The phrase 'cotton on to' (get to know or understand something) appears to be limited in usage to the UK and other countries that were previously part of the British Empire, notably Australia and New Zealand.  In the USA, especially in the southern states, 'cotton to' is used, with the slightly modified meaning of 'take a liking to'.  As early as 1648, in a pamphlet titled Mercurius Elencticus, mocking the English parliament, the royalist soldier and poet Sir George Wharton used 'cotton', or as it was spelled then 'cotten', as a verb meaning 'to make friendly advances'.  'Cotten up to' and 'cotten to' were both used to mean 'become friendly with'.  Whether this was as a reference to the rather annoying predisposition of moist raw cotton to stick to things or whether it alluded to moving of cotton garments closer together during a romantic advance isn't clear.  John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary, 1869, opted for the former derivation:  Cotton, to like, adhere to, or agree with any person; "to COTTON on to a man," to attach yourself to him, or fancy him, literally, to stick to him as cotton would.  The number of citations that use 'cottening' in a courtship context and the use of the 'cottening up' variant would suggest the latter is more likely; for example, William Congreave's comic play Love for Love, 1695:  I love to see 'em hug and cotten together, like Down upon a Thistle. The attaching of cotton strands to the bobbins of weaving looms is sometimes also cited as a source of 'cottoning on', but there appears to be no basis for that notion.  None of the early citations of the phrase mention that context.   http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cotton-on.html 

Ricotta is not so much a cheese as the leftovers after the curds have been strained to make other cheeses.  The whey is cooked again – ricotta means, literally, "recooked" – with sour whey or another coagulant.  Not only is this an ingenious way of using up something that would otherwise go to waste, it is also incredibly delicate and delicious.  Ricotta is light and low in fat.  Ricotta is curdled primarily by means of acid, rather than rennet – much as paneer, queso blanco and most fresh goat's cheeses are.  While rennet creates a protein structure that is dissolved by heat, acid causes the proteins to stick together.  This means ricotta doesn't melt, making it perfect for cooking and baking.  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/28/ricotta-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi 

To make mascarpone, combine equal amounts of heavy cream with half-and-half, warm, and use lemon juice to separate the mascarpone from the whey.  In both instances, the curds are strained and the resulting cheeses are ready for use in your favorite recipes.  It is far cheaper to make mascarpone at home than it is to purchase it from your grocer. http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/2012/03/28/no-baloney-its-mascarpone/ 

You can substitute mascarpone and ricotta for each other--or you can mix them together.  Try them as sandwich spreads, icings or fillers in place of mayonnaise.   

subpoena  [Latin, Under penalty.]  A formal document that orders a named individual to appear before a duly authorized body at a fixed time to give testimony.  A court, Grand Jury, legislative body, or Administrative Agency uses a subpoena to compel an individual to appear before it at a specified time to give testimony.  An individual who receives a subpoena but fails to appear may be charged with Contempt of court and subjected to civil or criminal penalties.  In addition, a person who has been served with a subpoena and has failed to appear may be brought to the proceedings by a law enforcement officer who serves a second subpoena, called an instanter.  A subpoena that commands a person to bring certain evidence, usually documents or papers, is called a Subpoena Duces Tecum, from the Latin "under penalty to bring with you."  This type of subpoena is often used in a civil lawsuit where one party resists giving the other party documents through the discovery process.  If a court is convinced that the document request is legitimate, it will order the production of documents using a subpoena duces tecum.  http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/subpoena 

Link to definitions of diction, benediction, malediction and valediction at http://www.scrabblefinder.com/ends-with/diction/ 

Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places.  In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used.  The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.  The ingredients for these storms include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds.  If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon.  In the Atlantic, hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30.  However, while 97 percent of tropical activity occurs during this time period, there is nothing magical in these dates, and hurricanes have occurred outside of these six months.  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending between, and in contact with, a cloud and the surface of the earth. A landspout (once known as "Dust Tube Tornado") is just a type of tornado. It is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with a cloud and the surface of the earth. Unlike the Supercellular Tornadoes, it does not move from base of the cloud to the ground.  It actually develops near the surface and works it's way up.  A waterspout is a tornado over water.  Dust devils are whirlwinds tending to develop in hot and dry environments.  These form when hot air rises through pockets of cooler air above the ground.  Sometimes, this rising column of air can begin to rotate if environmental conditions are right.  As the air rises, the vortex will tighten and spin faster. As the whirlwind spins, it will bring in more hot air which will keep the air rising allowing these to be self sustaining making them long lived.  Unlike landspouts, dust devils are not in contact with the base of a developing thunderstorm.  This lack of additional lift from a thunderstorm's updraft will usually keep the whirlwind much weaker than a landspout.  See images at http://www.kgwn.tv/story/23065044/tornadoes-landspouts-waterspouts-dust-devilswhats-the-difference

In the heart of Brunswick County lies a 15,000-acre ecological wonderland where long-leaf pine savanna forests and pocosin bogs create a unique habitat that is home to a number of rare and semi-tropical plant species.  This special niche is the Green Swamp Preserve, administered by the North Carolina Nature Conservancy.  Green Swamp Preserve was created in 1977 when Federal Paper Board donated 13,000 acres of land in central Brunswick County to the North Carolina Nature Conservancy.  An additional 2,500 acres were donated in the late 1980s.  The preserve has grown as the Nature Conservancy has bolstered its holdings by purchasing more land.  The wet, acidic soil of the Green Swamp bogs provides the perfect habitat for carnivorous plants, which gain few nutrients from the nitrogen-poor mixture of peat and sand.  Instead, nature has given them a way to gain nourishment from other sources.  Various species are able to trap insects as prey and extract nutrients from their bodies.  The most famous of the carnivorous plants, or more specifically insectivorous plants, is the Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipul . Insects are attracted to its sweet-smelling nectar and bright red leaves, which open and close similar to a mouth.  For many years Venus flytraps were commercially harvested, causing the species to be listed as threatened.  Additional pressure has come from a loss of habitat due to the construction of housing developments and golf courses.  The Venus flytrap grows naturally only in a 100-mile radius in southern North Carolina and upper South Carolina, which makes the Green Swamp Preserve key to their continued survival in the wild.  Another of the insectivorous plants is the elegant pitcher plant, of which four varieties are found within the Green Swamp Preserve. These slender, tubular plants also emit a scent that attracts insects.  Beautiful sundews aren’t true to their namesake.  These plants belong to the family Drosera, which comes from the Greek word drosos, or dew drop.  Sundews grow delicate tentacles that appear to be drenched in dew, however, they are actually covered in a sticky substance that will entangle any insect with which it comes in contact.  Butterwort gives off a musty scent to attract its meals.  Insects are drawn to the plant, which has leaves covered with a sticky mucous.  Once a victim lands on the leaves of the butterwort it is trapped, very much like a fly on commercial fly paper.  As an added precaution, the leaves of the butterwort curl upwards around its victim, ensuring it cannot escape.

Sarah Downing  http://www.thenbm.com/greenswamppreserve.html 

See also Green Swamp Preserve, 17,424 acres in Brunswick County at  http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/northcarolina/placesweprotect/green-swamp-preserve.xml 

How Lincoln changed the nation in 272 words  Commentary:  Gettysburg Address helped forge a new meaning of America  by Tim Heubner  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-lincoln-changed-the-nation-in-272-words-2013-11-19 

Gettysburg address  http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/gettyb.asp