Paper Scissors Rock---Rock Paper Scissors---and the naming of things.

Last night, my girlfriend informed me that when I call the game "Paper, Scissors, Rock", I am making a terrible error---that in fact, the game is properly titled "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and that no other improper permutation will do. In defiance, then, of contemporary convention, I wrote a small program to print out all 6 possible titles and I shall leave it to you to decide which is best! Personally, I like "Paper, Rock, Scissors".

{Paper, Scissors, Rock}

{Paper, Rock, Scissors}

{Scissors, Paper, Rock}

{Scissors, Rock, Paper}

{Rock, Paper, Scissors}

{Rock, Scissors, Paper}

Also, for those of you die hard eunomenclaturists out there, I wrote a second program to print out all 120 possible permutations of "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock". Enjoy. My favorite is "Spock, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard". Two rhymes!

{{Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock},

{Rock, Paper, Scissors, Spock, Lizard},

{Rock, Paper, Lizard, Scissors, Spock},

{Rock, Paper, Lizard, Spock, Scissors},

{Rock, Paper, Spock, Scissors, Lizard},

{Rock, Paper, Spock, Lizard, Scissors},

{Rock, Scissors, Paper, Lizard, Spock},

{Rock, Scissors, Paper, Spock, Lizard},

{Rock, Scissors, Lizard, Paper, Spock},

{Rock, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Paper},

{Rock, Scissors, Spock, Paper, Lizard},

{Rock, Scissors, Spock, Lizard, Paper},

{Rock, Lizard, Paper, Scissors, Spock},

{Rock, Lizard, Paper, Spock, Scissors},

{Rock, Lizard, Scissors, Paper, Spock},

{Rock, Lizard, Scissors, Spock, Paper},

{Rock, Lizard, Spock, Paper, Scissors},

{Rock, Lizard, Spock, Scissors, Paper},

{Rock, Spock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard},

{Rock, Spock, Paper, Lizard, Scissors},

{Rock, Spock, Scissors, Paper, Lizard},

{Rock, Spock, Scissors, Lizard, Paper},

{Rock, Spock, Lizard, Paper, Scissors},

{Rock, Spock, Lizard, Scissors, Paper},

{Paper, Rock, Scissors, Lizard, Spock},

{Paper, Rock, Scissors, Spock, Lizard},

{Paper, Rock, Lizard, Scissors, Spock},

{Paper, Rock, Lizard, Spock, Scissors},

{Paper, Rock, Spock, Scissors, Lizard},

{Paper, Rock, Spock, Lizard, Scissors},

{Paper, Scissors, Rock, Lizard, Spock},

{Paper, Scissors, Rock, Spock, Lizard},

{Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Rock, Spock},

{Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Rock},

{Paper, Scissors, Spock, Rock, Lizard},

{Paper, Scissors, Spock, Lizard, Rock},

{Paper, Lizard, Rock, Scissors, Spock},

{Paper, Lizard, Rock, Spock, Scissors},

{Paper, Lizard, Scissors, Rock, Spock},

{Paper, Lizard, Scissors, Spock, Rock},

{Paper, Lizard, Spock, Rock, Scissors},

{Paper, Lizard, Spock, Scissors, Rock},

{Paper, Spock, Rock, Scissors, Lizard},

{Paper, Spock, Rock, Lizard, Scissors},

{Paper, Spock, Scissors, Rock, Lizard},

{Paper, Spock, Scissors, Lizard, Rock},

{Paper, Spock, Lizard, Rock, Scissors},

{Paper, Spock, Lizard, Scissors, Rock},

{Scissors, Rock, Paper, Lizard, Spock},

{Scissors, Rock, Paper, Spock, Lizard},

{Scissors, Rock, Lizard, Paper, Spock},

{Scissors, Rock, Lizard, Spock, Paper},

{Scissors, Rock, Spock, Paper, Lizard},

{Scissors, Rock, Spock, Lizard, Paper},

{Scissors, Paper, Rock, Lizard, Spock},

{Scissors, Paper, Rock, Spock, Lizard},

{Scissors, Paper, Lizard, Rock, Spock},

{Scissors, Paper, Lizard, Spock, Rock},

{Scissors, Paper, Spock, Rock, Lizard},

{Scissors, Paper, Spock, Lizard, Rock},

{Scissors, Lizard, Rock, Paper, Spock},

{Scissors, Lizard, Rock, Spock, Paper},

{Scissors, Lizard, Paper, Rock, Spock},

{Scissors, Lizard, Paper, Spock, Rock},

{Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Rock, Paper},

{Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Paper, Rock},

{Scissors, Spock, Rock, Paper, Lizard},

{Scissors, Spock, Rock, Lizard, Paper},

{Scissors, Spock, Paper, Rock, Lizard},

{Scissors, Spock, Paper, Lizard, Rock},

{Scissors, Spock, Lizard, Rock, Paper},

{Scissors, Spock, Lizard, Paper, Rock},

{Lizard, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Spock},

{Lizard, Rock, Paper, Spock, Scissors},

{Lizard, Rock, Scissors, Paper, Spock},

{Lizard, Rock, Scissors, Spock, Paper},

{Lizard, Rock, Spock, Paper, Scissors},

{Lizard, Rock, Spock, Scissors, Paper},

{Lizard, Paper, Rock, Scissors, Spock},

{Lizard, Paper, Rock, Spock, Scissors},

{Lizard, Paper, Scissors, Rock, Spock},

{Lizard, Paper, Scissors, Spock, Rock},

{Lizard, Paper, Spock, Rock, Scissors},

{Lizard, Paper, Spock, Scissors, Rock},

{Lizard, Scissors, Rock, Paper, Spock},

{Lizard, Scissors, Rock, Spock, Paper},

{Lizard, Scissors, Paper, Rock, Spock},

{Lizard, Scissors, Paper, Spock, Rock},

{Lizard, Scissors, Spock, Rock, Paper},

{Lizard, Scissors, Spock, Paper, Rock},

{Lizard, Spock, Rock, Paper, Scissors},

{Lizard, Spock, Rock, Scissors, Paper},

{Lizard, Spock, Paper, Rock, Scissors},

{Lizard, Spock, Paper, Scissors, Rock},

{Lizard, Spock, Scissors, Rock, Paper},

{Lizard, Spock, Scissors, Paper, Rock},

{Spock, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard},

{Spock, Rock, Paper, Lizard, Scissors},

{Spock, Rock, Scissors, Paper, Lizard},

{Spock, Rock, Scissors, Lizard, Paper},

{Spock, Rock, Lizard, Paper, Scissors},

{Spock, Rock, Lizard, Scissors, Paper},

{Spock, Paper, Rock, Scissors, Lizard},

{Spock, Paper, Rock, Lizard, Scissors},

{Spock, Paper, Scissors, Rock, Lizard},

{Spock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Rock},

{Spock, Paper, Lizard, Rock, Scissors},

{Spock, Paper, Lizard, Scissors, Rock},

{Spock, Scissors, Rock, Paper, Lizard},

{Spock, Scissors, Rock, Lizard, Paper},

{Spock, Scissors, Paper, Rock, Lizard},

{Spock, Scissors, Paper, Lizard, Rock},

{Spock, Scissors, Lizard, Rock, Paper},

{Spock, Scissors, Lizard, Paper, Rock},

{Spock, Lizard, Rock, Paper, Scissors},

{Spock, Lizard, Rock, Scissors, Paper},

{Spock, Lizard, Paper, Rock, Scissors},

{Spock, Lizard, Paper, Scissors, Rock},

{Spock, Lizard, Scissors, Rock, Paper},

{Spock, Lizard, Scissors, Paper, Rock}}

--Whew--

Of Seasons and Home

Dearest friends, (or more likely: friend,)

I have been away from my blog too long--this I certainly know--and loathe though I am to proffer excuses, in this case, I have a good one: I have spent the past few months toiling in the salt mines of my imagination in hope that I might expedite the writing of my book. THE OTHERSIDE, draws nearer and nearer to completion. Indeed, the vast majority of the volume is ready for an editor's eye. I anticipate its completion come April of 2010.

For the present, however, I offer a silly little acoustic poem, written in matter of several minutes on a marvelous May afternoon. I call it: Of Seasons and Home.

Of Seasons and Home

Where spring will bring a bird to sing and warm a withered wood,
Where summer's breeze sends news of seas, but only when it's good,
Where autumn always enters late and winter exits soon,
Where hope is always higher held than any air baloon,
Where every mind will freely find encouragement to roam,
On life, I swear, till I've no air--
That place will be my home.

Prefix of the Day: NEO-

Prefix of the day:

-NEO

From Greek, meaning "new".

NEOnatal: pertaining to newborns.

NEOn: new element (at least it used to be new...)

NEOlithic: pertaining to the new Stone Age.

NEOplasm: new formation of cells, esp. a tumor.

NEOdymium: Chemical element 60, whose name means "new twin"--the other twin is praseodymium.


Mnemonic:
Keanu Reeves returns as NEO in the Matrix XIX: Newer Numbers.

Grammatical Goblins: LAY vs LIE

Okay...so I'm going to begin this post with an enormous groan and a wag of my finger at the wicked, wicked folks responsible for the LAY vs. LIE fiasco, which has to be one of the most wretchedly confusing idiosyncrasies in the whole of the English language--and as we all know, that is saying an awful, awful lot.

So what's the problem? The problem is this: both words are three letters long and both begin with an 'L'. Additionally, the definitions of the words are rather similar and both involve something being set down. Confusing, yes? Well here's the kicker...: The past tense of "lie" is "lay".

This is nothing short of villainous.

So here is a quick rundown of each of these evil words:

Lay:
To set down an object;

Present Tense--- Past Tense --- Past Participle
-----Lay -----------Laid ------------Laid

(Present): "Lay the book on the table, Dennis."
(Past): "A minute ago, Dennis laid the book on the table."
(Past Participle): "I had laid down a book as well."

The lowdown: The verb "LAY" is very similar to the verbs "set" and "place".
"Lay the book on the table."
"Set the book on the table."
"Place the book on the table."

Essentially, these all mean the same thing.

Lie:
to recline---"Lie" is what you do when you go to sleep--unless you sleep standing up (or sitting).

Present Tense--- Past Tense --- Past Participle
-----Lie -----------Lay ------------Lain

The confusing bit comes in here, because the past tense of "Lie" is "Lay".
(Present): "I'm tired--I need to lie down."
(Past): "I lay down four hours ago, and I still haven't gotten up!"
(Past Participle): "Until this morning, I had lain in bed for a month."

Cheers

C.S.

Prefix of the Day: CON-/COM-

Prefix of the Day:

CON-/COM-

From Latin meaning "Together" or "With"

CONcave: with a cavity.

COMpatriots: Folks from the same country (lit. Countrymen together).

CONvene: Come together.

CONgenital: of a Disease that is present at birth, such as congential heart defects (CON-: with; GEN: origin/creation).


Closing Note: The CON- that appears here is different than con (as in "pros and cons"). That kind of con comes from the prefix contra-, meaning "against"--so while Pros are good and definitely in your best interest, cons (as in contras) are bad and against your best interest.

Root of the Day: MORPH

Root of the Day

MORPH-

Greek: Shape

MetaMORPHosis: process of changing shape

isoMORPH: same shape

MORPHology: lit. the study of shapes; in application: the study of forms and structure without considering function.

In addition, the three principle body shapes all include the Greek root MORPH:
EndoMORPH: Inner shape
MesoMORPH: Middle shape
EctoMORPH: Outer shape

These words come from the directional facing of joints: e.g. the shoulders of an ectoMORPH (outer shape) will point back and out, while the shoulders of an endoMORPH (inner shape) will hunch inward towards the body.

Prefix of the Day: MAL-

Prefix of the day:

MAL-

From Latin, meaning "Bad".

Note: You can only be certain that MAL means "bad" when it is used as a prefix at the beginning of a word. The reason for this is that many Latin based adjectives and nouns end with the suffix -AL, which means "pertaining to" while many other Latin based roots end with the letter 'm'. Take, for example, the word "animal". Here, we see the letters 'm','a','l', but this is not the prefix mal---it is the coming together of the root "ANIM-" with the Latin suffix "-AL".

Examples:

MALadjusted: Badly adjusted

MALevolent: Wishing ill on others (lit. bad desires)

MALice: Badness; wickedness; evil.

MALfeasance: the breaking of a law by an elected official or an otherwise trusted servant of the public (lit. bad law).

Mnemonic:
You want a mnemonic for MAL-?
Too bad--you do not get one.