CALIFORNICATION: Starting on January 1, California stores with more than 500 employees will be fined $500 if they don’t include a gender-neutral toy section for kids 12 years old and under. Greg Burt, Vice President of the California Family Research Council — a conservative public policy nonprofit group — says the law violates the First Amendment by “dictating the signage in stores, about what words can be used to advertise products.”
CRAZY COO-COO LAND: Harvard’s Arab Alumni Association has published an appeal for donations to help pro-Hamas students who “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” Apparently, they are being bullied.
DEMOCRATS: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans are still moving from deep blue states to deep red states. In 2023, New York State lost the most residents (101,984) followed by California (75,423). Texas added the most residents (473,453), followed by Florida (365,205).
MIDDLE EAST: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/247116964767703 and https://www.facebook.com/reel/6568574023253927 for some quick reality checks. Not that you, my oh-so-sensible readers, need them! 🙂
ODD ONE OUT: This paper was in a 6 year old’s homework packet. Her mom posted it to a mom’s Facebook board and, within a day, had received 4,000 responses from different moms. Each one had their own explanation for what the right answer was, but there wasn’t any one that stood out. The teacher later admitted she hadn’t done a great job of formulating the question.
I thought it was fun to think of as many reasons as I could why each word could be the odd one out. “Friend” is the only one that describes a living being; it is also the only one that isn’t spelled phonetically. “Desk” is the only piece of furniture. “Toothbrush” is the longest word, the only word with only one meaning, the only word with two syllables, and the only object related to hygiene. “Egg” is the shortest word and the only food.
The teacher’s choice was “silver” because it is the only color. Apparently, their lesson that day had been about objects. But “silver” also has the most meanings listed in the dictionary – 19 vs. 1, 3, and 5 for the others. These ended up making “silver” the odd one by virtue of having the most reasons why it was the odd one. It is the only one that is an element on the periodic table; is used for currency, jewelry, and food service; is rewarded to athletes who come in second; symbolizes a 25th anniversary.
UPDATE: Mama Buzz says, “Also, toothbrush is the only compound word ;)”
GRAMMY NOTES: CLICK https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A-IDCmbUh3AaSX2F8fboMjtml3cHXDrP/view [4:39] to see a movie I made years ago called “Gecko Fantasies.” It stars Mama’s Leopard Gecko, Jasper.
SHORTS:
CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y1U4VwzhXB8 for a R*CKST*R Christmas carol.
CLICK https://www.youtube.com/shorts/onB61fwAEDU for “Bad Designs: Christmas edition.”
polination.blog 