The Greatest Videos of All Time



Wimp.com has a great collection of videos.  Here's one featuring outtakes of a couple having fun while shooting a commercial for a truck stop restaurant in Maine and trying to get one line right.  http://www.wimp.com/couplecommercial/

Warning: this website is highly addictive.  Videos include optical illusions, cute pets, and incredible feats of athletics.  Once you're on the site, click the "next" link to watch random videos or enter your own search.  But trust me, you'll want to finish your chores and errands first.

Vote for Our Dog



It's springtime, but an important election is heating up.  Our dog Cami (left above) and her running mate Sunny are vying for a spot in the 2014 Petco Foundation calendar.  The theme of the campaign is "Life is Better Together" and thankfully they don't have to pose in bathing suits or some other embarrassing outfits.
 

The competition is open to all pets regardless of class, breed or color.  Your vote with a $1 donation and a minimum of five votes (ok, so a $5 donation) helps the charity chosen by the owner of the pet with the most votes.  We selected the San Diego Humane Society, as its dogged determination to keep the ailing puppy we initially wanted to adopt fortuitously lead us to Cami at another shelter.  A panel of judges will choose the photos for the calendar.  Your votes won't necessarily sway the panel, but then again they might.

Voting closes April 29.  Click here to go to the voting page.  Type "cami" in the search box and look for this photo below.  As they campaign, Cami and Sunny promise to lick the face of every voter they meet.
 

 

Pronouncing Louisville

Congratulations to the Louisville Cardinals, the NCAA 2013 Men's College Basketball champions.  It's the school's third NCAA basketball title and perhaps the sweetest one in light of the horrific leg injury sustained by guard Kevin Ware.

As the excitement dies down and the moment fades into history, one nagging question remains: What is the correct way to pronounce Louisville?

It's more than an accent or local custom that guides the way you hear it.  No, way the word if formed is far more intentional.  Some start the word with LOO, others with LOW.  Some get midway through and pronounce the S.  I might end it with VIL; you might like VUHL.  And is it two syllables or three? 

I'm fairly certain the correct pronounciation starts with LOO, since the city is named in honor of the French king Louis XVI.  Whoever heard of King LOW or King LUH? 

And because the name's French, the S at the end of Louis has to be silent.  Most of us seem to agree on this point.

Further guidance is furnished at About.com:

The Local Pronunciation of Louisville

(c) 2008 Jessica Elliott

A sign on the front of the Louisville Visitors Center mocks the different ways that people pronounce the name of our city: "Lewisville," "Looeyville," "Looavull," "Looaville," and "Luhvull." Phonetically, it would seem that the "Lewisville" or "Looeyville" pronunciations would be correct. However, pronouncing the name of your new home either of those ways is sure to give you away as an outsider. The pronunciation that most Louisville residents use is "Looavull," though "Looaville" and "Luhvull" aren’t uncommon.

And according to Inogolo.com, the online English Pronounciation Guide to the Names of People, Places and Stuff:

Louisville
city in Kentucky

Name: Louisville

Phonetic Pronunciation: LOO-ih-vuhl

Notes: This is the pronunciation most commonly used by natives. Another common pronunciation widely heard outside of Kentucky is LOO-ee-vil.

So to recap: if you want to fit in with the locals, say it something like LOO-a-vull.  LOO-ey-ville is acceptable but you'll tip everyone off that you're not from around there.

But how does a local actually say the name?  I decided to ask a real Kentuckian.  Diane Sawyer at ABC News hails from the Bluegrass State and as a news anchor she should know as well as anyone the true pronounciation.  But my co-worker and former supervisor, Don Morton, was more readily available.  He grew up in Kentucky and spent the first 12 years of his life in Elizabethtown just outside Louisville.  He's a Wildcats fan first and follows the Cardinals.  Don knows Kentucky and he pronounces the city LOO-a-ville, only fast enough to make the middle syllable almost disappear. 

So there you have it.  Consider the matter settled until the running of the Kentucky Derby, when announcers will once again trot out their self-styled pronounciations.  Just listen, someone's gonna pronounce the S, like in St. Louis.

World Health Day

Nearly every day is a holiday or commemoration somewhere on Earth.  Today, for instance, is Chakri Day, a national holiday in Thailand commemorating the founding of the Chakri Dynasty, the country's ruling monarch.  As the holiday falls on a Saturday, banks, commercial and government offices in Thailand will be closed on Monday. 

Tomorrow is World Health Day.  The global observance has taken on more significance since it was established by the World Health Organization in 1950.  Life expectancy in most countries has advanced to the point where more of us are expected to live longer and require health care, raising the dual study of how to stay healthy and how to pay the bill when we're sick.  Each year, a theme is selected to highlight an area of concern in public health.  This year's theme is high blood pressure, a topic infinitely more relatable than 2011's "Anti-microbial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow".  

Seriously, hypertension increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure and if left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can also cause blindness, irregular heartbeat and heart failure.  But it's preventable.  Doctors advise reducing salt intake, eating a balanced diet, avoiding the harmful use of alcohol, taking regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy body weight and avoiding tobacco use.

World Health Day is a celebration for the common good and you needn't wait a whole year for the next one.  Earth Day is April 22. 

Here's wishing you good health.  And Happy Chakri Day.