Chatter

Podcast - Chatter . . .

Just the other day - well, what seems like the other day, Lori brought home a pristine copy of The Readers Digest from December 1966 (35 cents).

The cover is exactly as I remember it, a summary outline of the articles with the corresponding page numbers. This issue boasts 45^th Year: Over 27 million copies bought monthly in 14 languages. That was over 54 years ago!

How she acquired this heirloom is interesting. The Paul Ecke family was featured in an article titled Crimson for Christmas. Paul Ecke III came across boxes of this particular issue that he distributed to employees of the Paul Ecke Ranch.

The trifold cover page featured an ad from Ford, “Mustang 1967 . . . bred first to be first!” With the slogan, “Just in time for Christmas . . . the do-it-Yourself Escape Kit!”

What’s interesting is the First Class Business Reply Postage Paid subscription card in the centerfold reads, “One new Digest gift subscription ONLY $2.”

Yes, in 2020 you can still subscribe to the Digest.

Huh, I’m wondering what would happen if this was mailed in to claim the subscription? With a quick Google search, you can buy a copy of this “collectors” issue from abebooks.com for $25.00 plus $5:00 shipping.

A popular section of the magazine was always; It Pays to Increase Your Word Power. Reviewing the list of words I’m certain young people and for that matter, people of my generation still benefit from this list.

Let’s test your vocabulary: define the word garrulous – is it? A: friendly. B: argumentative. C: talkative. D: senile.

No cheating, I see you pulling out that smartphone. Today, it’s so easy to just say, "Hey Siri what does garrulous mean?"

Provided you're still listening (reading), according to the author Peter Funk the correct answer is C: Tediously talkative, especially about trivialities; as a garrulous old man. Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.

Ok, I get it . . . someone who talks too much about unimportant things. It comes from the Latin root garrire, “to chatter.”

So, it seems I’ve become rather garrulous. Huh, not much has changed really!

This is Patrick Ball, thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Comments

Chasing the Magic

In this episode, Chasing the Magic: How the Summer of ’98 Inspired the 'Ball Boys' . . . Do you remember that feeling? The late-summer air was thick with humidity, radios crackling on porches, the smell of fresh-cut grass and barbecue smoke in the backyard. Every evening carried a new kind of suspense—the country holding its collective breath after every pitch. “Did he hit one today?” became more than a question; it sparked a nationwide conversation. For me, and millions of others, the summer of 1998 wasn’t just another baseball season. It was theater, a movement, a time when the game recaptured something sacred. As sportswriter Mike Lupica said so perfectly, “No matter how old you are or how much you’ve seen, sports is still about memory and imagination. Never more than during the summer of ’98, when baseball made everyone feel like a kid again, when it felt important again.” Just four years earlier, the 1994 players’ strike had left the sport bruised...

Beyond Facts

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Retirement Talk

In this episode, Patrick & Huck: Retirement Talk . . . We all get caught daydreaming sometimes, don’t we? Just like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn might’ve done, lazyin’ by the river with a fishing pole in hand and the BIG wide world spinn’ in their heads. This morning, with coffee steaming and plans bubbling, I found myself driftin’ into a chat with none other than my imaginary friend–Huck Finn himself. Patrick: “Mornin’, Huck. Say, I’m mighty curious what you’d make of this retirement business.” Huck: “Well now, sit tight, ‘cause I’ve been thinkin’ on that too. Only thirty-one days 'til you're sixty-nine — whew! You're talkin’ ‘bout quittin’, hangin’ up your spurs, Givin’ the workin’ life its final good slurs. Ain’t got no debts, no mortgage, no fuss, Just clean livin’ and freedom waitin’ on the bus. Most folks’d throw hats in the air, cheerin’ loud and proud, But you? You’re starin’ out yonder, lost in some cloud. You're dreamin’ of cyclin' and books and guitar...

The Sights of Summer

In this episode, The Sights of Summer: Chasing Miles & Unexpected Smiles . . . For Lori and me, the perfect summer morning isn't something you find marked on a calendar; it's a feeling . It's the refreshing crispness of the air on our faces, the gentle warmth of the sun on our skin, and the exciting anticipation of discovering new miles and uncovering the hidden "sights of summer" along our journey. A glorious California day returns with our weekly ride. We begin with a warm-up cruise around our neighborhood under a wide, cloudless, azure sky. With a smile, I’m thinking, " You know it’s going to be a great ride when even furry co-pilots are excited!" We chuckled as a neighbor drove past, two white, fluffy dogs with their tongues flapping in the breeze and ears flopping wildly out the truck window. Pure canine bliss—an ideal sign for a fun day on two wheels. “Did you see those pups? They looked like they were smiling.” Traffic was blissfully light, ...

On The Fly

Search This Blog