Never doubt the sage. Wherever we went yesterday, I would see sage blooming. Sage blooming means it is going to rain. The prognosticators were saying it was not supposed to rain for several days, but late in the day, they changed that to a 10% to 20% chance. It rained CRAZY on my way home this afternoon. We got 0.94" in the gauge, and there may be a little more before morning. I was just about to start complaining that there was no rain (we all love to complain about something), but then it rained. The road in front of our house is totally F'd (they are [allegedly] working on it) and it is lovely unless it rains. When it rains, the fact that it is nothing but dirt now, becomes slip-slidingly evident. BUT, we did get some rain, and for that we are all happy. Oh, and I got a new 12v battery for the car today, AND it was under warranty! SWEET!Despot -- Noun. 1. a ruler with absolute power and authority. 2. a person exercising power tyrannically. "Her spoilt younger sister, Phoebe, is a lip-glossed despot, able to command...attention with a flick of her pretty head." Lisa Allardice, The Daily Telegraph (London), March 22, 2003
Did You Know? In his 1775 dictionary, Samuel Johnson said of despot, "The word is not in use, except as applied to some Dacian prince; as the despot of Servia." Indeed, at that time, the word was mainly used to identify some very specific rulers or religious officials, and the title was an honorable one (it comes from a Greek word meaning "lord" or "master" and was originally applied to deities). That situation changed toward the end of the 18th century, perhaps because French Revolutionists, who were said to have been "very liberal in conferring this title," considered all sovereigns to be tyrannical. When democracy became all the rage, despot came to be used most often for any ruler who wielded absolute and often contemptuous and oppressive power.
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