175, 176

1.) There was some discussion today on the meaning of the word "vase," mainly weather when pronounced to rhyme with "face" it means something different than when pronounced to rhyme with "bras." It was suggested that "rhymes-with-bras" refers to a decorative object while "rhymes with face" is just any old thing you stick flowers in. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it was true. It turns out not to be, though. None of the sources I checked (Wikipedia, the OED, and Merriam-Webster online) says anything other than that they are variant pronunciations. MW actually breaks it down pretty well, while also throwing in "rhymes-with-days" as a third pronuciation (fucking Canadians): US oftenest ˈvās; Canada usually & US also ˈvāz; British usually, Canada also, & US sometimes ˈväz.

2.) I also learned today, kind of, about tides. The Wikipedia article is a freaking 90-page report on the subject, and therefore was not particularly helpful to me since I would have to spend more than 4 seconds reading it. I also checked on Howstuffworks.com. It still does not fully make sense to me with regard to the water actually moving around on the Earth and rising up higher on whatever particular beach you happen to be standing on, but I get that the pull of the moon bulges out the Earth on the sides closest to and farthest away from the moon. This happens, for the most part, twice a day: two high tides and two low tides. Eh. Thinking is hard.