Just a Bite 4/20/10

Quote to ponder under the apple tree

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
~ Marshall McLuhan

Resources to bite into

1. Earth Day turns 40 and the Earth still turns

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly opens with a “Talking Trash” trivia quiz because, unfortunately, 40 years after U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the first Earth Day, environmental issues are still with us.

One easy thing you can do: use canvas bags for shopping. Canvas is slowly catching on, but here are two big reasons to switch – or at the very least recycle your plastic bags, because about 97% are not:
• An estimated million sea creatures are killed each year when they ingest plastic bags – sometimes whole, because turtles, for example, mistake them for jelly fish.
• As plastic bags decompose, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, rivers, and the oceans and the plastic debris itself acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals. They are therefore deadly in small bits, too.
Learn more at http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html

2. Rhyming with Earth

What word that rhymes with earth:

1. is an Australian city?
2. means a beginning?
3. has to do with value?
4. means a lack of?
5. is related to joy and laughter?
6. is a measurement?


Bonus: How many letters of the alphabet rhyme with tree? Answers on next page.

3. Life is improving

Although we have much left to do to honor our planet, the current Brain Aerobics Weekly takes note of one way life has improved. Shakespeare’s birth is also celebrated this week (April 23, 1564) and according to Bill Bryson in his book, Shakespeare, The World as Stage, we are lucky that he even survived to write his plays. In 1564, two-thirds of infants died of the plague or other causes. The populace also faced constant danger from tuberculosis, measles, rickets, scurvy, smallpox and dozens of other diseases and fevers. Thank goodness for his good health!

Answers to rhyming with earth:
1. mirth; 2. Perth; 3. worth; 4. dearth; 5. birth; 6. girth

Bonus: 9 (b c d e g p t v z)

Tips/ideas/insights to savor

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly features a word quiz taken from Shakespeare’s plays. As you may know, he was the inventor of more than a thousand new words and phrases. In the sampling of groups of four below, can you pick out the modern expression from among the others which are his creation?

1. a. ___Heavens to Betsy b. ___For goodness’ sake
c. ___ It was Greek to me d. ___ What the dickens

2. a. ___ In a pickle b. ___ Milk of human kindness
c. ___ Dangle a carrot d. ___ Salad days

3. a. ___ A dish fit for the gods b. ___ The world’s my oyster
c. ___ Eaten me out of house and home d. ___ Easy as pie

4. a. ___ Bleeding heart b. ___ Heart of gold
c. ___ In my heart of hearts d. ___ Sick at heart


Answers: 1. a; 2. c; 3. d; 4. a

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