Our Issues
Our Agenda of Issues of
International Importance
█ London Eye
The London Eye is a favorite
tourist destination for some dull men. [1]
All of London can be seen from the
London Eye. Many of us prefer to see London this way. Being out on the streets
can be uncomfortable, even dangerous. ThereÕs noise. ThereÕre distracting ads
in store windows. ThereÕs the concern about which side of the pavement to walk
on (in the U.K., thereÕs no defined rule about which side of the pavement to
walk on[2]).
The London EyeÕs website is very
informative and helpful. You can book on it ahead of your visit[3]
(although dull men often do not book —we like to queue).
I have only one problem with the
London Eye. It goes around at 0.5 miles per hour. ThatÕs too fast for me
— IÕd like them to slow it down.
Some dull men do not like to ride the London Eye, and itÕs more than just its speed. ÒItÕs scary. What if it falls over when IÕm on it?Ó is a question we hear. Dull men who feel this way often prefer to view London from the London Subway.[4] They like to ride underground and imagine what is overhead.
█ Square Truth about London
London has many small parks that are called ÒsquaresÓ on the maps. But many of these are not squares. We discovered this when we toured all around London a few years ago when the ÒsquaresÓ were open to the public, which happens every June.[5]
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LONDON GARDEN SQUARES
WEEKEND HEREÕS THE SQUARE TRUTH
ABOUT LONDON There
is a weekend each June called the London Garden Squares Weekend. Gardens that
are normally private—a key is needed to enter—are open to the
public. Approximately 140 gardens participate in this. The weekend has its
own website: www.opensquares.org/. This weekend is our favorite event of ÒThe Season.Ó
Much more fun for us than the other events like Royal Ascot (horse racing),
Henley Royal Regatta (rowing), Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. But did you know that many of the Squares in London
are not really squares? Did you realize that Sloan Square is actually Sloane
Rectangle? There are of course some true squares: Belgrave
Square, St. JamesÕs, Square, Trafalgar Square, and Manchester Square. But many of the so-called ÒSquaresÓ are, like Sloane
Square, actually rectangles. Their names should actually be Eaton Rectangle, Chester Rectangle,
Cadogan Rectangle, Ladbroke Rectangle, Gloucester Rectangle, Berkley
Rectangle, Ennismore Rectangle, Warwick Rectangle, Eccleston Rectangle, Onslow
Rectangle. Grosvenor Square should be named Grosvenor Oval. Even further from the square truth is Cleveland
Square, which should be named Cleveland Trapezoid. |
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There are interesting websites about these squares. If it would be too exciting for you to visit them, you can view them on these websites. Here are two views of Chester Rectangle, out in front of Margaret ThatcherÕs house, and one of nearby Eaton Rectangle:[6]
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History of London Squares No other city has
developed the garden square in the same way as London. These gardens are
tranquil havens where people can relax and enjoy themselfes. They are often
also havens for wildlife.[7]
The first squares,
SoHo Square, Covent Garden, and LinconÕs Inn Fields, were laid out in the
seventeen century[8] These were paved, following their Italian
predecessors. In the eighteen century new squares were laid out — with
trees and shrubs — Portman Square, Hanover Square, Cavendish Square,
and Manchester Square. In the nineteenth century came Trafalgar Square,
Russell Square, Belgrave Square, and Eaton Square.
In
the twentieth century underground car parks posed a threat to the squares,
Finsbury Square and Cavendish Square in particular. Trees were uprooted for
car parks. Other squares suffered from dereliction and vandalism. LincolnÕs
Inn Fuels became ÒCardboard CityÓ colonized by the homeless. |
█ Transparent Toaster — funding urgently needed
We have been wanting a transparent toaster for a long time. We want to watch toast toast.
Dull men donÕt like surprises. We donÕt like being surprised when we see how our toast has turned out — we donÕt want have to wait until it pops out of the toaster.[9]
There is good news. The concept for a transparent toaster has been developed by the Inventables Concept Studio in Chicago.[10]
But thereÕs bad news. A type of glass has not yet been invented that gets hot enough to toast.
Another problem is that the present idea is that the proposed toaster only toasts one piece of toast at a time.[11]
Funding is needed, urgently, even if it needs to come from the
public sector. What is more important — public funding of another war
abroad or public funding of a toaster that can be enjoyed at home?
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Party Idea Toaster Party Members
bring their toasters to one of your DMC meetings for a ÒShow and Tell.Ó Members
will glow with pride when they show and tell about their toasters. The
other members will be on the edge of their chairs listening to the stories
about toasters. You
can have toasting competitions — which toaster makes the best toast? And
then thereÕll be the finale: eating the toast. The
party can be ramped up — combine it with a Marmalade Tasting. |
█ Disappearing Hyphen — Hyphen Protection Society urgently needed
Hyphens are becoming an endangered species. 16,000 words lost their hyphens in the new edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.[12]
Bumble-bee is now bumblebee, ice-cream is ice cream, and pot-belly is pot belly. If you have a problem with this, you are no longer a cry-baby — youÕre not a crybaby.
There are some instances where a hyphen is still needed: youÕll still want to say ÒThere were twenty-odd people at the partyÓ instead of ÒThere were twenty odd people at the party.Ó
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Topic for DMC Meeting ÒThe Joy of HyphenatingÓ ¤
Let each member
describe the pleasure he gets when reaching for the hyphen key ¤
Discuss how
reaching go for the hyphen key is good exercise for your hand ¤
Discuss the
locations of the hyphen key on various computer keyboards ¤
Discuss how words
should be hyphenated ¤
Should it be
Òe-mailÓ or ÒemailÓ? ¤
Is a hyphen
simply a flattened-out exclamation mark? If so, then isnÕt that a good use of
an exclamation mark and should be encouraged? ¤
Should a local
Hyphen Protection Society should be formed in your community, similar to the
Apostrophe Protection Society?[13] |
█ Blackwing 602 — Bring This Indispensable Pencil Back into Production
The Blackwing 602, a legendary pencil considered by many to be the Holy Grain of pencils, went out of production 1998. But the demands for them continues. They are not selling for as much as $25 each on e-Bay.[14]
This pencil is described as not only beautifully but highly proficient. ItÕs motto was Half the pressure, twice the speed.Ó John Steinbeck wrote, ÒYesterday I used a Blackwing 602 soft and fine, and it floated over the paper just wonderfully.Ó A interesting thought about the pencil was expressed by Stephen Sondheim, ÒWith their super-soft led, they wear down quickly so I feel like IÕm getting a lot done.Ó
The Blackwing 602 was originally manufacture by Eberhard Faber. Faber-Castell bought Eberhard Faber, and then Sanford Corporation bought Faber-Castell.
A letter writing campaign to Sanford Corporation urging them to resume production. The address:
Sanford Corporation
Consumer Affairs
2707 Butterfield Road
Oak Brook Illinois 60523
U.S.A
|
GroverÕs Pencil Pentel Quicker Clicker, 0.7 mm This
is PentelÕs original lead advance automatic pencil. It has a convenient side
button that pushes out the lead; this means that you can write continuously
without having to change your hand position. It
is available in 0.5mm fine, 0.7 medium, and 0.9 mm thick lines. Our Grover
likes the 0.7 medium (dull men are often in the middle of the road).
This
pencil can be ordered from PentelÕs website[15]
as well as from Amazon.[16] |
█ Roundabouts — Needed in the U.S.
The U.S. is roundabout deficient, which is ironic since
Columbus Circle in New York City is generally regarded as the worldÕs first
roundabout, or traffic circle.[17]
[Describe its decline . . . and then what happened to restore
Columbus Circle as a roundabout and when did it happen]
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Columbus Circle Trivia Columbus
Circle is the point at which distances to and from New York City are
officially measured. ItÕs
coordinates are 40¡46Õ05Ó, 73¡58Õ55Ó ItÕs
a major transportation hub. The A, B. C, D, and 1 subway lines have stops at
Columbus Circle. The M5, M7, M10, M20, and M104 busses stop there. It
has a monument in its center by Gaetano Russo, an Italian sculptor[18]
ItÕs
named for Christopher Columbus |
Avon Colorado — Roundabout Capital of the Rocky
Mountains
Not all of American, apart from
Columbus Circle, is devoid of roundabouts. Avon, a town nine miles west of
Vail, prides itself in being the ÒRoundabout Capital of the Rocky Mountains.Ó[19]
It did what motorists everywhere wish towns would do. They eliminated traffic
congestion. They replaced three stoplights and two stop signs with five
roundabouts.
Having roundabouts in Avon is
consistent with the townÕs roots It was settled in the 1870s by immigrants from
England. They named their settlement Avon as it reminded them of the Avon River
Valley.
English names are everywhere in Avon. The predominant name is
Nottingham, stemming from a family that came to the valley in 1896 to ranch.
ThereÕs Nottingham Park, Nottingham Rock, Nottingham Road, and Nottingham Ranch
Road. Nottingham family members, now third and fourth generation, are still in
the area and still ranching and farming, raising cattle and sheep and growing
hay, wheat, oats, lettuce, potatoes and peas.
|
Question for Hyphenators What
are they: Round
abouts? Round-abouts? Roundabouts? |
█ Lift Music — Needed in the U.K.
Lifts in the U.K. suffer from a music deficiency. Music is needed in them like is in the ÒelevatorsÓ in the U.S. Dull men like to ride elevators to listen to the music.
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Topic Suggestion for DMC Meeting Favorite Lift Tunes Have a round robin
discussion of which songs members like to hear in lifts Or,
if they prefer no music in lifts, why do they feel that way? Is it because
they want to eavesdrop? Is it because they want to meditate? If
any hyphenators are at this meeting, ask them to discuss whether they are
having a Òround robin,Ó Òround-robin,Ó or ÒroundrobinÓ discussion. |
█ DonÕt Ban Corduroy
We like corduroy. We wear it and we appreciate it. ThatÕs why we were so pleased when we read in The New Yorker in December 2005 that a Corduroy Appreciation Club had been founded.[20]
But then, only one month later, we read in The Daily Telegraph that corduroy had been banned for taxi drivers in East Anglia. ÒAngry taxi drivers say theyÕre hitting us below the belt.Ó[21]
The ban on corduroy caused an outcry. First is was fox hunting. Then corduroy. What would be next?
ÒCorduroy is the fabric of English country life that unites all classes,Ó writer Christopher Howse.[22]
ÒThe longer you have them, the better they look,Ó says Jeremy Hackett, found of the Hackett ManÕs clothing brand.[23] He cites well-known wearers of corduroy like Michael Palin, Alan Bennet, and Stephen Fry.
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Smart Casual The
ban on corduroy in East Anglia was part of a new dress code there that
required that taxi drivers should look smart and professional, basically
dress in Smart Casual. But
what is Smart Casual? Do I need to give my clothes an IQ test?
Bill Gates wearing Smart
Casual on WikipediaÕs page about
Smart Casual[24] Do
they call it Smart Casual because itÕs the way Bill Gates, a really smart
guy, dresses? Smart
Casual, also called Business Casual, generally means a shirt with a collar
(can be a tennis or polo shirt), cotton trousers (like khakis and, of course,
corduroy), leather shoes (not trainers) — and, most importantly, no
necktie. Denim
jeans are often verboten. Jeans are OK in Silicon Valley — look at
Steve Jobs. And Jeans are OK anywhere anytime in Denver; If you super keen to
wear jeans, move to Denver. |
+ + + + + + +
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Have you heard about
the new corduroy pillows? TheyÕre
making headlines all around the world |
█ A Fortnight — Teach Americans What a Fortnight Is
