A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a creationism think tank and school that attempted to force the state of Texas to allow it to offer master's degrees in science education. In 2008, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rejected the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research's application to offer master's degrees, which taught science from a biblical perspective. The institute's graduate school sued in 2009, claiming the board violated its constitutional right to free speech and religion. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks found no merit in the ICR's claims and criticized its legal documents as “overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering and full of irrelevant information.” In an e-mailed statement, ICR representatives said they were reviewing the decision and may appeal. http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/court_rules_against_creationism_degree_96926154.html?showFullArticle=y
Judge Sam Sparks Ruling in ICR v. Texas Higher Ed Coordinating Board
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33449642/Judge-Sam-Sparks-Ruling-in-ICR-v-Texas-Higher-Ed-Coordinating-Board

How many countries have names that start with the letter Z?
Two: Zambia and Zimbabwe
ZAMBIA The territory of Northern Rhodesia was administered by the [British] South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923. During the 1920s and 1930s, advances in mining spurred development and immigration. The name was changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964. In the 1980s and 1990s, declining copper prices and a prolonged drought hurt the economy. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/za.html
ZIMBABWE The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html

Astronomers at the University of Sheffield have managed to record for the first time the eerie musical harmonies produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the sun. They found that huge magnetic loops that have been observed coiling away from the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere, known as coronal loops, vibrate like strings on a musical instrument. In other cases they behave more like soundwaves as they travel through a wind instrument. Using satellite images of these loops, which can be over 60,000 miles long, the scientists were able to recreate the sound by turning the visible vibrations into noises and speeding up the frequency so it is audible to the human ear. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7840201/Music-of-the-sun-recorded-by-scientists.html

Toledo School for the Arts is a public charter school in downtown Toledo, Ohio founded by director Martin Porter. It was first sponsored by the Toledo Board of Education. In 2008 the school was chartered by Bowling Green State University. TSA serves over 500 students from any school district in Ohio in Junior Division (6th, 7th and 8th grades), and Senior Division (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades). In addition to core academic subjects, classes are offered in dance, music, theatre and visual arts and include training and career development for students interested in pursuing professions in the arts. TSA students have been accepted to many of the nation's best colleges and universities, and the school has enjoyed a 100% graduation rate for the last four years. The highlight of each year is Kaleidoscope, a performance and art exhibit that features student works from each department as well as student soloists. Students participate in an average of 180 performances and exhibitions each year. In 2004, TSA moved to 333 14th Street, a new building located in uptown Toledo. In 2009 the school opened its own gallery to allow them the ability to hold art shows and sell student art throughout the year. In 2009 TSA was awarded a No School Left Behind Blue Ribbon from the US Department of Education, and in 2008 was the first charter school in the nation to receive the Title 1 School of Distinction award. In 2007 TSA was identified as one of the leading charter schools in the nation, and featured in the US Department of Education publication, Innovations in Education Reform. TSA has twice been designated a Bronze Medal School by US News and World Reports.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_School_for_the_Arts
TSA's seven-piece jazz group, Urban Jazz Collective, plays at Manhattan's Restaurant, 1516 Adams Street in Toledo, on Tuesday nights.

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Marli R Subject: Aeolian Def: Relating to or caused by the wind. What a lovely surprise to see "Aeolian" as the word of the day. The field of Aeolian research is fascinating to me. I thought you might be interested in http://singingsands.weebly.com/ a website I have created on this very topic.
From: Rhiannon Beech Subject: aeolien In France, we have an upsurge of windmills to produce electricity. They are called éolienne.
From: Walt Patterson Subject: aeolian The word "aeolian" is used often in a musical context. A major builder of pipe organs of the 20th century in the US was Aeolian-Skinner. Pipe organs are basically powered by wind. The Aeolian Harp is also powered by wind and is not meant to be played by a person. And Aeolian is one of the modes used in music. Aeolian mode is what would be called today A-minor, all played on white notes on the piano.
From: Anne Lane Subject: virga I used to teach calligraphy classes at Ghost Ranch, one of Georgia O'Keeffe's homes in New Mexico and source of much of the inspiration for her paintings. We would sit on the porch and watch the virga, known to the Native Americans as "walking rain", travel across the desert.
From: John Hench Subject: virga More fun facts about the word virga: The cognate in French is virgule, or comma.

Club Sandwich - History of Club Sandwich © copyright 2004 by Linda Stradley
The most popular theory is that the sandwich first appeared in 1894 at the famous Saratoga Club-House (an exclusive gentlemen only gambling house in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York) where the potato chips was born. Originally called Morrissey's Club House, were neither women nor locals were permitted in the gambling rooms. In 1894, Richard Canfield purchased the club. According to the 1940 New York Writer's Project book called New York: A Guide to the Empire State: In 1894 Richard Canfield (1865-1914), debonair patron of art, purchased the Saratoga Club to make it a casino. Canfield Solitaire was originated in the casino's gambling rooms and the club sandwich in its kitchens. Some historians think that the sandwich was originally only a two-decker and that it originated aboard the double-decker “club cars” of our early trains in America that traveled from New York to Chicago in the 1930's and 1940's. James Beard (1903-1985), American chef and food writer wrote the following about the Club Sandwich in his book, James Beard's American Cookery: . . . it is one of the great sandwiches of all time and has swept its way around the world after an American beginning. Nowadays the sandwich is bastardized because it is usually made as a three-decker, which is not authentic (whoever started that horror should be forced to eat three-deckers three times a day the rest of his life), and nowadays practically everyone uses turkey and there's a vast difference between turkey and chicken where sandwiches are concerned.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/ClubSandwich.htm