Category Archives: From other journalists

Discovery of unicorn suggests the perfect man exists! (albeit a little hairy…)

Speaking of the unicorn — no, not your super tech startup valued at over $1 billion, but the white, mythical horse-like beast with a long horn spiraling from its forehead, it’s nice to know that it is real! A new skull fossil discovered near Kozhamzhar in the region of Pavlodar of Kazakhstan by researchers for Tomsk State University confirms the existence of the Siberian unicorn, or Elasmotherium sibiricum. 

American Journal of Applied Science published the findings.

The skull suggests a male, Siberian unicorn had once roamed the landscape. The mammal stood roughly 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and 4.5 meters (15 feet) long and weighed about 4 tonnes.

The unicorn, instead of being white, ethereal and beautiful, is rather hairy… well, there goes reality! (image credit: Web/ The Guardian)

Great news right? Absolutely, I can tell my college-day girlfriends that we might still find that perfect man. “Hey, remember unicorn-stallion-mustang-horse-pony-donkey? Well, about Mr. Right…”

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“What’s in a name” — Oh boy, don’t you know?

Ask what’s in a name, and I’d say plenty.

When introducing myself, I’m either “It’s Sherry like the alcohol,” or “It’s Sherry, like the Frank Valli and the Four Seasons song.” The former usually gets a delayed I-get-it chuckle, and the latter works wonderfully with the slightly more senior folks.

And Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, advises writers to “pay attention to names.”

Names can be fun. Take popular characters in fiction, such as Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. Or savor Strawberry Bonbons, Glacier Mints, Pear Drops, Lemon Drops, Sherbet Suckers and Liquorice Bootlaces in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, well-crafted names enliven the imagination.

The best literary name of all, is perhaps Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita:

What’s in a name? Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (image credit: www.belelu.com)

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Nature-word extinction: when “Blackberry” replaces “blackberry”

Blackberry made a splash when it reported its results in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28. Financial newswires jumped to announce that the company’s quarterly sales was the lowest in eight years, and revenue, which slid to $660 million from $793 million, was well below estimation.

But enough about that Blackberry. Let’s talk blackberry. You know, the dark-skinned, juicy fruit. Like, the edible kind.

In fact, Blackberry has replaced blackberry when searching in Google. To find the fruit, you have to type in “blackberry, fruit.” (image credit: botane.net)

In a beautiful essay celebrating words, landscape words in particular, Robert Macfarlane (The Guardian) writes that a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed a substantial number of words concerning nature. The deletion included the following:

acorn, adder, ash, beech, bluebell, buttercup, catkin, conker, cowslip,cygnet, dandelion, fern, hazel, heather, heron, ivy, kingfisher, lark, mistletoe,nectar, newt, otter, pasture and willow

New words replacing them included “attachment, block-graph, blog, broadband, bullet-point, celebrity,chatroom, committee, cut-and-paste, MP3 player and voice-mail.” Oxford University Press explained its decision stating that the deleted entries are no longer “relevant to a modern-day childhood.”

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What’s in a name? A cup of ‘Joe’ by any other name…

Have you ever wondered why coffee is known as “a cup of joe”? Of the Daniel, David, John and Michael(s), why Joe?

According to an article published by Quartz, “Joe” is short for Josephus Daniels (1862-1948), former secretary of the US Navy.

Former US secretary of Navy, Josephus Daniels (image credit: electricscotland.com)

Daniels became secretary of Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In an effort to establish strict morality, Daniels banned the consumption of alcohol.

In a new biography, “Josephus Daniels: His Life and Time,” Lee A. Craig wrote:

As a substitute, stewards increased their purchases of coffee, among other beverages, and Daniels’s name became linked to the daily drink of millions around the world. Continue reading

Bring ‘MAN-ly’ back with this hunky… CHIN

Work out the tris, pecs and lats, none speak louder of your manhood than having a strong jaw. In an article published by Details magazine, “Is Your Jaw Man Enough?” (Sept. 2014), it reports that the number men seeking jaw augmentation — injecting cosmetic fillers into the jaw — has increased 32% in 2013, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). The ASAP observed in its 2013 statistical data:

Men had more than 1 million cosmetic procedures, 9.4% of the total. The number of cosmetic procedures for men increased over 273% from 1997.

Read previous blog post: Youth-obsessed, Look and Feel Young

Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb (image credit: the perfume expert/Viktor&Rolf)

A round of treatment, consisting of six vials ($1,500 per vial of filler), costs $9,000. The benefit? A manly jaw attracts women and men alike. Women see the trait as a sign of health, gene quality, strength and reproductive potential — a virile sex machine. As for men, strong jaw signals that submission, “This man is a leader.” The top six most desirable men, jaw-based of course. (Details magazine) Continue reading

Aging in a youth-obsessed society, the battle to look and feel young

Our society celebrates youth. Youth equates beauty, creativity, energy, fun and delicious cool. Even in the media, lists such as Forbes‘ and TIME‘s 30 Under 30 elevate those who succeeds when they are very young.

Women obsess over looking younger, whereas men obsess over feeling younger (image credit: Beautifulforever Aesthetic Laser Center)

In an article titled “Women would rather hear they look young than slim” (DailyMail), the following list was posted:

  • Two thirds of women use anti-aging products
  • One fifth worry about their age every day
  • 41% wish they look younger
  • 39.5 years old is when women are most worried about how old they look

Interestingly, while women obsess over their appearance (as evidenced by anti-aging specialist Uzzi Reiss’ book title, Natural Hormone Balance for Women: Look Younger, Feel Stronger, and Live Life with Exuberance), men strive to feel younger. Continue reading