Computers and Gadgets and Me

Am I one of the few very internet savvy people who just doesn’t use all the new “gadgets”.  Everyone I know either has no idea about computers and the internet much at all or they use the internet and always have the newest phone on the market and every other gadget available the moment they come out in the shops.  I will be left behind by the 5 year olds pretty soon!

I have a reasonably new phone that takes photos and videos but I only ever use it as a phone.  I only use it to text people or to take with me when I go out in case I need to use a phone or someone needs to get hold of me.  That is when I can find it in my bag – LOL.  Why is it always hiding somewhere right at the bottom when I have specifically put it near the top on the same side as the zip starts to open???!!! I had to take off the answer service as that definitely always cut in before I had retrieved my phone from the hidden depths of my bag. 

I have taken photos with my phone but I don’t use if for taking photos or videos.  I use my normal digital camera for photos and I don’t really take videos although it would have been lovely to have had the new camera when the pups were young because I could have certainly got some great video footage then.  I seemed to find it impossible to capture good photos on the old camera as the pups were too fast for me to take the photos as the camera was very slow – aim, click, count to 2 then it took the photo!!!  I have some great ones of a cream or black blur as they moved just as I snapped the shot and some with their feet back on the ground when I missed catching them jumping in the air when I took the shot.  That particular camera, although digital, was not very good so when I needed to start taking photos of the jewellery I had to buy a new camera but the pups had grown up a lot by then.

As anyone knows who reads my blog, taking photos of the jewellery has been a long standing pain in the neck.  I had just about got it right by the end of the summer as I knew what time of day to take the photos and even though I had to hang over the bathroom sink to take the photos on the bathroom windowsill they weren’t coming out too bad.  But then it got a lot duller through the autumn so I am having more problems now and what sun there is seems to leave a big slash of sunlight across the pendants instead of the nice crisp bright bit at the top of the gemstone. 

But back to gadgets – I feel really silly considering I am on the internet sites so much that I really have no idea what some of the new gadgets and phones are – I know all the names but in no way could I tell you the difference between a Smart phone and any other phone.  I have no idea what an Android is or an Ice Cream Sandwich – I think they are both versions of a Smart phone but could be totally wrong.  They have been mentioned 6 zillion times on Google+ but there were so many posts about them that I just mentally switched off. 

I use the main computer and leave the laptop for my husband to use as it seems slower but also I can only get my emails on the main computer so it is important that I am on here.  I don’t have a Notebook or any other online device other than the main computer.  I don’t go online on my phone either.  So although I am very knowledgeable on the computer and internet (well compared to my friends anyway) I feel very old-fashioned where phones and other devices come into it.  In a few years time I will have to consult my grandchildren I suppose.

Today’s trivia snippet which you will find really important to know - LOL:

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs...   but, not downstairs.

Today’s relevant chuckle:

I've been doing a Poor-Me

I’m sorry but I haven’t blogged at all for a few days as I hadn’t been feeling too well and, well basically, couldn’t be bothered as I totally lacked in energy.  Doesn’t that sound lazy and bad!  But I do like to tell the truth so there it is, although my excuse it that the brain doesn’t work so well when in poor-me mode.  Somehow the days fly by fast enough without feeling a bit under the weather. 

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It’s amazing what they say about the time going faster as you get older – it certainly seems to.  When I think I used to work full time, go dancing 3 or 4 nights a week, development circle once a week and often out to see my better half playing in the band once a week and yet I seemed to feel that I had more time than I have now that I don’t go out to work any more, or do any of the other things at the moment.  I think the problem now is the internet fills my time, especially since Google+ came along.  I spend hours on there and it only seems like minutes.

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It may be co-incidence as a lot of my friends are older than me but I keep getting these “oldie” funny emails sent to me.  I am blonde (well fair) but I don’t seem to get so many “blonde” jokes sent so I suppose it must just be co-incidence really and nothing to do with me getting older.  There are some really good jokes out there too so I tend to share them either on my blog or on Google+ as it only seems fair to spread them aroundJ

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I have been looking at Tarot related things today – some blogs and checking for new decks coming out – the trouble is you see them and think they are great but then they come out in America what seems like ages before we get them over here and it is not cost effective to buy them from the US and have them sent over.  Why does it take longer for Amazon UK and other UK shops to get them than if we order them from America – you would think there would only be a weeks delay in before they are available over here or better still why don’t the companies release them everywhere at the same time?  We just have to drool over the cards that are being seen on the blogs and the websites until we can actually buy a deck over here.  Below are 3 decks I am waiting for and they have been available in the US for a while now but not released here yetL

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It is just a run of the mill ordinary weekend for us over here but of course it has been a big weekend over in the US as it has been Thanksgiving and Black Friday so a lot of people have a long weekend of it.  I hope my US readers have had a really enjoyable weekend and didn’t gorge on too much foodJ

 

Here a trivia snippet for you:

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

And here’s todays chuckle:

CREATION
A man said to his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.
'The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain.  God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

Free or Not?

I have written this due to reading a great and controversial blog by Velvet Angel that was linked from Google+ explaining why people shouldn't and can't give their services away for free. 

This is the blog link:

VELVET ANGEL BLOG - WHY IT'S NOT FREE!

Besides all the other things Velvet Angel says in her blog there is also the cost and time involved in all the training required to just be able to offer the services in most cases.  I know there are a lot of people with no training whatsoever who charge extortionate prices but don't you get that it all fields - you can just as easily get a builder who does a bad job or an expensive job, as you can get a good reliable reasonably priced builder.  It is up to the customer to do the research on who they are going to use beforehand.

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This blog has been discussed on Google+ (go to my Google+ page if you want to see the discussion as I shared the blog to my page) and there have been numerous comments.  There are comments both for and against giving free sessions.  It is such an open ended thing as the fees for most holistic sessions vary from free to quite extortionate prices.  But then it is surely up to the individual who is effectively buying the service as to who they want to go to and how much they want to pay.  If they want to go to a very well known person then they will undoubtedly have to pay a high price for a session as that person has reached high in the profession (although may not necessarily be any better than a low priced person in comparison) and the client may or may not get what they pay for in this undetermined field of work.

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Mediums really come into a different category as they are effectively serving the church so they willingly give their service for free (and just get paid travelling expenses) and also most development circles are free as it is a way of helping other mediums to develop.  Spiritual healing is also given freely at churches and sometimes outside of church.  But really it falls into the same category as Reiki healing.  Bereavement counselling is also given freely, usually via the church.

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All other types of holistic work (and writing plus other things as it was pointed out in the blog and comments) fall into the wide open category of how much to charge for a session and should anyone be entitled to receive it for free.  Unless the client is a friend or relative they should not expect to receive anything free – they should no more expect to have a service for free any more than they should expect to go into a bakery and expect to be given a loaf of bread for free.  Everyone can “afford” to pay a different amount and in some cases with healing a minimal amount is charged as it makes everyone involved comfortable that a mutual exchange has taken place.  The problem is that many of the lower income people are more likely to offer to pay than the ones with a higher income who are just trying to get something for nothing.

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At the end of the day, if a person cannot afford something they should not ask for it.  These things are not essentials in life but “extras” – no one actually NEEDS a tarot reading, Reiki session, massage etc.

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On the other side of the coin, it also comes down to whether the person giving the session could actually afford to give a free session or not.  They may have less income coming in than the client.  They may have “a day job” and do this type of work in their “spare time” so be more open to working for free or for very little.  On the other hand this could be their sole form of income and they rely on the money from the sessions to pay their bills so if they are turning away paying clients to give “a freeby” then they and their family will suffer.  It is also not fair on the paying clients who possibly saved some money for the session and yet the person before them had a free session and was then going on to the pub to meet their friends and tell them about it.

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On a slightly different angle, when I ran the Entertainments Booking Agency we were often asked if we could get a band or a comedian etc. for a charity event and expect the artist and us to provide the entertainment for free.  We always had to explain that the artists could be out doing charity events every night of the week but they can't pay their bills without any earnings.  When we asked the client if they were going to give a whole days wages (+ the cost of the fuel to get there) to the charity they finally realised what they were asking.  They never seemed to mind paying for the hall and the caterers for the event but for some reason they seemed to think that entertainers would be willing to work for free.  So we could rarely find an entertainer who would travel and work for free unless they felt strongly about the actual cause.

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In general do people think just think services should be given for free more than actual goods?

10% off Coupon for my Subscribers

10% off all items for a month to buy all your Christmas presents (and for yourselves of course). This applies to all items on one order (however many items you add to the order) - just add the code at the checkout to receive 10% off everything. 

Happy shopping and just remember I am in the UK so if you live overseas please allow enough time for International Airmail postage or ask for Airsure or International Signed For which is usually only 4/5 days.

The Hazards of Escalators

I have been reading about how bad and dangerous escalators are and the shocking number of people who are injured by them each year.  Flip-flops seem to be the most "eaten" things by escalators but people have lost toes, fingers, had their hair ripped out etc.  Apparently it isn't only the teeth at the top and the bottom of the escalator that are a problem but the sides of them as well, especially if a child hangs on to the side of them.  It seems horrendous injuries are reported frequently and yet we are still not being careful when we are on them and we don't stop children from “mucking about” while on them.  Bending down to release something already caught is another big mistake as inevitably something of you gets caught and goes round the teeth sucking you in.  At least one person has died from being strangled when their clothing got caught.  

They were invented towards the end of the last century but they have not really changed in design much since then.  You would think that with all the new technology now they would be able to redesign them so that these dangerous things cannot happen.  In these current times we are so safety conscious and so many precautions are taken in so many things but we are still at risk every time we step on to an escalator.  Most of the injuries that have occurred have not been when people have fallen or tripped but just through bad timing in getting on or off the escalator or wearing inappropriate footwear.  Do we go out thinking “are we likely to need to go on an escalator today as if I am I will need to change my shoes” – I think it unlikely.  We tell children off for jumping off the escalator at the bottom / top but maybe they have got the most sensible idea.  One escalator actually blew up in the London Underground when too much fluff and small debris had collected in the inner workings and over thirty people died.  But this particular situation is a lot less likely to happen than for a person to get injured by the teeth of the escalator.

It just goes to show that stairs are better for you in more ways than just for the exercise.

Todays trivia snippet:

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Lastly, here is todays chuckle:

WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'
'Yep,' the wife replied, 'in-laws.'

This Takes Me Back…

I noticed that they have brought back what they are calling Velvet Shoes.

I can remember these only too well from years ago as they were a pain in the a**e.  If you deigned to touch one foot against the other or knocked them on a chair leg, or even looked at them it seemed, you ended up with either a scuff mark or a black line on them.  There was absolutely no way on earth you could then eradicate the mark that always stood out like “a sore thumb”.  So unless you were REALLY careful you ended up with a tatty pair of shoes after about two wears.  I can remember trying everything to try and get rid of the marks but nothing ever worked.  I just hope the new ones will be made of an improved material since I had mine. 

Most things seem to be made of better material these days though, apart from the ones that have just TOO much elastane in them and then they just feel like wearing a swimming costume (well the old fashioned swimming costumes now).  It would feel strange now to wear a pair of jeans that hadn’t got a bit of lycra in them so some things have definitely improved as the rigid jeans are so, well - rigid, when you sit down in them for any length of time.  Why is it always that when you buy something (especially jeans) that fit perfectly they shrink a bit in the wash so are too tight or short and yet if they are a bit too loose or long when you get them they never shrink one millimetre when you wash them? 

Another thing that I am pleased they have improved upon is cotton t-shirts.  Years ago they ALWAYS went baggy at the back and got shorter so it is great that they don’t do that any more with the newer materials.  I always find though that the best looking t-shirts have elastane in them which I find really annoying, as if it is warm t-shirt weather who on earth wants to wear something with elastane in it to make them hotter?  It is a strict no-no when I go dancing especially.  I find all the newer jogging/yoga type trousers have elastane in them as well – I know it makes them clingier so the slimmer ones look better in them but by the nature of the material it makes you sweat more and isn’t the idea to wear them for comfort and ease while you are exercising which in itself makes you hot and sweaty, so why make it worse by wearing clothes with a high elastane content in them.  I am sure they can make them look just as good with just a very very small percentage of elastane in them to keep their shape.

Here are the last of those interesting Ways to Terrorize a Telemarketer

1. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask them if they will give you their HOME phone number so you can call them back. When the telemarketer explains that they cannot give out their HOME number, you say "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The telemarketer will agree and you say, "Now you know how I feel!"

2. Insist that the caller is really your buddy Leon, playing a joke. "Come on Leon, cut it out! Seriously, Leon, how's your momma?"

3. Tell them to talk VERY SLOWLY, because you want to write EVERY WORD down.

4. Tell the telemarketer you are on "home arrest" and ask if they could bring you a case of beer and some chips.

5. After the telemarketer gives their spiel, ask him/her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you could not just give your credit card number to a complete stranger.

And lastly here is todays chuckle:

The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.
Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00 AM .' He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM . Wake up..'
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

Mushrooms Galore

I have had a mushroom weekend.  The playing fields near our house (the football pitch on it to be precise) gets loads of mushrooms growing on it in the right weather conditions.  We often take the dogs over there as they get a really good run because we can safely let them off the leads and they chase each other all over the field, so it is a regular walk and easy for my achilles tendonitis as it is lovely and flat.  As long as they haven't been playing football that day there are often some mushrooms growing and we have come home with a small bag full or pockets full.  But this weekend the field has been covered with mushrooms.  I am not a person who takes my camera out with me or I would have taken a photo of the field.  Not that I have enough room in my pockets to add a camera with dog leads, treats etc.  My phone does take photos but I can’t transfer them to my computer, so you will just have to believe me that the whole field is speckled with white mushrooms.

So on Thursday we brought loads home and had what ended up as a sort of mushroom and salmon chowder – well there ended up so much that we only had half of it so ate the rest on Friday.  Yesterday we didn’t think there would be any as the day was quite bright but we were wrong and brought even more home with us and I made a large sort of Chilli Con Carne / Curry (it started off as a Chilli Con Carne but then I added a Lime and Coconut sauce with extra coconut and lots of things like Garam Marsala so it sort of turned into a curry with kidney beans too) and once again there was way too much so we are eating the rest of that tonight for dinner.  I am one of those cooks who just adds things willy nilly and usually (fingers crossed) everything turns out great – but I may have a job to reproduce the same dish again as I don’t remember what I added to it as I just add herbs and spices etc. as I go along).  I never taste it first before we eat it so it always hit and miss I suppose and I have just been lucky. 

Today we went prepared to pick the mushrooms and took a carrier bag which was filled without moving more than about 20 ft.  So the rest of this afternoon I have been preparing a huge pressure cooker full of mushroom soup to freeze.  It is still cooling down so I am not sure how much it is going to make but as it is condensed and more water will be added when it is warmed up to eat, I should think there will be enough for about 10 - 15 days.  I put lots of spices in it so I just hope it is not too hot or I will be using it as a base for curries insteadJ  Once when I made carrot and coriander soup I made one batch a bit too hot and had to use it for hot dishes instead of as a soup. 

Isn’t it great when you have “free” food too.  In actual fact the onions that went into the soup were also free as we picked those up a while ago from the onion fields around here.  When they harvest them some get left on the top of the field and they just get ploughed back in afterwards if they aren’t the right size or fall off the onion harvester.  So if we time it right we can get lots of free onions too and as there are quite a few onion fields behind us it is easy enough to know when they start harvesting them (LOL – especially if the wind is in the right direction which luckily for those few harvesting days it wasn’t from the North).  We are eating some gorgeous apples that were picked from a wild tree too that I think are Blenheim apples as they are just like apples from my favourite apple tree in the garden of the house where I grew up.

Todays trivia:

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven (7) times. 

Oh go ahead...I'll wait...

Here’s and extra something a bit different today:

5 Ways to Terrorize a Telemarketer

1. When they ask "How are you today?" Tell them! "I'm so glad you asked because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems; my arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died."

2. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where their company is located. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary. Such as when did their company start, who was the founder, are they still with company?

3. Cry out in surprise at the name of the telemarketer name such as "Judy! Is that you? Oh my God! Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give "Judy" a few brief moments of pause as she tries to figure out where the hell she could know you from.

4. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends plan, reply, in as SINISTER a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends... would you be my friend?"

5. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money.

And todays chuckle:

NICKNAMES
If Laura, Sheila, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Sheila, Debra and Rose.

If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50.  None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't want.

What House Would You Like To Live In?

I was thinking today about how we all have different thoughts on what type of houses we would like to live in - which is a good thing of course otherwise all houses would have to be built the same and estates would turn into towns and towns would all look the same.

Do we all have dream houses that we could never afford or are we content in what we have?  I know I could never afford the type of house I would like to live in.  It’s not that I would like to live in a mansion or anything (although that would be very nice) but it is just that some of my choices put what I want totally out of my price range.  The size of the house wouldn’t be so much bigger than the one I am in (although it would be very nice if it was bigger as well) but it is the other things which would make it too expensive.  

I would like a bit of land, not a huge amount and not acres of it, but one acre would be nice.  The other thing that would make it expensive is that I would like it to be set back from the road and just outside a village so there were no immediate neighbours but they weren’t too far away.  A town up to 15 minutes away would be good too for the shops, dentist, doctor, optician etc.  

I would like a bright modern house with big windows and airy rooms.  My request list (other than what I have mentioned) would be shorter than my “not wanted” list I think.  I don’t like rooms with sloping ceilings or beams, I don’t like brick fireplaces or walls,I love Georgian style rooms but not small pokey cottage-style rooms.  This is a lot of peoples dream house or cottage but it’s not for me – I like big bright open rooms (but not open-plan).  Barn conversions, old farmhouses, cottages – they are all the ones that are just outside a village.  Bright modern houses are in towns and the middle of villages.  So there are very few houses that I would like in the situation I would like them in and if there were any they would be double the price of our own house.

We used to watch a lot of the find a house type programmes on TV and so many people wanted “period features” which was fine if they wanted high ceilings, ornate stone fireplaces and fancy cornices etc. as I love all that (apart from the fact that I bet the heating bill is diabolical) but most of them wanted quaint beamed cottages with an Aga, a Butler sink (I don’t like those either), an open brick fireplace and an upstairs with sloping ceilings.

I think I will just have to be content to know that there is no such place as I would like available anywhere (yet alone for sale) and if there was I would need to win the lottery to buy it (and I don’t even buy lottery tickets).

Here is an interesting piece of trivia today:    

Because it’s growing about half an inch a year, a person climbing Mount Everest today would have to go 27 inches further to reach the peak than Sir Edmund Hillary did in 1953.

Here’s todays chuckle:

This ought to make you feel better about your computer skills!

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
Customer: A white one...
Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

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Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it.

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Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.

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Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in.

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Customer: I can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five dots.

I found the pictures of these unusual houses on: http://www.myinterestingfiles.com/2008/03/unique-dream-houses.html

Who Turned the Light Out?

Where has the light gone - why did the light magically disappear when we changed the clocks back?  It is like a switch turned the brightness off and the days suddenly became duller.  It should be the same but an hour different!  I have been having problems with matching my jewellery colours and as for photos - forget it.  I needed to get my Pendant-Heaven Business Page opened as well - it is open but I need to put some things in it first before I publicised it and I can't G+ things to my business page, only to my personal page - how silly is that!  I had to copy and paste the links instead so it took me a while.  I haven’t added that much but enough for people to see what I do and I have added some photos too – they took over half an hour to load!!!  I think it is just very slow today though.

If you want to have a look here is the link:

Pendant-Heaven on Google+

I am just writing a very quick blog today as I have had a few busy days but didn’t want you to think I had forgotten youJ  It has been brighter today so I took loads of photos while I had the chance and my daughter popped over with the grandchildren this afternoon too.  My grandson brought these ball things that open into monsters/vehicles and some cards but blowed if we could understand what game you had to play with them.  We looked it up on the internet and the instructions were so hard to follow you needed to be young to be able to understand them!!!

So here is todays trivia for all my intelligent followers:

See if you can discover what these words have in common.

1. Banana
2. Dresser
3. Grammar
4. Potato
5. Revive
6. Uneven
7. Assess  

Are you peeking or have you already given up?

Give it another try....
Look at each word carefully.

You'll kick yourself when you discover the answer.  
This is clever....

 Answer: No, it is not that they all have at least 2 double letters..... 

Keep going down, I don’t want you to read the answer until you have had a good think.

Answer: In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.

Todays chuckle: