Example from a law professor's lecture becomes a case study on the perils of a wired world. On March 4, Georgetown University law professor Peter Tague opened his 9 a.m. criminal justice class by saying that John Roberts was stepping down from the bench. Tague, a veteran professor who specializes in criminal procedure and professional responsibility, had apparently floated similar stories in other classes over the years to illustrate the importance of challenging seemingly credible sources about their information. But this time, the news quickly flew beyond the walls of the classroom. "Since everyone is so wired these days . . . the rumor spread like wildfire." Midway through the class, Tague told his students that he had made up the story, but it was too late -- the information was out and couldn't be recalled. Around 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, Radar posted its story, which quickly got picked up by the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post. This was all part of a professor's lecture about the importance of verifying the credibility of legal informants. Lesson duly noted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-john-roberts6-2010mar06,0,2830806.story

The Postal Service has established new standards to improve processing and handling of automation compatible letter-size booklets. There are changes to tab size and location, paper weight and dimensions. In general, booklets are open on three sides before sealing, like a book, and must be uniformly thick. Large, bound booklets that are folded for mailing, also called “quarter-fold” booklets, qualify for automation and machinable prices if the final mailpiece remains nearly uniform in thickness.
To improve the productivity of processing booklets and to decrease damage to mailpieces, the new standards require that booklets have three, 1 1/2-inch tabs placed on the sides of the mailpiece. For larger or heavier booklets, the USPS recommends 2-inch paper tabs. Glue spots or a continuous glue line may be used to seal booklets designed with pages that are shorter than the cover. In addition, under the new standards, to minimize tab failure, tabs used to seal booklets paying automation or machinable prices may not be perforated abs with perforations are easily broken, do not maintain their integrity, and are damaged in transport prior to entering the mailstream. Therefore, only solid tabs made of plastic, vinyl, translucent paper, opaque paper, or cellophane tape will be acceptable. http://www.usps.com/mailpro/2009/julyaug/page4.htm

39 CFR Part 111 New Standards for Letter-Sized Booklets http://www.catalogmailers.org/clubportal/clubdocs/2129/Final%20Rule%20Booklets%20released%202009%2004%2009.pdf

Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual http://pe.usps.com/text/DMM300/DMM300_landing.htm

Reactions to requirement for three tabs on booklets: One group has opted for mailing in an envelope as cheaper than paying to have three tabs affixed. Is the extra paper for the envelopes an environmental problem? Should people have the opportunity to sign up for electronic delivery rather than paper copy if they so desire?

goulash (GOO-lahsh, -lash) noun
1. A mixture of disparate elements; hodgepodge.
2. A stew of meat and vegetables, seasoned with paprika.
3. In the game of bridge, a round played with hands produced by a rearrangement of previously dealt cards.
From Hungarian gulyás, short for gulyáshús (herdsman's meat), from gulya (herdsman) + hús (meat). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
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From: Tonia Ward (toniaward@hotmail.com)
Subject: goulash
Goulash is also the name of a hand in the traditional game of Mahjong. If the hand played has not been won by anyone, the next hand is called goulash!
From: Michiel Heyns (micheyn@ gmail.com)
Subject: laager
Def: 1. A camp, especially one protected by a circle of wagons or armored vehicles. 2. An entrenched policy or viewpoint.
Can't resist commenting on this word as I live in South Africa and speak Afrikaans. As you point out "lager" is indeed an Afrikaans word originating from Dutch. However, many of the words borrowed from Dutch were "softened" with the passing of time. Therefore "regen" (rain) became "reën", "seggen" (say) became "sê", etc. In the same way "lager" became "laer" with the hard "g" sound falling away.

SYNCOPE (SIN-koh-pee)
A type of elision in which a word is contracted by removing one or more letters or syllables from the middle, as ne'er for never, or fo'c'sle for forecastle.
SYNECDOCHE (suh-NEK-duh-kee)
A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole or the whole for a part, as wheels for automobile or society for high society.
http://www.poeticbyway.com/gl-s.html

Since 1901, the average number of hours of fog along the Pacific coast in summer has dropped from 56 percent to 42 percent, which is a loss of about three hours per day, said study leader James A. Johnstone, who conducted the research while working on his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, and is now at the University of Washington in Seattle. And the decline in fog isn't the only change to affect the coastal area where redwoods reside. "A cool coast and warm interior is one of the defining characteristics of California's coastal climate, but the temperature difference between the coast and interior has declined substantially in the last century, in step with the decline in summer fog," Johnstone said. http://www.livescience.com/environment/less-fog-redwoods-100215.html

Q: The Olympic theme song is both dramatic and challenging. Is it under the authority of the International Olympic Committee?
A: No. "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" is known mostly by American television viewers.
The grand timpani-and-trumpet march is the fused work of French-American composer Leo Arnaud (1904-1991) and American composer John Williams, 78. Arnaud was successful in Hollywood for Fred Waring and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, among others, from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s. In 1958, Arnaud composed "Bugler's Dream" for a symphonic album. ABC-TV used it as its theme for the 1968 winter games in Grenoble, France. Williams added to "Bugler's Dream" to create "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" in 1984 on a commission by the U.S. Olympic Committee for the Los Angeles summer games.
Q: With the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, have there have been any advances in predicting when and where earthquakes will happen? And besides California, what earthquake-prone areas in the U.S. should I be concerned about?
A: Scientists are making progress on forecasting the likelihood of strong earthquakes along fault zones, but they cannot predict a quake's precise time, location and magnitude, said Stuart Sipkin, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist. In fact, scientists are divided over whether such predictions will ever be possible. While predicting earthquakes isn't possible, advances in the past decade using global positioning system measurements to reveal subtle changes in the Earth's crust have helped forecast the probabilities of strong quakes along many fault zones. Those readings show the growing pressures along faults, where tectonic plates slide past each other. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Mar/JU/ar_JU_030810.asp?d=030810,2010,Mar,08&c=c_13