Haiku News - June 29, 2010

Every day there are
more and more reasons to buy
organic, local.

Helicopter moms
and dads produce neurotic
kids. Are you surprised?

Not only can one
learn from mistakes, sometimes one
can cash in on them.

There is a 1 in
3,000 chance that cats like
this ever exist...

...But there is a 1
in 28 million chance
this happens again.

If there was ever
a time for a little luck,
this was the moment.

How is art defined:
By what the artist sees or
what the viewer does?

A rural village
in New Zealand is for sale,
relatively cheap!

Goldilocks ate their
food, tried on their clothes, and took
a nap in their bed.

The first time he made
such a typo, the error
was too big to hide.

Friday Photography - I-80 Traffic Jam

I was recently on vacation in Ohio. Yes, a vacation not someplace with a beach and fruity drinks. Anyways, while I was there an accident happened on I-80 in Ohio, causing a giant traffic jam. Everyone got out of their cars to hang out in the shoulder? Weirdness. We were sitting in the same spot for 30 minutes, so I got out and snapped some pictures. It was a little surreal.

I-80 Traffic Jam

I-80 Traffic Jam

Dinner vs. Supper

Dinner and supper. They seem so interchangeable. They both can refer to the last meal of the day. And it seems that the preference for "dinner" over "supper" is both regional and generational. In the south and the east it is supper that reigns, and in the north and the west, dinner is, well, what's for dinner. Older people tend to say supper while the younger generations lean toward dinner. What are the actual differences between the meanings of these words?

A quick search of "Dinner vs. Supper" drew quite a few results with few answers. There are plenty of other people confused about what the difference is between the words. The most thorough explanation for dinner vs. supper came from Digital Streets.

According to Wikipedia, and mentioned at Digital Streets, supper is the name for a light evening meal that followed dinner. The term is derived from the French souper, which is related to soup. It is also related to the German word for soup, which is "Suppe".

On the other hand, Wikipedia says that dinner originally referred to the first meal of the day, a heavy meal usually eaten about noon. Eating this noon-time dinner "broke the night's fast" in the new day, and in Old French, circa 1300, "disner" actually meant "breakfast." Further, the lighter meal following dinner has traditionally been referred to as supper, implying they're not so interchangeable after-all.

So dinner isn’t lunch or supper, it's breakfast, and supper, which follows dinner, is really lunch? That's confusing enough, and that's where DS ended the comparison. But there is at least one more difference between dinner and supper: Class differences.

In colonial days, farmers were too busy to eat three meals a day, so they only ate breakfast and dinner. Cooking for the second meal started almost immediately after the first meal of the day because it saved the woman of the household from having to restart the hearth fire.

The wealthy had three meals a day, though: breakfast, dinner, and supper. With urban occupations and more leisure time, there was ample time for eating. Later in the 19th century, cooks and servants allowed the wealthy to host grand dinner parties with lavish meals that lasted well into the evening.

As a result of this class difference then, referring to the evening meal as dinner is fairly formal now. Supper tends to be used to describe a less formal, simpler family meal. That makes sense when you think about it. When people go out on dates, they never talk about having supper, it is usually dinner. But when families are sitting down together for a meal in the evening, they often say "Supper is ready!"

In central Minnesota, I don't often hear people say supper but it still happens often enough for me to ponder the preference of dinner over supper or vice versa. Personally, I like the word dinner better. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the word supper sounds less appetizing. Maybe it has something to do with the popping of the "p" in supper - I also prefer saying soda to pop, which has a similar sound!

Which word do you prefer to call the final meal of the day?

Sara Duane is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota. 

Friday Photography - March & The Mushroom

It has been raining an awful lot lately. So much so, there are little mushrooms popping up all over the place.

Bell Shape Mushroom

Don't eat them! They are poisonous. If your child or pet ingests either of these mushroom types, call Minnesota poison control at 1-800-222-1222.

Flat Top Mushroom

Don't eat these either. Unless you know what types of mushrooms are edible, it is a good idea just to leave them alone.

March on the Mushroom

Except for March. After all, he is named after an Alice Through the Looking Glass character. He just had to strike his pose on a mushroom.

Your Oxford English Dictionary May Contain an Error

An Australian physicist recently discovered a 99-year-old typo. In a dictionary. That has been used as a reference for other dictionaries.

Dr. Stephen Hughes, from the University of Technology in Brisbane, discovered the mistake while researching an article for science teachers. He brought to the attention of Oxford University Press that the definition for the word “siphon” was incorrect. Oxford's definition states siphons function due to atmospheric pressure, but Hughes says in actuality, they function due to gravity. The definition had been incorrectly repeated since it was first published in 1911.

OED will make the change in the next edition, but it is unknown how many other sources used Oxford's definition as a resource.

I'm a nerd. I would have loved to have been the person to find this typo. But even if I had read it, I'm not a scientist so I probably wouldn't have even known it was incorrect.

Haiku News - June 15, 2010

Companies ignore
women's spending power at
their own jeopardy.

Seed bombs exploding
into flower shaped shrapnel:
Guerrilla green thumbs.

Obsession for Men
doesn't just lure the cougars,
but jaguars as well.

Working with horses,
one cannot predict all the
risks their care entails.

Do not disregard
animal cruelty, for
people should worry.

Even the creatures
know that politicians can't
really be trusted.

Symbol of insight,
the humble light bulb truly
may spark bright ideas.

If a power pole
falls in the forest, workmen
will come to inspect.

The Octopus Tree,
a curious oddity,
its secrets still veiled.

Two Week Camel Milk
Challenge aside, I think I'd
at least taste test it.

Friday Photography - Holding Hands

I have so many photos to sort through and nothing important to do until Saturday, so my Friday is dedicated to sorting through as many photos as I can. Specifically, the photos that I took of a friend's wedding last week. This one is a favorite already, and it is one in the first section of photos I was looking through.

Holding Hands - Black & White

Sure it looks good in color, but there is just something about black and white. It adds mood, in this case I think its a little romantic.

There are a lot of photos here, though. This sorting project is going to take a while and will need to be broken up into pieces. Tonight I sorted through June 5th wedding photos up to midnight and uploaded a "handful" of the best ones (and the ones with the most people I know in them!). Who knows what I'll fine in the photos taken after midnight? Look through the set in order to see a pictorial story of how the day went.

Twin Cities Spark

One of the projects that has been taking up some time during my workweek is the Twin Cities Spark. The site is meant to highlight local Twin Cities bloggers. I wrote about it back in January when it was first started.

Now Twin Cities Spark really seems to be taking off. The site is constantly getting new nominations for bloggers we should highlight. We have a good stockpile of interviews to post in the coming weeks. And the quality of the blogger nominations we've been getting is astounding.

So I'm writing this post in an effort to draw attention to the site and hopefully get even more incredible Twin Cities blog nominations. Please take a look at the Spark site. Read about some Twin Cities residents who are leaving their mark on the blogosphere. Then nominate your favorite blogger to be featured for an interview! You can nominate even yourself if you would like. I'm the one who reads the nominations and I won't tell anyone. :)

Haiku News - June 9, 2010

Stay off of this guy's
lawn, but especially don't
cut his native grass.

Fate has a funny
way of placing us in the
paths of our best friends.

Evidence seems to
show that Amelia Earhart
died a castaway.

In D.C., even
a spelling be is grounds for
wing-nut protesters.

Kookaburra can't
sit in the ol' gum tree, he
has eaten too much.

One day when I win
the lottery, I will plant
a legacy, too.

That thumping under
the car hood was a groundhog
deep in the engine.

If she disappeared
for 20 years before, they'll
never find her now.

The spill in the Gulf
is not the first time BP
has ruined our world.

He touched them all, ran
the bases, and was injured
by his own teammates.

Echo Creative

A few months ago I helped to write the website content for Echo Creative, a full-service marketing agency located in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. I wasn't sure when the site "officially" launched, so I didn't mention it when the site went live, but now it's been up for a while. It was a lot of fun developing this project, though it took a lot of effort. I really like the work being produced at Echo Creative, but then again in some cases I've had a hand in helping so perhaps I am biased. :)

Echo Creative has a blog, too. Read the most recent entry, Interior Design Influencing a Brand Design. Additionally, you can take a look at some of the other projects on which Echo Creative has worked!