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Hugs and blessings,

Monday, August 25, 2008

Fun Monday #20 Useless 'trivia' ... or not

Make Time for Small Reflections
I made this logo myself ...

The gals at Mama Drama are hosting Fun Monday today and offer this as our challenge:

Remember way back in elementary school when you had to do a report on James Garfield, the 20th President of the United States and you told the class all about how he was shot after only four months in office? You also remember that he recovered after a week, but doctor's continued to probe at the healed wound causing complications and resulting in his death almost three months later? Okay, we all knew that about Garfield, but you also remember that James Garfield could write with both hands at one time and in different languages.!!! Why do you remember that? Maybe for you it wasn't James Garfield, but somewhere in your past education, you picked-up some little bit of useless information that you've never forgotten.

What funny trivial fact do you remember that you probably should have forgotten a long time ago?

What immediately came to mind when I read the prompt yesterday was ... 'all Gaul is divided into 3 parts ...' from my High School Latin class ... though I confess I no longer remember what those parts are. Upon a quick search just now I learned from Wikipedia that 'Gaul' was the Roman name for Western Europe (northern Italy, France, Belgium and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany) and as I try to sort out the info this morning ... I'm remembering why I've let the information fade. Just this weekend I was reminded by my 'writing buddy' from the Taos Retreat that Einstein said, "Never try to remember anything you can look up."

Next came to mind the more useful 'trivia' ...

i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh

30 days has September ... April, June, and November ... all the rest have 31 except February with 28 (and 29 every 4 years in Leap Year)

Every good boy does fine (EGBDF) and Good Boys Do Fine Always (GBDFA) for the musical notes on the staff lines for 'treble' and 'bass' clefs ... FACE and All Cows Eat Grass (ACEG) for the spaces.

and then this poem about Crazy Horse who battled George Custer at Little Big Horn ...

The Indians of the Wild West
We found were hard to tame,
For they seemed really quite possessed
To keep their ways the same.
They liked to hunt, they liked to fight,
And (this I grieve to say)
They could not see the white man's right
To take their land away.
So there was fire upon the Plain,
And deeds of derring-do,
Where Sioux were bashing soldiers' brains
And soldiers bashing Sioux'.
And here is bold Chief Crazy Horse,
A warrior, keen and tried,
Who fought with fortitude and force
But on the losing side.
Where Custer fell, where Miles pursued,
He led his native sons,
And did his best, though it was crude
And lacked the Gatling guns.
It was his land. They were his men.
He cheered and led them on.
--The hunting ground is pasture, now
The buffalo are gone.
Stephen Vincent Binet
I apologize for being just a bit later than usual with today's Fun Monday post ... but I stayed up to watch the Closing Ceremonies and slept in until 6am (late for me) ... so this is a 'quickie' off the top of my head out of necessity. I may return to add some 'final thoughts' about the Olympics ... but for now I'll just add that I'm excited for the USA Men's Volleyball Team for clinching GOLD against Brazil & the USA Water Polo team taking home the SILVER.
Collaged by me using Photoshop Elements
Photo source NBC: Getty images on the Internet
Small Reflections ... Smile Back
Thought for Today
"The past is never dead, it is not even past." William Faulkner

20 comments:

Sandy said...

I, too, remember the i before e rhyme. I can never remember, though, which months are in the 30 day rhyme...lol.

Joyce said...

The little red school house logo is cute. :)

I'm glad to hear Einstein's recommendation that one not memorize information one can easily look up.

Thinking of memorization, I am so thankful when students have memorized their times tables, since it helps them to see patterns in math, and expands their math thinking.

Hope you have a lovely day. :)

Jo, a retired teacher said...

I remember the same ones you do, but I also remember how I first learned to spell ARITHMETHIC:
a rat in the house might eat the ice cream.

Who knows what other strange things lurk in my memory. I'll see if I can pull some more forward.

Jeanna said...

Your post and a sketch on SCTV I saw last night (talk about the Wayback Machine) has really made me wish I took high school Latin.
Great poem.

Akelamalu said...

I remember the i before e rule and the 30 days has September one too.

I like Einstein's recommendation - it's so easy to look things up now.

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

Ha! Great post. i choose to live by Einstein's words...i am HORRIBLE at trivia ;0)

Anonymous said...

I've never forgotten the musical notes scale - and now my son has learned it recently for his piano lessons.

And I'm with Sandy - I can never remember which months go where in the 30 day rhyme.

Unknown said...

I do remember some of those! Amazing! :)

ChrisB said...

I often go through the month rhyme when I don't have a calender in front of me and the 'i' before 'e' I often find myself saying as I type, old habits die hard.

kitten said...

I had forgot the poem about i before e. I knew there was one, but couldn't bring it to mind. Thanks for the reminder!
Also: FANBOYS = For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. (Coordinate Conjunctions)
Einstein was a very bright and wise man!
Love the poem about poem about Crazy Horse who battled George Custer at Little Big Horn.
And, thank you much of the glimpse of the Olympics. Very good job on the pics!

kitten said...

Ps. I always use my knuckles to help remind me of the months. LOL! When you are on top of the knuckle, it's 31 days. When you are between, it's 30 except for February.

Mike Golch said...

I like the new header, for some reason google reader and/or blogger did not want to link up with this blog.So If I can't get here one way I'll use the back door.

storyteller said...

To all – Thanks for stopping by Small Reflections. I’ve been away from the computer all day and have my Advanced Photoshop Elements class beginning tomorrow so I’m a bit behind on visits again, but I’ll catch up eventually because I always do. Hope you’re all having a delightful day.
Hugs and blessings,

Mare said...

Happened by after reading Jo's post and comments. I remember the same ones already mentioned and also...
There's 'a rat' in separate.

Chicken on the car and the car won't go, that's how you spell Chicago. Chi..ca..go!

The order of the planets:
My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas.

IamwhoIam said...

I'm late at getting around to visit so all is well. I recall EGBDF And FACE but the others exscaped me and seeing how I was only every fit to trun the pages for those who could real play guess that was well enough.

Sauntering Soul said...

The 30 days has September rhyme has really come in handy many times in my life!

Faye said...

You go Einstein! Why muddle your mind with something that could be answered with a quick google?

Good work on the Olympic collage. Do you enjoy the winter games as much as summer?

Pamela said...

yes I before E
Not many people noticed the words that I mentioned...that failed the test:

species, science, sufficient, seize, weird, sovereignty, vein


Did you memorize that crazy horse poem? In the past, many of those were required memorization --

Tina Coruth said...

Storyteller,

What fun! Some of the same useful trivia came to my mind as well. I before e and thirty days hath September and the notes of the scale, too.

Carpenter's saying - measure twice, cut once. I know I heard a lot, but I can't bring them to mind now. I did learn one very useful bit when my children were young and watched Sesame Street. Now pay attention, here it comes:
"Don't ever put tomato juice in your pocket!" LOL I don't know why, but that really tickled my funny bone and still does after all these years!

hugs,
Tina

storyteller said...

Mare – Ah … now that you mention it, I remember ‘the rat’ in separate but never heart of the other two … very ‘kewl’ … thanks for sharing.

IamwhoIam – I understand ‘late’ … for I’m late to respond here, but I appreciate your efforts to drop by and share.

Sauntering Soul – Yez … in mine too ;--)

Faye – Amen to that! If it was good enough for Einstein … it’s got to be good enough for the rest of us, right?

Pamela – Actually … that rule works about 49% of the time (if memory serves) … but adding the second part (as I did in the post) ups the percentage to almost 70%. YEZ … the poem WAS memorized … and I hope I got it right here. Funny what stays with us isn’t it?

Tina – I gotta admit I’ve never heard the one about ‘tomato juice’ but it IS funny.

To all – I apologize for being so slow to respond, but at least I’m doing it BEFORE Monday rolls around again. Thanks for your visit and comments. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs and blessings,

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