ukuleles, islands and continents, trollcam, Game of Thrones etc

Lots of stuff has happened; for instance i have learned to spell a few words.

In honor of (finally!) acquiring a ukulele (a tenor Makala, bought it online, yes i have but not yet installed aquila strings), and learning how to spell that 'ukulele', here's a clip of what might be my favorite Amanda Palmer song.

i finally learned how to consistently spell 'scissor', courtesy of googling music by the astounding '90s pop band the Scissor Sisters. Reference this song and this song, for starters. (And thanks to LZ for the recommendation.) It's safe to say i still don't understand Mika.

i have not learned how to spell this, but i encountered the term 'smörgåstårta' on David Lebovitz's blog, which lead to the viewing of this baffling youtube clip by an earnest probably Swedish man (warning, there's a bit of yelling). This was apparently also a thing in the US, too, in the 1950s-ish. As stated on this Betty Crocker recipe, "This sandwich loaf will be the talk of the party!"

i was (happily) having dinner with Kelly AT and James about two weeks ago, looking over a few trivia questions, when we came upon the question, 'what is the largest island?' This stimulated some conversation toward the definition of an island, which none of us were confident we could answer. Technically (by which i mean wikipedia states it), the naming of an island versus a continent is a matter of convention. Huh. Other definitions include that a continent sits on it's own tectonic plate (it's the largest landmass on that plate); "Continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earth's molten mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, so it floats low on the mantle. Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust (e.g. volcanic islands) or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere(e.g. Greenland). " The answer, btw, is that Greenland is the largest island, while Australia is the smallest continent.

It has come to my attention that the nearby town of Mount Horeb, WI, has declared itself the 'Troll Capital of the World', and there is a streaming trollcam.

Regarding Game Of Thrones, the season is over. However, i tripped over this the other night, where someone showed their dad pictures of characters and asked him to name them. It's awesome. Moreover, this quote from Mr. Martin, "[when asked if any of the cast of his book series, "A Song of Ice and Fire", will be left alive]: "No one will be alive by the last book. In fact, they all die in the fifth. The sixth book will be just a thousand-page description of snow blowing across the graves ...". Yeah.

i bought a scented candle today. That's a first. This girly business is getting out of hand, and i'd feel worse about it if i didn't also purchase two very large bags of dirt (potting soil).

Okay, please excuse me while i i figure out how to change the strings on a ukulele.