Business history: Ball Corporation
In 1880 Frank and Edmund Ball established the Wooden Jacket Can Company in Buffalo, New York. The Balls soon developed a better and cheaper method of applying the wooden jackets to the tin cans, and Frank obtained orders from throughout the Midwest. In 1883 Frank and Edmund’s three brothers—George, William, and Lucius—joined the business. As the popularity of tin oilcans declined, the brothers began to manufacture glass oil containers. By 1885 they were producing their own glass, and in February 1886 they incorporated as the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, with Frank as president. In 1884 or 1885 Ball Brothers began manufacturing the threaded-top glass jars for home canning first designed by John Mason.
The Muncie, Indiana natural gas boom began in 1886, and its business leaders, led by James Boyce, raised $120,000 to attract factories to the city. In the summer of 1887 they offered the Ball Brothers company $5,000, free land, free gas, and a private rail link connecting the factory to Muncie’s main rail line. The brothers accepted the offer and opened their plant on Meridian Street in March 1888.
http://www.indianahistory.org/hbr/business_pdf/ball_corp.pdf
Ball Corporation is one of the world's leading suppliers of rigid metal and plastic packaging products and services.
http://www.ball.com/page.jsp?page=1
http://www.ballcorporate.com/page.jsp?page=1
Ball State University history
In the late 19th century, Muncie business leaders envisioned a local college to help boost the city’s development. Among the visionaries were Frank C. Ball and his brothers, young New York industrialists who moved to Muncie looking to expand their glass container business. After the community’s efforts to sustain a small teacher-training school failed, the Ball brothers purchased the land and buildings of the defunct institution and donated them to the State of Indiana. This gift became the Indiana State Normal School Eastern Division, which opened in 1918 to meet Indiana’s need for more and better teachers.
In recognition of the Ball family’s generosity, the school was renamed Ball Teachers College in 1922 and then Ball State Teachers College in 1929. The winged statue Beneficence, last commissioned work of Daniel Chester French, stands on the campus as a tribute to the family.
http://cms.bsu.edu/About/HistoryAndMission.aspx
Treasury Releases Best Practices to Encourage Additional Form of Mortgage Finance
News release: The U.S. Treasury Department took steps to encourage additional sources of mortgage finance and strengthen financial institutions by issuing Best Practices for Residential Covered Bonds...A covered bond is secured debt instrument that provides funding to a depository institution, collateralized by high-quality mortgage loans that remain on the issuer's balance sheet. Covered bonds have the potential to increase funding for mortgages and to strengthen our financial institutions by offering them a new funding source that will diversify their overall funding portfolio...Treasury worked with the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Securities and Exchange Commission when developing the guide. The Department also consulted with market participants, including potential issuers, investors, underwriters, ratings agencies as well as international regulators.
Fact Sheet
US Covered Bond Best Practices
Related postings on the mortgage market and foreclosures
New GAO Reports: Tax Expenditures, Electronic Health Records, Bankruptcy Reform, Prescription Drug Oversight, Financial Audit Manual
Telecommunications: Agencies Are Generally Following Sound Transition Planning Practices, and GSA Is Taking Action to Resolve Challenges, GAO-08-759, June 27, 2008
Tax Expenditures: Available Data Are Insufficient to Determine the Use and Impact of Indian Reservation Depreciation, GAO-08-731, June 26, 2008
Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Have Increased Their Sharing of Health Information, but More Work Remains, GAO-08-954, July 28, 2008
Bankruptcy Reform: Dollar Costs Associated with the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, GAO-08-697, June 27, 2008
Prescription Drugs: FDA's Oversight of the Promotion of Drugs for Off-Label Uses, GAO-08-835, July 28, 2008
DOD Business Systems Modernization: Key Marine Corps System Acquisition Needs to Be Better Justified, Defined, and Managed, GAO-08-822, July 28, 2008
Financial Audit Manual: Volume 1, July 2008, GAO-08-585G, July 25, 2008
Financial Audit Manual: Volume 2, July 2008, GAO-08-586G, July 25, 2008
Nearly 10 Billion Fewer Miles Driven in May 2008 than May 2007: Seven-Month Decline in Travel Reflected in Highway Trust Fund
News release: New Federal data showing further steep declines in the number of miles Americans are driving is additional proof that the country needs new means - other than the gas tax - to finance the nation's transportation infrastructure, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters said ...Secretary Peters said that Americans drove 9.6 billion fewer vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) in May 2008 than in May 2007, according to the Federal Highway Administration data. This is the largest drop in VMT for any May, which typically reflects increased traffic due to Memorial Day vacations and the beginning of summer, and is the third-largest monthly drop in the 66 years such data have been recorded. Three of the largest single-month declines - each topping 9 billion miles - have occurred since December."
FHWA's Traffic Volume Trends reports for May 2008 (see also PDF and Excel reports)
A 2,100-year-old bronze and iron computer that predicted eclipses and other astronomical events also showed the cycle of the Greek Olympics and the related games that led up to it, researchers reported on July 31. The Antikythera mechanism, so named because it was found in 1901 in a Roman shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, is thought to have been made about 100 BC. Its purpose was a mystery for more than 100 years, but in 2006, researchers used a massive X-ray tomography machine, similar to that used to perform CT scans on humans, to examine the heavily encrusted fragments. They concluded that the device originally contained 37 gears that formed an astronomical computer.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-antikythera31-2008jul31,0,7670144.story
July 31 is the birthday of children's fantasy writer J.K. Rowling, (books by this author) born Joanne Rowling in Yate, England, in 1965. She has written seven novels in the Harry Potter series, a series that has sold nearly 400 million copies. Rowling grew up in rural England. She says that the character of Hermione in her series is "a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." One day on a cross-country train trip, the idea of Harry Potter "came fully formed" into her mind. It took J.K. Rowling a while to find a publisher for her novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in the U.S. as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).
In 1997, Bloomsbury published the first Harry Potter book with a print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which went to libraries. It has now sold about 120 million copies. Her publisher thought young boys were her target audience and was worried that they wouldn't buy a novel by a woman, so they encouraged her to use initials instead. Joanne didn't have a middle name, so she took her grandmother's name, Kathleen, and made herself J.K. Rowling. She is now the highest-earning novelist in history.
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Senate Passes American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
Follow up to July 23, 2008 posting on the House passage of H.R. 3221, on July 26 the Senate passed the bill, which now goes to the President for signature.
CBS/AP: "Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations."
The bill "establishes the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an independent agency, to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Empowers FHFA with broad supervisory and regulatory powers over the operations, activities, corporate governance, safety and soundness, and mission of the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises]. Provides new and more flexible authority to establish minimum and risk-based capital requirements."
Banks Curtailing Business Loans in Response to Economic Forces
New York Times, July 28, 2008 Worried Banks Sharply Reduce Business Loans
Federal Reserve Board Current Survey: "The April 2008 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices addressed changes in the supply of, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months. Special questions in the survey queried banks about changes in terms on home equity lines of credit and about their student loan programs. This article is based on responses from 56 domestic banks and 21 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
In the April survey, domestic and foreign institutions reported having further tightened their lending standards and terms on a broad range of loan categories over the previous three months. The net fractions of domestic banks reporting tighter lending standards were close to, or above, historical highs for nearly all loan categories in the survey. Compared with the January survey, the net fractions of banks that tightened lending standards increased significantly for consumer and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans. Demand for bank loans from both businesses and households reportedly weakened further, on net, over the past three months, although by less than had been the case over the previous survey period." Full report | Table 1 | Table 2 | Chart data |
Reading: Online vs Print Debate Reasonates With Educators, Librarians, Employers
New York Times, July 27, 2008: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?: "Few who believe in the potential of the Web deny the value of books. But they argue that it is unrealistic to expect all children to read “To Kill a Mockingbird” or “Pride and Prejudice” for fun. And those who prefer staring at a television or mashing buttons on a game console, they say, can still benefit from reading on the Internet. In fact, some literacy experts say that online reading skills will help children fare better when they begin looking for digital-age jobs...Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends." See also this accompanying graphic illustrating online vs. print reading skills
The Changing Nature of the U.S. Balance of Payments
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on July 27 released The Changing Nature of the U.S. Balance of Payments, the latest article in its series Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
Authors Rebecca Hellerstein and Cédric Tille show that earnings on cross-border investments represent an increasingly large share of the gross flows between the United States and other nations. As the authors explain, the value of cross-border financial holdings has soared with the increased integration of world financial markets. Between 1982 and 2006, the value of foreign assets held by U.S. investors tripled from 32 percent of GDP to 106 percent. Similarly, the value of assets held by foreign investors in the United States increased sixfold from 22 percent of GDP to 123 percent.
This rise in cross-border financial holdings has entailed significant increases in dividend and interest earnings. As a share of gross income from the rest of the world, U.S. earnings on foreign assets virtually doubled between 1970 and 2007, rising from 17 percent to 32 percent. Over the same period, earnings by foreign investors in the United States claimed an increasing share of U.S. gross payments to other nations, advancing from 9 percent to 23 percent. Full Report (PDF; 324 KB)
According to the Food and Drug Administration, butter and milk have zero grams of trans fat per serving. Basically, trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil--a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats. See table of foods: http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2003/503_fats.html
The University of Kentucky paid $1.2 million on July 25 to buy Lexington's Northside public library branch building at auction. The old branch will remain open as a library until about two weeks before the grand opening of the new branch at 11 a.m. on September 12.
http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/471170.html
Future of For-Profit Kentucky Law School Hangs on Library Plans
Back in February we covered the improbable tale of the improbably-named American Justice School of Law — a non-ABA-accredited, for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky. American Justice had been sued by it students for fraud, resulting in a settlement whereby the owners of the for-profit school transferred ownership to an investor group headed by a physician named Laxmaiah Manchikanti.
At the time, Dr. Manchikanti told the Law Blog that the purchase would prove prescient if he could win the school ABA accreditation. (The main reason behind the students’ lawsuit was the school’s failure to win accreditation. In Kentucky, graduates of non-accredited schools can’t take the bar.) His plan? Professors and books. “There were some deficiencies with the staff, and the law library was inadequate,” said the doctor. “It didn’t have enough books. . .we’re going to invest heavy amounts in the library.”
In the interim, the school has gained a new name, Barkley School of Law, and a new dean, Larry Putt, but not a new library, at least yet, according to the ABA Journal. School spokesman Ray Lane told the Paducah Sun that classes will be canceled if the new $5 million library and the renovation of a classroom building are not completed in the next two months. Classes will resume next year, however, after completion of the construction projects that are planned with the goal of winning ABA accreditation, Lane said.
WSJ Law Blog July 28, 2008
July 29 is the birthday of the poet Stanley Kunitz, (books by this author) born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905. He attended Harvard University, where he wanted to teach in the English department, but he was told that Anglo-Saxon students wouldn't want to be taught by a Jew. He said, "That almost broke my heart. And I think in the end it probably did me a great favor because it prevented me from becoming a completely preoccupied scholar." He went on to work as a farmer, and he served in WWII when his conscientious objector status was denied.
Stanley Kunitz published his first book of poetry when he was 25, called Intellectual Things (1930), and he continued to write and publish for 75 years. In 2000, he published The Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz, and that same year he was named poet laureate of the United States, when he was 95 years old. He died at age 100.
Stanley Kunitz said, "Poetry is inseparable from my life force, and that began very early. It was a great gift, and it has sustained me through the years, and the losses that have attended those years." He said, "The poem comes in the form of a blessing, like the rapture breaking through on the mind."
The Writer’s Almanac
Follow up to July 23, 2008 posting on the House passage of H.R. 3221, on July 26 the Senate passed the bill, which now goes to the President for signature.
CBS/AP: "Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations."
The bill "establishes the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an independent agency, to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Empowers FHFA with broad supervisory and regulatory powers over the operations, activities, corporate governance, safety and soundness, and mission of the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises]. Provides new and more flexible authority to establish minimum and risk-based capital requirements."
Banks Curtailing Business Loans in Response to Economic Forces
New York Times, July 28, 2008 Worried Banks Sharply Reduce Business Loans
Federal Reserve Board Current Survey: "The April 2008 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices addressed changes in the supply of, and demand for, bank loans to businesses and households over the past three months. Special questions in the survey queried banks about changes in terms on home equity lines of credit and about their student loan programs. This article is based on responses from 56 domestic banks and 21 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.
In the April survey, domestic and foreign institutions reported having further tightened their lending standards and terms on a broad range of loan categories over the previous three months. The net fractions of domestic banks reporting tighter lending standards were close to, or above, historical highs for nearly all loan categories in the survey. Compared with the January survey, the net fractions of banks that tightened lending standards increased significantly for consumer and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans. Demand for bank loans from both businesses and households reportedly weakened further, on net, over the past three months, although by less than had been the case over the previous survey period." Full report | Table 1 | Table 2 | Chart data |
Reading: Online vs Print Debate Reasonates With Educators, Librarians, Employers
New York Times, July 27, 2008: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?: "Few who believe in the potential of the Web deny the value of books. But they argue that it is unrealistic to expect all children to read “To Kill a Mockingbird” or “Pride and Prejudice” for fun. And those who prefer staring at a television or mashing buttons on a game console, they say, can still benefit from reading on the Internet. In fact, some literacy experts say that online reading skills will help children fare better when they begin looking for digital-age jobs...Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends." See also this accompanying graphic illustrating online vs. print reading skills
The Changing Nature of the U.S. Balance of Payments
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on July 27 released The Changing Nature of the U.S. Balance of Payments, the latest article in its series Current Issues in Economics and Finance.
Authors Rebecca Hellerstein and Cédric Tille show that earnings on cross-border investments represent an increasingly large share of the gross flows between the United States and other nations. As the authors explain, the value of cross-border financial holdings has soared with the increased integration of world financial markets. Between 1982 and 2006, the value of foreign assets held by U.S. investors tripled from 32 percent of GDP to 106 percent. Similarly, the value of assets held by foreign investors in the United States increased sixfold from 22 percent of GDP to 123 percent.
This rise in cross-border financial holdings has entailed significant increases in dividend and interest earnings. As a share of gross income from the rest of the world, U.S. earnings on foreign assets virtually doubled between 1970 and 2007, rising from 17 percent to 32 percent. Over the same period, earnings by foreign investors in the United States claimed an increasing share of U.S. gross payments to other nations, advancing from 9 percent to 23 percent. Full Report (PDF; 324 KB)
According to the Food and Drug Administration, butter and milk have zero grams of trans fat per serving. Basically, trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil--a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats. See table of foods: http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2003/503_fats.html
The University of Kentucky paid $1.2 million on July 25 to buy Lexington's Northside public library branch building at auction. The old branch will remain open as a library until about two weeks before the grand opening of the new branch at 11 a.m. on September 12.
http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/471170.html
Future of For-Profit Kentucky Law School Hangs on Library Plans
Back in February we covered the improbable tale of the improbably-named American Justice School of Law — a non-ABA-accredited, for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky. American Justice had been sued by it students for fraud, resulting in a settlement whereby the owners of the for-profit school transferred ownership to an investor group headed by a physician named Laxmaiah Manchikanti.
At the time, Dr. Manchikanti told the Law Blog that the purchase would prove prescient if he could win the school ABA accreditation. (The main reason behind the students’ lawsuit was the school’s failure to win accreditation. In Kentucky, graduates of non-accredited schools can’t take the bar.) His plan? Professors and books. “There were some deficiencies with the staff, and the law library was inadequate,” said the doctor. “It didn’t have enough books. . .we’re going to invest heavy amounts in the library.”
In the interim, the school has gained a new name, Barkley School of Law, and a new dean, Larry Putt, but not a new library, at least yet, according to the ABA Journal. School spokesman Ray Lane told the Paducah Sun that classes will be canceled if the new $5 million library and the renovation of a classroom building are not completed in the next two months. Classes will resume next year, however, after completion of the construction projects that are planned with the goal of winning ABA accreditation, Lane said.
WSJ Law Blog July 28, 2008
July 29 is the birthday of the poet Stanley Kunitz, (books by this author) born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905. He attended Harvard University, where he wanted to teach in the English department, but he was told that Anglo-Saxon students wouldn't want to be taught by a Jew. He said, "That almost broke my heart. And I think in the end it probably did me a great favor because it prevented me from becoming a completely preoccupied scholar." He went on to work as a farmer, and he served in WWII when his conscientious objector status was denied.
Stanley Kunitz published his first book of poetry when he was 25, called Intellectual Things (1930), and he continued to write and publish for 75 years. In 2000, he published The Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz, and that same year he was named poet laureate of the United States, when he was 95 years old. He died at age 100.
Stanley Kunitz said, "Poetry is inseparable from my life force, and that began very early. It was a great gift, and it has sustained me through the years, and the losses that have attended those years." He said, "The poem comes in the form of a blessing, like the rapture breaking through on the mind."
The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, July 28, 2008
A TANK AWAY FROM TOLEDO OR COLUMBUS
Last week we visited special friends in Champaign, Illinois. We started out by touring the University of Illinois. In the center of the campus are the Morrow Plots, the oldest continuous agricultural research fields in the United States. Planted in 1876, they’ve been designated a national historical landmark. Nearby is the undergraduate library, built underground so as not to shade the plots. After Harvard and Yale, the University of Illinois has the largest public university library system in the country. We also visited the new Champaign Public Library and the Spurlock Museum with its exhibits of world history and culture. http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/museumsentertainment/spurlock/
Two quotes from Spurlock Museum:
“Athletics developed as a form of ritualized warfare and were first organized into state events in the early eighth century BCE.”
“The Yoruba [African tribe] say that proverbs are the horses of speech, meaning that proverbs convey wisdom as horses carry riders and heavy workloads.”
Recommended restaurants in Champaign:
Jim Gould
Sun Singer
We drove to Springfield and saw the only surviving building where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. We toured Old Capitol and the new Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The library has 12 million documents and is open to the public.
Heading eastward, we stayed at French Lick Springs Hotel in the Hoosier National Forest, first built in 1845, and where tomato juice was first served in 1917. “Licks” in southern Indiana--salt residue on rocks from mineral water springs--attracted buffalo and deer. We spent time in Dunkirk Public Library and Museum and Marion Public Library and Museum before viewing a move (The Dark Knight, filmed principally in Chicago) before returning home.
Cuil Boasts of 120 Billion Pages and New Format
Cuil (pronounced cool) founded by former engineers from Google and other tech giants is launching a search engine that claims to cover three times as many Web pages as Google.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121721408704288951.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
California became the first state in the country to ban artery-clogging trans fats on July 25 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure to phase them out in restaurants beginning in 2010 and from baked goods by 2011.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502308.html?hpid=sec-health
Sixteenth U.S. poet laureate named
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/352
Kay Ryan describes herself as a “modern hermit”
morganatic (mor-guh-NAT-ik)
adjective: Of or relating to a marriage between two people of different social ranks such that the spouse of lower rank and the children do not share the titles or possessions of the higher-ranking spouse.
From Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam (marriage with a morning gift), implying that the gift given on the morning after the marriage was the only gift received by the wife. It was also known as a left-handed marriage because the groom held his bride's hand with his left (instead of right) hand. The word is of Germanic origin (morgen: morning, e.g. guten morgen: good morning). From a word for 'morning' to a word for a kind of marriage, that's an example of the idiosyncratic ways languages evolve.
A.Word.A.Day
July 28 is the birthday of the children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, (books by this author) born Helen Beatrix Potter in London, England (1866) Beatrix Potter thought she might become a scientist, but when she wrote a paper to present to the Royal Botanic Gardens, she was turned away because only men were allowed to present. She continued to make detailed drawings of animals and plants. In 1893, Potter sent an illustrated letter to the child of her former governess, and it was in that letter that Peter Rabbit made his debut. She liked creating animal characters, writing and illustrating their stories. When she died, Potter had written 20 books, and she had donated more than 4,000 acres of farmland to the national trust. She said, "I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever."
July 28 is the birthday of writer Alice Duer Miller, (books by this author) born in New York City in 1874. Her family was wealthy but they lost all their money in a bank crisis when Alice was a teenager. Even though she really wanted to be a mathematician and studied math and astronomy at Barnard College, she started writing short stories and novels to pay for her education. She said, "Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course—because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you."
The Writer’s Almanac
Last week we visited special friends in Champaign, Illinois. We started out by touring the University of Illinois. In the center of the campus are the Morrow Plots, the oldest continuous agricultural research fields in the United States. Planted in 1876, they’ve been designated a national historical landmark. Nearby is the undergraduate library, built underground so as not to shade the plots. After Harvard and Yale, the University of Illinois has the largest public university library system in the country. We also visited the new Champaign Public Library and the Spurlock Museum with its exhibits of world history and culture. http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/museumsentertainment/spurlock/
Two quotes from Spurlock Museum:
“Athletics developed as a form of ritualized warfare and were first organized into state events in the early eighth century BCE.”
“The Yoruba [African tribe] say that proverbs are the horses of speech, meaning that proverbs convey wisdom as horses carry riders and heavy workloads.”
Recommended restaurants in Champaign:
Jim Gould
Sun Singer
We drove to Springfield and saw the only surviving building where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. We toured Old Capitol and the new Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The library has 12 million documents and is open to the public.
Heading eastward, we stayed at French Lick Springs Hotel in the Hoosier National Forest, first built in 1845, and where tomato juice was first served in 1917. “Licks” in southern Indiana--salt residue on rocks from mineral water springs--attracted buffalo and deer. We spent time in Dunkirk Public Library and Museum and Marion Public Library and Museum before viewing a move (The Dark Knight, filmed principally in Chicago) before returning home.
Cuil Boasts of 120 Billion Pages and New Format
Cuil (pronounced cool) founded by former engineers from Google and other tech giants is launching a search engine that claims to cover three times as many Web pages as Google.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121721408704288951.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
California became the first state in the country to ban artery-clogging trans fats on July 25 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure to phase them out in restaurants beginning in 2010 and from baked goods by 2011.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502308.html?hpid=sec-health
Sixteenth U.S. poet laureate named
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/352
Kay Ryan describes herself as a “modern hermit”
morganatic (mor-guh-NAT-ik)
adjective: Of or relating to a marriage between two people of different social ranks such that the spouse of lower rank and the children do not share the titles or possessions of the higher-ranking spouse.
From Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam (marriage with a morning gift), implying that the gift given on the morning after the marriage was the only gift received by the wife. It was also known as a left-handed marriage because the groom held his bride's hand with his left (instead of right) hand. The word is of Germanic origin (morgen: morning, e.g. guten morgen: good morning). From a word for 'morning' to a word for a kind of marriage, that's an example of the idiosyncratic ways languages evolve.
A.Word.A.Day
July 28 is the birthday of the children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, (books by this author) born Helen Beatrix Potter in London, England (1866) Beatrix Potter thought she might become a scientist, but when she wrote a paper to present to the Royal Botanic Gardens, she was turned away because only men were allowed to present. She continued to make detailed drawings of animals and plants. In 1893, Potter sent an illustrated letter to the child of her former governess, and it was in that letter that Peter Rabbit made his debut. She liked creating animal characters, writing and illustrating their stories. When she died, Potter had written 20 books, and she had donated more than 4,000 acres of farmland to the national trust. She said, "I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever."
July 28 is the birthday of writer Alice Duer Miller, (books by this author) born in New York City in 1874. Her family was wealthy but they lost all their money in a bank crisis when Alice was a teenager. Even though she really wanted to be a mathematician and studied math and astronomy at Barnard College, she started writing short stories and novels to pay for her education. She said, "Don't ever dare to take your college as a matter of course—because, like democracy and freedom, many people you'll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you."
The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, July 18, 2008
Spammer sentenced to 30 months
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221866/spammer-gets-jailed-months
"Spamming is serious criminal conduct; this is not a teenager engaging in child's play," U.S. District Judge Denny Chin told Adam Vitale as he sentenced him.
Some 300 people a year are hospitalized after being hit by foul balls at major and minor league games, according to a study by Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks for their upcoming book, “Death at the Ballpark.”
WSJ Law Blog July 15, 2008
New FTC Online Resource Answers Questions about U.S. Antitrust Laws
FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws: This plain-language guide is written for consumers and business people with questions about the antitrust laws. It summarizes the core laws that ban unfair business practices and prevent mergers that harm consumers, and explains how antitrust cases are brought by U.S., state, and international authorities, as well as private parties. Antitrust rules are organized into four basic areas by the business conduct they regulate: Dealings with Competitors, Dealings in the Supply Chain, Single Firm Conduct, and Mergers.
A federal jury in Riverside, Calif., determined on July 17 that MGA Entertainment’s hugely popular Bratz dolls were designed while the designer worked for Barbie’s home, Mattel Inc.
It’s a big loss for MGA. Damages will be decided in a second phase of the trial, but the company could be forced to surrender royalties or even the right to produce the Bratz dolls.
Likewise, it’s a big win not only for Mattel but also for Mattel’s attorneys, a team led by John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel, who called into question the credibility of the designer, Carter Bryant, after the designer used a program called “Evidence Eliminator” to wipe his computer hard-drive
WSJ Law Blog July 17, 2008
EPA Releases Greenhouse Gas Document for Public Comment
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA has released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) soliciting public input on the effects of climate change and the potential ramifications of the Clean Air Act in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. “The ANPR reflects the complexity and the magnitude of the question of whether and how greenhouse gases could be effectively controlled under the Clean Air Act,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.
The action is in response to the April 2, 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that greenhouse gas emissions could be regulated if EPA determines they cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. With the ANPR, EPA is evaluating the broader ramifications of the decision throughout the Clean Air Act, which covers air pollution from both stationary and mobile sources. The notice’s publication in the Federal Register begins a 120-day public comment period.
+ Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF; 17 KB)
+ Fact Sheet
FTC Issues Staff Report on Roundtable Discussion About Phishing Education
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has released a staff report on a Roundtable Discussion on Phishing Education that it hosted in April. Approximately 60 experts from business, government, the technology sector, the consumer advocacy community, and academia met at the FTC to discuss strategies for outreach to consumers about avoiding phishing. Phishers use deceptive spam that appears to come from legitimate, well-known sources to trick consumers into divulging sensitive or personal information, such as credit account numbers or passwords, often through a link to a copycat of the purported source’s Web site.
Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Millions of pounds of lead used in hunting, fishing and shooting sports wind up in the environment each year and can threaten or kill wildlife, according to a new scientific report.
Lead is a metal with no known beneficial role in biological systems, and its use in gasoline, paint, pesticides, and solder in food cans has nearly been eliminated. Although lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting in 1991, its use in ammunition for upland hunting, shooting sports, and in fishing tackle remains common.
While noting that more information is needed on some aspects of the impact of lead on wildlife, the authors said that numerous studies already documented adverse effects to wildlife, especially waterbirds and scavenging species, like hawks and eagles. Lead exposure from ingested lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers also has been reported in reptiles, and studies near shooting ranges have shown evidence of lead poisoning in small mammals.
The most significant hazard to wildlife is through direct ingestion of spent lead shot and bullets, lost fishing sinkers and tackle, and related fragments, or through consumption of wounded or dead prey containing lead shot, bullets or fragments, emphasized USGS contaminants experts Drs. Barnett Rattner and Chris Franson. The two scientists are lead authors of The Wildlife Society (TWS) technical report and co-authors with five other experts of a recent Fisheries article on the same subject.
+ Management concerns about Known and Potential Impacts of Lead use in Shooting and in Fishing activities (page 22 of this PDF of the My 2008 issue of Fisheries magazine; 4.1 MB)
Federal Reserve Board issues final rule amending home mortgage provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
News release: On July 14, the Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule for home mortgage loans to better protect consumers and facilitate responsible lending. The rule prohibits unfair, abusive or deceptive home mortgage lending practices and restricts certain other mortgage practices. The final rule also establishes advertising standards and requires certain mortgage disclosures to be given to consumers earlier in the transaction. The final rule, which amends Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and was adopted under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA).
Highlights of Final Rule Amending Home Mortgage Provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
Draft Federal Register Notice
Consumer Testing of Mortgage Broker Disclosures, Summary of Findings
Open Board Meeting Materials
nosism (NO-siz-em) noun
The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.
[From Latin nos (we).]
As it's often used by editors, it's also known as the "editorial we". It's also called "the royal we" owing to its frequent use by royalty.
A.Word.A.Day
On July 16, 1951 J.D. Salinger's first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was published (books by this author). In 1949, editor Robert Giroux of The New Yorker wrote him to ask if he wanted to publish a collection of short stories. Giroux didn't hear back from Salinger for months, and then, one day, Salinger walked into his office.
Giroux said, "A tall, sad-looking young man with a long face and deep-set black eyes walked in, saying, 'It's not my stories that should be published first, but the novel I'm working on … about this kid in New York during the Christmas holidays.'" Giroux said he'd love to publish it, but when it was finished one of his superiors thought the kid in the book seemed too crazy. So Salinger published The Catcher in the Rye with Little, Brown and Company, and it came out on this day in 1951.
The New York Times ran a review titled "Aw, the World's a Crumby Place" that poked fun at Salinger's style. The New Yorker refused to run any excerpts of the novel, because they said that the children in it were unbelievably intelligent, and the style of the novel was too "showoffy." But despite the mixed reviews, The Catcher in the Rye reached the best-seller list after being in print just two weeks, and it stayed there for more than six months. It has gone on to sell more than 60 million copies. It has been at one time or another both the most banned book in America and one of the most assigned books in American classrooms.
The Writer’s Almanac
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221866/spammer-gets-jailed-months
"Spamming is serious criminal conduct; this is not a teenager engaging in child's play," U.S. District Judge Denny Chin told Adam Vitale as he sentenced him.
Some 300 people a year are hospitalized after being hit by foul balls at major and minor league games, according to a study by Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks for their upcoming book, “Death at the Ballpark.”
WSJ Law Blog July 15, 2008
New FTC Online Resource Answers Questions about U.S. Antitrust Laws
FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws: This plain-language guide is written for consumers and business people with questions about the antitrust laws. It summarizes the core laws that ban unfair business practices and prevent mergers that harm consumers, and explains how antitrust cases are brought by U.S., state, and international authorities, as well as private parties. Antitrust rules are organized into four basic areas by the business conduct they regulate: Dealings with Competitors, Dealings in the Supply Chain, Single Firm Conduct, and Mergers.
A federal jury in Riverside, Calif., determined on July 17 that MGA Entertainment’s hugely popular Bratz dolls were designed while the designer worked for Barbie’s home, Mattel Inc.
It’s a big loss for MGA. Damages will be decided in a second phase of the trial, but the company could be forced to surrender royalties or even the right to produce the Bratz dolls.
Likewise, it’s a big win not only for Mattel but also for Mattel’s attorneys, a team led by John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel, who called into question the credibility of the designer, Carter Bryant, after the designer used a program called “Evidence Eliminator” to wipe his computer hard-drive
WSJ Law Blog July 17, 2008
EPA Releases Greenhouse Gas Document for Public Comment
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA has released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) soliciting public input on the effects of climate change and the potential ramifications of the Clean Air Act in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. “The ANPR reflects the complexity and the magnitude of the question of whether and how greenhouse gases could be effectively controlled under the Clean Air Act,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.
The action is in response to the April 2, 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that greenhouse gas emissions could be regulated if EPA determines they cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. With the ANPR, EPA is evaluating the broader ramifications of the decision throughout the Clean Air Act, which covers air pollution from both stationary and mobile sources. The notice’s publication in the Federal Register begins a 120-day public comment period.
+ Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF; 17 KB)
+ Fact Sheet
FTC Issues Staff Report on Roundtable Discussion About Phishing Education
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has released a staff report on a Roundtable Discussion on Phishing Education that it hosted in April. Approximately 60 experts from business, government, the technology sector, the consumer advocacy community, and academia met at the FTC to discuss strategies for outreach to consumers about avoiding phishing. Phishers use deceptive spam that appears to come from legitimate, well-known sources to trick consumers into divulging sensitive or personal information, such as credit account numbers or passwords, often through a link to a copycat of the purported source’s Web site.
Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Millions of pounds of lead used in hunting, fishing and shooting sports wind up in the environment each year and can threaten or kill wildlife, according to a new scientific report.
Lead is a metal with no known beneficial role in biological systems, and its use in gasoline, paint, pesticides, and solder in food cans has nearly been eliminated. Although lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting in 1991, its use in ammunition for upland hunting, shooting sports, and in fishing tackle remains common.
While noting that more information is needed on some aspects of the impact of lead on wildlife, the authors said that numerous studies already documented adverse effects to wildlife, especially waterbirds and scavenging species, like hawks and eagles. Lead exposure from ingested lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers also has been reported in reptiles, and studies near shooting ranges have shown evidence of lead poisoning in small mammals.
The most significant hazard to wildlife is through direct ingestion of spent lead shot and bullets, lost fishing sinkers and tackle, and related fragments, or through consumption of wounded or dead prey containing lead shot, bullets or fragments, emphasized USGS contaminants experts Drs. Barnett Rattner and Chris Franson. The two scientists are lead authors of The Wildlife Society (TWS) technical report and co-authors with five other experts of a recent Fisheries article on the same subject.
+ Management concerns about Known and Potential Impacts of Lead use in Shooting and in Fishing activities (page 22 of this PDF of the My 2008 issue of Fisheries magazine; 4.1 MB)
Federal Reserve Board issues final rule amending home mortgage provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
News release: On July 14, the Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule for home mortgage loans to better protect consumers and facilitate responsible lending. The rule prohibits unfair, abusive or deceptive home mortgage lending practices and restricts certain other mortgage practices. The final rule also establishes advertising standards and requires certain mortgage disclosures to be given to consumers earlier in the transaction. The final rule, which amends Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and was adopted under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA).
Highlights of Final Rule Amending Home Mortgage Provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
Draft Federal Register Notice
Consumer Testing of Mortgage Broker Disclosures, Summary of Findings
Open Board Meeting Materials
nosism (NO-siz-em) noun
The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.
[From Latin nos (we).]
As it's often used by editors, it's also known as the "editorial we". It's also called "the royal we" owing to its frequent use by royalty.
A.Word.A.Day
On July 16, 1951 J.D. Salinger's first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was published (books by this author). In 1949, editor Robert Giroux of The New Yorker wrote him to ask if he wanted to publish a collection of short stories. Giroux didn't hear back from Salinger for months, and then, one day, Salinger walked into his office.
Giroux said, "A tall, sad-looking young man with a long face and deep-set black eyes walked in, saying, 'It's not my stories that should be published first, but the novel I'm working on … about this kid in New York during the Christmas holidays.'" Giroux said he'd love to publish it, but when it was finished one of his superiors thought the kid in the book seemed too crazy. So Salinger published The Catcher in the Rye with Little, Brown and Company, and it came out on this day in 1951.
The New York Times ran a review titled "Aw, the World's a Crumby Place" that poked fun at Salinger's style. The New Yorker refused to run any excerpts of the novel, because they said that the children in it were unbelievably intelligent, and the style of the novel was too "showoffy." But despite the mixed reviews, The Catcher in the Rye reached the best-seller list after being in print just two weeks, and it stayed there for more than six months. It has gone on to sell more than 60 million copies. It has been at one time or another both the most banned book in America and one of the most assigned books in American classrooms.
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Business history: HSBC
HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial service organizations in the world, with over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories. Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depositary Receipts. HSBC Group is named after its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited established in 1865.
http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/
Q. What are American Depositary Receipts?
A. The stocks of most foreign companies that trade in the U.S. markets are traded as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). U.S. depositary banks issue these stocks. Each ADR represents one or more shares of foreign stock or a fraction of a share
http://www.sec.gov/answers/adrs.htm
EBRI 2008 Recent Retirees Survey: Report of Findings
Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute
From press release (PDF; 62 KB):
Employers have a narrow window of up to two years in which they may be able to change retiring workers’ decisions by offering them incentives to remain with the company, according to results of a survey released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
“Although no single incentive is likely to motivate the majority of retirees to stay longer with their employer, it appears that employers may be able to assemble a toolkit of alternatives that would be effective in retaining substantial numbers of workers,” said a report on the survey, published in the July 2008 EBRI Issue Brief. Steps likely to be most successful are: making workers feel needed, offering them a full or partial pension while working part time, and making seasonal or contract work available. The timing of the offer of a delayed retirement incentive is important, the survey found. Nearly two-thirds of retirees (63 percent) report that these offers would have been a lot more effective if the retirees had known about them in the two years before they communicated their intention to retire.
+ Full Document (PDF; 703 KB)
New Guidelines Aim to Reduce Fraud (PDF; 66 KB)
Source: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
New guidelines for fighting fraud have been released jointly by three leading professional organizations. “Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide” is sponsored by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Principles for establishing effective fraud risk management, regardless of the type or size of an organization, are outlined in the guide.
The new guidance provides a practical approach for companies committed to preserving stakeholder value. It can be used to assess or improve an organization’s fraud risk management program, or to develop an effective program where none exists. Five key principles within the guidance address governance, risk assessment, fraud prevention and detection, investigation, and corrective action. Following the guidance will help ensure that there is suitable oversight of fraud risk management, that fraud exposures are identified and evaluated, that appropriate processes and procedures are in place to manage those exposures, and that fraud allegations are addressed in a timely manner.
+ Full Document (PDF; 1.2 MB)
Sing we and chant it
by Anonymous public domain
Sing we and chant it
While love doth grant it.
Not long youth lasteth,
And old age hasteth.
Now is best leisure
To take our pleasure.
All things invite us
Now to delight us.
Hence, care, be packing!
No mirth be lacking!
Let spare no treasure
To live in pleasure.
The Writer’s Almanac
July 17 is the birthday of writer Erle Stanley Gardner, (books by this author) born in Malden, Massachusetts (1889). As a teenager, Gardner was arrested for promoting an illegal boxing match. While he was trying to keep himself out of jail, he became fascinated with the law and got a job as a typist in a law office. He taught himself the law while he worked and then took the bar three years later and passed. After a stint working for a sales agency, he opened up a law office in Ventura, California, in 1921 and became famous there for his ironclad defenses. Gardner augmented his income by writing stories for pulp magazines—and he was quite successful at it. In 1933, Gardner wrote a full-length novel called The Case of the Velvet Claws, which was turned down by several publishers. It was finally bought by a publisher who suggested Gardner take the main character, a brilliant lawyer, and write a series of books about him.
That lawyer, Perry Mason, eventually became the star of more than 80 novels, along with his loyal secretary Della Street, the private detective Paul Drake, and District Attorney Hamilton Burger. He also wrote 15 nonfiction books about environmental issues, including The Desert is Yours (1963) and Hunting Lost Mines by Helicopter (1965). He said, "I write to make money, and I write to give the reader sheer fun."
The Writer’s Almanac
HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial service organizations in the world, with over 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories. Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depositary Receipts. HSBC Group is named after its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited established in 1865.
http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/
Q. What are American Depositary Receipts?
A. The stocks of most foreign companies that trade in the U.S. markets are traded as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). U.S. depositary banks issue these stocks. Each ADR represents one or more shares of foreign stock or a fraction of a share
http://www.sec.gov/answers/adrs.htm
EBRI 2008 Recent Retirees Survey: Report of Findings
Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute
From press release (PDF; 62 KB):
Employers have a narrow window of up to two years in which they may be able to change retiring workers’ decisions by offering them incentives to remain with the company, according to results of a survey released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
“Although no single incentive is likely to motivate the majority of retirees to stay longer with their employer, it appears that employers may be able to assemble a toolkit of alternatives that would be effective in retaining substantial numbers of workers,” said a report on the survey, published in the July 2008 EBRI Issue Brief. Steps likely to be most successful are: making workers feel needed, offering them a full or partial pension while working part time, and making seasonal or contract work available. The timing of the offer of a delayed retirement incentive is important, the survey found. Nearly two-thirds of retirees (63 percent) report that these offers would have been a lot more effective if the retirees had known about them in the two years before they communicated their intention to retire.
+ Full Document (PDF; 703 KB)
New Guidelines Aim to Reduce Fraud (PDF; 66 KB)
Source: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
New guidelines for fighting fraud have been released jointly by three leading professional organizations. “Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide” is sponsored by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Principles for establishing effective fraud risk management, regardless of the type or size of an organization, are outlined in the guide.
The new guidance provides a practical approach for companies committed to preserving stakeholder value. It can be used to assess or improve an organization’s fraud risk management program, or to develop an effective program where none exists. Five key principles within the guidance address governance, risk assessment, fraud prevention and detection, investigation, and corrective action. Following the guidance will help ensure that there is suitable oversight of fraud risk management, that fraud exposures are identified and evaluated, that appropriate processes and procedures are in place to manage those exposures, and that fraud allegations are addressed in a timely manner.
+ Full Document (PDF; 1.2 MB)
Sing we and chant it
by Anonymous public domain
Sing we and chant it
While love doth grant it.
Not long youth lasteth,
And old age hasteth.
Now is best leisure
To take our pleasure.
All things invite us
Now to delight us.
Hence, care, be packing!
No mirth be lacking!
Let spare no treasure
To live in pleasure.
The Writer’s Almanac
July 17 is the birthday of writer Erle Stanley Gardner, (books by this author) born in Malden, Massachusetts (1889). As a teenager, Gardner was arrested for promoting an illegal boxing match. While he was trying to keep himself out of jail, he became fascinated with the law and got a job as a typist in a law office. He taught himself the law while he worked and then took the bar three years later and passed. After a stint working for a sales agency, he opened up a law office in Ventura, California, in 1921 and became famous there for his ironclad defenses. Gardner augmented his income by writing stories for pulp magazines—and he was quite successful at it. In 1933, Gardner wrote a full-length novel called The Case of the Velvet Claws, which was turned down by several publishers. It was finally bought by a publisher who suggested Gardner take the main character, a brilliant lawyer, and write a series of books about him.
That lawyer, Perry Mason, eventually became the star of more than 80 novels, along with his loyal secretary Della Street, the private detective Paul Drake, and District Attorney Hamilton Burger. He also wrote 15 nonfiction books about environmental issues, including The Desert is Yours (1963) and Hunting Lost Mines by Helicopter (1965). He said, "I write to make money, and I write to give the reader sheer fun."
The Writer’s Almanac
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Q. What is fraktur?
A. The term "fraktur" refers to mechanically printed type called "fraktur" meaning "broken letters." European artists would take a mechanically printed piece and added decoration--often elaborate swirls and scrolls. American fraktur has come to mean Pennsylvania German hand drawn documents.
http://www.schwenkfelder.com/Museum_Fraktur.htm
Business history: Toledo’s Libbey is 120
The largest and oldest continually operating glass factory in the United States, Libbey's huge plant on Ash Street makes as many as 120 million pieces of glassware a year, from tumblers to vases to stemware to shot glasses. The glass factory owes at least part of its long history to its location. Mr. Libbey chose Toledo, Ohio because it had a wealth of natural resources, including abundant and cheap natural gas, on site or nearby. The high-quality sand that the factory still uses comes from a quarry in Rockwood, Michigan, about 30 miles north of the plant; the limestone comes from 20 miles south in Woodville. Only the soda ash comes from far away: Wyoming.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/BUSINESS03/380959507
Edward Drummond Libbey (1854-1925) opened the Libbey Glass Company in Toledo in 1888. “Libbey’s success depended heavily on the inventions of Michael Owens. Libbey later founded the Owens Bottle Machine Company with exclusive rights to manufacture bottles, and the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company, serving as president of both firms. He organized the Toledo Art Museum in 1901, serving as its president form 1901 to 1925, funding building construction, and bequeathing to the museum his collection of Dutch and English art.”
In Toledo Magazine July 2008
English, evolving with other languages and dialects, may one day come to be known as Panglish.
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-07/st_essay
magna carta (MAG-nuh KAHR-tuh)
noun: A document or a law recognizing basic rights and privileges.
From Latin magna carta (great charter). After Magna Carta, a charter of political and civil liberties that King John of England was forced to sign on June 15, 1215. It was revised several times over the years, and it became an important symbol, establishing for future generations that there were limits to the royal powers.
"A magna carta for industry development recognizing that 'small and medium enterprises are the dominant constituent of the industry' is an absolute necessity."Integrated Approach Needed For Construction Industry; The Island (Colombo, Sri Lanka); Jun 18, 2008.
A.Word.A.Day
Quote: Treat every day as new and every meal as a ceremony.
Nearly $350,000 worth of goods missing from Pennsylvania library--Unique Management Services Inc., a collection agency using seminarians hired
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20080713_Overdue_help_for_the_other_lending_crisis.html
An edition of Shakespeare’s first folio stolen ten years ago has been recovered after a British man took it into an American library to be authenticated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4316464.ece
High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/education/11colleges.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
A. The term "fraktur" refers to mechanically printed type called "fraktur" meaning "broken letters." European artists would take a mechanically printed piece and added decoration--often elaborate swirls and scrolls. American fraktur has come to mean Pennsylvania German hand drawn documents.
http://www.schwenkfelder.com/Museum_Fraktur.htm
Business history: Toledo’s Libbey is 120
The largest and oldest continually operating glass factory in the United States, Libbey's huge plant on Ash Street makes as many as 120 million pieces of glassware a year, from tumblers to vases to stemware to shot glasses. The glass factory owes at least part of its long history to its location. Mr. Libbey chose Toledo, Ohio because it had a wealth of natural resources, including abundant and cheap natural gas, on site or nearby. The high-quality sand that the factory still uses comes from a quarry in Rockwood, Michigan, about 30 miles north of the plant; the limestone comes from 20 miles south in Woodville. Only the soda ash comes from far away: Wyoming.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/BUSINESS03/380959507
Edward Drummond Libbey (1854-1925) opened the Libbey Glass Company in Toledo in 1888. “Libbey’s success depended heavily on the inventions of Michael Owens. Libbey later founded the Owens Bottle Machine Company with exclusive rights to manufacture bottles, and the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company, serving as president of both firms. He organized the Toledo Art Museum in 1901, serving as its president form 1901 to 1925, funding building construction, and bequeathing to the museum his collection of Dutch and English art.”
In Toledo Magazine July 2008
English, evolving with other languages and dialects, may one day come to be known as Panglish.
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-07/st_essay
magna carta (MAG-nuh KAHR-tuh)
noun: A document or a law recognizing basic rights and privileges.
From Latin magna carta (great charter). After Magna Carta, a charter of political and civil liberties that King John of England was forced to sign on June 15, 1215. It was revised several times over the years, and it became an important symbol, establishing for future generations that there were limits to the royal powers.
"A magna carta for industry development recognizing that 'small and medium enterprises are the dominant constituent of the industry' is an absolute necessity."Integrated Approach Needed For Construction Industry; The Island (Colombo, Sri Lanka); Jun 18, 2008.
A.Word.A.Day
Quote: Treat every day as new and every meal as a ceremony.
Nearly $350,000 worth of goods missing from Pennsylvania library--Unique Management Services Inc., a collection agency using seminarians hired
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20080713_Overdue_help_for_the_other_lending_crisis.html
An edition of Shakespeare’s first folio stolen ten years ago has been recovered after a British man took it into an American library to be authenticated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4316464.ece
High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/education/11colleges.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
Monday, July 14, 2008
Back from the Berkshires
We’ve just returned from a trip to Connecticut and western Massachusetts, enjoying the beauty of the Berkshires, a small range within the Appalachian Mountains.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/information/geography/mountains/appalachian.htm
We visited attractions such as Berkshire Museum http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/
Norman Rockwell Museum http://www.nrm.org/
Hancock Shaker Village http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/accounts/28/homepage/
We toured former homes of:
Joseph Choate, Naumkeag http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/335_naumkeag.cfm
Edith Wharton, The Mount http://www.edithwharton.org/
Herman Melville, Arrowhead http://www.mobydick.org/
Daniel Chester French, Chesterwood http://www.chesterwood.org/
Trivia:
We all carry with us something from the Berkshires—security paper for U.S. currency is manufactured by Crane & Company in Dalton, Massachusetts.
http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=CurrencyPaper
Many colonial era homes are still in good condition because termites can not survive in the cold of upper Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Recommended restaurants in Lenox, Massachusetts:
Trattoria il Vesuvio http://www.trattoria-vesuvio.com/
Baroods http://www.baroods.com/home.html
E-Discovery Update: Precision, Accuracy, and Relevance Conrad J. Jacoby discusses the challenges and ramifications inherent in an environment where litigants have increasingly come to rely on computerized search queries rather than free-form document review to identify potentially relevant documents. June 30, 2008
Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor does a bit of guest judging from time to time.
Back in 2006, she made a star-turn at the Second Circuit where, among other issues, she passed judgment on an attorney’s fee issue and a bankruptcy case. Now the justice-turned-part-time-appellate-judge is in Boston. Recently, as part of a First Circuit panel, she heard an evidentiary appeal in the three-year old federal money-laundering case against Lawrence P. Novak. She went on to write the opinion as well.
WSJ Law Blog July 10, 2008
Splenda, the nation’s best-selling sugar substitute, has won an injunction that bars Heartland Sweeteners, the maker of a generic version of Splenda, from continuing to distribute store-brand products that mimic Splenda’s packaging. Here’s the story from the Legal Intelligencer.
Heartland’s lawyer, Abbe F. Fletman of Flaster Greenberg, reportedly tried to argue that Splenda’s trade dress was no more than a combination and refinement of common elements already found in the packaging of other sweetener products. He said that McNeil Nutritionals, the company that makes Splenda, chose yellow for Splenda’s packaging to capitalize on consumers’ association of yellow with sugar, and that the images of coffee, iced tea, fruit and baked goods on Splenda’s packaging simply followed an established custom in the sweetener market.
But District Judge John R. Padova, in a 27-page opinion, rejected the argument that Splenda’s trade dress uses elements so common in the sweetener market that it cannot be inherently distinctive.
WSJ Law Blog July 9, 2008
Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports
Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops - Key Findings Prepared by Larry Ponemon, sponsored by Dell, June 30, 2008
Executive Summary: "Everyday business travelers are putting the sensitive and confidential data of their organizations at risk when they travel through airports."
EPA Debuts New Campaign to Help Drivers Save Fuel, Money and Protect the Environment
News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching the SmartWay Leaf Campaign to encourage consumers to purchase SmartWay-certified cars and trucks. SmartWay is an innovative partnership among government, businesses, and consumers designed to protect the environment, cut fuel consumption, and improve air quality while reducing greenhouse gases. The national campaign features broadcast, radio, and print public service announcements that will help consumers recognize the SmartWay leaf as a symbol of cleaner and more fuel efficient transportation choices."
information about SmartWay
visit EPA’s green Vehicle Guide
Drive $marter Challenge
July 12 is the birthday of Henry David Thoreau, (books by this author) born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts (1817). He's the author of Walden; or, Life in the Woods(1854) and the essay "Civil Disobedience" (1849). He went off to Harvard when he was just 16. He was 27 when he built a small cabin on the edge of Walden Pond, a small lake near Concord, and wrote about his time there. Thoreau said, "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
July 12 is the birthday of poet and politician Pablo Neruda, (books by this author) born in Parral, Chile (1904). He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971. In his Nobel lecture he said, "All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are."
July 12 is the birthday of (Gaius) Julius Caesar, born in Rome around 100 B.C. He was the great military leader who managed to capture most of what became France and Great Britain for the Roman Empire.
July 14 is the birthday of playwright and librettist Arthur Laurents, (books by this author)born in New York City (1918). He is best known for writing the lyrics of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957).
July 14 is the birthday of the singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma (1913). Guthrie never finished high school, but he spent his spare time reading books at the local public library. He took occasional jobs as a sign painter and started playing music on a guitar he found in the street.
The Writer’s Almanac
We’ve just returned from a trip to Connecticut and western Massachusetts, enjoying the beauty of the Berkshires, a small range within the Appalachian Mountains.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/information/geography/mountains/appalachian.htm
We visited attractions such as Berkshire Museum http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/
Norman Rockwell Museum http://www.nrm.org/
Hancock Shaker Village http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/accounts/28/homepage/
We toured former homes of:
Joseph Choate, Naumkeag http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/335_naumkeag.cfm
Edith Wharton, The Mount http://www.edithwharton.org/
Herman Melville, Arrowhead http://www.mobydick.org/
Daniel Chester French, Chesterwood http://www.chesterwood.org/
Trivia:
We all carry with us something from the Berkshires—security paper for U.S. currency is manufactured by Crane & Company in Dalton, Massachusetts.
http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=CurrencyPaper
Many colonial era homes are still in good condition because termites can not survive in the cold of upper Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Recommended restaurants in Lenox, Massachusetts:
Trattoria il Vesuvio http://www.trattoria-vesuvio.com/
Baroods http://www.baroods.com/home.html
E-Discovery Update: Precision, Accuracy, and Relevance Conrad J. Jacoby discusses the challenges and ramifications inherent in an environment where litigants have increasingly come to rely on computerized search queries rather than free-form document review to identify potentially relevant documents. June 30, 2008
Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor does a bit of guest judging from time to time.
Back in 2006, she made a star-turn at the Second Circuit where, among other issues, she passed judgment on an attorney’s fee issue and a bankruptcy case. Now the justice-turned-part-time-appellate-judge is in Boston. Recently, as part of a First Circuit panel, she heard an evidentiary appeal in the three-year old federal money-laundering case against Lawrence P. Novak. She went on to write the opinion as well.
WSJ Law Blog July 10, 2008
Splenda, the nation’s best-selling sugar substitute, has won an injunction that bars Heartland Sweeteners, the maker of a generic version of Splenda, from continuing to distribute store-brand products that mimic Splenda’s packaging. Here’s the story from the Legal Intelligencer.
Heartland’s lawyer, Abbe F. Fletman of Flaster Greenberg, reportedly tried to argue that Splenda’s trade dress was no more than a combination and refinement of common elements already found in the packaging of other sweetener products. He said that McNeil Nutritionals, the company that makes Splenda, chose yellow for Splenda’s packaging to capitalize on consumers’ association of yellow with sugar, and that the images of coffee, iced tea, fruit and baked goods on Splenda’s packaging simply followed an established custom in the sweetener market.
But District Judge John R. Padova, in a 27-page opinion, rejected the argument that Splenda’s trade dress uses elements so common in the sweetener market that it cannot be inherently distinctive.
WSJ Law Blog July 9, 2008
Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports
Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops - Key Findings Prepared by Larry Ponemon, sponsored by Dell, June 30, 2008
Executive Summary: "Everyday business travelers are putting the sensitive and confidential data of their organizations at risk when they travel through airports."
EPA Debuts New Campaign to Help Drivers Save Fuel, Money and Protect the Environment
News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching the SmartWay Leaf Campaign to encourage consumers to purchase SmartWay-certified cars and trucks. SmartWay is an innovative partnership among government, businesses, and consumers designed to protect the environment, cut fuel consumption, and improve air quality while reducing greenhouse gases. The national campaign features broadcast, radio, and print public service announcements that will help consumers recognize the SmartWay leaf as a symbol of cleaner and more fuel efficient transportation choices."
information about SmartWay
visit EPA’s green Vehicle Guide
Drive $marter Challenge
July 12 is the birthday of Henry David Thoreau, (books by this author) born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts (1817). He's the author of Walden; or, Life in the Woods(1854) and the essay "Civil Disobedience" (1849). He went off to Harvard when he was just 16. He was 27 when he built a small cabin on the edge of Walden Pond, a small lake near Concord, and wrote about his time there. Thoreau said, "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
July 12 is the birthday of poet and politician Pablo Neruda, (books by this author) born in Parral, Chile (1904). He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971. In his Nobel lecture he said, "All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are."
July 12 is the birthday of (Gaius) Julius Caesar, born in Rome around 100 B.C. He was the great military leader who managed to capture most of what became France and Great Britain for the Roman Empire.
July 14 is the birthday of playwright and librettist Arthur Laurents, (books by this author)born in New York City (1918). He is best known for writing the lyrics of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957).
July 14 is the birthday of the singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma (1913). Guthrie never finished high school, but he spent his spare time reading books at the local public library. He took occasional jobs as a sign painter and started playing music on a guitar he found in the street.
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs
Criminal Justice Degree Guides: The Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs Law blogs, also known as blawgs, are plentiful these days. In fact, there are probably thousands to choose from and more appear each week. For that reason, it may be difficult for you to narrow down which ones are worth a regular read. Not only are high-profile general law blogs included, niche blawgs are also offered for your consideration. Since it would be impossible to rank them according to importance, they are categorized according to subject and then alphabetized."
beSpacific is in great company along with the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, and the International Economic Law and Policy Blog among a wide range of outstanding topical blogs well worth your review.
United States Copyright Office Releases Section 109 Report
News release: "After more than a year of intensive study, the U.S. Copyright Office issued its report on whether to maintain, modify or eliminate Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act. It will serve as the basis for discussion for possible changes to the statutory licenses. Section 109 of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004 requires the Copyright Office to examine and compare the statutory licensing systems for the cable and satellite television industries under Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act and recommend any necessary legislative changes no later than June 30, 2008."
Section 109 Study on the Cable and Satellite Statutory Licenses under the Copyright Act (274 pages, PDF)
A Gas Station for Every 2,500 PeopleSource: U.S. Census Bureau
Texas, California and Florida accounted for more than 20 percent of the nation’s 116,855 gas stations with paid employees in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s about one gas station per 2,500 people.
These economic numbers come from County Business Patterns: 2006, an annual report that contains data covering the more than 7.6 million businesses with paid employees at the national and state levels, and more than 3,100 counties. The report provides data on the number of establishments, number of employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries according to the North American Industry Classification System.
Business history: Studebaker
In 1736, The Studabecker--later to become Studebaker--family arrived from Germany and settled in Philadelphia. Two generations later, in 1790, John Clement Studebaker was born. He grew up to become a blacksmith and wagon builder.
The economic panic of 1837 forced many families westward. John Clement Studebaker, accompanied by his wife and their ten children joined the migration. In 1851, the family arrived in South Bend, a village originally named Southhold, and settled into a log cabin south of the city.
In 1852, Clement and his brother Henry founded their own blacksmithing and wagon-building business, H & C Studebaker. Henry later sold his share of the business to another of the five brothers, John. The business prospered, helped greatly by the Civil War (1861-1865). During this time, the Studebakers made literally thousands of wagons for the Union Army. When the war ended, the westward expansion of America began, and the business continued to prosper. Another brother, Peter, joined the firm, forming the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company.
http://www.tippe.com/history.html
Quote
Indifference or laziness may be mistaken for patience.
Nationally, circulation of books and other materials at libraries keeps edging up each year, despite the Internet revolution. Currently, many cities are seeing big increases in visitation, as is common during economic downturns. And in many libraries, the public-access computers are in demand from open to close — a reminder that even if the universal library seems closer to reality, universal broadband access is still a long way off.
The new central library in Salt Lake City is now the city's second-most-visited tourist attraction. That's only partly because it's a noteworthy building designed by a famous architect, Moshe Safdie. What's more important is what goes on in and around the building. The library pushes cultural events, lectures and book readings, and turns its outdoor plaza into a front porch for downtown festivals celebrating everything from the arts to jazz to gay pride. Inside, a narrow glass atrium, known as the "urban room," not only houses a popular cafe but also a garden shop, comic-book store and other retailers whose leases require them to host their own events aimed at drawing yet more people to the library.
Ann Arbor, Michigan has converted the library's Web site, aadl.org, into a blog. You can still search the catalog, check library hours and find all the information you'd expect on a library's home page. But the main window changes frequently, highlighting upcoming events, online discussions and posts from Library Director Josie Parker.
http://www.governing.com/articles/0806libraries.htm
roborant (ROB-uhr-uhnt)
adjective: Strengthening.noun: A tonic.
From Latin roborare (to strengthen), from robor- (oak, hardness). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red) that also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, robust, corroborate, and rambunctious.
A.Word.A.Day
Criminal Justice Degree Guides: The Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs Law blogs, also known as blawgs, are plentiful these days. In fact, there are probably thousands to choose from and more appear each week. For that reason, it may be difficult for you to narrow down which ones are worth a regular read. Not only are high-profile general law blogs included, niche blawgs are also offered for your consideration. Since it would be impossible to rank them according to importance, they are categorized according to subject and then alphabetized."
beSpacific is in great company along with the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, and the International Economic Law and Policy Blog among a wide range of outstanding topical blogs well worth your review.
United States Copyright Office Releases Section 109 Report
News release: "After more than a year of intensive study, the U.S. Copyright Office issued its report on whether to maintain, modify or eliminate Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act. It will serve as the basis for discussion for possible changes to the statutory licenses. Section 109 of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004 requires the Copyright Office to examine and compare the statutory licensing systems for the cable and satellite television industries under Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act and recommend any necessary legislative changes no later than June 30, 2008."
Section 109 Study on the Cable and Satellite Statutory Licenses under the Copyright Act (274 pages, PDF)
A Gas Station for Every 2,500 PeopleSource: U.S. Census Bureau
Texas, California and Florida accounted for more than 20 percent of the nation’s 116,855 gas stations with paid employees in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s about one gas station per 2,500 people.
These economic numbers come from County Business Patterns: 2006, an annual report that contains data covering the more than 7.6 million businesses with paid employees at the national and state levels, and more than 3,100 counties. The report provides data on the number of establishments, number of employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries according to the North American Industry Classification System.
Business history: Studebaker
In 1736, The Studabecker--later to become Studebaker--family arrived from Germany and settled in Philadelphia. Two generations later, in 1790, John Clement Studebaker was born. He grew up to become a blacksmith and wagon builder.
The economic panic of 1837 forced many families westward. John Clement Studebaker, accompanied by his wife and their ten children joined the migration. In 1851, the family arrived in South Bend, a village originally named Southhold, and settled into a log cabin south of the city.
In 1852, Clement and his brother Henry founded their own blacksmithing and wagon-building business, H & C Studebaker. Henry later sold his share of the business to another of the five brothers, John. The business prospered, helped greatly by the Civil War (1861-1865). During this time, the Studebakers made literally thousands of wagons for the Union Army. When the war ended, the westward expansion of America began, and the business continued to prosper. Another brother, Peter, joined the firm, forming the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company.
http://www.tippe.com/history.html
Quote
Indifference or laziness may be mistaken for patience.
Nationally, circulation of books and other materials at libraries keeps edging up each year, despite the Internet revolution. Currently, many cities are seeing big increases in visitation, as is common during economic downturns. And in many libraries, the public-access computers are in demand from open to close — a reminder that even if the universal library seems closer to reality, universal broadband access is still a long way off.
The new central library in Salt Lake City is now the city's second-most-visited tourist attraction. That's only partly because it's a noteworthy building designed by a famous architect, Moshe Safdie. What's more important is what goes on in and around the building. The library pushes cultural events, lectures and book readings, and turns its outdoor plaza into a front porch for downtown festivals celebrating everything from the arts to jazz to gay pride. Inside, a narrow glass atrium, known as the "urban room," not only houses a popular cafe but also a garden shop, comic-book store and other retailers whose leases require them to host their own events aimed at drawing yet more people to the library.
Ann Arbor, Michigan has converted the library's Web site, aadl.org, into a blog. You can still search the catalog, check library hours and find all the information you'd expect on a library's home page. But the main window changes frequently, highlighting upcoming events, online discussions and posts from Library Director Josie Parker.
http://www.governing.com/articles/0806libraries.htm
roborant (ROB-uhr-uhnt)
adjective: Strengthening.noun: A tonic.
From Latin roborare (to strengthen), from robor- (oak, hardness). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red) that also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, robust, corroborate, and rambunctious.
A.Word.A.Day
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
New on LLRX.com: 60 Gadgets in 60 Minutes, Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide
FOIA Facts: My Proposals for the FOIA: Following up on the passage earlier this year of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, FOIA expert Scott A. Hodes make two proposals absent from the law, but which would help FOIA requesters. — Published June 29, 2008
60 Gadgets in 60 Minutes - Three techie gurus (Barbara Fullerton, Ed Vawter, and Dina Dreifuerst) take you on a whirlwind, freewheeling virtual trip of the latest, greatest, fun, fanciful, must have gadgets available now and in the near future. — Published June 24, 2008
Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Sabrina I. Pacifici's revised and updated pathfinder focuses on leveraging selected reliable, focused, free and low cost sites and sources to effectively profile and monitor companies, markets, countries, people, and issues. This guide is a "best of list" of web and database products, services and tools, as well links to reliable sources produced by governments, academia, NGOs, the media and various publishers. — Published June 1, 2008
Blogger Howard Bashman and Judge Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are debating an issue, but it doesn’t involve a weighty legal question. Instead it concerns a grammar question. Now a linguistics professor is weighing in on the dispute, and he’s supporting Bashman’s view, Bashman writes on his blog How Appealing.
The dispute concerns this passage from a Posner opinion about whether an “ostrich” jury instruction was appropriate: “The reference of course is to the legend that ostriches when frightened bury their head in the sand. It is pure legend and a canard on a very distinguished bird.” Is the correct word “head” or “heads”?
Bashman politely questioned the use of the singular “head” in a post on June 25. Posner noticed, and sent an equally polite e-mail, saying, “Dear Prof. Bashman, to say ‘ostriches hide their heads in the sand’ would imply that each ostrich had more than one head.”
Now Bashman notes a blog entry on Language Log by linguistics professor Mark Liberman of the University of Pennsylvania. Liberman concludes that the plural “heads” is more widely used and clearer. Another jurist who used the plural construction is Justice Antonin Scalia, Liberman writes. In Lee v. Weisman, Scalia referred to President Bush’s request that those attending his inauguration “bow their heads” and pray.
Bashman and Posner agree on another issue: Posner’s reference to the “canard” about ostriches burying their heads is a humorous play on the word, which is derived from the French word for "duck." Posner added a P.S. in his note to Bashman, saying, “And yes, canards fly--glad you caught the pun.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/blogger_and_posner_differ_over_grammar_question_agree_on_pun/
devil's advocate (DEV-uhlz AD-vuh-kayt) noun
One who argues against something for the sake of argument, for example, to provoke discussion and subject a plan to thorough examination. From Latin advocatus diaboli (devil's advocate).
The Roman Catholic Church used to have a person appointed as a devil's advocate to argue against elevating someone to sainthood. The person arguing for the proposition was known as God's advocate (Latin advocatus dei).
A.Word.A.Day
From June 22 to 26th, I attended the 49th national convention of the American Guild of Organists http://www.ago2008.org/ in the Twin Cities with concerts, competitions, commissioned works and workshops attended by people from every state of the union plus 70 people from other countries. The schedule went from 8:30 a.m. to about 10 p.m. with exhibits open until midnight. One highlight was Pebble Beach Sojourn, performed by organist and University of Michigan graduate James Diaz with winds and percussion. There was so much firepower at the end that I imagined giants with golf bags marching in precision. I’ve suggested this piece as a possibility to the Toledo Symphony. Click on title to hear it here: http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/2007/0713/
The organ at Bethel University, where the piece was played, depicts a story saying that Jacob had a dream, and in his dream was a stairway reaching to heaven from earth. On the stairway were angels ascending and descending. After Jacob awoke, he built an altar and called the place where he had been Bethel. The pipes in the middle of the chamber of the organ depict the angels ascending and descending the stairway.
Recommended restaurants in Minneapolis:
Hell’s Kitchen http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/HellsKitchenWelcome.html
Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant http://www.dakotacooks.com/
Misuse of apostrophes http://www.apostropheabuse.com/
For the first time I can remember, we are taking “back to back” trips. We returned from our Wisconsin and Minnesota adventure on June 28 and will leave on July 3 to go to Long Island, and from there to Massachusetts. Don’t forget me—will get back to you upon my return.
It was on July 1, 1858 that a paper by Charles Darwin about his theory of evolution was first presented to a public audience. Darwin had actually come up with the theory 20 years before that, in 1837. Back then, he drafted a 35-page sketch of his ideas and arranged with his wife to publish the sketch after his death. Then, for the next 20 years, he told almost no one about the theory. He practically went into hiding, moving to a small town and living like a monk, with specific times each day for walking, napping, reading, and backgammon. He was so reclusive that he even had the road lowered outside his house, to prevent passersby from looking in the window.
July 1 is the birthday of grammarian and professor William Strunk, Jr., born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1869). He's best known for his work The Elements of Style, which he wrote in 1918, while he was an English professor at Cornell University, in order "to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention ... on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated." The original edition of 1918, printed privately, was only 43 pages long. It became a classic when E. B. White, who was once a student of his, published a revised 1959 edition, about a decade after Strunk's death.
The Writer’s Almanac
FOIA Facts: My Proposals for the FOIA: Following up on the passage earlier this year of the OPEN Government Act of 2007, FOIA expert Scott A. Hodes make two proposals absent from the law, but which would help FOIA requesters. — Published June 29, 2008
60 Gadgets in 60 Minutes - Three techie gurus (Barbara Fullerton, Ed Vawter, and Dina Dreifuerst) take you on a whirlwind, freewheeling virtual trip of the latest, greatest, fun, fanciful, must have gadgets available now and in the near future. — Published June 24, 2008
Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Sabrina I. Pacifici's revised and updated pathfinder focuses on leveraging selected reliable, focused, free and low cost sites and sources to effectively profile and monitor companies, markets, countries, people, and issues. This guide is a "best of list" of web and database products, services and tools, as well links to reliable sources produced by governments, academia, NGOs, the media and various publishers. — Published June 1, 2008
Blogger Howard Bashman and Judge Richard Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are debating an issue, but it doesn’t involve a weighty legal question. Instead it concerns a grammar question. Now a linguistics professor is weighing in on the dispute, and he’s supporting Bashman’s view, Bashman writes on his blog How Appealing.
The dispute concerns this passage from a Posner opinion about whether an “ostrich” jury instruction was appropriate: “The reference of course is to the legend that ostriches when frightened bury their head in the sand. It is pure legend and a canard on a very distinguished bird.” Is the correct word “head” or “heads”?
Bashman politely questioned the use of the singular “head” in a post on June 25. Posner noticed, and sent an equally polite e-mail, saying, “Dear Prof. Bashman, to say ‘ostriches hide their heads in the sand’ would imply that each ostrich had more than one head.”
Now Bashman notes a blog entry on Language Log by linguistics professor Mark Liberman of the University of Pennsylvania. Liberman concludes that the plural “heads” is more widely used and clearer. Another jurist who used the plural construction is Justice Antonin Scalia, Liberman writes. In Lee v. Weisman, Scalia referred to President Bush’s request that those attending his inauguration “bow their heads” and pray.
Bashman and Posner agree on another issue: Posner’s reference to the “canard” about ostriches burying their heads is a humorous play on the word, which is derived from the French word for "duck." Posner added a P.S. in his note to Bashman, saying, “And yes, canards fly--glad you caught the pun.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/blogger_and_posner_differ_over_grammar_question_agree_on_pun/
devil's advocate (DEV-uhlz AD-vuh-kayt) noun
One who argues against something for the sake of argument, for example, to provoke discussion and subject a plan to thorough examination. From Latin advocatus diaboli (devil's advocate).
The Roman Catholic Church used to have a person appointed as a devil's advocate to argue against elevating someone to sainthood. The person arguing for the proposition was known as God's advocate (Latin advocatus dei).
A.Word.A.Day
From June 22 to 26th, I attended the 49th national convention of the American Guild of Organists http://www.ago2008.org/ in the Twin Cities with concerts, competitions, commissioned works and workshops attended by people from every state of the union plus 70 people from other countries. The schedule went from 8:30 a.m. to about 10 p.m. with exhibits open until midnight. One highlight was Pebble Beach Sojourn, performed by organist and University of Michigan graduate James Diaz with winds and percussion. There was so much firepower at the end that I imagined giants with golf bags marching in precision. I’ve suggested this piece as a possibility to the Toledo Symphony. Click on title to hear it here: http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/2007/0713/
The organ at Bethel University, where the piece was played, depicts a story saying that Jacob had a dream, and in his dream was a stairway reaching to heaven from earth. On the stairway were angels ascending and descending. After Jacob awoke, he built an altar and called the place where he had been Bethel. The pipes in the middle of the chamber of the organ depict the angels ascending and descending the stairway.
Recommended restaurants in Minneapolis:
Hell’s Kitchen http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/HellsKitchenWelcome.html
Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant http://www.dakotacooks.com/
Misuse of apostrophes http://www.apostropheabuse.com/
For the first time I can remember, we are taking “back to back” trips. We returned from our Wisconsin and Minnesota adventure on June 28 and will leave on July 3 to go to Long Island, and from there to Massachusetts. Don’t forget me—will get back to you upon my return.
It was on July 1, 1858 that a paper by Charles Darwin about his theory of evolution was first presented to a public audience. Darwin had actually come up with the theory 20 years before that, in 1837. Back then, he drafted a 35-page sketch of his ideas and arranged with his wife to publish the sketch after his death. Then, for the next 20 years, he told almost no one about the theory. He practically went into hiding, moving to a small town and living like a monk, with specific times each day for walking, napping, reading, and backgammon. He was so reclusive that he even had the road lowered outside his house, to prevent passersby from looking in the window.
July 1 is the birthday of grammarian and professor William Strunk, Jr., born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1869). He's best known for his work The Elements of Style, which he wrote in 1918, while he was an English professor at Cornell University, in order "to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention ... on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated." The original edition of 1918, printed privately, was only 43 pages long. It became a classic when E. B. White, who was once a student of his, published a revised 1959 edition, about a decade after Strunk's death.
The Writer’s Almanac
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