Musings of Zandy Barke-Dee

cogitabund : (archaic, literary) Deep in thought; meditative, thoughtful. The French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who created the sculpture known as The Thinker, was born 180 years ago on 12 November 1840.

fantasia : (music, also figurative) A form of instrumental composition with a free structure and improvisational characteristics; specifically, one combining a number of well-known musical pieces. (chiefly art, by extension) Any work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles. A traditional festival of the Berbers of the Maghreb (in northwest Africa) featuring exhibitions of horsemanship. The Walt Disney animated film Fantasia premiered on this day 80 years ago in 1940.

World Wide Web : (Internet) Usually preceded by the: collectively, all of the hypertext documents (web pages) on the Internet stored in different computers around the world that hyperlink to each other and to other kinds of media, and are typically retrieved by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Today is the 30th anniversary of the day in 1990 when Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau coined the term in a formal proposal to build a “web” of “hypertext documents” to be viewed by “browsers” using a client–server architecture.

poppy : Any plant of the genus Papaver or the family Papaveraceae, with crumpled, often red, petals and a milky juice having narcotic properties; especially the common poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) which has orange-red flowers; the flower of such a plant. A bright red colour tinted with orange, like that of the common poppy flower. poppy:   (chiefly Australia, Britain, Canada) A simple artificial poppy flower worn in a buttonhole or displayed in other contexts to remember those who died in the two World Wars and other armed conflicts, especially around Remembrance Sunday. [...] Today, the date in 1918 when hostilities in World War I ceased, is observed as Remembrance Day in many countries to remember armed forces members who have died in the line of duty.

rake : (agriculture, horticulture) A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn by a horse or a tractor. (by extension) A similarly shaped tool used for other purposes. (gambling) A tool with a straight edge at the end used by a croupier to move chips or money across a gaming table. [...] (Northern England and climbing, also figurative) A course, a path, especially a narrow and steep path or route up a hillside. (mining) A fissure or mineral vein of ore traversing the strata vertically, or nearly so. (Britain, originally Northern England, Scotland) A series, a succession; specifically (rail transport) a set of coupled rail vehicles, normally coaches or wagons. (systems theory) In cellular automata: a puffer that emits a stream of spaceships rather than a trail of debris. (Midlands, Northern England) Alternative spelling of raik (“a course, a way; pastureland over which animals graze; a journey to transport something between two places; a run; also, the quantity of items so transported”) [...] A person (usually a man) who is stylish but habituated to hedonistic and immoral conduct. English artist William Hogarth was born today in 1697. His series of paintings called A Rake’s Progress (1732–1734) depicts a rake who wastes his money on extravagant living, gambling, and prostitutes, and ends up first in prison and then in an insane asylum.

endorheic : (hydrology) Of a basin or lake: having no outflow to an external body of water such as a river or ocean, and only losing water through evaporation or seepage into the ground.

fly in the ointment : (idiomatic) Something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.

nitty-gritty : (originally US, colloquial, also attributively) The core or essence of something; the details.

sprightly : Animated, gay, or vivacious; lively, spirited. Of a person: full of life and vigour, especially with a light and springy step. Especially of an older person: energetic and in good health; spry. (obsolete, rare) Of or relating to a sprite; ghostly, spectral. sprightly adv In a lively and vigorous way; sprightlily.