Before Benjamin Franklin started his scientific experimentation, it was thought that electricity consisted of two opposing forces.  Franklin showed that electricity consisted of a "common element" which he named "electric fire."  Further, electricity was "fluid" like a liquid.  It passed from one body to another — however it was never destroyed.  Franklin's work became the basis for the single fluid theory.  When something is being charged, such as a car battery, electricity flows from a positive body, that with an excess charge, to a negative body, that with negative charge.  Indeed, a car battery has plus and minus signs on its terminals.  Franklin wrote Peter Collinson  that: "I feel a Want of Terms here and doubt much whether I shall be able to make this intelligible."  Not only did Franklin have to posit theories, he also had to create a new language to fit them.  Some of the electrical terms which Franklin coined during his experiments include:  battery, charge, condensor, conductor, plus, minus, positively, negatively, and armature.  They are still the terms we use today.  Find an account of Franklin's June 1752 kite experiment at http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/kite.htm 

They're all soybeans 

endamame:   whole pods of immature soybeans, either placed in seasoned, boiling water or steamed-- then typically coated with salt and eaten whole

wasabi beans:  edamame coated in wasabi seasoning

soy nuts:  whole, mature soybeans, soaked in water, then seasoned and roasted or baked

What is wasabi? 

The wasabi plant (Eutrema wasabi) is a member of the cruciferous family.  It traditionally grows in very cold, flowing water from natural springs or rivers in deep valleys, under the canopy of trees.  The earliest cultivation of wasabi dates at least to the 10th century.  The grated .rhizome. or above ground root-like stem of this plant has a fiery hot flavor that quickly dissipates in the mouth to leave a lingering sweet taste, with no burning sensation.   http://agsyst.wsu.edu/wasabibroc.pdf 

Hope springs eternal for the American Chestnut tree  While leaving downtown Stockbridge, Massachusetts heading south on Rte 7, on the left there you will see a wooden sign the shape and color of an American Chestnut tree leaf.  If you pull into the nearby driveway, you will see a commemorative rock honoring the late Peter Berle of Great Barrington who had a lot to do with the acquisition of the land.  Then you will come upon a kiosk made of chestnut wood and which contains samples of chestnut branches and bark.  Eventually, there will be a bench there which will also be made out of chestnut.  While at the kiosk, pick up a flyer developed by The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) and read about how the chestnut was one of the most important trees in the forests of Eastern US.  The trees grew up to 100 feet tall and were a major source of lumber and food for wildlife and families. In the 19th century, loaded wagons of chestnuts were sent to major cities to sell at Christmastime.  Then the blight struck in the early 1900s.  The blight is a fungus to which our native chestnuts have very little resistance.  By 1950, approximately 4 billion trees had been destroyed, encompassing 188 million acres of forestland (twice the size of Montana).  It was known as the largest ecological disaster of the 20th century.  Moffatt feels that one reason we lost the turkey population in the early 20th century was because we lost the American chestnut trees which provided food for them.  Once the chestnuts died out, there was a lot of dead space and a void remained until the oaks and cherries eventually moved in.  Amazingly, after all these years, American Chestnut saplings are still sprouting in our woods.  They grow to about 50 feet; inevitably get the blight and die, only to have suckers shoot up from the stumps and seeds again.  Its leaf looks like a beech leaf but different in the sense that it has a scalloped edge.  Thank you, muse reader.   http://www.berkshireoutdoorsman.com/2013/07/19/hope-springs-eternal-for-the-american-chestnut-tree/ 

Westmont is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States.  It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.  The population was 5,523 at the 2000 census.  Westmont is located about 28 miles WSW of Altoona, Pennsylvania.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km²), all of it land.  The Westmont Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.  Perhaps the town's standout feature is the allee of American Elm trees along Luzerne Street, the last cathedral-arched boulevard left in the United States.  Today there are 195 elms, the longest continuous stand of American Elms in the country, planted along Luzerne Street. Westmont's elm trees are intensively maintained to protect them from Dutch Elm Disease.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westmont,_Pennsylvania 

Ebenezer Scrooge Versus the Grinch  Read four-page article by Eric Adler at  http://www.theledger.com/article/20071225/NEWS/712250361?p=1&tc=pg

Follow-up to overlooked holiday classics  My dad has read "Christmas Memory" aloud every Christmas Eve since 1978.  He does all the voices -- Buddy, his friend, Ha Ha Jones, even the mill owner's wife who wants to buy their Christmas tree.  He sings the tunes that Buddy and his friend dance to after they're finished making fruitcakes.  It's a very special part of our holiday tradition, and when Buddy searches the sky for two lost kites at the very end, there's not a misty eye in the room.  Thank you, muse reader. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR  My New Year's Resolutions:  Read the original A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens and read The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) by E.TA. Hoffmann and its 1844 revision, The Nutcracker of Nuremburg by Alexandre Dumas.  

Q:  What did Guy Lombardo have to do with New Year's Eve?
A:  Gaetano Alberto Lombardo (1902-1977) was a violinist and leader of "The Royal Canadians," a popular big band formed with his three brothers in London, Ontario.  While booked at New York's Roosevelt Hotel in 1929, the band was so in demand on New Year's Eve that it played for CBS radio before midnight and for NBC radio after.   About that time, Lombardo began playing "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight, launching a tradition that continued at the Roosevelt until 1966, and then at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.  Lombardo would joke to reporters, "When I die, I'm taking New Year's Eve with me." -- Solid!  Peter Mattiace.   
Q:  What does "auld lang syne" mean?
A:  The words are Scottish for "times gone by."  Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote the song in 1788. -- CNN.
Q:  Why is Times Square the centerpiece of New Year's Eve in our country?
A:  The New York Times first held a New Year's Eve celebration there on Dec. 31, 1904, to celebrate its new building and the renaming of Longacre Square to Times Square.  The first ball was lowered on Dec. 31, 1907, at 1 Times Square.  It was five feet in diameter, made of iron and wood, and had 100 25-watt light bulbs.  CNN   http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2013/Dec/JU/ar_JU_123013.asp?d=123013,2013,Dec,30&c=c_13