There are nineteen museums and galleries, as well as a zoological park, that comprise the Smithsonian museums. The majority, eleven, of these museums are located on the National Mall, which is the strip of land in Washington, D.C running between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center. Other museums are located elsewhere in Washington D.C. as well as two in New York City and one in Chantilly, Virginia. The Smithsonian also holds close ties with 168 museums in 39 states, as well as Panama and Puerto Rico. These museums are known as Smithsonian Affiliated museums. Collections of artifacts are given to these museums in the form of long-term loans from the Smithsonian. These long-term loans are not the only Smithsonian exhibits outside the Smithsonian museums. The Smithsonian also has a large number of traveling exhibitions. Each year more than 50 exhibitions travel to hundreds of cities and towns all across the United States. See list of museums, type, locations and pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Smithsonian_museums

Phrases from Shakespeare
parting is such sweet sorrow, star-crossed lovers, come what may, crack of doom, better part of valour is discretion, game is afoot, beware the Ides of March, give the devil his due, dead as a doornail, come full circle, what the dickens and many others at:
http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/shakespeare/sayings.html

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Ri Weal Subject: argosy
These words from Tennyson's Locksley Hall are on the wall of the Auckland Airport.
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;
From: Sue Lloyd-Williams Subject: paladin
Paladin is an everyday word for many people living in UK apartment blocks -- it refers to the large (1000 litre capacity) round, wheeled, steel bins which receive the rubbish from the chutes.
From: Paul A. Foerster Subject: damascene
The late Fr. Stanley Besuska, Professor of Mathematics at Boston College, used to say that there is a patron saint of computers -- St. John Damascene. Of course you have to use the alternate pronunciation, putting an "h" sound in the last syllable to get the full pun value.
From: Arthur Silverstein Subject: gascon
It should be pointed out that gascon is not really a Mediterranean word, since Gascony is more an Atlantic or Biscayan area of southwest France. The word is related to Basque, since that was the language spoken by their ancestors during Roman times, the Aquitani. Gasconade was given currency by the escapades of Cyrano de Bergerac. Better would be Frank (from the Germanic tribe after whom France is named. In the Eastern Mediterranean during Crusader times, Frank was the term used for all Europeans, and it remains today as farangi to describe strangers or foreigners.
Comments from Anu Garg Jason and his band of adventurers have given a word to the English language, argonaut, but there's no evidence that they are connected with the word argosy.
The word founder derives from Latin fundus (bottom) and among its cousins are verbs 'to found' and 'to fund'. The word flounder itself may be an alteration of founder (etymologists are not certain). Language is a messy thing.
The thought included with the word sybarite was from Samuel Butler the novelist, not Samuel Butler the poet. There oughta be a law that no two authors can have the same name.

The Stoclet Palace (French: Palais Stoclet, Dutch: Stocletpaleis) is a private mansion built by architect Josef Hoffmann between 1905 and 1911 in Brussels, Belgium, for banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet. Considered Hoffman's masterpiece, the Stoclet's house is one of the most refined and luxurious private houses of the twentieth century. The mansion is still occupied by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. It was designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO in June 2009. See images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoclet_Palace

Josef Hoffmann, founder of the Wiener Werkstätte artistic collective, drew up the palace's geometrically refined exterior clad in white Norwegian marble with undulating gold-leafed trim; Werkstätte members including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and Michael Powolny brought splendor to the interiors. The designers placed every item within the house and its grounds, supplying specially created artworks, gardens, furniture, light fixtures, cutlery and silver toilet articles. For the dining room, Klimt crafted a dazzling marble mosaic encircling a table with 24 chairs. Silver candleholders and tureens studded with malachite cabochons sit atop polished ebony sideboards. Chandeliers strung with pearls heighten the magic. All is intact as on the day the Stoclets moved in. "It seems as if it were still 1911," said Alfred Weidinger, deputy director of Vienna's Belvedere Museum. "You don't sense the passage of time." An exhibition about the collaboration between Klimt and Hoffmann is on view through March 4 at the Belvedere, with a focus on the Palais Stoclet, including a reconstruction of its central hallway. "We got farther than anyone else in getting into the house," Mr. Weidinger said of his research. "We took thousands of photos, but we can't use a single one since the family won't allow it." Family members had indicated a willingness to lend furnishings for the show, but reneged at the last minute. MICHAEL Z. WISE http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577172941334034970.html

From the American Association of Law Libraries, Legal Division
The Government Relations Office has posted an important new action alert in opposition to H.R. 3699 ,
the Research Works Act. This bill, which was introduced on December 16 by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-14), would reverse the National Institutes of Health's popular Public Access Policy , which AALL strongly supports, and prevent other Federal agencies from developing similar policies to provide timely public access to taxpayer-funded research. Please take action
to tell your Representative that the public must have access to research funded by taxpayer dollars. If your Representative is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , it is especially important that you take action now .

Start the workday in a productive way
A stand-up meeting (or simply "stand-up") is a daily team meeting held to provide a status update to the team members. The 'semi-real-time' status allows participants to know about potential challenges as well as coordinate efforts to resolve difficult and/or time-consuming issues. It has particular value in Agile software development processes, such as Scrum, but can be utilized in any development methodology. The meetings are usually timeboxed to 5–15 minutes and are held standing up to remind people to keep the meeting short and to the point. The meeting is usually held at the same time and place every working day. All team members are encouraged to attend, but the meetings are not postponed if some of the team members are not present. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-up_meeting