Energy and Commerce Committee Releases Climate Change White Paper
"The Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality are issuing a series of Climate Change Legislative Design White Papers as the next step toward enactment of an economy-wide climate change program. The fourth White Paper, released today, is entitled Getting the Most Greenhouse Gas Reductions for Our Money. The White Paper discusses ways to keep costs as low as possible while still achieving environmental goals." Related postings on climate change
Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States
News release: "The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) today released Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 (SAP 4.3): The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States. The CCSP integrates the federal research efforts of 13 agencies on climate and global change. Today's report is one of the most extensive examinations of climate impacts on U.S. ecosystems. USDA is the lead agency for this report and coordinated its production as part of its commitment to CCSP."
At What Point Does Silence Become Malpractice? Suppose you’re working on a client matter and you mess something up — say, miss a filing date. How long can you wait before you must tell the client about it?
According to this story, from the Recorder, that’s the issue bubbling to the surface of a suit filed by Landmark Screens against its patent lawyer, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Thomas Kohler. Landmark Screens — whose picture-changing billboard can be seen on Highway 101 near San Carlos, Calif. — filed a malpractice suit against Kohler accusing Kohler of messing up a patent application. Here’s the complaint.
WSJ Law Blog May 29, 2008
FEC Launches Enhanced Presidential Campaign Finance Map
News release: "The Federal Election Commission (FEC/the Commission) has introduced a new and improved version of its Presidential Campaign Finance map...the map now includes detailed information on each candidate’s campaign expenditures. It also provides a number of enhanced viewing and searching options for information about campaign contributors. The upgraded map is an easy-to-use online tool for obtaining detailed information about the Presidential campaigns and how they spend their money, including the payee name, purpose, date and amount of each campaign expenditure. These improved features were included on similar maps for U.S. House and Senate campaigns that were added to the FEC web site late last year."
"Campaign finance information is now available via easy to use maps of the USA for both Presidential and House and Senate Elections through the most recent reporting period".
Nonprofit Group To Add Its Rankings To Crowded Field, By Anna Wilde Mathews: "The nonprofit Consumers Union is launching a new hospital-ratings service, adding to the growing competition to provide online consumer information about health care. The effort by the publisher of the popular Consumer Reports magazine is a gamble that the credibility of the magazine's name and its no-advertising stance, identified with widely used ratings for cars and other products, can translate into the tricky field of health care, where doctors and other providers have objected to some evaluations proposed by insurers."
To nature
It has ten eyes, it has an anti-infection compound in its copper-based blood, it preceded the dinosaurs by more than 100 million years, it has remained basically unchanged for 245 million years, it was unregulated until 1999, it is the state marine mammal of Delaware, it is the horseshoe crab. See pictures at http://www.nature.org/magazine/summer2008/features/
Find all state animals at http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Lists/state_mammals.html
A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., jurist (1841-1935)
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Gardener
by Donna Dean
May 27, 2008
Five flats of flowers,
All stacked in a tower,
Waiting for her hands
To pluck them from their stands.
Now hard at work,
Down in the dirt,
She toils all day,
Digging in the clay.
Her back is sore,
But there is more
To be planted today
In that hard old clay.
Her legs they shake
From the spade and rake.
Her muscles hurt
And her skin is burnt.
But she plants and plants,
While her two dogs dance,
Till the work is done
In the red hot sun.
To be out all day
In that hard old clay,
Planting lots of flowers,
Working hours and hours.
Then the flowers are all in
And she smiles with a grin,
As she looks around
At the plants in the ground.
All the tools put away,
At the end of the day,
She just heard them say
A frost is coming our way!
To nature
The saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), a cactus, grows in the Sonoran desert of Arizona, California and Mexico, and can live up to 200 years. The stem is up to 90% water, and its ribs can expand to accommodate heavy rainfall. See pictures at:
http://www.nature.org/magazine/summer2008/features/art24743.html
Faithful reader responds to poem in his honor:
i did read that the other day
and i felt the urge to say
what an honor bestowed
where er i go-ed
pebble pebble, pebble pebble AWAY!
i would have replied sooner but had..... golf league last night
Charlotte, North Carolina was the only U.S. metropolitan area to record a first-quarter gain in housing prices among the 20 markets tracked by Standard & Poor's.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/05/26/daily4.html
Lake Erie fishing and regulation—commercial vs. sports
April 6, 2008: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/COLUMNIST22/804060342
May 14, 2008: http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/54/fishin-impossible
May 26, 2008: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080526/NEWS17/805260332/-1/NEWS
The Exon-Florio National Security Test for Foreign InvestmentSource: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
The Exon-Florio provision grants the President the authority to block proposed or pending foreign acquisitions of “persons engaged in interstate commerce in the United States”that threaten to impair the national security. This provision came under intense scrutiny with the proposed acquisitions in 2006 of major operations in six major U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World and of Unocal by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The debate that followed reignited longstanding differences among Members of Congress and between the Congress and the administration over the role foreign acquisitions play in U.S. national security.
Full Report (PDF; 158 KB) Permalink
Post-Derby Tragedy, 38% Support Banning Animal RacingSource: Gallup
Relatively few Americans advocate going so far as to accord animals the same legal rights as humans, although a large majority do favor affording animals some protection. A large majority also favor strict laws on treatment of farm animals. Substantial minorities of Americans go so far as to advocate an outright ban on horse and dog racing, and on the use of animals for medical testing and research. Permalink
Louisiana has six licensed vineyards and a law requiring small wineries to find their own distributors.
Pontchartrain Vineyards--north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain--is the only winery in the state producing table wines exclusively from traditional wine grapes. The others produce wine from Muscadine or other non-grape fruits. "I have a very simple goal: to turn out a really good local wine that people can enjoy with our really good local food," John Seago said.
"On no level of the state is there interest," he said. "It's very discouraging. I'm growing a few vines here, and in Texas they are growing an industry." Neighboring Texas has 158 commercial wineries and 3,700 acres of family owned vineyard land contributing to a $1 billion economic impact, according to the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association.
Texas is now the fifth-largest wine producing state, behind California, Washington, New York and Oregon. There are wineries in all 50 states now.
Pontchartrain Vineyards produces nine wines, three whites, a rose, and five reds. One of the reds, the Rouge Militaire, is from grapes grown at the vineyard. The others are made from grapes Seago imports.
Pontchartrain Vineyards averages about 2,000 cases of wine per year, 12 bottles to a case. It has produced up to 2,900 cases. Pontchartrain products are available in south Louisiana supermarkets and restaurants in the area. They also sell through their Web site.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110//05-27-2008/20080527015015_40.html
Good use of white space means easy reading, and that helpful space between lines of text is called leading (pronouncing LEDD-ing).
http://www.learnthat.com/define/view.asp?id=7644
Old Glory, by Jonathan Raban, is a travel classic without Himalayan ascents, exotic foods or dangerous encounters in distant lands. Instead, it's a meander through the middle of America, by a bookish man who loiters at shabby taverns in has-been towns. It brings alive an unsung world and reminds us that great travel doesn't require a passport, or even a plane ticket. The potential for weird and wonderful encounters is all around us.
Listen to entire piece at NPR.
May 28 is the birthday of the man who created James Bond, novelist Ian Fleming, (books by this author) born in London, England (1908). He wanted to be a diplomat, but he failed the Foreign Office examination and decided to go into journalism. He worked for the Reuters News Service in London, Moscow, and Berlin, and then during World War II, he served as the assistant to the British director of naval intelligence.
After the war, he bought a house in Jamaica, where he spent his time fishing and gambling and bird watching. He started to get bored, so he decided to try writing a novel about a secret agent. He named the agent James Bond after the author of a bird-watching book. The first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953), sold about 7,000 copies, and Fleming followed it with four more that sold less and less well. He was disappointed that these books weren't making more money to help support the family, so for his next Bond story, he wrote the book specifically for the movies. He filled it with more psychopaths and beautiful women than usual. No one in the movie industry was interested at the time, but the novel From Russia, with Love (1957) became a huge international best seller.
The Writer’s Almanac
Incidentally, a “new” James Bond story Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks has been released.
by Donna Dean
May 27, 2008
Five flats of flowers,
All stacked in a tower,
Waiting for her hands
To pluck them from their stands.
Now hard at work,
Down in the dirt,
She toils all day,
Digging in the clay.
Her back is sore,
But there is more
To be planted today
In that hard old clay.
Her legs they shake
From the spade and rake.
Her muscles hurt
And her skin is burnt.
But she plants and plants,
While her two dogs dance,
Till the work is done
In the red hot sun.
To be out all day
In that hard old clay,
Planting lots of flowers,
Working hours and hours.
Then the flowers are all in
And she smiles with a grin,
As she looks around
At the plants in the ground.
All the tools put away,
At the end of the day,
She just heard them say
A frost is coming our way!
To nature
The saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), a cactus, grows in the Sonoran desert of Arizona, California and Mexico, and can live up to 200 years. The stem is up to 90% water, and its ribs can expand to accommodate heavy rainfall. See pictures at:
http://www.nature.org/magazine/summer2008/features/art24743.html
Faithful reader responds to poem in his honor:
i did read that the other day
and i felt the urge to say
what an honor bestowed
where er i go-ed
pebble pebble, pebble pebble AWAY!
i would have replied sooner but had..... golf league last night
Charlotte, North Carolina was the only U.S. metropolitan area to record a first-quarter gain in housing prices among the 20 markets tracked by Standard & Poor's.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/05/26/daily4.html
Lake Erie fishing and regulation—commercial vs. sports
April 6, 2008: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/COLUMNIST22/804060342
May 14, 2008: http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/54/fishin-impossible
May 26, 2008: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080526/NEWS17/805260332/-1/NEWS
The Exon-Florio National Security Test for Foreign InvestmentSource: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
The Exon-Florio provision grants the President the authority to block proposed or pending foreign acquisitions of “persons engaged in interstate commerce in the United States”that threaten to impair the national security. This provision came under intense scrutiny with the proposed acquisitions in 2006 of major operations in six major U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World and of Unocal by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The debate that followed reignited longstanding differences among Members of Congress and between the Congress and the administration over the role foreign acquisitions play in U.S. national security.
Full Report (PDF; 158 KB) Permalink
Post-Derby Tragedy, 38% Support Banning Animal RacingSource: Gallup
Relatively few Americans advocate going so far as to accord animals the same legal rights as humans, although a large majority do favor affording animals some protection. A large majority also favor strict laws on treatment of farm animals. Substantial minorities of Americans go so far as to advocate an outright ban on horse and dog racing, and on the use of animals for medical testing and research. Permalink
Louisiana has six licensed vineyards and a law requiring small wineries to find their own distributors.
Pontchartrain Vineyards--north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain--is the only winery in the state producing table wines exclusively from traditional wine grapes. The others produce wine from Muscadine or other non-grape fruits. "I have a very simple goal: to turn out a really good local wine that people can enjoy with our really good local food," John Seago said.
"On no level of the state is there interest," he said. "It's very discouraging. I'm growing a few vines here, and in Texas they are growing an industry." Neighboring Texas has 158 commercial wineries and 3,700 acres of family owned vineyard land contributing to a $1 billion economic impact, according to the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association.
Texas is now the fifth-largest wine producing state, behind California, Washington, New York and Oregon. There are wineries in all 50 states now.
Pontchartrain Vineyards produces nine wines, three whites, a rose, and five reds. One of the reds, the Rouge Militaire, is from grapes grown at the vineyard. The others are made from grapes Seago imports.
Pontchartrain Vineyards averages about 2,000 cases of wine per year, 12 bottles to a case. It has produced up to 2,900 cases. Pontchartrain products are available in south Louisiana supermarkets and restaurants in the area. They also sell through their Web site.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110//05-27-2008/20080527015015_40.html
Good use of white space means easy reading, and that helpful space between lines of text is called leading (pronouncing LEDD-ing).
http://www.learnthat.com/define/view.asp?id=7644
Old Glory, by Jonathan Raban, is a travel classic without Himalayan ascents, exotic foods or dangerous encounters in distant lands. Instead, it's a meander through the middle of America, by a bookish man who loiters at shabby taverns in has-been towns. It brings alive an unsung world and reminds us that great travel doesn't require a passport, or even a plane ticket. The potential for weird and wonderful encounters is all around us.
Listen to entire piece at NPR.
May 28 is the birthday of the man who created James Bond, novelist Ian Fleming, (books by this author) born in London, England (1908). He wanted to be a diplomat, but he failed the Foreign Office examination and decided to go into journalism. He worked for the Reuters News Service in London, Moscow, and Berlin, and then during World War II, he served as the assistant to the British director of naval intelligence.
After the war, he bought a house in Jamaica, where he spent his time fishing and gambling and bird watching. He started to get bored, so he decided to try writing a novel about a secret agent. He named the agent James Bond after the author of a bird-watching book. The first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953), sold about 7,000 copies, and Fleming followed it with four more that sold less and less well. He was disappointed that these books weren't making more money to help support the family, so for his next Bond story, he wrote the book specifically for the movies. He filled it with more psychopaths and beautiful women than usual. No one in the movie industry was interested at the time, but the novel From Russia, with Love (1957) became a huge international best seller.
The Writer’s Almanac
Incidentally, a “new” James Bond story Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks has been released.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
PEBBLE PEBBLE
written by Martha Esbin for a faithful reader
Johnny went to Pebble Beach.
He took a chance without advance
reservations at the golf course.
Pebble pebble.
Johnny went to Pebble Beach.
He could have pranced! He could have danced!
A canceled reservation meant he could play golf at
Pebble pebble.
Johnny took his cell phone
and called his friends.
“Where do you think I am?
Playing golf at Pebble Beach.”
Many a month has come and gone.
Johnny’s tale spins on and on.
Pebble pebble.
Note: Johnny is a nickname for a graduate of St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo.
How loud is too loud?
A decibel comparison chart with volume levels of various sources and how they can affect hearing. Includes OSHA daily permissible noise level exposure. http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html
100 decibels is considered a tolerable limit.
High frequency sounds are the most damaging.
One-third of the total power of a 75-piece orchestra comes from the bass drum.
Taking care of one’s hearing is an important health factor.
When you pull out all the stops, let it not be mind-numbing.
The American Organist June 2008
What is a decibel? Includes Occupational health and safety and the law.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html
Eponym: tartuffe (tahr-TOOF) noun
A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters.
[After the main character in Tartuffe, a play by Molière, pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673). As if to prove themselves, the religious authorities in Paris had the play banned soon after it was introduced.]
A.Word.A.Day
To your health
Brush oil on bread, pita or tortilla. Sprinkle spices, seeds or herbs on top of the oil.
Important dates
May 24: birthday of novelist Michael Chabon, (books by this author) born in Washington, D.C. (1963). He was just 23 when he wrote his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He turned it in as his master's thesis in a creative writing program. He turned it in on a Friday. On Monday he heard that his professor had sent it to an agent. The book was published the following year, in 1988. It was a big success. He was compared to Fitzgerald and John Cheever. He was asked to model clothing for The Gap. People magazine wanted to include him in its list of "50 Most Beautiful People." He turned down both offers.
May 25: It was on this day in 1787, at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, that the Constitutional Convention got underway. Many people agreed that the Articles of Confederation under which the colonies organized after the revolution was not working. The colonies had remained relatively independent of each other, almost like separate countries, and the result was a sort of anarchy.
So the Congress agreed that a stronger central government was necessary to keep the country from falling apart. Thomas Jefferson was not there. He was in Paris. John Adams was in England. Patrick Henry refused to come. He was suspicious that a stronger form of central government would lead to tyranny. Fifty-five delegates were there of 74 who had been invited to come. Most of them were young; only six of them over 60, four of them still in their 20s. Rhode Island didn't send anybody. They didn't approve of the whole thing.
It took some persuading to get the Constitution adopted, but today ours is the oldest written national constitution in the world. It's also one of the shortest, at only 7,591 words.
The Writer’s Almanac
written by Martha Esbin for a faithful reader
Johnny went to Pebble Beach.
He took a chance without advance
reservations at the golf course.
Pebble pebble.
Johnny went to Pebble Beach.
He could have pranced! He could have danced!
A canceled reservation meant he could play golf at
Pebble pebble.
Johnny took his cell phone
and called his friends.
“Where do you think I am?
Playing golf at Pebble Beach.”
Many a month has come and gone.
Johnny’s tale spins on and on.
Pebble pebble.
Note: Johnny is a nickname for a graduate of St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo.
How loud is too loud?
A decibel comparison chart with volume levels of various sources and how they can affect hearing. Includes OSHA daily permissible noise level exposure. http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html
100 decibels is considered a tolerable limit.
High frequency sounds are the most damaging.
One-third of the total power of a 75-piece orchestra comes from the bass drum.
Taking care of one’s hearing is an important health factor.
When you pull out all the stops, let it not be mind-numbing.
The American Organist June 2008
What is a decibel? Includes Occupational health and safety and the law.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html
Eponym: tartuffe (tahr-TOOF) noun
A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters.
[After the main character in Tartuffe, a play by Molière, pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673). As if to prove themselves, the religious authorities in Paris had the play banned soon after it was introduced.]
A.Word.A.Day
To your health
Brush oil on bread, pita or tortilla. Sprinkle spices, seeds or herbs on top of the oil.
Important dates
May 24: birthday of novelist Michael Chabon, (books by this author) born in Washington, D.C. (1963). He was just 23 when he wrote his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He turned it in as his master's thesis in a creative writing program. He turned it in on a Friday. On Monday he heard that his professor had sent it to an agent. The book was published the following year, in 1988. It was a big success. He was compared to Fitzgerald and John Cheever. He was asked to model clothing for The Gap. People magazine wanted to include him in its list of "50 Most Beautiful People." He turned down both offers.
May 25: It was on this day in 1787, at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, that the Constitutional Convention got underway. Many people agreed that the Articles of Confederation under which the colonies organized after the revolution was not working. The colonies had remained relatively independent of each other, almost like separate countries, and the result was a sort of anarchy.
So the Congress agreed that a stronger central government was necessary to keep the country from falling apart. Thomas Jefferson was not there. He was in Paris. John Adams was in England. Patrick Henry refused to come. He was suspicious that a stronger form of central government would lead to tyranny. Fifty-five delegates were there of 74 who had been invited to come. Most of them were young; only six of them over 60, four of them still in their 20s. Rhode Island didn't send anybody. They didn't approve of the whole thing.
It took some persuading to get the Constitution adopted, but today ours is the oldest written national constitution in the world. It's also one of the shortest, at only 7,591 words.
The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, May 23, 2008
See Lawrence Lessig’s op-ed in the New York Times on the proposed Orphaned Works Act. Congress is considering a major reform of copyright law intended to solve the problem of “orphan works” — those works whose owner cannot be found. The problem of orphan works is real. It was caused by a fundamental shift in the architecture of copyright law. Before 1978, copyright was an opt-in system, granting protection only to those who registered and renewed their copyright, and only if they marked their creative work with the famous ©. But three decades ago, Congress created an opt-out system. Copyright protection is now automatic, and it extends for almost a century, whether the author wants or needs it or even knows that his work is regulated by federal law.
The current bill pending before Congress, which Lessig calls “unfair and unwise,” would excuse copyright infringers from significant damages if they can prove that they made a diligent effort to find the copyright owner. The problem, explains Lessig, is that it’s unclear precisely what must be done by either the infringer or the copyright owner seeking to avoid infringement.
WSJ Law Blog May 20, 2008 NYT May 20, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/opinion/20lessig.html?_r=3&sq=lessig&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
New Report: Oil Companies' Record Profits Going to Execs and Stock Buybacks, Leaving Energy Alternatives Behind
As oil prices recently reached an all-time high of $130 a barrel for light sweet crude, a new report details decisions by the big five oil companies to use record-breaking corporate profits to boost executive compensation and prop up their stock price with rich stock buy-backs. The report, produced by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, found that even as American consumers suffer declines in real income and purchasing power, executive pay and shareholder dividends in the oil industry have far outpaced investment in new oil discoveries or alternative energy. The committee looked at executive pay and stock purchases at ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron, which combined made $123 billion last year. Big Oil: Where Have All the Profits Gone? Staff Report. May 21, 2008
New on LLRX
The Government Domain: Plain Language in Government Communications: Peggy Garvin demonstrates the impact of the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2008 on the accessibility of content posted on e-government websites.
Published May 20, 2008
Sect children improperly seized
A Texas state court of appeals ruled that the state of Texas had no right to seize more than 400 children from its compound in April. Here are reports from the NYT, the Houston Chronicle, Reuters and the AP. Click here for a copy of the ruling. Click here and here for NYT and AP stories on the initial removal of the children.
WSJ Law Blog May 22, 2008
"This is an adventure you will never forget until the day you die."
A story from The Writers and Readers Festival in New Zealand.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10511401&pnum=0
Law is purple and library science is lemon in the world of academic regalia hood colors. Information on multiple degrees and unlisted degrees, along with a color chart is here: http://www.academicapparel.com/caps/regalia_colors.html
American institutions have a standard code of academic dress, but European universities show great diversity in their academic apparel. In America, the bachelor’s hood is three feet long with a two-inch border—master’s is three and one-half feet long with a three-inch border, and doctor’s is four feet long with a five-inch border. Individuals in academic processions usually wear the gown appropriate to their highest degree. However, members of the board of trustees may wear doctoral gowns with hoods appropriate to the degree actually held.
Bucknell University 158th commencement program May 18, 2008
To your health
Pour small amount of lemon or lime juice combined with small amount of oil on rice, barley or pasta. Garnish with fresh herbs or chopped vegetables.
If you live in northern Ohio, or are passing through on your travels, stop in lovely Vermilion on Lake Erie. The Zagat Survey has judged Vermilion’s Chez Francois (440/967-0630) as the highest-rated restaurant for food and service in the greater Cleveland area, and its wine program has been given “The Best of Award of Excellence” by The Wine Spectator for the tenth consecutive year. Its Riverfront Café was voted second best waterfront dining in America by Power and Motor Yacht magazine in 2006.
Zagat (pronounced zuh-GAHT) Survey, the guide empire that started as a hobby for attorneys Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a two-page typed list of New York restaurants compiled from reviews from friends, now reviews and ranks hotels, nightlife, golf courses, spas and more.
See interview with Tim Zagat at JD Bliss Blog:
http://www.jdblissblog.com/2007/06/interview-tim-z.html
More about attractions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, situated 163 miles from New York City and 123 miles from Washington, DC
James Buchanan’s Wheatland (resides on a little over four acres of land, with gardens in which plants, vegetables and herbs are growing, the same things from President Buchanan's time in the 19th century)
http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/LancasterPA/pointsOfInterest/JamesBuchanansWheatlandinLancasterPA.cfm
Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum (housed in bank that failed in the Great Depression and then was vacant for 50 years before restoration) and The Heritage Center Museum (collects, preserves, and interprets Lancaster County Pennsylvania's history and decorative arts)
http://www.lancasterheritage.com/
May 23 birthdays
Margaret Wise Brown, (books by this author) born in Brooklyn (1910). She wrote Goodnight Moon.
Jane Kenyon, (books by this author) born in Ann Arbor (1947), who spent the last days of her life working on her last collection of poems, Otherwise.
It's the birthday of the man who gave us the system of classifying and naming all the living things on the planet, Carolus Linnaeus, born in Råshult, Sweden (1707).
When he published his taxonomy in 1758, he listed 4,400 species known to science at the time. Today there are more than one and a half million.
The Writer’s Almanac
The current bill pending before Congress, which Lessig calls “unfair and unwise,” would excuse copyright infringers from significant damages if they can prove that they made a diligent effort to find the copyright owner. The problem, explains Lessig, is that it’s unclear precisely what must be done by either the infringer or the copyright owner seeking to avoid infringement.
WSJ Law Blog May 20, 2008 NYT May 20, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/opinion/20lessig.html?_r=3&sq=lessig&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
New Report: Oil Companies' Record Profits Going to Execs and Stock Buybacks, Leaving Energy Alternatives Behind
As oil prices recently reached an all-time high of $130 a barrel for light sweet crude, a new report details decisions by the big five oil companies to use record-breaking corporate profits to boost executive compensation and prop up their stock price with rich stock buy-backs. The report, produced by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, found that even as American consumers suffer declines in real income and purchasing power, executive pay and shareholder dividends in the oil industry have far outpaced investment in new oil discoveries or alternative energy. The committee looked at executive pay and stock purchases at ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron, which combined made $123 billion last year. Big Oil: Where Have All the Profits Gone? Staff Report. May 21, 2008
New on LLRX
The Government Domain: Plain Language in Government Communications: Peggy Garvin demonstrates the impact of the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2008 on the accessibility of content posted on e-government websites.
Published May 20, 2008
Sect children improperly seized
A Texas state court of appeals ruled that the state of Texas had no right to seize more than 400 children from its compound in April. Here are reports from the NYT, the Houston Chronicle, Reuters and the AP. Click here for a copy of the ruling. Click here and here for NYT and AP stories on the initial removal of the children.
WSJ Law Blog May 22, 2008
"This is an adventure you will never forget until the day you die."
A story from The Writers and Readers Festival in New Zealand.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10511401&pnum=0
Law is purple and library science is lemon in the world of academic regalia hood colors. Information on multiple degrees and unlisted degrees, along with a color chart is here: http://www.academicapparel.com/caps/regalia_colors.html
American institutions have a standard code of academic dress, but European universities show great diversity in their academic apparel. In America, the bachelor’s hood is three feet long with a two-inch border—master’s is three and one-half feet long with a three-inch border, and doctor’s is four feet long with a five-inch border. Individuals in academic processions usually wear the gown appropriate to their highest degree. However, members of the board of trustees may wear doctoral gowns with hoods appropriate to the degree actually held.
Bucknell University 158th commencement program May 18, 2008
To your health
Pour small amount of lemon or lime juice combined with small amount of oil on rice, barley or pasta. Garnish with fresh herbs or chopped vegetables.
If you live in northern Ohio, or are passing through on your travels, stop in lovely Vermilion on Lake Erie. The Zagat Survey has judged Vermilion’s Chez Francois (440/967-0630) as the highest-rated restaurant for food and service in the greater Cleveland area, and its wine program has been given “The Best of Award of Excellence” by The Wine Spectator for the tenth consecutive year. Its Riverfront Café was voted second best waterfront dining in America by Power and Motor Yacht magazine in 2006.
Zagat (pronounced zuh-GAHT) Survey, the guide empire that started as a hobby for attorneys Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a two-page typed list of New York restaurants compiled from reviews from friends, now reviews and ranks hotels, nightlife, golf courses, spas and more.
See interview with Tim Zagat at JD Bliss Blog:
http://www.jdblissblog.com/2007/06/interview-tim-z.html
More about attractions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, situated 163 miles from New York City and 123 miles from Washington, DC
James Buchanan’s Wheatland (resides on a little over four acres of land, with gardens in which plants, vegetables and herbs are growing, the same things from President Buchanan's time in the 19th century)
http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/LancasterPA/pointsOfInterest/JamesBuchanansWheatlandinLancasterPA.cfm
Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum (housed in bank that failed in the Great Depression and then was vacant for 50 years before restoration) and The Heritage Center Museum (collects, preserves, and interprets Lancaster County Pennsylvania's history and decorative arts)
http://www.lancasterheritage.com/
May 23 birthdays
Margaret Wise Brown, (books by this author) born in Brooklyn (1910). She wrote Goodnight Moon.
Jane Kenyon, (books by this author) born in Ann Arbor (1947), who spent the last days of her life working on her last collection of poems, Otherwise.
It's the birthday of the man who gave us the system of classifying and naming all the living things on the planet, Carolus Linnaeus, born in Råshult, Sweden (1707).
When he published his taxonomy in 1758, he listed 4,400 species known to science at the time. Today there are more than one and a half million.
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, May 22, 2008
New on LLRX.com
Keeping Up with Class Actions: Reports, Legal Sites and Blogs of Note - "Staying current on the latest cases and news in the area of class actions can be challenging, but Russell Scott's guide to reliable subscription based publications, free legal sites and blogs that offer timely news, analysis and selected copies of court filings, is a valuable resource.” Published May 19, 2008
Preserving Legal Information: The Chesapeake Project's First-Year Evaluation
"The Chesapeake Project began as a two-year (2007-2008) pilot digital preservation program established to preserve and ensure permanent access to vital legal information currently available in digital formats on the World Wide Web. The purpose of The Chesapeake Project is to successfully develop and implement a program to stabilize, preserve, and ensure permanent access to critical born-digital legal materials. The goal is to establish the beginnings of a strong regional digital archive collection of U.S. legal materials as well as a sound set of standards, policies, and best practices that have the potential to serve as a model for the future realization of a nationwide digital preservation program. See Legal Information Archive: The Chesapeake Project, First Year Evaluation." [via Sarah J. Rhodes]
63 Million U.S. Adults Mostly or Only Use Wireless Phones
Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, July-December 2007.
"Preliminary results from the July-December 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that nearly one out of every six American homes (15.8%) had only wireless telephones during the second half of 2007. In addition, more than one out of every eight American homes (13.1%) received all or almost all calls on wireless telephones despite having a landline telephone in the home. This report presents the most up-to-date estimates available from the federal government concerning the size and characteristics of these populations."
Give a book 50 pages before deciding whether to continue reading. Read the advice of Nancy Pearl, model for the librarian action figure.
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/authors-corner/nancy-pearl.shtml
Wind Energy Could Produce 20 Percent of U.S. Electricity By 2030
News release: "The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) today released a first-of-its kind report that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity needs by 2030. Entitled 20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030 (248 pages, PDF), the report identifies requirements to achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably, the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix."
A faithful reader has come back from Tennessee where she attended a 58th annual wildflower pilgrimage, an annual five-day event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park consisting of a variety of wildflower, fauna, and natural history walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes, and indoor seminars. Most programs are outdoors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, while indoor offerings are held in various venues throughout Gatlinburg.
http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org/wildflower/index.cfm
If you receive the muse at work, and prefer to read it in the comfort of home, please send me your home e-mail address and I’ll switch the addresses.
dundrearies (dun-DREER-eez) noun
Long flowing sideburns.
[After the bushy sideburns worn by actor Edward A. Sothern who played the part of Lord Dundreary in the play Our American Cousin (1858), written by Tom Taylor (1817-1880). This was the play being performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC during which Abraham Lincoln was shot.]
A.Word.A.Day
Keeping Up with Class Actions: Reports, Legal Sites and Blogs of Note - "Staying current on the latest cases and news in the area of class actions can be challenging, but Russell Scott's guide to reliable subscription based publications, free legal sites and blogs that offer timely news, analysis and selected copies of court filings, is a valuable resource.” Published May 19, 2008
Preserving Legal Information: The Chesapeake Project's First-Year Evaluation
"The Chesapeake Project began as a two-year (2007-2008) pilot digital preservation program established to preserve and ensure permanent access to vital legal information currently available in digital formats on the World Wide Web. The purpose of The Chesapeake Project is to successfully develop and implement a program to stabilize, preserve, and ensure permanent access to critical born-digital legal materials. The goal is to establish the beginnings of a strong regional digital archive collection of U.S. legal materials as well as a sound set of standards, policies, and best practices that have the potential to serve as a model for the future realization of a nationwide digital preservation program. See Legal Information Archive: The Chesapeake Project, First Year Evaluation." [via Sarah J. Rhodes]
63 Million U.S. Adults Mostly or Only Use Wireless Phones
Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, July-December 2007.
"Preliminary results from the July-December 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that nearly one out of every six American homes (15.8%) had only wireless telephones during the second half of 2007. In addition, more than one out of every eight American homes (13.1%) received all or almost all calls on wireless telephones despite having a landline telephone in the home. This report presents the most up-to-date estimates available from the federal government concerning the size and characteristics of these populations."
Give a book 50 pages before deciding whether to continue reading. Read the advice of Nancy Pearl, model for the librarian action figure.
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/authors-corner/nancy-pearl.shtml
Wind Energy Could Produce 20 Percent of U.S. Electricity By 2030
News release: "The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) today released a first-of-its kind report that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity needs by 2030. Entitled 20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030 (248 pages, PDF), the report identifies requirements to achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably, the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix."
A faithful reader has come back from Tennessee where she attended a 58th annual wildflower pilgrimage, an annual five-day event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park consisting of a variety of wildflower, fauna, and natural history walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes, and indoor seminars. Most programs are outdoors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, while indoor offerings are held in various venues throughout Gatlinburg.
http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org/wildflower/index.cfm
If you receive the muse at work, and prefer to read it in the comfort of home, please send me your home e-mail address and I’ll switch the addresses.
dundrearies (dun-DREER-eez) noun
Long flowing sideburns.
[After the bushy sideburns worn by actor Edward A. Sothern who played the part of Lord Dundreary in the play Our American Cousin (1858), written by Tom Taylor (1817-1880). This was the play being performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC during which Abraham Lincoln was shot.]
A.Word.A.Day
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
You may remember that we bought a transponder from Illinois because they are not yet available in Ohio. We christened it last week, driving through toll booths without needing tickets on the way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania—visiting two museums in its quaint downtown. Lancaster County was created on May 10, 1729 and named for Lancashire, England. Some famous county residents include James Buchanan, 15th president of the U.S., and Robert Fulton, father of the steamboat. Lancaster City was the capital of the U.S. for one day when the Continental Congress met there on September 27, 1777 before moving to York. The city was the capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 until 1812. Frank W. Woolworth built his first "5 and 10" in Lancaster in 1879, and Milton Hershey started his chocolate business there. Around 1800, it was the largest inland town in America. http://www.800padutch.com/lancastercity.shtml
http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/LancasterPA/articles/LancasterPAVacationandTourismInformation.cfm
We then drove east to Blue Bell to visit family where, at our request, hoagies were waiting. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, try these Italian sandwiches. There are several stories of how the sandwich got its name, and the most widely accepted story centers on an area of Philadelphia known as Hog Island, which was home to a shipyard during World War I (1914-1918). The Italian immigrants working there would bring giant sandwiches made with cold cuts, spices, oil, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and peppers for their lunches. These workers were nicknamed “hoggies.” Over the years, the name was attached to the sandwiches, but under a different spelling. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HoagieSubmarinePoBoy.htm
Then, we headed west to Lewisburg for the Bucknell University graduation of our granddaughter. According to their Web site, Bucknell, founded in 1846, is the nation's largest private liberal arts university, and is one of the first universities to introduce computer science into its curriculum--in 1957. http://www.bucknell.edu/
Conrad Jacoby's E-Discovery Update: Attorneys, Experts, and E-Discovery Competence http://www.llrx.com/columns/ediscoverycompetence.htm
"No industrialized economy is as reliant on oil, or as obsessed with gasoline prices, as the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of oil. But the oil market is largely immune to Washington’s machinations, and prices have more than quadrupled over the last six years for reasons that are increasingly disconnected from what happens in the United States. The reality is that oil is a globally traded commodity, and Americans must pay international prices to get their share. And those prices reflect the fact that global supplies are stretched and struggling to meet a booming demand that is being driven by growth in developing countries, notably China and India. This has left the world with a very slim cushion of extra production."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11mouwad.html?ex=1368158400&en=e1f0db78b02c83e0&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress, March 2, 2008 (42 pages, PDF)
"This report summarizes the work we have completed and initiated during this semiannual period on a number of important departmental activities, for example, NOAA’s progress on the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites and its efforts to protect marine resources under the National Marine Sanctuary Program; real property at NOAA and personal property management at USPTO; and the outcomes of the annual financial statements audits for the Department and USPTO. In addition, our investigative activities resulted in 14 convictions and more than $12 million in fines, restitutions, and recoveries."
Eight former executives AOL Time Warner execs have been sued by the SEC for fraud. The complaint, filed today in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges they took part in a scheme that caused the company to overstate its online advertising revenue by more than $1 billion.
WSJ Law Blog May 19, 2008
Key Figures on European business - 2008 Edition
News release: The publication consists of fourteen short chapters, focusing on particular aspects of the European business economy; from the size and structure of business sectors to the importance of foreign controlled enterprises.
What to do in Charlotte: http://www.visitcharlotte.com/
What to do in Columbus: http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/
What to do in Tampa: http://www.visittampabay.com/
What to do in Toledo: www.dotoledo.org
Restoration story in Vistula, Toledo’s first neighborhood:
http://www.casey-pomeroyhouse.com/restoration/index.asp
You are invited to send restoration stories in your area to the muse for publication.
http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/LancasterPA/articles/LancasterPAVacationandTourismInformation.cfm
We then drove east to Blue Bell to visit family where, at our request, hoagies were waiting. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, try these Italian sandwiches. There are several stories of how the sandwich got its name, and the most widely accepted story centers on an area of Philadelphia known as Hog Island, which was home to a shipyard during World War I (1914-1918). The Italian immigrants working there would bring giant sandwiches made with cold cuts, spices, oil, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and peppers for their lunches. These workers were nicknamed “hoggies.” Over the years, the name was attached to the sandwiches, but under a different spelling. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HoagieSubmarinePoBoy.htm
Then, we headed west to Lewisburg for the Bucknell University graduation of our granddaughter. According to their Web site, Bucknell, founded in 1846, is the nation's largest private liberal arts university, and is one of the first universities to introduce computer science into its curriculum--in 1957. http://www.bucknell.edu/
Conrad Jacoby's E-Discovery Update: Attorneys, Experts, and E-Discovery Competence http://www.llrx.com/columns/ediscoverycompetence.htm
"No industrialized economy is as reliant on oil, or as obsessed with gasoline prices, as the United States, the world’s biggest consumer of oil. But the oil market is largely immune to Washington’s machinations, and prices have more than quadrupled over the last six years for reasons that are increasingly disconnected from what happens in the United States. The reality is that oil is a globally traded commodity, and Americans must pay international prices to get their share. And those prices reflect the fact that global supplies are stretched and struggling to meet a booming demand that is being driven by growth in developing countries, notably China and India. This has left the world with a very slim cushion of extra production."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11mouwad.html?ex=1368158400&en=e1f0db78b02c83e0&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress, March 2, 2008 (42 pages, PDF)
"This report summarizes the work we have completed and initiated during this semiannual period on a number of important departmental activities, for example, NOAA’s progress on the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites and its efforts to protect marine resources under the National Marine Sanctuary Program; real property at NOAA and personal property management at USPTO; and the outcomes of the annual financial statements audits for the Department and USPTO. In addition, our investigative activities resulted in 14 convictions and more than $12 million in fines, restitutions, and recoveries."
Eight former executives AOL Time Warner execs have been sued by the SEC for fraud. The complaint, filed today in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges they took part in a scheme that caused the company to overstate its online advertising revenue by more than $1 billion.
WSJ Law Blog May 19, 2008
Key Figures on European business - 2008 Edition
News release: The publication consists of fourteen short chapters, focusing on particular aspects of the European business economy; from the size and structure of business sectors to the importance of foreign controlled enterprises.
What to do in Charlotte: http://www.visitcharlotte.com/
What to do in Columbus: http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/
What to do in Tampa: http://www.visittampabay.com/
What to do in Toledo: www.dotoledo.org
Restoration story in Vistula, Toledo’s first neighborhood:
http://www.casey-pomeroyhouse.com/restoration/index.asp
You are invited to send restoration stories in your area to the muse for publication.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Churches and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
Churches and other houses of worship qualify for tax-exempt status as Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) organizations. One qualification for 501(c)(3) status is that these organizations may not participate in political campaign activity. They are permitted under the tax laws to engage in other political activities (e.g., distribute voter guides and invite candidates to speak at church functions) so long as such activity does not support or oppose a candidate. Additionally, church leaders may engage in campaign activity in their capacity as private individuals without negative tax consequences to the church. The tax code’s political campaign prohibition is sometimes referred to as the “Johnson Amendment,” after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, who introduced the provision as an amendment to the Revenue Act of 1954. While some have argued the prohibition violates churches’ free exercise and free speech rights under the First Amendment, the two federal courts of appeals to address the issue have reached the opposite conclusion. Separate from the prohibition in the tax code, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) may also restrict the ability of churches to engage in electioneering activities. Legislation introduced in the 110th Congress, H.R. 2275, would repeal the political campaign prohibition in the tax code. If this bill were enacted into law, churches could engage in campaign activities without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status, but they would still be subject to applicable campaign finance laws. This report examines the restrictions imposed on campaign activity by churches under tax and campaign finance laws, discusses recent IRS inquiries into such activity, and analyzes H.R. 2275.
+ Full Report (PDF; 117 KB) Permalink
“Every vowel is a diphthong except e—and in Texas even e is a diphthong.”
Native Texan Gerre Hancock as he was leading a workshop in Toledo
diph·thong noun
Etymology: Middle English diptonge, from Middle French diptongue, from Late Latin dipthongus, from Greek diphthongos, from di- + phthongos voice, sound
Date: 15th century
a gliding monosyllabic speech sound (as the vowel combination at the end of toy) that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position of another
www.m-w.com
Q. What is an oscine?
A. A songbird
http://www.answers.com/topic/oscine-oscine-bird
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-554398/songbird
Remember to use Google as a dictionary—here is the result for define passerine.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Passerine&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
At the Museum of the North, on the grounds of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the composer John Luther Adams has created a sound-and-light installation called “The Place Where You Go to Listen”—a kind of infinite musical work that is controlled by natural events occurring in real time. The mechanism of “The Place” translates raw data into music: information from seismological, meteorological, and geomagnetic stations in various parts of Alaska is fed into a computer and transformed into an intricate, vibrantly colored field of electronic sound.
“The Place” occupies a small white-walled room on the museum’s second floor. You sit on a bench before five glass panels, which change color according to the time of day and the season. What you notice first is a dense, organlike sonority, which Adams has named the Day Choir. In overcast weather, the harmonies are relatively narrow in range; when the sun comes out, they stretch across four octaves. After the sun goes down, a darker, moodier set of chords, the Night Choir, moves to the forefront. Pulsating patterns in the bass, which Adams calls Earth Drums, are activated by small earthquakes and other seismic events around Alaska. And shimmering sounds in the extreme registers—the Aurora Bells—are tied to the fluctuations in the magnetic field that cause the Northern Lights.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_ross
London Bridge is Curling Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/magazine/24DESIGN.html
London Bridge is Rolling Up
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2008/05/12/080512crsk_skyline_goldberger
May 13 is the birthday of novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin, (books by this author) born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England (1940). His father took him on trips when Chatwin was a boy, and he later became an archeologist, traveling to Africa and Afghanistan. He began writing a column for the London Times, and then decided to go off to Patagonia. There he collected the material for what would become his first book, In Patagonia (1977).
The Writer’s Almanac
Churches and other houses of worship qualify for tax-exempt status as Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) organizations. One qualification for 501(c)(3) status is that these organizations may not participate in political campaign activity. They are permitted under the tax laws to engage in other political activities (e.g., distribute voter guides and invite candidates to speak at church functions) so long as such activity does not support or oppose a candidate. Additionally, church leaders may engage in campaign activity in their capacity as private individuals without negative tax consequences to the church. The tax code’s political campaign prohibition is sometimes referred to as the “Johnson Amendment,” after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, who introduced the provision as an amendment to the Revenue Act of 1954. While some have argued the prohibition violates churches’ free exercise and free speech rights under the First Amendment, the two federal courts of appeals to address the issue have reached the opposite conclusion. Separate from the prohibition in the tax code, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) may also restrict the ability of churches to engage in electioneering activities. Legislation introduced in the 110th Congress, H.R. 2275, would repeal the political campaign prohibition in the tax code. If this bill were enacted into law, churches could engage in campaign activities without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status, but they would still be subject to applicable campaign finance laws. This report examines the restrictions imposed on campaign activity by churches under tax and campaign finance laws, discusses recent IRS inquiries into such activity, and analyzes H.R. 2275.
+ Full Report (PDF; 117 KB) Permalink
“Every vowel is a diphthong except e—and in Texas even e is a diphthong.”
Native Texan Gerre Hancock as he was leading a workshop in Toledo
diph·thong noun
Etymology: Middle English diptonge, from Middle French diptongue, from Late Latin dipthongus, from Greek diphthongos, from di- + phthongos voice, sound
Date: 15th century
a gliding monosyllabic speech sound (as the vowel combination at the end of toy) that starts at or near the articulatory position for one vowel and moves to or toward the position of another
www.m-w.com
Q. What is an oscine?
A. A songbird
http://www.answers.com/topic/oscine-oscine-bird
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-554398/songbird
Remember to use Google as a dictionary—here is the result for define passerine.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Passerine&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
At the Museum of the North, on the grounds of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the composer John Luther Adams has created a sound-and-light installation called “The Place Where You Go to Listen”—a kind of infinite musical work that is controlled by natural events occurring in real time. The mechanism of “The Place” translates raw data into music: information from seismological, meteorological, and geomagnetic stations in various parts of Alaska is fed into a computer and transformed into an intricate, vibrantly colored field of electronic sound.
“The Place” occupies a small white-walled room on the museum’s second floor. You sit on a bench before five glass panels, which change color according to the time of day and the season. What you notice first is a dense, organlike sonority, which Adams has named the Day Choir. In overcast weather, the harmonies are relatively narrow in range; when the sun comes out, they stretch across four octaves. After the sun goes down, a darker, moodier set of chords, the Night Choir, moves to the forefront. Pulsating patterns in the bass, which Adams calls Earth Drums, are activated by small earthquakes and other seismic events around Alaska. And shimmering sounds in the extreme registers—the Aurora Bells—are tied to the fluctuations in the magnetic field that cause the Northern Lights.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_ross
London Bridge is Curling Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/magazine/24DESIGN.html
London Bridge is Rolling Up
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2008/05/12/080512crsk_skyline_goldberger
May 13 is the birthday of novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin, (books by this author) born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England (1940). His father took him on trips when Chatwin was a boy, and he later became an archeologist, traveling to Africa and Afghanistan. He began writing a column for the London Times, and then decided to go off to Patagonia. There he collected the material for what would become his first book, In Patagonia (1977).
The Writer’s Almanac
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)