I'm sitting at the top of my tree with my Bumble Bee Furby. There were over 40 million of Furbies sold between 1998 and 2000! Furbies start out speaking entirely Furbish (the unique language that all Furbies use), but are programmed to speak less Furbish and more English as they "grow." Furbies can communicate with one another by an infrared port located between their eyes. I think I might enter BB in a spelling bee!
Here's a sample of some of the Furbish/English phrases:
- wee-tah-kah-loo-loo: Tell me a joke.
- wee-tah-kah-wee-loo: Tell me a story.
- wee-tee-kah-wah-tee: Sing me a song.
- u-nye-loo-lay-doo?: Do you want to play?
- u-nye-ay-tay-doo?: Are you hungry?
- u-nye-boh-doo?: How are you?
- u-nye-way-loh-nee-way: Go to sleep now.
- u-nye-noh-lah: Show me a dance.
- doo?: What? (Furbies say this when called.)
- doo-dah: Yes. (Furbies say this in response to a command before doing it.)
- boo: No. (Furbies say this when they do not want to carry out a command.)
- yoo?: Why will you not play with me today? (this usually means the Furby is upset.)
All this "sweet talk" this week makes me think about sugar gliders. Sugar gliders are marsupials and are nocturnal. At night, they hunt for insects and feed on the sweet sap of certain eucalyptus, acacia, and gum trees. The sugar glider is named for its preference for nectar, pollen, and honeydew and its ability to glide through the air. This is done by the membrane that extends from the fifth finger to the first toe, which allows it to glide distances of 50–150 meters.
I'm wondering if I drew the "short" straw again this week with talking about Napoleon? It's actually a "tall" tale about his height. He was actually a inch taller than the average Frenchman at that time. His height was about 5'6" and may have appeared shorter because he was surrounded by the mostly tall soldiers of his royal guard.
Napoleon is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic wars (1803-1815). It was as a result of these wars, and his success in them, that he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time.
This was Napoleon's Coat of Arms. The eagle and bee are emblems of the First and later Second Empire. Go to napoleon.org to see what the symbols represent.
How do we know which statement is correct?: Napoleon admired the look of a uniform and wanted his men to wear it proudly. However, when the weather was cold, he noticed the men were using their jacket sleeves to wipe their runny noses. This upset Napoleon and he ordered that all the uniforms were to have buttons sewn on their jacket sleeves. He hoped this would keep the men from wiping their noses. BUT: Some say it was Frederick the Great, in the mid 1700s, who was responsible for buttons on jacket sleeves. BUT AGAIN: There are paintings from the late 1500s and early 1600s showing men wearing jackets with buttons on the sleeves. Hmmmm........
Now, time a double dose of sweet music by SpongeBob
Pour Some Sugar on Me and Lips Like Sugar!
