecations.

I have a hummingbird feeder in my back yard, and my poor old hound dog could never decide if they were permitted to feed or not. Any sort of game bird and he knew his role, but feisty little things that zipped and zoomed befuddled him. He'd watch them come feed, sneak up, and jump up to see what they were doing, with the end result of hummingbirds yelling swear words at him.

Hummingbirds are fed on sugared water, Maven?
When I was in Ca. last september I got up making a sudden turn while picking some tomatoes and stared a hummingbird right in the miniature face. It was too close to free itself out of its stationary position. I guess for seven seconds the both of us were frozen. Then I moved and it took off.

Yes, sugar water dyed red to attract attention. They also feed happily on a variety of flowers, including snapdragons, daisies, mums, and pansies. My husband and I have both had those face-to-beak encounters, and they can be quite the surprise! I watched as one inspected my husband, almost going so far as to poke into one ear. Refilling the feeder is sometimes a nervy proposition, particularly if there are multiple wooing males in the area.

I have some nice shots of them feeding, I'll link to them later if anyone is interested.

I would love to see your shots of hummingbirds.

You'd think being so small would make them shy but they're fiesty little things.

Yes please Maven, I'd love to see them too. They were always too quick for my camera.

Female Hummingbird

Best one of the lot...I'll upload a few more if there's interest. The boys tend to be warier at the feeder than the girls.

Wow!What a pretty wing! And all of it.

really nice! thanks for sharing, Maven.

Yeow! What was your shutter speed? Was it film or digital?

That's a nice photo Maven. My Mom has hummingbirds up at her cottage but they move around so quickly, it's hard to catch a glimpse of them.

Thank you for the kind words!

Digital...Kodak EasyShare DX6490, on an automatic setting. I had the camera on a tripod and took probably 50 shots, with 3-4 that are worth keeping. I have to fiddle around with my home network before I can upload the others.

the good photographers secret.

That is a fantastic picture, Maven. How do you tell males from females, by the color?

>What a pretty wing! And all of it.

amazing how it can do that with just the one!

-joe (wingin' it) friday

Yes, the females tend to be drab shades of brown, while the males are little feathery gems, greens and reds depending on species. The females are also quiet, whilst the males chide and rant constantly.

Here are three shots of males, two different species native to the area. Based on behavir, I think the female was the mate of the unidentified male.





Calliopes



Possibly an Anna's--I haven't gotten a good id for this one.



Indeed! I love the digital format, simply because it does allow me to take multiple shots, knowing that many won't ever be worth sharing.

Ooo, ooo! I have hummingbird pics.... hold on a sec.. :0)

Okay, here we go...


This is one of the few boy hummers I have captured on "film". They took three years or so to show up. The girls came right away (smart, of course...)


This is a boy, although you can't tell, but I just like it for it's overall artistic value, not as a great hummer pic. It was interesting lighting.



This is one of the (smart) girls. Just sittin' pretty...



Funny looking hummer... LOL! Actually, a buzzer..; cool, huh?

All pics taken "a mano", no tripod, Kodak 6490, on my deck, some through a window or door.

Maven: That bottom one is most likely a ruby-throated. She looks just like all my girls, and they're the only species we get here!

If anyone has the interest, a link to my blog of my UK trip, summer 2005, with my church choir... http://twosleepy.blogspot.com It contains some of my best photographic work.

Ahem.

Nope, no rubies in this area. Too low in elevation, I guess.

Of course Ahem is a pretty mysterious comment , but if you might
mean some hummingbirds come larger than life size, I can only think of the fact that everything in the Americas is double sized.
I remember some giant cinnamon buns.

Jackie gets all funny-like when she sees the abbreviation UK and it might not mean University of Kentucky.

LOL! Maybe I went to Kentucky...

And let me tell you, BranShea, cinnamon or not, the USA has the biggest buns on the planet.... he he he

Ever bin on planet Biggerbun?

We LIVE on planet Biggerbun, silly!!! LOLOLOL!

Ah, the famous case of the woman who mistook a continent for a planet.

Well, you know us Americans: we think we ARE the planet... ;0)

I know some good Americans who think.

Well, what can you expect from a country that calls their domestic competition in a sport that is played by very few other countries the "World Series"?

(...and yes I do know why it's really called that, I'm just being facetious)

Ooh, I don't know, why is it called that?

Baseball is played in many other countries, and is also the national sport of the following nations (not, however, included in the World Series): Cuba, Republica Dominicana, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Venezuela. It is also the most popular sport in Japan. The world loves the sport, but the World Series only loves North America! So Zed, the answer lies in the early days of the sport, which is, indeed, American, and therefore the "world championship series" consisted of American teams, because they were the only ones around! It got shortened to "world series" later. :0)

Isn't it called the World Series because it was played at the World Stadium?

I know it is the favourite sport of Japan. But it still remains true that very few countries play it much or watch it, compared to other truly world sports like football, basketball or even motor racing. The world does not love the sport by any meaningful definition of the word 'world'.

Measured by the number of countries that play it or have it as their number one game, the most popular is of course football (soccer). However, to restore some bragging rights to the good ole US of A, the second most widespread sport (by number of countries) would almost certainly be be an American sport, namely basketball.

Now, if we are talking about spectating rather than participating, the most popular by a long way would still be soccer. But the next most popular (by population, not by number of countries playing it) would be cricket (believe it or not)! Over 3 billion people watch cricket, since it is the most popular sport of the Indian subcontinent (where half the world's population live) plus the former British Commonwealth countries (with the exception of Canada where ice hockey reigns supreme!).

Baseball a World game? Well, maybe, but it wouldn't be in the top ten I'd bet, by most ways of measuring it.

I found this site: http://ezinearticles.com/?Most-Popular-Sports-Around-The-World&id=551180 which has some interesting surprises. The rankings are based on participants + watchers, which seems fair. Baseball comes out around 7th, tied with a bunch. What do you think?

boy, howdy! you have to actually *read that article to find the rankings!

-joe (they're not making lists like they used to) friday

And many sources quote Canada as basketball's country of origin.
Shortening World Championship Series to World Series doesn't really answer the why world if there was still only one country involved but World Stadium might.

The World Serious

-joe (and here I thought that was my coinage) friday

Sounds reasonable, though of course there are many such sites with conflicting lists. Surprises me that Basketball doesn't rank higher, though I guess when you think about it, at the very most only 15,000 at a time can watch a basketball match, and that would be in the top stadiums alone, so it's limited by the nature of the venue in terms of spectacting. If you take TV audiences relatively more into account I'm sure it would be higher.

Some sports like ping pong are only up there because they are played in the world's most populous country.

Field Hockey is one I'd forgotten about. North Americans may be surprised to know that it outranks baseball, but most of the rest of the English speaking world and most of non-English speaking Europe and most of Asia play it avidly. Here in Australia "hockey" means field hockey and the sub-zero version is something exotic to us. We're not so "hot" on what we call "ice hockey".

I don't believe it was ever played in the World Stadium (wherever that might be or have been). In the early days of the sport there weren't really any stadiums. It's also not called the World Series because it was sponsored by the New York World newspaper, because it wasn't.

you agree with wikipedia, Faldo.

-joe (not that I do, unnerstan) friday

This thread may win the championship for most twisted.

I do believe you may be right.
World Series History

So Americans really did call it the World Series because they thought the known World ended at Boston. Whaddya know! Don't remember where I heard the story about the World Stadium, guess it's spurious.

Yes, what was the leading idea to begin with? Hmm..

Sorry! Didn't know reading was in such disfavor in these parts... ;0)

Correction: Wikipedia agrees with me. The sources of my belief are more rooted in SABR.

I was (politely) avoiding saying (yet again) that I'd been pipped (see World Serious link in my original), but you fell into my (clever) trap.

-joe () friday

A) I don't always have time to go off to links. I thought yours was a link to the contention that the phrase "World Serious", despite its being used by Pogo, was coined by Damon Runyon.

2) "Pipped"? Do you mean "mantled"?

2) "Pipped"? Do you mean "mantled"?

yep; what *was I thinking?

huh? must be Americanese, I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

We use the idiom "pipped at the post" (from horse racing) to mean beaten (to or at something) at the last second. Is that what you meant? Is "mantled" a baseball term? As in Mickey Mantle or something?

Sorry Pook, but I am definitely American, and I have no idea what they're talking about, either! :0}

it's forumese. being mantled relates to posting something and then being totally ignored by subsequent posts, often saying much the same thing, as though you were cloaked in a shroud of invisibility. and yes, this is sometimes even further obfuscated and referred to as being Mickey'd.

the other is responding to a post with a really apt and/or witty reply only to discover that (often whilst you were actually composing) someone else pipped you by posting much the same reply -- yes, pipped at the post; exactly!

-joe (I expect by now I may have been pipped on this reply) friday

I'm a big hoops fan, and I've never heard this before. All the sources I've ever seen recount that the rules of basketball (I've seen a copy of Dr Naismith's original rules; pretty cool!) were first written, and the game first played, at a YMCA school in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Canadian connection is that James Naismith was born in Canada.

The High Holy Days are almost here! W00T!

Is 'Mantled' allegorical for being put on the shelf? or does it have some obscure reference to Mickey Mantle?

so, in the event, I wasn't pipped, but I sure have been Mantled!!

-joe (mickey) friday

Olly, and all other newbumfuzzledcomers: mantled comes from the term 'wearing a cloak (or mantle!) of invisibility' (from some work of fiction, no doubt). I don't know why it became mantled instead of cloaked.

Pipped was a new one on me.

Yes, tsuwm, I know I mantled you, but.

Jackie, you know me -- I always like to leave 'em bumfuzzled, or raddled at a minimum.

-joe (inpulregafize your spirits) friday

Don't you just hate that!

There should be a word for a post that is subsequently made anyway, even after discovering you been 'pipped at the post' in the hope that people might not notice the other one or might think yours is cleverer anyway.

It sounds similar to Professor Kingsford's (was that his name?) practice in The Paper Chase of 'shrouding' a first year student by no longer calling on them to answer a question.

.

maybe it's a matter of volition:
mantle - something that covers, envelops, or conceals: the mantle of darkness

as, mantling is something that usually* just happens, with no malice aforethought

*except when someone is trying to make a point!

-joe (going for that nothingest) friday

And this thread is still getting more twistier.

Isn't the mantle of invisibility from Princess Bride? At some point we switched from chopped liver to mantled in mid thread but it was some time ago.

It may well have been used in Princess Bride but I think it goes back farther than that. We got it from wordorigins and they're real good at this kind of question.

inconceivable....

Inconceivable what?

From useless movie quotes: The Princess Bride

Inigo Montoya I admit it, you are better than I am.
Westley: Then why are you smiling?
Inigo Montoya: Because I know something you don't know.
Westley: And, what is that?
Inigo Montoya: I am not left handed.
-----
Vizzini: Inconceivable.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.

A good movie.

"As you wish". I'd say "one of the best ever" rather than merely "good". Maybe even " the greatest thing in the world-except for a nice MLT".

Please excuse my carnivorousness but my sammies are sans L and T

Mutton is underated and lets face it, us kiwis know about mutton eh Pook?

My post was a quote from the Miracle Worker in the Princess Bride, for whom a BLT would not have been kosher.

That's right mate, eh?

Funny how Canadians, North Queenslanders and New Zealanders add 'eh' to the end of a sentence as an honorary period or question mark, eh?

Well, at least some people (with excellent taste...) got the reference! It's one of my favorites, with some of the best movie dialogs ever, especially the poison cup bit, but much better known than another of my very favorites, LadyHawke.

For the record, there's no cloak of invisiblity in The Princess Bride. There is a holocaust cloak.

The Princess Bride is a book and film that I can readily quote from memory...Pretty much the whole thing.

Well why didn't you say so?