Couch potatoes of America, listen up. Congress may be just days away from turning down the volume on ear-splitting TV. The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act follows rules set last year by a United Nations body in Switzerland on how to measure and clip broadcast volumes. The U.S. bill, inspired by decades of consumer complaints, should finally ban TV ads that blare louder than the programs they interrupt. California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, who sponsored the bill, says it is the most popular she has pushed in her 18 years in Congress. "If I'd saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this," she says.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704008704575638850947058366.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news

David Norris wants to collect the digital equivalent of fingerprints from every computer, cellphone and TV set-top box in the world. He's off to a good start. So far, Mr. Norris's start-up company, BlueCava Inc., has identified 200 million devices. By the end of next year, BlueCava says it expects to have cataloged one billion of the world's estimated 10 billion devices. Advertisers no longer want to just buy ads. They want to buy access to specific people. So, Mr. Norris is building a "credit bureau for devices" in which every computer or cellphone will have a "reputation" based on its user's online behavior, shopping habits and demographics. He plans to sell this information to advertisers willing to pay top dollar for granular data about people's interests and activities.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575646704100959546.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEADSecond

According to Italo Calvino, English author William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) wrote the first detective novel. A popular restaurant and wine bar in Toledo is named for Italo Calvino (1923–1985),an Italian journalist, writer, editor and translator.

The state of Michigan is second to the state of Alaska in shoreline miles. Michigan has the longest fresh water shoreline in the world. Maine has more ocean shoreline than California due to the many coves. http://www.usacitiesonline.com/usafactfile.htm

Amusing words from Sleeping with Schubert, a novel by Bonnie Marson
verbal volleyball
Once my mother has opened the fridge, no mouth goes unfilled.
old friends and cherished enemies

Approximately 13 million metric tons of rare earth elements (REE) exist within known deposits in the United States, according to the first-ever nationwide estimate of these elements by the U.S. Geological Survey. This estimate of domestic rare earth deposits is part of a larger report that includes a review of global sources for REE, information on known deposits that might provide domestic sources of REE in the future, and geologic information crucial for studies of the availability of REE to U.S. industry. The report describes significant deposits of REE in 14 states, with the largest known REE deposits at Mountain Pass, Calif.; Bokan Mountain, Alaska; and the Bear Lodge Mountains, Wyo. The Mountain Pass mine produced REE until it closed in 2002. Additional states with known REE deposits include Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2642&from=rss_home

LA JOLLA, Calif.—One morning in November, 27 harbor seals sunned themselves on the sand in a tiny cove, striking banana-shaped poses as tourists snapped pictures. On a promenade above, Dorota Valli and John Leek set up rival stations for what has become practically a daily duel over the 200-foot beach, which animal activists believe should be a seal sanctuary and their opponents think should remain true to its name, "Children's Pool." "The beach is too small to be used both by people for swimming and for seals to rest," said Ms. Valli, Seal Watch campaign coordinator for the Animal Protection & Rescue League. She had a video camera at the ready to film human "intruders" and report the harassment of seals. "Going on the beach can scare and stress seals," cautioned one of her posters. Mr. Leek, a member of a group called "Friends of the Children's Pool," displayed posters urging people to use the beach. He has scuba-dived along a reef off the beach since the 1980s. "Swimmers and divers only want to go past the seals to reach the water," he said. "What is wrong with that?" For years, people in this affluent San Diego enclave who put seals first and people who put people before pinnipeds have been clashing in court, on the city council and at the promenade. Beachside, decorum disintegrates into name calling, fist fights and restraining orders against both sides. Ms. Valli has been branded a terrorist to jeers of "Seal Qaeda! Seal Qaeda!" The latest point of contention is whether to seal off a seal zone all year long with a rope. A hearing scheduled for next month is unlikely to resolve differences between the opposing sides. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572404575634401432286376.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Richard Bailey Subject: Yiddishisms
Let's not forget new Yiddishisms in current use, for example:
blitzpost: email
schleptop: laptop
From: Max Kahn Subject: Yiddish words in American Life
With perfect coincidence (bashert [destined] some might say), The Atlantic published this week a legal petition to Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood, full of annotated Yiddishisms (simcha, bubbamaiseh, bris, etc.) along with her charming response.
From: Carol Sevilla Subject: Yiddish and King Charles V
If having a non-Catholic lapse, King Charles would have spoken to his Sephardic "enemies" in Ladino, the Yiddish of Spanish, aka "the 1492 Spanish" or the Spanish of the Sephardics. Although quickly becoming extinct, Ladino is still spoken in dwindling numbers here and there, with larger numbers in areas in the Middle East (where the Spanish Jews fled from Spain during the Inquisition) and Mexico City.
From: David Millstone Subject: schmeer
Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, is reported to have said, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse."
This brings to mind the old saying:
In heaven, the police are British, the chefs are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian, and everything is organized by the Swiss.
In hell, the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians.

Origin of SYMPHONY Middle English symphonie, from Middle French, from Latin symphonia, from Greek symphōnia, from symphōnos concordant in sound, from syn- + phōnē voice, sound http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symphony

Origin of SYMPATHY Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, from sympathēs having common feelings, sympathetic, from syn- + pathos feelings, emotion, experience http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sympathy