More on engagement rings from Toledo muse reader: In Ohio, the ring is called a "gift in contemplation of marriage". Now it doesn't matter who caused the split. The ring goes back to the giver.

In court documents filed May 14 before U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Chrysler asked Judge Arthur Gonzalez for approval to reject dealership agreements it has with 789 dealers across the country. List of Chrysler dealerships to be closed from The Washington Post--Go to Exhibit A and see list alphabetically by title:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/pdf/list_of_dealers_051409.pdf?sid=ST2009051401978

When Audrey Spangenberg idly typed “FirePond,” the name of her small software company, into Google this year, she was not happy with what she saw. Her company’s site came up as the top search listing. But just above it, Google showed the ads of competitors that had paid Google to display their marketing messages whenever someone searched for FirePond, a registered trademark. On May 11, FPX filed a class-action suit against Google in federal court in Texas, saying that Google had infringed on its trademark and challenging Google’s policies on behalf of all trademark owners in the state. Legal experts said it was the first class-action suit against Google over the issue.
But Google’s acceptance of such competitive uses of trademarks has irked many other companies, including the likes of American Airlines and Geico, which have filed suits against Google and settled them. Many brand owners say the practice abuses their brands, confuses customers and increases their cost of doing business. None of this, apparently, is giving Google much reason to reconsider. This month, it expanded to more than 190 new countries its policy of allowing anyone to buy someone else’s trademark as a trigger for an ad. On May 14 it announced that it would allow limited use of trademarks in the text of some search ads, even if the trademark owner objects. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/technology/internet/15google.html?ref=technology

Farrah Fawcett plans to watch with the rest of America tonight when a documentary about her battle with cancer airs on national television. One cloud hanging over tonight's broadcast is a lawsuit filed May 13 by one of the documentary's producers. Craig Nevius, a producer who once served as Fawcett's spokesman, is suing O'Neal, his business manager and another producer, Alana Stewart, to regain creative control over the program. He claimed that the trio interfered with his right to produce the documentary and that O'Neal threatened him. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/story?id=7590321&page=1

wend (wend) verb tr., intr.: To travel along a route
From Old English wendan
If you've ever wondered why we have the peculiar form "went" as the past tense of the word go (go, went, gone), today's word is the culprit. "Went" is the archaic past form of "wend". In current usage, the past form of wend is wended. The word is typically used in the phrase "to wend one's way". A.Word.A.Day

EPA Offers Tips to Save Energy and Fight Climate Change this Summer
News release: "With summer and the high costs of cooling right around the corner, EPA is offering advice to help Americans reduce both energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions by one third through Energy Star. The energy used in an average home costs more than $2,200 a year and contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than a typical car."
More tips on to how to save energy at home: http://www.energystar.gov
More tips on how to save energy at work: http://www.energystar.gov/bizcooling
More hot tips for a cool summer: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/hi-summer.htm
Related postings on climate change

LLRX.com: Can Collaboration Solve Copyright Status Questions? The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry - As Roger V. Skalbeck documents, one of the underlying obstacles to reproducing older books is a central place to look for information about what is protected by copyright and what may have passed into the public domain is lacking. Responding to this need, OCLC recently introduced a beta service, the WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry (CER).

Unified Agenda, May 2009 Edition: "The Unified Agenda summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each Federal agency expects to issue during the next six months."

The first movies were a penny arcade item. Individuals put a penny into a kinetoscope machine, and turned the crank to see about 40 seconds of moving images. Arcade, to make more money per showing, showed them to a group in a corner of the arcade. Because of large audiences, arcade owners rented nearby stores and charged 5 cents admission—soon theaters got name of “nickelodeon.” Film music started with a pianist, then sometimes string trio or full orchestra. Books of film music were developed into cue sheets by mood (love, hate, frenzy). Classical repertoire was included.
Film Music, comp. and ed. by James L. Limbacher, 1974.