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Author: Colin Rowland

Trivia Thursday: A city straddling two continents.

Trivia Thursday: A city straddling two continents.

Photo by Phardon Media on Unsplash Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is the only city in the world that sits astride two continents, Europe and Asia. Its population is fifteen million, or nineteen percent of its country, Turkey! It is also the world’s fifteenth largest city. At its founding in the 7th BC, it was known as Byzantium. In AD 330, the Roman emperor Constantin changed its name to Constantinople (I wonder why?). That name lasted until 1930, when it was changed…

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Funny Friday – The comic genius of Tim Conway

Funny Friday – The comic genius of Tim Conway

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/TimConway I was a big fan of Tim Conway and remember him from Disney films like The Apple Dumpling Gang, among others. What I remember his most for, though, was as a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, where he portrayed numerous characters. It seemed that no matter which role he was cast in, from a depressed and angry vacuum cleaner salesman to a confused plumber, he was funny. He was teamed with Harvey Korman on a regular basis, and…

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A surprisingly good cover band

A surprisingly good cover band

A few months ago, for reasons I still can’t explain, I followed a YouTube link to a band called Leonid and Friends. I have been a fan of Steely Dan for years and at the time, I was looking for a video of a favorite, called “My Old School”. At the top of the search results was a band I had never heard of before. I clicked on the link, expecting to listen for a few seconds and close the…

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A new excerpt from “Hidden Desires”.

A new excerpt from “Hidden Desires”.

As I’ve said on numerous occasions, I’m currently working on a complete rewrite and expansion of my early novel, “Hidden Desires”. Progress has been excruciatingly slow, mostly due to my lethargy at tackling the work. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned the project. On the contrary, I am proud of the changes and improvements I am making to every facet of this story. To that end, I have another excerpt for your perusal and enjoyment. As a bit of background,…

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The Most Famous Things Mark Twain Never Said

The Most Famous Things Mark Twain Never Said

Image by Jackie Ramirez from Pixabay I don’t recall how it happened, but I inadvertently opted into a daily email from Inspiring Quotes, a website with a collection of quotes on various subjects. My initial reaction was to unsubscribe and delete the post, because I get enough unwanted garbage in my inbox now, so why would I want to add to the mess cluttering it now? For one reason or another, I didn’t get around to doing that and I am glad I…

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Tuesday Tunes – A different take on Pachelbel’s canon

Tuesday Tunes – A different take on Pachelbel’s canon

Image by GrumpyBeere from Pixabay I absolutely love Pachelbel’s canon in D major. To me, it is a beautiful, soothing composition that captures the best of classical music. Today, for some unknown reason, I was scrolling through my feed on Facebook when I happened upon this version of the music. All the description said was cannon rock (and yes, that was how it was spelt), so I wasn’t expecting to hear this song. But curiosity took control and I clicked on the link….

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What’s Up Wednesday? A few of my favorite things.

What’s Up Wednesday? A few of my favorite things.

Top image by Martin Javorek from Pixabay   Image from Pixabay In all honesty, I really don’t have much to say, so I’m going to tell you about a few of my favorite things, In no special order: I love the Minions movies. They are a bit of fun in an increasingly dark world. Watching these inept but surprisingly effective dimwits always improves my mood. To nobody’s surprise, I absolutely adore dogs, of all shapes and varieties. Of course, my border collie…

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Trivia Thursday-Who was the inventor?

Trivia Thursday-Who was the inventor?

Image by Claudio Henrique Claudio from Pixabay In a previous Trivia Thursday, I talked about lesser known firsts. Today I want to discuss popular inventions that might be attributed to the wrong person. Have we given credit to the wrong person? I’ll let you be the judge: First Automobile: While Karl Benz is often credited with inventing the first automobile with his Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886, some argue that the honor should go to earlier inventors such as Siegfried Marcus. According to Wikipedia,…

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Funny Friday-Life with a dog.

Funny Friday-Life with a dog.

Image by M J from Pixabay The picture above is a reasonable likeness of Daisy, my family’s newest addition. As you probably know by now, I treasure my canine companions. My border collie, Haley, is a two year old delight, while our German Shepherd pup is, to be charitable, very amusing. That’s not to say she is dumb. Not at all; in fact, the animal is a genius at finding new and original ways of breaking the rules. To tell the truth, I…

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Feel like a proverb or an adage? Be careful what you wish for!

Feel like a proverb or an adage? Be careful what you wish for!

Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay In planning for this post, I started thinking of proverbs and adages. Are they different? According to Wikipedia, they are the same. They are similar, in that both are sayings that impart wisdom of one sort or another, but there is a difference. While proverbs find their roots in tradition and culture, adages are more varied in both their origins and their applications. Ten of the most common proverbs, which are common to numerous languages, are: “Actions…

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