In 2008, daylight time ends on November 2. Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX - Standard Time. See history of daylight time at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php
A number of industries, including financial services firms and internet retailers, have anticipated a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the patenting of business methods. In a 9-3 decision, the court upheld a ruling made by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that denied a patent for a method of hedging in commodities trading developed by Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw. (Here’s the breaking news story by Ashby Jones. The LB wrote about the Bilski case here and here.) The ruling in the case, called In re Bilski, largely disavowed the controversial State Street Bank case of 1998. There, the Federal Circuit opened the door to business method patents, which had then been excluded from patent protection, by granting protection to a system for managing mutual fund accounts.
WSJ Law Blog October 30, 008
August Data: Americans Drove 15 Billion Fewer Miles than a Year Ago
News release: Americans are continuing a 10-month-long decline in driving habits, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters announced. The decline is putting new pressure on the way road, bridge and transit projects are funded at a time of record growth in transit ridership, showing the need for a new approach for funding transportation construction. In August 2008, Americans drove 15 billion fewer miles, or 5.6 percent less, than they did in August 2007--the largest ever year-to-year decline recorded in a single month, Secretary Peters said. She added that over the past 10 months, Americans have driven 78 billion fewer miles than they did in the same 10 months the previous year. Texans alone drove 1.3 million fewer miles, the Secretary added.
FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” reports for August 2008
Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Electronic Frontier Foundation: "This document, Unintended Consequences: Ten Years under the DMCA, collects reported cases where the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been invoked not against pirates, but against consumers, scientists, and legitimate competitors. It will be updated from time to time as additional cases come to light. The latest version can always be obtained at EFF.org. This document is Version Five. The previous version, from April of 2006, is available here."
After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced October 28. The nonprofit paper is currently published Monday through Friday, and will move to online only in April, although it will also introduce a Sunday magazine. Earlier this year, The Capital Times in Madison, Wis. went online only, and The Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis., announced it would publish online except for two days a week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/business/media/29paper.html?hp
See CSM at http://www.csmonitor.com/
Definitions of maverick http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Maverick&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
Halloween's origins date back about 2,000 years, to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts lived in the cold parts of Northern Europe— in Britain, Ireland, and the north of France— and so for them, the new year began on November 1st, the end of the fall harvest and the beginning of winter. The night before the new year, on October 31st, the division between the world of the living and the world of the dead dissolved, and the dead could come to earth again. This was partly bad and partly good— these spirits would damage crops and cause sickness, but they also helped the Celtic priests, the druids, to tell the future, to make predictions about the coming year. The druids built huge bonfires, and regular people put out their own fires in their homes and crowded together around these fires, where they burned sacrifices for the gods, told each other's fortunes, and dressed in costumes— usually animal skins and heads. At the end of the celebration, they took a piece of the sacred bonfire and relit their own fires at home with this new flame, which was meant to help them stay warm through the long winter ahead.
First the Romans co-opted Samhain and combined it with their festivals, and then the Christians co-opted both the Celtic and Roman celebrations. In the ninth century, the pope decided that these pagan festivals needed to be replaced with a Christian holiday, so he just moved the holiday called All Saints' Day from May 13 to November 1. All Saints' Day was a time for Christians to honor all the saints and martyrs of their religion. The term for All Saints' Day in Middle English was Alholowmesse, or All-hallowmass. This became All-allows, and so the night before was referred to as All-hallows Eve, and finally, Halloween. The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monitor Election Problems Nationwide with OurVoteLive.org
Search by State or County for Real-Time Voter Reports on Election Day - Reporters, bloggers, and voters across the country can monitor problems at the polls on Election Day on OurVoteLive.org, a project built and hosted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of Election Protection, the nation's largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, and its toll-free voter-assistance hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE.
Your do-not-call registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm. https://www.donotcall.gov/
Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement
News release: The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search. Under the agreement, Google will make payments totaling $125 million. The money will be used to establish the Book Rights Registry, to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees. The settlement agreement resolves Authors Guild v. Google, a class-action suit filed on September 20, 2005 by the Authors Guild and certain authors, and a suit filed on October 19, 2005 by five major publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc. and Penguin Group (USA) Inc., both part of Pearson; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; and Simon & Schuster, Inc. part of CBS Corporation. These lawsuits challenged Google’s plan to digitize, search and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission of the copyright owner.
The Future of Google Book Search - Our groundbreaking agreement with authors and publishers.
Related postings on Google Book Search
What does Google book scan settlement mean to Viacom? We’ll say at the outset that the answer, at least according to Google’s Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, is zippo. “I would not read anything into the structure,” Drummond told the WSJ. The settlement must be approved by a federal court. As the NYT points out, the settlement leaves unanswered the issue of whether Google’s unauthorized scanning constitute fair use for copyright purposes.
Now back to Viacom, which is suing Google for $1 billion, alleging that Google-owned YouTube has been illegally hosting its proprietary content. (We wrote about the spat, which awaits trial in the Southern District of New York, back in July when the judge in the case caused a firestorm by ruling that Google must hand over info about which users watched which videos on YouTube.) Does the Google settlement mean a similar settlement could be in the offing with Viacom? WSJ Law Blog October 29, 2008
Quote: I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Residents of Lancaster, California had a road with grooves in a quarter-mile strip that, when a car drove over them, played a recognizable excerpt of The William Tell Overture. It was created for a car commercial, but neighbors complained about the noise. So, it was torn up and will be built at a different spot. Comments and demonstrations are available on YouTube.
October 30 is the birthday of the second president of the United States, John Adams, born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1735. He was a lawyer, a writer, and a philosopher, famous for the articles he wrote in opposition to the British Stamp Act. Even though John Adams supported the American patriot cause, he agreed to defend the British soldiers who killed civilians during the Boston Massacre, and he managed to get most of them acquitted.
On October 30, 1938 a radio broadcast based on a science fiction novel caused mass hysteria across New England: Orson Welles's adaptation of War of the Worlds. The first part of the broadcast imitated news bulletins and announced that Martians had invaded New Jersey. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of the program explaining that it was fictional, but many people tuned in late and missed the explanation. So they panicked; some people fled their homes and many were terrified. War of the Worlds (1898) was a novel by H.G. Wells set in 19th-century England. Orson Welles kept the same plot but updated it and set it in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. The Writer’s Almanac
Search by State or County for Real-Time Voter Reports on Election Day - Reporters, bloggers, and voters across the country can monitor problems at the polls on Election Day on OurVoteLive.org, a project built and hosted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of Election Protection, the nation's largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, and its toll-free voter-assistance hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE.
Your do-not-call registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm. https://www.donotcall.gov/
Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement
News release: The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search. Under the agreement, Google will make payments totaling $125 million. The money will be used to establish the Book Rights Registry, to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees. The settlement agreement resolves Authors Guild v. Google, a class-action suit filed on September 20, 2005 by the Authors Guild and certain authors, and a suit filed on October 19, 2005 by five major publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc. and Penguin Group (USA) Inc., both part of Pearson; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; and Simon & Schuster, Inc. part of CBS Corporation. These lawsuits challenged Google’s plan to digitize, search and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission of the copyright owner.
The Future of Google Book Search - Our groundbreaking agreement with authors and publishers.
Related postings on Google Book Search
What does Google book scan settlement mean to Viacom? We’ll say at the outset that the answer, at least according to Google’s Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, is zippo. “I would not read anything into the structure,” Drummond told the WSJ. The settlement must be approved by a federal court. As the NYT points out, the settlement leaves unanswered the issue of whether Google’s unauthorized scanning constitute fair use for copyright purposes.
Now back to Viacom, which is suing Google for $1 billion, alleging that Google-owned YouTube has been illegally hosting its proprietary content. (We wrote about the spat, which awaits trial in the Southern District of New York, back in July when the judge in the case caused a firestorm by ruling that Google must hand over info about which users watched which videos on YouTube.) Does the Google settlement mean a similar settlement could be in the offing with Viacom? WSJ Law Blog October 29, 2008
Quote: I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Residents of Lancaster, California had a road with grooves in a quarter-mile strip that, when a car drove over them, played a recognizable excerpt of The William Tell Overture. It was created for a car commercial, but neighbors complained about the noise. So, it was torn up and will be built at a different spot. Comments and demonstrations are available on YouTube.
October 30 is the birthday of the second president of the United States, John Adams, born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1735. He was a lawyer, a writer, and a philosopher, famous for the articles he wrote in opposition to the British Stamp Act. Even though John Adams supported the American patriot cause, he agreed to defend the British soldiers who killed civilians during the Boston Massacre, and he managed to get most of them acquitted.
On October 30, 1938 a radio broadcast based on a science fiction novel caused mass hysteria across New England: Orson Welles's adaptation of War of the Worlds. The first part of the broadcast imitated news bulletins and announced that Martians had invaded New Jersey. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of the program explaining that it was fictional, but many people tuned in late and missed the explanation. So they panicked; some people fled their homes and many were terrified. War of the Worlds (1898) was a novel by H.G. Wells set in 19th-century England. Orson Welles kept the same plot but updated it and set it in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. The Writer’s Almanac
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s
The Federal Reserve System and its 12 member banks partnered with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program to produce a new, in-depth look at concentrated poverty in America. The two-year study, The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America - Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S., October 2008, profiles 16 high-poverty communities across the United States, investigating the historical and contemporary factors associated with their high levels of economic distress.
Related postings on poverty
Committee Holds Hearing on the Role of Federal Regulators in the Financial Crisis
"The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held holding a hearing titled, The Financial Crisis and the Role of Federal Regulators on, Thursday, October 23, 2008. The hearing examined the roles and responsibilities of federal regulators in the current financial crisis. A preliminary hearing transcript (201 pages, PDF) is available for download." Related postings on financial system
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008
"The final Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 finds more people are reporting problems with health care bills, and paying for health care retains a solid hold on the public’s list of their top economic concerns. About one in three Americans now report their family has had problems paying medical bills in the past year, up from about a quarter saying the same two years ago. Almost one in five (18%) of Americans report household problems with medical bills amounting to more than $1,000 in the past year.
Nearly half (47%) of the public reports someone in their family skipping pills, postponing or cutting back on medical care they said they needed in the past year due to the cost of care. For example, just over one-third say they or a family member put off or postponed needed care and three in ten say they skipped a recommended test or treatment – increases of seven percentage points from last April’s tracking poll which asks the same question." Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – October 2008
ABA Journal Examines FDA and Pre-emption
ABA Journal, November 2008: The Pre-emption Prescription - The FDA is claiming total responsibility for drug and medical device safety.
"The FDA had been signaling its new attitude of tort reform regarding prescription drugs and medical devices since 2001, when a new administration at the FDA began gearing up to file “friend-of-the-court” briefs in state and federal courts claiming that federal regulations pre-empted the power of states to enforce deficiencies—or even deceptions—in prescription drug warnings. To critics like James O’Reilly [Univer¬sity of Cincinnati College of Law], FDA pre-emption is part of a series of legal and political maneuvers that all but neu¬tered the federal agency in the public eye as a regulator of public health and safety. To supporters, the agency has become far more responsive to the public need for development of new drugs and medical devices."
More on palinode, palindromes
From Steve Benko (steve.benko gecapital.com) "Is Wasillah all I saw? Si!"
From Walter Desmond (w.desmond sbcglobal.net) In anticipation of one of the VP words (palindrome), I quote candidate Biden, in comparing how many time he's been around the foreign policy track vs. his opponent: “Palin I lap." She in all grace, shows her bubbling informality by replying: "Yo, Joe, O joy!"
From Michael Shpizner (mshpizner us.fujitsu.com) "Wasilla's all I saw."
(I wish I could take credit for it, but alas, I didn't create it.) Regardless of one's political persuasion, that's a thing of beauty, is it not? A.Word.A.Day
On October 28, 1636 Harvard University was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just 16 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth.
October 28 is the birthday of Evelyn Waugh, (books by this author) born in London, England, in 1903. He's the author of Brideshead Revisited (1945) and Decline and Fall (1928).
October 28 is the birthday of poet John Hollander, (books by this author) born in New York City in 1929. His newest book, A Draft of Light, was published in 2008. John Hollander said, "I want my poems to be wiser than I am, to know more about themselves than I do." The Writer’s Almanac
The Federal Reserve System and its 12 member banks partnered with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program to produce a new, in-depth look at concentrated poverty in America. The two-year study, The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America - Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S., October 2008, profiles 16 high-poverty communities across the United States, investigating the historical and contemporary factors associated with their high levels of economic distress.
Related postings on poverty
Committee Holds Hearing on the Role of Federal Regulators in the Financial Crisis
"The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held holding a hearing titled, The Financial Crisis and the Role of Federal Regulators on, Thursday, October 23, 2008. The hearing examined the roles and responsibilities of federal regulators in the current financial crisis. A preliminary hearing transcript (201 pages, PDF) is available for download." Related postings on financial system
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008
"The final Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 finds more people are reporting problems with health care bills, and paying for health care retains a solid hold on the public’s list of their top economic concerns. About one in three Americans now report their family has had problems paying medical bills in the past year, up from about a quarter saying the same two years ago. Almost one in five (18%) of Americans report household problems with medical bills amounting to more than $1,000 in the past year.
Nearly half (47%) of the public reports someone in their family skipping pills, postponing or cutting back on medical care they said they needed in the past year due to the cost of care. For example, just over one-third say they or a family member put off or postponed needed care and three in ten say they skipped a recommended test or treatment – increases of seven percentage points from last April’s tracking poll which asks the same question." Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – October 2008
ABA Journal Examines FDA and Pre-emption
ABA Journal, November 2008: The Pre-emption Prescription - The FDA is claiming total responsibility for drug and medical device safety.
"The FDA had been signaling its new attitude of tort reform regarding prescription drugs and medical devices since 2001, when a new administration at the FDA began gearing up to file “friend-of-the-court” briefs in state and federal courts claiming that federal regulations pre-empted the power of states to enforce deficiencies—or even deceptions—in prescription drug warnings. To critics like James O’Reilly [Univer¬sity of Cincinnati College of Law], FDA pre-emption is part of a series of legal and political maneuvers that all but neu¬tered the federal agency in the public eye as a regulator of public health and safety. To supporters, the agency has become far more responsive to the public need for development of new drugs and medical devices."
More on palinode, palindromes
From Steve Benko (steve.benko gecapital.com) "Is Wasillah all I saw? Si!"
From Walter Desmond (w.desmond sbcglobal.net) In anticipation of one of the VP words (palindrome), I quote candidate Biden, in comparing how many time he's been around the foreign policy track vs. his opponent: “Palin I lap." She in all grace, shows her bubbling informality by replying: "Yo, Joe, O joy!"
From Michael Shpizner (mshpizner us.fujitsu.com) "Wasilla's all I saw."
(I wish I could take credit for it, but alas, I didn't create it.) Regardless of one's political persuasion, that's a thing of beauty, is it not? A.Word.A.Day
On October 28, 1636 Harvard University was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just 16 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth.
October 28 is the birthday of Evelyn Waugh, (books by this author) born in London, England, in 1903. He's the author of Brideshead Revisited (1945) and Decline and Fall (1928).
October 28 is the birthday of poet John Hollander, (books by this author) born in New York City in 1929. His newest book, A Draft of Light, was published in 2008. John Hollander said, "I want my poems to be wiser than I am, to know more about themselves than I do." The Writer’s Almanac
Monday, October 27, 2008
Quaker organization posts English translation of U.S.-Iraq military agreement
Source: American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international peace and social justice organization, has posted the first public English translation of the latest status of forces agreement between the U.S and Iraqi administrations on its web site. If ratified in Iraq, the agreement would permit U.S. troops to remain the country once the United Nations mandate ends this year and may begin the process of establishing permanent U.S. military bases there. Full Document (PDF; 182 KB)
New GAO Report (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Federal Energy Management: Agencies Are Acquiring Alternative Fuel Vehicles but Face Challenges in Meeting Other Fleet Objectives
Highlights ||| Full Report
A draft 'Applicant Guidebook' for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), is now available for review and comment at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-comments-en.htm. The draft Guidebook provides information for those interested in applying for new generic top-level domains. "Since ICANN was founded 10 years ago, one of the foundational principles has been to support competition and consumer choice in generic top-level domains. That competition is meant to promote innovation and enhance user choice and satisfaction" said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and Chief Executive Officer.
Every year, public libraries and schools across the country field hundreds of requests from parents, public officials and activists pressing for the removal of books they deem inappropriate. That includes literary classics, human sexuality manuals and, occasionally, even the dictionary, according to the American Library Association. ALA has logged more than 9,600 requests to remove books from library shelves, summer reading lists and school classrooms since 1990. A sortable list of challenged books, 2003–2008 is at the following link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-challengedbooks_N.htm
barrack (BAR-uhk, the first syllable is the same as in barrel)
verb tr., intr.: 1. To shout in support: to cheer 2. To shout against: to jeer
noun: A building used to house soldiers.
The verb sense of the word is perhaps from Northern Ireland dialectal barrack (to brag).
The noun sense is from French baraque, from Italian baracca or Spanish barraca (hut, tent). A.Word.A.Day
According to Tarot historian Tom Tadfor Little, traditional playing cards were first seen in Europe in 1375, having been brought over from the Islamic societies where they had been used for centuries before that. It appears that the first Tarot decks were created as a game. There were four suits with cards numbered one through ten and also court cards that included a queen, king, knight and page. The deck also included 22 symbolic picture cards that did not belong to any suit. The decks were used to play a game called triumph that was similar to bridge. In triumph, 21 of the 22 special picture cards were permanent trump cards. The game spread quickly to all parts of Europe. People began referring to as tarocchi, which is an Italian version of the French word tarot, around 1530. In 1781, in France and England, followers of the occult discovered Tarot cards. They saw the symbolic pictures of the cards as having more meaning than the simple trump cards they were used for at the time. They used the cards as a divination tool, and occult writers wrote about "the Tarot." http://science.howstuffworks.com/tarot-card6.htm
The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. It was built to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. The canal was 360 miles long, 40 feet wide, and four feet deep—just deep enough to float barges carrying 30 tons of freight. When the canal was finished, cannons were lined up along the towpath just barely in earshot of each other. They fired one after another from Lake Erie to New York City, finishing the relay in 81 minutes. The Writer’s Almanac
Source: American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international peace and social justice organization, has posted the first public English translation of the latest status of forces agreement between the U.S and Iraqi administrations on its web site. If ratified in Iraq, the agreement would permit U.S. troops to remain the country once the United Nations mandate ends this year and may begin the process of establishing permanent U.S. military bases there. Full Document (PDF; 182 KB)
New GAO Report (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Federal Energy Management: Agencies Are Acquiring Alternative Fuel Vehicles but Face Challenges in Meeting Other Fleet Objectives
Highlights ||| Full Report
A draft 'Applicant Guidebook' for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), is now available for review and comment at http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-comments-en.htm. The draft Guidebook provides information for those interested in applying for new generic top-level domains. "Since ICANN was founded 10 years ago, one of the foundational principles has been to support competition and consumer choice in generic top-level domains. That competition is meant to promote innovation and enhance user choice and satisfaction" said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and Chief Executive Officer.
Every year, public libraries and schools across the country field hundreds of requests from parents, public officials and activists pressing for the removal of books they deem inappropriate. That includes literary classics, human sexuality manuals and, occasionally, even the dictionary, according to the American Library Association. ALA has logged more than 9,600 requests to remove books from library shelves, summer reading lists and school classrooms since 1990. A sortable list of challenged books, 2003–2008 is at the following link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-challengedbooks_N.htm
barrack (BAR-uhk, the first syllable is the same as in barrel)
verb tr., intr.: 1. To shout in support: to cheer 2. To shout against: to jeer
noun: A building used to house soldiers.
The verb sense of the word is perhaps from Northern Ireland dialectal barrack (to brag).
The noun sense is from French baraque, from Italian baracca or Spanish barraca (hut, tent). A.Word.A.Day
According to Tarot historian Tom Tadfor Little, traditional playing cards were first seen in Europe in 1375, having been brought over from the Islamic societies where they had been used for centuries before that. It appears that the first Tarot decks were created as a game. There were four suits with cards numbered one through ten and also court cards that included a queen, king, knight and page. The deck also included 22 symbolic picture cards that did not belong to any suit. The decks were used to play a game called triumph that was similar to bridge. In triumph, 21 of the 22 special picture cards were permanent trump cards. The game spread quickly to all parts of Europe. People began referring to as tarocchi, which is an Italian version of the French word tarot, around 1530. In 1781, in France and England, followers of the occult discovered Tarot cards. They saw the symbolic pictures of the cards as having more meaning than the simple trump cards they were used for at the time. They used the cards as a divination tool, and occult writers wrote about "the Tarot." http://science.howstuffworks.com/tarot-card6.htm
The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. It was built to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. The canal was 360 miles long, 40 feet wide, and four feet deep—just deep enough to float barges carrying 30 tons of freight. When the canal was finished, cannons were lined up along the towpath just barely in earshot of each other. They fired one after another from Lake Erie to New York City, finishing the relay in 81 minutes. The Writer’s Almanac
Friday, October 24, 2008
shunpike (SHUN-pyke) noun
a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less-traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word "shunpike," too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word "turnpike" has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678). In fact, toll roads were quite common in 19th-century America, and "shunpike" has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory. M-W Word of the Day
New on LLRX.com: A Compilation of Legal Problem-Solving Models
The Art of Written Persuasion: From IRAC to FAILSAFE - A Compilation of Legal Problem-Solving Models - Troy Simpson's third column focuses on "a process model of problem-solving that provides a useful framework, because it offers a systematic, non-random way of tackling problems."
Seeds of a Perfect Storm: Genetically Modified Crops and the Global Food Security Crisis
Seeds of a Perfect Storm: Genetically Modified Crops and the Global Food Security Crisis, Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State and to the Administrator of USAID Inaugural Lecture in the Jefferson Fellows Distinguished Lecture Series, Washington, DC, October 17, 2008
"The population has more than doubled again since the middle of the 20th century and the population experts are expecting another roughly 3 billion people to be added to the planet’s population by midcentury. That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 billion people.”
palinode (PAL-uh-noad)
noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem
From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song) It's the same palin that shows up in the word palindrome. A.Word.A.Day
Famous authors
Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 19070-May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors in science fiction. He was the first science-fiction writer to break into mainstream general magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction, and he was among the first authors of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the 1960s. For many years Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the Big Three of science fiction. He won seven Hugo Awards for his novels and films, and the first Grand Master Award given by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement. http://www.shortopedia.com/N/E/Nebula_Grand_Masters
On October 24, 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, which established the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage. The first minimum wage was 25 cents per hour.
On October 24, 1901 Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over the Niagara Falls. She was 63 years old and had no money. She hoped that the stunt of going over the falls in a barrel would bring her fame and fortune. She got the idea while reading a newspaper article about the upcoming Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, so she knew there would be a big audience. She had a custom barrel made to order by a Michigan company that normally made barrels for kegs of beer. It was pushed into the river at 4:05 p.m. and it headed toward the Canadian side. Shortly after, Annie and the barrel plunged over the falls. It took about 35 minutes from the time Annie pushed off shore to when she was pulled out of the water by rescuers. She got out of the barrel unharmed, except for a few bruises and a small gash on her forehead. Her first words after she emerged were, "Nobody ought ever to do that again."
She had planned a big lecture tour following the stunt, but it wasn't very successful. She tried to earn money by posing in photographs with her barrel, but that didn't work either, and neither did trying to write a novel. However, several poems were written about her. John Joseph O'Regan wrote:
"All hail to the Queen of the Mist,
Brave Anna Edson Taylor;
She has beaten all former records,
By her courage, grit and valor."
And P. M. Reynolds wrote:
"Since earth's creation down the stormy way,
All human feats have been surpassed today.
Mrs. Edson Taylor, in her barrel sound,
Through the wild rapids did in safety bound." The Writer’s Almanac
a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less-traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word "shunpike," too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word "turnpike" has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678). In fact, toll roads were quite common in 19th-century America, and "shunpike" has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory. M-W Word of the Day
New on LLRX.com: A Compilation of Legal Problem-Solving Models
The Art of Written Persuasion: From IRAC to FAILSAFE - A Compilation of Legal Problem-Solving Models - Troy Simpson's third column focuses on "a process model of problem-solving that provides a useful framework, because it offers a systematic, non-random way of tackling problems."
Seeds of a Perfect Storm: Genetically Modified Crops and the Global Food Security Crisis
Seeds of a Perfect Storm: Genetically Modified Crops and the Global Food Security Crisis, Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State and to the Administrator of USAID Inaugural Lecture in the Jefferson Fellows Distinguished Lecture Series, Washington, DC, October 17, 2008
"The population has more than doubled again since the middle of the 20th century and the population experts are expecting another roughly 3 billion people to be added to the planet’s population by midcentury. That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 billion people.”
palinode (PAL-uh-noad)
noun: A poem in which the author retracts something said in an earlier poem
From Greek palinoidia, from palin (again) + oide (song) It's the same palin that shows up in the word palindrome. A.Word.A.Day
Famous authors
Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 19070-May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors in science fiction. He was the first science-fiction writer to break into mainstream general magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction, and he was among the first authors of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the 1960s. For many years Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the Big Three of science fiction. He won seven Hugo Awards for his novels and films, and the first Grand Master Award given by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement. http://www.shortopedia.com/N/E/Nebula_Grand_Masters
On October 24, 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, which established the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage. The first minimum wage was 25 cents per hour.
On October 24, 1901 Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over the Niagara Falls. She was 63 years old and had no money. She hoped that the stunt of going over the falls in a barrel would bring her fame and fortune. She got the idea while reading a newspaper article about the upcoming Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, so she knew there would be a big audience. She had a custom barrel made to order by a Michigan company that normally made barrels for kegs of beer. It was pushed into the river at 4:05 p.m. and it headed toward the Canadian side. Shortly after, Annie and the barrel plunged over the falls. It took about 35 minutes from the time Annie pushed off shore to when she was pulled out of the water by rescuers. She got out of the barrel unharmed, except for a few bruises and a small gash on her forehead. Her first words after she emerged were, "Nobody ought ever to do that again."
She had planned a big lecture tour following the stunt, but it wasn't very successful. She tried to earn money by posing in photographs with her barrel, but that didn't work either, and neither did trying to write a novel. However, several poems were written about her. John Joseph O'Regan wrote:
"All hail to the Queen of the Mist,
Brave Anna Edson Taylor;
She has beaten all former records,
By her courage, grit and valor."
And P. M. Reynolds wrote:
"Since earth's creation down the stormy way,
All human feats have been surpassed today.
Mrs. Edson Taylor, in her barrel sound,
Through the wild rapids did in safety bound." The Writer’s Almanac
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Federal Reserve approves final amendments to rules for reporting price information on higher-priced mortgage loans
News release: "The Federal Reserve Board has approved final amendments to Regulation C that revise the rules for reporting price information on higher-priced mortgage loans. The changes are intended to improve the accuracy and usefulness of data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
Regulation C currently requires lenders to collect and report the spread between the annual percentage rate (APR) on a mortgage loan and the yield on a Treasury security of comparable maturity if the spread is greater than 3.0 percentage points for a first lien loan or greater than 5.0 percentage points for a subordinate lien loan. This difference is known as a rate spread. Under the final rule, a lender will report the spread between the loan's APR and a survey-based estimate of APRs currently offered on prime mortgages of a comparable type ("average prime offer rate") if the spread is equal to or greater than 1.5 percentage points for a first lien loan or equal to or greater than 3.5 percentage points for a subordinate-lien loan. The Board will publish average prime offer rates based on the Primary Mortgage Market Survey® currently published by Freddie Mac. The Board will conduct its own survey if it becomes appropriate or necessary to do so...The final rule is effective October 1, 2009. The Board's Federal Register notice is here."
Oklahoma, apparently, is one of four states—the others are Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi—to pass a law that mandates ultrasounds for pregnant women prior to getting an abortion. Over at Slate, Emily Bazelon has an essay entitled “Required Viewing: Oklahoma’s gallingly paternalistic ultrasound law.” In Oklahoma, reports Bazelon, the law, which is scheduled to take effect next month, requires that either the doctor performing the abortion or a “certified technician” do the ultrasound, “provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting,” and “display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them.” The patient then has to certify in writing that the doctor or technician complied.
WSJ Law Blog October 22, 2008
Rand: Unconventional Fossil-Based Fuels
News release: "Alternative sources of fossil fuels such as oil sands and coal-to-liquids have significant economic promise, but the environmental consequences must also be considered, according to a RAND Corporation study. The study by RAND, a non-profit research organization, provides a review of coal-to-liquids and Canadian oil sands technologies, considers possible impacts on fuel costs from future limitations on carbon dioxide emissions, and compares costs of the alternative fossil fuels to conventional petroleum fuels in 2025. The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy."
Unconventional Fossil-Based Fuels Economic and Environmental Trade-Offs by Michael Toman, Aimee E. Curtright, David S. Ortiz, Joel Darmstadter, Brian Shannon
Related postings on climate change
Google Energy Saving Calculator and Powering a Clean Energy Revolution
Official Google Blog: "We've created a handy energy saving calculator to help you see how simple steps can help you save money for treats -- and ward off scary carbon emissions. We've also put together a webpage full of tricks to help you save energy -- and money."
Recommended by a muse reader
An important book is What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, v. 5 of 11 in the Oxford History of the United States series by historian Daniel Walker Howe. It illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War. Covers an often ignored part of our country's history, but probably the most important era in terms of forming our sense of nation and politics.
Two books by John McPhee: The Control of Nature and Uncommon Carriers. Both fascinating and of universal and timely truth.
Timelines of History http://timelines.ws/
Find information by date: October 23 as example
1915 Oct 23, 25,000 women marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
Find information by year: 1547 as example
1547 French became the official language of France, displacing Latin.
bidentate DEN-tayt) adjective
Having two teeth or toothlike parts
From Latin bi- (two) + dens (tooth) A.Word.A.Day
News release: "The Federal Reserve Board has approved final amendments to Regulation C that revise the rules for reporting price information on higher-priced mortgage loans. The changes are intended to improve the accuracy and usefulness of data reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
Regulation C currently requires lenders to collect and report the spread between the annual percentage rate (APR) on a mortgage loan and the yield on a Treasury security of comparable maturity if the spread is greater than 3.0 percentage points for a first lien loan or greater than 5.0 percentage points for a subordinate lien loan. This difference is known as a rate spread. Under the final rule, a lender will report the spread between the loan's APR and a survey-based estimate of APRs currently offered on prime mortgages of a comparable type ("average prime offer rate") if the spread is equal to or greater than 1.5 percentage points for a first lien loan or equal to or greater than 3.5 percentage points for a subordinate-lien loan. The Board will publish average prime offer rates based on the Primary Mortgage Market Survey® currently published by Freddie Mac. The Board will conduct its own survey if it becomes appropriate or necessary to do so...The final rule is effective October 1, 2009. The Board's Federal Register notice is here."
Oklahoma, apparently, is one of four states—the others are Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi—to pass a law that mandates ultrasounds for pregnant women prior to getting an abortion. Over at Slate, Emily Bazelon has an essay entitled “Required Viewing: Oklahoma’s gallingly paternalistic ultrasound law.” In Oklahoma, reports Bazelon, the law, which is scheduled to take effect next month, requires that either the doctor performing the abortion or a “certified technician” do the ultrasound, “provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting,” and “display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them.” The patient then has to certify in writing that the doctor or technician complied.
WSJ Law Blog October 22, 2008
Rand: Unconventional Fossil-Based Fuels
News release: "Alternative sources of fossil fuels such as oil sands and coal-to-liquids have significant economic promise, but the environmental consequences must also be considered, according to a RAND Corporation study. The study by RAND, a non-profit research organization, provides a review of coal-to-liquids and Canadian oil sands technologies, considers possible impacts on fuel costs from future limitations on carbon dioxide emissions, and compares costs of the alternative fossil fuels to conventional petroleum fuels in 2025. The study was funded by the National Commission on Energy Policy."
Unconventional Fossil-Based Fuels Economic and Environmental Trade-Offs by Michael Toman, Aimee E. Curtright, David S. Ortiz, Joel Darmstadter, Brian Shannon
Related postings on climate change
Google Energy Saving Calculator and Powering a Clean Energy Revolution
Official Google Blog: "We've created a handy energy saving calculator to help you see how simple steps can help you save money for treats -- and ward off scary carbon emissions. We've also put together a webpage full of tricks to help you save energy -- and money."
Recommended by a muse reader
An important book is What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, v. 5 of 11 in the Oxford History of the United States series by historian Daniel Walker Howe. It illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War. Covers an often ignored part of our country's history, but probably the most important era in terms of forming our sense of nation and politics.
Two books by John McPhee: The Control of Nature and Uncommon Carriers. Both fascinating and of universal and timely truth.
Timelines of History http://timelines.ws/
Find information by date: October 23 as example
1915 Oct 23, 25,000 women marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
Find information by year: 1547 as example
1547 French became the official language of France, displacing Latin.
bidentate DEN-tayt) adjective
Having two teeth or toothlike parts
From Latin bi- (two) + dens (tooth) A.Word.A.Day
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Presidents who changed their names
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (1913–2006) was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the fortieth Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. He was the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. Ford was the fifth U.S. President never to have been elected to that position, and the only one never to have won any national election. Ford was born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha. Nebraska where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second president (1993-2001) was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. When he was four years old, his mother wed Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. In high school, he took the family name. He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html
Follow-up on paragoge (addition of letter or syllable at end of word)
From: Clive Cowper clivealive juno.com
The American science fiction author C.J. Cherryh offers a use of this word. Her real last name is Cherry, but her publisher thought that an author with that last name wouldn't be taken seriously. His solution: add a silent letter "h" to the end of the name.
From: Alan Ogden alanogden talktalk.net
The people of Bristol, U.K. often put an L on the end of words, especially if they end in a vowel. That is how the city got its name. It was originally Bristowe, the town with a bridge. A.Word.A.Day
House of Four Pillars in Maumee, Ohio at 405 East Broadway
In 1900, Theodore Dreiser wrote his famous novel, Sister Carrie in this house. The house was built in 1835 and altered to Greek Revival Style in 1844. Dreiser acquired it in 1899.
http://www.oll.state.oh.us/your_state/remarkable_ohio/marker_details.cfm?marker_id=54&file_id=4669
Favorite Web sites of members of the Toledo Area Librarians Association
You will have no trouble knowing which one is mine. http://delicious.com/librariansrule
October 21 is the birthday of science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin, (books by this author) born in Berkeley, California (1929). She grew up in a family of academics. Her mother, Theodora Kroeber, was a psychologist and writer. Her father, Alfred Kroeber, was the first person to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, and he was called the "Dean of American anthropologists." He specialized in researching Native American cultures, and he befriended the last member of a Native American tribe called the Yahi. This man, given the name "Ishi," was believed to be the last Native American to grow up in California completely untouched by the influence of white settlers. Most of Ishi's family had been massacred during the Gold Rush in California in 1865, and he and the remaining members of the Yahi went into hiding. Ishi wandered into town one day, when he was about 50 years old, and he was taken to the University of California Museum of Anthropology. Alfred devoted much of his life to studying Ishi's language, mannerisms, and habits in order to understand the now-extinct Yahi culture. He took extensive notes on Ishi, which his wife Theodora used to write the book Ishi in Two Worlds (1961).
In France, she met a history professor, fell in love, and within a few months she and Charles Le Guin were married. She moved around with her husband's teaching jobs, and she wrote poetry. Over the course of 10 years she wrote five novels, none of which were published. Publishers in the 1950s thought her writing was too "remote." So she began to write science fiction. She has published more than 100 short stories, 20 novels, 11 children's books, six volumes of poetry, and four volumes of translation. She's best known for her Earthsea books, a fantasy series that takes place in a world populated by wizards and dragons. She also wrote the Hainish Cycle—science fiction novels set in an imaginary universe where the residents are genderless. The Writer’s Almanac
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (1913–2006) was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the fortieth Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. He was the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. Ford was the fifth U.S. President never to have been elected to that position, and the only one never to have won any national election. Ford was born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha. Nebraska where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second president (1993-2001) was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. When he was four years old, his mother wed Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. In high school, he took the family name. He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html
Follow-up on paragoge (addition of letter or syllable at end of word)
From: Clive Cowper clivealive juno.com
The American science fiction author C.J. Cherryh offers a use of this word. Her real last name is Cherry, but her publisher thought that an author with that last name wouldn't be taken seriously. His solution: add a silent letter "h" to the end of the name.
From: Alan Ogden alanogden talktalk.net
The people of Bristol, U.K. often put an L on the end of words, especially if they end in a vowel. That is how the city got its name. It was originally Bristowe, the town with a bridge. A.Word.A.Day
House of Four Pillars in Maumee, Ohio at 405 East Broadway
In 1900, Theodore Dreiser wrote his famous novel, Sister Carrie in this house. The house was built in 1835 and altered to Greek Revival Style in 1844. Dreiser acquired it in 1899.
http://www.oll.state.oh.us/your_state/remarkable_ohio/marker_details.cfm?marker_id=54&file_id=4669
Favorite Web sites of members of the Toledo Area Librarians Association
You will have no trouble knowing which one is mine. http://delicious.com/librariansrule
October 21 is the birthday of science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin, (books by this author) born in Berkeley, California (1929). She grew up in a family of academics. Her mother, Theodora Kroeber, was a psychologist and writer. Her father, Alfred Kroeber, was the first person to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, and he was called the "Dean of American anthropologists." He specialized in researching Native American cultures, and he befriended the last member of a Native American tribe called the Yahi. This man, given the name "Ishi," was believed to be the last Native American to grow up in California completely untouched by the influence of white settlers. Most of Ishi's family had been massacred during the Gold Rush in California in 1865, and he and the remaining members of the Yahi went into hiding. Ishi wandered into town one day, when he was about 50 years old, and he was taken to the University of California Museum of Anthropology. Alfred devoted much of his life to studying Ishi's language, mannerisms, and habits in order to understand the now-extinct Yahi culture. He took extensive notes on Ishi, which his wife Theodora used to write the book Ishi in Two Worlds (1961).
In France, she met a history professor, fell in love, and within a few months she and Charles Le Guin were married. She moved around with her husband's teaching jobs, and she wrote poetry. Over the course of 10 years she wrote five novels, none of which were published. Publishers in the 1950s thought her writing was too "remote." So she began to write science fiction. She has published more than 100 short stories, 20 novels, 11 children's books, six volumes of poetry, and four volumes of translation. She's best known for her Earthsea books, a fantasy series that takes place in a world populated by wizards and dragons. She also wrote the Hainish Cycle—science fiction novels set in an imaginary universe where the residents are genderless. The Writer’s Almanac
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