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Two Words: A & Apart
The word āaā has several notable features. It’s classified grammatically as an indefinite article. This means it refers to something of which there can be more than one. For example, we’d speak of āaā tall building because there are lots of tall buildings. But we’d say Burj Khalifa (in Dubai) is currently ātheā world’s tallest…
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Let’s Resolve to Aim High!
One of our recent subscribers to Notes from Stonehaven is a reader named Maroussia Roy. Since she likes anagrams, I puttered around to see what gems I might unearth from her name. Turns out the letters in āMaroussia Royā rearrange to spell: āYour aim soars.ā Perfect! How fitting might it be if each of us…
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Our 30th Ana(versary)gram!
I canāt let 2016 escape without noting that this was the year Cheri and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Three adventure-filled decades ago, we committed ourselves to making our union āas a fortress for well-being and salvationā. Thatās how Bahaāuāllah describes it in the Prayer for Marriage. That, for us, has been the way it…
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One Word: Antigram
An antigram is an expression formed by rearranging the letters of another expression to mean its opposite. For example, āflusterā rearranges to spell ārestfulā. Other classic examples: ālistenā = āsilentā; āantagonistā = ānot againstā; āearliestā = āarise lateā. The word āantigramā is short for āanti-anagramā ā an anagram being any word or phrase formed by…
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Are Russian Hackers Interfering With Gary’s Anagrams?
For some time, I’ve suspected foreign agents of covertly tampering with my anagrams. Why? Maybe so you’ll vote forĀ competing anagrams by my Twitter buddy Christopher DavisĀ (@TweakYourPC). Maybe just to stir up vandalism. Who cares? Point is, our CIA is now “confident” that the letters in “This anagram was HACKED by Vladimir Putin” rearrange to spell…
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A Grumpy Old Anagram!
A favorite quote of mine, from the 1993 movie Grumpy Old Men: “The first ninety years or so, they go by pretty fast … Then one day you wake up and you realize that you’re not eighty-one anymore.” ā Burgess Meredith These words are spoken in the movie by the āGrandpa Gustafsonā character (Meredith). I…
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How to Fact-Check Gary Matthews (or Anyone Else)
One thing I love about todayās Internet is how easily you can fact-check anything I say. Donāt believe me about something? Fine! Fire up Google (or any other search engine). Type in the topic. Seconds later youāre studying it in Wikipedia, watching it on YouTube, reading all about it in respected news outlets and academic…
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How the Post Office Could Have Saved Itself
The US Postal Service had the chance, early on, to become a provider of email. This was during the Internet’s early days. Few people at that time foresaw the importance email would attain. Neither, it seems, did the Postal Service. In fact, the Postal Service saw email as a threat, not as an opportunity. If…
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Me and Automatic Doors
Someone once predicted that automatic doors would never catch on. Oh, yeah, that someone was me. It just proves how awful is my track record as a predictor of trends and technology. I don’t recall where or when I saw my first automatic sliding door. Hospital? Library? Grocery store? Being a kid, though, I remember…
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Did We Just Trade Away the Internet?
Did we just trade away the Internet? It sure looks that way. Donāt take me too literally. Weāll always have something called āthe Internetā. It just wonāt necessarily be the real Internet, the one weāve come to take for granted. By which I mean the open InternetĀ ā the one featuring a precious jewel called ānet…