Wednesday, August 28, 2013


rill
noun   a small stream   a shallow channel cut in the ground by running water
verb   flow in or as in a rill:  the springwater rilled over our cold hands
(as adjective rilled) indented with small grooves: blocks of butter pounded into artful shapes with rilled paddles  Origin:  mid 16th century: probably of Low German origin

As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel."  The term is used in areas of Dutch influence in the Delaware and Hudson Valleys and other areas of the former New Netherland colony of Dutch America to describe a strait, river, or arm of the sea.  Examples are Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill, both separating Staten Island, New York from New Jersey, Dutch Kills and English Kills off Newtown Creek, Bronx Kill between The Bronx and Randall's Island, and used as a composite name, Wallkill River in New York and New Jersey and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania.   Fresh Kills is the primary waterway that leads to the former Fresh Kills landfill which serviced New York City in the second half of the 20th Century and was once the largest in the world.  Peekskill is a city on the Hudson River settled by the Dutch, founded by one, Jan Peake, a fur trader and sea captain.  The creek, or "Kill" that fed the Hudson at this wide bend in the river, and gave the city its name, was abundant with fish, surrounded by game, and became an early settlement and trading center.  Humorously, in Delaware, there exists a Murderkill River.  "Kill" also shows up in location names as in the Catskill Mountains and the town of Fishkill, New York, which was the subject of a campaign against etymology by animal rights group, PETA, which wanted a more animal-friendly name.  

More and more Americans are outliving their ability to drive safely.  As a result of impairments in three functions that are important for driving – vision, cognition and motor function – older drivers have a higher crash risk than middle aged adults.  To address this issue, many states have have enacted laws that contain specific licensing requirements for older drivers.  33 States and the District of Columbia have special provisions for mature drivers.  These include:  Accelerated renewal frequency; Restriction of online or mailed renewals; Vistion test; Road test; or Reduced or waived renewal fees.  See charts and requirements at:   http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/olderdriver_laws.html 

A compass is an instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic element which displays the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field at the point of observation.  The magnetic compass is an old Chinese invention, probably first made in China during the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.).  Chinese fortune tellers used lodestones (a mineral composed of an iron oxide which aligns itself in a north-south direction) to construct their fortune telling boards.  Eventually someone noticed that the lodestones were better at pointing out real directions, leading to the first compasses.  They designed the compass on a square slab which had markings for the cardinal points and the constellations.  The pointing needle was a lodestone spoon-shaped device, with a handle that would always point south.  Mary Bellis  http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/Compass.htm 

Over thousands of years China has produced a great stream of inventions, ranging from the mundane chopstick and wheelbarrow, to sophisticated earthquake detectors and the advanced concept of bank notes.  But in China there are four inventions traditionally referred to as the Four Great Inventions.  These are paper, gunpowder, the compass and printing.  http://www.sacu.org/greatinventions.html 

Treasure fleet may refer to: 
Spanish treasure fleet, a convoy system in the Spanish Empire transporting treasure and other cargo from 1566 to 1790 or a Chinese treasure fleet, a fleet of ships led by the 15th-century Ming Dynasty admiral Zheng He.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_fleet 

Rebooting legal research in a digital age by Steven A. Lastres
Research has always been core to the practice of law.  However, we are seeing a “New Normal” in today’s business climate, and profound change in legal education and the delivery of legal services that impacts how research is conducted.  New technologies, resources, and methods of conducting research are evolving faster than ever before.  How have new attorneys, law schools and employers adapted, and what is the state of legal research today?  In a recent survey, law firm associates indicated they spend nearly a third of their working hours conducting legal research, or about 15 hours per week on average.  Much of that research is conducted online using a variety of sources and particular methodologies.  Associates believe their employers expect them to have  strong legal research skills when starting their first position out of law school.  With this in mind, many feel that legal research should be a larger part of the law school curriculum.  See eight-page article at:  http://www.llrx.com/files/rebootinglegalresearch.pdf   Thanks, Julie

scrut-  (Latin:  search, investigation, inquiry; examining, examination; inspect, inspection)
Find nouns (scrutator, scrutineer), adjectives and verbs using strut at:  http://wordinfo.info/unit/1920/ip:4/il:S 

The Romans did not count days in the month as a simple number, as we do, but backwards from one of three fixed points in the month:  the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides.  The Kalends are always the first of the month.  The Nones fell on the 7th day of the long months (March, May, Quinctilis, October), and the 5th of the others.  (Note that this long-short distinction refers to their length in the republican calendar, not the later version.)  Likewise, the Ides fell on the 15th if the month was long, and the 13th if the month was short.  http://www.polysyllabic.com/?q=calhistory/earlier/roman/kalends 

In the ancient Roman calendar, Quintilis or Quinctilis was the month following Junius (June) and preceding Sextilis (August).  Quintilis is Latin for "fifth", that is, it was the fifth month (quintilis mensis) in the earliest calendar attributed to Romulus, which began with Martius ("Mars' month," March) and had 10 months.  After the calendar reform that produced a 12-month year, Quintilis became the seventh month, but retained its name.  In 45 BC, Julius Caesar instituted a new calendar (the Julian calendar) that corrected astronomical discrepancies in the old.  After his death in 44 BC, the month of Quintilis, his birth month, was renamed Julius in his honor, hence July.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintilis 

True wisdom comes at great cost.  Only ignorance is free.”  Taoist proverb  http://www.nextreads.com/display2.aspx?recid=3544107&FC=1

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