Entre Nous ;)

LOL!
Who on earth are Alexa and Ziggy? Do you also give names to you devices? Here I have Dante(PC) Daneraldo (Tablet), the new and naughty smartphone doesn´t have a fixed name as yet.

Interesting poem! Very postmodern in its loosely putting together chunks of significance.

Thanx! The poem is free form, I guess, one merely fills in the blanks so to speak:

I am...
I remember...
I come from..
I love...
.
.
. and so on with words stolen/selected (or not) to get interesting/unique prompts or embellishments... so I guess it's really a formula and not a form... IDK, but it is fun. The non-token poets' poems were fabulous... I wish I had their creativity for on the fly poetry.

Sorry to confuse. We have many smart home devices: (4) Amazon smart speakers with Alexa built in; one has an 8" (20.32 cm) screen. I gave each their own "wake" word: Alexa, Echo, and recently Ziggy... And so that they don't respond to their "wake" word when we refer to them (as they will) we refer to Alexa as Susan, Echo as Mary, and Ziggy as Fred (who used to be Susan... don't ask). It gets really squirrely when we use our Kindle Fire tablets that all have Alexa built in when we want to talk to the smart speakers - usually for music. We also have Alexa on our phones and on my smart watch (limited Alexa functionality which I do not use bought on sale for $30 USD). Oh... smart plugs for (4) lamps with names: Lights/Stand/Lamp... and Plug... Plug is glitching right now.

I have a tendency to go overboard on the electronics, two 32" (81.3 cm) Smart Fire TV's with Alexa built in - the Alexa functionalities we rarely use except to turn them off. Everything bought on sale of course over the years.

My wife has bricked one 8" Kindle Fire in a crock-pot cooker (slow-cooked to death) and bricked another 8" in a bucket of water with Clorox in it. She bricked a smart phone that I had given her by throwing it at her sister (allegedly trying to kill her, lol) and missing... she now pays for her own lesser-smart phone. Oh, an Echo Dot 4th Gen (the fourth smart speaker) I haven't set up in my "office" yet... I can use "Computer" as a wake word for it if I want them all to be different, but haven't thought of a "nickname?" for it yet...... and, yes, an Echo Auto (named Alexa again since it's away from the other devices for my car which is great when it works, which is rare in our rural setting - but in the larger rural city areas and in the city it works great. (Thinking to myself - so one Kindle Fire for my wife that works (two previous that she bricked) and three Kindle Fires that I have somewhere that my smart phone now supersedes... good grief ! )

As I say I've gone overboard with these electronics purchased over the years, all purchased on sale. My wife can't live without her 8" Kindle Fire; she takes it everywhere including to bed.

Where was I going with this ? Anyway, with our terrible rural internet (satellite), hence terrible wi-fi, we get very spotty functionality, all in all, on all of our devices (sigh).

Going to the big city tomorrow (Sacramento, pop. 525000 according to Alexa) to the Spine Center with my wife with the expectation that the 3-month old appointment results will help her in managing her pain.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Lol! Your electronic household sounds rather babelic to me and the best of it all is:
" The Alexa functionalities we rarely use except to turn them off."

I think most of these functionalities aren´t in use here as yet.

I am very ambivalent towards electronics. On the one hand I am very curious about new devices, on the other hand I´m also very suspicious about how ones data can be misused, including bodily data such as voice, gestures and face identification. Thus I decided, that in my household, as long as I have the word, I am the only smart one, I want to be surrounded only with stupid and dumb devices, that obey my orders. Cortana from Windows 10 is muted instantly when she dares to ask me "How can I help you?" Not nice, but necessary. But most of the devices have names. There is PC Dante, Tablet Daneraldo and there was the already deceased Tablet Danil. The smartphone is going to have a name when it is fully in use.

I hope your wife's medical appointment results in help. Does she do physiotherapy?

Originally Posted by Danik 2016

I hope your wife's medical appointment results in help. Does she do physiotherapy?

Her medical has been a nightmare... someone dropped the ball on her pain management, which we thought was going to be discussed yesterday. No, just a follow-up x-ray... they couldn't even recommend/dispense any pain meds. But, they again ruled out any surgery. 2+ months.

Turns out her primary health care person, not an M.D. (P.A.C. or Nurse Practitioner), prolly never started the pain management ball rolling at his end... after... all... this... time... Now she's waiting for a phone consult with him two days hence... grrrrrrrrrrr! Her nights have been nightmares... every night with debilitating headaches; neither of us getting any quality sleep. My sleep patterns as viewed on my phone via smart watch app is a tragedy in itself. And I received some more smart gizmos yesterday from my healthcare physicians that will send instant (or not considering the faraday cage we live in (50-year old manufactured home enclosed in metal siding, in a very rural valley miles away from even the small city advantages of decent internet/wifi... we'll see, gotta start my med measurements today

On a lighter note your observation of Babel in the electronics kingdom in my home is spot on. Prolly 1-too many smart speakers in the bedroom for sure. Have them in the house for all the fun things they can do, but most importantly if my wife falls and no one's around she can voice activate a phone call to me or my daughter or her sister.

Lol, if someone wanted my personal data they'd become bored to death.

We even go as far as not answering our house phone during the day because it's all phone solicitation and/or scam calls. And yes, our cell phone coverage is also spotty... exacerbated even worse when we have our frequent power failures and the distant cell towers lose their power too.

In defense, as if, of my frugal purchases of the copious amount of electronics - it's the one thing I can do to stimulate our flagging economy

I'm sorry to learn about this mistake in pain management of your wife headaches. Up to now I thought public medical care was very good in your part of the world. The problem is, that headaches can have so many causes. For example, I get headaches, if I eat chocolate. Doe your wife do relaxing exercises like yoga or something similar? Any way, dealing with headaches without knowing the cause is groping in the dark.

I didn´t knew about this voice activating of a smartphone from far off. It´s absolutely amazing and your argument of being able to activate smartphones when one falls is decisive. You see we don´t have these smart things here as yet, only smart TV. So I have a curious idea of several domestic devices being all activated at the same time, like in some films. You certainly have a lot of fun!

As for personal data in the story is a bit different. I discovered by accident that in US there is a flourishing commerce of personal data. I had to write a business letter to someone in NY and I didn´t know whether I should address the person as "Mr" or "Ms". So I googled the unusual name of the person, hoping of finding other persons with the same name, that would shed some light on the matter. I was aghast at the result. I remained in doubt about her gender, but I got her private address, phone number, private emails, related person age and the very reassuring confirmation that there weren´t any problems with the police. And I was offered a complete report (paid, of course). The one information I didn´t get was the gender.

So you shouldn't wonder, if you are curious enough to check it, if you find yourself or any one of your family, friends, etc. in one or more sites.

Actually the medical situation here is fair-to-middlin'. It's likely my wife should have followed up better with her care provider. No yoga or ilk for her... we're hoping for physical therapy for her in addition to a nuanced pain solution.

So true about personal data... I shouldn't make light of it. Yes, I've checked before and there are all kinds of "cookie crumbs" about.

How terrible you get headaches from Chocolate ! It's my main source of vitamin "C" along with Chicken !!! One cup of triple cocoa for me: 500 ml hot water/3-tablespoons cooking cocoa/2-tablespoons hot chocolate mix

I purchased an Echo for my daughter's home for a past Birthday. She, like me, uses it mostly for timers and alarms and math and wikipedia
and reminders and music (I'll ask for tailored news as well in my Flash Briefings). The funniest thing is my Great-grandson always interrupting her music to play "Baby Shark" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or what ever. He used to get soooo upset when Alexa didn't understand him.

Yes, these headaches are tricky, the older on gets more ones organism invents. Hope your wife still gets a good follow up, it must be terrible not being able to sleep because of headaches.
I noticed that you have a sweet tooth. I have it too, but cant over indulge in it.
Your great grandson must be cute!
Went yesterday to have my fourth anti Covid shot.

Phone consult today for my wife with her primary provider who is a Nurse Practitioner (P.A.C)... not a doc. Wife had a bad night again so I wouldn't want to be him today on the phone. I'll go to bed when she wakes up at 7:30 am PDT. Been working on my poem assignment for today all night and got it polished up I think. Used one of my previous nonsense poems in it too because it dovetailed, albeit nonsensically, with what I had in mind with the found "lost" word "sturionic". Also another two poems were alluded to - the one with the saggy pants & my onomatopoeia poem (lol). I'll post it at the end of this post with my Word Can Poem from last time 3/17 too.

Congrats on the shot ! I tried to get my 2nd booster a little over a week ago? after it was announced. My pharma of choice, Walmart, wasn't ready I guess... I mean come on! our President got one !

Been overindulging my sweet tooth and all the other teeth too much too... weighing myself in kilograms again just to make me feel better.

Great-grandson is a hoot - so's his little sister

My Poem Assignment: Lost Words / from thePhrontistery.com:

Translated from the Most High Imperial Vogan Perfect Written Language to the Uglyographic Common English of Various
Periods of Time Prior to the Destruction of the Earth:

A Phrontistacy: a Parnassian Homage to
Douglas Adams & “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”

You quaeritate I surmise
My xenizations from far flung space
precludes a veteratorian tortiloquy which
would make the greatest of your peoples to tremefy,
let alone the urban warriors who wear their leggings low
as if their pockets were thus saburrated; I deem them naught

Ah, the tropean winds blow causing one to tussicate
(oooaughoaua, oooaughoaua) clearing the chest cavity
grandly making my once vultuous mood less viliorate


My hemerine floscuations label me a phlyarologist
at best - however my fabrefactions of poetic writs
and the kalotypography of said ictuated and free verse
( as you shall see ! ) is nonetheless unsurpassed

As a patration in portmantology, and being quite noscible
I rely on my radicarian knowledge vis-a-vis roots of verbs and nouns that most foppotees, or in general volgivagants, are nequient
in their understanding: their mancations of the common tongue tasting most teterrimous – to be cleansed in a fiery theomeny !

So... fond as I was of feasting upon the quercivorous fodder eaters
I tarried no longer beginning my sojourn abroad, and whilst I was about my succisive montivagant perambulations - skirting the pomarious and the ruricolous and the viduifical sagittiferous / sagittipotent peasantry seeking their vappous pullarian prey -
I crafted a sturionic poesy; if I may:

Waterwill: The Elder, Snouted Sturgeon

A pool, however hard it tries,
is rarely becalmed

Stopping at a pool I imagined an elder, snouted sturgeon
Down, down, down into the darkness goes the elder, snouted sturgeon
Gently it goes - the elder, amongst the younger, the big and small

In my mind's eye I stare incredulously at the tam-o'-shanter
the elder, snouted sturgeon wears
Down, down, down into the darkness wearing its tam,
Gently it goes - amongst the younger, the big and the small -
the elder, snouted sturgeon.

~ END ~

Word List from the Phrontistery.com

fabrefaction noun 1652 -1678
act of fashioning or making a work of art
The sculptor felt that fabrefaction was more important than the end result.

flosculation noun 1651 -1651
an embellishment or ornament in speech
The speaker's lecture was rendered laughable by ridiculous

foppotee noun 1663 -1663
simpleton
What a pitiful foppotee he was, always oblivious to our jeers!

hemerine adjective 1854 -1886
daily; quotidian
The hemerine ritual of walking her dog kept her in good physical shape.

ictuate verb 1822 -1822
to emphasize; to put metrical stress on
She preferred free verse over carefully-ictuated classical poetic styles.

kalotypography noun 1834 -1834
beautiful printing
Medieval manuscripts are attractive, but modern kalotypography surely surpasses them.

mancation noun 1727 -1727
maiming; mutilation
The general would suffer no mancation or execution of fallen enemy troops.

montivagant adjective 1656 -1658
wandering over hills and mountains
The montivagant hiker crossed the Alps with ease but was stymied by the Andes.

nequient adjective 1656 -1656
not being able
While the other students understand algebra, you are still nequient in this simple art.

noscible adjective 1654 -1654
knowable; well-known
It is noscible that no amount of training can make up for experience in the field.

patration noun 1656 -1656
perfection or completion of something
The patration of my dissertation will be an occasion for great merriment.

phlyarologist noun 1867 -1867
one who talks nonsense
He was a petty phlyarologist who could rarely hold an intelligent conversation.

pomarious adjective 1656 -1775
of or belonging to an orchard or fruit-garden
Newton's pomarious enlightenment concerning gravity is no more than a myth.

portmantologist noun 1887 -1934
one who studies or coins portmanteau words
Rather than being a portmantologist, why not use perfectly good existing words?

pullarian adjective 1652 -1652
of or pertaining to chicken or fowl
Our pullarian mascot was trampled by the opposing team's offensive line.

quaeritate verb 1657 -1657
to question; to inquire
If I might quaeritate, why are we headed in the wrong direction on the trail?

quercivorous adjective 1858 -1858
feeding on oak trees
The proliferation of quercivorous insects is a boon rather than a bane to the ecosystem.

radicarian adjective 1880 -1880
pertaining to the roots of words
A radicarian knowledge of Latin is of central importance for English etymology.

ruricolous adjective 1730 -1858
living in the country or in fields
Though the city has its attractions, I much prefer the quiet ruricolous life.

saburrate verb 1623 -1658
to put sand or gravel in a ship as ballast
Fortunately, the ship was thoroughly saburrated, or else it would surely have capsized.

sagittiferous adjective 1656 -1858
bearing arrows
The general ordered that some of his foot-soldiers should thereafter be sagittiferous.

sagittipotent adjective 1656 -1656
having great ability in archery
The sagittipotent hunter found himself unable to kill the beautiful white stag.

sparsile adjective 1891 -1891
of a star, not included in any constellation
The prevalence of sparsile stars today reflects technical advances in telescopy.

sturionic adjective 1852 -1852
of or pertaining to the sturgeon
With its great sturionic strength, it leapt off the hook, never again to be seen.

succisive adjective 1619 -1656
of time, spare or in excess
Because I worked so much harder than them, they envied my succisive rests.

teterrimous adjective 1704 -1864
most foul
The fiend's teterrimous visage alarmed the librarian, who quickly closed the dark tome.

theomeny noun 1623 -1656
the wrath of God
I may suffer theomeny for my beliefs, but at least I will have been consistent.

tortiloquy noun 1656 -1656
crooked speech
I will not tolerate such tortiloquy in my court!

tremefy verb 1832 -1832
to cause to tremble
His words tremefied the more gullible of onlookers, while others shook their heads.

tropaean adjective 1686 -1686
blowing from sea to land
The tropaean winds blew the raft ashore after long weeks at sea.

tussicate verb 1598 -1890
to cough
He tussicated throughout the opera, annoying nearby audience members.

uglyography noun 1804 -1834
bad handwriting; poor spelling
Your uglyography conceals the cogency and brilliance of your ideas.

vacivity noun 1656 -1721
emptiness
The vacivity of her mind can hardly be a consequence of her blonde hair.

vappous adjective 1673 -1673
flat; insipid
This chili has a vappous and unpleasant taste, unlike the other offerings.

veteratorian adjective 1656 -1656
crafty; subtle
Your veteratorian villainy is no match for the might of my armies of men!

viduifical adjective 1657 -1657
widow-making
It is often said that golf is just as viduifical as war, and twice as pointless.

viliorate verb 1722 -1722
to make less good; to worsen
The presence of gangs viliorates the quality of life for everyone in the neighbourhood.

volgivagant adjective 1656 -1656
pertaining to the common people; poor or base; inconstant
Her political fortunes were tied to her ability to appeal to her volgivagant constituents.

vultuous adjective 1633 -1721
having a sad or solemn countenance
The child's vultuous visage was the key to the team's successful con game.

xenization noun 1818 -1818
fact of travelling as a stranger
This period of youthful xenization was the source of his later cultural tolerance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Word Can poem from 3/17: (rhythmic/altitude/reflect/catalog)


To catalog this day of days
In reflection I catch at thoughts
Who soar to altitudes beyond my sight
That sing as bright
The rhythmic song of butterflies

3/17/2022 r.4/5/2022

PS. Renamed Ziggy back to Alexa and the electronics are still in revolt !

Entre Nous,

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

Had a bad night too, probably on account of much noise. Slept with interruptions until 15 PM. So forgive me for I more generic answer. I see you have been working on some of the poems I was astonished how many you have added to the collection in the last week.
Thanks for the very useful glossary for the Phrontistery poem.

What kind of book are you intending? A printed version or an e-book?

Ah... awake now. So sorry that that you too had a poor night's sleep. Yeah, generic is how I'm feeling too. My eyes are fighting sleepy dust and allergens even now (... and where are my glasses ?) That's better.

Your welcome re: the glossary. As I picked and chose my wordlist a story of sorts came together and that spark of creativity that is sometimes so elusive struck; if anything it makes sense in my poor addled mind (lol). I hoped it makes sense in some manner to others as the way it's presented is like the Nonsense Poem thread. I get to speak my poem to our poetry group today in less than two hours. We've all received via emails what the others have been working on - every has such a different take or direction, it's a joy to share our poems. We'll have an "open mic" locally soon and I've volunteered to offer a few poems (for the first time!) in a nature setting here in the Gold Country. Oh, and there's a reception for the local artists and some of us poets soon too (a first for me as well), but I'll miss most of it and have volunteered for clean up (lol).

Between the group and your participation here I've been able to embrace Poetry Month more than I thought possible. Thank you! Even going through the Poetry section and re-reading and sometimes re-re-reading older posts of poets long gone has helped, though it saddens me over the loss of a vibrant community.

Ah, the book(s). I've finished, pretty much, "Beneath the Dogwoods of May"/subtitled "A Poet in Garden Valley" - I have the manuscript where I'm comfortable with it and hope to send off a copy to my Sister for her critique/blessing before her Birthday... then prolly both eBook and small vanity press. Our poetry facilitator is a published poet and I may pick her brain. "A Poet in Garden Valley" is my next progression, I think. Prolly, a smaller offering as my best from 2003 to Jan 2021 will be in "Beneath...". But that still leaves more to write and a legacy of over 700 other poems of mine to choose from. "A Gathering of Poems" is part of this process and will either be the subtitle or title of the new book. Of course not all my ramblings are print worthy, that's prolly why I agonize over the final edit for "Beneath..." Is it all vanity and just the joyful noise of an old man trying to express himself... most likely; but the journey in itself may be the means to a happy end

Ah, time ☼ to ♪ get ♫ ready ♥ !!!

Hi, taylor
i'm still blasted and flabbergasted by your Douglas Addams homage.
Have to reread it (yesterday I slept the whole day- Jansen effect?) but I think your group liked it. The invented words give it a comic and dramatic effect.
No need of thanking me. It´s been fun to participate and I´m glad that my unpoetic collaborations are of help.
I think having fun is a very important part of the process!

( Editing on LitNet still precarious)

I loved the poem of the sturgeon!

Thank you for enjoying Waterwill: The Elder, Snouted Sturgeon !

Your poetics are wonderful... you just need practice to get to the level you are happy with.

Having fun with poetry is a joy (did I just write that? lol). Our group (only 4 yesterday) was full of giggles as we read our poetries aloud in the library. I stumbled in all the polysyllabic places possible trying to keep a straight face with my offering. My Word Can poem from yesterday just happens to explain part of why I write poetry: (words: conjure/meanwhile/look back/credible)

In the Zone #2

I take a look back upon this
poetic journey of mine
How did I ever conjure up even one poem ?
... and what continues to spur me on ?
A credible answer would be the joy
poetry can inspire in the writing thereof
Although other emotions are often in play
Meanwhile a reader might question my sanity
- but that's OK, I was in the zone
on that one... whatever it was

4/7/2022

Entre Nous,

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY