Cincinnati Baseball Icon Pete Rose Dead At 83

by Kevin Burton    This is a story about baseball cards and the souls of men.    Or maybe it’s about crime and punishment and fleeting youth.    Or maybe this is a Joni Mitchell song in the making; I’ve looked at Pete Rose from both sides now, from glory and shame and still somehow …

Quibbles And Bits Sports Edition: Royals!

by Kevin Burton    Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!    Led by major league batting champion Bobby Witt Jr. (.332 batting average), the Kansas City Royals qualified for the playoffs!  I’m still a little bit in disbelief.    The Royals bubbled up into the playoffs in 2014 and I said what I am saying …

Making Two Words Into New Words

by Kevin Burton    Great stews and new sandwiches are born of imagination and the proper use of resources at hand. Sometimes we get words that way too.    Two words combine, in whole or in part, to form a whole new word that though previously not a word, is immediately understandable.    For example, …

Trust In God 100 Percent Of The Time

by Kevin Burton    Have you heard of the 37 percent rule?    It’s a method for making choices. I just heard of it Friday.    Say you need to decide which house to buy, which person to marry, which secretary to hire. Here’s how to go about making that decision,  according to Jack Murtagh, …

Funny-Sounding Words With Serious Meanings

by Dictionary Scoop    Words like “cattywampus” and “frou-frou” are more than just fun to say. Sometimes, etymology can take unexpected twists and leave us with gems like “erf” and “dragoon.”    To some, these are everyday words in areas like cuisine or urban planning, for others they are a random assortment of letters that might …

The Psychology Of Color Determines A Lot

by Melanie Davis-McAfee interrestingfacts.com    Most of us are familiar with common color-themed turns of phrase, such as “feeling blue” when we’re sad, “seeing red” when we’re angry, or “being green” with envy.    Phrases such as these can be traced back to a scientifically substantiated phenomenon known as color psychology, a practice that has …

Adorable Animals That Are Secretly Vicious

by Kristina Wright interestingfacts.com    Beneath the adorable exteriors of many wild animals lies a beastly side that’s anything but sweet.    The traits that can make an animal seem endearing can also mask a more aggressive nature, one that’s driven by their survival instincts and the protection of their young. When we think of …

Draw Near To God, He Bids Us, Draw Near

by Kevin Burton    If you don’t know the Old Testament you’re going to gloss over, what is now one of my favorite parts of the gospel story.    I missed it completely until somebody on one of the radio ministries (I forget which one now), explained it.    It has to do with the …

Who’s Hungry For Some Tasty Food Idioms?

by Dictionary Scoop    Food idioms have a way of adding flavor to our speech. We have internalized these phrases and no longer notice their edible main characters.    What are the origins of these funny lines? Did their meanings evolve over the centuries? Grab a snack and read on to learn the history of food-related …

Crazy Great News, Then Bad News In Fantasy

by Kevin Burton    Something truly bizarre happened to my fantasy football teams last week. They won, all six of them.    My K&J Tornados team won by 35.08 points.   All the others won by more than that!  Now maybe that’s not such a great big deal. After all, one point – or in fantasy …