Ole Kirk Christiansen and his son Godtfred Kirk invented LEGO. In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, master carpenter and joiner, founded his carpentry business in the village of Billund, Denmark to make stepladders, ironing boards and wooden toys. The wooden toys became Ole's most successful product. The company adopted the name LEGO in 1934. LEGO is formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" meaning "play well". Ironically, in Latin the lego means "I study" or "I put together". In 1947, the LEGO company was the first in Denmark to buy a plastic injection molding machine for making toys. A forerunner of the plastic LEGO bricks was Christiansen's Automatic Binding Bricks, created in 1949. They were sold only in Denmark. In 1954, the bricks were renamed "LEGO Mursten" or "LEGO Bricks". On May 1, 1954, the word LEGO was officially registered as a trademark in Denmark. In 1955, the company launched the "LEGO System of Play" with 28 sets and 8 vehicles. The current LEGO stud-and-tube coupling system was patented in 1958 (Design Patent #92683). The new coupling principle made models much more stable. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllego.htm

Unusual plurals
en/ren: children, oxen, oxygen
change f/fe to v and add es: leaves, wives
change vowel sound between two consonants: men, women, feet, teeth
change vowel sound between two consonants and also change the last consonant: lice, mice

Quote Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair? Walker Percy (1916-1990) American author

panjandrum (pan-JAN-druhm) noun An important or self-important person. The word is said to have been coined by dramatist and actor Samuel Foote (1720-1777) as part of a nonsensical passage to test the memory of his fellow actor Charles Macklin who claimed to be able to repeat anything after hearing it once. Earliest documented use: 1825, in the novel "Harry and Lucy Concluded" in which the author Maria Edgeworth attributes the word to Foote. A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

We have returned from two wonderful weeks in France: a few days in Paris, a few days in the Languedoc, and a cruise on the Rhone and Saone Rivers. I will be writing about regional history and also our experiences from time to time.

Occitan language (also called Provençal or Languedoc) is a Romance language spoken by about 1,500,000 people in southern France. All Occitan speakers use French as their official and cultural language, but Occitan dialects are used for everyday purposes and show no signs of extinction. The name Occitan is derived from the geographical name Occitania, which is itself patterned after Aquitania and the characteristic word oc and includes the regions of Limousin, Languedoc, the old Aquitaine, and the southern part of the French Alps, all of the populations of which are Occitan-speaking. The name Languedoc comes from the term langue d' oc, which denoted a language using oc for yes (from Latin hoc), in contrast to the French language, the langue d' oïl, which used oïl (modern oui) for yes (from Latin hoc ille). According to Encyclopédie Occitane, Provençal was actually the first Romance language to emerge from the mix of Roman and "barbarian" tongues; the earliest surviving texts in Langue d'Oc can be definitively attributed to the tenth century (a refrain attached to a Latin poem), and the 12th-century Donat provençal was the first grammar of a modern European language. The best-known ambassadors of Occitan were the troubadours, traveling minstrels who created enduring lyric poetry and canso, inventing and disseminating the idea of courtly love. Although Occitania was composed of small feudal polities, the Langue d'Oc benefited in medieval times from a common orthography, serving admirably as a language of philosophy, science, law and the arts, as well as the everyday dialect of its speakers. This usage continued well into the 14th century, and Occitan's eventual decline is closely tied to the evolution of royal power and the French state. http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Occitan/Occitan.html

The Saône River, called Arar by the Celts, rises at a height of 1,300 feet southwest of Epinal in northeast France. It travels south nearly 300 miles (navigable for 233 of those) and meets the Rhône at Lyon. It is the biggest tributary of the Rhône. The Rhône River's sources lies in Switzerland east of the Bernese Alps, beginning at an altitude of 7,000 feet at the Rhône Glacier. The name is attributed both to the Celtic rondos meaning "to flow" and to the city of Rhodes, presumably from Greek settlers. The river is 544 miles long, 350 of which flow through France. Source: The Rhône & Saône by Viking River Cruises

Summer side dishes: Mixed Greens with Peaches, Blackberries, and Feta Cheese Balls, Cucumber Potato Salad http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/kitchen-assistant/caramelized-kumquat-breakfast-00418000071851/

Bibimbap contains all the nutrition that is needed for a complete meal. Moreover, it includes the added advantage of being adaptable to practically any recipe. Bibimbap is creative as well as unique in that its color and appearance will vary according to the ingredients used and the personal tastes of the preparer. Bibimbap is simply a bowl of rice that is mixed with various kinds of vegetables, together with mushrooms, a fried egg, and ground meat, and seasoned with red chili pepper paste. A dribble of sesame oil can add to its savory taste.
http://www.clickkorea.org/food/foodView.asp?menubar=4&page=4&idx=22