2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, ambiguous imagery that is open-ended to a point approaching surrealism, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques, and minimal use of dialogue. Music plays a crucial part in 2001, and not only because of the relatively sparse dialogue. From very early on in production, Kubrick decided that he wanted the film to be a primarily non-verbal experience, one that did not rely on the traditional techniques of narrative cinema, and in which music would play a vital role in evoking particular moods. About half the music in the film appears either before the first line of dialogue or after the final line. Almost no music is heard during any scenes with dialogue. In the early stages of production, Kubrick had actually commissioned a score for 2001 from noted Hollywood composer Alex North, who had written the score for Spartacus and also worked on Dr. Strangelove. However, on 2001 Kubrick did much of the filming and editing using, as his guides, the classical recordings which eventually became the music track. Kubrick decided to use these 'guide pieces' as the final musical soundtrack, and he abandoned North's score. Kubrick failed to inform North that his music had not been used and, to his dismay, North did not discover this until he saw the movie just before its release. What survives of North's soundtrack recordings has been released as a "limited edition" CD from Intrada Records. All the music North originally wrote was recorded commercially by North's friend and colleague Jerry Goldsmith with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and was released on Varèse Sarabande CDs shortly after Telarc's first theme release but before North's death. 2001 is particularly remembered for using pieces of Johann Strauss II's best-known waltz, An der schönen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), during the extended space-station docking and lunar landing sequences, and the use of the opening from the Richard Strauss tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra (Usually translated as "Thus Spake Zarathustra" or occasionally "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" - the soundtrack album gives the former, the movie's credits give the latter). Composers Richard and Johann Strauss are not related. HAL's version of the popular song "Daisy Bell" (referred to by HAL as "Daisy" in the film) was inspired by a computer-synthesized arrangement by Max Mathews, which Arthur C. Clarke had heard in 1962 at the Bell Laboratories Murray Hill facility when he was, coincidentally, visiting friend and colleague John Pierce. At that time, a speech synthesis demonstration was being performed by physicist John Larry Kelly, Jr, by using an IBM 704 computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer vocoder recreated the song "Daisy Bell" ("Bicycle Built For Two"), with Max Mathews providing the musical accompaniment. Arthur C. Clarke was so impressed that he later used it in the screenplay and novel. Many foreign language versions of the film do not use the song "Daisy." In the French soundtrack to 2001, HAL sings the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune" while being disconnected. In the German version, HAL sings the children's song "Hänschen Klein" ("Johnny Little") and in the Italian version HAL sings "Giro giro tondo." See awards, honors, mentions in top film lists, parodies and homages at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)

intromit (in-truh-MIT) verb tr. To enter, send, or admit. From Latin intromittere, from intro- (inwardly) + mittere (to send). Earliest documented use: 1600.
remonstrate (ri-MON-strayt, REM-uhn-) verb intr. To reason or plead in protest. From Latin remonstrare (to exhibit, demonstrate), from re- + monstrare (to show). Ultimately from the Indo-European root men- (to think), which is the source of mind, mnemonic, mosaic, music, mentor, money, mandarin, and mantra. Earliest documented use: 1601. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

FDA Needs to Reassess Its Approach to Protecting Consumers from False or Misleading Claims January 2011 report from Government Accountability Office. GAO-11-102 http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11102.pdf

A muse reader has shared her new blog address with me. She started in December and has several postings in January as of this writing. See at: http://keepamericaworried.blogspot.com/

According to Lorrin Andrews, author of the first Hawaiian dictionary published in 1865, "kahuna" is a contraction of "kahu" (to cook, especially in an earth oven) and "ana" (a particle that adds "ing" to a word). So the base meaning by this idea is "a cooking." This doesn't make much sense until you learn that "kahu" also means "to tend an oven, or to take care of the cooking." Ancient Hawaiian thought, from our point of view, was very symbolic or figurative and a word for one type of activity or experience could be applied to other symbolically related activities or experiences. So "kahu," originally referring to taking care of an oven, became a general word for taking care of anything. Another possible origin for the word "kahuna," however, is that it is simply a combination of "kahu" (to take care of) and "na" (a particle that makes words into nouns). In that case, a basic translation of "kahuna" would be "a caretaker." Over time languages change and at some point "kahu" and "kahuna" both became nouns with somewhat different meanings. The word "kahu" came to refer not only to caretakers, but to what are now known as "care-givers," as well as to administrators, regents, pastors, masters and mistresses of households, dog-owners, and leaders of clubs, associations, orders and other groups. The word "kahuna," according to J.S. Emerson, an early observer of Hawaiian culture, "suggests more of the professional relation of the priest to the community." Andrews, mentioned above, defines a "kahuna" as "a general name applied to such persons as have a trade, an art, or who practice some profession." He says that some qualifying term is generally added, such as "kahuna lapa'au, a physician; kahuna pule, a priest; kahuna kalai la'au, a carpenter; kahuna kala, a silversmith." He also notes that "the word kahuna without any qualifying term (generally) refers to the priest or the person who offers sacrifices." Pukui and Elbert, authors of the modern standard Hawaiian dictionary, define a kahuna as a "priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession (whether male of female)." They add that under the 1845 laws of the Hawaiian kingdom doctors, surgeons and dentists were called kahuna. http://www.huna.org/html/kahuna.html

Aloha [Alo = presence, front, face] + [hā = breath] 'The presence of (Divine) Breath.' Aloha is a word in the Hawaiian language that has numerous meanings both as a single word and when used in context with other words. The most common uses are as a greeting, farewell or a salutation. Aloha is also commonly used to mean love. It can also be used to express compassion, regret or sympathy. http://gohawaii.about.com/od/glossary/g/aloha.htm

A nelogism is a word, term, or expression that has recently been invented in order to define a new meaning. For example, "wallpaper" originally referred only to the material you would use to cover a room's walls; now, it also refers to the colors or images that adorn your desktop. The rate of neologisms has increased dramatically with the introduction of new technology and the Internet, producing many of the words found in NetLingo (such as emoticon and netiquette). http://www.netlingo.com/word/neologism.php “Moasting” is a verb that combines the words moaning and boasting, especially used on Twitter. Find Web Slang, lingo, and acronyms used in chat rooms, Instant Messages, and Text Messaging, emoticons and special use of letters and numerals at: http://www.city-net.com/~ched/help/lingo/chatslang.html Unnecessary, overused and tiresome: BTW, FWIW, IMHO, IMO and JMO.

The most common given names of U.S. presidents are: George (3), John (4), William (4), and James (5). http://www.potus.com/

A female Cooper's hawk that spent a week trapped in the Library of Congress was safely captured January 26 and taken to a rehabilitation center in Virginia. The hawk caught the public's imagination as it eluded would-be rescuers and swooped over researchers' heads in the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room. It even snatched frozen quail from a trap without being caught. The hawk probably flew in through a broken window Jan. 19, said Matt Raymond, the library's director of communications. Aa three-member team led by representatives of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia captured the bird using a caged pair of starlings, named Frick and Frack, as bait. It took 25 minutes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012607541.html