World Health Organization: New HIV infections reduced by 17% over the past 8 years News release: "According to new data in the 2009 AIDS epidemic update, new HIV infections have been reduced by 17% over the past eight years. Since 2001, when the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was signed, the number of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa is approximately 15% lower, which is about 400 000 fewer infections in 2008. In East Asia HIV incidence has declined by nearly 25% and in South and South East Asia by 10% in the same time period. In Eastern Europe, after a dramatic increase in new infections among injecting drug users, the epidemic has leveled off considerably. However, in some countries there are signs that HIV incidence is rising again."

Employment Law Guide: Laws, Regulations, and Technical Assistance Services
News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the availability of an updated version of its popular Employment Law Guide [September 2009], an online publication that describes the major employment laws administered by the department. The Guide helps the public—workers and employers—understand many of the laws affecting the workplace. For instance, it helps small businesses develop wage, benefit, safety and health, and nondiscrimination policies. It also benefits employees and employee representatives who need information about worker rights and responsibilities under federal employment laws."

A common misconception is that in the past when an immigrant to the US arrived on Ellis Island, the clerk at the registration office often changed a name, from Kwiatkovski to Kay, for example. While stories of renaming at the port of entry are mostly myths, many names were later anglicized, such as Pedersen becoming Peterson. Something similar happens with the language. What do the words puny, petty, mayday have in common? Each is a French word that has been adopted into English with a phonetic respelling, from puisné, petit, and m'aidez (literally, Help me). A.Word.A.Day

I just bought a small wireless reading device with access to 100,000 books. Response: I have a small wireless device with access to a million books—a library card.
Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip (paraphrase) November 30, 2009

As a teenager, Jean Nouvel wanted to be an artist, and his unconventional buildings suggest the flamboyance of a painter. Taking cues from the environment, Nouvel places an emphasis on light and shadow. Color and transparency are important parts of the design. Upon awarding Jean Nouvel the Pritzker Architecture Prize for 2008, the judges noted that his works demonstrate "persistence, imagination, exuberance, and, above all, an insatiable urge for creative experimentation." See list of his buildings in France, Spain and the United States at: http://architecture.about.com/od/architectsaz/p/nouvel.htm
Before dreaming up a design, Mr. Nouvel said, he does copious research on the project and its surroundings. “The story, the climate, the desires of the client, the rules, the culture of the place,” he said. “The references of the buildings around, what the people in the city love.” Read story and see picture of his Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/arts/design/31prit.html

Moon Phases, December 2009 (times are in Universal Time)
Full Moon – December 2, 07:30
Last Quarter – December 9, 00:13
New Moon – December 16, 12:02
First Quarter – December 24, 17:36
Full Moon – December 31, 19:13 (blue moon)
http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-moon/moon-phases-2009/

The times of various events, particularly astronomical and weather phenomena, are often given in "Universal Time" (abbreviated UT) which is sometimes referred to, now colloquially, as "Greenwich Mean Time" (abbreviated GMT). The two terms are often used loosely to refer to time kept on the Greenwich meridian (longitude zero), five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Times given in UT are almost always given in terms of a 24-hour clock. Thus, 14:42 (often written simply 1442) is 2:42 p.m., and 21:17 (2117) is 9:17 p.m. Sometimes a Z is appended to a time to indicate UT, as in 0935Z.
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/UT

In March 1999, Sky and Telescope magazine published an article about Blue Moons by Philip Hiscock, who has studied the folklore and history of the expression. In that article, Hiscock traced the many meanings of the expression over the centuries, but noted that the "two Full moons in a single month" meaning couldn't be explained satisfactorily. In the May 1999 issue of Sky and Telescope, there appeared a follow-up article which proved that Sky and Telescope had in fact created the current meaning by mistake in an article published in March 1946. The author of the 1946 article had misinterpreted a page of the 1937 Maine Farmers' Almanac. By studying copies of the Maine Farmers' Almanac dating as far back as 1819, the authors of the May 1999 article showed that the compilers of the Almanac used the term to label the third Full Moon in a season which has four.
We have calculated the dates of this type of Blue Moon for the 20th and 21st centuries
and put them in a list for you to browse it inadvertently created in an article 53 years before! So which definition is "correct"? The authors of the May 1999 article admit
with two decades of popular usage behind it, the second-full-Moon-in-a-month (mis)interpretation is like a genie that can't be forced back into its bottle.
http://www.obliquity.com/astro/blue-st.html