In 1886, a lexicographer named Walter Skeat first used the phrase “ghost words” to describe words that he said had “no real existence.”  Ghost words are words that weren’t real to begin with—they came about because of an error or misunderstanding—but they made it into the dictionary anyway.  Mignon Fogarty  Find stories about gravy, syllabus, tweed and more at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/ghost-words  

Find 14 financial terms (from golden boot to golden share) at  http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/?page=1

pragmatist

An adherent of philosophical pragmatism

A person who takes a practical approach to problems and is concerned primarily with the success or failure of their actions  http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/PRAGMATIST

protagonist

A person who backs a politician or a team
The principal character in a work of fiction
http://www.wordwebonline.com/search.pl?w=protagonist

New research suggests that reading books, writing and participating in brain-stimulating activities at any age may preserve memory.  The study is published in the July 3, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.  “Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.  For the study, 294 people were given tests that measured memory and thinking every year for about six years before their deaths at an average age of 89.  They also answered a questionnaire about whether they read books, wrote and participated in other mentally stimulating activities during childhood, adolescence, middle age and at their current age.  After they died, their brains were examined at autopsy for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, such as lesions, brain plaques and tangles.  The research found that people who participated in mentally stimulating activities both early and late in life had a slower rate of decline in memory compared to those who did not participate in such activities across their lifetime, after adjusting for differing levels of plaques and tangles in the brain.  Mental activity accounted for nearly 15 percent of the difference in decline beyond what is explained by plaques and tangles in the brain.  “Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” said Wilson.  The study found that the rate of decline was reduced by 32 percent in people with frequent mental activity in late life, compared to people with average mental activity, while the rate of decline of those with infrequent activity was 48 percent faster than those with average activity.  The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health. https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1195

Toledo Museum of Art conservation

Number of conservators:  3

Number of insects that could damage the collection reported annually:  over 200

Number of gloves used each year by TMA conservators:  4800

The conservator's secret weapon:  toothpicks used for everything from cleaning to transferring pigment

Temperature for art conservation:  45-55 percent relative humidity and 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit

ARtmaTTERS  January-April 2014  

Artworks both inside and outside the museum are protected and maintained.

Phrontistery  "Since 1996, I have compiled word lists and language resources to spread the joy of the English language in all its variety through time and space.  A phrontistery (from the Greek phrontistes 'thinker') is meant to be a thinking-place for reflection and intellectual stimulation.  I invite you to explore the various site features relating to language and lexicography, find that half-remembered rare or obscure word you've been looking for, or to read and explore essays on language, linguistics, and culture."  

Stephen Chrisomalis  http://phrontistery.info/

An off-and-on customer of OfficeMax, Mike Seay has gotten the office supply company's junk mail for years.  But the mail that the grieving Lindenhurst, Ill., father said he got from OfficeMax last week was different.  The envelope appeared to be a typical discount offering.  But this one was addressed to "Mike Seay, Daughter Killed in Car Crash."  Seay's daughter Ashley, 17, was killed last year in a car crash along with her boyfriend.  On Jan. 19, 2014, after the story went public and drew criticism against OfficeMax, a company executive apologized to Seay, who had initially struggled to get OfficeMax representatives to believe his story.  But Seay, who lives about an hour north of Chicago, says the executive's apology stopped short of explaining how an office supply company knew that his daughter had died or why it ended up on a piece of mail.  The incident has already added to the public debate over what kind of data companies and the government keep on private citizens.  "This is the tip of the iceberg.  This happens all the time," said Pam Dixon, executive director of World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit public interest research group based in San Diego, noting that this is just one example of the information such companies probably hold.  In a statement, Naperville, Ill.-based OfficeMax said the mailer was "a result of a mailing list rented through a third-party provider" but did not name the provider and did not say whether the company held similar data on other prospective customers.  Matt Pearce  http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-officemax-mess-20140121,0,2486839.story#axzz2r3D09DOv

Recent unfortunate events

·         e-mail--two invitations to join LinkedIn from the company that exploits members by using their address book listings.

·         phone call from the "technology department of the Windows company" wanting to help me because they were "notified by my computer that I was having problems."  Although I told the caller that Windows is not a company, he kept right on talking.

·         Internet--ads appearing in place of the search results being clicked on.  This is called redirecting and it is rampant.

Issue 1100  January 22, 2014  On this day in 1973, the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.