On June 20, we traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, a city described by economist and author Richard Florida as the “most creative small city in America.” Madison is built on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, and was established in 1836 as capital of Wisconsin Territory and in 1848 as capital of the state.
Recommended restaurants in Madison:
L’Etoile http://www.letoile-restaurant.com/
Restaurant Magnus http://www.restaurantmagnus.com/
On June 21, we toured Taliesen (Welsh for “shining brow”) in Spring Green, a National Historic Landmark http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/frank/index.htm , the summer home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright--and found that Wright was fascinated by music, representing the raised notes of a piano with rafters divided into twos and threes, and windows divided to represent half-steps and whole steps. Then we drove to Circus World Museum in Baraboo, the winter home of Ringling Brothers circus. http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/ To be continued
The Supreme Court's Blockbuster Second Amendment Ruling: What the Court Resolved and What it Left Open
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20080627.html
Searchable database of Supreme Court decisions since 1893
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
toponym waterloo (WOT-uhr-loo) noun A crushing or final defeat
After Waterloo, a village in central Belgium where the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815. That was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. He was decisively defeated by the British and Prussian forces and exiled to the island of Saint Helena.
A.Word.A.Day
Misuse of quotation marks http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/
On June 30, 1857 Charles Dickens gave his first public reading (books by this author). He did this for several reasons: to get away from marital discord at home, because he loved to perform in front of an audience, and because he could make more money reading than he could by writing. His first reading, of A Christmas Carol, was held at Saint Martin's Hall in London, and it was so successful that Charles Dickens became one of the first authors to go on huge, international book tours, performing his own work.
On June 30, 1936 the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was first published. When she handed the manuscript over to editors, it was in terrible shape, with more than 1,000 pages of faded and dog-eared paper, poorly typed and with penciled changes. But they loved the story. They asked Mitchell to change the original title, "Tomorrow Is Another Day," because at the time there were already 13 books in print with the word "tomorrow" in the title. They also asked her to change the main character's name from Pansy to Scarlett.
The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
A reader has asked what the percentage is of lawyers in Congress. After checking federal government sites, Google, findarticles.com and the American Bar Association, I have found no recent statistics. The statistics would probably change at least every two years, so interested people may look through a congressional directory to find the current percentage of lawyers. Let me know if you find an easier way to answer this question.
Questions answered about the federal government
http://www.govspot.com/ask/
Public resources from the American Bar Association
http://www.abanet.org/public.html
News release: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has sustained the Boeing Company’s protest of the Department of the Air Force’s award of a contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation for KC-X aerial refueling tankers. Boeing challenged the Air Force’s technical and cost evaluations, conduct of discussions, and source selection decision.
Air Force Releases Statement on GAO's Decision on the KC-45A Tanker
Final Rule (PDF 4 pages) regarding changes to GAO's Bid Protest Jurisdiction concerning OMB Circular A-76, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality task orders, TSA procurements, and other administrative changes to GAO's Bid Protest Regulations
Boeing Statement on Tanker Protest Ruling
Proposed Rule (PDF, 4 pages) regarding changes to GAO's Bid Protest Jurisdiction concerning OMB Circular A-76, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality task orders, TSA procurements, and other administrative changes to GAO's Bid Protest Regulations.
Bid Protests at GAO: a Descriptive Guide, Eighth Ed., 2006 (GAO-06-797SP) (PDF, 76 pages)
U.S. - China Strategic Economic Dialogue Fact Sheets
Treasury Department news release
U.S. Fact Sheet
Joint U.S. – China Fact Sheet
Joint U.S. – China Fact Sheet on 10-Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has approved publication of a Federal Register notice announcing final amendments to the agency's Fuel Rating Rule. The notice...was issued pursuant to Section 205 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The EISA required the Commission to develop labeling requirements for biodiesel, biomass-based diesel, and blends of those fuels (biodiesel fuels).
On June 16, Lori Drew pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization
The theory of the case seems to be that when Drew registered on MySpace she agreed to certain terms of service that required her to, among other things, provide “truthful and accurate registration information” and “refrain from promoting information that” she knew was “false or misleading.”
According to this January New Yorker article and last month’s indictment, Drew — under the guise of “Josh” — struck up a flirtatious online relationship with Megan Meier, a 13-year old MySpace member, that lasted for several weeks. “Josh” allegedly told Megan she was “sexi” and made other sexually suggestive overtures. Then, “Josh” told Megan he was moving away and that the world would be a better place without her. After “Josh” broke off the relationship, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien has acknowledged this is the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case.
WSJ Law Blog June 17, 2008
Toponym
sardonic (sahr-DON-ik) adjective
Marked by scorn, mockery, and cynicism.
[After Sardinia, a large island in the Mediterranean. Eating a Sardinian plant was believed to produce facial convulsions as if in a maniacal laughter.]
A.Word.A.Day
Mistrial in Australia after inattentiveness
After 105 witnesses and three months of evidence, Judge Peter Zahra aborted a drug trial that cost $1 million, and discharged the jury after the jury forewoman admitted that she and four other jurors had been playing Sudoku since the second week of trial.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/06/11/can-you-blame-them-lengthy-trial-aborted-after-jurors-played-sudoku/#0
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23846744-17044,00.html
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently limited the ability of employers to obtain e-mails and text messages sent by employees on company-financed devices. Here’s the story from the LAT, and here’s the opinion. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel, reports the LAT, was the first federal appellate decision to provide 4th Amendment protection to electronic messages.
WSJ Law Blog June 19, 2008
June 20 is the birthday of poet and novelist Vikram Seth, (books by this author) born in Calcutta, India (1952), the son of a successful shoe salesman and the first woman chief justice on the High Court of Delhi. After studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford, he moved to California and did a master's degree in economics at Stanford. He was particularly interested in Chinese culture, and started a dissertation called "Seven Chinese Villages: An Economic and Demographic Portrait."
Then one day, after he had spent the morning entering economic data of Chinese villages into a computer database, he decided he "couldn't stand it anymore" and walked into the Stanford bookstore and pulled a few volumes of poetry off the shelves. One of them was an excellent translation of Eugene Onegin, Pushkin's novel written in verse. Seth said, "I was so astonished by it, and so affected by it, that I decided that rather than continue working on my dissertation I would take time off to write a novel using the same stanza form, but set in California
The work he set out to write became The Golden Gate, published in 1986, a masterpiece that was 1,300 pages long and consisted of more than 8,000 tetrameter rhymed lines. Set mostly in San Francisco, it was called by Gore Vidal "the great California novel" and gave a sort of poetic analysis of the 1980s young urban professional — "yuppie" — culture.
He finished Golden Gate while living in California, then returned home to India to write his next novel. He thought it would take him a year to finish, but the project expanded and spanned on for several years, and he spent most of his 30s living in his childhood bedroom at his parents' house in India. In 1993, he published his first novel in prose, another huge and ambitious volume, A Suitable Boy, about an intelligent independent Hindu girl who is determined to marry a man of her own choosing rather than be part of an arranged marriage. At 1,349 pages long, it's one of the longest novels to have been written in the English language, and in the opening dedication, Seth playfully inscribed, "Buy me before good sense insists / You'll strain your purse and sprain your wrists."
The Writer’s Almanac
Questions answered about the federal government
http://www.govspot.com/ask/
Public resources from the American Bar Association
http://www.abanet.org/public.html
News release: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has sustained the Boeing Company’s protest of the Department of the Air Force’s award of a contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation for KC-X aerial refueling tankers. Boeing challenged the Air Force’s technical and cost evaluations, conduct of discussions, and source selection decision.
Air Force Releases Statement on GAO's Decision on the KC-45A Tanker
Final Rule (PDF 4 pages) regarding changes to GAO's Bid Protest Jurisdiction concerning OMB Circular A-76, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality task orders, TSA procurements, and other administrative changes to GAO's Bid Protest Regulations
Boeing Statement on Tanker Protest Ruling
Proposed Rule (PDF, 4 pages) regarding changes to GAO's Bid Protest Jurisdiction concerning OMB Circular A-76, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality task orders, TSA procurements, and other administrative changes to GAO's Bid Protest Regulations.
Bid Protests at GAO: a Descriptive Guide, Eighth Ed., 2006 (GAO-06-797SP) (PDF, 76 pages)
U.S. - China Strategic Economic Dialogue Fact Sheets
Treasury Department news release
U.S. Fact Sheet
Joint U.S. – China Fact Sheet
Joint U.S. – China Fact Sheet on 10-Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has approved publication of a Federal Register notice announcing final amendments to the agency's Fuel Rating Rule. The notice...was issued pursuant to Section 205 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The EISA required the Commission to develop labeling requirements for biodiesel, biomass-based diesel, and blends of those fuels (biodiesel fuels).
On June 16, Lori Drew pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization
The theory of the case seems to be that when Drew registered on MySpace she agreed to certain terms of service that required her to, among other things, provide “truthful and accurate registration information” and “refrain from promoting information that” she knew was “false or misleading.”
According to this January New Yorker article and last month’s indictment, Drew — under the guise of “Josh” — struck up a flirtatious online relationship with Megan Meier, a 13-year old MySpace member, that lasted for several weeks. “Josh” allegedly told Megan she was “sexi” and made other sexually suggestive overtures. Then, “Josh” told Megan he was moving away and that the world would be a better place without her. After “Josh” broke off the relationship, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien has acknowledged this is the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case.
WSJ Law Blog June 17, 2008
Toponym
sardonic (sahr-DON-ik) adjective
Marked by scorn, mockery, and cynicism.
[After Sardinia, a large island in the Mediterranean. Eating a Sardinian plant was believed to produce facial convulsions as if in a maniacal laughter.]
A.Word.A.Day
Mistrial in Australia after inattentiveness
After 105 witnesses and three months of evidence, Judge Peter Zahra aborted a drug trial that cost $1 million, and discharged the jury after the jury forewoman admitted that she and four other jurors had been playing Sudoku since the second week of trial.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/06/11/can-you-blame-them-lengthy-trial-aborted-after-jurors-played-sudoku/#0
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23846744-17044,00.html
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently limited the ability of employers to obtain e-mails and text messages sent by employees on company-financed devices. Here’s the story from the LAT, and here’s the opinion. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel, reports the LAT, was the first federal appellate decision to provide 4th Amendment protection to electronic messages.
WSJ Law Blog June 19, 2008
June 20 is the birthday of poet and novelist Vikram Seth, (books by this author) born in Calcutta, India (1952), the son of a successful shoe salesman and the first woman chief justice on the High Court of Delhi. After studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford, he moved to California and did a master's degree in economics at Stanford. He was particularly interested in Chinese culture, and started a dissertation called "Seven Chinese Villages: An Economic and Demographic Portrait."
Then one day, after he had spent the morning entering economic data of Chinese villages into a computer database, he decided he "couldn't stand it anymore" and walked into the Stanford bookstore and pulled a few volumes of poetry off the shelves. One of them was an excellent translation of Eugene Onegin, Pushkin's novel written in verse. Seth said, "I was so astonished by it, and so affected by it, that I decided that rather than continue working on my dissertation I would take time off to write a novel using the same stanza form, but set in California
The work he set out to write became The Golden Gate, published in 1986, a masterpiece that was 1,300 pages long and consisted of more than 8,000 tetrameter rhymed lines. Set mostly in San Francisco, it was called by Gore Vidal "the great California novel" and gave a sort of poetic analysis of the 1980s young urban professional — "yuppie" — culture.
He finished Golden Gate while living in California, then returned home to India to write his next novel. He thought it would take him a year to finish, but the project expanded and spanned on for several years, and he spent most of his 30s living in his childhood bedroom at his parents' house in India. In 1993, he published his first novel in prose, another huge and ambitious volume, A Suitable Boy, about an intelligent independent Hindu girl who is determined to marry a man of her own choosing rather than be part of an arranged marriage. At 1,349 pages long, it's one of the longest novels to have been written in the English language, and in the opening dedication, Seth playfully inscribed, "Buy me before good sense insists / You'll strain your purse and sprain your wrists."
The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I will attend a conference in Minneapolis June 22 through June 26, and if not time to send news tomorrow before leaving, will continue the muse upon returning home.
The Cartwheelers are Memorial Hall Library librarians in Andover, Massachusetts who have formed a book cart drill team. They perform choreographed moves, as a color guard might — except with library book carts instead of flags. The drill team has been great PR for the library, say members. The book cart drill team was started six years ago when Assistant Head of Circulation Gerry Deyermond was handed a book by the assistant director and asked to create something for the Firefighters' Parade. The book was "The Library Book Cart Precision Drill Team Manual" by Linda McCrackin and Lynne Zeiner. Before that, the library's staff has simply marched in the November Firefighters' Parade like most everyone else. But once Deyermond read the manual, members of the staff started pushing the familiar metal book carts decorated with themes pertaining to the library.
http://www.andovertownsman.com/arts/local_story_163155135.html?keyword=secondarystory
In 1934, Paul Otlet of Mons, Belgium sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.” Historians typically trace the origins of the World Wide Web through a lineage of Anglo-American inventors like Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson. But more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where “anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17mund.html?_r=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Volunteers and library staff move books and items from Special Collections to upper level floors of Main Library at University of Iowa.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uinews/page5/
See pictures at bottom of page. (When in library school, I worked in the Special Collections Department at UI. At the time it was on the top floor and they were building two additional stories above. Besides dirt sifting down on us, we occasionally saw sparks. Don’t worry—we had plastic over all the collection.)
humint
This inelegant abbreviation stands for 'human intelligence'. Originally a CIA term, it is now in common use. It has two connotations: (1) The use of secret agents to collect intelligence (sense 1) - human beings as collectors; and (2) the collection of such intelligence from human beings (e.g. refugees), as opposed, say, to collecting it from intercepted radio signals - human beings as sources.
http://www.grberridge.co.uk/dict_comp_k_o.htm
From: Rudy Rosenberg (rudyrr att.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--dornick
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/dornick.html
Doornik is hard to find on a map these days. The town is better known under its francophonic name of Tournai. Situated in the Walloon province of Hainaut, it has fallen on hard times thanks mostly to the Flemish government policy of Belgium. Tournai is definitively French speaking. Tournai, site of many battles in WWI has a wondrous cathedral well worth a visit.
Q, What poem do these lines come from?
The poetry of earth is never dead
The poetry of earth is ceasing never
A. “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
http://www.bartleby.com/126/28.html
See entire poem at above link.
June 18 is the birthday of musician and songwriter Paul McCartney (1942), born in Liverpool, England, where he picked out chords on a family piano. He sang in the church choir at St. Barnabas, and he got good grades in grammar school at the Liverpool Institute. When he was 14, he learned to play a left-handed guitar and met a local art student named John Lennon. They formed a "skiffle" band called the Quarrymen. The band made its first appearance in 1957 and then spent several years based in a small Liverpool club called The Cavern. They also played several successful club dates in Hamburg, Germany, and when they returned, they met Brian Epstein, who became their manager. He suggested they replace their current drummer, Pete Best, with a young man named Ringo Starr. By 1963, the band, which had changed its name to the Beatles, was the most popular rock and roll group in England. The Guinness Book of World Records lists McCartney as the best-selling composer in popular music history. His song "Yesterday" is the most recorded ever, with more than 2,000 versions. McCartney, also a painter who has had several solo exhibits, has also authored a book of poetry, Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999 (2001).
June 18 is the birthday of novelist Gail Godwin (1937), (books by this author) born in Birmingham, Alabama. She wrote her first story, about a henpecked husband, at the age of nine. After studying journalism at Chapel Hill, she took a job as a reporter for The Miami Herald, but lost it after a couple of years because she couldn't stop herself from adding dramatic highlights to her news stories. She moved to London and got a job with a travel service, and she wrote a novel in her spare time about a woman stuck at home on an island while her husband is working on the mainland. She couldn't get it published anywhere. Then, one day, Godwin wrote the first sentence of a story that began, "'Run away,' he muttered to himself, sitting up and biting his nails." She wasn't sure what it meant, but she said, "A first sentence [like that] sort of excludes a story about a woman in her late twenties, adrift among the options of wifehood, career, vocation, a story that I had begun too many times already — both in fiction and reality — and could not resolve." The result was her short story "An Intermediate Stop," about an English vicar who writes a book about seeing God and becomes famous, only to find that his fame makes him miserable. That story got Godwin accepted into the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she studied under Kurt Vonnegut and was a classmate of John Irving. Her Ph.D. thesis became her first novel, The Perfectionists (1970).
The Writer’s Almanac
On June 19, 1865, over two years after Abraham Lincoln had signed his Emancipation Proclamation, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX, to announce the end of slavery. The day, which came to be known as Juneteenth, is celebrated by African-Americans in commemoration of this event. Until that date, Texas had remained almost entirely under Confederate control, and the Emancipation Proclamation had not yet brought freedom to the slaves living there. In 1980, the government of Texas made the date an official state holiday.
http://www.answers.com/
You may sign up for daily e-mails at the link above.
The Cartwheelers are Memorial Hall Library librarians in Andover, Massachusetts who have formed a book cart drill team. They perform choreographed moves, as a color guard might — except with library book carts instead of flags. The drill team has been great PR for the library, say members. The book cart drill team was started six years ago when Assistant Head of Circulation Gerry Deyermond was handed a book by the assistant director and asked to create something for the Firefighters' Parade. The book was "The Library Book Cart Precision Drill Team Manual" by Linda McCrackin and Lynne Zeiner. Before that, the library's staff has simply marched in the November Firefighters' Parade like most everyone else. But once Deyermond read the manual, members of the staff started pushing the familiar metal book carts decorated with themes pertaining to the library.
http://www.andovertownsman.com/arts/local_story_163155135.html?keyword=secondarystory
In 1934, Paul Otlet of Mons, Belgium sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.” Historians typically trace the origins of the World Wide Web through a lineage of Anglo-American inventors like Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart and Ted Nelson. But more than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet (pronounced ot-LAY) described a networked world where “anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17mund.html?_r=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Volunteers and library staff move books and items from Special Collections to upper level floors of Main Library at University of Iowa.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uinews/page5/
See pictures at bottom of page. (When in library school, I worked in the Special Collections Department at UI. At the time it was on the top floor and they were building two additional stories above. Besides dirt sifting down on us, we occasionally saw sparks. Don’t worry—we had plastic over all the collection.)
humint
This inelegant abbreviation stands for 'human intelligence'. Originally a CIA term, it is now in common use. It has two connotations: (1) The use of secret agents to collect intelligence (sense 1) - human beings as collectors; and (2) the collection of such intelligence from human beings (e.g. refugees), as opposed, say, to collecting it from intercepted radio signals - human beings as sources.
http://www.grberridge.co.uk/dict_comp_k_o.htm
From: Rudy Rosenberg (rudyrr att.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--dornick
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/dornick.html
Doornik is hard to find on a map these days. The town is better known under its francophonic name of Tournai. Situated in the Walloon province of Hainaut, it has fallen on hard times thanks mostly to the Flemish government policy of Belgium. Tournai is definitively French speaking. Tournai, site of many battles in WWI has a wondrous cathedral well worth a visit.
Q, What poem do these lines come from?
The poetry of earth is never dead
The poetry of earth is ceasing never
A. “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
http://www.bartleby.com/126/28.html
See entire poem at above link.
June 18 is the birthday of musician and songwriter Paul McCartney (1942), born in Liverpool, England, where he picked out chords on a family piano. He sang in the church choir at St. Barnabas, and he got good grades in grammar school at the Liverpool Institute. When he was 14, he learned to play a left-handed guitar and met a local art student named John Lennon. They formed a "skiffle" band called the Quarrymen. The band made its first appearance in 1957 and then spent several years based in a small Liverpool club called The Cavern. They also played several successful club dates in Hamburg, Germany, and when they returned, they met Brian Epstein, who became their manager. He suggested they replace their current drummer, Pete Best, with a young man named Ringo Starr. By 1963, the band, which had changed its name to the Beatles, was the most popular rock and roll group in England. The Guinness Book of World Records lists McCartney as the best-selling composer in popular music history. His song "Yesterday" is the most recorded ever, with more than 2,000 versions. McCartney, also a painter who has had several solo exhibits, has also authored a book of poetry, Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999 (2001).
June 18 is the birthday of novelist Gail Godwin (1937), (books by this author) born in Birmingham, Alabama. She wrote her first story, about a henpecked husband, at the age of nine. After studying journalism at Chapel Hill, she took a job as a reporter for The Miami Herald, but lost it after a couple of years because she couldn't stop herself from adding dramatic highlights to her news stories. She moved to London and got a job with a travel service, and she wrote a novel in her spare time about a woman stuck at home on an island while her husband is working on the mainland. She couldn't get it published anywhere. Then, one day, Godwin wrote the first sentence of a story that began, "'Run away,' he muttered to himself, sitting up and biting his nails." She wasn't sure what it meant, but she said, "A first sentence [like that] sort of excludes a story about a woman in her late twenties, adrift among the options of wifehood, career, vocation, a story that I had begun too many times already — both in fiction and reality — and could not resolve." The result was her short story "An Intermediate Stop," about an English vicar who writes a book about seeing God and becomes famous, only to find that his fame makes him miserable. That story got Godwin accepted into the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she studied under Kurt Vonnegut and was a classmate of John Irving. Her Ph.D. thesis became her first novel, The Perfectionists (1970).
The Writer’s Almanac
On June 19, 1865, over two years after Abraham Lincoln had signed his Emancipation Proclamation, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX, to announce the end of slavery. The day, which came to be known as Juneteenth, is celebrated by African-Americans in commemoration of this event. Until that date, Texas had remained almost entirely under Confederate control, and the Emancipation Proclamation had not yet brought freedom to the slaves living there. In 1980, the government of Texas made the date an official state holiday.
http://www.answers.com/
You may sign up for daily e-mails at the link above.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Food Assistance Landscape: FY 2007 Annual ReportSource: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $54.3 billion in fiscal 2007, over 2 percent more than in the previous fiscal year. This rise marked the seventh consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures increased and the fifth consecutive year in which they exceeded the previous historical record. The five largest food assistance programs — the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the School Breakfast Program — accounted for 95 percent of USDA’s expenditures for food assistance. This report uses preliminary data from the Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in the programs through fiscal 2007. It also discusses a series of recent ERS reports that compile evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of participants.
+ Full Report (PDF; 482 KB)
FTC Permanently Halts “Pretexting” Scheme; Defendants Barred From Obtaining or Selling Consumer’ Phone Records to Third PartiesSource: Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent halt to an operation that allegedly obtained consumers’ confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties . The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers’ telephone records without their consent and court orders impose judgments on the defendants totaling more than $600,000 — the estimated amount of their ill-gotten gains.
This is the latest in a series of FTC cases targeting telephone pretexters — individuals who use false pretenses to obtain consumers — confidential information. Since 2006 the FTC has charged sixteen individuals and their corporations with violating federal law by pretexting to obtain phone records of third parties. All have now been barred from pretexting and all have been ordered to give up the money they made engaging in the illegal practice.
+ Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Action Research Group, Inc., Joseph Depante, Matthew Depante, Bryan Wagner, Cassandra Selvage, and Eye in the Sky Investigations, Inc., Defendants
Adapting to Climate Change: A Business ApproachSource: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
This report outlines a sensible business approach to analyzing and adapting to the physical risks of climate change. It focuses on a critical first step in assessing these climate impacts: understanding the potential risks to business and the importance of taking action to mitigate those risks. Not all businesses need to take action now; this paper develops a qualitative screening process to assess whether a business is likely to be vulnerable to the physical risks associated with climate change, and whether a more detailed risk assessment is warranted.
+ Full Report (PDF; 397 KB)
See also: Clearing the Air: How Companies Operate in a Climate-conscious Era (Knowledge@Wharton)
Baseball and the Rule of Law RevisitedSource: Thomas Jefferson Law Review (via SSRN)
This is a revised and updated version of my 1999 article “Baseball and the Rule of Law.” In both articles, I argue that baseball is a highly legalistic game that can be used to help us understand how the rule of law operates in courts. The article notes that baseball is the only sport that requires a judicial ruling--a ruling by an umpire--for every play. No player is out or safe, no pitch is a strike or a ball until the umpire makes a ruling that is, in effect, a judicial determination. The article explains how the interpretation of baseball rules (umpires who call high strike zones or low strike zones for example) teach players and fans the nature of judicial interpretation. The article also examines briefly the controversy over the ownership of valuable baseballs caught by fans, the legal issues surrounding stadium franchises, baseball and antitrust, and the way in which baseball affected civil rights through the integration of the Major Leagues starting with Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Several options available for retrieval of full text (PDF; 187 KB).
Reaction to Jeffery Deaver quote on two forms of government
Remember we have at least three forms of government: federal, state and local. Most people also follow rules set up by families, organizations or institutions.
Trouble for Trouble! Judge Knocks $10 Mil from Helmsley Dog's Take
Trouble is the Maltese poodle left behind by the late Leona Helmsley, who died last August at 87. In papers that were reportedly unsealed today, Manhattan surrogate court judge Renee Roth, along with New York State’s Attorney General’s Office, reduced Trouble’s trust fund from $12 million to $2 million. According to the report in the NY Post, the deal also entailed $6 million in payments to Helmsley’s two disinherited grandchildren, amid their allegations that Helmsley wasn’t mentally competent when she signed her will.
Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel put Trouble’s annual expenses at $190,000, which includes Lekic’s $60,000 guardian fee, $100,000 for ’round-the-clock security, $8,000 for grooming, $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,200 for food and anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 for medical care. Helmsley’s will had asked that either her brother or grandson care for the dog, but both took a pass.
WSJ Law Blog June 16, 2008
Portrait of determination
When he was only eight years old, Glenn Cunningham's physicians told him that he would never walk again after suffering from severe leg burns from a gasoline explosion. Cunningham not only walked but was one of the premiere milers in the 1930s.
http://www.kshs.org/portraits/cunningham_glenn.htm
Toponyms are words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place)
balbriggan (bal-BRIG-uhn) noun
A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear.
[After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]
A.Word.A.Day
Serviceberry (also called Juneberry) tree
We have one of these trees with hundreds of berries ripe for the picking. Yesterday the tree was shaking as birds, chipmunks and squirrels rampaged. Luckily I had already filled two small bowls for myself.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/hortcrop/h938w.htm
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $54.3 billion in fiscal 2007, over 2 percent more than in the previous fiscal year. This rise marked the seventh consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures increased and the fifth consecutive year in which they exceeded the previous historical record. The five largest food assistance programs — the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the School Breakfast Program — accounted for 95 percent of USDA’s expenditures for food assistance. This report uses preliminary data from the Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in the programs through fiscal 2007. It also discusses a series of recent ERS reports that compile evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of participants.
+ Full Report (PDF; 482 KB)
FTC Permanently Halts “Pretexting” Scheme; Defendants Barred From Obtaining or Selling Consumer’ Phone Records to Third PartiesSource: Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent halt to an operation that allegedly obtained consumers’ confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties . The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers’ telephone records without their consent and court orders impose judgments on the defendants totaling more than $600,000 — the estimated amount of their ill-gotten gains.
This is the latest in a series of FTC cases targeting telephone pretexters — individuals who use false pretenses to obtain consumers — confidential information. Since 2006 the FTC has charged sixteen individuals and their corporations with violating federal law by pretexting to obtain phone records of third parties. All have now been barred from pretexting and all have been ordered to give up the money they made engaging in the illegal practice.
+ Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Action Research Group, Inc., Joseph Depante, Matthew Depante, Bryan Wagner, Cassandra Selvage, and Eye in the Sky Investigations, Inc., Defendants
Adapting to Climate Change: A Business ApproachSource: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
This report outlines a sensible business approach to analyzing and adapting to the physical risks of climate change. It focuses on a critical first step in assessing these climate impacts: understanding the potential risks to business and the importance of taking action to mitigate those risks. Not all businesses need to take action now; this paper develops a qualitative screening process to assess whether a business is likely to be vulnerable to the physical risks associated with climate change, and whether a more detailed risk assessment is warranted.
+ Full Report (PDF; 397 KB)
See also: Clearing the Air: How Companies Operate in a Climate-conscious Era (Knowledge@Wharton)
Baseball and the Rule of Law RevisitedSource: Thomas Jefferson Law Review (via SSRN)
This is a revised and updated version of my 1999 article “Baseball and the Rule of Law.” In both articles, I argue that baseball is a highly legalistic game that can be used to help us understand how the rule of law operates in courts. The article notes that baseball is the only sport that requires a judicial ruling--a ruling by an umpire--for every play. No player is out or safe, no pitch is a strike or a ball until the umpire makes a ruling that is, in effect, a judicial determination. The article explains how the interpretation of baseball rules (umpires who call high strike zones or low strike zones for example) teach players and fans the nature of judicial interpretation. The article also examines briefly the controversy over the ownership of valuable baseballs caught by fans, the legal issues surrounding stadium franchises, baseball and antitrust, and the way in which baseball affected civil rights through the integration of the Major Leagues starting with Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Several options available for retrieval of full text (PDF; 187 KB).
Reaction to Jeffery Deaver quote on two forms of government
Remember we have at least three forms of government: federal, state and local. Most people also follow rules set up by families, organizations or institutions.
Trouble for Trouble! Judge Knocks $10 Mil from Helmsley Dog's Take
Trouble is the Maltese poodle left behind by the late Leona Helmsley, who died last August at 87. In papers that were reportedly unsealed today, Manhattan surrogate court judge Renee Roth, along with New York State’s Attorney General’s Office, reduced Trouble’s trust fund from $12 million to $2 million. According to the report in the NY Post, the deal also entailed $6 million in payments to Helmsley’s two disinherited grandchildren, amid their allegations that Helmsley wasn’t mentally competent when she signed her will.
Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel put Trouble’s annual expenses at $190,000, which includes Lekic’s $60,000 guardian fee, $100,000 for ’round-the-clock security, $8,000 for grooming, $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,200 for food and anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 for medical care. Helmsley’s will had asked that either her brother or grandson care for the dog, but both took a pass.
WSJ Law Blog June 16, 2008
Portrait of determination
When he was only eight years old, Glenn Cunningham's physicians told him that he would never walk again after suffering from severe leg burns from a gasoline explosion. Cunningham not only walked but was one of the premiere milers in the 1930s.
http://www.kshs.org/portraits/cunningham_glenn.htm
Toponyms are words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place)
balbriggan (bal-BRIG-uhn) noun
A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear.
[After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]
A.Word.A.Day
Serviceberry (also called Juneberry) tree
We have one of these trees with hundreds of berries ripe for the picking. Yesterday the tree was shaking as birds, chipmunks and squirrels rampaged. Luckily I had already filled two small bowls for myself.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/hortcrop/h938w.htm
Monday, June 16, 2008
Due to interest shown in the giraffe piano last week, I’m following up with information on other upright pianos.
“There are four main types of upright grand piano. One of the earliest was the 'pyramid' piano (Pyramidenflügel), with a triangular case that tapered to a flat top. Another approach was represented by the 'bookcase' piano. These are extremely tall, rectangular instruments. The strings run vertically up from the keyboard, and the empty space on the treble side would often be filled with shelves. The 'giraffe' piano (Giraffenflügel) has its strings perpendicular to the keyboard. Its case slopes down elegantly from an extremely tall left side to the short treble side. The fourth type of upright grand piano is the 'lyre' piano (Lyraflügel). This evolved from the pyramid, and was built almost exclusively by Berlin piano makers in the second quarter of the 19th century.”
http://www.ptg.org/resources-historyOfPianos-upright.php
Some of the best soil in the world under water
On 15, residents in Iowa City--where the Iowa River was nearing its projected crest and rising downstream--were struggling with the waters, which submerged part of the University of Iowa’s campus and sent workers scrambling to move books and paintings from the university’s Arts Campus.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/us/16midwest.html?em&ex=1213761600&en=26c8215ba785304e&ei=5087%0A
See picture near confluence of Iowa and Cedar Rivers at link above.
Quote
We’re ruled by two different governments in America: the federal government in Washington and the government of the state we live in. The Bill of Rights only limits what the federal government can do to us . . . The Bill of Rights gives us virtually no protection against human and civil rights violations by state governments. And state laws are the ones that affect our lives much more directly than the federal government . . . ”
The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver
June 14 is the birthday of American editor and publisher John Bartlett, born in Plymouth, Massachusetts (1820). His Familiar Quotations (1855) is still familiar and in its 17th edition. Bartlett started working at the University Book Store in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was 16. Here he picked up his habit of collecting quotations, many of which came from the Bible and Shakespeare. "Ask John Bartlett" became a pass phrase among students looking for an odd bit of knowledge. Bartlett bought the bookstore in 1849 and married the granddaughter of a Harvard University president a couple years later. Besides books he enjoyed fishing and whist.
June 14 is the birthday of American novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, (books by this author) born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher in Litchfield, Connecticut (1811). Stowe's most famous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), was published in weekly installments for a year in the abolitionist paper National Era before it was published in its entirety. Three million copies of the book were sold before the Civil War began in 1861. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin brought Stowe international acclaim. She was invited to give lectures in Scotland and England and met Queen Victoria in 1856. The book was translated into 37 languages and made into both a play and a musical. George Aiken's dramatization was performed continuously from 1853 to 1934 in the United States. Throughout the Civil War, Stowe advocated for rights for former slaves, although she avoided associations with extremist abolitionists. Following the war, the author set up a school for former slaves in Florida.
Stowe said, "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
On June 15, 1215, King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta, one of the first historical documents to state that subjects have rights beyond the power of their rulers. The right to a trial by jury and the right of habeas corpus, which prevents one from being unlawfully imprisoned, have been extrapolated from the Magna Carta. King John was more or less coerced into agreeing to the document by a group of barons who were upset at his disastrous and costly foreign policy.. "Magna Carta" means "great charter" in Latin.
June 16 is the birthday of Joyce Carol Oates,(books by this author) born in Lockport, New York (1938). She's known for novels and short stories in which people's lives are torn apart by violence. She grew up in a rural part of New York, which she later used as the basis for the fictional Eden County, where many of her stories and novels are set. She began making up stories as a child, even before she knew how to write, and drew pictures to record them. The book that had the most profound influence on her life and her writing was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She read it when she was about 10 years old, and loved how Alice was calm and rational when facing nightmarish situations. She said that Alice's calmness made a strong impression, and ever since she has tried to write about nightmares and bizarre things in a coherent, calm way.
She published her first story, "In the Old World," in Mademoiselle magazine (1959) just before her senior year of college, and she published her first book of short stories, By the North Gate, a few years later, in 1963. She has gone on to become one of the most prolific writers of her generation, writing more than 70 books in 40 years, including novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and essays. She writes almost everything in long hand before typing, and she usually cuts out a few hundred pages from every novel before it is published.
On June 16, 1858, Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Springfield, Illinois, urging that the issue of slavery be resolved once and for all. He said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
The Writer’s Almanac
“There are four main types of upright grand piano. One of the earliest was the 'pyramid' piano (Pyramidenflügel), with a triangular case that tapered to a flat top. Another approach was represented by the 'bookcase' piano. These are extremely tall, rectangular instruments. The strings run vertically up from the keyboard, and the empty space on the treble side would often be filled with shelves. The 'giraffe' piano (Giraffenflügel) has its strings perpendicular to the keyboard. Its case slopes down elegantly from an extremely tall left side to the short treble side. The fourth type of upright grand piano is the 'lyre' piano (Lyraflügel). This evolved from the pyramid, and was built almost exclusively by Berlin piano makers in the second quarter of the 19th century.”
http://www.ptg.org/resources-historyOfPianos-upright.php
Some of the best soil in the world under water
On 15, residents in Iowa City--where the Iowa River was nearing its projected crest and rising downstream--were struggling with the waters, which submerged part of the University of Iowa’s campus and sent workers scrambling to move books and paintings from the university’s Arts Campus.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/us/16midwest.html?em&ex=1213761600&en=26c8215ba785304e&ei=5087%0A
See picture near confluence of Iowa and Cedar Rivers at link above.
Quote
We’re ruled by two different governments in America: the federal government in Washington and the government of the state we live in. The Bill of Rights only limits what the federal government can do to us . . . The Bill of Rights gives us virtually no protection against human and civil rights violations by state governments. And state laws are the ones that affect our lives much more directly than the federal government . . . ”
The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver
June 14 is the birthday of American editor and publisher John Bartlett, born in Plymouth, Massachusetts (1820). His Familiar Quotations (1855) is still familiar and in its 17th edition. Bartlett started working at the University Book Store in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was 16. Here he picked up his habit of collecting quotations, many of which came from the Bible and Shakespeare. "Ask John Bartlett" became a pass phrase among students looking for an odd bit of knowledge. Bartlett bought the bookstore in 1849 and married the granddaughter of a Harvard University president a couple years later. Besides books he enjoyed fishing and whist.
June 14 is the birthday of American novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, (books by this author) born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher in Litchfield, Connecticut (1811). Stowe's most famous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), was published in weekly installments for a year in the abolitionist paper National Era before it was published in its entirety. Three million copies of the book were sold before the Civil War began in 1861. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin brought Stowe international acclaim. She was invited to give lectures in Scotland and England and met Queen Victoria in 1856. The book was translated into 37 languages and made into both a play and a musical. George Aiken's dramatization was performed continuously from 1853 to 1934 in the United States. Throughout the Civil War, Stowe advocated for rights for former slaves, although she avoided associations with extremist abolitionists. Following the war, the author set up a school for former slaves in Florida.
Stowe said, "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
On June 15, 1215, King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta, one of the first historical documents to state that subjects have rights beyond the power of their rulers. The right to a trial by jury and the right of habeas corpus, which prevents one from being unlawfully imprisoned, have been extrapolated from the Magna Carta. King John was more or less coerced into agreeing to the document by a group of barons who were upset at his disastrous and costly foreign policy.. "Magna Carta" means "great charter" in Latin.
June 16 is the birthday of Joyce Carol Oates,(books by this author) born in Lockport, New York (1938). She's known for novels and short stories in which people's lives are torn apart by violence. She grew up in a rural part of New York, which she later used as the basis for the fictional Eden County, where many of her stories and novels are set. She began making up stories as a child, even before she knew how to write, and drew pictures to record them. The book that had the most profound influence on her life and her writing was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She read it when she was about 10 years old, and loved how Alice was calm and rational when facing nightmarish situations. She said that Alice's calmness made a strong impression, and ever since she has tried to write about nightmares and bizarre things in a coherent, calm way.
She published her first story, "In the Old World," in Mademoiselle magazine (1959) just before her senior year of college, and she published her first book of short stories, By the North Gate, a few years later, in 1963. She has gone on to become one of the most prolific writers of her generation, writing more than 70 books in 40 years, including novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and essays. She writes almost everything in long hand before typing, and she usually cuts out a few hundred pages from every novel before it is published.
On June 16, 1858, Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Springfield, Illinois, urging that the issue of slavery be resolved once and for all. He said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, June 13, 2008
Payback For Many Hybrids Grows As Gas Costs RiseSource: Edmunds.com (Green Car Advisor)
In a piece posted last month, we reported that the payback period for hybrid cars shrunk a bit in March, with four models—30 percent of the market segment at the time—whose fuel savings could amortize the so-called hybrid premium in under 5 years. Higher demand has stiffened sales prices for hybrids and other cars and crossover SUVs with decent fuel economy while dealers and manufacturers are discounting less-efficient conventional gasoline models to try to move them off the lots.
That boosts the difference between the retail price of a hybrid and the equivalent gasoline model in a manufacturer’s lineup, and makes it harder for the hybrid to earn back its price premium from fuel savings alone. There are a few exceptions. Ford’s Escape hybrid SUV and its Mercury Mariner sibling and Saturn’s Vue Greenline mild hybrid SUV all saw slight dips in the payoff period, while payback for Toyota’s Prius remained unchanged, according to June figures just prepared by Edmunds.com analysts. Tax credits and really good fuel economy helped shrink the price difference and made payoff easier.
Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by the Federal Reserve
The Beige Book, June 11, 2008: "Reports from the Federal Reserve Districts suggest that economic activity remained generally weak in late April and May. Three Districts described economic activity as softer, weaker, or lower, with an additional four Districts reporting slower, sluggish, or modest economic growth. The remaining five Districts of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Francisco described activity as stable or little changed in recent weeks.
Consumer spending slowed since the last report as incomes were pinched by rising energy and food prices. Higher energy prices also appeared to damp domestic tourism. Reports on non-financial services varied across Districts and industries. Manufacturing activity was generally soft in recent weeks, with weak demand for housing-related and some other products but with increasing demand for exports. Residential real estate markets remained weak across most Districts. Commercial real estate conditions varied across Districts, as did reports on nonresidential construction activity. Lending activity also varied across Districts and market segments, though tighter credit standards were reported for most loan categories. Districts reporting on the agriculture and energy sectors noted improved crop conditions and increased drilling and extraction activity.
EPA: Green Buildings On the Rise
News release: "Green building continues to gain momentum as it demonstrates numerous opportunities to improve the impacts of buildings on the environment and health. To acknowledge this growing trend and EPA's expanded role in it, EPA has released a new video on green buildings in its Green Scene series. The video features Dr. Bill Sanders, director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Research, talking about how EPA is encouraging and supporting green building, and how homeowners can take simple steps to green their homes."
smithereens (smith-uh-REENZ) noun
Tiny fragments.
[Probably from Irish smidirin, diminutive of smiodar (fragment).]
A.Word.A.Day
How to get images on Google: go to http://www.google.com/ and click on images at top left. Examples:
Organ pipe cactus
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=organ+pipe+cactus&gbv=2
Pipe organ
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22pipe+organ%22&gbv=2
Giraffe piano
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=%22giraffe+piano%22
In a piece posted last month, we reported that the payback period for hybrid cars shrunk a bit in March, with four models—30 percent of the market segment at the time—whose fuel savings could amortize the so-called hybrid premium in under 5 years. Higher demand has stiffened sales prices for hybrids and other cars and crossover SUVs with decent fuel economy while dealers and manufacturers are discounting less-efficient conventional gasoline models to try to move them off the lots.
That boosts the difference between the retail price of a hybrid and the equivalent gasoline model in a manufacturer’s lineup, and makes it harder for the hybrid to earn back its price premium from fuel savings alone. There are a few exceptions. Ford’s Escape hybrid SUV and its Mercury Mariner sibling and Saturn’s Vue Greenline mild hybrid SUV all saw slight dips in the payoff period, while payback for Toyota’s Prius remained unchanged, according to June figures just prepared by Edmunds.com analysts. Tax credits and really good fuel economy helped shrink the price difference and made payoff easier.
Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by the Federal Reserve
The Beige Book, June 11, 2008: "Reports from the Federal Reserve Districts suggest that economic activity remained generally weak in late April and May. Three Districts described economic activity as softer, weaker, or lower, with an additional four Districts reporting slower, sluggish, or modest economic growth. The remaining five Districts of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Francisco described activity as stable or little changed in recent weeks.
Consumer spending slowed since the last report as incomes were pinched by rising energy and food prices. Higher energy prices also appeared to damp domestic tourism. Reports on non-financial services varied across Districts and industries. Manufacturing activity was generally soft in recent weeks, with weak demand for housing-related and some other products but with increasing demand for exports. Residential real estate markets remained weak across most Districts. Commercial real estate conditions varied across Districts, as did reports on nonresidential construction activity. Lending activity also varied across Districts and market segments, though tighter credit standards were reported for most loan categories. Districts reporting on the agriculture and energy sectors noted improved crop conditions and increased drilling and extraction activity.
EPA: Green Buildings On the Rise
News release: "Green building continues to gain momentum as it demonstrates numerous opportunities to improve the impacts of buildings on the environment and health. To acknowledge this growing trend and EPA's expanded role in it, EPA has released a new video on green buildings in its Green Scene series. The video features Dr. Bill Sanders, director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Research, talking about how EPA is encouraging and supporting green building, and how homeowners can take simple steps to green their homes."
smithereens (smith-uh-REENZ) noun
Tiny fragments.
[Probably from Irish smidirin, diminutive of smiodar (fragment).]
A.Word.A.Day
How to get images on Google: go to http://www.google.com/ and click on images at top left. Examples:
Organ pipe cactus
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=organ+pipe+cactus&gbv=2
Pipe organ
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22pipe+organ%22&gbv=2
Giraffe piano
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=%22giraffe+piano%22
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Trade Deficit Increases in April 2008
"The Nation's international deficit in goods and services increased to $60.9 billion in April from $56.5 billion (revised) in March, as imports increased more than exports." (10 June 2008)
FT900: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services. Current Release: April 2008
Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (ISP-I-08-23) Feb 2008, Unclassified
"HIV/AIDS has become the world’s most important public health crisis. Approximately 33 million people are infected worldwide; two thirds of those are concentrated in a dozen African countries. The number of new HIV infections each year worldwide is 2.5 million people. The incidence of HIV among adults from 15 to 49 years of age has risen to 15 percent in many countries and is estimated at 30 percent in some southern African countries. Because of the scale of this disease, it threatens the political stability of the affected countries and their neighbors, and undermines their prospects for prosperity."
June 11 is the official state holiday of Hawaii, Kamehameha Day. It's a holiday that's been celebrated since 1871, when the ruler of Hawaii named the holiday in honor of his grandpa, Kamehameha the Great, who established the kingdom of Hawai'i — Kamehameha, a man known as "Napoleon of the Pacific." Today, the festival includes hula dancers and a floral parade and traditions that celebrate ancient Hawaii, because Kamehameha the Great tried to preserve these ancient traditions and not lose them to the influence of Europeans.
June 11 is the day that listeners first heard FM radio, when American inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong gave a demonstration in Alpine, New Jersey, in 1935. FM stands for "frequency modulation," because Armstrong's idea was to create sound by varying the frequency of a radio wave instead of varying its amplitude, which is what happens in AM radio.
The Writer’s Almanac
Aftermath of nature’s wrath
Two days ago we had three Norway maple trees. Because of wind damage we now have two, and a whole new look for our front lawn. Here’s hoping the “open” look won’t invite any more people driving under the influence to treat it as a roadway. (Longtime readers will remember two such instances.)
More wrath
One of the most scenic getaways for Chicagoans is devastated. Weekend rains of biblical proportions dumped so much water into Lake Delton that it literally burst its banks.Tens of thousands of gallons of lake water barreled through the woods, taking with it a roadway, several houses, boats, fish and lake bed. It emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River and was gone in hours.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-061008-lake-delton-flood-,0,1757046.story
Andrew Carnegie saw public libraries as temples of learning and centers of culture. They should be free to all. Many were not. They should be designed with open stacks of books and materials, so visitors could browse them and discover new things. The librarian's counter should be at the center and not blocking the door. Carnegie backed up his library ideas with money, but he faced down a number of problems. Some authors protested that widespread libraries would cut their royalty fees. Others believed open libraries would be magnets for the "disreputables." The steel man ignored the critics. From 1883 to 1929, the Carnegie Corp., his charitable foundation, funded construction of 2,500 libraries in the United States, Britain and Ireland.
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=415538&Category=8&subCategoryID=
Mildred Dorothy Sommer, a librarian from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a 1928 graduate of the University of Michigan, will help countless others attend the university she loved.
She died last year at age 100, leaving $5.2 million, the bulk of her fortune, to fund graduate fellowships at U-M's College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
It is the largest single bequest payment to the LSA college during the university's $2.5-billion Michigan Difference fund-raising campaign that began in 2004.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080606/NEWS05/806060434
hubbub (HUB-ub) noun
Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd.
[Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]
A.Word.A.Day
The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
"The Nation's international deficit in goods and services increased to $60.9 billion in April from $56.5 billion (revised) in March, as imports increased more than exports." (10 June 2008)
FT900: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services. Current Release: April 2008
Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (ISP-I-08-23) Feb 2008, Unclassified
"HIV/AIDS has become the world’s most important public health crisis. Approximately 33 million people are infected worldwide; two thirds of those are concentrated in a dozen African countries. The number of new HIV infections each year worldwide is 2.5 million people. The incidence of HIV among adults from 15 to 49 years of age has risen to 15 percent in many countries and is estimated at 30 percent in some southern African countries. Because of the scale of this disease, it threatens the political stability of the affected countries and their neighbors, and undermines their prospects for prosperity."
June 11 is the official state holiday of Hawaii, Kamehameha Day. It's a holiday that's been celebrated since 1871, when the ruler of Hawaii named the holiday in honor of his grandpa, Kamehameha the Great, who established the kingdom of Hawai'i — Kamehameha, a man known as "Napoleon of the Pacific." Today, the festival includes hula dancers and a floral parade and traditions that celebrate ancient Hawaii, because Kamehameha the Great tried to preserve these ancient traditions and not lose them to the influence of Europeans.
June 11 is the day that listeners first heard FM radio, when American inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong gave a demonstration in Alpine, New Jersey, in 1935. FM stands for "frequency modulation," because Armstrong's idea was to create sound by varying the frequency of a radio wave instead of varying its amplitude, which is what happens in AM radio.
The Writer’s Almanac
Aftermath of nature’s wrath
Two days ago we had three Norway maple trees. Because of wind damage we now have two, and a whole new look for our front lawn. Here’s hoping the “open” look won’t invite any more people driving under the influence to treat it as a roadway. (Longtime readers will remember two such instances.)
More wrath
One of the most scenic getaways for Chicagoans is devastated. Weekend rains of biblical proportions dumped so much water into Lake Delton that it literally burst its banks.Tens of thousands of gallons of lake water barreled through the woods, taking with it a roadway, several houses, boats, fish and lake bed. It emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River and was gone in hours.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-061008-lake-delton-flood-,0,1757046.story
Andrew Carnegie saw public libraries as temples of learning and centers of culture. They should be free to all. Many were not. They should be designed with open stacks of books and materials, so visitors could browse them and discover new things. The librarian's counter should be at the center and not blocking the door. Carnegie backed up his library ideas with money, but he faced down a number of problems. Some authors protested that widespread libraries would cut their royalty fees. Others believed open libraries would be magnets for the "disreputables." The steel man ignored the critics. From 1883 to 1929, the Carnegie Corp., his charitable foundation, funded construction of 2,500 libraries in the United States, Britain and Ireland.
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=415538&Category=8&subCategoryID=
Mildred Dorothy Sommer, a librarian from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a 1928 graduate of the University of Michigan, will help countless others attend the university she loved.
She died last year at age 100, leaving $5.2 million, the bulk of her fortune, to fund graduate fellowships at U-M's College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
It is the largest single bequest payment to the LSA college during the university's $2.5-billion Michigan Difference fund-raising campaign that began in 2004.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080606/NEWS05/806060434
hubbub (HUB-ub) noun
Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd.
[Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]
A.Word.A.Day
The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
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