Chalk is
formed from lime mud, which accumulates on the sea floor in the right
conditions. This is then transformed
into rock by geological processes: as
more sediment builds up on top, and as the sea floor subsides, the lime mud is
subjected to heat and pressure which removes the water and compacts the
sediment into rock. If chalk is subject
to further heat and pressure it becomes marble.
The lime mud is formed from the microscopic skeletons of plankton, which
rain down on the sea floor from the sunlit waters above. The Coccolithophores are the most important
group of chalk forming plankton. Each
miniscule individual has a spherical skeleton called a cocosphere, formed from
a number of calcareous discs called coccoliths.
After death, most coccospheres and coccoliths collapse into their
constituent parts. Most chalks formed
during the Cretaceous period, between 100 and 60 million years ago, and chalks
of this age can be found around the world.
The Cretaceous chalks record a period when global temperatures and sea
levels were exceptionally high. This
coincided with the break up of the supercontinent Pangea, which broke apart to
form the continents of today. Chalks
formed in the sea-ways of the flooded Cretaceous continents. Chalk is white because it is formed from the
colourless skeletons of marine plankton.
Roy Shepherd Read more and see pictures at http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/chalk_formation_fossils.htm
ersatz adj. made or used as
a substitute, typically an inferior one; not real or genuine
erstwhile adj. former adv.
formerly
The
Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words
2004
Situated between the coastlines of
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, in the middle of the Irish Sea, you’ll find the Isle of
Man. The island is 52 kilometres
long and 22 kilometres wide (32 miles by 14 miles). It’s home to
about 80,000 people. The island has a
10,000 year history with a strong Celtic and Viking past. It is governed by its own parliamentary assembly
– Tynwald – the oldest continuous parliament in the world. The
national symbol of the Isle of Man is the three legs and its motto: whichever way you throw it, it will stand,
could be seen as a symbol of Manx independence and resilience. http://www.manxnationalheritage.im/explore-the-island/about-the-isle-of-man/ Manx Gaelic is one of six Celtic languages,
the others being Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Breton and Cornish. Learn a few words of Manx at http://www.manxnationalheritage.im/explore-the-island/about-the-isle-of-man/manx-language/
Adults turn to children’s books by Rebecca
Eckler A well-known politician who has made scathing headlines for months,
received a children’s picture book, Everything
I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book, from a good friend. The book, drawn from the Golden Book series
that was launched in 1942, is about finding contentment in the simplest things
(“Be a hugger!” “Get some exercise!”). That evening, the politician sent a thank-you
email, mentioning that the same day, another friend had emailed saying that a
“great thing to do in times such as these is to find a childhood book and read
it. So I’m reading my Little Golden Book.” The politician isn’t alone. Barbara Miller, a therapist and social worker,
recommends that adults turn to children’s books. “There are lessons and hope in kids books,
unlike self-help books, where adults can find holes in the words.” For her clients who are grieving, she
suggests a children’s book, The Mountain That
Loved a Bird by Alice McLerran, a gentle tale of
friendship, devotion and hope. Barb
Wiseberg, co-founder of Give One Book, a children’s book bank, says her
favourite children’s book is Hippos
Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton. It was also her son’s favourite baby book. Fast-forward 12 years. “We are planni ng his bar mitzvah, and I keep
a copy with all my notes, to keep perspective on how time flies.” Erica Ehm, founder of YummyMummyClub.ca, sees a similar reminder in one of her
favourite children’s books. She says she
always turns to Love You Forever.
“Sometimes life just punches you in the face. This book just reminds me, point blank, to
live in the moment.” The simple truths,
it seems, bear repeating. http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/oh-the-places-well-go-2/ The Muser:
One of my favorite courses in library school was Children's
Literature. We read three children's
books a week, and to this day I can remember most of them. I often borrow juvenile books from the public
library, and--on occasion--buy them. Two
I recommend are: The Librarian Who
Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky and Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.
What’s the Difference Between “O” and “Oh”? by Arika
Okrent O say can you see … that this
line begins with an “O” and not an “Oh”? “O” may seem like just an old fashioned way to
write “Oh,” but it actually has a slightly different meaning. Consider some other famous O’s: O Captain, my captain, O Pioneers, O Come All
Ye Faithful, O Canada, O Brother Where Art Thou, O ye of little faith, O
Christmas Tree. These are all examples
of what’s known as the vocative O—it indicates that someone or something is
being directly addressed. When you say
“O Christmas tree” the “O” means you are talking right to the Christmas tree. The rest of the song bears this out. (Your branches are lovely! You’re always wearing that dress of green!) Same for “O Canada” and pretty much any
anthem. The words to your school song
probably go something like “O [alma mater], your campus is beautiful, and we
think you’re great.” “Oh” has a wider
range. It can indicate pain, surprise,
disappointment, or really any emotional state. While “oh, man!” could mean a number of
things, “O man!” means “hey, you there … you man over there.” The convention now is that while “oh” can be
lower case, and is usually followed by a comma, “O” is always uppercase and
without a comma. But there hasn’t always
been a strict separation between the two forms. “Oh” and “O” were used interchangeably for a
long time. http://mentalfloss.com/article/56582/whats-difference-between-o-and-oh
Link to stories of famous
trials in world history from Socrates (399 B.C.) to Saddam
Hussein (2006) at http://www.crf-usa.org/research-links/famous-trials.html
Inside a gray office building in
Brussels, Ioannis
Ikonomou's workload is marked in different colors on his computer screen. The 49-year-old Greek translator manages the
work himself, which in the next two weeks alone includes two long texts from
German and French into Greek. It's a
little boring, he says in perfect German, "but it's my contribution to
Europe." More exciting are three special requests: The EU Commission urgently needs translations
of confidential documents from Hebrew, Chinese and Azerbaijani. Very few of the EU's 2,500 translators can
handle that. Ikonomou is the best of them all.
He speaks 32 languages virtually fluently, including a pair of dead
languages. What his brain has managed to
achieve is perhaps unique on the planet. How
can a human being learn so many languages?
As he sips his green tea, he says his career developed out of curiosity.
"That's a keyword for my
life." Ikonomou
speaks 21 of the total of 24 official EU languages. "I forgot my Lithuanian, and I didn't
have time for Gaelic or Maltese."
He understands not only modern languages, but also various
old ones —
Latin, of course, but also Old English, Mayan, Old Irish and Old Iranian. Ikonomou wrote his Harvard dissertation on a
text by the prophet Zarathustra written in Avestan, a form of Old Iranian. "Language is like love," he
says. "When you really fall in love
with someone you also want to know their whole story, meet their parents, visit
their old schools. A language is not
just the present for me but also the past." "Chinese is my
favorite language," he says.
"It's completely different, the Mount Everest for
Europeans." He’s been to China a
few times, and learned more of the language each time. http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/hyper-polyglot-greek-translator-speaks-32-languages/ioannis-ikonomou-eu-commission-languages-translation/c3s17017/#.VGEwFPnF98E
The National Do Not Call Registry gives you an opportunity to limit the telemarketing
calls you receive. Once you register
your phone number, telemarketers covered by the National Do Not Call Registry
have up to 31 days from the date you register to stop calling you.
How long does my phone number stay registered? Telephone numbers on the
registry will only be removed when they are disconnected and reassigned, or
when the consumer chooses to remove a number from the registry. Find much
more information at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0108-national-do-not-call-registry
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1221
November 24, 2014 On this date in
1642, Abel Tasman became
the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
On this date in 1859, Charles
Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
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