Zippers

I was thinking about what to write today and I could have gone with something like Zelda (which I actually played at a friend's place when I was little on what N64 because we didn't have a game console at home), but I don't know much about the game and I'm not feeling particularly interested in gaming tonight. Instead, I think I'm going to talk about two things: The zipper and the creation that is the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz (and its amazing creator).

So, zippers.. We use them everyday, don't we? I know for a fact I've worn 4 different zippering articles of clothing today: two pairs of pants (work pants and jeans), a jacket, and a hoodie. These awesome little toothed devices pull sides of fabric together, and I've always heard that they were invented by a Canadian. However, I've had a hard time finding evidence for this online, so I'm going to leave it as a question for anyone who may care to answer: Who actually invented the zipper as we now know it, and where are you finding this information? As an English person I feel like I should be able to find this stuff, but I just caaaaan't tonight. It may be the 8.5 hours of work and then hockey I just watched (Canucks lost. Again.), or I may just be dumb tonight, but I'm unable to find this stuff. Anyways, zippers...

They're wonderful! and we use them in a lot of different ways, including that stereotypical nerdy joke that we all hear in highschool Biology that helps us remember something from the course (if you don't know this joke, really? How've you not heard it). It was originally presented to me in 12th grade as a reallly horrible pick-up line, but I've heard a multitude of variations. Basically though, it's "Hi, I'm DNA helicase and I'd like to unzip your genes". But zippers aren't used only in these ways. Did you know that the first airtight zippers were created by NASA for pressure-suits, and were later adapted and used for space suits and (now) wet/dry suits in swimming?

Zippers are produced in the vast majority by the Japanese company YKK now, and with the 'double zip' (you know, the zipper that opens from the top and bottom that is often included in newer jackets and stuff) they're appearing all over the place. Disappearing are buckles and buttons, emerging are zippers. Actually, the zipper is probably the most widely used fastening device in the world today. Scary.

Anyways, I promised to talk about the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz today too, and basically what I wanted to do was leave you with something fun. Being the English-y person that I am, I thought I'd leave you with a 'Z' that was fun and meant a bit to me, and because the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz is a Seuss creation, it's always going to mean something to me. I was brought up on Seuss's books; some of the first books I ever read on my own were his, and Are You My Mother will always be a super cute favourite. I'd also, however, like to point out that though his books were fun and cute and educational, they weren't always over-the-top educational; they were a good way to teach children to read and write (remember, things that rhyme will stick in our minds for far more time, and a rhythm is always helpful too!), but they were definitely filled with impractical things, such as the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz. He's not going to appear on a spelling test any day soon, but he sure is a good way to teach children to say and write out their 'z's. Education and fun-always a good thing to put hand-in-hand!

So yeah, this has been my month (minus Sundays) in blogs. I may do something like this again, we shall see. However, if I do maybe next time I'll do it with more of a theme in mind. I'm off to watch some Doctor Who and go to bed though now.. I've got to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning to go to work *gags*. I won't say goodbye forever though, as I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be back at some point in time. Ciao, it has been a slice!

'X'

So I could be stereotypically nerdy and write about X-Men or something, but to be honest my knowledge of the X-Men is highly limited. I also can't be bothered to look more into it at this moment, as I'm playing lazy and just don't feel like it. I have, however, finally come across a topic to write about today for X: The lack of dictionary entries starting with 'X' in my dictionary.

There are actually only 9 definitions in my dictionary for words starting with the letter 'X'. 9. I don't have like, a new dictionary or the most super awesome dictionary out there, but I've got a Collins Pocket Reference English Dictionary published in Canada in 1998. I'm assuming therefore that it has all the entries in it that could be considered imperative or pertinent. However, only 9 entries? That's slightly sad. And you know what the entries are? Obviously not if you're there and don't have a copy of the dictionary in front of you, so I'll tell you: 'X', 'Xe', 'Xenon', 'xenophobia', 'Xerox', 'Xmas', 'x-ray', 'xylem', and 'xylophone'.

The biggest disappointment for me was that I went into this whole "let's check the dictionary and see if there's a cool word I can talk about" thing totally stoked to learn a new word, and I didn't learn anything new. It may sound pathetic, but with only 9 words, there wasn't really much to learn. And honestly, after studying Biology and English Literature as I have, the only words that could have been questionable ("Xe", "xenophobia", and "xylem") have cropped up in lectures on more than one occasion. 'Xe' is the chemical abbreviation of xenon, 'xenophobia' is the fear or hatred of people from other countries (which my Lit prof for 18th century novels liked to point out occurred quite a bit in some of our assigned readings), and xylem is the plant tissue that conducts water and minerals from the roots to the rest of the plant.

Wow, looking over that it makes me sound extremely boring and nerdy, but I suppose one of the two is at least slightly correct. I'm a bit of a nerd, I'll admit it. However, that doesn't mean I wasn't disappointed. I may have to go out and buy a better dictionary for myself soon. You know, one of those ones that looks like a gigantic tome, and when you pull it out people kind of gape? Yeah, I definitely want one of those! It'd be like when the guy in my Archaeology class pulled out a quill to take notes, but even more awkward. Yupp, it'd be great.

I feel like I haven't done a great job of talking about anything to do with 'X' today, but with only 9 entries in my dictionary how can I? It's not like I need to learn anything new... Xenon is bad to play with in large quantities, Xerox is a brand of copy machine, I can play the xylophone (though not amazingly, it's a skill I was taught in elementary school - ukulele, marimba, xylophone, recorder), 'X' is used in multiple ways (wrong, unknown, etc), x-rays are something I've had far too many of, and the others have already been explained. Oh well, I guess there's not really much more I can discuss.. I'm off to nerd out, I guess. Or watch hockey. And I'm going to eat some salmon dinner soon too, then have a glass of tea. And tomorrow I'm going with Ray-Ray to her last day of classes! :)

Killing Kisses and Kerosene

Here's our grammar lesson for the day: commas are important! Without them, as my title is written, you may expect something about killing kisses such as a write up about a Dementor's Kiss. For two reasons however, this will never be. The first is that a Dementor's Kiss doesn't actually kill you, the Dementor simply sucks out your soul (so much more pleasant, eh?), therefore not technically killing you; the second is that that could be fairly depressing, and I did depressing yesterday and don't want to again tonight. As for Kerosene, well, you'll see where that comes in shortly.

(And for all you Vancouver Canucks fans out there wondering why I'm not watching the playoffs, there's also two reasons for that: I'm not a gigantic hockey fan, and by not watching I'm supporting them. You see, every time I watch a Canucks game, they tend to lose. The same with the Olympics - every time I turned to the TV during the Gold Medal Game, the US scored. Thus, I'm hiding from hockey in order to support it. Convoluted logic, but it seems to work nonetheless.)


When most people try to think of words that start with 'K', I can see Kiss coming up. I can also see Kick, Kangaroo, Kung-Fu, Kill, and Korea. This is not where my mind went though. Instantly I can up with "Kill", "Kiss", and "Kerosene". Kiss and Kill are a little more typical, but Kerosene? Really? I seem to have this mental though process that comes up somewhat disturbing words if you connect them all. These three in particular though, wow.

If you put these words together and tried to work something out revolving around them you'd probably come up with some crazy twisted drama murder plot involving a lot of leather, relationships, murder, and arson. At least that's where my mind went when I realized these were the first three words I thought of when someone said "name a bunch of words that start with 'K'". You know what's worse though? It took me a while to come up with words past those three.

I was standing in the kitchen at like, 6 am planning out my day when I realized today was another blog day, one in which I'd have to write about something to do with "K", so I started thinking. I'd had weird dreams last night, so "Killing" came up. I was getting ready to leave for my exam, and went to say goodbye to my parents so "Kiss" came to mind (because I was not going to kiss them goodbye, they're ill and I have no time to be!), and we have an oil burning lamp in our living room (or rather, 2) that I love, so "Kerosene" came to mind. However, after thinking up those three, I was stumped. Stumped. I couldn't get past 3 for words that start with "K". And I'm an English major. I was pretty ashamed, then I tried to piece together the words that I'd thought up and was a little bit alarmed. So I thought I'd share.

Guess this is all from me tonight, I'm going to study a bit of Psych before I catch up on the hockey score and then watch Criminal Minds. Later Gator!! (Sorry, not picture today - I don't know what type of visual aide I want to include!! Luvsss!)