Most people tend to call any crack in a tree trunk a “frost crack.”  But then, most people don’t tend to slice open those trees to see inside.  Walter Shortle does.  As a research plant pathologist with the Northeastern Research Station, USDA Forest Service in Durham, New Hampshire, Shortle worked with renowned tree pathologist Alex Shigo, who dissected more than 15,000 trees from 1959 to 1985.  “It’s a bad name,” says Walter Shortle.  “Virtually all of the stem defects that we tend to call ‘frost cracks’ are caused initially by something other than frost.”  Hundreds of those tree dissections were made specifically for the purpose of tracing these so-called frost cracks to their point of origin within the tree.  “Every time we’ve dissected these trees,” says Shortle, “we’ve traced the cracks to some injury or wound.  Frost may contribute to cracks – by making them larger – but it’s seldom the initial cause.”  
http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/does-frost-really-crack-trees 

Sunscald also called southwest injury occurs in late winter and early spring on the south west side of thin bark trees.  The direct sun or reflected sunlight from snow or light colored structures heats tree bark during the day.  The tissues becomes active and breaks dormancy.  With freezing night time temperatures, the active tissues are killed.  The bark area involved shows an elongated canker that appears discolored and sunken.  Cracking and peeling of the bark may follow.  The damage may not show until the next spring or summer when new growth occurs.  Further problems from insect and disease entry at the damaged site may affect the tree.  Any loose bark can be removed from the split using a sterilized knife or pruner.  The tree will normally heal itself.  http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/environmental/sunscald/sunscald-of-woody-plants.aspx 

Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (1871-1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, actor-manager and producer.  Hicks appeared in three early silent films:  Scrooge and David Garrick in 1913, and A Prehistoric Love Story in 1915.  He decided in 1923 to produce his own films.  His first film, in which he starred, was Always Tell Your Wife, which was based on one of his plays.  While making that film, Hicks fired the director and hired an unknown young director to make his debut:  Alfred Hitchcock.   Hicks directed Sleeping Partners (1930) and Glamour (1931).  In addition, over a dozen films were made either from his plays or his scripts, and he starred in about twenty films, many with his wife.  Hicks's most famous role was that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.  He first played this role in 1901 and eventually played it thousands of times onstage, often at benefits, and twice on film:  the 1913 silent film Scrooge and the 1935 film Scrooge, produced in England.  In 1926, Pathé Pictures released the 1913 film in America under the title Old Scrooge.  This 1926 print has been released on DVD. The 1935 Scrooge was the first feature-length film version of the story with sound.  The film has been praised for its vivid atmosphere, but most of the ghosts in the film are not seen onscreen, except for the Ghost of Christmas Present (Oscar Asche).   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hicks

Fugitive colors & other issues in conservation by Diana Nunley  Read about the effect of light on art at http://wcma.williams.edu/files/2012/01/E_1991_a.pdf

The Latin word ambi means 'on both sides' or 'both ways'.  The Greek word amphi means the same thing.  Short list of examples include ambidextrous (adj, ambiguous (adj), ambivalence (n),  amphibian (n) and amphitheatre (n).  http://prefixpower.blogspot.com/2008/08/ambi-amphi-both-around.html

The possum can't get insurance because the company found out he's always faking his own death.  paraphrase from Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip  Jan. 8, 2014 

Bowl and amphitheater are synonyms, so when they appear in succession we have redundancy.  Examples:  Pinewood Bowl Amphitheater, Ramona Bowl Amphitheater, Bidwell Bowl Amphitheater, Highland Bowl Amphitheater 

The Rose Bowl (officially known since 2011 as the Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio for sponsorship purposes) is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.  When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2 (14 times now).  The Rose Bowl is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All" because it is the oldest bowl game.  It was first played in 1902, and has been played annually since 1916.  Since 1945, it has been the highest attended college football bowl game.  It is a part of the Tournament of Roses "America's New Year Celebration", which also includes the historic Tournament of Roses Parade.  Except in the years when the Rose Bowl Game served as the BCS National Championship Game, it has continued to be played in the afternoon.  In 2014, the Rose Bowl Game celebrated its 100th game.  Link to all results from January 1, 1902 (Michigan 49, Stanford 0) to January 1, 2014 (Michigan State 24, Stanford 20) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Bowl_Game  

A polar vortex is basically an arctic cyclone that ordinarily spins counterclockwise around the north and south poles.  While it tends to dip over northeastern Canada, it’s catching everyone’s attention because it has moved southward over such a large population — as many as 140 million Americans are feeling the freeze.  Through the course of a winter, the arctic air can get displaced southward, typically into the eastern U.S.  But it is uncommon for such cold air to cover such a large part of the country, happening maybe once a decade or longer.  Amplifying this polar vortex are the extreme cold and brutal winds — sending places such as Fargo, N.D., at 32 below zero and Madison, Wis., at minus 21.  Add the wind chill, and it will feel like minus 50s and 60s in some parts.  http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/06/22201007-polar-vortex-what-is-it-and-when-is-it-going-away?lite 

Read about Arctic weather patterns, cyclones and anticyclones and see images at http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/weather_climate_patterns.html 

Russell Blake has been publishing a new novel roughly every five weeks.  In December, 2013, he released two new books: a hard-boiled noir detective novel starring a struggling Hollywood private investigator, and a thriller about an ex-Mossad agent on the run.  Author Craig Osso writes thrillers under the pen name Russell Blake.  Some novelists are obsessed by plot pacing and character development, others by a literary turn of phrase.  For Mr. Blake, it is about speed, and volume.  Mr. Blake, who self-publishes his books, has released 25 books in the last 30 months.  He wrote one of his best-selling books, the 229-page thriller "JET," in just 16 days.  He churns out 7,000 to 10,000 words a day and often works from eight in the morning until midnight.  His first 10 books barely sold.  Mr. Osso was losing money, spending $1,500 per book to pay editors, proofreaders and graphic designers who created cover images for his digital books and paperbacks.  Then, he began experimenting with different marketing tactics.  He made the first book in his series free, in hopes of hooking readers.  Sales began to pick up.  He realized he could take advantage of Amazon's algorithm for its "new releases" category, where readers tend to browse, by putting out a book roughly every 30 days.  Each time he put out a new release, his backlist sales would surge.  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303640604579298604044404682

Issue 1094  January 8, 2014  On this day in 1790, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City, then the provisional capital of the United States.