The verb occupy dates back to the 14th century, its origins in Latin occupare meaning 'seize'. Interestingly, during the 16th and 17th century it was used as a euphemism for 'have sexual relations with', causing it to fall out of general usage until the late 18th century. The word occupy has achieved something approaching cult status in the online world in recent weeks, with plenty of evidence of the concept being seized upon to humorous effect – such as Occupy the Bar, a 'movement' with the slogan 'What do we want? An ice cold Guinness! When do we want it? Now!'. Its use has snowballed to such an extent that the American Dialect Society is now considering whether it should join the ranks of previous winners app and tweet as a candidate for its 'Word of the Year'. Read an extensive article on occupy as a buzzword, and find links to a buzzword archive at: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/occupy.html

One of the many cartoons on occupy is the November 7 Non Sequitur comic strip with this caption: "The Occupy a Barstool Movement." Six customers are holding up six different placards.

"Occupationalist is an impartial and real-time view of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Covering history as it unfolds. No filters. No delays." http://occupationalist.org/

A fake story published by The Onion "America's finest new source" is causing some real confusion for a California town and the institute that the humor paper satirized. The Onion published a brief, one paragraph story on October 26 study supposedly released by the California Parenting Institute finding that every style of parenting produces disturbed, miserable adults. "I'm totally aware that it's satire," Robin Bowen, CPI's executive director, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. "But it's spreading through the Internet and people's blogs and where it's coming from is getting left off and it's looking like a news story." Late last month, Capitol police in Washington were forced to investigate faux reports from The Onion's Twitter feed proclaiming breaking news of a hostage situation inside the Capitol building. The stunt was part of a satirical standoff that the Onion Twitter feed was treating as a real-time crisis--writing that Washington police were confronting a rogue group of congressmen who had taken a group of children hostage and demanding $12 trillion in cash to fund federal spending. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/fake-onion-story-causes-real-confusion-california-town-145806545.html

Ireland has decided to close its embassies to the Vatican and Iran as well as its representative office in Timor Leste. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that the decision followed a review of overseas missions carried out by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which gave "particular attention to the economic return from bilateral missions". Mr Gilmore said that the Government was obliged to implement cuts to meet targets set out in the EU/IMF rescue programme. He said the closure of the three embassies would save around €1.25m a year. Mr Gilmore said that the Government would continue to review Ireland's network of diplomatic and consular missions "to ensure that it reflects our present day needs and yields value for money". http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1103/embassies.html

Quotes
You always want it until you have it, then you don't want it anymore.
He was one of those rare men who could strut standing still . . .
The Garden of Eden by Eve Adams, pseudonym for Steven Coonts

Stephen Coonts (b. 1946) is the author of thirteen New York Times bestselling books which have been translated and republished around the world. Find his books by series, novels, short stories and non-fiction at: http://www.elliottbooks.com/Bibliographies/Coonts,%20Stephen.html
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Coonts

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed legislation November 9 clearing the way for the University of North Dakota to retire its controversial Fighting Sioux nickname. The measure, which reverses a law passed last winter forbidding the school to drop the decades-old nickname, effectively ends a six-year standoff with the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA has tried to keep schools that use logos and nicknames it considers "hostile and abusive" from participating in postseason play. Under a 2007 deal with the NCAA, North Dakota could retain the nickname if it won approval from the state's two Sioux tribes. Members of the Spirit Lake Sioux agreed, but leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux balked, preventing the matter from being put to a referendum. In April 2010, the state board of education ordered the school to change the nickname. Then in March, the governor, a Republican, signed a bill forbidding the move. This past summer, Mr. Dalrymple led a coalition of legislators to a meeting with the NCAA to make one final appeal to keep the nickname and Fighting Sioux logo, which appears in some 2,400 places at the privately owned Ralph Engelstad Arena, where the school's hockey team plays. The NCAA didn't budge.
Keeping the logo was taking a growing toll on the university's athletic program, with some major hockey programs, like the University of Minnesota's and the University of Wisconsin's, refusing to play against the school, said State Rep. Stacey Dahl, a Republican whose Grand Forks district includes the school's campus. A provision in the repeal bill passed Wednesday forbids the school to choose a new nickname or logo for three years. Some lawmakers expressed hope that might leave an opening to retain the nickname if a lawsuit recently brought against the NCAA by members of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe is successful. Joe Barrett http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577028320279217872.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

List of waterfalls with a single drop of at least 500 feet in height.
http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/tallest-waterfalls/single-drop/
Browse the world waterfall database: http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/map/

Nov. 11 Web Site of the Day www.military.com/veterans-day
Number to Know 15.8 million: Number of veterans who voted in the 2008 presidential election. Seventy-one percent of veterans cast a ballot, compared with 63 percent of non-veterans, according to Census.gov.
This Day in History Nov. 11, 1918: World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stops at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. http://www.tauntongazette.com/newsnow/x319046846/Morning-Minutes-Nov-11