A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

laconic  (luh-KON-ik)  adjective  Sparing with words:  concise or terse.  From Latin Laconicus, from Greek Lakonikos, from Lakon, Laconian, a resident of Laconia, an ancient country in southern Greece (capital:  Sparta).  From the reputation of the Laconians for terseness.  Earliest documented use:  1601.

campanile  (kam-puh-NEE-lee, -neel)  noun  A bell tower, especially one detached from a main building such as a church.  From Italian campana (bell), from Latin campana (bell).  From the Campania region in Italy, known for the bronze that was used to cast bells.  Earliest documented use:  1640.

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From:  Derek Noonan  Subject:  laconic  I heard this word first when doing Classical Studies in secondary school in Ireland.  The context was Philip II of Macedon.  After invading southern Greece and receiving the submission of other major city-states, he turned his attention to Sparta and asked, with some malintent, whether he should come as friend or foe.  “Neither”, was the reply.  He then sent the message:  “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city”  The Spartans again replied with a single word:  “If.”
From:  Andrew Pressburger   Subject:  Laconic  Actually, the places you call countries of Ancient Greece were not countries but city-states or polises (poleis in Greek), a word which gave us politics, in the sense of “civic affairs”.  This is similar to the Latin “res publica” from which we derive the English republic and its cognates in other European languages.  (Cf. republique Fr., repubblica It., Republik Ger., Respublik Rus.)

From:  Johnson Flucker   Subject:  campanile  A great borrowed word that has begat another that might be of interest:  campanilismo--literally the sense of place that is defined by being born within the sound of the campanile’s bells.  Laurence Bergreen uses the word as a chapter title in his biography, “Capone:  The Man and the Era”.  He wrote:  Once they had passed through Ellis Island and arrived in New York, the Capone family, like other Italian immigrants, gravitated toward neighborhoods sheltering people who had fled the same region, if not the same town.  This powerful sense of place was known as campanilismo . . . More than religion, perhaps even more than language, campanilismo reinforced the Italian immigrant’s alienation from American life . . . the sameness buttressed the immigrants’ identity, but at the same time it cut off the immigrants from the world of American possibilities.

Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae.  It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India.  Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.  The most widely cultivated species, Lavandula angustifolia, is often referred to as lavender, and there is a color named for the shade of the flowers of this species.  For most cooking applications the dried buds, which are also referred to as flowers, are used.  Lavender greens have a more subtle flavour when compared to rosemary.  The potency of the lavender flowers increases with drying which makes their use more sparingly to avoid a heavy, soapy aftertaste.  Reduce by 2/3rds the dry amount in recipes which call for fresh lavender buds.  Lavender buds can amplify both sweet and savory flavors in dishes, and is sometimes paired with sheep's-milk and goat's-milk cheeses.  Lavender flowers are occasionally blended with black, green, or herbal teas.  Lavender flavours baked goods and desserts, pairing especially well with chocolate.  In the United States, both lavender syrup and dried lavender buds are used to make lavender scones and marshmallows.  Lavender buds are put into sugar for two weeks to allow the essential oils and fragrance to transfer; then the sugar itself is used in baking.  Lavender can be used in breads where recipes call for rosemary.  Lavender can be used decoratively in dishes or spirits, or as a decorative and aromatic in a glass of champagne.  Lavender is used in savory dishes, giving stews and reduced sauces aromatic flair.  It is also used to scent flans, custards, and sorbets.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavandula

Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region.  It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes many other herbs.  The name "rosemary" derives from the Latin for "dew" (ros) and "sea" (marinus), or "dew of the sea".  The plant is also sometimes called anthos, from the ancient Greek word ἄνθος, meaning "flower".  Rosemary leaves are used as a flavoring in foods such as stuffings and roast lamb, pork, chicken and turkey.  Fresh or dried leaves are used in traditional Mediterranean cuisine.  They have a bitter, astringent taste and a characteristic aroma which complements many cooked foods.  Herbal tea can be made from the leaves.  When roasted with meats or vegetables, the leaves impart a mustard-like aroma with an additional fragrance of charred wood compatible with barbecued foods.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier  (1887–1965), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture.  He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930.  His career spanned five decades and he designed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America.  Dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities, Le Corbusier was influential in urban planning, and was a founding member of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM).  Le Corbusier prepared the master plan for the city of Chandigarh in India, and contributed specific designs for several buildings there.  On 17 July 2016, seventeen projects by Le Corbusier in seven countries were inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as "an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement".  Le Corbusier defined the principles of his new architecture in Les cinq points de l'architecture moderne, published in 1927, and co-authored by his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.  The five points are:  the Pilotis, or pylon.  The building is raised up on reinforced concrete pylons, which allows for free circulation on the ground level, and eliminates dark and damp parts of the house; the Roof Terrace.  The sloping roof is replaced by a flat roof; the roof can be used as a garden, for promenades, sports or a swimming pool; the Free Plan.  Load-bearing walls are replaced by a steel or reinforced concrete columns, so the interior can be freely designed, and interior walls can put anywhere, or left out entirely.  The structure of the building is not visible from the outside; the Ribbon Window.  Since the walls do not support the house, the windows can run the entire length of the house, so all rooms can get equal light; the Free Facade.  Since the building is supported by columns in the interior, the façade can be much lighter and more open, or made entirely of glass.  There is no need for lintels or other structure around the windows.  Read much more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier

Harvard physicist Daniel Davis had a spark of brilliance when he built his own lightning machine—and it sings.  An educator, fulminologist and craftsman by trade, Davis has been fascinated by electricity, particularly atmospheric discharges, for years.  He got his start at an early age, winning a science fair in his junior year of high school with a home-built Tesla coil.  “Back then, in 1988, it was tough to find good information on how to make one,” recalled Davis, who’s now part of the Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations team at Harvard.  “The only texts available were like ‘recipe books,’ with a rigid plan to follow.  If you wanted to come up with your own design, there wasn’t much guidance.”  He teamed up with his science teacher and his step-grandfather, the latter an electrical engineer, and repurposed a retired high-voltage capacitor.  When nearly completed, the process of fine-tuning the device was painstaking and tedious.  “I had spent hours moving the electrical contact along the coil to adjust the resonant frequency,” he told The Washington Post.  “It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.”  Only once he found the sweet spot could he bring life to the instrument.  “Suddenly, a spark jumped—it was a magical moment,” Davis recalled.  After some tweaks, big arcs of electricity were leaping from the metal surface.  From there, it was a short leap to making music.  “The sparks of electricity it produces are small enough that instead of thunder, we hear a pop,” he explained.  If there are enough pops in rapid succession, you instead hear a continuous tone.   controlling the frequency at which the bolts are emitted, he can string together enough electrical pulses to “sing” a note of constant pitch.  By hooking up his coil to a computer microchip, Davis was able to program the Tesla coil to sing Christmas music.  Matthew Cappucci  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/12/20/this-guy-created-a-homemade-lightning-machine-that-sings-christmas-carols-really/?utm_term=.d1dab7b025f1

Farmingdale, NY -- Long Island Iced Tea Corp. (NasdaqCM: LTEA) (the "Company"), announced on December 21, 2017 that the parent company is shifting its primary corporate focus towards the exploration of and investment in opportunities that leverage the benefits of blockchain technology.  In connection with the shift in strategic direction, the Company has approved changing its name from "Long Island Iced Tea Corp." to "Long Blockchain Corp." and has reserved the web domain www.longblockchain.com.  The Company intends to request Nasdaq to change its trading symbol in connection with the name change.  http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/long-island-iced-tea-corp-to-rebrand-as-long-blockchain-corp-20171221-00468

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1815  December 22, 2017  On this date in 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven conducted and performed in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).  On this date in 1937, the Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic in New York City.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_22