Thursday, March 31, 2011

LAMB

Lamb is a four letter word.

...and out like a lamb.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

ARCH

Arch is a four letter word.

I know I just did DOME, and here is another architectural four letter word. Not surprisingly, the two are actually somewhat related - if you take a cross-section of a dome, you'll have an arch.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FUME

Fume is a four letter word.

I try to keep a civil mind and a civil tongue. It takes a lot to get me angry... and even more for me to let that anger out. But sometimes I just need to let out everything that has built up within me or I'm gonna explode!

Monday, March 28, 2011

DOME

Dome is a four letter word.

I've always wondered how a dome is built. Seems like it would collapse on itself before it could be finished.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

WOOD

Wood is a four letter word.

What a fascinating material wood is. We can burn it, build with it, and wander amongst it. We use it in our sports, in our decorations, and sometimes in our water supply systems. It can be beautiful on its own, or as part of a greater whole - the beauty showing on every level of detail in the hands of a craftsman.

Friday, March 25, 2011

DOOR LOCK ASCH FIRE

Door lock. Asch fire. Historic four letter words.

100 years ago today, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, located in the Asch building in New York City, caught fire. The workers (mostly immigrant women), attempting to flee, were largely prevented from doing so by emergency doors that were locked. The fire remains the 4th worst industrial accident in US history.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

DUST

Dust is a four letter word.

I don't like thinking about where all the dust in my house comes from. I just want to get rid of it. Feels like there has to be an easier way... but probably not.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

MIRE

Mire is a four letter word.

Ever have a day when you're just trying to get through things and get to the next thing you have to do, and you feel like you're pushing your body through a swamp? Every have a day when you feel like that before noon?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

CHAT

Chat is a four letter word.

There is something about a casual conversation that fascinates me. How some of them could remain casual - staying superficial and barely touching anything in our lives. They are a small relief valve of our mundane thoughts. But every so often - they can leap into something far less mundane, yet still taking on a casual nature.

Monday, March 21, 2011

PICK

Pick is a four letter word.

When discussing this four letter word, three out of three people said the obvious connection was "nose". This was NOT what I was thinking of when I... uh... picked this word...

Sunday, March 20, 2011

HOLI

Holi is a four letter word.

Celebrated today, the last full moon day before Spring, Holi is a Hindu religious festival primarily marked by joyous and colorful festivities.

Friday, March 18, 2011

MELT

Melt is a four letter word.

After the previous four letter word, it shouldn't be surprising that the remains of the snow are finally beginning to melt!

BALM

Balm is a four letter word.

The first indications that spring is coming - I can almost believe that its moderately tempered today.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

LUCK

Luck is a four letter word.

It is, admittedly, an odd sort of word to pick for St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick himself has nothing about "luck" attributed to him. There are stories, mostly apocryphal, about his use of the clover as part of his teachings - but this would have been the three-leaf clover, not the four-leaf clover people associate with luck.

The phrase "the luck of the Irish" was coined centuries later, and is either an ironic statement about how UNlucky the Irish have been for most of their history, or specifically relates to the luck of a few of Irish heritage during the American Gold Rush.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

IDES

Ides is a four letter word.

Beware!

Everyone knows what the Ides of March are, right? What about the Ides of all the other months? Did you know every month has an Ides? Now you do.

RISE

Rise is a four letter word.

And after dusk... the sun rises again.

Monday, March 14, 2011

DUSK

Dusk is a four letter word.

As much as I like mornings... I dislike evenings. By this time of day, I'm worn out and getting sluggish. The beauty of the sunset is gone, and it has not yet been replaced by the grandeur of the stars. It is the gloomiest of times for me. And yet, I try to perk my spirits up by recalling these lines from Reflections of Earth:

Every evening brings an ending. Every day becomes a legacy.
Every sunset leads to morning with the promise of opportunity.

MATH

Four. Five. Pir². Even Math is a four letter word.

Happy π day everyone!

DAWN

Dawn is a four letter word.

This is my favorite time of day. Most people either aren't up - or don't want to be. But this is a wonderful time of day for me. The sky begins to brighten and warm... the sun piercing the horizon as it rises. The day is still silent, any sounds are similarly piercing the quiet of the morning. Dawn is full of promise - it is the promise of spring... but it comes every morning.


Sunday, March 13, 2011

HOUR

Hour is a four letter word.

In the United States, Daylight Saving Time begins today. I always have mixed feelings about this policy, but probably not for the same reasons most people do. For starters - I tend to adjust quite well to the change in both directions. Never really bothers me.

What does vex me about DST is that it noon no longer represents the point of the day when the sun is at its highest. The only thing that comforts me is that time zones themselves represent a standardized time - the sun is not overhead at noon at all points in a time zone. So once you have an artificial time... why not make it entirely artificial?

Friday, March 11, 2011

JOLT... WAVE... WARN...

This morning Japan experienced a record earthquake. Although well braced for these events, there has been significant damage. And now... we're waiting to see if a tsunami wave hits Japan and/or elsewhere in the Pacific and what damage it may cause.

My thoughts go out to everyone affected by this.

Times like this that I ponder that there are so many natural obstacles facing us in the world... why do we so often seem to feel the need to create our own obstacles?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

HIDE

Hide is a four letter word.

Have you ever wanted to look for a good place to hide - and realized how contradictory that sounds?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

OVER PASS

Over pass - two bridging four letter words.
My 2-year-old gets excited when we go under overpasses, shouting "tunnel!" every time we do, for no matter how brief a moment.

Edit 31 May 2011: If you're visiting us because of the app "7 little words", you may want to take a look over here.

Monday, March 7, 2011

FLEW

Flew is a four letter word.

This floated across my desk today... and I just found it so neat that I had to share it. Up-Inspired Floating House (14 photos) - My Modern Metropolis. This is not animated. This is real. A real building. Real weather balloons. Really flying in the sky. The experimental aircraft, because thats what it IS, has the registration number "N878UP". This is just totally awesome.

As I thought more about it, however, as cool as it was... I realized that there was a niggling feeling about this. Or more exactly, what it meant about the movie Up. I loved the movie. I'm not sure there was anything about it that I didn't find brilliantly done. But one of the things I love about animated movies is that they can so wonderfully represent the incredible... the fantastical... how they can make you feel that something that can't be real - is. And here someone has taken that unreal and made it... real. So I'm forced to wonder... when are they going to make the live-action version of Up?

Friday, March 4, 2011

EVIL SPAM LINK

EVIL SPAM LINK. Nothing good about those four letter words. Sorry about that folks.

(And if you have no idea what I'm talking about - consider yourself lucky. I got socially engineered into doing something stupid. Very foolish of me.)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

BULB

Bulb is a four letter word.

Am I the only one that still remembers little flash cube bulbs on cameras? How they would go off and the bulb inside would then kinda melt and look all funky?

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

BLUE FISH

Blue is a word.

And Fish is one more.

The letters on each when we count them are Four.

But put them together - now what have you heard?

"Blue Fish" are our Seussian four letter words!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

LION

Lion is a four letter word.

March comes in like a lion...