Interrobang?!

Interrobang... Sounds kind of dirty, right? Or maybe that didn't even cross your mind and my mind just dwells in the gutter.

The interrobang is celebrating it's 50th birthday this year, which I learned from my boss's birthday card -a delightful little handbook detailing out all the fun things that happened way back in 1962! Of course the only useful thing I gleaned out of that card was a fun fact about punctuation. Pretty sure that makes me a dork. I think the reason this struck a chord with me is because I often speak in interrobangs- it seems all my questions end excitedly (aka squeekily high pitched). Anyhow, here's your learning for the day (courtesy of Yours Truly & Wikipedia, of course):

The interrobang (often represented by ?! or !?), is a nonstandard punctuation mark used in various written languages and intended to combine the functions of the question mark and the exclamation mark or exclamation point (known in printers’ jargon as the “bang”).

American Martin K. Speckter conceptualized the interrobang in 1962. As the head of an advertising agency, Speckter believed that advertisements would look better if copywriters conveyed surprised rhetorical questions using a single mark.

Here she is, the interrobang. Feast your eyes:

The interrobang failed to amount to much more than a fad, however. It has not become a standard punctuation mark. Although most fonts do not include the interrobang, it has not disappeared: Microsoft provides several versions of the interrobang character as part of the Wingdings 2 character set.

End of learning.

Early to Rise

Benjamin Franklin is quoted to have said: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Anyone that's ever had a sleepover with me probably harbors some resentment towards me about the hour in which I woke up in the morning. I don't really care to apologize, it's not my fault you are a light sleeper. I grew up in a family of (mostly - cough Lisa cough-) early risers. My dad and I were making plans for Saturday morning and I asked what time he would be picking me up and he said 8. My immediate reaction was to scoff and then barter. How about 9? Normally, I am awake, breakfasted, facebooked and at the gym by 8am on Saturday morning, BUT I don't HAVE to do any of that if I choose not to (like when I'm hungover). In return, he scoffed at 9AM. Not only did he scoff, but he said something about wasting the whole day away. I didn't bother arguing. Really, I feel the same way. I agreed he could pick me up at 8 for our errands. I didn't tell him this, but I am making him 1. stop at Starbucks or 2. take me for and buy me breakfast.

My usual route would be to wikipedia this but I had my doubts there would be a reference. Boy, was I wrong! Per Wikipedia:

Waking up early is a productivity method of rising early and consistently so as to be able to accomplish more during the day. This method has been recommended since antiquity and is presently recommended by a number of personal development gurus. The philosopher Aristotle said, "It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom."

Within the context of religious observances, spiritual writers have called this practice "the heroic minute," referring to the sacrifice which this entails.

Personal development writers have noted that waking up early can be developed through practice and correct preparation.

That is pretty much all it had to say, but man did I love every word of it. So now what I would like to do is help you all, all you sleeper-inners. I found a 13 step process called How to Wake Up Early, but that's a lot of steps, and I don't have the patience for that. SO how about 5 steps (with editorial comments in brackets).

1. Get a good nights sleep. (DUH, go to bed early and sleep soundly, keep your bedroom an oasis for sleeping).
2. Never press the snooze button.
3. Gradually go to sleep and wake up ten minutes earlier each day until you reach your goal time (goal time- crack of dawn).
4. Have someone else wake you up (this makes you not responsible for waking up early, so then if you sleep in you can blame the waker upper).
5. Cut the caffeine. No coffee or soda before bed. (I don't necessarily agree with this one, but hey if you suck at being up early you are the one who needs to make some changes).

OK, now go practice.
xo

Lone Dimple

"Hey, you only have one dimple," someone pointed out to me the other day. "Oh yeah!" I responded cleverly, in a super squeaky high pitched voice, face full of surprise. It wasn't even a fake mocking face of surprise either... it was an honestly shocked face. It's really not something that I've ever though too hard about.

I haven't always had this loner dimple- I think it grew in when I was a teenager. Now it's just kind of part of my face. Okay well not just kind of... it IS a part of my face. Ugh why do I use so many non-words? sigh. One day I'll get educated, I plomise.

Anyways, the reason this person pointed it out is they too had just one dimple. I think they thought this somehow provided us with an innate kinship. I disagreed. It did, however, provide me with a whole set of questions that I needed answered.

First off. Why just the one? I tried smiling super hard to see if I could make a matching one appear on my other cheek. No matter how hard I tried my left cheek refused to dimple. I examined my smile to see if perhaps it was a bit lopsided and maybe years of smiling crookedly inhibited a left dimple from forming... The only thing that proved was that I had food in my teeth.

I then checked pictures of Manda's face to see if perhaps she got the other one, but she did not- dimpleless that girl is.

So where has it gone, or perhaps more accurately, why does it cease to be? Why am I a one-dimpled-wonder? Lucky for you this is not a rhetorical question. I have answers! Their legitimacy may be arguable, but at least it'll help me sleep at night.

OK. Firstly, as per usual, Wikipedia.

Dimples may appear and disappear over an extended period.[2] Dimples may play a role in sexual selection.[3] Some cultures, for example Asian and Indo-ethnic sub-groups, prefer dimples as a sign of attractiveness and veracity.[4] Dimples may be genetically inherited and have been called a simple dominant trait.

Next, I decided to see what WiseGeek.com had to say on the subject. I tried StupidIdiot.com, but they didn't have anything to say on the topic.

The genetics of dimples is actually rather interesting. Dimples are a dominant trait, which means that it only takes one gene to inherit dimples. If neither of your parents has dimples, you shouldn't have them either, unless you experience a spontaneous mutation. If one of your parents has dimples, you have a 25-50% chance of inheriting the gene, since it means that parent inherited the gene from one or both parents. If both of your parents have dimples, you have a 50-100% chance of inheriting the gene, depending on how they inherited their dimple genes.

In most cases, facial dimples appear on the cheeks, although they can also pop up on the chin, and they are typically not visible until someone smiles. The changes in the face caused by a smile will bring out the dimple. However, some people only have a dimple on one side; this physical trait can actually be rather endearing.

Did you read that? RATHER ENDEARING! I am officially storing my dimple for special occasions now, or when I need to pull out the big guns to charm someone. Beware world!

After reading that dimples are inherited I polled the family to see who else has an affected face. You'd think I'd just know off the top of my head. You'd be wrong. Lisa says she kind of does. Amanda doesn't have bbm any more so is no longer reachable- but I am 80 percent certain her face is free of dents. I assume Mommadukes and Daddykins have or had them when they were young and fresh. If I had to take a guess, I would go with Glenn....

BREAKING NEWS> Carol just text me back. She has two dimples apparently. Interesting. Unfortunately, she's working so I can't get more than an affirmation from her at this time. Glenn's dimple status is still yet to be determined. But really, I feel my work here is done. We all can leave here a little bit more educated on something super non-consequential. You're welcome.

xo shelly.

parkour [PK]

Maclean's magazine in digital format gets emailed to me every week- I don't always read them, mostly I just skim the headlines and look at the pretty pictures. Today i hit the jackpot- and I'm talking a dollar machine max bet jackpot. I was skimming along, about to close the ezine and move to something less Macleansy when i realized i had landed on something that might actually be readable. The headline wasn't very catchy "getting a jump on things", even the picture wasn't THAT cool, but something had piqued my interest so i decided to read anyways. The sub heading read "hopping from rooftops, scaling walls and fences- it's all part of the ever growing popularity of parkour". When i got to the part where the article mentioned that parkour is a global phenomenon with practitioners in every major Canadian City I abandoned the article and hit up google. My search for "Vancouver Parkour" produced this video:

So obviously I'm now totally sold on the idea of parkour. I imagine you are too. Maybe not, maybe you think it's stupid, but that would be wrong and you should probably jump on the bandwagon. I don't think it's necessarily an activity meant for me personally, but the idea of being a fan of parkour appeals to me. Let's see what wikipedia has to say:

Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) is a utilitarian discipline based upon the successful, swift and energy-efficient traversing of one's surrounding environment via the practical application of techniques, based around the concept of self-preservation and the ability to help others. It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, using only their bodies. Skills such as jumping, climbing, vaulting, rolling, swinging and wall scaling are employed. Parkour can be practiced anywhere, but areas dense with obstacles are preferable, and it is most commonly practiced in urban areas. The usage and employment of flips into the named route does not constitute parkour.

A practitioner of parkour is called a traceur, which is most likely derived from Parisian slang tracer which means "to hurry" or "to move quickly".

Two primary characteristics of parkour are efficiency and speed. Traceurs take the most direct path through an obstacle as rapidly as that route can be traversed safely. Developing one's level of spatial awareness is often used to aid development in these areas. Also, efficiency involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term. This idea embodying parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer ("to be and to last").

Still not sold yet? I guess i gotta bring out the big guns. Let me share my most awesome PK research find, a clip from The Office: