Quote to ponder under the apple tree
More grows in the garden than the gardener sows.
~ Old Spanish Proverb

Resources to bite into
1. It’s Wildflower Week
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly celebrates wild growing things,

noting that 80 percent of all medicinal drugs originate from wild plants.

Most, however, remain unstudied. Consider the pink Madagascar
periwinkle, (shown here) from which vincristine is derived.
Vincristine has increased the survival rate of children with leukemia
from 20 percent to 80 percent. What else remains to be
discovered? The beauty of flowers is more than skin deep. (Learn more at
http://www.nps.gov/plants/cw/variety.htm.)

2. Today is International Respect for Chickens Day
The slogan is "Give a Cluck! Stick Up For Chickens!" May 4th is
International Respect for Chickens Day in a month of activities
sponsored by United Poultry Concerns (UPC). The organization
promotes a vegan diet and compassionate treatment of chickens.
I am unlikely to become a vegan soon, but I certainly support the
humane treatment of poultry and all things edible. And I like their
sense of humor. They have put 100 king-size posters on
Washington, D.C. Metro buses with their slogan. Learn more at http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/20064/campaigners-to-honourrespect- for-chickens-day

3. Celebrate gnomes, too
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly also celebrates garden gnomes which are, sad to say, not fully appreciated by all, but dearly loved by many. Here is a sample paragraph from the discussion page:
The small town of Strasburg in southern Illinois, adopted garden gnomes as its mascot two years ago, and since then they have been arriving in increasing numbers. They even have their own newspaper with the motto, “Gnome News is Good News.” As this is a census year in the U.S., the town council did not want the gnomes to feel neglected and conducted a gnome census, with volunteers going door to door among the town’s 600
residents to ask for the number of bearded figures per household, plus their sex, age and place of origin. Source: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/207003-Gnome-Census-Illinoistown- plans-first-garden-gnome-count

Tips/ideas/insights to savor
A few people have been known to have the same phobia toward gnomes that some people have toward clowns, but the current Brain Aerobics Weekly features a trivia quiz on movie monsters
that are more universally feared. Here is a sampling:
1. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes ___
2. The Blob ___
3. The Mummy ___
4. The Fly ___
5. Wolfman ___
a. The 1941 version of this classic starred Lon Chaney Jr. in the tragic tale of an ordinary man who unwillingly turns into a feared animal when the moon is full.
b. An eccentric scientist experimenting with teleportation accidentally turns
himself into an oversized insect in a love story gone horribly wrong.
c. In the original 1932 version, Boris Karloff starred as an Egyptian creature returning to
life to stalk the reincarnation of his lost love.
d. This spoof of monster movies featured vegetables that revolted against humanity.
e. A meteorite crashes to earth, leaving a crater in the ground and a gelatinous substance. An
old farmer picks it up with a stick to get a closer look and is eaten; with each victim devoured the substance grows larger. . .

Answers: 1. d 2. e 3. c 4. b 5. a

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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

To receive the advantage of seeing more than 4 times as many ideas and exercises each week, subscribe to Brain Aerobics Weekly today.

Each week brings amazing and amusing mind stimulation!

Let us become the apple of your eye.