Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Supreme Court Term concluded by Erin Miller |
The Court issued its final opinions in argued cases on June 28 and its final orders June 29, concluding the October Term 2009. The Court is now in recess until October. See SCOTUS blog with information on Elena Kagan hearings at: http://www.scotusblog.com/

America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places
By Sudip Bose | From Preservation | July/August 2010
Black Mountain Lynch and Benham, Ky.
Industrial Arts Building Lincoln, Neb.
Saugatuck Dunes Saugatuck, Mich.
America's State Parks and State-Owned Historic Sites
Threefoot Building Meridian, Miss.
Juana Briones House Palo Alto, Calif.
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church Washington, D.C.
Merritt Parkway Fairfield County, Conn.
Wilderness Battlefield Orange and Spotsylvania counties, Va.
Hinchliffe Stadium Paterson, N.J.
Pågat Yigo, Guam
See stories and pictures at: http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2010/july-august/americas-11-most-2010.html

101 fast recipes for grilling by Mark Bittman
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/dining/30mini.html

Onion and Parsley Relish
1/2 medium-size red onion, or 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Combine the sliced onion and parsley in a small bowl and refrigerate the relish, covered, until you are ready to serve.
LYNNE'S TIPS
Another time, use the marinade as a table sauce for grilled vegetables or scrambled eggs, as a dipping sauce for grilled bread that you've rubbed with garlic and olive oil, or spooned over sliced, cooked new potatoes. The Splendid Table June 30, 2010

Quotes
. . . we mustn't forget what makes us really free; respecting the rights of others, and them respecting you and me . . .
from Freedom, a song by Doug Nichol of Toledo

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (later paraphrased by Spectrum, a singing group of Toledo)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

New on LLRX.com Basic Legal Research on the Internet: This article explores the corner of the Internet landscape that concentrates on legal research. For the most part, these databases and search tools are free, although some might require a library card Essentially, this is a short list of "go to" sites that most researchers will find useful. Before delving in, author Ken Strutin also examines a few time tested research concepts for the Internet age.

New on LLRX.com: Employment Online Resources - This guide for researchers by Marcus P. Zillman is a comprehensive bibliography of resources and sites comprising the latest and most comprehensive, reliable content and value added information currently available on this subject via the Internet.

The Colorado River is the primary river of the American Southwest, draining somewhere in the vicinity of 242,000 square miles of land, from the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Green River is the primary tributary of the Colorado River, and until 1921 the Colorado River did not technically begin until the Grand and Green Rivers joined together in Utah. In that year the Grand River was renamed as the Colorado River, at the request of the State of Colorado . The Colorado River was originally named Rio Colorado or "Red River" by the Spanish. A person looking at the river today may not understand how it came to be named in this way, as the present day color of the river is more of a blue-green. The reddish-bro wn color that originally gave the river its name become a rarity upon completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. The silt and sediments that gave the river its color are now trapped behind the dam in the bottom o f Lake Powell. http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/misc/gc_coriv.htm

The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it is not to be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Sea of Cortez.
The Colorado River is the 18th longest river in the United States and the longest river with both its source and mouth within Texas; its drainage basin and some of its usually dry tributaries extend into New Mexico. The 862-mile (1,387 km) long river flows generally southeast from Dawson County through Marble Falls, Austin, Bastrop, Smithville, La Grange, Columbus, Wharton, and Bay City before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Matagorda Bay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_(Texas)

The Red River, or sometimes The Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers located in the United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. The Red River is the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains. It rises in two branches (forks) in the Texas Panhandle and flows east, where it acts as the border between present-day states of Texas and Oklahoma. It is a short border between Texas and Arkansas before entering Arkansas, turning south near Fulton, Arkansas and flowing into Louisiana. The total length of the river is 1,360 miles (2,190 km). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_(Mississippi_River)

The Red River (French: Rivière rouge or AmE: Red River of the North) is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada. It empties into Lake Winnipeg, whose waters join the world's oceans in Hudson Bay via the Nelson River. In the United States, the Red River is sometimes called the Red River of the North, to distinguish it from the Red River that is a tributary of the Mississippi River, which forms part of the border between Texas and Oklahoma. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_of_the_North

Q: A Fourth of July question: Is anything written on the back of the Declaration of Independence?
A: People who saw the 2007 movie "National Treasure" usually ask this. But, sorry, there are no hidden messages there. On the back, at the bottom, upside-down, is simply written: "Original Declaration of Independence / dated 4th July 1776." "While no one knows for certain who wrote it," the National Archives reports, "it is known that early in its life, the large parchment document was rolled up for storage. So, it is likely that the notation was added simply as a label." The declaration is exhibited in the National Achives' Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington. It has faded badly, largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century . It measures 29.75 inches by 24.5 inches. -- Independence Hall Association, Philadelphia.
http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062810.asp?d=062810,2010,Jun,28&c=c_13

National Cherry Festival Traverse City, Mich. July 3-10 , 2010
History: This corner of Michigan is one of the nation's top cherry-growing regions, and locals began celebrating with an informal "blossom blessing" festival almost 100 years ago. The idea took off -- early promoters even baked a 3-foot-wide cherry pie for President Calvin Coolidge -- and the state of Michigan decreed it a national festival in 1931. Except for a few years around World War II, it has been celebrated annually ever since, attracting up to half-million visitors each year.
Eat this: The signature dish is cherry crumb pie, available by the slice or the pie at the event's pie shop. The Cherries D'Vine culinary event features local restaurateurs dishing up dishes featuring cherries, paired with locally produced wines. There's also a Cherries Grand Buffet, featuring cherry-barbecue pulled pork, cherry chicken croissants, coleslaw with cherry vinaigrette and cherry-infused deli sandwiches.
What else to do: Kids can don an apron and chef's cap and make their own miniature cherry crumb pies at the pie shop. Fresh cherries are for sale every day; you can also buy cherry salsa, cherry jam, cherry butter, cherry vinaigrette ... well, you get the idea. There are also pie-eating contests and pit-spitting contests -- last year's champ hocked one almost 50 feet.
Info: www.cherryfestival.org; 800-968-3380.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/28/2225167/check-out-these-festivals-celebrating.html#tvg#ixzz0s4qcA9yn by Patricia Rodriguez Terrell

I will be in Washington, D.C. for a convention July 4-8, and take a holiday a few days before and a few days after.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Oil Spill Lawsuits:
Complaint In Re Transocean Holdings LLC
Transocean, the owner and operator of the offshore oil rig that exploded and is leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico, asked a federal court in Houston to limit its liability for damages caused by the explosion and spill.
Complaint Abbott v. Salazar
A former BP contractor filed a lawsuit suit alleging that BP never verified that the systems on its Atlantis oil rig were functioning properly. The plaintiff has stated that poor conditions on the rig could lead to an even worse disaster than the Gulf Oil Spill.
Complaint Sierra Club, Inc. v. Salazar
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups filed suit against the Secretary of the Interior alleging that the federal government illegally allowed BP to drill in over 5,000 feet of water without analyzing blow-out and worst-case oil spill analysis. The plaintiffs claim that this exemption contributed to the Gulf Oil Spill.
http://injury.findlaw.com/oil-spill/oil-spill-lawsuits.html
The link above leads to further information, for instance oil spill legal overview, oil spill FAQ and the oil spill law.

Liability Questions Loom for BP and Ex-Partners Anadarko Petroleum, has a 25 percent stake in the project, and its joint operating agreement with BP gives it a 25 percent share of the liability, a potentially ruinous amount. If Anadarko, in court or arbitration, can establish gross negligence or willful misconduct by BP, which owned 65 percent of the well, then BP could end up being responsible for 100 percent of the spill. A spokesman for Mitsui Oil Exploration Company of Japan, which owns the remaining 10 percent of the well, said the company had given up its interest in oil from the well. “All revenues obtained from the sale of that oil should go to assist those affected and help to restore the natural resources across the Gulf Coast,” Mitsui said in a statement. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/liability-questions-loom-for-bp-and-ex-partners/

The Week magazine June 18, 2010 contest: Come up with an upbeat slogan for BP
FIRST PRIZE: Gushing with pride
SECOND PLACE: Reducing shark attacks by 100%!
THIRD PLACE: Paving the way for alternative energy legislation!
See honorable mentions at: http://theweek.com/article/index/204191/the-week-contest-bp-slogan---june-18-2010

Chinese media report that up to 90% of the vuvuzelas sold in South Africa during the World Cup were made in China, mainly by factories in the provinces of Zhejiang, where Yiwu is located, and Guangdong to the south. And if you thought the noisemakers’ would just fade away after the World Cup ends next month, Chinese businesswoman Gua Lili is betting you’re wrong. “We believe the market for vuvuzela trumpets will expand after the World Cup as people from more countries began to love them,” she said. Gua, whose factory also makes other plastic noise makers such as whistles, said demand for the trumpets was also rising in China, Europe and the United States, where they’ve most recently shown up at Boston’s Fenway Park, adding decibels to a baseball game between the Red Sox and the Arizona Diamondbacks. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/The-Vuvuzela-Uniquely-African-made-in-China/articleshow/6076557.cms

David Dunning, a Cornell professor of social psychology, was perusing the 1996 World Almanac. In a section called Offbeat News Stories he found a tantalizingly brief account of a series of bank robberies committed in Pittsburgh the previous year. From there, it was an easy matter to track the case to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, specifically to an article by Michael A. Fuoco: ARREST IN BANK ROBBERY, SUSPECT’S TV PICTURE SPURS TIPS
At 5 feet 6 inches and about 270 pounds, bank robbery suspect McArthur Wheeler isn’t the type of person who fades into the woodwork. So it was no surprise that he was recognized by informants, who tipped detectives to his whereabouts after his picture was telecast. When arrested, Wheeler was completely disbelieving. “But I wore the juice,” he said. Apparently, he was under the deeply misguided impression that rubbing one’s face with lemon juice rendered it invisible to video cameras. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/

Apricot-Pineapple Pie
Measure Ingredient
1½ cup Dried apricots
1½ cup Water
6 tablespoons Sugar
1 can Crushed pineapple (8 oz)
1½ tablespoon Cornstarch
Salt
3 tablespoons Butter
Pastry for 8" double pie crust

This filling is intense and sweet-tart, like the traditional apricot-pineapple jam. With knife or kitchen shears, cut each apricot into quarters. Put apricots in saucepan, add water, bring to boil, cover and cook over medium heat 10 minutes. Add sugar and cook 5 minutes more. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup juice. Set apricots aside. Drain crushed pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice. Set pineapple aside. In mixing bowl, dissolve cornstarch in reserved pineapple juice. Add reserved apricot juice. Put mixed juices in saucepan, add dash salt and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens, stirring continually. Mix drained apricots and pineapple thoroughly. Mix with thickened juices and pour into unbaked pie shell. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust, crimp edges and pierce with fork. Bake at 400'F. 25 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings. Each of 6 servings contains about: 546 calories; 299 milligrams sodium; 16 milligrams cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 1.21 grams fiber.
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Apricot-pineapple%20pie
The Web site above links to 20 other recipes using apricots and pineapples.

Friday, June 25, 2010

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

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The renovations at the University of Toledo’s Carlson Library have caused some in the UT community to be concerned with the process by which the university is disposing of books, periodicals and journals in order to make room for the planned “ultra quiet study space” being built on the library’s fifth floor. According to Marcia Suter, Director of Library Services on UT Main Campus, not all the physical copies will be shelved on the fourth floor. Suter said the library is disposing volumes of books that have not been checked out in eight or more years so as long as those books are available on OhioLink, an online library to which Ohio universities have access. According to Vice President of Student Government Jordan Maddocks, the library is disposing of the unused books by sending them to be shredded at Lott Industries, a local service sector company that specializes in recycling. “From going to the meetings and finding out what they’re doing with the reading materials, I was under the impression that almost all that was going to go to the depository. But I later found out that massive amounts were being basically [destroyed],” Maddocks said. Maddocks said he attended two of the committee meetings that planned the library renovations and suggested that the library donate the books as opposed to shredding them. Maddocks said one of the administrators responded to his donation idea by saying the process would be “too tedious and tough to organize.”
http://www.independentcollegian.com/news/carlson-library-renovation-woes-1.2274479

The headmaster at a New England prep school, Cushing Academy (Welcome to the Library. Say Goodbye to the Books, http://tinyurl.com/mnn986). stated that books were an outdated technology, similar to scrolls before the advent of the printing press. So what have they decided to do? Discard their 20,000 book collection of classics, novels, poetry, biographies, and tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. Their plan is to spend nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center‟‟ that consists of three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet, special laptop-friendly study carrels, and to replace the reference desk with a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine. Administrators state that they do not want to discourage reading, so to that end they will spend $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by Amazon.com and Sony. The readers will be distributed to some students, and will be stocked with digital material. Those who don't have access to the electronic readers will be expected to do their research and peruse many assigned texts on their computers. http://orall.org/newsletters/2010-06.pdf

Bloomberg owns Business Week, having bought it from McGraw-Hill, and in late 2009 was laying off about 100 staff people. One casualty was the library. And, according to Stephen Baker, who wrote one of the seminal articles on the importance of blogging in the corporate world, published in Business Week, reporters are being advised to take their research needs to Google. http://www.onlineinsider.net/2009/11/25/bloomberg-closes-business-week-library/

Wall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonym) for the "influential financial interests" of the American financial industry, which is centered in the New York City area. The name of the street derives from the 17th century when Wall Street formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement. It was constructed to protect against English colonial encroachement. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony. Later, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, in part using African slaves, led the Dutch in the construction of a stronger stockade. A strengthened 12-foot (4 m) wall against attack from various Native American tribes. In 1685 surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade. The wall started at Pearl Street, which was the shoreline back then, crossing the Indian path Broadway and ending at the other shoreline (today's Trinity Place), where it took a turn south and ran along the shore until it ended at the old fort. The wall was dismantled by the British colonial government in 1699. In the late 18th century, there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade informally. In 1792, the traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement. This was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1789, Federal Hall and Wall Street was the scene of the United States' first presidential inauguration. George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall overlooking Wall Street on April 30, 1789. This was also the location of the passing of the Bill Of Rights. In 1889, the original stock report, Customers' Afternoon Letter, became The Wall Street Journal. Named in reference to the actual street, it is now an influential international daily business newspaper published in New York City. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street

Bartleby, the Scrivener: a Story of Wall Street is a long short story, more commonly known as a novella, by the American novelist Herman Melville (1819–1891). It first appeared anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 editions of Putnam's Magazine. It was reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856. Though no great success at the time of publication, Bartleby the Scrivener is now among the most notable of American short stories. It has been considered a precursor of absurdist literature, touching on several of Kafka's themes in such works as A Hunger Artist and The Trial. There is nothing to indicate that the Bohemian writer was at all acquainted with the work of Melville, who remained largely forgotten until some time after Kafka's death. Albert Camus, in a personal letter to Liselotte Dieckmann published in The French Review in 1998, cites Melville as a key influence. The Spanish writer Enrique Vila-Matas wrote an award-winning novel Bartleby & Co. that creates a catalogue of the many "bartlebys" in literature: writers who gave up writing—the Literature of No—writers who sought denial. The story has been adapted for film three times: in 1970, starring Paul Scofield; in France, in 1976, by Maurice Ronet, starring Michel Lonsdale; and in 2001, Bartleby starring Crispin Glover. In 2003, a loosely adapted version of the story, called "Partanen", was filmed for Finnish TV by Juha Koiranen. In 2007, Organic Theater Company of Chicago presented its adaptation of Bartleby at the Ruth Page Theatre. This production was repeated a year later at the LaCosta Theatre. In 2009, Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company of Chicago presented an adaptation by R.L. Lane at the Angel Island Theater, directed by Richard Cotovsky. In 2009, La pépinière théâtre of Paris presented as public reading by the famous French author Daniel Pennac, directed by François Duval. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby,_the_Scrivener

The hogan is a sacred home for the Diné (Navajo) people who practice traditional religion. Every family -- even if they live most of the time in a newer home -- must have the traditional hogan for ceremonies, and to keep themselves in balance. The Navajos used to make their houses, called hogans, of wooden poles, tree bark and mud. The doorway of each hogan opened to the east so they could get the morning sun as well as good blessings. Today, many Navajo families still live in hogans, although trailers or more modern houses are tending to replace them. The older form of hogan is round and cone-shaped. By the end of the 19th century they would be replaced by the roomier, hexagonal or octagonal, cribwork hogans http://navajopeople.org/navajo-hogans.htm

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

DISH, Tex.—A satellite broadcasting company bought the rights to rename this town a few years ago in exchange for a decade of free television, but it is another industry that dominates the 200 or so residents: natural gas. Five facilities perched on the north Texas town's outskirts compress the gas newly flowing to the surface from the cracked Barnett Shale more than two kilometers beneath the surface, collectively contributing a brew of toxic chemicals to the air. It is because of places like DISH (formerly known as Clark) and similar sites from Colorado to Wyoming, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new review of the practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". From compressor stations emitting known human carcinogens such as benzene to the poor lining of wells after drilling that has led some water taps to literally spout flames, the full set of activities needed to produce natural gas gives rise to a panoply of potential problems. The EPA study may examine everything from site selection to the ultimate disposal of the fluids used in fracking. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=shale-gas-and-hydraulic-fracturing

Iguazu Falls, Iguassu Falls, or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. Iguazu Falls is often compared with Southern Africa's Victoria Falls which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. Iguazu is wider, but because it is split into about 270 discrete falls and large islands, Victoria is the largest curtain of water in the world, at over 1,600 m (5,249 ft) wide and over 100 m (328 ft) in height (in low flow Victoria is split into five by islands; in high flow it can be uninterrupted). The only wider falls are extremely large rapid-like falls such as the Boyoma Falls). With the flooding of the Guaíra Falls in 1982, Iguazu currently has the second greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara, with an average rate of 1746 m³/s. The water falling over Iguazu in peak flow has a surface area of about 40 Ha (1.3 million ft²) whilst Victoria in peak flow has a surface area of over 55 ha (1.8 million ft²). By comparison, Niagara has a surface area of under 18.3 ha (600,000 ft²). Victoria's annual peak flow very similar maximum water discharge (well in excess of 12,000 m³/s). Niagara's average flow is about 2,400 m³/s, although an all-time peak of 8,269 has been recorded. Iguazu and Victoria fluctuate more greatly in their flow rate. Mist rises between 30 metres (98 ft) and 150 m (492 ft) from Iguazu's Devil's Throat, and over 300 m (984 ft) above Victoria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls

On June 12 at the 16th annual West Chester University Poetry Conference, poets, scholars and other enthusiasts reveling in rhyme, meter and narrative in verse were lined up like smitten rock fans waiting for Natalie Merchant to sign copies of her new, deluxe-edition, double-disc recording, "Leave Your Sleep." (An abridged single CD has also been released.) Inside the student union building here, several people also clutched her previous solo albums, and one fervid fan gripped vinyl recordings of the pop-rock-folk band 10,000 Maniacs, which Ms. Merchant joined as a 17-year-old lead singer in 1981. The conference was founded in 1995 by Michael Peich, a WCU professor of English and the director of Aralia Press, and Dana Gioia, a poet and critic who served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009. "This conference has grown from 85 to 300 people," Prof. Peich said, "and in 1999 we added a concert of art song to the program. Natalie's new album, where she sets music to verse, makes her a natural choice for this year's conference." Mr. Gioia, currently director of the Aspen Institute's Harman-Eisner Program in the Arts, believes Ms. Merchant "has done something important and innovative. Other pop singers have set a poem or two in the past to music, but I don't think anyone else has ever done it on the scale of Merchant. She has created something akin to pop art song and re-created the link between song and poetry." In "Leave Your Sleep," Ms. Merchant composed music for 26 poems by writers well known (E.E. Cummings, Ogden Nash, Christina Rossetti), less known (Charles Causley, Eleanor Farjeon, Rachel Field), and anonymous. The album features more than 130 guest performers whose styles include Cajun, reggae, blues, gospel, Native American, Chinese, orchestral and pop music. Those eclectic choices grew out of Ms. Merchant's desire to introduce her daughter, Lucia, now age 7, to music and verse that would engage her imagination and hone her language skills. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704009804575309183533157688.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago's 'Pioneers of the Past' exhibition, on through Aug. 29, asks: Who owns the past? The display of artifacts, letters and photographs commemorates founder James Henry Breasted's first expedition to Egypt and what are now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Ownership is just one of the contentious issues raised in the exhibition, which, having set the mind spinning, then ends on a subdued note with an overview of the sites Breasted recommended the Institute should excavate. This acts as an invitation to walk through the rest of the museum—where the show's final insight comes clear. In one gallery, colossal stone reliefs feature courtiers with flowing robes and a winged creature with the body of a bull and the head of a man. These once decorated palace walls in Khorsabad, one of five power centers on Breasted's list. Elsewhere, cases brim with more humble objects—tools, amulets, seals, terracotta figurines—valued by later scholars because they shed light on village life, agriculture and animal domestication. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703561604575282343365922152.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

Word unit palindromes occur when the words rather than the letters form the same sentence backward and forward, such as the sentence "I did, did I?" This example is a character-by-character palindrome and also a sentence palindrome, as the individual letters are the same backward and forward as well as the words
A line-unit palindrome is one in which the lines read the same from the top down as they do from the bottom up. Click this link to read an example of a line-unit palindrome poem, Doppelganger, by James A. Lindon.
Sentence palindromes occur when the words in a sentence read the same backward and forward. These are also called reversible sentences. Punctuation and word spacing is ignored when creating a sentence palindrome
http://research-writing-techniques.suite101.com/article.cfm/palindrome-examples-lists-and-facts-in-poetry-and-prose

Palindromes from a muse reader: Borrow or rob? Air an aria. A Toyota! Race fast, safe car! solos, rotor, radar, put up, refer, pull up, race car

Monday, June 21, 2010

The United States embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960. It was enacted after Cuba nationalized the properties of United States citizens and corporations and it was strengthened to a near-total embargo since February 7, 1962. Entitled the Cuban Democracy Act, the embargo was codified into law in 1992 with the stated purpose of maintaining sanctions on Cuba so long as the Cuban government continues to refuse to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights". In 1996, Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act, which further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government are met. In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton expanded the trade embargo even further by ending the practice of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies trading with Cuba. In 2000, Clinton authorized the sale of certain "humanitarian" US products to Cuba. At present, the embargo, which limits American businesses from conducting business with Cuban interests, is still in effect and is the most enduring trade embargo in modern history. Despite the existence of the embargo, the United States is the fifth largest exporter to Cuba (6.6% of Cuba's imports are from the US). However, Cuba must pay cash for all imports, as credit is not allowed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba

Twitter's Entire Archive Headed to the Library of Congress
When the Library of Congress was founded in the year 1800, publishing was very expensive and relatively few people did it. Today, thanks to blogs, YouTube, Facebook and certainly Twitter it's a new world. Publishing is far faster, easier and more accessible today than at any point in human history. Will the archive include friend/follower connection data? Will it be usable for commercial purposes? Will there be a Web interface for searching it, and will that change the face of Twitter search for good? Is there any way that the much larger archive of Facebook data could be submitted to the same body for analysis of the same kind? These kinds of large data sets are poised to become one of the most important resources the Internet creates. As Kenneth Cukier wrote in The Economist's recent Special Report on Big Data, "Data are becoming the new raw material of business: an economic input almost on a par with capital and labour."
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitters_entire_archive_headed_to_the_library_of_c.php

A company called Audioanamix has devised a solution to a gripe dogging the World Cup matches by silencing the buzzing drone of the vuvuzela horns commonly played by fans at African soccer matches. Audionamix is providing the drone relief to French pay television broadcaster Current+, and says it will do the same for any other broadcaster who wants it over the next month or so of the tournament. Like many innovations, Audionamix Vuvuzela Remover was invented to solve a problem for its inventor. Olivier Attia, the CEO of the Paris-based Audionamix, said his crew didn’t like the way the vuvuzela overwhelmed other crowd noise — the oohs, aahs and coordinated songs that usually permeate soccer matches. Lucky for them, the company makes software for separating source audio into distinct elements to help integrate music into film scores (somewhat similarly to the Melodyne Direct Note Access ).
“We were watching the World Cup with the rest of the world, and found our enjoyment of the experience hindered by the loud drone created by the blowing of thousands of the vuvuzelas,” said Attia in a statement. “Our Audionamix engineers immediately went into to the lab and emerged 48 hours later with a solution that removes the higher frequencies created by the festive instrument.” Vuvuzela Remover can strip just about every auditory trace of the controversial plastic horns, which produce a low B-flat tone at about 230 KHz with minor variations that occasionally make one stand out from the others.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/world-cup-broadcasters-vuvuzela-horns/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

During the Yankees game against the Phillies June 15, Anthony Zachariadis tooted on his vuvuzela, only to have it confiscated by security, the New York Post reported. When security came to seize the excruciatingly loud plastic horn (the sound of which has been ear-splittingly ubiquitous during World Cup matches), fans in the bleachers responded with boos, according to the Post. Zachariadis eventually agreed to leave in exchange for the horn. “I blew on it only five or six times - for big plays,” he told the Post. Regardless of his restraint, “blow horns and all other distracting noisemakers” are prohibited, according to stadium rules, listed on the team’s website. No word on whether Citi Field, which allows iPads, also has an open-door policy for vuvuzelas.) http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/06/17/yankees-ban-vuvuzelas/

Q: I've read that Bellefontaine, Ohio has the shortest street in the world.
A: That's what folks claim about McKinley Street, only 30 feet long, named after Ohio-born President William McKinley. Although Elgin Street in Bacup, Lancs, Great Britain, runs only 17 feet, Bellefontainers point out it is not open to motorized traffic. But you can drive on McKinley Street all the way from Columbus Avenue to Garfield Avenue, and back. -- Ohio Historical Society. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062110.asp?d=062110,2010,Jun,21&c=c_13

A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the apparent movement of the Sun's path north or south comes to a stop before reversing direction. The term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the date (day) when this occurs. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some cultures they are considered to start or separate the seasons, while in others they fall nearer the middle. See table of UTC date and time of solstices and equinoxes, 2004-2017 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice

In pictures: Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/front_page/newsid_8750000/8750983.stm

Friday, June 18, 2010

A Netherlands court sentenced five Somali men June 16 to five years each in prison for trying to hijack a Dutch Antilles-flagged ship last year, the first ruling of its kind in Europe as the continent moves to crackdown on East African offshore piracy. The men were the first to go to trial in a European court on charges of piracy in the waters off East Africa, which has been a beehive in recent years for hijacking-for-ransom incidents against oil tankers and other cargo vessels. The ships traveling through that region often hail from European states, whose governments have come under pressure from the shipping industry to do more to combat the piracy, which is almost always committed by men from the poor and lawless state of Somalia. The ruling comes after another Dutch court earlier this month approved the extradition to Hamburg, Germany, of 10 other Somali men suspected of piracy. Prosecutors there are expected to charge them with hijacking a German container ship in April. Somali men accused of piracy are also awaiting trial in France and Spain.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312540079746542.html?mod=fox_australian

The address is no longer 500 Pearl. For now, at least for town cars, it’s 200 Worth Street. Shortly after 9/11, new security measures were enacted in the area surrounding the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, which happens to be a short walk from Ground Zero. One new measure shut down Park Row, a street that runs behind the Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse and underneath the plaza adjacent New York’s police headquarters. The move served as a source of consternation not only to Chinatown-area residents nearby, but to others searching for the courthouse itself. There’s been no alternative address for drivers to feed into their GPS mapping system, until now. In a concession to the information age, the Southern District has given the courthouse a second street address, so the town cars can easily drop off their fares on Worth Street, which isn’t closed for security reasons. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/06/16/news-you-can-use-manhattan-federal-court-gets-a-new-address/?mod=djemlawblog_h

Follow-up on palindromes and semordnilap/reversgrams/heteropalindromes
"Now won" is both a palindrome and a reversgram. See list of reversgrams at:
http://www.quote-puzzler.com/info/heteropalindromes5.asp

Making a name for yourself can be a tall order for a new attorney, but last summer Philadelphia personal injury lawyer Justin Bieber faced a different problem. The recent graduate of Widener Law School was just embarking on a marketing campaign to drum up work when Justin Bieber, the Canadian teen heartthrob, became a singing sensation. It wasn’t long before Attorney Bieber was inundated with traffic that was, shall we say, not client-related. “I started getting 50 to 60 friend requests a week on Facebook, and all of these messages that said, ‘I love you’ or ‘I love it when you sing’ or ‘You’re not Justin Bieber,’ ” he said. So what’s a personal injury lawyer to do? His marketing advisers suggested he start going by his middle name, “Matte,” but Bieber balked at the idea. He’d been going by Justin since before teen Bieber had been born. So they went with Justin Matte Bieber instead. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/06/16/attorney-has-name-to-make-u-smile/?mod=djemlawblog_h

Ambigrams are exercises in graphic design that play with optical illusions, symmetry and visual perception. Some ambigrams feature a relationship between their form and their content Ambigrams have been referred to by other terms, including: 'vertical palindromes' (1965), 'designatures' (1979), and 'inversions' (1980) and by the brand name 'FlipScript'. There are no universal guidelines for creating ambigrams, and there are different ways of approaching problems. A number of books suggest methods for creation (including WordPlay and Eye Twisters ). Computerized methods to automatically create ambigrams have been developed. The earliest, the 'Ambimatic' created in 1996, was letter-based and used a database of 351 letter glyphs in which each letter was mapped to another In 2007, the 'Glyphusion generator', was developed. It uses a database of more than 200,000 parts of letters, and has two lettering styles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram

In this season of toss it-on-the-grill, get a char and finish cooking fast, there's a basic rule of thumb that's good to remember. The slower you cook proteins the more juiciness, tenderness and flavor you get. So sear over high heat, but cook low and slow, whether it's a steak, a piece of fish, or an egg.
The Splendid Table June 2010

Words related to weather
aeolian or eolian (ee-O-lee-uhn) adjective
Relating to or caused by the wind. After Aeolus, god of the winds in Greek mythology. As keeper of the winds, he gave a bag containing winds to help with Odysseus's sailing.
virga (VUHR-guh) noun
Rain or snow that evaporates before hitting the ground. From Latin virga (rod, streak).
El Niño or El Nino (el NEEN-yo) noun
A weather phenomenon characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. From Spanish El Niño, literally "The Boy Child", referring to Baby Jesus as El Niño phenomenon is noticed near Christmas. El Niño, which occurs every three to seven years, is marked by warm sea surface temperature along the coast of Ecuador and Peru in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Its effects on weather are observed around the globe. A counter part is La Niña "The Girl Child" in which unusually cold ocean temperatures are observed in the Equatorial Pacific.
pluvial (PLOO-vee-uhl) adjective
Of or relating to rain, especially much rain. From Latin pluvia (rain), from pluere (to rain). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pleu- (to flow), that is also the source of flow, float, flit, fly, flutter, pulmonary, and pneumonia. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Ben Huh, a 32-year-old entrepreneur, first became aware of I Can Has Cheezburger, which pairs photos of cats with quirky captions, after it linked to his own pet blog. His site immediately crumbled under the resulting wave of visitors. Sensing an Internet phenomenon, Mr. Huh solicited financing from investors and forked over $10,000 of his own savings to buy the Web site from the two Hawaiian bloggers who started it. Traffic to the Cheezburger blog has ballooned over the last three years, encouraging Mr. Huh to expand his unlikely Web empire to include 53 sites, all fueled by submissions from readers. In May, what is now known as the Cheezburger Network attracted a record 16 million unique visitors, according to the Web analytics firm Quantcast. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/technology/internet/14burger.html?src=busln

A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words is generally permitted). Composing literature in palindromes is an example of constrained writing. The word "palindrome" was coined from Greek roots pálin (πάλιν; "again") and drómos (δρóμος; "way, direction") by English writer Ben Jonson in the 1600s. The actual Greek phrase to describe the phenomenon is karkinikê epigrafê (καρκινική επιγραφή; crab inscription), or simply karkiniêoi (καρκινιήοι; crabs), alluding to the backward movement of crabs, like an inscription which can be read backwards. Semordnilap is a name coined for a word or phrase that spells a different word or phrase backwards. "Semordnilap" is itself "palindromes" spelled backwards. According to author O.V. Michaelsen, it was probably coined by logologist Dmitri A. Borgmann and appeared in Oddities and Curiosities, annotated by Martin Gardner, 1961. Semordnilaps are also known as volvograms, heteropalindromes, semi-palindromes, half-palindromes, reversgrams, mynoretehs, reversible anagrams, word reversals, or anadromes. They have also sometimes been called antigrams, though this term now usually refers to anagrams with opposing meanings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; for instance, orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place. Anagrams are connected to pseudonyms, by the fact that they may conceal or reveal, or operate somewhere in between like a mask that can establish identity. For example, Jim Morrison used an anagram of his name in the Doors song L.A. Woman, calling himself "Mr. Mojo Risin' ". The use of anagrams and fabricated personal names may be to circumvent restrictions on the use of real names, as happened in the 18th century when Edward Cave wanted to get around restrictions imposed on the reporting of the House of Commons. In a genre such as farce or parody, anagrams as names may be used for pointed and satiric effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagram

Examples of word play
palindromes: civic, level
semordnilap/reversgrams/anadromes: dog, god
anagrams: Amy, yam, may

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are some of the largest in the world. The Victoria Falls are some of the most famous, considered by some to be among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European recorded to view the Victoria Falls - which he did from what is now known as 'Livingstone Island' in Zambia, the only land accessible in the middle of the falls. David Livingstone gave the falls the name 'Victoria Falls' in honour of his Queen, but the indigenous name of 'Mosi-oa-Tunya' - literally meaning the 'Smoke that Thunders' - is also well known. The World Heritage List recognises both names. While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 meters (360 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. See pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls

The structure of persons' names has varied across time and geography. In some communities, individuals have been mononymous, that is, each person has received only a single name. This contrasted with the custom among the Romans, who by the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era used multiple names: a male citizen's name comprised three parts, praenomen (given name), nomen (clan name) and cognomen (family line within the clan) — the nomen and cognomen being virtually always hereditary. Post-antiquity most of them are, however, mononymous in most contexts: Cicero, Pompey, Virgil; and the same goes for the Greeks: Euripides, Xenophon, Aristotle. Some French authors have shown a predilection for mononyms. In the 17th century, the dramatist and actor Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622–73) adopted the mononym stage name "Molière". In the 18th century, François-Marie Arouet adopted the mononym "Voltaire", for both literary and personal use, in 1718 after his incarceration in Paris' Bastille, to mark a break with his past. The new name combined several features. It was an anagram for a Latinized version of his family surname, "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]"; it reversed the syllables of the name of a family château, "Airvault"; and it conveyed connotations of speed and daring through resonance with such French expressions as "voltige", "volte-face" and "volatile". "Arouet", by contrast, could not serve the purposes of the developing societal gadfly, given that name's associations with "roué" and with an expression that meant "for thrashing." The 19th-century French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle used many pen names, most famously the mononym "Stendhal", adapted from the name of the little Prussian town of Stendal, birthplace of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal greatly admired. In the 20th century, a fourth French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (author of Gigi, 1945), used her authentic surname as her mononymous pen name, "Colette".
The modern Russian artist Erté formed his mononymous pseudonym from the initials of his actual name, as did the Belgian comics writer Hergé. Modern monomyms include: Madonna, Cher Prince, Beyoncé, Pelé, and Christo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononymous_person

An octothorp is a typographic symbol having two vertical lines intersected by two horizontal lines. It is also called the crosshatch, hash, numeral sign and number sign; in the U. S. it is commonly called the pound sign, especially to designate the symbol as used on digital telephone dials, but this can be confusing to Europeans who think of the pound sign as the symbol for the British pound. It is commonly used as a symbol for the word number; as in #36 (meaning: number thirty-six). http://www.thefreedictionary.com/octothorp

Number prefixes are prefixes derived from numbers or numerals. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as unicycle - bicycle - tricycle, dyad - triad - tetrad, biped - quadruped, September - October - November, decimal - hexadecimal, sexagenarian - octogenarian, centipede - millipede, etc. There are two principal systems, taken from Latin and Greek, each with several subsystems; in addition, Sanskrit occupies a marginal position. There is also an international set of SI prefixes, which are used in the metric system, and which for the most part are either distorted from the forms below or not based on actual number words. See table of number prefixes from Greek, Latin and Sanskrit divided into cardinal, multiple, distributive and ordinal categories at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_prefix

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Under the new Federal Reserve Board rules announced June 15, credit card issuing banks have been asked to charge a late fee, no more than $25 for one-time offenders and not more than $35 for recurrent transgressors. At present, the late fee, on average, is $38. According to the data available with the government authorities, the late payment charges account for a tenth of the revenue of credit card issuers http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20100616/credit-card-users-get-protection-id-10117814.html

U.S. Military Identifies Vast Untapped Stores of Critical Mineral Deposits in Afghanistan
Follow up to previous postings on Afghanistan, the New York Times reports, "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. The previously unknown deposits—including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium—are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe. An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html

In the 19th century, the Shakers called their settlement west of Lebanon, Ohio Union Village. Shakers, true to their communal lifestyle, cut the lumber and fired the bricks for Bethany Hall and built it from 1840 to ’44. t was thought to be the largest brick building in Ohio at the time. Today, there’s not much time left for the 166-year-old building, which will soon come down for a $3million fitness and community center for Otterbein Retirement Living Communities, owner of 1,600 acres of the old Shaker village that once was 4,500 acres. There’s virtually no hope of saving this link to the Union villagers who imported the first Merino sheep from Italy, bred the Poland China pig, invented clothespins and created evaporated milk.http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/23/shaker-towns-landmark-hall-to-come-down.html

Charles Warren Fairbanks (May 11, 1852 – June 4, 1918) was a Senator from Indiana and the 26th Vice President of the United States. Born in a log cabin near Unionville Center, Ohio, Fairbanks's ancestry traced back to Puritan followers of Oliver Cromwell, with Jonathan Fayerbankes the first family member to reach America in 1632. After attending country schools and working on a farm, Fairbanks attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1872. While there, Fairbanks was co-editor of the school newspaper with Cornelia Cole, whom he married after both graduated from the school. Fairbanks, Alaska is named after Charles W. Fairbanks. He was elected Vice President of the United States in 1904 on the Republican ticket with Theodore Roosevelt and served all four years. Fairbanks sought the Republican nomination for President but Roosevelt (who chose to not seek reelection) supported William Howard Taft as his potential successor in 1908, sending Fairbanks back to the practice of law. In 1912, Fairbanks supported Taft's re-election against Roosevelt's Bull Moose candidacy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Fairbanks

We need protein in our diets. More specifically, each of us needs amino acids in a specific ratio to each other. Our bodies can make about half of the needed amino acids given proper starting materials including a source of nitrogen (such as other amino acids). There are eight amino acids we can’t make, so they must be present in our diets in a specific ratio to each other. These eight are collectively known as the essential amino acids and include: valine, leucine, isoleucine, the sulfur-containing amino acids: methionine and cysteine, the aromatic amino acids: phenylalanine and tyrosine, tryptophan, threonine, and lysine. Our bodies use amino acids in a specific ratio to each other, so if a person doesn’t get enough of one of them to match with the rest, the rest can only be used at a level to balance with that low one. Most of these amino acids are fairly easy to get in a reasonably well-balanced diet. However, there are three that are a little harder to get than the rest, thus it is important to make sure you’re getting enough of these three. These three are called limiting amino acids, because if a person’s diet is deficient in one of them, this will limit the usefulness of the others, even if those others are present in otherwise large enough quantities. The three limiting amino acids include the sulfur-containing ones (methionine and cysteine), tryptophan, and lysine. http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/compprot.htm

Wreak or wreck
Both words have similar origins, but in modern usage they are pronounced differently and have different meanings.
wreak [reek] v. to bring about, inflict, as in wreak havoc, wreak vengeance
wreck [reck] v. to cause ruin or damage
wreck [reck] n. something that has been ruined
The Old English verb wrecan meant “to drive, drive out, avenge.” Old Norse had a similar word. In Anglo-French these words evolved into a noun, wrec meaning “goods cast ashore after a shipwreck, flotsam.” The word reckless has a different origin. The Old English word reccan (past tense rohte) meant “to care, to trouble about, heed.” From it came a noun, rece meaning “care.” A reckless person doesn’t care what happens. The word reckon comes from another OE verb spelled reccan (past tense reahte). This one meant “to expound, relate.” One still talks about “reckoning accounts,” or, in a metaphorical sense, “the Final Reckoning.”
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/wreck-wreak-and-other-rek-words/

Quote "Life gets better the older you grow, until you grow too old of course."
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
http://www.listology.com/list/quotes-written-my-2005-journal

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Have Google deliver the latest articles directly to your e-mail. Create your own alert by typing a topic, pick the sources you want to draw from, and the frequency and number of results you want. http://www.google.com/alerts

You've got e-mail problems by Bill Husted
Learn how to use the "save as a draft" feature in your e-mail. Instead of sending a heated e-mail right away, always save it as a draft and let the e-mail cool for 30 minutes to an hour before serving. Just this one tip can prevent most e-mail problems. The cooling-off period gives you time to reconsider angry or stupid words typed in haste. There's nothing like the Internet for turning mild-mannered and polite folks into berserk beasts. In almost every case - e-mails sent in anger turn bad situations into total disasters. I've worked at places where people sitting a few feet apart routinely communicated by e-mail. A simple question or directive often required three or four e-mails sent back and forth. E-mail is easy and fast, a lazy way of handling things. But the old-fashioned telephone is often the best choice if you're trying to clear up a problem with a merchant or get an answer for work. I have friends who forward pages of bad jokes . I've also received the electronic equivalent of the old chain letter that promises riches if I send it on to 10 or so friends . And - like you - I have received e-mails that offend me. Maybe, like you, I'm usually too polite to complain. But e-mails like this chip away at friendships. Don't assume I crave bad jokes or want to suffer through e-mails with extreme political or religious ideas. The best idea is to avoid sending this stuff entirely. But if you just can't help yourself, ask the recipients first if they have the time and inclination for junk like this.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/the-most-helpful-e-mail-tool-your-head-742505.html?printArticle=y

YouTube Play, which launched June 14, is a partnership between the video site and the Guggenheim. It invites users to submit their short creative videos at http://youtube.com/play. The top 20, chosen by a jury of professional artists, will be on view this fall at Guggenheim museums around the world. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/14/AR2010061405222.html

Jimmy Dean, who died June 13 at his home in Henrico County, Va., at age 81, may be better known by some today as "the sausage king" of TV commercial fame than a hit-making country music star and one-time TV show host who helped bring country music into the mainstream in the 1960s. The Texas-born entertainer and businessman, who began his recording career in the 1950s, scored a No. 1 hit on both the country and pop singles charts in 1961 with his spoken-narrative song about a coal miner — "a giant of a man" — who saves fellow workers from "a would-be grave" after their mine collapses. "Big Bad John," which Dean said he wrote in an hour and a half on a flight from New York to Tennessee, earned a Grammy Award for best country and western recording. Dean was born Aug. 10, 1928, in Olton, Texas, and grew up in Plainview. He and his brother Don were raised on a farm by their mother after their father left when Dean was still a child. They were so poor, he once said, he wore shirts that his mother made out of sugar sacks. Poverty, Dean told the Times-Dispatch, "was the greatest motivating factor in my life." He began singing early on, and his mother taught him to play his first chord on the piano when he was 10. He later taught himself to play the harmonica, guitar and accordion. See obituary and picture at: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jimmy-dean-20100615,0,948588.story

The origin of football / soccer can be found in every corner of geography and history. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Viking, and many more played a ball game long before our era. The Chinese played "football" games date as far back as 3000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and the Roman used football games to sharpen warriors for battle. In South and Central America a game called "Tlatchi" once flourished. But it was in England that soccer / football really begin to take shape. It all started in 1863 in England, when two football association (association football and rugby football) split off on their different course. Therefore, the first Football Association was founded in England. After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. When Scotland played England in Glasgow on 30 November 1872, the Scottish FA did not even exist - it was not founded for another three months. The team England played that day was actually the oldest Scottish club team, Queen's Park. The international football community grew steadily, although it sometimes met with obstacles and setbacks. In 1912, 21 national associations were already affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). http://www.all-soccer-info.com/

Football was introduced to North America in Canada by the British Army garrison in Montreal, which played a series of games with McGill University. In 1874, USA's Harvard hosted Canada's McGill University to play the new game derived from Rugby football in a home and home series. For the many differences in rules between U.S. and Canadian teams, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_Canadian_football

A recently discovered comet is surprising skywatchers by becoming brighter than predictions had first suggested and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks. Comet McNaught, officially catalogued as C/2009 R1, was discovered by Australian astronomer Robert McNaught last September using the using the 0.5-meter Uppsala Schmidt telescope and a CCD camera. It's the 51st comet that bears McNaught's name. Comet McNaught is expected to pass closest to the sun (perihelion) on July 2, at a distance of 37 million miles (60 million km). http://www.space.com/spacewatch/new-comet-mcnaught-visible-100608.html

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Joel Mabus Subject: words that sound plural
I offer up my favorite word that sounds plural, but is both plural and singular. It is the tiny, often bothersome, insect named thrips. Because thrips usually appear in large numbers, the plural usage often applies. (As in "Oh, no! I've got thrips in my greenhouse!) But many a gardener will insist on calling an individual a "thrip" (as in "How do I kill a thrip?") But the declension is, properly, one thrips, two thrips, or a whole mess of thrips.
From: Robert Payne Subject: Words that appear plural but aren't
In my travels (such as they are), the singular term most often mistaken for plural is "Homo sapiens", the Latin species name for modern humans. This tendency to mistake the term as plural is perhaps exemplified by Pete Shelley's 1981 song Homosapien ("And I'm homosapien like you/And we're homosapien too"). In Latin, "Homo sapiens" means "wise man"
From: John D. Laskowski Subject: Taxes and tropisms
As a biologist I've always loved examples of taxis and tropism. For all of you who are plagued with various insects that "crowd around" at your house in the fall (Marmorated Stink Bugs, Ladybird Beetles, and Box Elder Beetles) -- they all utilize thigmotaxis where they tend to "hug" each other. In plants a similar situation occurs with the tropism of many vines to "hug" a surface as they climb upward in their growth aspect. Surprisingly, some "hug" clockwise and others counterclockwise as they twine upward! Look for these in your enjoyment of nature's never-ending amazing displays of behavior.

Monday, June 14, 2010

News release: "The U.S. Census Bureau has released population estimates as of July 1, 2009, for the nation, each state and the District of Columbia by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin. The new estimates are not 2010 Census population counts. Rather, they are based on 2000 Census data and updated by using administrative records to estimate components of population change — namely births, deaths, and domestic and international migration. Annual estimates for the 2000 to 2009 period are provided. These are the last state estimates to use 2000 Census results as a base. The 2011 population estimates will be the first in the estimates series to be based on the 2010 Census population counts."

A treasure trove of 75 long-lost US silent movies has been unearthed in New Zealand, including an early feature film by legendary Oscar-winning director John Ford, officials said June 8. No copies of the films - dating from as early as 1898 through to the 1920s - remain in the United States. The films will be returned to the US National Film Preservation Foundation for preservation after being unearthed in the New Zealand Film Archive, New Zealand Arts Minister Chris Finlayson said. The films will be preserved over the next three years for access through major American silent film archives and copies will be returned to New Zealand.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/lost-us-silent-film-treasures-uncovered-in-new-zealand-1998493.html

A New Zealand man carrying a backpack containing Tupperware containers has been told to stop coming to services arranged by a Wellington funeral home. Funeral directors say serial funeral-goers and fake mourners are not uncommon. They are often lonely, elderly people who attend, seeking company and a cup of tea. He attended up to four funerals a week over a period of about two months, http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/06/03/1248094f0d1b

Things We Call By Brand Name Rather Than What They Actually Are
1. Kleenex
2. Chapstick
3. Q-tips
4. Band-Aid
5. Tupperware
6. Rollerblades
7. Photoshopped
See other lists at: http://www.vita.mn/list_detail.php?d=all_resps&list_id=1080

Humans have long been fascinated by stories of supernatural creatures. Ancient mythologies, Shakespeare, Gothic literature, and folklore from around the globe are full of them. The vampire fad is nothing new—the female vamp novella Carmilla, first published in 1872, predates the original Dracula by twenty-five years (though its author, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, doesn’t have quite the name recognition of Bram Stoker). Werewolves have been prowling around in some form or other since the ancient Mesopotamian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, and they’re still hot stuff. If you’re bored with the current trends in supernatural fiction—from angels to zombies—have heart. There are plenty of lesser-known fantastical beings waiting to hit the big time. Consider the following, culled from one of my favorite reference books, the two-volume Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend:
• Cluricane (Celtic): A solitary elf who excels at finding hidden treasure, draining wine casks, and riding sheep dogs for fun;
• Dugong (Islam): Herbivorous aquatic man whose tears are believed to be a strong love charm;
• Garboncias (Hungary): A supernatural being, born with all his teeth or extra fingers, who carries a black book and begs for milk;
• Kappa (Japan): A river demon with the body of a tortoise, the limbs of a frog, and the head of a monkey, who can be appeased by cucumbers;
• Krum-ku-dart-boneit (Australia): Evil spirits who wake men at night, take control of their bodies, and force them to hop until they die of exhaustion;
• La Llorona (Mexican/American): The ghostly weeping mother of lost children, with the face of a horse and long, shiny, metallic fingernails;
• Ludki (Serbia): Dwarfs who left Serbia when Christianity arrived because they couldn’t stand the sound of church bells;
• Mora (Slavic): A person possessing two souls, who could often be identified by his/her bushy uni-brow;
• Polong (Malay): A demon “about as big as the first joint of a little finger,” who has a cricket as a pet;
• Seng-don-ma (Tibet): A woman, often with the face of a lion, who stamps out human ignorance;
• Yama-otoko (Japan): Wild men who keep company with human-headed she-wolves; and
• Zupay (Spanish South American): A forest spirit who takes the form of a satyr or handsome young man in order to seduce women. The-Writing-Bug June 7, 2010

Q. Can we control Lake Erie's water level?
A. No. One myth has it that a dam on the Niagara River controls the level. But about 80 percent of Lake Erie's water comes through the Detroit River. So, the water level is determined primarily by rain and snow in the five states and two Canadian provinces that drain into the Upper Great Lakes, and by evaporation. Long-term changes in the lake's level occur when changes in precipitation and evaporation last at least several years. They can range from five to six feet. For example, from 1973 to 1997, normal to above-normal precipitation increased the inflow to Lake Erie, and the lake was above normal for most of this period. But last month, the Army Corps of Engineers said the five lakes' levels are down from last year, resuming a low-water trend that lasted from 1998 to 2008. Less water is bad for commercial shippers, who cannot haul full loads of cargo when levels are down. It also can affect waterfront homeowners, marina operators and others who depend on recreational boating. Normally, Lake Erie's level peaks in early summer, then declines during the summer and fall. The difference between mid-summer high and mid-winter low is typically about 1.5 feet. The Great Lakes Information Network provides up-to-date information on water levels at: www.great-lakes.net/envt/water/levels/levels_current.html. -- Ohio Department of Natural Resources, The Detroit News/AP. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jun/JU/ar_JU_061410.asp?d=061410,2010,Jun,14&c=c_13

Friday, June 11, 2010

In a leaked memo obtained by theawl.com, New York Times standards editor Phil Corbett sets out his reasons for not using "tweet." "Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, 'tweet' has not yet achieved the status of standard English. And standard English is what we should use in news articles." "Except for special effect, we try to avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and jargon. And 'tweet' - as a noun or a verb, referring to messages on Twitter - is all three. Yet it has appeared 18 times in articles in the past month, in a range of sections." "Of course, new technology terms sprout and spread faster than ever. And we don't want to seem paleolithic. But we favor established usage and ordinary words over the latest jargon or buzzwords." http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/maggieshiels/2010/06/to_tweet_or_not_to_tweet.html

If The New York Times ever strikes you as an abstruse glut of antediluvian perorations, if the newspaper’s profligacy of neologisms and shibboleths ever set off apoplectic paroxysms in you, if it all seems a bit recondite, here’s a reason to be sanguine: The Times has great data on the words that send readers in search of a dictionary. As you may know, highlighting a word or passage on the Times website calls up a question mark that users can click for a definition and other reference material. It turns out the Times tracks usage of that feature, and deputy news editor Philip Corbett, who oversees the Times style manual, offered reporters a fascinating glimpse into the 50 most frequently looked-up words on nytimes.com in 2009. We obtained the memo and accompanying chart, which offer a nice lesson in how news sites can improve their journalism by studying user behavior. See at: http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/ny-times-mines-its-data-to-identify-words-that-readers-find-abstruse/

Full Report - Beige Book, June 9, 2010 - Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District, and link to reports by Districts: "Economic activity continued to improve since the last report across all twelve Federal Reserve Districts, although many Districts described the pace of growth as "modest." Consumer spending and tourism activity generally increased. Business spending also rose, on net, with employment and capital spending edging up but inventory investment slowing. By sector, non financial services, manufacturing, and transportation continued to gradually improve. Residential real estate activity in many Districts was buoyed by the April deadline for the homebuyer tax credit. Commercial real estate remained weak, although some Districts reported an increase in leasing. Financial activity was little changed on balance, although a few Districts noted a modest increase in lending. Spring planting was generally ahead of the normal pace, while conditions in the natural resource sectors varied across the Districts. Prices of final goods and services were largely stable as higher input costs were not being passed along to customers and wage pressures continued to be minimal."

Dept. of Energy and EPA's 2010 Fuel Economy Guide
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) produce the Fuel Economy Guide to help car buyers choose the most fuel efficient vehicle that meets their needs. This Guide provides annual fuel cost estimates for each vehicle. The estimates are based on the assumptions that you travel 15,000 miles per year (55% under city driving conditions and 45% under highway conditions) and that fuel costs $2.73/gallon for regular unleaded gasoline and $2.98/gallon for premium. Cost-per gallon assumptions for vehicles that use other fuel types are discussed at the beginning of those vehicle sections."

Words that appear plural but aren't
A recent newspaper report about a baseball player read: "Swisher is against resting his injured left bicep." Of course, the word is "biceps" (plural is biceps or bicepes), but the writer of the above sentence can be forgiven for assuming the word biceps to be a plural and forming the word "bicep". It happens all the time in the evolution of a language. That's how we got the word pea from the former singular pease ("Pease porridge hot..."), sherry from sherris, and cherry from
cherise.
shambles (SHAM-buhls) noun
1. A state of great disorder.
2. A scene of carnage.
3. A slaughterhouse.
From oak to acorn, from a little piece of furniture to a slaughterhouse. The word known today as shambles started out as scamnum (stool, bench). Over time the word's sense evolved to "a vendor's table", more specifically, a butcher's table. Eventually, the word came to be applied to a meat market or a slaughterhouse. From the state of disarray of such a place, today we use the word metaphorically to denote a place of complete disorder.
kudos (KOO-doz, -dos, KYOO-) noun
Praise, honor, or credit.
From Greek kydos (praise, renown). The word kudos is a relatively recent addition to the English language. It entered the language as university slang in Britain, in the early 19th century. It's a singular word, in Greek and in English, but its plural-like appearance prompted some to coin a singular form by dropping the letter s. Many dictionaries (including the OED) now list the word kudo, though marked with an "erroneous" stamp. If the current trends are any indication, chances are over time kudo will drop the black mark on its reputation and become a well-respected word in the language, just as no one today objects to using the word pea (instead of pease) or cherry (instead of cherise). A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Cambridge aims to become the world’s library with new rare books collection digitization plan News release: "Cambridge University Library has announced visionary plans to become a digital library for the world - following a £1.5m lead gift pledged by Dr. Leonard Polonsky. Home to more than seven million books and some of the greatest collections in existence, including those of Newton and Darwin, the Library will begin digitising its priceless treasures to launch its Digital Library for the 21st Century. University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: "Our library contains evidence of some of the greatest ideas and discoveries over two millennia. We want to make it accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a thirst for knowledge. This will not only make our collections available to the world; it will also initiate a global conversation about them...The first collections to be digitised will be entitled The Foundations of Faith and The Foundations of Science. The goal for both is that they become 'living libraries' with the capacity to grow and evolve."

Youngest known planet outside our solar system discovered
Probably only a few million years young, Beta Pictoris b is already fully formed, despite standard models that say such a planet should take ten million years to reach "adulthood," researchers say. The planet breaks the record once held by the planet BD 20 1790b, which clocked in at 35 million years old. The new planet is also nearer to its parent star than any other known planet outside our solar system—about as close as Saturn is to our sun. Located about 63.4 light-years from Earth, that star, named simply Beta Pictoris, is similar to our own star. And like Beta Pictoris b, Beta Pictoris is relatively young—about 12 million years old, compared with the sun's 4.5 billion years. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100610-youngest-planet-exoplanet-space-science/

Heavy rains from tropical storm Agatha likely triggered the collapse of a huge sinkhole in Guatemala on June 6. In the strictly geologic use of the word, a sinkhole happens when water erodes solid bedrock, carving an underground cavity that can then collapse. Many parts of the United States are at risk for that type of event. The Guatemala sinkhole fits into a broader use of the term, which refers to any sudden slump of the ground's surface. Instead of solid bedrock, much of Guatemala City rests atop a layer of loose, gravelly volcanic pumice that is hundreds of feet thick. And at least one geologist says leaking pipes—not nature—created the recent sinkhole. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100604-sinkhole-pictures-around-the-world-guatemala-city/#sinkholes-holes-ground-2010-guatemala-city_21283_600x450.jpg

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The 2010 Global Peace Index (GPI), which examines crime rates, defense spending and respect for human rights in countries across the globe, has ranked New Zealand as the most peaceful nation in the world, while Iraq has earned the dubious distinction of being the most violent country in 2009. In the index compiled by the Australia-based Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) and the Economist Intelligence Unit, New Zealand has taken the top ranking among 149 countries for the second year in a row. Iceland, Japan, Austria and Norway follow New Zealand to take the top five positions. The United States was ranked 85th. http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=1328955

Q: I found a seedling in my front yard with a buckeye attached to the stem. The shiny nut was beautiful. But I don't know if it's really a buckeye or a horse chestnut.
A: The Ohio buckeye, aesculus glabra, is a slow-growing, round-headed tree that grows up to 50 feet high. Each leaf generally has five leaflets and its nuts are not edible. The horse chestnut, aesculus hippocastanum, is similar to Ohio buckeye but is not quite as hardy and does not grow as tall. Its leaves are usually divided into seven leaflets and its nuts are not edible. The American chestnut, castanea dentata, is a more upright tree with a fairly straight trunk when young. With age it develops a broad, rounded, dense crown. Each fruit has two or three edible chestnuts. -- Martha Esbin, "Librarian's Muse."
Q: Are detailed minutes required to be taken at a public meeting in Ohio?
A: A public body must keep full and accurate minutes of its meetings, but those minutes do not have to be an exact transcript of every word said. Minutes must be promptly prepared, filed and made available for public inspection. -- Ohio Attorney General. The Courier June 1, 2010

On Tuesday, June 8, G.M. sent a memo to Chevrolet employees at its Detroit headquarters, promoting the importance of “consistency” for the brand, which was the nation’s best-selling line of cars and trucks for more than half a century after World War II. And one way to present a consistent brand message, the memo suggested, is to stop saying “Chevy,” though the word is one of the world’s best-known, longest-lived product nicknames. As of Wednesday night, the word Chevy appeared dozens of times on Chevrolet’s Web site, chevrolet.com, including a banner on the home page that said, “Over 1,000 people a day switch to Chevy.” One of the dropdown menus was “Experience Chevy.” On Facebook, brand pages include Chevy Camaro, Chevy Silverado and Team Chevy. If taken to its logical conclusion, Chevrolet would presumably need to ask Jeff Gordon, the four-time Nascar Sprint Cup champion who currently races a Chevrolet Impala, to change the Web site address — jeffgordonchevy.com — for his dealership in Wilmington, N.C. And what about rolling back the popular culture references to Chevy? Elton John, Bob Seger, Mötley Crüe and the Beastie Boys have all sung about Chevy, and hip-hop artists rap about “Chevy Ridin’ High” or “Ridin’ in My Chevy.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/automobiles/10chevy.html?src=mv

Restaurants in Toledo raise money for tornado relief on Thursday June 10, 2010
Dine out at any of the following locations on June 10 and 15% of the bill will be donated to help the victims and families affected by the Saturday night tornados.
*Adam's Place on West Laskey
*Andrew Z's Sports Pizzeria - Downtown & Levis Commons
*Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips in Fremont, Ohio
*Blue Pacific Grill in Levis Commons
*Café Marie - Perrysburg Location (Open for Breakfast and Lunch Only)
*Cake In A Cup on Central Ave.
*Chucks Bar and Grill
*Chuck E Cheese on Airport Highway
*CiCi's Pizza on Monroe Street
*City Barbeque on West Central
*Claddagh Irish Pub - Westfield Franklin Park Mall
*Eddie Lee's Restaurant on Nantucket Dr.
*Haven Lounge in Swanton
*IHOP in Perrysburg
*J-Cups Pizza - Summit Street in Point Place
*JoJo's Pizza - Monroe, Mayberry, and Walbridge Locations Only
*Little Caesars Pizza - Deveaux Village, W. Alexis near Secor, and Lewis Ave between Sylvania &Eleanor
*Luckies Barn and Grill in Oregon, Ohio
*Mancy's Steaks
*Mancy's Italian Grille
*Shorty's Bar B Que
*Blue Water Grill
*Moodies Coney Island on Oregon Rd. at Wales
*Moe's Place
*Papa Joe's
*Prestige on the Corner or Byrne & Hill
*Salsarita's Fresh Cantina - corner of Ford and Dussel
*Shubie's Ice Cream and Grill
*Sonic - Rossford, Oregon, and Bryan Ohio locations
*The Village Idiot in Maumee
*The Waffle House on Rt. 25 in Perrysburg, Ohio

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Most of the June 5-6 tornado was reserved for a 100-yard-wide, 7-mile-long strip southeast of Toledo now littered with wrecked vehicles, splintered wood and family possessions. The tornado ripped the roof and back wall off Lake High School’s gymnasium about 11 p.m. June 5, several hours before the graduation ceremony was supposed to begin there. Two buses were tossed on their sides and another was thrown about 50 yards, landing on its top near the high school’s football field. More than 10 hours later, its right turn signal was still blinking. Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer flew over the damaged area and said at least 50 homes were destroyed and another 50 severely damaged, as well as six commercial buildings..
See more including picture of Lake High School at: http://www.toledofreepress.com/2010/06/07/tornado-unleahes-war-zone/
The seniors at Lake will have graduation ceremony June 8 at Owens Community College in Perrysburg Township.

New Technologies Could Reduce Fuel Use in Passenger Vehicles
News release: "A wide array of commercially available technologies can significantly reduce fuel consumption in passenger vehicles, says a new report from the National Research Council. Assessment of Fuel Economy T echnologies for Light-Duty Vehicles reviews the technologies and provides estimates of how they would affect vehicle purchase prices...Using a 2007 base vehicle, the committee estimated the potential fuel savings and costs to consumers of available technology combinations for three types of engines: spark-ignition gasoline, compression-ignition (CI) diesel, and hybrid. According to its estimates, adopting the full combination of improved technologies in medium and large cars and pickup trucks with spark-ignition engines could reduce fuel consumption by 29 percent at an additional cost of $2,200 to the consumer. Replacing spark-ignition engines with diesel engines and components would yield fuel savings of about 37 percent at an added cost of approximately $5,900 per vehicle, and replacing spark-ignition engines with hybrid engines and components would reduce fuel consumption by 43 percent at an increase of $6,000 per vehicle."

Born in 2004 as a 7-piece with a different rhythm section, Brooklyn Public Library's own Lost In The Stacks now plays all over Brooklyn and beyond as a dynamic 8-piece unit. In addition to an expanding number of originals, LITS plays many rock, pop, blues, and jazz standards in their own unique style. LITS has played at numerous library functions, including the Coney Island Blues Festival (3 years running), Service for the Aging (at the Saratoga and Dyker neighborhood libraries), the annual Book Drive, and has made several appearances at the Literacy Banquet at the Central Branch at Grand Army Plaza. http://www.lisnews.org/lost_stacks_brooklyn_public_librarian039s_band

The Newark Earthworks were the largest set of geometric earthworks ever built in Ohio. They were constructed by the Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 500 A.D.) of prehistoric Native American people. Originally it included a great circular enclosure (the Great Circle Earthworks), another slightly smaller circle that was linked to an octagon (Octagon Earthworks), and a large, nearly perfect square enclosure (Wright Earthworks). In addition an oval earthwork surrounded a dozen conical and loaf-shaped mounds. All of these structures were connected by a series of parallel walls. There were many smaller circular enclosures and a scattering of other mounds and pits. On the opposite bank of the Licking River's South Fork, another square enclosure and an oval earthwork encircled the top of a hill that overlooked the vast maze of geometric enclosures. Over the years, the growth of the city of Newark destroyed many of the Newark Earthworks, but the Great Circle and the Octagon earthworks are major elements preserved by the efforts of interested local citizens. The surviving parts of the Newark Earthworks are recognized as a National Historic Landmark. In 2006, the State of Ohio designated the Newark Earthworks as "the official prehistoric monument of the state." http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2221

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Syed F. Akbar Subject: Guillotine
The BBC mini-series "Terry Jones: Medieval Lives" -- true stories of damsels, knights, peasants, and other characters of the Middle Ages. Challenging the myths and stereotypes associated with the era ... claims that the guillotine was invented and was in use in Ireland long before the executions of French nobility, during the French Revolution, gave it notoriety and universal recognition.
From: Robert Payne Subject: Words not named after the person they should be
I wonder if the name of the American landmass would qualify for your category of "words not named after the person they should be". As the story goes, the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller named the landmass in 1507 after the then-celebrated explorer Amerigo Vespucci, and some believe that Christopher Columbus should have received the honor.
Of course, this dredges up the wearisome issue of who actually "discovered" America. Columbus? Leif Ericson? The Norse Greenlanders? The direct ancestors of modern-day Native Americans? People before them? Thinking about all of this makes me wonder if anything at all is named after the person it should be.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Seven were killed and at least 50 houses were destroyed and many more damaged in north-western Ohio on June 5-6. Several people were taken to hospitals as the storm left an eight-mile (13km) path of destruction, hitting Lake Township particularly hard. The extreme weather also affected parts of Illinois and Michigan. The high school in Lake Township was among the hardest-hit buildings. Some buses were thrown across the school car park, Superintendent Jim Witt said. In Michigan, the Fermi nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie was shut down after high winds tore a side from one of the buildings. An eyewitness in Illinois said the city of Streator had been badly damaged. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10250215.stm

So Many Links, So Little Time
In Nicholas Carr's book "The Shallows," he calls the Web "a technology of forgetfulness." The average Web page entices us with an array of embedded links to other pages, which countless users pursue even while under constant bombardment from email, RSS, Twitter and Facebook accounts. As a result, we skim Web pages and skip quickly from one to another. We read in what is called an "F" pattern: After taking in the first two lines of a text, we zip straight down the rest of the page. We lose the ability to transfer knowledge from short-term "working" memory to long-term memory, where it can shape our worldviews in enduring ways.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559004575256790495393722.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

33% of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico closed to fishing
"On Saturday June 5, 2010, NOAA added 565 square miles to the fishing closed area; the change took effect at 6 p.m. Eastern that same day. The change is at the northeast edge of the closed area, and encompasses the projected movement of oil toward Panama City Beach, Florida. The total federal fishery closure now measures 78,603 square miles, or about 33% of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers."

Toledo Area Librarians Association member Karen Rothman helps people retool skills
A new resource created by staff at the Way Library in Perrysburg, Ohio is available to assist area residents looking to return to school or expand their existing skill sets. The Northwest Ohio Career Training and Higher Education Directory premiered in April and includes information on accredited educational and training institutions across the region. "I think there are a lot of folks who are exploring a range of possibilities and I think this is an easy way to do that," said reference librarian Karen Rothman, one of the principal individuals involved in the project.
http://sent-trib.com/trib/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15485:library-directory-helps-people-retool-skills&catid=1:fp&Itemid=115

Toledo native Josh Clark is a senior writer for HowStuffWorks.com in Atlanta http://www.howstuffworks.com/ , an online resource that aims to provide easy-to-understand information and explanations for thousands of topics. His job caused him, in the words of English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “to seek, to find, and not to yield,” and that’s changed his outlook on life. “It makes going through life that much more interesting,” Josh says. “Your eyes are open, and you’re looking around and you’re willing and able to go from subject to subject.” It makes you, in a word, curious. It’s a quality that’s more valuable than the sum of the little facts it may cause you to accumulate. It gets you thinking, it makes you appreciate everything around you, and it makes you an active participant in your world. http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100604/COLUMNIST28/100609886

Quote Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. Hal Borland American journalist (1900-1978) Find this and other nature quotes at: http://www.allgreatquotes.com/nature_quotes.shtml

Q: Is there a difference between who has the right of way with a two-way stop sign and a four-way stop sign?
A: "Whoever stops first has the right to continue first," says Sgt. Max Norris of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. "If both stop at the same time," he said, "the vehicle to the right has the right of way."
Q: Hundreds of sandbags are used to keep back floodwaters. What happens to the sandbags when the flood is over?
A: Sandbags that come in contact with floodwaters cannot be reused because the waters are contaminated with pesticides, sewage and other toxic pollution.
In Fargo, N.D., where the Red River overflowed its banks in 2009 and threatened to do so again in March, used sandbags are trucked out of town and emptied into large piles. The sand can be reused for providing fill for road and building construction, but not for children's sandboxes or other household uses where people would be likely to touch it. Even before this year's 1.5 million sandbags were dismantled, there were still 70,000 tons of used sand in the Fargo piles. -- John Flesher, AP, Traverse City, Mich.
Q: A recent article on the World Trade Center steel returning to Coatesville, Pa., reminded me of the somber video showing row upon row of emergency vehicles that were destroyed in the 9/11 attack. What became of these vehicles?
A: At least 95 emergency vehicles were destroyed in the 2001 terror attacks. Some doors and other parts of the wrecked vehicles were given to museums and others were given to investigators. Most others were turned into scrap metal. There are about 20 New York Fire Department and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey vehicles in a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, along with other World Trade Center artifacts. Some will eventually be moved to the Sept. 11 memorial museum, including a fire truck partly crushed by the collapse of the north tower. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2010/Jun/JU/ar_JU_060710.asp?d=060710,2010,Jun,07&c=c_13