Saturday, 20 April 2024

American wordplay map: R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N V-O-T-E-R-S, #3




 

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.


Monday, 15 April 2024

Progress in Poetry: TERMINAL EXCLAMATIONS

 This blogpost will give you more understanding and some helpful examples related to a type of  limerick-variation indulged in by the authors. To see the whole spectrum of our efforts, you might want to take the time to review "A Corner of the Poet's World: LIMERICK VARIATIONS".

CURRENT CONTENTS

DON'T TOUCH!
EGAD!
I'M SOLD!
KA-POW!
KERPLUNK!
OY, GEVALT!
YIKES!
YIPPEE!





 Authors' Note: The author apologizes that the above verse conjures a nightmare of sado-masochistic behavior. It must be admitted, however, that the sensitive dominatrix and the vengeful masochist do not fit the stereotypes (see the relevant poem by SheilaB.) 
Also, from a poetic standpoint, as the verse incorporates an "extra" B-rhyming couplet in its middle, it would be classified as an internal limerrhoid rather than as a limerick

Egad, no bondage! and Egad, a bad age! are found in lists of classic palindromic phrases.




                                       

Authors' Note: Our protagonist, presumably a Canadian snowbird, can take little comfort in the higher values of Fahrenheit than Celsius temperatures in the reasonably livable range. The temperature is what it is; only the describing numbers differ, although they are precisely related as defined in PGS's conversion. And below -40 degrees, Celsius is higher (but not warmer) than Fahrenheit.

The above verse was written on a brisk January morning when the temperature in degrees was -12C (10F) in Toronto, -10C (14F) in Atlanta, and 11C (52F) in Miami.



Authors' Note: 
Ka-pow! (variant kerpow!): comic-book type interjection for a noise emitted when a blow is landed in a fight (often involving a super-hero)
Line 6: occasionally used sixth line of a limerick, unheard of in the early days of the modality, finding some currency among modern authors. See our poem on "Addendum-icitis" HERE
The limericks written by Edward Lear and his contemporaries a century ago often included repetition of the poem's key word at the end of the final line.

Authors' Note: Kerplunk is an onomatopoeic expression for the sound produced as a non-buoyant object suddenly sinks below the watery surface.


Authors' Note: 

trombenyk: Yiddish for a ne'er-do-well, often a braggart
oy, gevalt (oy-guh-VAHLT): phrase borrowed from Yiddish; an exclamation expressing shock, surprise or disapproval




Authors' Note: Yikes and its variant yoicks, are interjections expressing shock or alarm.


Authors' Note As shown by verses collected at OEDILF, the slang term chippy has a spectrum of slang meanings including 'prostitute/loose woman', 'argumentative' and 'fish-and-chips eatery'. Where we live, the first two uses are in effect. In the US, postal zip-codes roughly identify the location of one's residence.


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.


Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART, part #1



CURRENT CONTENTS:
Arteriopath
Atrial fibrillation
Atrial flutter
Bypass grafts
Dipyridamole (stress)
Dobutamine (stress)
Ejection Fraction (left ventricular)
Heart block

(for continuation, see the link below)



Authors' Note: Atrial fib, also abbreviated to a-fib or AF, is medical jargon for atrial fibrillation. Causes for AF include various heart and lung conditions, particularly valvular heart disease, but half of cases occur spontaneously.

AF may be symptomatic or not, and may be intermittent rather than sustained, particularly in its earlier phase. In any case, it is associated with the formation of clots in the atria of the heart, leading to an increased risk of brain stroke, caused by emboli.

To reduce the risk of stroke, patients with AF may be asked to take blood thinners for life. 

Learn more about atrial fibrillation and its treatment at Wikipedia.






Authors' NoteDiagnosis and treatment of atrial arrhythmias, as discussed here, is the field of endeavour of a subgroup of cardiologists. Atrial flutter is readily diagnosed by a pattern on the electrocardiogram distinguished by atrial complexes at a rate of about 300 per minute, with relative block at the atrio-ventricular node resulting in a regular but fast ventricular rate, and pulse, of about 150. Although atrial flutter is not commonly caused by coronary artery disease, it is unlikely that any cardiologist would advocate ad libitum consumption of foods 'loaded with butter'.

Atrial fibrillation, a related cardiac arrhythmia associated with a highly variant heart rate, is discussed above.





Authors' Note
 (dye-puh-RIH-duh-mawl)
(Puhr-SANT-in)

Tests of myocardial flow in the Nuclear laboratory, e.g. gated SPECT, require a stimulus so that the specific radiotracer can be injected at peak blood flow to image the state of heart muscle. Ideally, exercise stress, as with a submaximal treadmill procedure, provides this stimulus, with a high attained heart rate reflecting success. As a backup in those unable to exercise sufficiently, (musculoskeletal or breathing problems, reduced fitness), pharmacologic stress may be used. Dipyridamole, tradename Persantine, is a commonly used agent for this purpose, increasing blood flow optimally, but with little change in heart rate or blood pressure. 



Authors' Note The verse above is a companion verse to ”dipyridamole”. 

When doctors want to check whether all areas of heart muscle can increase their blood flow appropriately, they may use certain drugs as helpers; this is particularly true when the patient is unable to perform a submaximal exercise test, often called a Bruce treadmill test, after its inventor. Dobutamine (doh-BYOO-ta-meen), relative of adrenaline, raises heart rate and blood pressure. It's the only drug available for tests which use echocardiography to picture the heart while it is 'under stress', but is a second-choice drug for the nuclear imaging test called gated SPECT. The preferred drug for those tests is one whose primary effect is to dilate arterial blood vessels, increasing the flow to normal heart muscle. Such drugs include dipyridamole and adenosine.


Authors' Note In disease states, including those producing congestive heart failure, the ejection fraction of the left ventricle, a measure indicating the strength of contraction, provides important information concerning prognosis (potential outcome) and the need for treatment. 
   The ejection fraction can be measured by echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, or several different nuclear (radio-isotope) techniques. These techniques measure the volume of the ventricle at the end of diastolic (relaxation) and systolic (contraction) phases of the cardiac cycle. Despite the name, the change during systole is generally given in medical jargon as the percent relative change, rather than as a true fraction; e.g. 60% is good, 30% is bad.




If you have had fun with these verses and are not concerned re their pro-arrhythmogenic effect, you could venture to review the second collection of this type; click HERE for part #2. 

Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 150 of these!) on medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts. 


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.


Friday, 5 April 2024

Collected "LIMERRHOIDS" (oversized limericks with C-rhyme extensions)


EXPLANATORY INTRODUCTION 

The contentious concept of extending limerick verses by adding a pair of C-line rhymes (and occasionally even D-line rhymes) to the standard A- and B-line rhymes was introduced by the prophetic work of apocryphal Irish limericist Seamus O'Malley, as discussed in a blogpost HERE

  To assist readers' further understanding of this issue, the extension results in an elegant non-standard 7-line verse, which we have called a "LIMERRHOID". One should take care, however, as not all 7-line limericks are the result of applying O'Malley's modification. Care must be taken not to confuse this process with the less rigorous addition of extra A- or B-rhyme lines, that result in a "Run-On Limerick".

  In that earlier post, we displayed our work on the limerrhoid as disciples of O'Malley. We used as illustrative examples 7-line verses entitled "Hoggishly", "Grift", "Helicobacter pylori" and "Edmond Hoyle", as well as 9-line verses entitled "Cleaning Services" and "The Hoarder". To our surprise, we  prevailed over skeptical critics and editors at the collaborative on-line website OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form), with progress through their rigorous editing process, and eventual publication.

   The outlines cumulated below allow you to see that we have followed up this earlier work with further verses characterized by having C-rhyme extension and generally 7 lines (occasionally 8 or 9) per stanza. The individual verses can be more readily seen, i.e. with larger font, and are accompanied by authors' notes as blog posts on the searchable companion blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense".  













More 7-line verses of the "limerrhoid"-type that have been recently concocted are grouped for you in another collection HERE.

All the poems shown in these collections, using the compressed 4-verses-per-slide arrangement, can be viewed in larger format, with their relevant "authors' notes" and oftentimes further photographic elaboration, on our companion blogpost "Daily Illustrated Nonsense".

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.