by Dictionary Scoop For Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, happiness is a warm puppy. For some, it's a habit. For others, it is a philosophy, a quest, or an ideal, among many other things. Join us on a linguistic journey through the lexicon of happiness, discovering the many shades and …
Playing Musical Instrument Good For The Brain
by Kevin Burton I’m still hanging on to a notion, planted by a Steely Dan song. If you know some of that Steely Dan imagery, that sounds kind of dangerous. Let me explain. I love Steely Dan and I love “Deacon Blues.” I have judged the United States as a nation because …
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Blind Nebraska Woman Denied Postal Delivery
by Kevin Burton Dialogue magazine for the blind used to have a column called Abapita. Abapita is an acronym standing for “ain’t blindness a pain in the anatomy.” Sadly that magazine stopped publishing in 2019. Also sadly, for the blind, the pain in the anatomy continues. I get all manner of news …
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Five More Unbelievable But True Stories
by Kevin Burton The best fiction writers will have to go some to match these strange-but-true tales, compiled by Dictionary Scoop. We told five of their stories yesterday. Today we mostly have tales of war, but not always the customary kind. We briefly dip into the cola wars, sort of: 6 The year …
Truth Proved Much Stranger Than Fiction
by Dictionary Scoop They say truth is stranger than fiction, and some of these historical events are living proof. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride through history, where the strange and unexpected take center stage in the theater of reality. 1 The Great Emu War Wars are typically waged between nations, but in 1932, …
Nebraska Town Divided Over Immigration
by Didi Martinez, Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler, NBC News FREMONT, Neb. — Big-city mayors may be complaining about the economic impact of an influx of migrants, but the residents of a small city near Omaha can’t decide how they feel. Fremont, Nebraska, population 27,000, has three massive meat-processing plants. As young locals leave in …
Gerry Rafferty Was Born 77 Years Ago Today
by Kevin Burton The headline to an article in The Independent called Gerry Rafferty a “bipolar alcoholic industry misfit.” His biographers including his daughter Martha dispute none of that. The article was printed on the occasion of the 2021 release of “Rest In Blue” an album of Rafferty demos polished and completed by …
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Cookies Crumble, But Our Love Marches On
by Kevin Burton Late last month my wife Jeannette did something to jeopardize our marriage. We were at Subway and I heard her say to the sandwich artist, “..and we want three chocolate chip cookies…” Three chocolate chip cookies. As you know, three is an uneven number. It’s quite a bit …
Brewing A Big Pot Of Knowledge About Tea
by Kevin Burton Somebody, either me or my wife Jeannette, went a little crazy buying tea in a discount store some years ago. Guess which one. We had visited her parents in the county west of us. On the way home we stopped at one of those discount stores. I found tea …
My Cats Know My Voice (But Don’t Listen)
by Kevin Burton Researchers found that cats can recognize their owners’ voices. Duh! Why would you need a team of researchers to figure that out? Call me when researchers have figured out how to get the cats to listen and obey. That will be news I can use. “While dogs are …
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