More KUDOs to Nephew + KUDOs to NE

whimsical Wednesday . . . THU edition

Book Review, Part II

I shared this with you last week . . . 

A History of China, by John Keay. Basic Books, 2009. My nephew Nick gave me an Amazon gift card for Christmas 2015. I used it to buy this book. I was inspired to buy a book about China after visiting a Museum of Art while on a trip to see Nathan & Laura in the Twin Cities. There was an exhibition of Chinese historical & cultural artifacts, which provoked my curiosity. It took a long time for this book to work its way to the top of my reading list. Then it took a long time for me to plow my way through it. I finished it last week.

Why I enjoyed this book--Reason #3:  Vocabulary! I love challenges to my vocabulary . . . Increasing my vocabulary . . . Grappling w/context clues to try to figure out a word that I'm not familiar with . . . Well, this book had more than a few words to challenge me, which slowed me down--but in a fun way.

Fun with Vocabulary

I've chosen 20 words from this book. For each word, I've given two definitions. Test yourself. Answers are at the end of this entry. [No cheating!]

1. accretion:  A. an added part; addition  B. migration from Crete
2. caryatids:  A. species of bed bugs  B. a sculptured female figure used as a column
3. compendious:  A. containing the substance of a subject, often an exclusive subject, in a brief form; concise  B. type of accordion favored by Martin Luther
4. crepuscular:  A. one of the meta-humans threatening Central City in The Flash  B. of, relating to or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct
5. detestation:  A. abhorrence; hatred  B. current administration's plans to ban all testing in schools
6. ding:  A. 3-legged urn  B. what I left in the side of Lois' car when I crashed into the front passenger door after missing the step from our kitchen into the garage
7. dowager:  A. defeated woman who holds a title from her disgraced husband, only he's not dead  B. woman who holds some title or property from her deceased husband, especially the widow of a king, duke, etc
8. ensconced:  A. to settle securely or snugly  B. the opposite of fronsconced
9. exigencies:  A. school of philosophers  B. urgency, emergency
10. friable:  A. crumbly  B. bacon
11. hegemony:  A. shrubbery popular during Ming dynasty  B. leadership; predominance
12. ineluctable:  A. incapable of being evaded; inescapable  B. "experts" used this word to describe DT before the election
13. legatees:  A. once popular clothing item worn by women  B. person to whom a legacy is bequeathed
14. polity:  A. a particular form or system of government  B. colony of parrots
15. portcullis:  A. opposite of aftcullis  B. (especially in medieval castles) a strong grating, as of iron, made to slide along vertical grooves at the sides of a gateway of a fortified place & let down to prevent passage
16. stele:  A. an upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription or design & serving as a monument, darker, etc  B. first name of once famous rock duo
17. sycophancy:  A. self-serving or servile flattery B. baby stage of a psychopath
18. tonsure:  A. confident measure of weight  B. the act of cutting the hair or shaving the head
19. vicissitude:  A. a change or variation occurring in the course of something B. sissy attitude
20. yurt:  A. goat-based dairy product of the Mongol-Turkic people of Central Asia  B. tent-like dwelling of the Mongol & Turkic people of Central Asia

ANSWERS:  1.A  2.B  3.A  4.B  5.A  6.A  7.B  8.A  9.B  10.A  11.B  12.A  13.B  14.A  15.B  16.A  17.A  18.B  19.A  20.B

There Is No Place Like . . . NEBRASKA!

From Lincoln Journal Star (11/16):  "NU posts its highest Graduation Success Rate. NE posted its highest Graduation Success Rate since the rate tracking was put in place 12 years ago . . . an overall GSR of 88% . . .The FB program, meanwhile, improved its GSR to 86%, which ranks 2nd in the Big 10, trailing only Northwestern. NU's GSR rate in FB also ranks 10th nationally among the 65 Power Five schools . . . " [So Iowa beat us 40-10. Nebraskans take pride in what counts! Seriously . . . No, really!!]

Wide World of Wacky Celebrities

From Norfolk Daily News (11/21):  "'Hamilton' actor: 'There's nothing to apologize for.' If DT is waiting for an apology from the cast of 'Hamilton,' he will have to continue to wait. Actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr in the celebrated musical, told 'CBS This Morning' on MON that 'there's nothing to apologize for.' Dixon gave Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence an onstage earful about equality at the end of FRI's performance . . . " [This reminds me of an incident years ago when the Dixie Chicks exercised their right to free speech by stating something to the effect that they were ashamed that George Bush was born in Texas. Yeah, that took a lot of political courage, since they made that announcement from the stage in a concert given in Germany. Now we have Brandon Dixon lecturing Mike Pence from the stage of a performance in--wait for it--New York. When he's willing to exercise his right to free speech in a venue like Nebraska, I'll give him KUDOs for his political courage.] *
* Yes, I did comment in my last mental health MON that I probably needed to tone down my political musings for the sake of my mental health. Well, shouldn't people stop provoking me? **
** You don't have to answer that. I continue to be a work in progress.

Criminal Minds

From Omaha World Herald (11/22):  "Driver responds to firing by dumping corn on highway. Authorities say a trucker dumped a load of corn on a southeast NE highway after reading a text telling him he had been fired . . . " [And people in the nearby town of Beatrice--home to my sister & brother-in-law--were thankful that he wasn't carrying a load of hog manure.]